Welcome to Mindset, Mood and Movement, a systemic approach to human behavior, performance, and well being. Our psychological, emotional, and physical health are all connected, and my guests and I endeavor to share knowledge, strategies, and tools for you to enrich your life and work. Hello, can a 500 mile cycle race in Spain teach us about performance, mindset and overcoming difficulties and challenges. I am delighted to be joined today by Clayton, Clayton Drotsky. And Clayton is a leadership trainer and facilitator and also a 500 mile bike racer. And Clayton has got an amazing story of a race he recently did. And I'm so excited to share this because it's not just a great story about a bike race. It's so many pieces to this chapter and Clayton and I have spoken about how leadership, how business, how life are all, there are adversities, there's challenges, and how do we overcome them? And I think there's something fascinating about this story that you're going to love. welcome, Clayton, great to have you on.

Yeah. Thank you so much, Sal, for inviting me. It's, it's a real nice platform for people like me to share what we do and also some of our experiences with someone like you. It's fantastic. Thank

Amazing, great to have you. So we're going to get more into Clayton's work as well, but we're going to go straight in. Because when I heard this story, I was like, You did what? What did

you

do in September? And Clayton's Oh, I did a 500 mile bike race. I'm like, Oh yeah, whereabouts? What in the Netherlands? And it's no, no, in the mountains of Spain. So I want to know how you managed to get yourself into, it sounds like quite a hot environment as well, to on the 500 mile bike race. Take me through. How did you get to the start line? got you onto that bike race?

you know what? A couple of years ago, I've been cycling for a very long time, 20 years and a couple of years ago, I joined some of my friends back home in South Africa and we cycled from Johannesburg to Keita, a thousand miles. On we did it in eight days we raised a lot of money and I was like wow I want to do more of that and in Europe there are a lot well all across the world really there are lots of these ultra gravel ultra marathon gravel races and this is one of them so it's all off road mostly it's off road and this was one that really interested me because of the landscape I My wife and I love deserts. Whenever we can go on a holiday, we go to a desert and we just love the secludedness of it and, Badlands, this is the, this is the fourth year of Badlands running, so relatively new race, but the images and the terrain you cover was incredible. So they normally sell out quite quickly, these races. So you go into a bit of a lottery system and they only allow a certain number of people because of the environment. So you, you literally enter the race a year in advance. So I knew November 2022 that I was doing the race in September. So a long time, it's a long time for the race to play in your mind. I'll tell you that much. But, that's how, then I basically started training, properly training about five, six months before the race. long distance rides in the UK. And, I did a, I did a ride around London called the, the ring around the ring of smoke challenge, which is a 200 mile race through the night around London. It was my first overnight experience. And, I felt great because my wife doesn't think I can stay awake longer than or later than half past nine. So I totally showed her that I was capable of staying awake, through all the night. The funny thing was in that race at two in the morning. I was sitting as the only sober person at McDonald's in Guildford, which was a really weird feeling, being so dirty and so tired, and then this, all these young people coming back from wherever they were, getting their McDonald's, and I was, uh, sober. So all this was preparation for my race, and that's how I got to the start line.

Wow, that's, that's so cool. And it's so interesting, isn't it? When we hear about people overcoming adversity, whether it's a race or setting up a business, we often hear the glory story. We often hear oh, you, you did that race or you set up that business, you created that amazing product or service. We don't hear the graph. We don't hear the prep. And I think it's such an interesting and vital part of understanding not only the bike race, which of course we will go into in depth, but perhaps how we apply ourselves to life and business, because... prep really sets up output. if the preparation is not good, whether that's for fitness or whether that's for whatever it is, the output needs to be, then it's unlikely to go your way. So the prep's really important. I'm curious as well about. How much prep did you do for, it's a 500 mile race, which is more than double the one you're, you're, you're speaking about in London. And it sounds like it had a sense and you've got heat. So you're going towards the Southern part of Spain. And how do you prepare for that physically? And how do you prepare for that mentally?

physically, I had to, for four months, Before the race, I did an average of over 220 to 250 miles a week on the bike. So that's about 13 to 16 hours on the saddle. So three rides in the week, two big rides on the weekend for four months. The weather, I don't have an indoor trainer. So if it was bad weather, I was out there. and that, then I was carrying my gear because you needed a lot of your own saddlebags and, and, and, and hydration packs. So as I was accumulating these things, I would, I would wear those things too. So physically, my wife would call me stubborn. I've, I've always been a bit sporty. And when it comes to sport, I like a challenge. So with the race, physically and mentally, I was very confident that I would be able to finish it. I saw myself, mentally, I could visualize myself crossing the finish line a million times. I saw myself at the end, because on the YouTube videos that you see from previous events, you can see what the finish looks like, and I visualized myself crossing that finish line, hugging my wife, having a beer, and it ended up being nothing like that, but I saw myself doing that so many times, and I never once doubted that I wouldn't make it. And that's when it comes to sport, something maybe I'm a bit more comfortable with, and knowing my own body, because I've been doing it for a long time. I was very comfortable that I could do it. but then, leading up to the race, a little bit of doubt creeps in here and then. I was just so happy to get it started when that, when that starting gun went off. I was so relieved because finally I could stop thinking about it because it consumed my mind for months and then weeks before the race even more so and then that week of the race, I hardly slept, you're supposed to sleep a lot so you get really because the race, you're not going to sleep much at all. In fact, I slept five hours, four and a half hours and 66 hours. So you don't sleep at all. But I didn't sleep anything. I was at such bad sleep leading up to the event. I was just, things were going through my brain. What if I'm lost? Where do I go? And then things you didn't think of before. So that little bit of doubt, even though you're confident in your abilities, that little bit of doubt does creep in for sure.

Amazing. That's so interesting. And I love to hear just how much distance you're doing, because this is the thing with anything endurance related, you've got to put the miles and you've got to understand that what we often call in the weights, weight training arena, like time under tension. And I would say that psychologically as well, you need a certain level of time under tension to translate that into longer duration, certainly in physical activity. I'm fascinated by your mental picture of finishing the race, and there's a lot we know. There's been studies done on this for years around visualisation, whether you do, certainly in sport performance. If you do the sport, there was a study I saw years ago, which was about basketball players. They got a bunch of guys to shoot hoops. got another bunch to visualise the hoop, and it all going in and shooting. And they got, guys just to visualise it. And it's no surprise that the guys simply visualizing it came last. The guys shooting hoops came second, but the guys visualizing the action hoops came a big chunk further in their performance. And, and I find this fascinating. There's a more recent piece of science, and I think we'll all love this is the predictive brain theory or processing that our brain is predicting what's going to happen. Now, if this is a robust theory, which it seems to me, then we are already presuming an outcome. Hence, if we are seeing failure coming, whether that's in our work or in our race or whatever that piece of, thing we want to achieve in, it's probably going to make out that way. So it's not just a, Wishful thinking. This is actually orientating your brain and your body and your abilities. So how do you achieve? And what you said there, seeing the end, visualising it. That's, that's incredible. And of course, and we'll get through the story. I know you ended and I know you're safe because you're here. know there's a massive drama in the middle, which we're going to get to shortly. And lastly, I just want to speak to the point around that build up. So much interesting. I call it the anxiety gap. So when you're doing something. Uh, and of course the case in point, you're going to start that race it's a week before and instead of sleeping and having a lovely time, the mind is feeling it and in a way, this is the anxiety system showing its propensity to problem solve and to figure out the problem when it goes into overdrive is then we end up not sleeping and worrying. is a case in point, isn't it? To just get on with it.

Yeah.

When you're that close to achieving what you're going to do, it's we need to start. Cause when we start, ah, everything comes out of the head, it comes into the body, it becomes embodied and processed. Amazing. that's, that's just such a fascinating, run up to the start. So take us, it's, it's 500 miles. What's the terrain like? What's the temperature like? How's the first day?

it was, yeah, we started at eight o'clock in the morning on a Sunday in Grenada. there was about 350 riders in total. For the first time, it was raining. Every race, this is, like I said, this was the fourth edition, I think, and the three editions before, some of them got into the 50 degrees Celsius. But the average was about 40, in the high 30s, low 40s. And that's what we all went through expecting. We got to Grenada, my wife and I, a couple of days before the race, and was predicted rain at the start. And this was like, no, this is impossible. It was doing the floods in Madrid. So this rain in Spain, it just carried all over. And we actually started in some drizzle, which is unknown. And they actually changed the route because some of our route takes us through dry riverbeds, desert riverbeds. But in times of flood, there will be the water in them. And even if there wasn't water, we would not be able to pass through because of the mud. It makes what they call this peanut butter mud. It gets everywhere, you can't, you can't ride, it's, it's, you can't even walk through it, so it's really bad, so they actually changed the route because the organizers could not take the risk for us to go down a river, we might, we might not all come back, so we started at 8 in the morning and there's a lot of climbing in this race, in total we climbed 15, 000, 16, 000 meters, which is about 45, 000 feet of elevation gain, so we climb a lot with all our bags and yeah, we started off, I was concentrating very hard because of my, when I was a bit younger, racing, riding on the bike, I was a bit more competitive in my age group. So that testosterone still there, and I was fighting hard to say, Clayton, just relax. Let those guys who want to go racing, go off and do their own thing. You just, so I was in control of myself there. Nice and slow start, nice and relaxed. And I was in a good place. And I met a couple of people, because this is the great thing about it, you meet some incredible people, I cycled the first day with people from Belgium, people from Ireland, people from the UK, Germans, it was just incredible. And then, most of, lots of parties by yourself, but then I met the only other South African in the race. funny enough, we bumped into each other and we rode together for a long time and we finished that night, we got to a place we wanted to get to, a small village called Gore, G O R, and that was 244 kilometers into the race, got there the first night, the little village of Gore, they know the race passes through there, so they keep the pub open for 24 hours to serve food, and also they allow you to sleep on the floor, now it's a concrete floor, I didn't get any sleep, so half an hour sleep, Then I woke the other South African guy up and another friend of mine who I, a friend that I met, and Dave, and we started riding together at two in the morning. We left, Gore, and about seven in the morning, I just, I thought my chain fell off, my bike, and I said to the guys, it was pitch, pitch black, we were on our way to the highest point of the race called Kala Alto, Kala Alto. It was an 80km gradual climb, uphill for 80km, 50 miles uphill. at about 7 in the morning, it was still dark, it was freezing, because now we're in the middle of the desert, we're at a very high point, and we've all got our puffer jackets on, riding our bikes, and my chain fell off. So I put my chain back on, but there was no drive. something had broken. Luckily for me, the South African guy who was with me, knew a lot about technical stuff about bicycles. And he said to me, he thinks he knows what it is. he was able to pinpoint to me what had broken. He took out a small little wire, that's in my freehub, that keeps things in place for your drive to work through your bicycle. That wire had broken. Which means I could not pedal anymore. And, we tried to fix it. we could not, we couldn't fix it. And these two gentlemen, They tried to help me by, we took two tubes, two tied tubes, put them together, tied one around, zai, the other African guy's, hand, C post and one around behind board. And he was pulling me, but it was futile because we were going uphill. And at the same time, he was pulling me. Dave was pushing me from behind, but they couldn't do, it was futile. We were going uphill and they were just burning a lot of matches, as we say. I said to them, go, just go. And I would walk, my plan was then to walk to the highest point of the race, which was about another 20 kilometers to go, and then freewheel from there to the next town, which is another 40 kilometers, but it's all downhill. So I could do that. And, in that moment, I thought it was done. I thought my race was done. Because where am I going to find, in the middle of the Sahara Nevada, where am I going to find this little wire? That, and, yeah, I got pretty emotional, because of all the... The hard work, training for so long, all the hours sacrificing, and then also, financial implications that I'd made to get there, all the money to get to Grenada, all the equipment, the equipment's a lot of money. all of that, I phoned my, actually FaceTimed my wife when I got signal, and, it was still dark, she couldn't see me, and the signal was really bad, but I was crying. I was actually crying and I just said it's over, I can't believe it's over and at that moment another cyclist stopped next to me, happened to be an Australian guy and he was like, are you okay? And as we all try and be very proud, the tears disappeared and I said, I'm fine, I'm fine. And I couldn't really speak to my wife cause the signal was so bad. And then I just decided, you know what, I've got five days to finish the race. My aim was to finish it within three. So now my, my, my goals have changed. I'm not going to finish it in three. But come hell or high water, I'm going to finish this thing. Even if it's five days, I'm going to finish it in five days. The longest it takes. that's what I, that was what I said to myself.

That's amazing. So I can only try to imagine that, like going uphill for basically 50 miles. I live at the top of a hill and it's about a mile and it's a bit of an effort for me. So 50,

Hehehehe

kind of full respect, but in terms of you're there, like you've done the training, you've done everything you need to do and something like a piece of wire. Which you are relying on this inert thing fails and there is no other option. And of course it's, it's fascinating, isn't it, when suddenly you've, you've controlled all the controllables, as we say, in, field, the controllables, but what you can't control. And yet it's just such an impact. And then I'm fascinated to know how, if you're, if you're okay to go here. it like in that pain point when you're right there and that, that, that literally that misery point of it's, it's over, what, what's that like for you? What was it like viscerally? What's it like emotionally? Tell me. And

Ah, you know it's You feel very sorry for yourself. You start thinking very, you feel sorry for yourself. And, it's almost like that John McEnroe moment where you, if you had a racket, you'd probably try and break it because of, you have that why me, why, why, why me? because you prepare. Like you say, you control the controllables, you prepare for everything. But this part that broke, it's such a weird part to break. It's someone said to you, Wait, don't forget when you drive down to Cornwall, Remember to take a spare roof with, Because your roof will break. Your roof will never break, right? exactly the same thing. No one will tell you to take this piece of wire with you, Because it's unlikely. So I was just, Yeah, you're going to that pity party. Why me? Why, why has this happened to me? and, Yeah, so it was tough. I was very, very low.

of course I can resonate with that. the, the, the pain of like in some ways, the defaint. And also what you said, and I'm really intrigued by how your, your mind works on this because you've done so much work physically, you've done the mental work, you've done all that visual preparation. physically, if I was coaching you at that point, I'd be so pumped. Like you've got this, you've done everything you need to do. And then of course, this about adversity. adversity is horrible, right? It's not meant to be nice. That's why it's called adversity. It's adverse. It's uncomfortable. what we do in those moments that really define how we grow, how we learn, how we overcome. And, and I, and I want to speak to the deep human part of you in that, because something changed. Yeah, you told your wife, like it's done. yet it wasn't. changed? When, how did you get that decision, that, that mental decision like... I was gonna do it in three, but I could do it in five. How did you switch?

know what, I think you, What I did was, I was able to, you contextualize it, I don't know how you compartmentalize compartmentalize, I can't say the word now, but thinking of the bigger picture, right? People that don't know cycling, if I told them I finished this race, they don't ask me how long it takes. They just go, wow, that's incredible. And my wife's there supporting me, and at the same time, you've got this, this website called Dot Watcher, where everybody who I'd shared on my WhatsApp friends. I'd shared my, my dot too. So they were following my, my progress and I knew they were all watching and I was like, you know what? They'll be so proud if I finish this after all of this. And it's just that click that says, yes, sure. I'm not going to do what I wanted to do, which was finishing the top half of the race. I'm in the top half of the field. I'm just going to, but I'm still going to finish it. And I'm going to try and find this part. while I was walking, the signal was very, very bad. I was trying to Google bicycle shops. And where were the nearest ones? And the nearest ones were Almeria. which I would, funnily enough, pass the next day on the race. Well, I got to the top of that mountain, Colo which took me a long time. I can't tell you exactly what time I got there, but... Then I could free will on a tall road to the next village called Gerhal. When I got there, I, no one speaks English. Absolutely no one, which makes it so nice. It's so authentic. And, I got to this, it was lunchtime, and there were these three Spanish families enjoying their lunch. And, with Google Translate, I was able to tell them, I'm in a race, my bike is broken, can I get a taxi from here to Almeria, which is about 50 kilometers away. And I knew it was going to be an expensive taxi, but I was like, can I get a taxi from here? And all three of the families, I was, I addressed what I was saying to one particular lady, who was giving me attention. The other three tables, the other tables were just listening to my story. And as, in a heartbeat, they, the one gentleman on the other table started phoning a friend of his who owns a bicycle shop in Almeria, called Avangero Bikes. And the lady I was talking to was phoning taxis. And another lady on a different table said to me, Listen, you can leave your bike in my shop. Because I need you to take the wheel. So I don't have to take my entire bike on the taxi. Only the wheel, which I explained to them. And the next minute a taxi driver arrives. he must have, he doesn't speak English at all, but he is a very old gentleman and he must have heard that, it was an emergency cause he was driving like a Formula One to Almeria. It was, I thought it was going to die in the taxi, but we got to, we got to the bicycle shop and the specific, the part that I broke is very specific to the brand of bicycle. So I have a giant bicycle and the shop, he was a dealer of Trek bicycles. So the, my chances of him having the part was small. And when I got there, he was a very lovely gentleman, but also as old as time. He was a very old gentleman. He had had the shop for decades, no English. And I showed him the broken piece. And he took out this massive box of spares that you keep from years and years of spare parts, just throwing them in a box. There were literally hundreds of spare parts in there. And him and I started looking through this thing. And as we were looking, I was thinking to myself, there's no way we're going to find it yet. But anyway, he pulls out a wire. And I don't know, I can't remember, I was speechless. Just, he pulled that out and he said, is this it? And that's it? How did he? It's impossible that he had it, but he did. And, anyway, I paid six euros for that little part. We then sped off, me and, a taxi driver came with me into the shop. Him and I sped off back to Grijal. my bike was in the shop, got there, and I, the thing is, I still had to fit it, and I'm not a very technically gifted guy, with my hands on the bicycle. but I managed to do it, cause there's these very intricate little parts you gotta put in. And I managed to fit it. And it worked and when it, when I put it on and I could feel it was working, I just, my, I jumped up and I went and I just shouted and the poor lady, who'd been helping me all the time, she ran over and gave me a big hug. I think they could see in my face that I was so relieved that this had happened, that I fixed it. And since it broke, it was now eight hours had passed for me walking all that way. And I, cycling shoes are not made for walking. So they, they're carbon fiber shoes. They're very narrow. So I had massive blisters on my toes and my feet, my heels. So I had to eat something because now I was, I hadn't eaten since seven. And I quickly, before I got on my bike, I had a big meal at that little restaurant where the lady was sitting. And thank goodness, just before siesta time. And then... I went, and I was heading for the coast, and I didn't even have time to update my wife or family to tell them I'm back on. They could see from watching the dot that I was moving again, because I was getting these messages from them. And I'm actually getting a bit emotional now, but I was actually getting these little messages from them to say See you back on the bike, go, go, go! It was just so cool, and then yeah, I had 170 kilometers to go to the nearest coastal town called San Jose.

That's... I'm just spellbound about that. Oh my gosh, that's just... In some ways it's, it's, it's crazy, in terms of this one piece, this one piece, I can

Yeah. Mmm.

wire, this... Thing. And yet it's, the implications of everything around it are so big for everything that you've done, everything you were doing. And, and, and I'm just, I'm incredibly touched. I was with you in my mind there seeing this, this, rustic village, this, this gorgeous sense of humanity coming out to help another person in the spirit of the whole thing. It's absolutely wonderful. and of course, isn't it wonderful that you've, you've just met the moment you've just dealt with what was going on and you've doing, it's, it's. It's a case of, okay, what next? What now? What can I do? It's that beautiful part of the human brain going into executive function. Okay. What can I do? What's possible? How can I recalibrate? And it really shows a, a very creative aspect of you and a very tenacious one. in, in your neurological terms, we, we talk in certainly my space about how does a person operate under stress? And there are four states, nice and simple. There's flow state when everything's lovely, you feel all going well. There's fight state, when you're going towards the problem, whatever the problem is, you're going towards it, you're working on it with confidence. flight state, which is, I just want to get out of this, I'm trying to knock this to happen, I don't want it to go away. And there's freeze state, such as, I'm just giving up, I'm walking away. Whether that's the bike race, the business, or whatever it is. And we operate in these states, and half the time, we don't even know we see this. The sweet spot. In definitely in racing, in sport, and I would say in business, most of the time is in a fight state, which is going towards the problem, not beating people up. We're talking about dealing neurologically with going towards problems or the flow state, like how can you get to flow? And problems will always be stressors and it's how you respond to that is, is, it's quite, quite incredible and your story just tells me that you've gone to the flight, flight state. You're like, yeah, what can I do? How can I go?

yeah.

the, or the Formula One style taxi.

Hahahaha

Maybe it was Alonso's dad or somebody like that taking you along. That's amazing.

Yeah, no, you, it was incredible.

that. is just incredible. you're back on. So it's game on, right? It's game on. The bike's on, you're on. I can't believe you haven't slept because I'm a big sleeper, but okay. what's, what's it like from here? You, you've come through this, this hellhole you're back on. Take us through the next piece.

Oh, so actually the next piece. is probably one of my favourite pieces, fondest memories because I was back on the bike and now I was just grateful. That's all. I was just grateful that I was there. I was no longer why me or the pity party that I experienced for a short period of time when my bike was broken. I was now just exceptionally grateful. And that was an incredible moment. And I also, it helps that I was going through some of the best scenery of the race. And I was all on my own. And I was just, I was almost like you say that flow stays. I wasn't thinking about it. I was just, mile after mile. I had 180 kilometres to do to reach the, to reach the town. And I'd started late afternoon. And I met up with some incredible people that I'd rode with the day before and we got to San Jose together at about half past one in the morning. and, There was a Pizza Place open. I can't believe it. It was like an oasis, because I was so hungry. And we got to this Pizza Place and I ordered a ginormous pizza and I thought to myself, I need to sleep. Now, because my body is saying, Clayton, you can't go anymore. You need to sleep. And, these two guys were talking about going a bit further and I was like, you know what guys, I'm gonna hit anchor. And I ordered a Pizza and Bolognese to eat the next morning. Because I was thinking, I'm just gonna go. I'm in the morning already, so I hope I sweat. So I found this small accommodation that on bookings. com said it had availability. So I went over there because it was across the road and I woke up the receptionist fast asleep. And I booked a little room and I got four hours of sleep. So just over four and a half hours. So it's called it five hours of sleep during the entire race. One of the guys I had met up just before I got to the coastal town, I said to him, my plan was to finish. And that was a 260 kilometers, but also had 6, 000 meters of climbing plus. And he said to me, look, he done it last year. It's impossible to do it from here. Normally everyone does the last day from Almeria, which is from where we were another two and a half hours away. So I said to him, I didn't say anything, but I thought to myself, challenge accepted. so I had a, I washed my clothes, because you, you wear the same clothes, right? washed my clothes in the shower, had four hours, four and a half hours of sleep, ate my bolognese the next morning. They didn't give me a, there was no cutlery in the room, so like a barbarian I was eating it. Have you ever eaten spaghetti with your hands? It's, it's incredibly difficult. But I shoved it in, I knew I had to eat, and then, that, that morning. All along the coast to Almeria, over the mountains, sun coming up, it was unbelievable. I phoned my wife, I listened to a, a book that I downloaded, and I was also again in a flow state. Got to a town, just before, Almeria, had a, two amazing chocolate croissants. I just remember these small little things, a coffee. And on I went to Almeria, bought more croissants, put them in my pockets, and then I had a lot of climbing to do. And I was just in this, at the end of the race, I remember lots of the guys I spoke to when we got to the finish line, because you spend a couple of days afterwards just telling war stories to other cyclists, and so many people complained about the climb out of Almeria, saying it was very technical, very rocky, It's, it's a very difficult climb to do, especially with the bikes we were riding. We were riding gravel bikes, not mountain bikes. And I can't remember that being difficult. And I just, I can't remember the climb. And I was like, but I can't remember it being difficult. So I was just in that moment where everything was just, I was feeling a million bucks. And I actually, I rode until through the night. I caught a couple of guys just before midnight. Two lovely Belgian guys that I'd met day one. We met up again. And, we had something to eat. at a little bar and then we said, we've gotta finish. It's 50 Ks to go. Still a lot of climbing, but we are gonna finish it today. And then I, then I actually caught up with one of the guys was with me when my bike broke. and we rode together, to the end and he finished just ahead of me actually, but. We've, I finished at half past three that morning. I was actually riding with a guy from Kenya, Michael, and his light had broken, his light had died, and you can't see, and he's in the middle of the desert, in these mountains, and I thought to myself, I can't, there's no ways I can leave him, I drove in the middle of the dark, so he rode with me, which made things a lot slower, not because he was slow, but just because my life was now shining for two of us, and going down those treacherous downhills, Very, very rocky descents. how can, it's very dangerous by, just by yourself. He's got no light. So what we got there off was three in the morning, got to the finish. And it's so underwhelming because, when you're a kid, when you're eight years old and you take your own dishes to the dishwasher, you get a standing ovation, right? And I don't think that sets us up for life, to get high fives when we do something, but you finish this incredible race, 500 miles. 45, 000 feet of climbing, and 66 hours later you get to the finish line and there's no one there, not a single person. A lady walks out of a dark hotel, that's fully booked by the way, no accommodation, and she gives you a small little medal. And then I asked her, is beer anything, she says no. So I slept on the floor of the village hall, concrete floor. So after all of that, still having to sleep on concrete floors. So the visualization of seeing my wife there, the beers, the bravado, nothing. It was nothing like that. It was absolute darkness. And at seven in the morning, the guy that I had met, and rode with most of the time, who was there when my bike broke down, he woke me up and he said, let's have a beer. And without blinking, I was like, yes, let's have beers. And, it was seven in the morning. We went to the bar across the road, had a coffee to just break the ice with the owner and said to him, okay, can we have beers? And he said, no problem. So we watched other riders come in, cause we were sitting at the finish line. And then we just enjoyed ourselves. my wife arrived at about midday. And, our accommodation, we booked in that little town called Capilira, which is an incredibly beautiful town in Spain. It's the second highest town in Spain, I would encourage anyone to go there. we spent a couple of nights there, it was unbelievable. So yeah, that was it.

Amazing, amazing. There's so many pieces to that story. You've just told that in a beautiful way. But in my mind of hearing like all the things that go into being a human being is there's, there's firstly the gauntlet as the old expression goes from, knighthood, someone saying, yeah, you can't do that in a day. And there's something in you that says. Challenge accepted. And I love that, that, that is a real, that's the fierce competitor coming through. the fight state. That's a neurological fight state about, no, I can go to this problem. That probably isn't possible. I can still go to this problem. And it shows you, doesn't it? When we adopt a certain state, a certain, and I would say state, not just the mindset, but it's actually an emotional state as well as a psychological state that so many things are possible. Now, it's not about, wishful thinking, because there's no such things, wishful thinking and reality are different things, but there is this determinedness, and that really sets up, because if our minds in a certain way, so is our body, and, and vice versa, and of course this is the work I do, about how minds and bodies align, and if our bodies functioning very well, and our minds functioning very well, our performance is normally good. So much, so much better. And if one is out of whack, particularly the belief system, Oh God, that's a long way and I'm tired or whatever that story you might tell yourself, your body listens to that story too. So it's fascinating to hear how you align those two. and I was also intrigued when you said about the, the climb, guys say, Oh, that's tough. and I've done, I've been a little bit off road myself. And for you to say, I don't even remember, I was just flowing. It shows you getting into, and of course in elite sport. and most of all actually there is a zone. We always talk about zone.

Yeah.

It's called flow state Michali Britain was the guy who studied this stuff, but it's when you're absolutely focused, it feels you could just keep going. There are, you're aware of stuff, but you're so zoned in. It's an exquisite human state to be in answers. And it's lovely that you were able to go there. fascinated is I'm just curious as a question, do you, do you think that's how you are or do you think that was coming out of that pit of adversity that got you there?

That's a good question. I think that's how I am with things I know, I think, things I know I can do. I think that's, I'm very comfortable in those situations. I know that I can, I can. I've got fights in me, I'm quite stubborn, I don't give up easily, especially with sports, I've always been like that, even, I've done some very stupid things in my life, like riding through sickness, and I should have stayed at home, and I could have damaged my heart tremendously, but I'm stubborn, I kept going, and, thinking back at that, I think, what were you trying to prove, you could have really hurt yourself, I'm that kind of stubborn sometimes when it comes to those things, and going to these races, like this race was my first, Experience like this, and there are people there who've done tons of this stuff. And, I met some incredible human beings who, who cycled from China to the UK. I don't know, it's just, it's like you think to yourself, what are you guys doing? It's just, and I, and it's there's always a bigger fish, isn't there? But, I think that is who, who I am. When I know how to deal with it, that, I'm quite confident that way.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's lovely to hear and it's thought it doesn't diminish anything. It's just, that's an interesting question. I think for us listening and for you to observe and I find fascinating is that we really can. do so much in life. I really think, our human potential is, is, really quite big. we, we're clever species, us humans. Now, some of us are stronger, some of us are fitter, some of us are not, but there's so much we can do if we leverage our natural tendencies and skill sets. whether you are a people person, whether you're a stubborn stoic person, you can leverage those natural gifts. It takes self awareness and And for me, all the coaching work I do is, we started self awareness because when you then you can know Oh, I'm stubborn. So that means I can push on, but we need to be careful because that could hurt you. So self awareness tells you how to be, how stubborn should I be today?

yeah.

such a beautiful story. And I love the fact that, there's what I heard in that story was camaraderie as well from the people in the town, the other bike riders, your friend who'd lost the light. And, and it's, it's just lovely. And I'm. Really intrigued, isn't it? When we put ourselves under certain conditions, which aren't the regular life, I'm so busy,

Yeah.

we, we really connect with people. That's such a beautiful story. one last thing, how good did those croissants taste?

Oh, they were phenomenal. everything you, sometimes it's, it got quite hot towards the end because the rain was day one. But, and when you're very hot and you're very tired, you don't feel like eating anything. Your body doesn't want to eat, you need to. and you can't take any more of these sports gels and sugar stuff. You can't do it anymore. Your body just says, I was craving fruit. Every time we stopped, if I was there with another cyclist, they would laugh at me because I'd walk out with peaches and apples. It's what I was craving. I could, I could not eat another bocadilla or another sandwich or another, I could not, but those croissants were phenomenal. So the shorts had had pockets in them and the cycling shorts and I just had them in foil in my pockets. And, when the time was right, you look forward to them. It's almost like a treat. you say to yourself, okay, top of the mountain, I'm going to have a croissant. then it's almost like you're telling your brain, deserve it. you get there, you deserve it.

I love it. And the reason I asked is because I know people I've spoken to both my professional space and personal who've been through adversity and maybe, have been able to eat for a while. And that first taste of food or it's it's not just a croissant, it's a croissant and it's amazing. And it's so curious how these intense experience make things more present with your taste buds, your sensory receptors. It's, it's absolutely wonderful when that mind is clearer. It's, it really hones in on what's going on. That's fascinating.

Yeah, I know, I must say, I was thinking just this weekend because I went on a ride with some friends. I got a group of guys I ride with here on a Sunday in the UK and we're not doing massive distances at all. maybe doing 50 miles, and I'm really thinking to myself, how did I do? Cause I'm not in that mindset now, a month ago I was doing 500 miles, now I'm doing 50 and I think to myself, how on earth did I do 500? And it's that mindset, because going into that, going into that 500 mile race, you've thought about it a million times, and you're, you are, you've planned and prepared as you mentioned earlier. And you've set yourself, your mind is set at this is what it is. This is it. so you become comfortable with the uncomfortable very quickly. but now back to reality, I'm not planning for anything big at the moment. I've got a couple of things I might be doing next year. yeah, 50 miles seems Woah, man, this is, why am I doing this? actually,

It's quite a long way, yeah.

I know, it's, yeah.

in just a, in the. Sport science or, certainly that side of things, we'd call it tapering and, pulling back on the mileage, going to the, there is a, there's some technical way that you can build and understand your distance around that. But what I find really interesting in terms of overlaying this story, that I'm just, it's such a great story, but overlaying into life and into business. What are you planning for? Because if you've got a 500 mile race physically, or you've got a quote, a metaphoric 500 mile race of a business, maybe you're going to grow something over the next five years. If you don't plan it in that context, you think it's going to be like a 50 miler, then you're up for trouble. if you're not planning for the long haul, like how is this going to roll? What do I need in place? What do I need to get me there? It's gonna fall short. And we do live in a short term mentality, in our current culture with the nature of technology and the pace of life, it does, I think, predicate a sense of things gonna come quickly. I do see, and I love that, story you said about being a kid, getting, applause for putting stuff in a dishwasher. It's in the real tough life, people are like, yeah, you did a race, get over it.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

and there's something really interesting, is it about not needing that, that, let's say all that applause and finding your own internal gratification about, I did that and I'm sleeping on the floor and it sucks. And that's still fine as well.

Yeah. And you're fine. people would've complained. I'm sure, other people might've, or I, I don't think anyone in this race did. if you're not set at that mindset, you would've said, what? I'm sleeping on a floor. I've done this incredible racing. and that's it. And I, and I, I like what you said there in the beginning, 'cause it really got me thinking about planning and being prepared. And I know you and I have spoken before about. the clarity that I saw with this race, visualizing myself finishing it a million times before I got there. I never once thought I wasn't going to do it. There were moments in the race when that bad luck happened, but not once before the race that I think I'm not finishing this. and I, my transition from employment to starting my own business, I was not that prepared. I was not that well planned. I didn't plan all that well. I knew what I wanted to do. And... But I didn't actually have the steps in place I needed to have, and I'll often say that I wish I had the clarity I have with a race like this with my own business. And I realize now why, it's now almost two years down the line with my own business and I'm a lot more planned ahead. In fact, we might be, buying a new business, a, a, a, a second one, but it's just I know where I'm going now, where I didn't when I started. And I think thinking back as to. Visualizing myself in my business. I can see where I want to be, but it's not as clear and I'm not as confident as I am with my cycling. so what you said there was really good.

I want to know, so when you were visualizing that race, so we really understand it, you've, you've, and you said you've visualized it many times, having some beers, crossing the line, seeing your wife, all these pieces, what were the emotions in your pre visualization experience

euphoria, achievements, were those emotions of, yeah.

and what does your body feel like? Could you, what were you feeling? So you're visualizing this stuff happening and you've got those emotions. What did your body connect with?

I think my body would say it's tired. What? It was after

in the visualisation part, so the pre prehearsal, you're thinking like, this is going to happen. You've got all that great

Oh, yeah, just excited. Oh, yeah, very, very excited. just an excited, excited feeling.

Yeah. So it's so interesting. And this is the point I want to make is that if we're in a, in an abstraction, such as I can see myself finishing this race, or I can see myself with my success at work or in my business. If it's only an abstraction, which is not dissimilar to a dream, it's a sort of an abstract construct in the mind, where if it's got emotion layered in, then it becomes a felt experience as well. And then when you got a physiological response, Oh, I'm actually maybe moving. I feel the joy in my heart. I'm actually perhaps jumping around a bit. becomes tangible, what we say embodied. And I think this is such an important part that people miss when they're doing pre, pre rehearsal visualization, whether it's business or sport, it doesn't matter. if you want to go, And I hear someone only do the, I can picture it. It's I need you to feel it. Because if it emotionally and feel it in your body, there's so much data that comes back to the brain through the interoceptive signals and basically becomes real and tangible. And for you, it might be something that you can take this beautiful experience and overlay it into your next chapter of work and business. And. Do, do the process, right? You do the drills, you do the warm up, you do everything, you do the visualization and the embodied experience. I suspect your, your, your whole mind body system will go. Yeah, we know how to deal with adversity. We'd have to deal with the really

Yeah. no, I can actually see that happening as you're speaking. I can see that happening, because I know the, the feeling I get when I'm helping people. It's such a, it's a buzz. And it's, it's almost like a drug. You want so much more of it. So seeing and visualizing it now more and more often is what I'm, what I'm doing without thinking about it, which is a really good, really nice feeling. It does get you all tingly, I guess is the word I'm looking for, but yeah, it makes perfect sense.

and what all tingly tells us, it's a somatic feedback. Somatic means whole body. So if there's tingles, there's, there's stuff happening in the, in the cells, in the skin, in the, in the internal system. So that's an embodied experience, just like crossing a finish line, which is a real embodied experience. If we are pre-hearing something, the more embodied that whole thing is. more powerful it is for our beautiful predictive brain to go. Yeah, I can make that become, because I already know that's a felt experience. I can connect with that. beautiful. To summarize, 500 miles, 66 hours, up and down a whole load of mountains in ridiculous heat, apart from the rain day, and a broken bike. What did you learn?

I learned that we are more capable of, we're a lot more capable than we think we are. running in those mountains too, the one side is you, you learn that you. You're capable of a lot more than you think you are. Or you're, in the face of adversity, we can all get through it. We've got the tools. Those, those thoughts that we're telling ourselves, those stories we're telling ourselves during that adversity, it's only stories we're telling ourselves. You've got a group of fans, cheerleaders behind you, thinking that you... doing an amazing thing. It's only you telling yourself, and if you're able to identify, hold on, that's just a thought that's triggering a really negative emotion. So that thought, that thought can do one, and get out of there. that's really, really powerful. And also, when you're riding in all these mountains, and these beautiful places on earth, you realize you're not as important as you think you are. and if you were, yeah, or not, yeah, it doesn't matter. That those mountains have been there for millions of years. And life goes on, and, people carry on with everything else, and yes, you're the main actor in your own story, but actually you're a very small extra in everyone else's stories, just gotta, just be, just, just be happy with it.

I love that, yes. I'm chuckling because we do get so caught up in our own story and our life and, and of course it's important what we do. I care so much about what I do, I love the work I do and, and yet at the same time, yes, at times I've been in the mountains, I've been skiing or different things, but out in the ocean. And you think, I am so utterly insignificant. I'm only here for, if I get 100 years, that's gonna be a good one. This stuff's been here for like millennia.

Yeah.

it's, it's quite nice, isn't it? To feel utterly humble and small. for me, there's a deep respect. So when I go into the, into the sea, I try to connect with those billions of tons of water. Like I'm just a single drop right now. And it's, isn't How wonderful that is. And

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

for me when I've had those experiences. And it sounds like you, about you can get over yourself and be with the experience, whether that's the bike race, whether that's overcoming a challenge, whatever it is. Because if we're too caught up in the identity, the ego, the story and the story isn't that healthy,

Hmm. Yeah.

connection to a bigger story, the story of the mountains, the story of the race or whatever it might be, can really help you breathe and go, ah, this is an

Yeah. Yeah.

So amazing. your story is incredible. I'm so delighted that we came on and we, we got into the nitty gritty because when you first told me, I was like, what did you do? And of course, for, for everyone listening. There's, there's so much to take from a story. we're humans. We, we dial into people, we have empathy, we under, we can connect and adversity, planning, visualization, embodiment, all of these things, they, they happen in every aspect of our life. So Clayton, your story is an example of that. And it's a real one. And, and for me, I'm going to live into some of those experiences you've said, take the lessons. So thank you so much for joining me today.

Oh, thanks so much for having me, it's been an absolute pleasure, thank you.

Cool. my dear listener, I hope that you either going to jump on the 500 mile bike race. Maybe you'll go on a five minute walk. Who knows? But get active, get moving. Understand that these stories are not just interesting. They are other people doing really great things just like you can do and overcome adversity, learning, all these sorts of things. Us human beings are very clever. I trust you can take some of what we've covered today and impart it into your life.

Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and if a friend would benefit from hearing this, do send it on to them as well. If you would like to get in touch yourself, then you can go to my website, which is sal jeffries.com, spelled S A L J E F E R I E s sal jeffries.com. Hit the get in touch link and there you can send me a direct message. If you'd like to go one step further and learn whether coaching could help you overcome a challenge or a block in your life, then do reach out and I offer a call where we can discuss how this may be able to help you. Until the next time, take care.