The Working Athlete Podcast

This episode is brought to you by Findbetter.ai. Find better is a social networking app for cycling & running enthusiasts to discover and shop together.   For today's guest Chetan Shah, life has thrown many challenges. In 2009 he had a tumor removed from his brain which resulted in hearing loss in one ear and loss of a balancing nerve. In 2011 he had to undergo a knee replacement surgery....

This episode is brought to you by Findbetter.ai. Find better is a social networking app for cycling & running enthusiasts to discover and shop together. For a cycling enthusiast like me it is a treasure trove to find all sorts of bikes and accessories both used and brand new. I tend to get a lot of DMs asking for where to find a bike on a budget etc. Nowadays I tend to direct them to the Findb...

This episode is brought to you by Findbetter.ai. Find better is a social networking app for cycling & running enthusiasts to discover and shop together. For a cycling enthusiast like me it is a treasure trove to find all sorts of bikes and accessories both used and brand new. I tend to get a lot of DMs asking for where to find a bike on a budget etc. Nowadays I tend to direct them to the Findb...

This episode is brought to you by Findbetter.ai. Find better is a social networking app for cycling & running enthusiasts to discover and shop together. For a cycling enthusiast like me it is a treasure trove to find all sorts of bikes and accessories both used and brand new. I tend to get a lot of DMs asking for where to find a bike on a budget etc. Nowadays I tend to direct them to the Findb...

This episode is brought to you by Findbetter.ai. Find better is a social networking app for cycling & running enthusiasts to discover and shop together. For a cycling enthusiast like me it is a treasure trove to find all sorts of bikes and accessories both used and brand new. I tend to get a lot of DMs asking for where to find a bike on a budget etc. Nowadays I tend to direct them to the Findb...

Today's guest Jorge Perez is a Columbian national living and working in Switzerland. He is a road and gravel cyclist who enjoys exploring new places on a bike. He reached out to me a couple of months ago asking for route recommendations for a week long tour he wanted to do in south India. He was going to be in Bangalore for a couple of weeks on work and he wanted to use the trip to explore the...

Today's guest Amit Samarth is an ultra athlete who successfully completed many international ultra events like Race Across America. With the idea of creating an iconic ultra race in India Amit with his team has created Race Across India a 3600km race from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. He was not only the driving force behind making this race happen along with the organizing team, but he also took pa...

Today's guest Gaurav Kumar is an officer of the Indian Army, a type 1 diabetic runner and a triathlete. #Runforthosewhocannot is his mantra when he started taking running seriously and eventually got into triathlon. In this episode we talk about his biggest motivation for staying active, the challenges of being a type1 diabetic athlete and how he manages training and racing with his condition. For...

Robin Darius Conz is an MTB rider and a wildlife cinematographer. In this episode we talk about his cycling, MTB, enduro and downhill cycling in India and his life as an wildlife cinematographer. It was a fascinating conversation exploring the parallels between sport and wildlife photography and a lot more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 0:00:00 Intro 0:02:25 His relationship with sport gro...

Rajesh Nair a.k.a BabaVelo has been a longtime friend, teammate and mentor. With his phenomenal consistency over the years he has inspired many in cycling and continues to do so. From the time I first time met him back in 2011 till now, he has been a source of much learning for me personally. I met him in Dubai again recently at Spinney92 Dubai Cycling Challenge and had a wonderful time. He has do...

Russell Bell is an inspiration to many of us. An English Formula 3 racer who retired and has been living in Goa for more than 20 years, he first got into cycling to stay fit for his car racing. Well into his 70s, he shows no signs of slowing down and has recently won his category at Spinney92 Dubai Cycling Challenge at 39.4kmph for a 93km race. I was there in Dubai taking part in the same race and...

Pankkaj Dhiman is a triathlete and a triathlon coach from Delhi who won his age category and finished 3rd overall in Goa Ironman70.3 last year. A body builder who picked up running after a shoulder injury, he signed up for his first Ironman even before he knew swimming or bought a bike. In this episode he shares his endurance journey of going from a 1:45min 10k to a 2:59 marathon and a 4:21 for 70...

Prashant Sudarshan Arkal lost function in his left leg because of polio when he was just 9 months old. He never did any sports as a kid but in college he took up body building and stayed active through Kayaking when he started working abroad as an IT engineer.   In 2017, he got introduced to para sports by a Singaporean Para athlete by chance and fell in love with the freedom the sport g...

Rohit Pathak is a cyclist, a runner and a cancer survivor. In April of 2022, Rohit got diagnosed with Hodkin's Lymphoma which is a rare form of cancer that effects the lymph nodes and the immune system. He had to undergo surgery, chemo and radiation therapies to beat it. He not only went through the entire treatment with positivity but also was determined to get back to his previous fitness levels...

Multiple Cycling National champion, Naveen John returns to the podcast and talks about his 2022 season at Belgium, defending his gold medal at the National games, starting out as a rookie and getting to the medal ride off at the track nationals, his win at the road nationals ITT etc. 0:00:00 Intro 0:02:15 His Belgium trip #IndianCycling Project 0:12:10 National Games - Winning from not wanting to...

Multiple time Indian Cycling National champion, Naveen John, returns to the podcast and talks about his 2022 season at Belgium, defending his gold medal at the National games, starting out as a rookie and getting to the medal ride off at the track nationals, his win at the road nationals ITT etc. 0:00:00 Intro 0:02:15 His Belgium trip #IndianCycling Project 0:12:10 National Games - Winning from no...

Maj. Gen. Dr. AVK Mohan(retd) is a two Star General, a Hospital Administrator in the Army, a Adventure Biker, a Randonneur, a Marathoner, a Mountaineer, and a Motivational Speaker. In this episode he share his endurance journey, pursuing various activities while in service, rides like Golden Quadrilateral self supported ride in 30 days. 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:25 His relationship with sport growin...

MK Pasha is a cyclist, an advocate with the Telangana High court specialized in civil and sports law, a qualified technical official with CFI and a legal advisor for many sports governing bodies. In this episode he shares his endurance journey, his work with Hyderabad Racing Circuit (HRC), Maxwell Trevor Cycling Welfare Association (MTCWA) and what athletes need to be aware of in terms of anti-dop...

Volker Maier is a retired Air-force flying instructor and the head of Peaks Coaching Group Germany. He has been coaching a lot of runners, cyclists and triathletes over the years and has been working with a few Indian athletes as well. I got a chance to sit down and talk to him when he was in Bangalore briefly on the way to a training camp in the hills. In this episode we talk about his journ...

Sreenath Lakshmikanth is one of the hardest working athletes in the country. This rider from Kerala has inspired many athletes not just from his state but from around the country. His humble nature and work ethic endears him to everyone who crosses paths with him. In this episode we talk about the start of cycling journey as well as his progression over the years. We talk about his experience at t...

Nilay Dalal is a financial investor by profession and is a runner and a triathlete by passion. Nilay has been in the sport for more than 10 years and shares his passion with those around him.      In this episode we talk about Nilay's triathlon journey and how he balances work, family and his passion for sport. He was very candid in sharing his rookie mistakes like spendin...

Pablo Erat is a Swiss entrepreneur and an age group winner of many Ironman 70.3 races around the world. He has a special place for Goa in his heart as he has been a regular in the Goa triathlon scene from its infancy. He has seen it grow from grass root level events about 10 years ago till now where Goa is hosting an official Ironman event. In this episode we talk about Pablo's endurance journey o...

Sameer Nadkarni is an architect by profession and is the architect of one of the most vibrant of cycling communities in Goa and most probably all of India called XAXTI Riders. Over the last 5 years he has been instrumental in building and growing XAXTI Riders community. The XAXTI rides he organizes like XAXTI 100 and XAXTI 200 etc see 100s of riders from around the country enjoy the pristine beaut...

TimTim Sharma is a runner, cyclist, triathlete, a fitness trainer and a Yoga teacher. She has been in the endurance sports for the last 10 years and has had many podium finishes and wins in both running and cycling including Mumbai marathon, Bengaluru Marathon and many others. Her running journey started when a few friends challenged her that she can not run 10km without stopping and signed her up...

Nihal Baig is an IIT Bombay alumni working in Pune. He is a runner, a triathlete and a coach who won this years Ironman Goa 70.3 race with a timing of 4hrs 29mins. This was more than 13mins better than previous winning time at the race and about 17mins better than his time at the race in 2019 where he finished second overall. I was fortunate to witness the race firsthand and I was blown away from...