Kristen Faulkner: Journey from Venture Capitalist to Pro Cyclist
When Kristen Faulkner gave cycling a try in 2017, she was already excelling in a venture capital career and had eyes on making partner. Three years later, she turned pro while working at Threshold Ventures and quickly started crushing European stages. Now she’s a pro cyclist UCI Women's Continental Team Team Jayco–AlUla.
The Harvard grad joins host Andrew Vontz and Spencer Martin of Beyond the Peloton for a conversation about the life experiences that have shaped her. Kristen talks about stress management, downregulation, becoming an expert learner and how growing up in the Alaskan wilderness with her four siblings prepared her to thrive as a tenacious human later in life.
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Kristen grew up playing sports and excelled in nearly everything she’s attempted, including crew during her time as a computer science major at Harvard, where she smashed records on the varsity team. Her success can be traced to an expert study approach - and that’s exactly how she rocketed to the top of the European roster so quickly.
In just a few short years she went from getting started in bike racing, Kristen took second overall at the Tour de Suisse and third overall at the Tour of Norway with multiple stage victories along the way. She has a truly world-class big engine and more importantly, she rapidly acquired the strategic know-how and highly complex skills needed to succeed at the highest level of the sport in an incredibly compressed period of time, something very few people have ever done at that level of the sport.
Spencer Martin, the creator of the Beyond the Peloton newsletter and the Beyond the Peloton Podcast, joined Andrew for this conversation today. To hear about her pro cycling career and where she is heading next in the sport, check out part two of this interview on Beyond the Peloton, available wherever you get your podcasts.
You can follow Kristen on Instagram and Twitter at the links below.
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Choose the Hard Way is a podcast where guests share stories about how hard things build stronger humans. Sign up for the newsletter to get the story behind these stories updates and more. If you’d like to suggest a guest or say hello, DM @hardwaypod on social or send an email to choosethehardway@gmail.com.
Host Andrew Vontz has spent more than 25 years telling and shaping the stories of the world’s top performers, brands and businesses. He has held executive and senior leadership roles at the social network for athletes Strava and the human performance company TRX. His byline has appeared in outlets like Rolling Stone, Outside magazine, The Los Angeles Times and more.
Today he advises and consults with businesses and nonprofits on high-impact storytelling strategies and coaches leaders to become high-performance communicators. Find him on LinkedIn or reach out to choosethehardway@gmail.com
In This Episode:
Kristen Faulkner Instagram, Twitter
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Andrew Vontz LinkedIn
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Andrew Vontz 3:30
Yeah, Chris. And that's something I definitely wanted to talk about. I've heard you mentioned it on a few other podcasts, how critical it is to manage all of the things outside of the energy and time that you're putting into training? Do you consider all the activities you do to down regulate and manage stress? How important are they relative to the energy that you put into physical training?
Kristen 3:54
I think there is important for sure I can 100% Notice on days when I'm training, if I've recovered whilst I've slept well, if I'm relaxed, I think the biggest thing for me actually, when I left my job to focus on cycling full time, a lot of people think oh, she has so much more time to devote to cycling, I actually didn't devote that much more time to cycling, I devoted all that time to recovery. And that's what made the difference. Because I you know, I had a cap on how much I could train every week, it was, you know, 15 to 20 hours. And I was able to manage that with my job. But what I couldn't manage was the 15 hours a trading plus the 15 to 20 hours of recovery I needed on top of that. And so that was really the difference between being a semi pro in the United States, versus getting podiums at the World Tour level. It wasn't the training, actually, it was the recovery. And I noticed it not only allows me to train harder, but it allows me to train like in a much more focused way. And I think it's kind of hard to explain it to someone who hasn't experienced it. But if you've ever been on the bike and you're seeing You're distracted, you're thinking about work, you're thinking about your family, your obligations, all these things. That was me, when I was working full time, I was thinking about the assignment I had due the meeting, I had coming up the phone call, I might be late for the project. But you know, the coffee, everything I had to do that afternoon. Whereas now when I train, I'm in the zone, and I'm in the flow. And I'm 100% focused on what I'm doing. And that has made all the difference to my training. And I notice on days, when I haven't fully recovered, my mind is just not present when I'm training. And on days, where mentally I have recovered. I'm like, quote, in the flow, you've heard people talk about being in the flow. And that's what I'm able to do when I've mentally recovered the way I need to,
Andrew Vontz 5:44
what do you consider to be the most critical methods or approaches that you use to achieve recovery and balance? And how do you put together kind of this constellation of different methods, because everybody or many people who are serious about cycling or endurance sports, they have a coach that can provide them a training program, there are decades now of power based training data, it's pretty prescriptive. I mean, they're always incremental improvements, but that science is pretty well known and proven. What about the rest of it?
Kristen 6:18
So I think there's two things, there's the physical recovery, and then there's the mental recovery. And they actually interplay with each other quite a bit. But physical recovery, like I have my NormaTec, I do my foam rolling, I do things like that. But for me, personally, I noticed the biggest gains when I focus a lot on my mental recovery. And it's really interesting, because I actually think, you know, we've, there's recently there's been so much hype around, like, what is mental recovery? How do I optimize my mental recovery, and it's almost like we've gamified mental recovery. But ultimately, I think it's like back to the basics, like, give yourself time to just like, sit and not have any agenda about what you're supposed to think about, like process your emotions from the day, like how many of us just sit and we're like, what did we feel today? What did we experienced today? What did we learn today, and you don't even have to be deliberate about it. But if you give yourself an hour a day, with no agenda, your mind will just naturally do that. And it's in that process where you form memories where you make new connections in your brain, like all of these things are happening. And they're, like, really healthy for you. And it's funny, because I think, nowadays, so many of us who want to be so productive are like, I need an hour to recover, like, I'm gonna recover my brain in this hour. And I'm gonna be super focused on how to do that. And I think you can be very intentional about it. But you can also just like, What did people do before we were over, like, dilute like, consumed by computers and phones and people and obligations, like we gave ourselves space to just exist. And so I, it sounds a little too simple. But everyday, when I get back from my ride, like I have no agenda for two hours, like I sometimes will call a friend, sometimes we'll read a book, sometimes I just sit in my own thoughts for an hour. And sometimes I write in a diary, sometimes I'll, you know, do research on something about the computer I'm interested in. But it's it's a space and time for me to just like let my mind do whatever it wants to do. And I actually, as simple as that sounds, I think it's the most important thing I do during my day for recovery.
Andrew Vontz 8:25
And that sounds relatively simple and straightforward. Also, looking at your CV, I have to imagine that you're someone with extremely high cognition, who has a tendency to think a lot, and I could be wrong, I'm just making a guess. But what do you do when you do start thinking about everything else in those moments that you've set aside to try to think about nothing?
Kristen 8:49
I think it's okay to I mean, so I think there's just it's like in a in a, in a meditation, you know, moment, like, you want to get rid of all those thoughts. But I also think sometimes you can let them in, like, that's when you're forming connections, that's when you're analyzing your day, you're analyzing people, you're analyzing your thoughts, and I think that's a totally healthy thing to do, too. You know, for me, I would say, the last few days, for example, I've been doing a lot of research about women's health and, and especially among elite female endurance athletes, and that's been really energizing for me. And it's like, I'm letting my mind wander, I would say I'm not. I'm not like putting pressure on myself to research. It's fun. And so I'm giving myself the space to do that. But it's, it's like a creative activity for me, there's no pressure for me to use that time and I'm gonna give it away like I'm not forcing myself to recover during that hour. I'm just letting myself do whatever it wants to do. But I think, you know, when you do have a lot of thoughts, enter in your head that you want to clear them I think it again, like practice makes perfect. And I think that's why people meditate. Like, oftentimes, the goal of meditation is to practice getting rid of those thoughts. So that in a moment where you really do need to focus, you can do it really well. And so for me, for example, sometimes I do try to meditate, and I do try to clear my thoughts. And the reason is that if I'm in a race, I need to be able to do that I need to be able to compartmentalize whatever I'm feeling in my personal life, set it aside, let go of it, ignore it and just focus on the race. And so I think, like there's benefits to daily meditation in terms of clearing my brain on a daily basis. But it's also practice for those essential moments where I need to be able to compartmentalize everything. And so I think there's there's two benefits to the meditation aspect, there's like the in the moment benefit, but then also, as it pertains to, to higher pressure moments where you really need that skill to be honed.
Spencer 10:55
So like, when you're off the front of a race, like at Strata biancaneve Recently, would you describe that as metod? Like, practicing that same meditation?
Kristen 11:04
Oh, 100%, I would say I am in my most meditative state when I'm training. And it sounds bizarre to some people, because they're like, how can you be relaxed when you're exercising and going, you know, this high intensity intervals. But in terms of my brain, like, my brain is in its most meditative state, because there are, you know, sometimes if I'm doing an endurance workout, I let my mind wander. And I'm, like, very observant of my thoughts in a way someone meditating would be. But other times, if I'm doing like high intensity intervals, I'm I'm so much in the zone, and I'm so focused that any thought that enters like, I just let it go away, like I have to, like, flick it away, grab it away, like a feather, like everything that you would do in meditation I'm doing when I'm training, and actually don't meditate all that often. Like outside of training, I think the reason is that I do so much of it in training. I don't really feel like I need to practice it outside draining. It's like slightly different. But it's it's a lot of the same principles. It's basically learning how to control your thoughts while you're thinking, getting rid of certain thoughts, letting certain thoughts come in. And I do so much of that when I'm training. And it never used to be that way. But I think I found it and it's made my training a lot more productive.
Andrew Vontz 12:23
When did you become cognizant that you needed to move in the direction of greater compartmentalization if you wanted to move to a higher level as a cyclist? And I'm also curious if that's something you practiced in your previous career?
Kristen 12:39
It's an interesting question. Um, I think that throughout my life, the times when I've been most productive, had been when I'm able to compartmentalize and hyper focused, and really compartmentalize all of the other extra things going on in my life. And I never really was aware of it until Hmm, that's a good question, maybe. I think, I think I was always aware of it. Like, you know, you're trying to study for an exam. And if you're distracted, you can't study for an exam. So like, in college, I was aware of the necessity if I'm studying for finals, not to be distracted, you know. So I think I've always been cognizant of it. But then, when I got to the elite level, and cycling, the stakes are so much higher. And if I lost focus in a training session, multiple days in a row, because I was distracted by something going on my life, I'd actually see it in my numbers, I'd see it in my fatigue, I'd see it in my training, I see it in the next race. And if I distracted during a race, I might crash, you know, like, there's all these things. And so I think when I got to the level where the stakes were so high, I just realized that I had to be a little bit more strict with myself and a little bit more vigilant because when I was lazy about it, there were higher consequences. And so I think, yeah, if I'm studying for an exam in college, and I get a little distracted for an hour, the consequences maybe aren't as high. Maybe as if I'm in the middle of planners, and I get distracted and someone attacks and I lose the race. And so I think it's just when the stakes are so high, I tend to be maybe more self reflective about the mistakes and we're vigilant with myself about making sure I don't make the same mistakes twice. And through that process, I learned that letting myself get distracted is one of the mistakes I can make.
Spencer 14:42
You mentioned studying. Yeah. You so we've been curious how you go from Seward, Alaska, which is pretty far away from Homer, Homer. Maybe there was like an Olympian from Seward this this past
Andrew Vontz 14:59
week. Gotta get that Wikipedia page. It says that you actually, yeah, we're on Deadliest Catch. So we've got to get that off the wiki.
Kristen 15:08
Now, yeah, that's also wrong.
Spencer 15:10
And how did so how did you end up? You went to Harvard, which is very far away from Alaska, like culturally and physically? Like, were you just for lack of a better term? And I mean, no disrespect to anyone, were you just a nerd growing up, and you just wanted to go to Harvard. And like, that was your dream, or were your parents is where they think, you know, this is a good path for you. And then like, how did you even physically just go about attending Harvard from Alaska? Like, are there good resources, or we're just kind of on your own?
Kristen 15:41
Yeah, it's, it wasn't like quite as out of the blue as that. So I I'm, so I'm the fourth of five kids. And all of us went to boarding school in Massachusetts. And so actually, I left Alaska when I was 14. And the reason there are many reasons why we went, we all mean, all my siblings went to the same boarding school. And there were a variety of reasons, education was better. My mom had grown up in the town where the school was, and my grandma was ill, she had cancer, and we wanted to spend more time with her. So there were a lot of reasons why we ended up going to boarding school. But the biggest cultural shock for me was not going from high school to Harvard, it was actually going from Alaska to this prep school on the East Coast. And I think it was a little easier than it may have been for my older sister, because I was the fourth of my family to go. And so I had somewhat of an idea of what I was getting into. But it was very, very much of a shock, like a total shock to me, coming from Alaska, I showed up my first day. And I was wearing crocs, and a long t shirt. And I think like a baseball hat. And I like I just got on a run. So I was like, super sweaty, and I met all the other freshmen kids. And you know, this girl from the Upper East Side in New York with these, like $300 flats, and like this nice button up shirt. And, you know, like these nice bags, and you know, there was a huge culture shock for me. Just the what, what people wore, the way they acted. Like, my parents managed a hotel and restaurant growing up, a lot of these people, their parents were in finance. And you know, they're like, there's a whole different world. And I think, for me, it's actually funny looking back on it now, because I never, like I knew that I was different when I went there, because Alaska was so different from kind of traditional East Coast boarding school. But I never felt any pressure really to fit in, like I wanted to learn from the other kids like, what is this world outside of Alaska. But I never felt too much pressure. And I was able to get away with being different. Because anytime I did something really embarrassing, or really funny, or really awkward, I could be like, Oh, that's what we do in Alaska, like, and people just said, okay, because it didn't know any different. And so I was able to kind of get away with being a little weird sometimes. And, and have it be like, very socially acceptable, because I could kind of just be like, Oh, things were different for me growing up. And I think that actually made my experience a lot easier than maybe if I come from Massachusetts. And I felt like a lot of pressure to fit in with other Massachusetts, New York kids and things like that. So in that way, my experience was maybe easier. But then I think the transition from from boarding school to Harvard was actually much smoother. It was quite smooth, because I went to college already knowing some kids from high school that went there with me. But I think what what's been interesting in my life, is that I've accumulated so many, very different environments, and experiences, and they all very much feel like home, like Alaska, very much feels like home. And it's such a big part of my identity. But so is working in finance in New York, and so is East Coast boarding prep school. And so is being a pro cyclist and the World Tour living in Toronto, Spain. And so I think, what can be hard as I have, like, all these different parts of my identity that are all so different. And so when I interact with my friends, and with people, I end up having such different social circles. And it can be really hard sometimes when my pro cyclists, friends, me, my Alaska friends, my finance friends, because they don't necessarily connect with each other in the same way that I might connect with all of them. And they're all very, very different. But they're all like, so authentic to me. And so I think that can be something that's challenging for me is reconciling all these different parts of me that are so different, but all part of the same journey that I've been on. And they have a lot of similarities, you know, but they also have a lot of differences. And I think if you looked at me from the outside, and you saw some of my traits, like, you might be like, how do these all fit together into the same person? But they do and it's worked out well.
Andrew Vontz 19:44
So Chris, into wheat reach all the way back into your childhood in Alaska. You had four siblings? I did. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, my mom was one of seven. So I'm somewhat familiar with what goes on when you grow up in a large Family and the competition at dinnertime, for example.
Kristen 20:05
Yeah, I think I had to unlearn some manners of writing, like, you know, fighting for food when I got older. But yeah,
Andrew Vontz 20:11
but yeah, so what were you like as a kid? What did you like to do for fun? How'd you get into sports? Like, what were you like?
Kristen 20:18
Yeah, um, so I was always the most independent of all my siblings. I think being the fourth of five, I always felt like I had to keep up with my older siblings, I had two older brothers and older sister. And I always tag along, I always wanted to be as good as them. I always wanted to thin and the older siblings. And so I think I, like I always push myself, I was always the most stubborn. I was always very resilient. Like, I fell down a lot. And it was hard to get back up if I wanted to play baseball, or soccer or other games with my siblings. Um, so those are some of my traits within the family. I would say, doing sports was always something I did. Me and all my siblings, actually, we all did sports, I was a swimmer. I was a state champion when I was 10 years old, and swimming. And then I played a lot of different sports. Like I was a ballerina, I played volleyball with a basketball, soccer, my parents gave me a lot of freedom to experiment with different things growing up. But I was always always very active in sports. And I think, you know, in Alaska, the outdoors are very much a part of our identity. And, and I definitely spent a lot of time in the outdoors growing up as well. We actually had this. Yeah, I would say spending time in the outdoors was like, a big thing. For me, we have this our annual tradition in my family where the kid would have a kid's only excursion through the woods, and we'd go backpacking and camping for a few days, parents were not allowed just to five kids. And we call that our Faulkner annual reunion trip. And the acronym was F AR t. So every year I'd be like, where are we gonna fart this year. It was like a three day trip, and our parents would drop us off and then pick us up a few days later. But I think that's one of my fondest memories, and fondest traditions that we had growing up, it was like a really great chance for me to bond with my siblings. And there were certain survival skills, you know, like that and make a fire and like, we, yeah, we would, we'd basically be on our own for three days. And you learn a lot during that when you're young, and the only people you have around you, your siblings, and I think my youngest brother was maybe eight years old, the first time we went my sister's 18. So we were somewhat young, you know, and so that's a very, like, poignant memory I have from my childhood. And then I think, you know, I have other memories that are, I like very much instilled in me. So um, my dad when he was in college, he and his siblings, they spent their summer just like building a bunch of cabins in the middle of nowhere with no electricity and no running water. And we'd go there for vacations in the summer. And so for me, like family vacations, we're not going to Disneyland, they were going to these cabins in the middle of nowhere, where we'd send it out to us and, you know, make campfires, and we'd cook with a wooden stove. And there was there were no devices like no electronics, there was no Wi Fi, there was barely any electricity, I don't think there was, there's maybe a solar panel, which was enough for a light bulb, but everything, you know, we'd go to bed when it got dark, because there wasn't electricity. So that was just another like, big part of my childhood was going to this place in the summer. And yeah, like we made water skis out of these wooden planks with like, boots that we nailed in, like hiking boots that we nailed into the woods. So like a lot of like, do it yourself kind of make things from scratch. And just knowing that I was going to bed in this cabin that my dad had built with his buddies, you know, like that, in and of itself, gave me in a sense that you can build or create anything you you know, you can build or create enough to be happy. And I think that was definitely defining characteristics that my parents instilled me with from a young age.
Andrew Vontz 24:15
Were sports presented to you as an option, or where you put it into sports leagues. Was there any pressure or did it all come from within yourself?
Kristen 24:24
It all came from within, but I can't remember a time in my life where I wasn't doing sports. So I think like my parents put us in sports before I could, like before I even knew that I was entering sports. But I really loved it. I yeah, I I've loved sports my whole life. You know, my, my siblings do too. Like my we're all athletes in college for the most part. And yeah, my sister even after graduation, she did marathons like I think it's always just been something we enjoy, um, in terms of the pressure like my parents never put pressure on me like I never felt bad if I didn't do well and erase like, they never made me feel bad about it ever. Um, but one thing that my parents were really, really good at is, they always instilled me with a lot of confidence when I was young. And I didn't actually realize so much later in life that not every kid, like experienced that when they were young, but yeah, I remember before my races, my mom will be like, you're really good at freestyle. Like, I'm so excited for you, because you're gonna do it. Like, I just, you know, you're so good at freestyle, and you're about to do a freestyle race, and that's gonna be so exciting, you know, and she, she never presented in a way where I felt pressure, she presented it in a way where I line up behind the blocks, and I'd be like, I'm the queen of the world, like, I'm so good at this, you know, and I, I just always felt so much confidence from my parents. And as a kid, when you feel confident things are fun, like, you always want to experiment, you're more willing to fail and try things because, like, because if it doesn't work out, like you still feel competent, like it does it. I don't know, I, I never felt like I wasn't good enough, I guess is a better way to put it. I never felt like I was lacking in any skills. You know, my mom never said you're bad at reading or you're bad at this, you just be like, you're so good at math. But you know, like, you're a map, you know, you're a math whiz. And like, you have a math test tomorrow, and you're gonna do fine, because you're so good at math, you know, and I never felt like arrogant about it. But I always felt that I could accomplish anything, I could achieve anything. Because all I had to do was just do it or like work hard at it, because I had the skills to achieve it. And, you know, I really believe that as a kid, that mindset is what allows you to succeed in a lot of things. Like if you have that mindset, it takes you really far. And I'm really glad that my parents gave me that mindset when I was young that I could achieve anything or I could do I could, you know, do anything. Because I really believed that.
Andrew Vontz 26:50
Have you ever run into anything that you really wanted to do? Desperately that you wanted to be great at, that you were unable to
Kristen 26:59
do? In terms of like learning a new skill or anything. I was always wanted to be a really good singer. And I'm so bad at singing, like, so bad at singing. And I tried voice lessons for like, three years and my family still complain every time I come home and I get on the piano and I try to sing they'd like cover their ears and be like, Kristen, no, please wait till we leave the house. Um, but you know, what's interesting about that story is that I tried voice lessons for like two years, but then I just gave up because I was like, Oh, I'm not good at it. I tried it. I'm bad at it. I'm not good at it. And then I stopped. And I think one of the biggest regrets I have from being like, from growing up is quitting voice lessons, because it's a skill I always wanted. And to this day, I would love to be able to jump on a karaoke stage and sing. And I actually think I might take voice lessons here in Tirana. Just because it's something that I feel like anyone can be a great singer, if you just put in two decades of time, you know, like, eventually you'll get there. But that was something that I felt like I tried, and I worked so hard for so long. And actually, it wasn't that long as two years. But I worked really hard at it, and I really wanted it. But then when I didn't come I actually did give up on it. And it's because I think maybe it was my older brother or maybe someone they said like you're just a bad singer, like you're never going to be good. No one in our family is a good singer. And the thing is, as soon as I believe that, then I stopped trying. Because I said I thought to myself, like Oh, no matter how much work I put in never gonna be good. And that's when I stopped. And if I could go back and tell myself like, that's actually not true. Like you can develop any skill just like keep going. I would because I think it was It wasn't that I wasn't capable of learning it. It was just that my mindset was the wrong mindset when I quit. So that's an example.
Spencer 28:47
Yeah, that's like an extremely toxic story that families tell themselves like, we are not good at this. You're not good at that, like the opposite of what your mom is saying. It does affect you a lot. I also wonder if it's a mistake. We're all taught to sing when we're like teenagers and our voices changing. Like maybe we should just wait until we're like 2530 years old to then start singing.
Kristen 29:10
Yeah, yeah. And you know, I think, um, yeah, I think most of the times in my life where I've been bad at something, it's because I told myself I would never be good. And the times where I am good at something, it's because I just kept working at it. Because I had faith that like, oh, I can be good at this. Um, same is true with coordination sports, like, I remember, I did soccer and basketball and all these other sports and I was always really fit. And I could run up and down the corridor up and down the field all day long, but I didn't have any of the hand eye coordination skills. So I just hadn't really done it as a kid like I was a swimmer growing up and no swimmers have hand eye coordination. You know, this is not something you really learned. But I remember after like a few, like two years of doing soccer and basketball, I remember it was the same comment, I think I don't know if it was like a sibling or friend or they're like, oh, yeah, but you're not good at coordination sports. And I was like, oh, yeah, I'm not. And then I just like focus on endurance sports. And I think, again, those are two examples of times when it wasn't that I was inherently bad. I just believed that was bad. I believe that there wasn't a path to being good. And so I stopped. And I think that's been like the difference between, yeah, like, I wasn't a good cyclist, when I started, like, I couldn't ride my bike. I was like, 24. But you know, like, I actually believed that I could do it. And that's why I got to where I was. And people kept telling me like, you can't learn the bike handling skills, you can't learn the strategy. You can't learn the tactics, like in two years, that takes decades. But I just told them, like, No, I'm gonna learn it. So I think like so much in my life. I really believe, at least for most of my life, that when I believe I can do something, I find a way to do it. And when I don't believe I can do something, that's when it usually fails. And I think that is true for most. I think that's true for a lot more situations than people. We want to believe.
Andrew Vontz 31:10
Christian, I was listening to the previous interviews that you've done with Spencer, and then I listened to you on Bobby onions as well. And something that a lot of things jumped out of me. And we're talking about many of them. So thanks for sharing all this. But one of the things I was curious about, you talked about the summer that you spent working for Bridgewater capital, and Bridgewater, of course, Ray, I'm a big Ray Dalio fan, I've got principals sitting over here, just off camera. And you talked about how you valued radical transparency. And that's part of why you wanted to have that experience of Bridgewater. And then also hearing you talk about what I regard as becoming an expert at expert learning, and rapid skill acquisition. And, you know, whether that's in finance, or in cycling, it sounds like you've put yourself in positions where you were able to accelerate learning skills that other people do find to be quite complex. And in particular, with your background. You know, coming from a crew background at Harvard, there are a number of people coming from a rowing background who have now come into professional cycling on the men's and women's side with varying levels of success. But you've found a path where you don't just have the engine, you actually are mastering all of the other strategic aspects, positioning, being in a pack, just all of these other aspects of cycling that are hyper complex. How do you think about that pairing of radical transparency, seeking feedback, and accelerating your skill acquisition? Do you see a link there? Oh,
Kristen 32:52
absolutely. There's a really good book called The Talent Code by Dan Coyle. And it's a really, really great book. He's actually from Homer, which is a town I grew up in. And he talks a lot about repeating efforts, but every single time you repeat an effort, like reflect on what did I do wrong, what could I do better? And then you do it again. And then you you reflect again, what did I do wrong? What I could do better, and you do it over and over and over. And I think what Bridgewater, really emphasized is being able to look at yourself completely objectively, and take nothing personally and have no emotion when you're assessing your strengths and weaknesses. And so for me, like, I'm a bad singer, I'm on quorum. I am not yet a good singer. I am not yet very coordinated with, you know, basketball and soccer and things. I am not yet the fastest dissenter in the peloton, you know, and to really look at yourself in a completely objective way. And to do so, I think requires a lot of humility. And it also requires a lot of transparency, radical transparency with yourself and with others. And once you once you have that objective view of yourself, it's, it's actually so much easier to assess your weaknesses and work on your weaknesses, because you're no longer scared of them. You know, and I think what Bridgewater teaches people to just not be scared of their weaknesses, you know, it's not like a character flaw. If you're bad at something. It's just like something you're not good at. And I think if you take that approach, like I've taken that approach to everything that I want to learn, like, if I'm not yet good at descending, okay, I'll hire descending coach, I'll practice descending. And so it's taking that stance of like, I'm not good at this and turning it into I'm not good at this yet. And I think the ability to do that is like the first foundational step to becoming great at something. And yeah, I've, I think one of my greatest skills in life, like as a person, as an athlete, as an employee, is my ability to learn quickly, and I don't think it's because I have like some special training And I think it's because I'm really good at assessing my weaknesses and being objective about it. And being totally willing and humble to be like, here's what I'm bad at, let's get better. And okay, check that one off, move on to the next thing, what am I bad at? Okay, work on that, check it off and move on to the next thing. And that's what I did the cycling, you know, I was, I've improved a lot over the last few years, and I still have a lot of things to work on. But I can make a list of all the things that I'm bad at and just like go off, check them one by one, and be like, let's work on this. Let's work on this. Let's work on this. And I apply that to my training, you know, like I, you know, I was talking to my coach today. And I was like, you know, I think this the power between, you know, one minute and three minutes, not that strong. So I want to go work on my one to three minute power. Or maybe I'll say, Oh, my 20 minutes power felt really uncomfortable today, it didn't feel that great. So I want to do more 20 minute power efforts. And so anytime something feels uncomfortable, or it feels weak or doesn't feel good to me, that's a sign I need to work on it. And I dive right into it. And like I'm totally fearless about diving into my weaknesses. And I think that's like, my greatest strength is still the dive right into my weaknesses. And I think a lot of people avoid their weaknesses. They're like, Oh, those women efforts don't feel good. I'm not I don't want to really want to do them. And I'm the opposite. I'm like, oh, man, those women efforts don't feel good. Like, I should probably do more of them. And I think that's what's allowed me to learn a lot of things in a short amount of time is just like, really focusing on those things that are uncomfortable, because if they're uncomfortable, I just do them until they're comfortable. And then I move on to the next thing.
Spencer 36:36
Do you feel like that's the mentality in professional cycling or sports a lot of times if you're bad at something that your team and your coach think that's who you are, if that makes sense? Like, I would not say there's a lot of like, I hang out with a lot of like, ex pros. And if you're bad at descending, you're worse, you know, that type of kind of guerilla logic, do you think that's more the norm in cycling? Or is it trending towards the radical transparency? Don't be afraid of your weaknesses?
Kristen 37:07
I think that like around the world, in every profession, there is a growing trend towards more transparency, more accepting your weaknesses, and that I'm hoping it's becoming more common in athletic training and cycling as well. I don't think it's fully there yet. But I would say there's definitely inklings of it. You know, that's why you have debriefs after the race. You know, the directors like, what did we do wrong as a team? What can we do better as a team? Where does someone make a mistake? Where can they do better? So I think being able to look back at a race and figure out what you did wrong, what you did, right, that's definitely there. Um, I think amongst some athletes, you know, if you want to be a GC rider, like nowadays, you need to start working on your time trial. If you want to be a classics writer, you might need to work on your sprint because it could come down to a bunch of sprint, even if you're not a sprinter. So I think people do work on those more well, rounded skills. But I also think that by and large, people have an aversion to, to doing more of the thing they're bad at. I just think humans don't like to do that. Like it doesn't feel good, doesn't feel confident doesn't inspire confidence in yourself, it doesn't make you feel good about yourself when you get home from a workout. And you couldn't make any of the intervals you know. And I think the more you can do that, though, the more you build the confidence that you can overcome any weakness. So if I phrase it differently, like if I'm, if I'm not good at sprinting, and I work on my Sprint's and I get good at sprinting, it's not only helped my sprinting, but it's helped me believe that I can overcome anything that I'm bad at if I just work on it. And I think like that's a repetitive thing that you learn over time. And the more often you do think about it. Does that make sense?
Andrew Vontz 38:54
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that that completely makes sense.
Kristen 38:57
Like practice makes perfect, both in the thing you're practicing, but also in the art of improvement, like the art of improvement is practice. And if you practice that, you'll perfect it.
Andrew Vontz 39:09
When you think about proactively taking risks, and risk management, from the outside, I think something to a lot of people that would appear to be a substantial risk would be going from being on a comfortable career track and a highly desirable profession, and leaving that to go be a pro athlete. I think also to a lot of people having just having those options seems like a fantasy and something they probably can't conceive of. But I'm wondering, what was that like for you? Did you perceive there being any actual risk or downside for you? And walking away from what you were doing to go be a pro athlete, or did you feel like you know what, even if this doesn't go well, the door is going to be open. I went to Harvard, I've worked at some of the best firms in the world and I can go back couldn't do it?
Kristen 40:02
No, there's a ton of risk. I went to therapy for like a year and a half to overcome that fear. So I could finally leave my job. Yeah, it was, it was years and years of telling myself that it was okay. And Emotionally, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. But intellectually, I couldn't accept the risk at the time. Because I felt that if it didn't work out, like, maybe I would be completely broke without a job, I would be like, the child that was like that, like, reject, you know, like, the one of five kids that like, totally went off the you like, yeah, went off the deep end. And I just like didn't, I didn't, I didn't want a few things, I didn't want all the work that I put in my whole life, to my education, to my job to everything, to just be for nothing. And I felt like that could be a huge waste. And there's another part of me that didn't want to let down my bosses, you know, like my bosses in my work, like, we're the best managers I've ever had, like, they were so good. And they were amazing to work for. And I love my job, I really did. And I felt that they had invested so much into me, and that I was going to let them down. If I left. Especially as a really small firm, I was the only non partner. So I had, like eight partners all investing in me as an associate to be better, and I was just gonna get up and leave and like, leave them, you know, I had a lot of guilt around that. Um, and then I had these goals that I had to let go of, like, I wanted to be partner, by the time I was 30. You know, and like, I've had that goal, since I've started working. And I, you know, it's one thing to leave what you're doing, it's another thing to leave behind these goals that you've envisioned for yourself for so many years, and to just let them go. So there are a lot of risks, and I was terrified, like to say I wasn't scared would be a lie. Like I was really scared. Um, but I got to the point where I realized that, like, the worst case scenario was actually not being broke. And without a job, the worst case scenario is being eight years old, and looking back and being like, wow, I really wish I'd done that. And I didn't. And to me, every single day I go to, I go to bed at night, and I would just picture myself at 80 years old. And I bet what, what is it that I'm actually going to regret here? And every single night for a year and a half? It was, I'm going to regret it. If I don't try, I'm gonna regret it if I don't try. Even if it doesn't work out, I will so much more regretted if I don't try. And that was a story that I remembered for like a year and a half every single night. And so, actually, the riskier thing would have been to say, because like, I knew like, I would be unhappy if I never even tried it. But I didn't know. Like I knew for a fact that I would regret it if I didn't try that. I didn't know how it would go if I did try. And so one had like an absolute bad case scenario, the other one had an undetermined good or bad scenario. So yeah, expected risk out, or expected value outcome was actually better for me to take the plunge and be a pro cyclist.
Andrew Vontz 43:18
What was it like once you actually committed to making that decision? You went and had that conversation probably with your boss or the partners at the firm? What did it actually feel like when you did it?
Kristen 43:30
I felt like I've been born again, like I felt like my entire life was just blank canvas, and I could go write anything on it that I wanted. And I can dream up any possibility and make it happen. And I could start from a completely blank slate. And it was almost as if I could sit there and daydream about every possible thing that life could be. And assume it was just the end up in the best case scenario. Like that's how I felt that I can dream up any future. And it would just land on the best case scenario. That's how I felt good it felt. And I think it was the first time in a long time where I had completely i Well, like I didn't like I went to venture because I really was passionate about venture like I had other higher job offers. Like there were other reasons why I went to other jobs. And so I don't want to say it's the first time I felt authentic, because that's also not true. Like I would say most of my life, I've done things that are very authentic to me. Going into Vc, like my goal was to support more female entrepreneurs and work for a female boss and like I did all those things. So I don't want to say it's the first time I felt authentic. But it was the first time where I didn't actually care what other people thought. And when I say I didn't care, I genuinely did not care. And because I knew that I felt good about the decision. And honestly most people in my peer group like Most of my friends didn't know what cycling was. I didn't I didn't even know what Pro Cycling was, like, I had no idea what I was really getting into. I hadn't raced in Europe at all. I mean, really, um, so most of my peer group were Harvard graduates working in tech working in finance. And they thought I was kind of crazy to leave my job. They thought I was maybe like, Oh, are you burned out? Are you taking a year off? Like, he can't handle the stress of your job? Like, you know, there were a lot of assumptions. So yeah, I would say it wasn't the first time I was authentic to myself. But it was the first time where I really just didn't care what other people thought, because it felt so right for me.
Andrew Vontz 45:44
Have there been moments since you made that decision? That you've questioned the decision that you've made? Never? Not once?
Kristen 45:52
No, not once. There's times when I when I am like, oh, it would be nice to have a better paycheck or like, it would be nice to have a, like, live in a nicer place. And like, yeah, it'd be nice to make Forbes 30 under 30. Or, like, you know, I see things my peers are doing. And it's like, Oh, that would be nice. But I never ever, like holistically have regretted the decision. Never, not once, not once, does it
Andrew Vontz 46:18
feel like you've succeeded and whatever way you wanted to succeed when you made the decision to pursue this career? Or is there some even higher order goal that you have in mind for what you're doing? Or is just doing it the goal?
Kristen 46:34
I would say almost everything, I still want to go to the Olympics, I would say that would be another goal. But that's a goal of mine that I haven't yet achieved and is a big goal of mine. But to be honest, I achieve way more than I thought I was going to. Because I'm so much happier than I ever thought I would be like, I thought when I left, there would be times where I regretted my decision. And I never have once regretted it. There were times when I left my job that I thought I would do pro cycling for two years, three years and then go back to BC. And I'm so happy, like, I don't want to do that. I just want to keep doing it. And I never thought that I would be as happy as I am. I had no idea. I was so I was so scared at the time, that it was kind of hard for me to imagine being so much happier. But like when you really really love what you do. It's like, yeah, I just I love what I do. Like, I'm so happy. I can't imagine doing another job right now. It's yeah, I feel like so alive when I'm cycling and racing and. And I feel so authentic to myself. And I like I didn't realize how strong that emotion would be when I left my job to do this. So yeah, in that, in that sense, like in terms of personal fulfillment, it's been way more. And I also didn't realize when I left, that I could have any kind of impact as a cyclist. And when I say that, I mean like I thought that leaving my job to be a pro cyclist I was just going to do what made me happy, like racing was gonna make me happy. I didn't think about oh, I could have an impact on women's health and athletes, or that I could have an impact on the cycling team and like how we approach racing, you know, like being more attacking in the peloton, you know, like showing other riders to be completely fearless and like just go for it changing like the style and way way things are raised. You know, like there's so many different things that I never would have imagined I could have an impact on that I can and that's also really empowering because when I left my job I thought it was not a selfish decision but like as a self focused decision like this is just about me what makes me happy and now I feel like I can find like a purpose that's also beyond me while doing what I love and that's pretty empowering.
Spencer 48:56
How's it been moving to Spain? I think you lived in the US the last time we I talked to you and are you like learning multiple lines are you learning Catalan and Spanish there? Have you found the day to day life?
Kristen 49:11
Yeah, you know they speak mostly speak a lot of English here it's it's a huge expat community. I spoke Spanish I learned Spanish in high school and I speak very conversational Spanish. Not quite fluent, but fluent D fluent. And if I can get when I'm anything I want in Spanish. I'm not learning Catalan. I know a few words. Um, you know, it's interesting. I I do miss a lot of California but mostly I just miss my friends and family. A lot actually being being away from home can be quite hard. Because so much of what makes us happy in life is our community. And when I completely uprooted myself from my community that was challenging. But I also think A personal standpoint, I've grown up a lot, just living in Europe, like seeing the way people here value balance in their life, the way people here in Belgium, people live three doors down from their parents, their whole life, you know, families live so close. Like the food system here, like there's so many things about European life that have changed my perspective on America and the way I want to live my life. And I wouldn't have had that if I hadn't come here. So I would say, I kind of have the best of both worlds right now. Because I can go home and see my friends in California during the offseason, and then also get this different perspective, women in Europe on what I want from my life. But even things like stress management, like living in Europe, I have a totally different perspective on the way Americans manage stress. Like, it's still like bizarre to me, that we are so stressed. And then we spend, we we spent, we get so stressed so that we can make money. And then we spend all of our money trying to de stress. And to me, it's so funny, because I never would have seen it that way, just if I just lived in the US my whole life. And just like taking personal time, and you know, and those are some things that I've only really picked up having lived in Europe. And I don't think there's like a right or wrong way to live your life. I just think there's different ways. And Europeans can do it differently for Americans. And I can kind of pick what I like from each way of living and do that for the rest of my life. So I think living in Europe has been really great in that way.
Andrew Vontz 51:35
And Kristen, what about pro cycling as a profession and as a lifestyle? Do you enjoy the most? What do you get out of it?
Kristen 51:44
I just love riding my bike. I love okay, there's a lot of things. So one of the interesting things about being a professional athlete, you're just being an athlete like this can pertain to anybody whether you're competing or not. But every single day, when I go to bed at night, I feel like I've accomplished something so concrete that day. And I feel like I've overcome something that was a challenge for me. And that's because when I go out and I complete my training, it's something that was hard. It was something maybe I wasn't motivated to do in a particular way. But I did it. And that instills like such a level of self confidence. And if it was a workout that I hadn't done before, I'm like, Oh, I went in and wasn't sure if I could do it. And then I did it. And now next time, something's a little harder, I know I can do it. And that translates outside cycling as well. Like if I run into a problem in my life, and I don't know how to deal with it or overcome it. I just remember to myself, like, oh, there's been so many times where I didn't know if I could handle a situation, but I did, I'd made it through. And when you do that repeatedly, day after day after day, as an athlete, like, it just becomes a habit that you you've build up confidence to grace that you can get through anything, even if it's challenging. And I really find that to be fulfilling for me, like I wake up every day. Sometimes I look at my training, and I'm like, Oh man, I don't know if I can do that. But then I do it. And then I go to bed. And I feel really confident. So that's one aspect of being a pro athlete, or just being an athlete that I really love. Like every day, I have a sense of accomplishment. And I'm able to challenge myself and like a new way with maybe a new a new thing I wasn't sure I could do other parts of it I love. I love having teammates from different parts of the world, like every teammate from Singapore, from the Caribbean, from Italy, from Spain, from Netherlands from everywhere, and learning about their cultures and their backgrounds. And just seeing the world through their eyes is something I didn't I wouldn't necessarily get in any other job. And same with traveling to different parts of the world like seeing all these different cities and places. I think I yeah, I love learning a new skill for me like cycling, I still have so many things I need to work on and improve on. And I love the learning aspect of that like challenging myself every day I talked earlier about like, Oh, I'm bad at this, check it off. You know, I'm bad at this work on it, check it off. And I find that process to be really fulfilling. Like, I'm bad at something I worked on it. Okay, now I'm good at it. I'm bad at something. I worked on it now I'm good at it. And to be able to wake up every day and like have that kind of checklist in my life and seeing myself making progress every day, every week every month every season is like really fulfilling. Um, yeah, those are like the main thing and I just like I love being outside like I love the wind in my face and training every day for scenery. But, you know, the end of the day, like I just I love being on my bike. I love training. I love competing. And there's like that feeling I get when I do it, but I can't really describe. It's not like a particular thing about it that I lost. It's just a feeling I get when I do it.
Andrew Vontz 55:09
Yeah, I know that for me the feeling that I had as a young person, the first time I wrote on a bike, and maybe I'm weird, but I still have the first bike that I learned to ride on hanging up in my parent's garage. And it's a Schwinn Stingray. It's got like green, sparkly paint and a banana seat, which people made fun on. There wasn't like a cool bike at the time when I started, you know, like BMX bikes were the cool bikes, but I remember the first time the training wheels came off. For me, the feeling that I felt is I felt a level of freedom I'd never experienced, I kind of felt like I was flying. I still feel it today. When I go out and ride around here and hope Maine and I see a I see the look on my kids faces when they're out in the driveway or riding around in the yard on their bikes. And it's a pretty amazing thing. And you said this earlier, that, you know, one of the things that you've hoped to do and the different careers that you've had is to inspire people and I shared with this with you before we started recording, but you're my kids watch you race, and what you're doing is inspiring them and I can see how it touches them. And watching them cheer you on has been amazing and really powerful. So I just wanted to say thanks for being here today. Thanks for everything that you've shared. I'm so grateful that we got to have this conversation. There is a part two of this conversation that's on beyond the peloton where Spencer and I will be talking to Kristin. More in depth about bike racing. And Kristin if people want to learn more about you and follow your journey, where should they go?
Kristen 56:42
I'm probably the most active on Instagram. It's arctic fox, AR C T IC FAU, okay. Yes. And I'm also on Twitter. I think it's Faulkner, Kristen. But as the Instagrams where I post all my race updates and life updates. That's probably the best way to follow me.
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