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EP32: Justin Morris - Overcoming Type 1 Diabetes to be a Pro Cyclist and now Global Ambassador and Coach · Career Clarity with Athletes: A 2ndwind Podcast with Ryan Gonsalves

0:00
SPEAKER_01: And I think 10 years old in the year 1996.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we had the of course, growing up in Sydney, Australia, we had access to the best of the best as far as the treatments that were available then.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: But it was still pretty rudimentary practices.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was drawing up an a syringe from a vial of the medicine we need to stay alive called insulin.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: We had to do that five or six times a day and mix different types of insulin so we could uh could eat meals and have to tie uh make timelines between the injections and the meals and then test the blood sugar with a device that seemed to take forever to give you a number and you had to jab your finger with this little knife tool that that gave you blood and that to do that close to 10 times a day just to stay on top of it.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean it was a it was a huge shock.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean, physically, that the way that your life is now determined by something you never ever even thought about before was now dictating nearly your every waking thought.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Ryan Gonzalvert and welcome to the Second Wind Academy Podcast.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: A show all about career transition through the lens of elite athletes.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: Each week I invite a guest to the show who shares their unique sporting story.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Please join me to delve into the thoughts and actions of athletes through a series of conversations.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, there's plenty to learn from those of you that aren't particularly sporty.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Elite athletes are still people active.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Let's be inspired by the stories of others.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Today's guest is Justin Morris.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Age 10, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, but that didn't halt his dream of becoming a professional cyclist.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: That dream was indeed achieved for team Novanordisk, based out of the US.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Now, originally from Tasmania, Australia, after five years of living that global dream of being a pro cyclist, today he's based in the US.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: Whilst continuing to be one of Novanordisk's global ambassadors, he's also a public speaker and owner of Mind Matters Athlete Coaching.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: On there, he does coaching with a cycling twist, but also has a blog and runs his own podcast.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's interesting is his approach of setting himself up for a future beyond the game.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Brave enough to pause or indeed slow down his degree to focus on cycling.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: He's now completed those qualifications, had time in teaching, and today has found a way to blend his sporting and academic experiences.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: So, Justin, welcome to the show.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, Ryan.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Nice to meet you and see you here in our virtual forms.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we'll meet in person one day.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: And actually, if you do make your way back to Oz and find yourself uh over this way, I do need to probably get some tips on Tasmania as well.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: That's somewhere we've we've not yet been to.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh mate, well, I'm your man, and I definitely will be back to Oz.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: I think the more time I spend away from it, the more I want to get back to it.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: So I'll see you back there soon enough.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good man.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I look forward to that.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Look, thanks for joining me today, joining us on the show today.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Really looking forward to I guess delving into some of your story from sport through to your transition to life after being the athlete.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: You're still somewhat in in sport as as you were growing up.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: So taking us back to perhaps when you were you were 10 or so years old, what was going on for you?
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, when I grew as growing up, like most kids in suburban Sydney, sport was a big part of life.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, I played soccer, I played rugby league for a while, I used to play in the bush over the road with my mates after school.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: You know, we I was very grateful to grow up in a very active kind of lifestyle.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: And I'm grateful for my parents to being able to enable those opportunities for us.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was cool.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: We did swimming and running.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, but probably soccer was my, well, football, as of course you know a lot about, uh, was my my main game early on in primary school and early high school.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: But I think probably, I mean, 10 years, funny you mentioned the age 10 years old.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: That was probably when the biggest transition in my young life happened.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: Actually, at that age, I did like enjoy playing sport, but my main kind of focus in life, the main thing I thought about day in, day out was one day being a jet fighter pilot.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: That was my dream.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, I used to watch the one movie, I'd play the the video games, pretending I was flying a plane.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I just loved planes.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of uh the end of 1996, when I was 10, I got very ill and um I was taken to hospital and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: And it was funny, after the diagnosis, you go to many meetings with doctors, dietitians, psychologists, all kinds of things, a really, really good kind of health service there at Westmead Children's Hospital where I was.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: And one of these meetings, my mum asked the doctor and said, Oh, so people with type 1 diabetes, is there anything they can't do in life?
4:58
SPEAKER_01: And the doctor, he was a really good guy, but he was quite laconic and laid back.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: He said, Oh, look, there's not too many things you won't be able to do, Justin.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: There's only a few things that people with diabetes can't do.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: And number one is pilot, and that was the first one he rattled.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: I remember my mom, she started crying, and of course I was devastated.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, yeah, that kind of crushed my my childhood dream.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, older.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, that's I mean, two amazing things.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: One having that early dream crushed at 10, but then perhaps more importantly, is the type one diabetes and being diagnosed with that.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: What impact did that have on your lifestyle?
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, it was huge, yeah.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: And I think especially at 10 years old in the year 1996.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we had the, of course, growing up in Sydney, Australia, we had access to the best of the best as far as the treatments that were available then, but it was still pretty rudimentary practices.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was drawing up an a syringe from a vial of the medicine we need to stay alive called insulin.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: We had to do that five or six times a day and mix different types of insulin so we could uh could eat meals and had to tie uh make timelines between the injections and the meals and then test the blood sugar with a device that seemed to take forever to give you a number and you had to jab your finger with this little knife tool that that gave you blood and had to do that close to 10 times a day just to stay on top of it.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I mean, that was a it was a huge shock.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, physically, that the way that your life is now determined by something you never ever even thought about before was now dictating nearly your every waking thought.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, let's be honest, at 10 years old, was I was at the mercy of my parents.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: They were doing the hard yards.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't necessarily me stressing about it.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: I can remember they used to wake me up in the middle of the night to test the blood sugar, make sure it was all okay, but it was a huge shock.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: But I think the most painful for me as a kid was that hearing about that I couldn't be a jet fighter pilot.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that would be quite a shock actually, because like you said, it is quite the dream.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: I guess.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Did you um did it have an impact?
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Did you watch the most recent Top Gun series then?
7:08
SPEAKER_01: No, I haven't.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: I've kind of fallen out of the um, you know, I grew up and I I haven't been too much of a fan of um jet fighter planes so much in my recent years.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm not sure then if it's the diabetes or the doctor who did that.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean so interestingly then.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: So you, you know, you talk about diabetes coming in, but you were still you were quite an active child, it sounds like up until that point.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: Did the diabetes change that focus on sport for you and the family?
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's one of the things.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, exercise puts downward pressure on your blood sugar levels.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: So it's actually somewhat complicated for a person with type 1 diabetes to be active and to be in competitive sports, but it's not impossible.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: It's like it was to be a jet fighter pilot at that time.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: There's actually some stories in these days of pilots with type 1 diabetes.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: But at that time, yeah, it was a complicated process, but it wasn't impossible.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: And actually, when just after I was diagnosed, and that doctor told me the bad news, the shocking news that I wouldn't be able to live my dream to be a pilot, he had a picture on the wall of his office of this really famous rugby league player.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: And I was a big rugby league fan.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I loved it.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: And I was I grew up in Sydney, but I was a Brisbane Broncos fan.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: And he had a photo of this Brisbane Broncos player named Steve Renouf.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: And he was before diabetes, he was like my hero.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: He was a legend, one of the best players in the league, represented Australia, you know, like champion.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I said to the doctor, oh, Steve Renouf, you know, isn't he cool?
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Mad try on the weekend, yada yada.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Yeah, Justin, did you know he has type one diabetes just like you?
8:43
SPEAKER_01: And I was that was probably one of the biggest turning points for me.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: And luckily for me, it was early on.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: And I had a doctor that he was quite empowering and inspiring and was able to tell me stories like that and finding out a that just took just takes one role model, you know.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: And that guy for me, Steve Renouf, was was the role model I needed to realize, hey, there was actually, although I can't do some things, there's actually a lot of things I can do, and one of them was be an athlete.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: So that was probably yeah, that shifted my perception of of how diabetes was gonna dictate my life, especially earlier.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, understand.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, that that in itself, that's interesting.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: It's good that you know, again, though that story sort of comes together, one dream goes, but then another one gets created with a role model there.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: So then uh, you know, we we talk a lot, or we will talk to an extent about you, you know, from a cycling perspective.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: So how did from I'm guessing just riding the bike with your mates around the bush turn into something that you know that you became passionate about?
9:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, the bike was uh an integral part of my youth.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me and my mates, we would ride after school, you know, go and get up for no good behind the school on the on the mountain bikes and ride all over the joint.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: And again, I was grateful to grow up where I did Penn and Hills in Northwest Sydney.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: It's like, yeah, there was heaps of bush tracks and just cool stuff.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: And this is the early, early days of mountain biking, well, early for me, uh late 90s, early 2000s.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, it was just cool.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: But I think the main time for me that made me realize, hey, I really, this is a big passion of my life.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: I I used to ride it to and from school because I would take the bus, but the bus, I hated the bus, and I used to get teased by the bigger kids on there.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, I was pretty skinny, lanky, like most young cyclists.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: I just hated getting the bus.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: I thought, you know, I was about five, six kilometers to school, and I thought, I'll bugger it.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: I'll ride the bike.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: And uh when I ride the bike, you get a smile on your face.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, I did.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: And so I started riding the longer way to school.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: There was this cool little bush track.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: I go in my school uniform and tuck my pants into my socks and ride this rubbish old mountain bike that I'd found on council cleanup through the bush track to get to school.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it didn't then whatever happened at school that day, it didn't really matter.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, it'd been a good day.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: I got to ride my bike, they'd put a smile on the doll.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: And now, you know, 23, 25 years later, um, yeah, still does the same thing for me.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: So I think that, you know, it sounds kind of airy-fairy and you know, a bit cliche, but I think the the smile is the most motivating thing you can happen that can happen to you in life.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: And for me, that smile when I was young happened when I would ride the bike.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: So it kind of has stuck with me ever since, like an addiction.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Worse things to be addicted to.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: So well, that's right.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: I I think being addicted to smiling is it sounds like it's a good thing.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it demonstrates there's a sense of enjoyment that you were getting from well, just riding to school.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: I suppose not many, not many kids would uh enjoy going to school, but it sounds like you found a way of of making that a daily reason.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, once I was there, it was a different story.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't exactly a um, you know, an A-grade student, but I enjoyed going to school and then riding home from school.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm curious then, at what point does riding your bike to and from school start to demonstrate a skill or an ability in that sport?
12:05
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think for me, you know, I had that dream about being a jet fighter pilot.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't no longer, you know, going to be a part of my life trajectory.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: But like I said, I was enjoying riding a bike and instead of just riding it to and from school, I started riding it on the weekend.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: And I'd start, this was like early days of the internet, and you could like find pictures of races in Europe and pictures of the Olympic Games, sort of there was a sport at the Atlanta Olympics.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: And then I went to the Olympic Games in Sydney.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: They had the mountain bike race at Fairfield City Farm, and I went with my dad, and I just remember thinking, this is so cool.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to do this one day.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: So that's I just got fully into it.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, yeah, I'm gonna be a professional bike rider.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: I started entering races, came last in my first race, but then I won my second race, just the local races out at Yarramundi in Western Sydney there, uh, local mountain bike races.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I think when I started racing and I, you know, I had a chip on my shoulder, I'm a normal Aussie kid and teenager, and just you know, wanted to be competitive and flex that competitive part of my constitution in a healthy way.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, so I stuck with it and I just kept doing it through high school.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: I was doing university.
13:17
SPEAKER_01: Well, I took a year off after high school to work to get money so I could buy more bike stuff.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: And then I went to on a trip to Europe by myself for a few months, and that was awesome with my bike.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I just kept going.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, I did get to professional.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: It took me 10 years and lots of humpty dumpys along the way, but yeah, it was uh a cool journey, stuck with me.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I mean that that's interesting.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: So if I just take you back a little bit, so to during school, wonderful that you were inspired by the Olympics.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: I think that's great.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that got you, you know, I guess into competing a little bit, a bit more now.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: So then going through school, have I understood is there was there pressure from family or anyone from yourself to you know stay in school, study, or were you already off dreaming of saying, right, I need to be going off to the mountain bike world championship?
14:11
SPEAKER_00: What's that like?
14:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's a good question.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: I think that's something that I'm forever grateful to my parents for.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: They were very encouraging for me and my two brothers to kind of pursue our dreams in life and not let our our jobs or our careers be dictated by what we think we should do, but more what we what we want to do.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: And that was, yeah, that was I'm I'm grateful for that.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, there was a realism about it.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you couldn't just ride your bike and pay the bills.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: So I was always had to work.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: And ever since I was legal to work, my parents encouraged me, well, they more or less forced me to work.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: So I was used to push trolleys at the shopping local, local Franklin shopping center and uh cooked chicken at KFC for a few years and stuff like that.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: And I think doing those jobs made me realize how much I didn't like the working life and how much I did love riding my bike and made that that drive to become professional a little more.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, I was cognizant that a life in sports isn't forever.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: So I do I, you know, I did study, I was serious about the higher school certificate when it was on, and I did get into university.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: So that was, yeah, and that became part of my life later on.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: Took me a while, but I uh I did come around to the the fact that I've got to juggle this sporting passion with some kind of academic uh, well, I mean, it doesn't have to be academic, but for me it was uh pursuit as well.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Right.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: And so talk to me, summarize for me a little bit, how did you then become professional?
15:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's an interesting story.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: I raced in Australia throughout the 2000s.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: I started on the mountain bike, and then I it was kind of obvious to me the further I got into the sport that if you want to be professional, the opportunities are on the road.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Like it's a bigger sport, there's more money in it.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: There's much more professionals that are road riders than are mountain bikers.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: And I loved riding the road bike as well.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: I had my mate, actually, I had a again a council cleanup road bike that I used to ride, and I did some local races on and some good mates, and I'm forever grateful for this.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Some good mates of mine in Sydney, they saw the piece of rubbish I was riding in, riding around on, and I was doing these races.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: And when you're working at KFC, you can't afford a good road bike.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: So they all chipped in and bought me this sweet Cannon Dow that I I rode for donkeys years.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: And I so I I kept riding on the road a bit more in 2009, 2007, 2008, 2009.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: I raced on the the national series in Australia.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: So and I got on a team that my club funded and took us to some bigger races.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: And there was a guy that was running our team named Trent Willow Wilson in 2009, and he just finished racing professional in the in the United States, and he knew I had type 1 diabetes, and he said, Oh, Justin, there's a team over there, and some of the riders on the team have type 1 diabetes.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh, what no way.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: And I looked them up again, earlier days of the internet.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: It had this rudimentary uh web page, and I'd found them on cyclingnews.com and stuff, and I thought, oh, that's so cool.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'll shoot them an email.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: And this team, it was called Team Type 1, got back to me and invited me for a season on their development program in 2010.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: So that was kind of the start of it.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it swings and roundabouts, you know, having having type one diabetes at the at the outset seems like a bit of a bad thing.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: But to be honest, I mean, I was I was an okay bike rider.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: I was, you know, I could get around the national A-grade level, no, no worries.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I wasn't winning things.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: I was I wouldn't, you know, be on the radar of Team Ineos or you know, any protein for that matter, but having the type one diabetes kind of gave me a bit of a bit of a shoe-in to get on this professional team.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, that that's quite an an an interesting story.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: So were they set up specifically to support people with type one?
17:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was sponsored by a pharmaceutical company that made medications for people with type 1 diabetes.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: And the beginning, when I first joined them in 2010, so 2010, I was with them for five years to the 2010, 2011, 2012, we would have a mix.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: So some of the professionals were living with type one diabetes, and some were just regular professional bike riders.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: So we would kind of try to learn from the other, and the the regular professionals were well established, they'd done lots of races, some of them done grand tours and had pro tour experience.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: So we kind of learned from them, which was yeah, there was it was a cool setup.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: It was, and I learned a lot from those years.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: And then in 2013, the team changed.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: Sponsorship became called Team Novo Nordisk.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: And the new sponsor, also a pharmaceutical company that makes medications for people with type 1 diabetes, they said, right, we'll we'll sponsor your team, but we want all the riders to have type 1 diabetes.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: So then, and it was yeah, that was a that was a step up.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: So in those years, those last two years, I was racing for them, 2013, 2014, we were all type 1 diabetic.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we big races.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're racing, they're still going now, and they're racing world tour races.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: You know, I did the tour of Denmark, the all the races, the tours in Asia and Mallorca, and yeah.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And so, I mean, just you know, closing on a bit on that career, but so what were highlights?
19:23
SPEAKER_00: What was success for you as a you know, someone someone as a pro cyclist living that dream?
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, that's a good question because I mean, if you look up my name on procycling stats or anything like that, I mean, it would be pretty um, it's not that impressive.
19:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like I'm I I'm real.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: It's not I did some big races, I did some cool races, but there's no big results.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: But I think so.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: The successes for me, you know, I was I loved training.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: I I would train the house down and do big miles.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: I would, you know, always train hard, but I was, I don't think at the top level anyway, I struggled to get into the headspace of racing at that level, but anyway, I still did it.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, the results weren't really a big success for me, but doing the races and being a part of it and the experiences associated with it and helping some teammates to some really cool results, that was a success for me.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, it did like the tour of Rwanda, that was amazing.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: I did that in 2012.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I got a top 10 there, that was all right.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: And the tour, tour of Moscow in Russia.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: I mean, these amazing races that I got to do with the like you do, obviously the race is serious, the race is stressful, but just being there and meeting the people and seeing the landscape of these places is pretty cool.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's really cool.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Certainly don't do yourself a disservice there because I think just listening to you it and looking at you, it's quite interesting because as you opened up, you know, riding your bike to school brought a smile to your face.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Riding your bike on the on these tours in Rwanda, in Moscow, in Denmark, these sound seems like that brought a smile to your face.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: Simply the training, and that's the fun piece, right?
20:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: Probably in the race uh was rarely smiling, but definitely afterwards or um and preparing for it.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I loved it.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: And I think after I was professional on the road, I kept racing on the mountain bike.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: I still do race on the mountain bike, and there I had some really cool experience.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: I raced a crocodile trophy twice.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I got a podium there over that was a success, I suppose.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: What's the crocodile trophy?
21:19
SPEAKER_00: What's that?
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Like a 10-day mountain bike race in Cape York in far northern Queensland.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: It's renowned as the hardest mountain bike race in the wild world, but there's a few races that call themselves that.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: So I believe you've got to do it to do them all, I suppose, to be the judge of which is the hardest.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, that it's quite a famous race.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: So that was that was cool.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: I did the Tour of Mongolia, the Tour of East Timor, race to world champs, and mountain bike one year.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just been a cool set of experiences, my whole cycling life.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, I it's been a big part of my my identity.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I bet it is actually.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: And and it's something you continue to do.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: There are too many stories of bankruptcies, mental Health issues and 42.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's time to activate every year 50,000 factors have reached a point where they need to consider their life activities.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: It might be a time injury, or they need to jump your careers between sport and a job.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: As a former English professional footballer, I have somehow managed to transition from sport into banking, strategy, innovation, and now life coach, career practitioner, and founder of the Second Wind Academy.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: So I want to help those around me find their career.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Find me on Instagram or through my new Facebook group, Second Wind Academy, where I'd love to know your thoughts and suggestions.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: So if we just slightly change sort of perspective a little bit.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, taking you back, you uh took out time before uni, traveled a good chunk of the world with your bike.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: This is before finding that sort of professional career.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: So, what did you intend to do, you know, career-wise at that point of your life?
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I'd enrolled at university initially in uh political science and law.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: So I got into law.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how my U at yeah, anyway, I got in, I got into it.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: I did a few months of law study and I thought, bugger this, this is not me at all.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't, it wasn't my cup of tea.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I transitioned my degree, I did an elective subject in psychology, and I just loved it.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: I thought, this is so interesting.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: This is stuff I want to get into.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: I can really dig into this.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: So I transitioned to a degree in psychology and education because I just saw a pathway to be a high school teacher.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: That was kind of a I had good, really good high school teachers at my high school, Penhills High.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought that would be a cool kind of career path.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: So I did I did the Bachelor of Psychology and the Diploma of Education High School, but it took me 10 years to do the degree.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Took you 10 years in total.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: So it's going to be four, but yeah.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: So from four years to 10 years.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: So talk to me about that.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: How you know that was your view becoming a teacher?
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Again, seems like you've had you had great role models at your your high school.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, in high school, I've played football at.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: So uh I've been interested in the city.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: I know, interestingly enough.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: So thinking then that was the path that you'd set yourself.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Where did cycling come in?
24:21
SPEAKER_00: How did you know, did you continue doing those studies while cycling?
24:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when I was studying, I would kind of back off from a full-time mode because I was working as well as I had to earn money.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: So I was always working.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: I was working in a bike shop and I was working at like a Kathmandu clothing store.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: And I'd do all kinds of odd jobs.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: So I was working and I was still wanting to race.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, part of the reason why I worked so much, is so I could pay for the racing.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I wasn't really, that's why the degree took me so long initially, is I wasn't wasn't doing full-time loads, I was only doing three subjects instead of four.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: So I'd kind of I never put my cycling on hold for the sake of the university.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: That's and then when I lived overseas, I couldn't do the university.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: This was all in-person studies.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: So I'd kind of go overseas for eight months and I come back and do a crash course in the summer when I was home and get a few credit points that way.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of why the degree took so long.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, cycling was cycling and university were always intertwined, so to speak.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Right.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: So during that 2010, 2014, 15 period, you were balancing cycling on the tour for a few months in the year, then coming back.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, talk me through what what was that?
25:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it was it was a bit of a uh it was a bit of a debacle, like I'd have an exam in November that I had to get back for, but then I'd be selected for a race, like actually the tour of Rwanda one year, and then I had to go and apply for a different date for the exam because of and normally they have these different dates for people that are sick or you know can't walk or something, but you know, I was just asking to have the change of date so I could go to a bike race.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: But they ex they approved it, so it was a bit of an ordeal.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: And I'd I'd come back like earlier in the season than some of the other guys, and my team was supportive of that in 2012.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: They were anyway.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: So that was I came back at the that was part of the reason I finished when I did the universe.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: The guy that was the dean or whatever for that degree uh said, Justin, you're taking the piss now.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's no one that's ever taken 10 years to do an undergraduate bachelor's degree.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: You'd have to get it done next year.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: So I had to the beginning of 2015, I did like four or five subjects and just rushed it through and got it, got it done after I'd finished cycling.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: So sounds like it was quite a challenging timetable, if anything, over those sort of five years of training, competing at on a professional stage, and then having to squeeze in studies when you could.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: And it was, I mean, when you're a professional bike rider, you probably squeeze in as a wrong term.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: You've got plenty of spare time, put it that way.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and it was actually helpful to have the cycling world can be so invasive for want of a better word, like it can be all consuming.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: Consume your every thought.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Cycling is performance in cycling is so inextricably linked to nearly everything else you do.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: So not to have something to uh enable your mind to switch off and focus on something that's not cycling is actually very beneficial, I think, not just for your mental health, but also for your performance in that sport.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: I imagine there's many other sports that are similar.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: So I was actually grateful to have, yeah, I'd always have some kind of you know, studies to read or readings to do or uh yeah, essays to write or something after I'd come back from training for a day or whatever.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: It was yeah, no, I was it was actually a good complement to sporting life.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, great.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: Were you then thinking, you know, to what extent during that cycling career were you thinking about what's next?
27:59
SPEAKER_00: How did that fit in with your world?
28:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I was always cognizant of it.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: I knew that you know, this cycling life wasn't gonna last forever, but I suppose it wasn't until uh after I was out of the cycling life that I realized how good the cycling life was.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that was uh uh I suppose we can chat about that uh next.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: That's that was kind of the the transition.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I was always aware of it.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: I did see guys like in the pro cycling world, and you'd live in Europe and Belgium with these guys and see, you know, they're just just lifelong bike races, just chompa, chewing at the bit to become professional one day.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: And it's I mean, it's not a glamorous path to live leading life.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the stuff you see on TV looks pretty cool, but even the guys that have made professional, it's not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or something.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a pretty uh pretty bare bones existence.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of getting deeper into the cycling world when I was in it made me just as motivated to prepare myself for what's next, you know, because the the cycling life uh it depends how what mindset you go into it with, but it can be it can be unhealthy.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: What did you do to prepare for what's next?
29:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh well the the study, I suppose, is probably the the main thing I did that was preparing for what's next.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: I was try to try to be cognizant of networking events I'd go to.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: So being with this team, team type one, team Novo Nordis, we do a lot of events for people with with type one diabetes, and the the sponsors would be there, there'd be other healthcare providers there.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so I was I was trying to be, you know, get the gift of the gab, so to speak, and try to, you know, get a good network because I I was aware of how important a network is in your opportunities in life and being able to speak with people and introduce yourself and you know make connections.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's probably another thing that I was kind of I could action that was preparing myself for the next step in my life.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's good.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: And and look, so you you hit 2015, you stepped off being uh, I guess a professional cyclist from that perspective.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: You were doing the studies.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, you finished in 2015, I think.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: So from there, how has that transition?
30:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what was that transition period like for you then?
30:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, look, to be honest, that was rough.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, it still is rough.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: I've been out of the professional game for eight years now.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I say, as much as I prepared for it, there's nothing, I think, in the kind of setup of pro cycling.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: And I'm I do hear it's a similar in other sports, nothing really that prepares you for the shock of losing that identity as a professional athlete.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: It was huge for me.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: I went, so I finished being a professional, then I finished my studies in the six months, first six months of 2015.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: Then I went to school teaching.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: So I was doing school, high school teaching.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love teaching, don't get me wrong.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: I loved that actual in front of the students and you know, engaging with them and helping them learn stuff.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: That was cool.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: But sitting in the staff room, writing lesson plans and reports and listening to the other teachers, you know, bitch about each other and yada yada, and just sitting inside and looking outside of the sunny day and thinking, hey, six months ago, I was out smashing miles with my mates, stopping at brew shops, you know, having a good time, you know, and getting paid good money more than I was being a teacher.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: And I like it, I struggled with it.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: It was um, it was a it's a shock because and you're you use when you're in the professional cycling life, and I imagine it was the same for you in football, like wherever you go, you're treated like a rock star.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: You get off the bus, there's people asking you for autographs, people wanting selfies with you, and like the PR companies around the team, they pump your tires up.
31:50
SPEAKER_01: So you walk around thinking you're this legend, and you think, like, hey, yeah, things work out for me.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm uh I I remember I came back to Australia once, so I flew into Melbourne Airport, and the sponsor, Nova Noise, had done a uh billboard in the airport above the baggage collection thing with my face on it.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: And it was so like Justin Morris welcomes you.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: There was a conference there or something, and I was like, Oh wow, you know, that's cool.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: You get to be a bit of an attention whore, I think.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: And I tried to stay grounded and I I hope I did an okay job of it, but it does get away, the ego gets away for you.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: And then when you're plonked into a situation where no one knows, no one really gives a shit about what you did before as an athlete.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: They just want you to mark the essays or you know, pack the shelves at the supermarket or change the tire at the bike shop.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're just spoken down to like a regular person.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: You and I think in some ways it was good for me, you know, brought me back down to worth, I think.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: But but it's a struggle, yeah.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: I must admit, I still, and even now, you know, I'm I'm washed up and I'm 36 years old, you know, being a pro is nowhere, nowhere uh in the realms of possibility for me ever again.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: But it's like I suppose you've been and physically too, you start to feel your physical condition just deteriorate.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, compared to the vast majority of the population, you're still considered, you know, one of the fittest people on the planet.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: But your bar has been set so high, and then you finish being professional athlete, and it's like, well, hang on, I've got to fill my my time with all this other stuff so I can pay the bills.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: And you've got to accept it's all, as far as my physical fitness is concerned, it's all downhill from here.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: And that's hard.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: I still struggle with that.
33:37
SPEAKER_01: So I still try to ride, you know, four or five times a week, but it's you know, I mean, I dawdle around at snail space now compared to what he used to do.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: But it's uh I yeah, I struggled.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a big part of the transition that myself and I know a lot of other ex-athletes do uh do struggle with.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, that is amazing.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: And like you say, there's there are many who who follow a similar path or you know, who who get that emotional sort of drop once stepping away from the professional sport and trying to find their way again.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And for you, like like you say, you went into you went into teaching, but there was still something that that's missing.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: So what followed?
34:14
SPEAKER_00: How did you manage to get or how are you getting through that process?
34:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, that's uh that's a good question.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh the teaching I didn't last long with, to be honest.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: I it was I was grateful the team that I raced for, so Team Nova Noise, they had an ambassador program where some ex-athletes, some are other athletes that weren't professional, they travel the world and go to these events that uh for people with type one diabetes to share the story about the team and try to try to motivate them and be that Steve Renouf, be what Steve Renouf was for me to the next generation of people with type 1 diabetes.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I still do that work.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: They invited me back as an ambassador after I stopped racing.
34:55
SPEAKER_01: So then after I'd finished my degree, I would get invited to these events, like in Hong Kong, in Japan, in Taiwan, and in the UK.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'd travel all over, like I've been I was flying all the time.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: I was racking up the points, and and uh it was cool because it was like you're still getting these little doses of what you used to experience as a professional.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: You're put up in front of people and told that you're awesome, and you tell your story and you try to empower encourage people to get the most out of their lives.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was it's awesome work.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: I got to really, really see some cool stories develop out of some of those events, not just from it from not from just me being there, but from the other people that were there, you know, work with doctors and with uh diabetes nurses and stuff.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: And so that stuff became actually that was the reason I got out of high school teaching, is because I couldn't do the teaching work and then every three weeks be like, oh hey, sorry, I've got to pop off to Singapore for a week next week, get in the cover.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't really fly with a normal full-time job.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: So I I started doing that work, which was paying the bills on the most part.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: And I'd work in a bike shop when I was back in in Sydney.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it was a lot of a lot of travel.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: And I did, yeah, I did I love that work.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: I still do love it, but I mean, COVID put a big, a big uh dent in in those type of events and the travel associated with it were associated with it.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: But that's um that's kind of been a big part of my my working life since then, yeah.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: Look, it it again, really, really good to hear that it sounds like actually I'll ask you, to what extent do you think that thought, that networking was going to be a good thing for you?
36:34
SPEAKER_00: How you know, how do you think that influenced your ability to then become an ambassador?
36:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that was a big part of it.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's you can be the best bike rider, you can win the you know, tour de France or whatever.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: But if you can't, you know, hold a conversation well or be a good storyteller, which was something I also tried to develop my skills in, is it is a skill, and I think it it emanates from being from listening.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna try and listen a lot to your audience and then be able to deliver a good story that's powerful to them.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that that kind of that networking is probably what enabled me to have a lot of those, the get a lot of those gigs because I made an effort to chat to people.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and you you talked there about developing these skills, such as being a storyteller.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: How did you develop those skills?
37:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, first is obtaining the story.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: So I that was uh again, I'm grateful for my cycling life for and grateful to the team that I I've raised teams that I've I'd raised for here in Australia, and then team Novo Nordisk Overseas and Marathon MTB, which is a mountain bike team I raced for for many years.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was just the places I got to go and the stories that you accumulate.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: And cycling is really good for generating stories because it's a team sport.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: So you're you're in a team, but you're kind of all having a different experience in the same event.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: So then after an event, it's really good banter, really good sharing stories about what you'd been through each each stage or each race or or whatever.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think that's I mean, there's no like degree and there's no real formal training you can do in storytelling.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: I've started to engage with the Australian Sports Commission this year.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: They have a volunteer program for people that want to be mentors, and I've engaged in that.
38:21
SPEAKER_01: That's been good, and they do a bit of training for you about you know about how to be a supportive and helpful mentor.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's helped my storytelling skills, definitely.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: It does.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: I like the first point.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: The step one is to have stories to tell.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: Um I quite like that.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: So and everyone's got stories, you know.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: But I think every let's say I I I love meeting people and you know, I always find out, we try to find out where they're from, what they've been through, and stuff.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: It's it's interesting, it's it's everyone's got one.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: But I think in cycling, it's so unique.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: And having been a professional athlete, that's also unique for a lot of people.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: And you're put on a bit of a pedestal, whether it's justifiable or not, that you're on the pedestal, but it's a different story.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: But people are interested in it.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: And it's it is such a unique experience that a lot of people don't get access to, that it's it's interesting for a lot of people to hear and powerful, especially for young people who might have a chronic condition like type one diabetes, to hear that someone like them has done something.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: Like being the poster, having the that role model, you know, for someone who's got that who can overcome, if I can say it, do I mean to overcome the condition?
39:28
SPEAKER_00: Or do I mean to live with the condition, perhaps?
39:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, live with diabetes.
39:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because you can't, it's very hard to be what you haven't seen.
39:35
SPEAKER_01: And I was lucky because my life was changed because and made better because I had access to role models.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, that's I think a big part of what Team Novanois does now is they're providing role models for the next generation of people with diabetes.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just Team Novo Nordis.
39:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's heaps of awesome athletes, heaps of I mean, politicians, there's you know, actors, there's musicians, all kinds of people doing amazing things despite their type one diabetes these days.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, coming back to that that career, and I'm curious now to keep tracking through your transition.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: So you said you were a teacher for only a short period.
40:12
SPEAKER_00: You then became um or continued to be an ambassador as you are today.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: So how do you use your stories and that that sort of mentor type role that you have today?
40:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's I mean, the ambassador works awesome when it's on, but it's very unpredictable and it's not really.
40:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can't live off it.
40:28
SPEAKER_01: So I um and I'd always work in bike shops because that was flexible work and I was good at it, I could do it with my eyes closed.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: There was no, it was easy work to get.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: And um it was, yeah, I mean, it was it was cool work.
40:40
SPEAKER_01: I enjoyed that as well.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I I really wanted to get into like athlete mentoring, athlete well-being type work.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: And the state institutes and the Australian Institute of Sport have this really good program that I would I'd read about.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: It was called Personal Excellence.
40:57
SPEAKER_01: Now I think it's the athlete well-being program.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, oh, that's my dream job, you know, psychology, I've done that, and yada yada.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: But I'd apply for this with these jobs whenever they popped up, and I don't know if they're already been filled, or you know, I'm just not very good, but I'd never get the jobs.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: And and I kind of that after probably the third one I'd applied for, and I'd get an interview, but you know, maybe I wasn't a good enough storyteller.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: But you know, I never, I never, never got the got the job after these.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not many applications that only rarely these jobs come up, but two or three times I'd applied and I thought, oh, we'll bugger it, you know.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: I know what I want to do, I'll do them self, you know.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: So I I started an ABN and started a website because I had all these ideas about and my experiences as an athlete.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: I kind of thought I can see a gap that people could really appreciate some help in this area, which is the, you know, not just the performance, like the writing the programs and yada yada, but also the more holistic um mental well-being approach to being an athlete.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: So I started my own business.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, I started started as a cycling coaching business called Mind Matters Athlete Coaching.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: I started that at the end of 2017 and I'm still going now.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, be yeah, five years been going strong and yeah, been helping all kinds of athletes from national champions to people that just want to learn how to go around a corner on a mountain bike.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: And it's really cool, yeah.
42:22
SPEAKER_01: And I try to deliver a program that you know helps them improve physically, but also you know, I I try to do a lot, I put an emphasis on a lot of one-on-one time, like in-person riding together, because I think that's really powerful.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: And something that was missing from my coaching experience as a professional, but having someone sit next to you on the bike and look at your position, just chat to you, because in person you have so much better storytelling.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: It's hard when you're in a different country, but I've got really good contract coaches that are absolute legends that I trust in dearly who are back there that do the work in Australia for me at the moment.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: But I've got a bunch of athletes here in the USA too that I look after and they're awesome.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: It's been, yeah, it's been cool.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: I've I've really appreciated growing this business and got it to a point where it's a full-time job, more or less.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a stressful full-time job because you don't, you know, I mean, especially in an economy such as the one we're living, living in at the moment.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: It's uh such as being a small business owner in a lifestyle type um industry.
43:19
SPEAKER_01: I imagine I'd be the first thing on the chopping block for people's monthly budgets.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so far, so good.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: So hopefully it's uh it stays that way.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: But yeah.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think that's great.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: I love the fact you you know you're applying for jobs because you knew what you wanted to do or how you wanted to help other athletes.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: Although you didn't get the jobs, you figured decide it, I'll do it myself.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: And so you did, and you are.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: I think that's great.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's cool.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: And I think, yeah, there's cool things that I can deliver and like just cool experiences I can share and try to get to know the athletes and help them on their journey.
43:51
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it's uh it seems to be working.
43:53
SPEAKER_01: I've got a few national champions, uh, and guys that run for a national team here in the USA and yeah.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: National Championship medalists in Australia.
44:02
SPEAKER_01: It was it's been cool.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're a pretty and I I think my business name attracts a pretty, you know, pretty down to worth driven athlete.
44:11
SPEAKER_01: So I'm grateful I've had really, really cool and genuine people to work with.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: That's great, wonderful determination.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: And you know, as you were growing up, you haven't really spoken about being an entrepreneur and running your your own business.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: Was so to what extent was it something that came about because you know you were getting rejected by others.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: Um rejection can be the most motivating thing to happen.
44:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'd never imagine myself being a business owner or a um, it's not probably still not one of my fortees.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in necessity breeds innovation.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: I've kind of worked it out how to stumble across month to month, but probably should chat to someone like you that's much more savvy with with money and stuff like that.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I've it's something that's net was never in my vision for my working life.
44:59
SPEAKER_01: But again, I think necessity forces it, forces it.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I could do other work, of course, you know.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: I could you know go work here on my in-laws' farm and farm cherries.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: I you know there's other stuff I could do, but I still want to do what I love, you know, and I think there's still a demand for it.
45:17
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to keep doing it as long as I can.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: So it's yeah, it's kind of been been thrust upon me this business life.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: But don't ask me for any advice on banking unless you want to know how to empty an account or anything to do with uh fiscal being fiscally sustainable.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: That's that's not my forte.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, but you know your strengths, you're sticking to your strengths, and that's necessity and innovation.
45:41
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully that gets appreciated.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's great.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: And and so look, I'm looking back, thinking about the career that you've had, the one you're having now, and you've transitioned along that that way.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: What guidance or advice, you know, do you give to those who are looking to follow and find that route to professional cycling or you know, professional sport in general?
46:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a good one.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: And it's something I often ask people in my podcast as well.
46:07
SPEAKER_01: But and it's uh yeah, there's so many things, and uh, you know, I could waffle on about all the generic types of things, you know, work hard, you're gonna face uh uh adversity along the way, but keep pushing.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, you've got to find your passion because if you're not passionate about it, everything else won't happen.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: The hard work will become really, really hard if you're not passionate about it.
46:28
SPEAKER_01: And the challenges will seem like absolute Mount Everests if you're not passionate about it.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: So try to find that smile.
46:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean, and it's hard for some people I know that say, Oh, you know, I don't have a have a passion, I don't have a hobby, and I'll meet these people at some of the diabetes events I go to.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: But you know, there's try different things, you know, you gotta what makes you smile, you know.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: And if if you're enjoying it, then hey, then you're on to something.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I I I I hear you.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: And and I think that enjoyment, the smile, uh probably a new thing I'm gonna start using now, uh, following yourself.
47:01
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, finding that smile, finding what you enjoy.
47:03
SPEAKER_00: I think that that there's some great bits of advice and guidance for those who are coming through and trying to figure out how to transition after the game.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: I think it's crucial.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: And I I talk about in my elevator pitch that I'm not very good at about the five P's of performance and cycling.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: And number one is passion, purpose, patience, um, persistence, and perspective.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: That's my my five P's.
47:24
SPEAKER_01: But number one's passion.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you yeah, that that kind of gets the ball rolling for everything else.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: Five P's.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: And and I think another thing, I mean, again, I'm waffling on, like I said, I wouldn't do, but I mean, just because you're passionate about it doesn't mean gonna be easy.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's still hard.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: I I can guarantee it's not um, it's no walk in the park what I'm doing now, but it's uh it's just the drive, the drive is there, the drive accompanies the passion.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and and uh I guess as you said, there are five piece.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: So the passion alone isn't enough, but you need some of that.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: I guess the last one, that persistence as well to keep you going.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really like that.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: Look, Justin, thanks very much for joining me on the podcast today and for sharing your your story so far.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: No, good on you, Ryan.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I'm really interested and appreciative of what you're setting up here with Second Wind, like we we were just chatting.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: I think it's huge, um, there's huge demand for it.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you're gonna help a lot of people.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for involving me.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Justin.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Second Win podcast.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoyed hearing insights from today's athlete on transitioning out of competitive careers.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for career clarity for your next step, make sure you check out secondwin.io for more information or to book a consultation with me.
48:39
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to thank Claire from Betty Brook Design, Nancy from Savvy Podcast Solutions, and Cerise from Copying Content by Lola for their help in putting this podcast together.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: That's all from me, take it easy until next time.