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In this episode, I talk to my friends and teammates at Spectrum Racing, Vicki Nicholson and Hari Menon. I have known Vicki and Hari since 2011 and we have been friends and teammates ever since. Vicki is a leadership coach and was the very second guest on this podcast back in 2020. Hari has been on this podcast sharing his 4 decades of running journey in episode #74 as well. They both now live and race in Ireland. On their recent visit to Bangalore, I took the opportunity to sit down with them and talk about the riding and racing in Ireland. They shared excellent insights into the club culture, club level group rides, club races and a lot more. They also shared a few insights into leadership at work which is their area of expertise and how sport can help some to excel at work as well. It was lovely conversation with two amazing humans. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
0:00 Intro
0:04:30 About the first episode with Vicki and my nervousness
0:07:10 How the move to Ireland change things for them, COVID times, how they managed during 2020-2021
0:09:40 Getting into Brey Wheelers Cycling Club, it's history
0:13:00 Group rides and how they work, volunteering at the club races
0:20:10 Two league races
0:24:50 Transition to Duathlons from bunch races
0:29:30 Getting stronger with age, importance of sleep, recovery
0:35:30 How sport helps with acceptance of outsiders
0:39:30 Being mindful of what works and what doesn't help as you age, drinking, easy riding
0:41:30 Leadership at work, being aware, being vulnerable and transparent, dealing with setbacks
0:49:00 Not competing with your previous self, Self compassion and growth
0:52:45 Sleep and gratitude
0:53:30 Closing
About the podcast:
The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing and hitting the bell icon so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.
Who is a working athlete? Someone working fulltime/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.
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The audio version of the podcast can be found here:
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A bit about myself:
I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.
All through my life I struggled with weight and health issues. After multiple failed attempts through the life to get fit and healthy, in 2008, I managed to lose 16kgs. My motivation was to be able to take care of my unborn son with the thought that "if I'm not able to take care of myself, how am I going to take care of my family?". When my son was 6 months old, having lost 16kgs, I picked up a bike to keep that weight off and stay fit. That became a passion and lost more weight and became better at it. I continue to train myself not just to stay fit but also race competitively in races in and outside the country. I also have been coaching a few riders to get stronger and faster at cycling since 2016.