Alexis Skarda - Pro Cyclist, National Champion, Music Producer + DJ
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Alexis Skarda is a professional cyclist who rides for the Santa Cruz HtSqd and is the US Marathon National Cross-Country Mountain Bike Champion, a Lifetime Grand Prix racer, an emerging electronic music artist and she’s a formidable force on the 1s and 2s as a DJ as well as a podium threat at any gravel race she enters.
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I love to produce electronic music, I love to DJ and I love to ride bikes, so I’m really excited to share today’s episode with you.
As a journalist, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing and writing about artists like The Crystal Method, Daft Punk and Chris Cornell.
And from time to time I got to write about and ride with world class musicians who loved to ride bikes like Tim Commerford, the bass player for Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine.
But I’ve never written about a high-level pro cyclist who also puts out incredible music. I’m excited to get to do that in this interview.
Choose the Hard Way is a podcast about how doing hard things is fun. Please help more people find this podcast. To do that, just hit subscribe and rate the show five stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this episode with someone you care about.
Go to choosethehardway.com to sign up for the newsletter and if there’s someone you think would make a great guest, DM @hardwaypod.
Choose The Hard Way is a Big Truck Production. Anthony Palmer at Palm Tree Pod Co is the producer and editor and Emily Miles is head of digital and marketing. Jeffrey Nebolini is the world-renowned designer behind our brand identity and the Choose the Hard Way logo. The content for this show is created by @vontz.
In This Episode:
Alexis Skarda Instagram
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Andrew Vontz 0:00
Oh, I'm one of those people who during the pandemic, I let my hair get really, really long. It was the longest I've ever been like below shoulder length. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And I found the helmet actually was like a performance enhancer for my hair. Because it just kind of would give me that like Wall Street look right. But yeah, just Yeah, totally this, this sweat would kind of breeze it in place. Just be like stuck back. I could go right into a meeting. That's amazing.
Alexis Skarda 0:29
That doesn't happen with my hair, fortunately.
Andrew Vontz 0:33
I mean, I'm a lucky man. Yeah, so before we get rolling, just I have no idea what you know about me or the podcast. But the podcast broadly, I guess I told you about. It's about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun. And I do have a lot of people from the world of cycling on I've been involved in riding gear bikes for probably 35 plus years now. I've raised quite a bit. Certainly never at the level that you have. I have had a couple of good results. So I got second at the unbound 100 Twice. I'd never I never won. Yeah, and I brace I really, really love racing cross. But I messed up both on my knees and my back. So I can't do that anymore. Bla bla bla bla bla. Yeah, so I've been doing this podcast for about six years. My goal. There are a lot of podcasts out there where people share tips, tricks, hacks. And what I found is people almost always forget all that stuff. But what they remember are the stories that they hear people tell and how they make them feel. So I just like to talk to people that I find to be interesting, who are the best are among the very best at what they do. And just kind of hear their stories about various aspects of their life. And, you know, in your case, your sport, music, things like that. And just to share a bit about me, I most recently was an executive at Strava. I was there for seven years, I helped the company grow from single digit millions to over 100 million users helped it to reach profitability. I decided to move on from there. Like last February, I'm now starting another company with another former Strava executive. Before that, I was head of content at TRX, the human performance and training company started by a former Navy SEAL. And before that, I was a journalist for about a decade and wrote about people places and things at the limits of human experience kind of broadly used to that and compost everything from I actually wrote about electronic music quite a bit like the Crystal Method, Daft Punk. All kinds of artists, John Digweed. Yeah, all kinds of different electronic music artists. That wasn't really my focus. I also wrote a lot about high performance sport. I wrote a daily column during the Tour de France for a couple tours for Fox Sports. And yeah, yeah, real for like Rolling Stone Outside Magazine, LA times a lot of different stuff. And, yeah, so I started this podcast because I missed. I didn't particularly miss, like the business side of journalism, but I really did miss getting to spend time with people like you. And, you know, it was really interesting, because typically, the most interesting things I experienced with the people I wrote about worth things that couldn't go in the story, because it wasn't appropriate for the outlet or it's just like stuff that, you know, what, for whatever reason, it just, they weren't things that people wanted to share. Anyway, not that we're gonna we're not gonna like get into reveal your secrets or anything. But yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, you know how it is like you were reading a magazine 10 years ago, you're seeing the highlights. You're not seeing like, what was it actually what like, you know what I mean? Yeah.
Alexis Skarda 3:47
Just the public.
Andrew Vontz 3:48
Yeah, yeah, totally. So, yeah, so anyway, sometimes. You know, I'm just aware that my guests don't always may not have ever heard my podcast, they may have no idea who I am. I'm just somebody sliding into their DMS. So that's a bit about me. I've got two kids. I live in rural Maine, actually, I lived out in the bay area. For a long time. I was in California for like 25 years. And I grew up. I grew up in Missouri. So I think that's important to know, too. And I'm about to do the middle distance of BWI, Kansas next weekend. Oh, so I've been training.
Alexis Skarda 4:23
Yeah. What's the mileage on the middle distance?
Andrew Vontz 4:28
That's a good question. They've changed it like four times in the last month now it's 83 miles with four kg of climbing. Okay, but should should be a good should be your course. So, I guess you know, I think an important thing just to set the stage Alexis is how many grams of carbs per hour do you think are optimal for doing a podcast?
Alexis Skarda 4:49
Oh, for a podcast for our Oh geez. I don't know but definitely a lot of grams of coffee.
Andrew Vontz 4:56
A lot of grams of coffee. How many copies do you drink today?
Alexis Skarda 4:59
I'm probably not a lot actually I just sip on it all day.
Andrew Vontz 5:04
sip on an all day. Do you have a stop time?
Alexis Skarda 5:09
Sometimes three, ideally.
Andrew Vontz 5:14
Interesting. Yeah, that's cool. I'm asking because for the company that I'm starting, it's related to helping people build essential health habits that have a really high ROI. And in the sleep category right now, I'm running a test related to time shifting people's caffeine consumption. So I'm always really curious, like, what are people drinking? And and when did they stop? Anyway, so obviously, I've done a ton of research about you, I've tried to listen to all the podcasts that you've been on. And just this morning, I was watching your White Rim app KTFKT. Video. And you know, I've also had pizza done on here, and I'm sure you watch Pete's video where he did that attempt and missed it by a margin that I believe could have been accounted for just by GPS drift. You
Alexis Skarda 6:07
know, it's so rough. Yeah.
Andrew Vontz 6:09
But, you know, one aspect of yours that I'm really curious about is, what what was that? Like, for your relationship with your fiancee at the time?
Alexis Skarda 6:23
The White ran experience, or what do you Yeah, like?
Andrew Vontz 6:26
Yeah, I don't know. I just seems like that must be a really intense thing. For a relationship, or maybe it's not, but just from the outside, that was the thing that I was curious about?
Alexis Skarda 6:36
Um, yeah, it's,
I have to remember now, because it's been 2020. But yeah, it was kind of an interesting time, I think. Because at that point, I had just gotten on the Santa Cruz team. And before that, Jeff, my fiance was like, my whole support system. And he came to races and supported me and all that kind of thing. And it was kind of a transitional period with, with the white rim with him supporting me. And then now the team supporting me. And so I think not just the whole White Rim situation, but just the time period that it was in was just, I guess, interesting. In that aspect.
Andrew Vontz 7:27
Yeah, what's, what is the ship and like, between having your partner support you? And then now having a team that takes care of most of that stuff? I would think or maybe it doesn't. What does that like?
Alexis Skarda 7:38
Yeah, it changed a lot. Because yeah, I guess that first year, we were so used to just working the two of us. And then
it was just like a learning curve, on how to make it work with the team also. And it kind of just gradually became the team is now like, the support for the racing and then home life just became more of a separate thing. Yeah, it kind of separated the thing, the two things.
Andrew Vontz 8:12
Did that go smoothly? Um,
Alexis Skarda 8:16
not really. I think the first year was just difficult to figure out our place, like his place, and then my place and then, like, how to make that whole machine function smoothly. And eventually, it all sorted itself out. But it just took, you know, took about a year, I think, to get used to the new way of doing things.
Andrew Vontz 8:42
Yeah, yeah. And we were talking about this a little bit before we got rolling, but you're at home right now. And gravel worlds are about to happen in Italy, and you were selected for the team. So why are you at home right now?
Alexis Skarda 8:59
Looking at my race calendar, I have to make a tough decision. So if I had done worlds, it would have been seven races in a row of like super important priority races. I really wanted to race marathon nationals that was important to me. I wanted to go for the jersey. The two lifetime Series events were important since where I'm sitting in second place. And I already had my two drop races, I hope so I needed to do on those. And the first one was gravel nationals, there was a lot of money on the line. And weirdly enough gravel worlds kind of just wasn't as big of a priority. I'm having a little bit of FOMO now making that decision because I didn't know how well gravel nationals is going to go it would have been cool to get first place and go get it paid for but at the time, gravel just wasn't really as much of a priority. But now I kind of wish seeing everyone out there. I kind of do wish I was out there with the team
Andrew Vontz 10:01
Yeah, I was just looking at the start list for both the men's and women's races this morning and the fields are incredibly stacked. And there are also one of the things that was most interesting to me is that the Italian and Dutch teams have to have close to 20 riders each. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if if the I don't know what the qualification standards are to get into gravel worlds, clearly, it must be different than what it is for road or mountain bike. Because the size of these teams, it's just kind of nuts. I've never seen teams as big at a world championship. And then I have no idea if you have any insight into what's going on there. But it seems like you could bring infinity writers if they met the selection criteria.
Alexis Skarda 10:51
Yeah, I honestly have no idea. And I don't know how it works on the road scene. So I wouldn't be able to compare. But that's interesting. It'll be interesting to see how that all plays out.
Andrew Vontz 11:01
Yeah. Do you have any thoughts in one way? Or the other about what's happening with gravel World Championships in the UCI? Is involvement in the sport this year? Not
Alexis Skarda 11:12
really. I haven't really, because I've been focused so much on domestic races, and yeah, biking. I don't know exactly. That whole scene?
Andrew Vontz 11:26
Yeah. Okay. And this is, Alexis, this is something I often do, because my mom is one of my core listeners of my podcast. Shout out to Bonnie. And one of the things she always asked me is she says, sometimes she gives me the feedback of you get into areas where you're not giving any context. And a lot of your listeners probably don't know what you're talking about. But just as it relates to the domestic national scene, I mean, you are an incredibly high caliber professional mountain biker. And you also are racing, the lifetime Grand Prix and all these gravel events and mixed disciplines. What is the state of mountain bike racing in United States right now? And if you had the ability just to completely sustain yourself racing, mountain biking, would you be doing this other stuff?
Alexis Skarda 12:19
It is interesting, kind of it's what disciplines become popular and fall in and out of popularity, I guess. And this whole gravel scene is so big right now. And that's kind of where everyone's attention is at. And you kind of have to follow what's you know where the interest is. And where my heart lies is definitely still with mountain biking. I really liked that three to four hour range of Marathon events, and mountain biking. But gravel biking is definitely growing on me a little bit, I would say. It's been a learning curve. In the style of racing, I'm used to going hard. And it's more of an individual thing, where you're just racing as hard as you can on your own and gravel. I've really had to control my effort, and learn how to work with people and when tactics and it's been a really interesting learning experience. And I do appreciate that part of it. So it has opened up my world a little bit and skill sets and that kind of thing. I'm still getting the hang of that. As far as where mountain biking is. Yeah, there's not a lot of opportunities. It seems like in the whole mountain biking scene in the United States right now. It seems like the US stuff in the United States is mostly Junior have become like mostly a junior attended event. And I'd like to see that change in the future. It'll be interesting to see if it kind of comes back.
Andrew Vontz 13:53
Yeah, and do you? Did you do Nika? Growing up? Was that available to you? No,
Alexis Skarda 13:59
Nika wasn't really a thing. I think that started the year after I left and I was big into running at the time, so I don't think I would have gotten into it. We ran mostly through college until injuries kind of prevented me from racing. And that's how I got into cycling through collegiate college racing.
Andrew Vontz 14:17
Yeah, okay. Um, What injuries did you have a
Alexis Skarda 14:21
bunch of overuse injuries, stress fractures, tendinitis. kind of had a little bit of everything. Kandra militia was a big one. That's where your knee, the cartilage in your knee hardens, and like scrapes against the kneecap and it's really painful. And it takes like six to eight months to completely heal. So I would be out of this, you know, season for a long time and riding bikes is much less impact. And I found I could actually race longer without having to sit out. So that's kind of I started drifting towards biking.
Andrew Vontz 14:54
Were you bummed out when your running career ended?
Alexis Skarda 14:57
It was so gradual that I'm Honestly, I don't even know if I noticed it happened. Really? Yeah, it's it's interesting. I definitely was bummed out when I was injured and I had to sit out during the season. But I would go in and out of racing with the, with the cycling team. And then yeah, I finished out my four years of running eligibility with the team and then started mountain biking and found success. And I just, like, switched into it so quickly that it just, yeah, I didn't really miss running because of just enjoying that and biking, I guess.
Andrew Vontz 15:39
What was your first ride with the team? Like, do you remember that?
Alexis Skarda 15:46
Um, kind of.
It's interesting. When I was on the team at CMU, there were weren't a lot of women participating yet. Now, it's like a huge, probably 5050 women to men ratio on the CMU team, and it's a big, a big thing. But I was there at the beginning. And, and so it was just me with a bunch of guys. And yeah, I don't really remember a lot of our training rides. But I do remember going to Nationals for mountain biking that first year I went, and just thinking, I do not belong here. What am I doing and it was snowy and muddy. And I remember prewriting with the guys, and I couldn't get up some of the things that they were getting up. And I just remember having almost a breakdown, like I can't do this. And interestingly enough, the next day, because of the mud, we ended up having to run a lot of the sections. It was like, able to pass people on the climbs and ended up winning the marathon national event. And thinking, well, maybe this is something I can do. It gave me confidence to think about it and pursue it.
Andrew Vontz 17:08
That yeah, that's seems like something that might give someone you when the when you win the race, right? Yeah,
Alexis Skarda 17:15
it was definitely an interesting and unique situation, I think.
Andrew Vontz 17:22
Was there a point when you knew you wanted to make this your profession? Or did it just kind of naturally happen over time,
Alexis Skarda 17:29
when I graduated college, I wanted to either pursue marathon running triathlons, or mountain biking. And I think I just naturally fell into mountain biking, because it made the most sense in my lifestyle. And with results and opportunities, it just doors open to that direction. I knew I wanted to do some sort of professional sport. That's just what I wanted to do since fourth grade. And yeah, it's just, I never would have thought mountain biking would have been my sport, but that's just where it were I ended up.
Andrew Vontz 18:07
And what did it look like, initially, to be a professional cyclist? Like, were you did you have other jobs? Were you patching things together? Or were you able to totally make a living on supporting yourself going out and racing bikes?
Alexis Skarda 18:21
Yeah, that was such a huge learning experience. You know, I think people don't realize how hard it is to to become a professional athlete, especially in the sport of mountain biking, where, you know, it's not as popular to watch, as you know, like basketball or team sports. It's hard to find sponsors and opportunities. And I think I thought that there would be more going into it as a professional, but I ended up working full time as a substitute teacher. And that was just super draining, dealing with kids, you know, who aren't on their best behavior with a substitute. And then trying to train when I would get home and the first couple of years, were a bit of a struggle I was getting last place at races and kind of going backwards in abilities and sorry. Yeah, it's it took me a while to figure out that that whole balance of work life and racing, eventually I started going part time with substitute teaching. And I was able to get a lot further with my training and I got a coach. My coach actually was Jeff, my fiancee for my first couple years and that's definitely was hard on a relationship I think just because it playing coach and in a relationship just but it has and so Oh, learning that as well figuring out relationship and job and, and racing all that thing and getting out into the real world after college, it was definitely a hard transition.
Andrew Vontz 20:16
When you were substitute teaching, was there a particular topic or age range? I don't know much about substitute teaching. So how did that work?
Alexis Skarda 20:26
I have my teaching license in PE, okay. But as a substitute teacher, you just teach everything in anything. And so I taught kindergarten, actually, preschool through high school, and some serious role subjects. And, and you walk into a classroom, sometimes you'll have really well thought out plans, and sometimes you won't have anything at all. And so it was a, that was kind of a character building experience on its own, honestly. And I actually became this, what they would call emergency substitute teacher, where they would call me morning of and tell me where to go where they would need a substitute, like, right away. And, and so, you know, I wouldn't know what I'm getting into that day. And it was interesting, every day was different.
Andrew Vontz 21:18
What did you learn about people from doing that?
Alexis Skarda 21:22
Oh,
I learned I think more about myself through this experience, I think I learned. Yeah, just that whole, like leadership role and how to handle a lot of people. Because you know, you've got 2530 Kids, so you've got to be paying attention to every single kid at once. And that's hard. For me. I'm not necessarily particularly good at that sort of thing. I learned that. It's hard for me to focus on a lot of people and be in charge of people in that way. So yeah, I don't think it's a strength of mine. And that's what I learned.
Andrew Vontz 22:09
Yeah. So while you were doing that, you know, to make ends meet, and you're also pursuing becoming a professional athlete. Did you have a high degree of competence and your ability to go to the next level as you're going through that process?
Alexis Skarda 22:23
At first I did. And then, like I said, when I graduated and tried to figure out the balance of everything, I lost a lot of confidence. At some points during this whole thing, I ended up getting rheumatoid arthritis. And that whole thing was definitely it like, hurt a lot of my competence as well. It took me a while to figure out what was going on there. And I guess I'm kind of jumping some years here because this was when I finally got onto my first team with Stan's NoTubes. We were kind of the pink team and I just got onto Cannondale bikes and everything started getting painful. My joints were hurting, and I was blaming the equipment, and I couldn't figure out what was going on for the longest time and friend of ours, on the high school team, he was one of the coaches, and he was a doctor and said, maybe you have rheumatoid arthritis. And I was like, No. And as the years went by, is like, well, something's definitely not right. Things were.
Yeah, it was difficult to I feel like I've trailed off on a completely different.
Andrew Vontz 23:55
That's okay. I mean, I'm, I'm curious with rheumatoid arthritis. Like, once you found out that that was what was going on? Is that something that you have to continually manage? Like, are you still Is that something you're still managing today? Yeah,
Alexis Skarda 24:07
so rheumatoid arthritis is a degenerative thing. So it's something that gets worse every year. But if you can kind of keep it under control, it's better and I've gotten on medications, biologics that help keep it under control. And actually, honestly don't even notice I have it anymore. Now that I'm on this drug, and it's completely made my life normal. So which has been awesome, but it took a while to get to that point to trust taking medication and to kind of get past the point of denial of even having it. Yeah, it was interesting. I got to the point where I couldn't turn the key in my ignition, and walking was painful. I couldn't do push ups. I couldn't put any weight are no risks or like, yeah, just walking or sitting in a chair was painful. The most painful thing was putting socks on in the morning, I remember getting dressed or trying to find clothes was hard. I was like, Okay, I think this is past the point of training. I don't think this is just me training hard anymore, something else is going on. And I think the breaking point was, I was at a yoga class, and I just wanted to move, I wanted to be able to move and I couldn't. And I just like, broke down. And I was like, I need to do something about this.
Andrew Vontz 25:37
How long did it take from the onset of those symptoms to you figuring out okay, this is what's going on, and then getting to a point where you're managing it with medication.
Alexis Skarda 25:45
Um, I would say, let's see, that was start of painting, which was when I was 2006. And then I got on stuff.
Probably three years, I want to say, or two to maybe years.
Andrew Vontz 26:06
That must have been hard. Well, what's
Alexis Skarda 26:08
interesting and frustrating about it as you go into remission. And so I would try things naturally, like, I would take out I would take out like peanut butter, and then I would feel better like, oh, it was just peanut butter. And then I'll send it again. And yeah, there was just a lot of trial and error. And, and nothing was working, actually.
Andrew Vontz 26:32
So by the time you've figured out what was going on you, you know, you find drugs that are working for you, what year is up?
Alexis Skarda 26:44
Let's see. That was probably
2019.
Andrew Vontz 26:51
Wow. Okay, so you've kind of, yeah, you fit, you figure this out. And then the pandemic happens? Pretty much it sounds like Right, yeah.
Alexis Skarda 27:02
Um, I started on one of the biologics called HUMIRA. And actually, this was maybe 2018. Okay, actually 2018. And then that worked for about a year, and then it started wearing off. And every time it's with this is, it's an injection, and it would work for like three days, and then I would start feeling the effects again, after three days. So I tried to take the injection close to race day so that I would feel good, and then it would wear off and and then I got on Enbrel, and that's been working. A year later, it's been working since so I'm hoping that that continues to work.
Andrew Vontz 27:41
Okay, so you can kind of start to get stopped out. So you have a program to manage your rheumatoid arthritis, you're able to probably to perform at a different level than you were previously. And then it sounds like then the pandemic happens. So at that point, as somebody who's a professional athlete whose livelihood would depend on going being able to go out and compete against other people, you know, how did you think about what was happening? And how did you come up with the plan for that period of time?
Alexis Skarda 28:11
Gosh, you know, a plan for that period of time didn't exist, I think for anyone, because we were all just waiting for it to happen again. And we didn't know how long that was gonna last. So I think I had to take it day by day. And I took it as an opportunity to just train really hard. And honestly, I mean, in the long run, maybe that helps me, because I think I was at that point in time, with everything going on for seeing the races, and just forcing going. I wasn't necessarily enjoying it as much as I used to. And I think it definitely maybe played to my advantage I want to say but there. I say that hesitantly because there were definitely some breakdowns during that time of just uncertainty, and like, just keep training for the next race, and then it would get canceled train for the next race get canceled. So I think it was just a lot of ups and downs. And that's when I decided to do things like the White Rim and try to find other ways to promote myself during that time.
Andrew Vontz 29:19
Yeah, and we talked about that a little bit, and you have an awesome video about your fk T and then having to go back and do it again. And I'm just curious what that felt like. And again, we talked about it I had Pete Stetten on he kind of went through the thing where he missed it by a few seconds. He had to redo it for you. You got the fastest known time. And if for anyone who's listening if you don't know what Neff K T is it's the fastest known time on a point to point route, either cycling or running. In this instance, we're talking about the White Rim Trail, which is in Moab, Utah. very iconic route. And how were you feeling in that period in between getting it and then having to Go back. Cuz I mean gosh, like, it's like, for you is about a seven hour Effort, Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean a massive, massive effort. Yeah.
Alexis Skarda 30:10
And at that time I hadn't done anything like that, you know. Now I've done Leadville and unbound and, and weight room seems a little less daunting. But at the time, that was a big effort. For me, it was the longest thing I've ever done. And I kind of had a feeling that people would go for that time, because I knew I had done everything I could to get the fastest time that I could. And I didn't believe that that was fastest time. I don't know, I just knew that people were gonna go for that time, I guess is is what I'm trying to say. And I just didn't think that someone would go for it that quickly. I think it was like, within a week, like someone beat your fkT. And I was like. And at the time, I didn't think I was gonna go through it again. But then I got to talking with Keegan and Tobin. And they were getting excited about going to do it. I'm like, Yeah, let's go. Let's go for it and try for it again. And so that's when we did it as a team.
Andrew Vontz 31:15
And what did you change in your approach for the second time other than you went a little bit faster? May Did you after you? Have you got it the first time? Were you like, yeah, maybe I could have cut out some time here or there? Like, what do you think about?
Alexis Skarda 31:33
Ah, yeah, I think with my nutrition, I tried to do my nutrition a little better. That was the main thing I changed. I'd say on the second time. We keep doing this, or I guess the second time, the first time, we did it in October during Halloween. And the second time we did it in like March. And I think doing it then was a little hard for me because I was on the trainer all winter. And I didn't have much saddle time on the mountain bike. And maybe it was on my mountain bike once or twice before we went out and did this effort. But it was the best time to do it in the race season. And and so I think I still haven't gone out and done my best effort, I guess, I have never done it with a power meter. And oh, wow. And now, knowing everything I know about doing these kinds of long, ultra distances, there's definitely a lot I would change. If I went out and did it again, I think I could definitely get take a lot of time off of it. So
Andrew Vontz 32:41
probably don't want to give all of your secrets away. But what what are some of those things that you would change, if you went did it again,
Alexis Skarda 32:47
um, I would definitely use a power meter to help with figuring out effort. And then pacing would be a lot different, I keep going out too hard, my second half is a lot weaker than my first half. So that in the amount of calories I'm taking in per hour, I have a better idea of the grams I need. And so again, with nutrition, I would have a better handle on when I'm eating and and what to eat. And I would probably try it on a hardtail instead of a full suspension. I think being a female, we weigh less, and I think that plays a bigger part in weight, power to weight ratio. So it'd be interesting to try it on a hard tail. So yeah, I would like to go do it again. Any of the interesting.
Andrew Vontz 33:40
Yeah, definitely. And as you mentioned, you have all of these reps now with much longer events. I mean, particularly things like Leadville and everything that you're doing in the lifetime Grand Prix. How have you found that style of racing and also being part of kind of this social media circus that now surrounds the lifetime Grand Prix? What's that like for you as an athlete?
Alexis Skarda 34:05
Um, you know, it's, it's interesting, I kind of like it because it gives me it gives like me something to do, I guess it gives me something I can do for my sponsors. And I'm just excited that something that's getting so much interest is something that I can be involved in. I do like longer distances. I like think I can be good at um, but the whole six to 10 hour distance is definitely a new level of long distance for me. Yeah, it's been different just having all the attention on something like this. I'm not used to that kind of, I guess attention in eyes on the events I'm doing so I think it's a good thing though. It's I'm glad it keeps me in the job.
Andrew Vontz 35:00
Yeah. Did you watch the lifetime Grand Prix YouTube series that they had for the I guess for the series last year?
Alexis Skarda 35:09
I didn't. I didn't watch all of it. I just watched a little bit of it just. Yeah. I don't know why. I think they did a good job from what I did see, I think it's interesting. I think it brings people maybe outside the sport brings new interest into it creates drama.
Andrew Vontz 35:31
Yeah, I mean, that's kind of my big takeaway. It did seem to create a lot of drama and portrayals of, of certain athletes that certainly seem like they're trying to create some, some villains and some heroes, which I mean, it's a successful formula in sports entertainment. That's what pro wrestling is all about. You have heroes and you have hills. Right. And you have to have high tension in any story to actually create drama. Do the athletes Yeah, mean to the athletes talk about those types of things. You know, when you're together in a town for a race or on the starting line, or out there in a pack? Is there any actual beef?
Alexis Skarda 36:13
There's, I think, with any competitive situation, there's always going to be some sort of beef. Yeah. Just trying to think. I kind of like my style is kind of having like that fun, like playful competitiveness. In racing, I enjoy like, you know, like, throwing down. But at the same time, you know, we're all out there. trying our best. And I do have respect for all of the women out there. And I think it definitely makes it interesting, I guess.
Andrew Vontz 37:03
Yeah. I mean, this series depicts like, there's some people out there having fun with playful attitude. And then there are people with sharper elbows. And I mean, yeah, that's true. And people have different approaches to competition in business and sport, in life in every domain, right? Yeah. And yeah, and I think, particularly when you're creating a narrative around something, whether it's on social media, or a series on a streaming service, or whatever, like you can get out characters characters are what make things interesting to watch. And people sometimes talk some shit when they're out there racing as well. So
Alexis Skarda 37:41
yeah, and anyway, I wasn't really a big part of the story last year, and this year, I'm more involved. So it'll be interesting to see how I'm portrayed.
Andrew Vontz 37:49
Okay, so but they've been doing a lot of interviews with you as you go through this series, because you've had some pretty high placings?
Alexis Skarda 37:56
Yeah, so I'll be I think a little more in the story this season. Yeah.
Andrew Vontz 38:01
What does it feel like to you to be in that role? And to be in that position?
Alexis Skarda 38:08
Yeah, um,
if I think adds another variable to the race weekend, I think I'm probably more of a quiet person, I think. So it's made me feel a little more open and just more out there. And right. I don't know if it necessarily takes my focus off racing. But I definitely have to keep keep in mind to focus on racing, when all this other stuff is also part of the weekend, you know, and like, keep things in balance. I guess. It's hard to
Andrew Vontz 38:50
how do you do that? How do you achieve balance? Because something like that, like it brings more pressure with it, it takes some of your time. And particularly Yeah, in a context where you have to stay focus, what's kind of your personal formula for having the appropriate level of tension and excitement by the time you get to the start line. I
Alexis Skarda 39:11
think I'm still trying to figure that out. I think what I like to do is try to get all that stuff done and then have Friday, the day before the race, have nothing going on that day. So I can just focus on what I need to do to get ready for the race and every weekend is different. Sometimes I go into a race weekend feeling prepared and, and ready. And sometimes I feel unorganized. I think it just kind of depends on where I'm at and what headspace I'm in at the time. But it's kind of funny, the whole pressure part of it. Because I'll have these interviews before the race and then the race will go a certain way and I'll feel like I feel like unbound did not go well for me. And I had a bunch of interviews and pre rides and stuff leading up to unbound and I was just like kind of building the story. be around, I guess. I feel like the story I was trying to build was being tough and never quitting. And then I go into unbound and had this horrible situation and made this decision to step out of the race. And I was like, wow, really played in my story at all. And so that I think it just it's just been interesting. I guess I've never gone through this sort of experience.
Andrew Vontz 40:31
What happened during the race? And why did you decide to stop? Yeah.
Alexis Skarda 40:36
I think a lot of things were happening during the race. I wasn't in a great headspace leading up to it. I think I just had a lot going on a lot on my mind, I had my grandpa's funeral the next weekend, and just life stuff going on. And usually, I'm really good at just focusing on the race, and none of that ever matters. But unbound is a different style of race. Because it is very long and very taxing. And I think it can affect you, months out if you if you it's just a race that affects you, because it's so long. And I think it started out fine. And I was moving up and I eventually got on Sofia's wheel, and I could tell that I was starting to fade. And I was like, okay, it just got to hang on for like 100 more miles. And my back was just killing me. And I just was not in a good place. And as I've wrote it for as long as I possibly could with Sophia. And there's just like one more mile is taking it one mile at a time. And eventually I just couldn't hang on any longer. And so I fell back. And it got hot, and I just kind of detonated a little bit. I was like walking my bike, like, then a group of women pass me and I realized that this was going to be a drop race, because a lot of people pass me. And once I realized I was going to drop the race, I could not find any motivation. Like I felt like I was injuring myself. And so there was like a health concern for training. And it just finishing it. I finished it last year, that wasn't really in it a motivation for me. And so I just kind of lost it.
Andrew Vontz 42:50
Have you worked through that? Since making that decision? I didn't realize, like, did other people help you think through that decision?
Alexis Skarda 43:00
Yeah, I didn't realize how much of a negative impact it would have on me afterwards, just dropping out of a race because I've never really dropped out of a race before. And I think it hurt my confidence a little bit in my workouts for the next couple of weeks when I was putting in efforts I was I just it just reminded me of that feeling and unbound when I was trying to push through my intervals and was like, Oh my gosh, this is actually affecting me mentally. I didn't think that could ever happen. And I just felt so ashamed. But during the race, I didn't think of any of that stuff because I was just thinking about what was best, which was to not race anymore, because I'm already dropping it and to not injure myself more. And so yeah, that that was a new experience for me. And it took me it feels like three weeks. Well, so I ended up doing another race, bighorn gravel, and that's in Colorado. And I think just everything was still affecting me at that point I did not do as well as I'd hoped and kind of had a little bit of a breakdown in that one too, because my back was still hurting and mentally trying to get that confidence back. And then after a big horn, it was Crusher, and just didn't have the legs that day. And so I went through like three races of just getting crushed, I think and not performing how I'd like to and I felt like I was in a bit of a hole I think I was in a mid season right just because it's a long season and I just didn't have the legs and unbound I think even though I didn't finish was still very taxing and I was trying to recover from that and mental really just having known that I dropped out, it just kind of sits in your head in a bad place. And so I was going to some dark places. And I think after Crusher, I was finally able to kind of get my body back and regain some confidence. And yeah, it was a process.
Andrew Vontz 45:21
Yeah. And then, you know, we're not too far away. I mean, gosh, it was only a couple of weeks ago, you win the marathon mountain bike national championship. So what was what was different? Or what shifted leading in to that race? And how did it feel when you're on the start line there?
Alexis Skarda 45:38
Yeah, at that point, unbound is not even in my head anymore. Like it was, it's long enough ago that I felt like I was at a completely different days. I've had some solid seconds, lots of seconds. So getting on the start line of Marathon nationals was like, I need to break. Break that whole like getting second place thing I need to, this is my race, I need to go for it. And I just had the mentality of, I need to win this one. Hands, that one was stressful, because I don't know if you heard how marathon nationals played out at all.
Andrew Vontz 46:24
Do you want to hear more about it? Yeah.
Alexis Skarda 46:28
It was an interesting race for everyone, because they sent us out on the Start loop. But it wasn't marked off where it needed to be to cut cut back into the start line. And so all of the pros ended up doing the full loop, which was 19 miles, but we did part of the Start loop. So it ended up being like, I don't know, 15 miles, instead of seven miles. And oh, so we were in a group of four women at the time. And we were trying to figure out what was going on, like where our feet zones are going to be now. And if they're going to have us make us do an extra lap. So the race was either going to be like 35 miles, because they'll cut it short, or it was going to be around 60 miles, because they'll add on another lap. And so we're trying to figure out, like, what was happening and how to play out this race. And we came in through the feed zone, someone told us to more laps to go. So we're like, okay, so it's gonna be really long day, and we're trying to plan out that and figure out, we, you know, when when you plan out your race, you know, where the feed zones are going to be, where you're gonna get your gels where you're gonna get your water bottles, that all completely changed, we thought we're gonna get I was planning on grabbing a gel at seven miles, that when we were going into the start finish area, we didn't hit our first speed zone until like, mile 15. And, you know, I was planning on dropping a pack at some point. And so just trying to figure out mentally, we're all this is going to happen. And while this was happening, going into our second lap, all the amateurs had gone off right in front of us. And so this was on a course that was really windy, single track, and you couldn't pass very easily. And so as I was making a gap, we were trying to get around all these people. And so every time I felt like I was maybe getting a little bit of a distance, people would catch back on my wheel and then let us through and then you know, we'd have to get around groups of like 12 and it would take several minutes to get around people and, you know, stressful for, for them and for us and it was just kind of chaotic and dangerous. And we at this point, we still didn't know how long we were racing. And we finally got to this point about 10 miles back to the finish start area. So I was like, This is your last lap. And so 10 miles to go I could finally make some race decisions on dropping the pack and what to eat and where to try to make a move and and so it was like, I need to win this race but this is really stressful and I can't figure out I gotta figure this out. But everyone is was in the same boat but it just was very unpredictable and it's definitely interesting. That's
Andrew Vontz 49:22
intense. How did you manage to stay composed and flexible? Have that scenario? I
Alexis Skarda 49:29
did pretty good with try to stay flexible. I was like okay, we've got enough nutrition to last if it if I have to do another lab, just make sure I'm eating and drinking and I'll be okay. And managing my pace as well. But I got to this. I did. I definitely lost it at one point trying to pass like, I finally like, I felt like I was making a gap. And then some most most people were just really Nice and letting us buy. But there was a couple of people who just wouldn't let us buy. It was like we're racing to, I couldn't get around. And I finally got around, one person couldn't get around, the other person ended up having to put a foot down, then the other person passed me again, and I just broke down, I was like, I kind of screamed, I was like, Ah, this is ridiculous. And, and so I definitely at one point of the race, went through a bit of like, like losing it, and then kind of regained composure. And that changed my mindset as like, Okay, I'm not getting away, I'm gonna have to play this. And this is just gonna come down to spring. And so Deanna and I were together at the time, and I just slowed down and just chilled. And I was like, Okay, this is just how it's gonna play out, we're gonna have to wait to pass people, and then get around and then get to the next group. And that's just how the day's going to be. And it's, and I'm just going to have to conserve, conserve until the last straightaway sprint to the finish. And so that's kind of how the race ended up playing out. And I tried to save energy and then rode around and sprinted into the finish for the win.
Andrew Vontz 51:17
That's intense, but you executed.
Alexis Skarda 51:20
I wasn't sure if it was gonna work. But it's like, this is just how the day's going.
Andrew Vontz 51:26
That's pretty amazing. Good job. It's a very difficult thing to do to stay mentally composed in a scenario like that. And, again, for anybody who's listening, who hasn't raced mountain bikes in a large group, the last time I really had that kind of situation was at the Pisco stage race in North Carolina. And even among the amateurs, it gets intense and people. Yeah, people need to move off the trail. So you can get by or vice versa. And it can create some really gnarly, not fun scenarios. And when it's your actual job, and you have people blocking you, that's got to just be really hard to manage. But to be able to persevere through that and execute and stay focused is pretty amazing.
Alexis Skarda 52:13
Yeah, thanks. I think in those situations, you just, you just gotta, at some point, let it happen. And go,
Andrew Vontz 52:23
yeah, so you know, to go in an entirely different direction. And one of the reasons I really wanted to have you on here is because you've started to post some clips of yourself. I didn't know if you were, if you were just DJing or if you were actually producing and mixing stuff live and playing with loops. But it turns out, you're an electronic music producer and your musics pretty amazing. I really, I don't know if what you're posting on Instagram are your own compositions, are they?
Alexis Skarda 52:48
They are Yeah, I know. It's kind of confusing what I'm doing. I'd like to start posting some, some clips of what's happening on screen. But yeah, all the songs are originally produced. Yeah, it's kind of a funny thing. I've kind of been like a closet producer for a while because I always felt pretty dorky doing it was like, this is just my thing that I like to do. And I don't know, I guess I've started getting some interesting feedback from it. And that's made me more open and sharing it.
Andrew Vontz 53:24
Yeah, and so with, with the style production you're doing in the way you're actually performing, I know use Ableton Live and for anybody listening, that's a digital audio workstation. And you can both use virtual synthesizers, drum machines, instruments to create tracks and loops, or you could be working with samples. So are you working with samples? Are you actually composing the loops yourself? And then I'm guessing that you're triggering loops when you're actually playing with the Push controller? Is that how it works? Yeah,
Alexis Skarda 53:53
so I'm doing a little bit of everything I like to start creating. With the keyboard, I have like a full size keyboard at home and I started making melodies and things like that. And then I make all the drums and stuff like that myself, but I'll find the drum samples online. So like, I'll find a kick in a snare and things like that. Sometimes I'll use loops for inspiration, like drum loops and start with like a loop, but then create something of my own. But a lot of times, I'll just like throw in kicks and snares. And then like, all the piano stuff, all of all of the melodies I write any type of strings or pads, things like that. And then I'll find like samples online like vocal samples or things that I'll find interesting. And chop them up and do things with them. And yeah, once in a while, I will find a loop online like I've done a song recently with a saxophone loop. And I just created like a whole song around that loop. And I did some actual audio stuff with it, I had a friend play some guitar stuff. And then I threw in some like violent stuff. And so it kind of just depends, a lot of the times I'll start a song and have no idea where I'm going with it, I'll just find inspiration. And it'll just start building off of itself, I won't have like a plan going into it, like, I'm going to create this style of song, at this tempo. With this kick, it just kind of, I find it's kind of funny, I'll start with a melody on my keyboard. And by the end, it'll be a completely different thing. Like it just, I kind of just change it, change it, change it until it's something worth listening to, I guess, sometimes it just sucks and throw it away. And sometimes it's like, okay, that's starting to sound like a song.
Andrew Vontz 55:55
Yeah, and for people who haven't heard your music, and again, you've posted some, some live performance stuff on Instagram, people should definitely check that out. And we'll have a link in the show notes to your Instagram. And I find it to be kind of interesting that you ride for the Santa Cruz hit squad. I know you don't live in Santa Cruz. But your style reminds me of tipper. Kind of like psychedelic downtempo stuff. I that might not be everything that you produce. But it reminds me a lot of stuff that I've heard at parties in the Santa Cruz Mountains out in the forest. That's awesome. So I think that's yeah, I think that's kind of interesting. And I really, I really dig what you're producing. I think it's, it's awesome. And I'm looking forward to hearing more of it. For you with that creative process, which you just described a little bit, you know, does it start with an idea? Do you ever, like have a melody or drum idea in your head when you're out writing? And then you sit down and start composing? Or do you kind of sit down with a blank canvas and just start toying around,
Alexis Skarda 56:53
I usually just sit down with a blank canvas canvas and start tooling around. Yeah, it's probably I think, the better or the more experience I'm getting with it, I'm starting to be able to throw in some like technique and like, start seeing what I'm doing. And knowing what I'm doing. Instead of just like randomly throwing things together until something, I feel like something sounds good or works like playing by ear. So now I can kind of see actually what's happening instead of just listening and creating, which is helpful because the process, my usual processes, it takes a long time. And I go through a lot of phases. Like, sometimes I'll work on something until, like five in the morning. And if you listen to something long enough, it sounds good. When it doesn't, it'll be like I just created the most amazing thing. And I'll go to bed and wake up and listen to it. I'm like, Oh my gosh. And it's so horrible. But then I'll come back to it the next day and be like, Okay, I kind of see where I was trying to go with this. And like get rid of this thing. That's not a horrible add this takeaway that and then all sudden, it like becomes what I wanted it to be. So I go through a lot of phases when I create music. But I think the more I'm learning about it, it's becoming easier.
Andrew Vontz 58:13
Yeah, yeah, I can imagine it might become easier. And then you also as you're learning more about production and just from a craft point of view, what you like doing it also probably just opens the door to more complexity and more things to potentially master and I heard you mentioned in another interview that you did that. You started playing around with the digital audio workstation because your dad produces and records music. I think he does rock music is that from what you shared? It sounds like he's using like traditional instruments probably.
Alexis Skarda 58:47
Yeah, he he likes to play like classic rock kind of stuff. Do you know Richie fear a part of Buffalo Springfield, okay.
Anyway, my dad and him have been doing a lot of music gigs together and like, so that's kind of his his style is playing acoustic guitar and singing. And when I was younger, he kind of forced me to sing with him and play with him. And I actually ended up enjoying it as I got older. I still hate the sound of my voice. But that's something we did together. And that was pretty fun. I like to do harmonies while he sang and played some back backup guitar and stuff like that. So I grew up doing that I was an orchestra so I have a little bit of violent experience tooled around piano, but yeah, I guess just going really far back in time. My earliest memories are like me sitting on my dad's guitar while he walked around playing the acoustic guitar around the house. So it's always been kind of a big, a big part of my life along with with fourths. But anyway, so I don't even remember why I decided to start recording some keyboard stuff. But at some point, I must have made a melody and was, like my dad said here, try using this digital digital audio workstation, which wasn't able to knit with something else. And I didn't know how to lock in loops and stuff like that. So it's really hard for everything to be in tempo, and in sync in. But I just started playing around with that. And I learned what MIDI was. And from there, I just it just kind of snowballed into more interest into what this whole electronic scene was. And I was in high school.
Andrew Vontz 1:00:49
Yeah. So you probably like playing with GarageBand or logic or Fruity Loops. There's none
Alexis Skarda 1:00:56
of the big names stuff. It was. What was it sonar? Sonar.
Andrew Vontz 1:01:07
Yeah, there was there were so many. Right.
Alexis Skarda 1:01:10
It wasn't a Yeah, it was like one of the less known ones cakewalk.
Andrew Vontz 1:01:15
That's what it was. Oh, okay. Yeah, I remember. I remember Cakewalk Cakewalk was a very people. Yeah, Cakewalk and Cubase were really popular in the early days.
Alexis Skarda 1:01:24
Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think it's as popular now. But yeah, it's, I had a lot of fun with it. And I just became obsessed. And I don't want to say it's something I've just done since because I've gone through phases of like being obsessed with it. And then I would put it down for years and not think about it, and then pick it back up for a couple years. So it was kind of an in and out thing. And that's why it hasn't like, been a big progression. It's been slow, you know, just with biking and stuff being in the forefront in the focus
Andrew Vontz 1:01:58
away. What does it do for you as a person? How does it make you feel when you're creating and when you listen to music that you make?
Alexis Skarda 1:02:07
It's rewarding, I think it taught, I think I've learned a lot from the whole process of creating music. It's it's like, like I said, there are times where I'll create something, think it's amazing. And then go back, listen to it. It sounds like it's something completely different. It's taught me the determination to keep working on it, even when you feel like you've failed. And then just, when I'm happy with something, it's just a successful feeling of like, that's what I was looking for just like you're in search of something and finding it and not giving up on it, I guess. But I think it does take a lot. Almost like emotional energy and focus. And sometimes I think I get a little bit too drawn into it. And it takes me out of my job as a professional athletes. It's it's a balance balancing act with it, too. Because sometimes it's helpful to have like, something to take me out of that whole stress of racing and, and do something else. But at the same time, sometimes it's takes too much of my attention. Yeah. Which is funny. I'm sorry. It's funny that I've allowed it to take my attention, because, you know, I don't, I haven't really done anything with it. So it didn't really have a purpose. It's just something I obsess over for no reason.
Andrew Vontz 1:03:39
I mean, it's it sounds like the purpose is it brings you a lot of joy as a human being, which is, I guess. Yeah, I think that's a pretty incredible reason to do something. And it's, a lot of people don't have something like that in their life, sadly. So I think it's remarkable and amazing that you've found something that you love that brings you joy, and when I've heard you talk about it in other interviews, it sounds like this is something that you haven't really shared publicly very much until pretty recently, right? Yeah,
Alexis Skarda 1:04:13
yeah, that's correct. I think last year, I don't know I think a lot of it too was just finding like a path with it. Because as I've been creating, I didn't know what sound I was looking for. I got into cinematic sounds for a while. I actually for a while started putting background music onto my videos, I would wear a camera and short track races and I would put music on the background for those and you know, people just wouldn't notice that sort of thing. So it's like alright, well, this is still fun. I'm enjoying doing it. And once I got into using the push is like, well, this is something Maybe I could do and share and use this as a tool to perform. And I think that's really what opened the door to sharing music.
Andrew Vontz 1:05:11
Yeah. I was just looking something up on Spotify. Are you familiar with the artist kindred? By chance? Sounds familiar? Yeah, he's signed a dead mouse his label. dead mouse found him on SoundCloud. But just he has a really cinematic sweep to some of his tracks. And it's also kind of that downtempo, brooding, moderately psychedelic, kind of I don't I just think it's an artist. By tag, see, yeah. And I've also, I've also heard you say that, you know, you didn't like grew up raving or going out and hearing electronic music, right? Like, you're just somebody who's been producing you haven't really been out and experienced a lot of this. Yeah, it's,
Alexis Skarda 1:05:52
I never really knew the scene at all. I went to my first electronic thing last winter, in Denver. And that was really interesting. It's kind of an eye opener to what it's really all about what the electronic music scene really actually looks like. Yeah, it's, it's a whole, like new world of music. And just, I don't know, it's exciting, because I'm learning a lot about it. Yeah.
Andrew Vontz 1:06:27
Yeah. And when you think about, I mean, do you have now that you're kind of sharing what you're doing with music a bit more? And I guess, with cycling as well, like, what are your aspirations? Where do you want to take these things over time? And what kind of human being Do you want to be in the future? Yeah,
Alexis Skarda 1:06:45
that's a great question. Um, it's hard to look that far ahead. This whole thing is also new. And I have no idea what the potential is and how, how good I am or like, what, what the deal is with it. So I'm kind of just treating it as a hobby for now. It's fun having this unique opportunity. I'm going to DJ set for the gravel rave that big sugar. Oh, nice. Yeah. And so I'm going to put together some stuff for that. But I'm trying to like, just keep it fun. I don't want to have expectations on it. And I don't know if it's going to take me anywhere, or if it's just going to be a fun hobby. So that's kind of where I'm at with it. I'm not planning on doing it in the future as like, a DJ or anything like that, just because Yeah. I just don't know enough yet. If that's a thing. Yeah, totally. And for biking. You know, obviously, with athletics, there's always an age limit. With that. I know, I want to race for at least the next couple years. And I'm not really sure how long I'm gonna continue with that as well. So I'm just taking it year by year at this point and enjoying it.
Andrew Vontz 1:08:09
Because what do you hope? What do you hope to achieve before your cycling career ends? Are there any boxes? You really want to tick? Do you have aspirations of? I don't know. I mean, your marathon national champion? Do you want to be doing that at the UCI level? Do you have any interest in that? Yeah,
Alexis Skarda 1:08:24
I would definitely like to take that to the next level and do some races on the world level. I'm hoping to get some opportunities to do that. Maybe next year in the next couple of years. And that would be my goal, I think, is doing some more mountain bike marathon events on the world level, and doing some cool iconic events, maybe Cape epic, or, you know, some stage racing, things like that. Those are on my list.
Andrew Vontz 1:08:50
Do you do you have plans to hit any of those events in 2024? Like is that definitely on the calendar? And nothing
Alexis Skarda 1:08:56
is definitely on the calendar as of yet. Still trying to sort through what, what the team's doing and what kind of our goals are so still figuring that out?
Andrew Vontz 1:09:10
Very cool. So you see, you mentioned that in fourth grade, you knew you wanted to be a professional athlete. Why do you want to be a professional athlete?
Alexis Skarda 1:09:17
Yeah, that's a great question too. Well, we had this fun run in elementary school, it was a mile run. And we did that every spring. And I had absolutely no interested in third grade and down I just I walked it and I didn't like it. But for some reason, in fourth grade, I think something changed. Maybe I just got a little more mature. I ended up waiting the mile and people thought that I had gone off course or cheated or something. It was kind of funny, but really I just gotten really into it. And I think after winning this fun run In my elementary school, I just became obsessed with it. And I realized it was kind of thing. school wasn't really a thing of mine. I always struggled a little bit because I it was hard for me to focus and pay attention. And there's always like, just off in my own little world. So I just didn't really have a thing. And so when I found running, it's almost like I found, found my thing. And and that's when I decided that's what I wanted to do. And, yeah, just gave me confidence in life.
Andrew Vontz 1:10:38
I've also heard you talk about how your dad was a runner, and that he would like run on a treadmill. And it's just, I'm just thinking about like, it sounds like your family has had a huge influence on what you've ended up doing. Specifically your dad? Yeah. Was that kind of the same thing with running? Like, did you when you were young did he tried to get you to run or such as
Alexis Skarda 1:10:58
what's interesting with my dad, he never really like pressured, I have an older brother, he never pressured my brother and I to do things, but I just remember looking up to him. And thinking he was you know, you, when you're a kid, your dad is your hero and, and seeing him run on the treadmill, he would run so hard. And just like, basically to his breaking point. And I just remember thinking he was so tough, and I was just, and this was when I was maybe four or five years old. And I think that just was in my head. And as I got older, I think just seeing that, as a young kid, it was It pushed me to do things like that as well. Yeah, my dad's definitely a huge influence on on my hair was a huge influence on my life still is.
Andrew Vontz 1:11:53
I'm wondering because you mentioned kind of this point of origin is like, you won, you won the you won the mile race and in fourth grade. And that's got to feel great when you're a young person, and suddenly you can smoke everybody over time and like now as a professional athlete, do you enjoy? Do you enjoy the process? And like, Do you enjoy being out there training? Like, when you have to go out? And do? I don't know, a six hour training, right? Is that something that's fun for you? Are you grinding,
Alexis Skarda 1:12:21
I like intervals, I would say I'm not a huge fan yet on the long rides. But I love going out and doing like do to, or thresholds, any type of intervals I really enjoy. That's just what I've known since I was young I've, I've done intervals my whole life. And it's kind of my happy, painful dark place. If that makes any sense. So I do enjoy the whole process of training. I'd say long rides are a little harder for me just because I like the intensity of of racing and riding and just athletics. And that's more of a long, like, learning how to focus sort of training and so still getting the hang of putting in the volume, I guess for these big events? Yeah,
Andrew Vontz 1:13:19
when you are putting in the volume, do you shut your brain off? Or do you have kind of like a running track? Are you thinking a lot and talking to yourself a lot when you're out there doing those rides?
Alexis Skarda 1:13:29
I definitely have to have music playing. I'll listen to music. Sometimes I'll, in a way, study it and just try to like, listen to the beats and figure out what's going on and kind of learn as I'm writing or sometimes they'll just like, jam out. So music is huge for me in those long writes. Yeah, it's what gives me I don't know if I'd be able to No, I shouldn't say that. It's it definitely helps me get through a lot of training rides.
Andrew Vontz 1:14:00
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Alexis, thanks so much for being here today and sharing about you as a person, musician and athlete. I'm really excited to see what the rest of your career is gonna bring and to hear what kind of music you're gonna produce. It's going to be really fun.
Alexis Skarda 1:14:17
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure being on the podcast. Thanks for having me.