Riding With No Breaks, feat. Skyler Samuelson | Episode 58
This week Kristi chats with elite athlete Skyler Samuelson. Skyler was a Division I rower at Columbia and Stanford Universities and is now a Team USA athlete as a guide for a visually impaired cyclist. She's won medals at the World Championships twice and is a two time Parapan American champion.
Skyler talks to Kristi about how she went from rowing to cycling, the rewards and challenges of tandem cycling, and the special quirks of track cycling - like having no breaks! Skyler also tells us why she started her blog Em[Power] and how it's helped her use her voice to support her values and passions.
Plus, Kristi gives us the latest update from Italy on her way to the Rowing World Cup II in Switzerland!
Keep up with Kristi's Podcast - The Other 3 Years
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00:00:03 Skyler Samuelson
Of the Olympic and official distances are always on a 250 meter.
00:00:08 Skyler Samuelson
Track that's usually.
00:00:09 Skyler Samuelson
Wooden and indoor. So that's kind of like the gold standard of the surface that we compete on. And that banking can be up to like 50°. So it's very steep. It's really very fast and you ride on bikes that don't have brakes. So it's like a fixed gear bike.
00:00:24 Skyler Samuelson
And it's really fast and really fun.
00:00:26 Kristi Wagner
There are no breaks.
00:00:29 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah.
00:00:31 Kristi Wagner
Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream. They want to turn into a reality.
00:00:39 Kristi Wagner
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years podcast. My name is Christy Wagner and this week I have guest Skyler Samuelson Espinoza. Skyler was a collegiate rower, but now she is a track cyclist and most recently she's been a tandem pilot with the USA Para Cycling.
00:01:00 Kristi Wagner
Team.
00:01:01 Kristi Wagner
So last summer, Skyler and her partner earned a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships, and they are still hoping to earn a bid to the games this summer. So yeah, fingers crossed for that. But Skyler Rd. In college with one of my national team teammates. Sharp.
00:01:19 Kristi Wagner
And Charlotte just keeps us all updated on Skyler and her awesome athletic career. So it was really fun to connect with her and learn more.
00:01:28 Kristi Wagner
About like her experience in the late sport kind of going from rowing to cycling and the ups and downs and what the experience has been like for her so.
00:01:36 Kristi Wagner
It was really great conversation and I know everyone will enjoy hearing from Skyler as much as I did. But before we get into that, here is an update on what's currently going on in my training, so we are still in Italy, but we are actually leaving for Switzerland to race at the Second World Cup tomorrow. It's Tuesday right now, so today was a very exciting.
00:01:58 Kristi Wagner
Day because for more.
00:02:01 Kristi Wagner
US rowing boats qualified for the Olympics at the final Olympic Qualification regatta, which was also in Switzerland, so that was so exciting. It was really, really fun. We all got to watch online, not in person, but just like so exciting for all of them and it was really great racing like across the board.
00:02:21 Kristi Wagner
Also, you know like so tough there were a couple votes that didn't qualify and that's just like, so, so hard. I mean, everyone's been on the wrong side of those kind of things. So, you know, I think it's it's really hard, but there's there's just like not much you can say.
00:02:38 Kristi Wagner
But yeah, really proud of everyone. Like, regardless of the outcome, I'm especially excited because my Ryan teammate Lauren and my coach Kat, we're both with the Women's quad and they qualified, which means they'll both be coming to Paris, which is just like, so exciting and obviously everyone works really hard. I get to see how hard they work so.
00:02:58 Kristi Wagner
I'm really excited for them and that it'll be fun to have some people from home at the Olympics and in the preparation and stuff. So that's just like, very awesome, but really excited for everyone.
00:03:11 Kristi Wagner
It's very exciting day becoming an Olympian, so I'm so happy that all of those people got to have that day.
00:03:16 Kristi Wagner
Today.
00:03:18 Kristi Wagner
But the rest of us get to race this coming weekend at the Second World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, on. I'm really excited to race. It feels like it's been a long time since we've raced so.
00:03:29 Kristi Wagner
The Times coming out of FQR were a little bit slow. I think the water's just a little bit cold, so probably won't be sending any records or anything like that, but a lot of fast women's double s, they're gonna be there. So really exciting to see like where we stack up. Hopefully the team all has good races and.
00:03:45 Kristi Wagner
You know, kind of set us on the path for the rest of the summer. And then yeah, we fly home Monday right after the racing. So kind of a quick trip. But this week was good. A lot of rain in Italy and then and then it got nice over the weekend. It was insane. Like there was so much rain that where the docks are at the Rowing Club here like flooded. So you have to wade through water.
00:04:06 Kristi Wagner
Get to the docks and just really, really crazy, but really great camp. I think we had some, like, really good rose. We've all got these fancy new flippies that have this eagle decal on the bow.
00:04:17 Kristi Wagner
It's. Yeah, it's quite the eagle. But you know, the boats are really nice and hopefully they'll make us really fast next week.
00:04:24 Kristi Wagner
Now it is time for my conversation with Skyler, and I hope you all.
00:04:29 Kristi Wagner
Enjoy it.
00:04:34 Kristi Wagner
Skyler, thank you so much. I'm super excited to chat.
00:04:36 Skyler Samuelson
Chat. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, Christy. I'm really, I'm excited to be here.
00:04:40 Kristi Wagner
I first of all feel like everyone should read your blog. I feel like you should just plug the blog and the YouTube videos because I feel like I got a lot of really good background information. You're also a very good writer.
00:04:53 Kristi Wagner
Sure.
00:04:54 Kristi Wagner
Thank you.
00:04:55 Kristi Wagner
Which I guess should probably. I feel like very high education, so that probably shouldn't have been surprising. But I was like, this is so well written. So I feel like I know some things now about kind of your early path, but maybe just for the audience like a little bit of bio how you got to where you are today?
00:05:14 Skyler Samuelson
I'm from Maine originally and I grew up, you know, in a family of athletes, for sure. My aunt has a gold medal in the Olympic marathon, and my other uncle were, like, head track coaches. So definitely like a big running family, big athlete family. I didn't really grow up like in sports. I feel like so many athletes like come on podcast and they're like, I play soccer. It's all fall. And they always have things like.
00:05:33 Skyler Samuelson
I feel like I was just like a normal kid. I just, like ran around and, like, went to school and did my homework and stuff like that. I ran a little bit in middle school in high school and then it wasn't.
00:05:44 Skyler Samuelson
Till kind of.
00:05:44 Skyler Samuelson
The end of high school, I actually ran 2 marathons with my dad. I was like, oh, I kind of want to, like, try this. And it was something that we did to bond together. And then in college.
00:05:53 Skyler Samuelson
I was training for another marathon.
00:05:55 Skyler Samuelson
Fun I was getting kind of lonely. I was like, look, I like working out. But like, this is kind of boring and like taking a long time and by myself. So that's what I had to find. Found out that rowing is one of the only sports that you can walk on to like, without any previous experience. And so I kind of tried it and then fell in love with it. So a little bit of my athlete origin story, I guess.
00:06:15 Skyler Samuelson
But yeah, definitely surrounded by a lot of athletes and then kind of just found it because I was lonely and looking for a new adventure.
00:06:23 Kristi Wagner
But when you were younger, you did a lot of different activities, right? And found like community and the and things like that.
00:06:30 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, definitely. I went to a very small school growing up my graduating high school class was 10 people. So I did a lot of, like, art. Yeah, this fall, I was like, art. A lot of music. But I was like.
00:06:44 Skyler Samuelson
Really involved? Definitely with my community because we're all like, very close and tight, so for sure I played a cello for really long time. I did a lot of like other stuff, so for sure I did activities that till they organized sport was not as big with.
00:06:56 Skyler Samuelson
Yes.
00:06:58 Kristi Wagner
So then yeah, joining the rowing team at Columbia, was that just like a shock to the system? What was it like, you know, early days of that?
00:07:07 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, I definitely, I think it's probably good that I didn't know what it was going to be like because I think if you know, maybe even like, oh, that's going to be like too hard, let's not do that. But yeah, I think I got lucky.
00:07:18 Skyler Samuelson
In a weird way that like my first year, they had like a lot of injuries, like a lot of people leave the team that we had only enough healthy rowers to like make.
00:07:27 Skyler Samuelson
A squad of IV.
00:07:28 Skyler Samuelson
'S So I got to race at Ivies.
00:07:29 Skyler Samuelson
Like my novice year.
00:07:30 Skyler Samuelson
Which was like big for me. I think probably like everyone else is like this awful because she's really ****** at row.
00:07:36 Skyler Samuelson
Thing. But it was like I got to race and everything was so hard. But it was such like an amazing community. I also became really close friends with Charlotte, who's a mutual friend of ours, obviously. So I'm the senior national team now, but I just like, made some really great friends and found the sense of community and also have, like, uplifting other people through.
00:07:56 Skyler Samuelson
Or that I feel like I hadn't really had a taste of before.
00:07:58 Kristi Wagner
Then, So what did you like about growing like beyond the, you know, having a team and a community in college and that kind of thing?
00:08:07 Skyler Samuelson
Another reason why I decided to start doing a sport was I was in.
00:08:13 Skyler Samuelson
My freshman year, like Russian class, I'm a Russian like literature major and my professor was like you are too competitive for this class. You need to bring that energy somewhere else like, not here. Because I actually walked on my sophomore year of college and I think it was just like an amazing place to, like, let a fierce competitive side of myself.
00:08:33 Skyler Samuelson
Like grow? Yeah, like sometimes, you know, we're always like ohh. Like, don't be too aggressive. Don't be too like loud here in these other areas. And like, rowing was just like an area where.
00:08:44 Skyler Samuelson
Like I just get to ******* like rage, like especially on the earth. Like I just kind of like, grew to really love that like edge and that just like, really aggressive. I just get to give all of myself and be this, like, really intense personality in these moments. I love that rowing really, like kind of rewarded and allowed that intensity.
00:09:02 Kristi Wagner
Yeah, 100% rage rowing. We love rowing.
00:09:07 Kristi Wagner
Yeah.
00:09:08 Kristi Wagner
How did you end up at Stanford and still rowing there?
00:09:13 Skyler Samuelson
So I since I walked on my sophomore year at Columbia, I had an extra year of eligibility and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do after school yet, but I knew that I loved growing and I wanted to continue being involved in sports. I'm also a very small open weight rower and.
00:09:28 Skyler Samuelson
Two and at the time was like.
00:09:31 Skyler Samuelson
100 and.
00:09:31 Skyler Samuelson
20 lbs so I was like curious about lightweight and I know that Stanford had a really competitive program. So I was talking to the coaches there and they were like, yeah, we'd love to have you, but we can't recruit grad students like you need to get in on your own. So I was like, OK, no problem. Like, I'll definitely do that. So yeah, I did. I did end up getting in.
00:09:48 Skyler Samuelson
For masters at Stanford and got to row, you know, with them. Unfortunately, I had to have back surgery that year. So I really only got to raise the fall season, but then I ended up coaching at Stanford later. So like the program, there is just amazing and I love getting to actually be able to row all year round rather than being on the birds all year.
00:10:07 Skyler Samuelson
Columbia, it ended up.
00:10:08 Skyler Samuelson
Being a really great fit, even though I had to have that surgery, it just solidified for me that like I wanted to be in sports for a long time because I.
00:10:16 Skyler Samuelson
Really loved it.
00:10:17 Kristi Wagner
Yeah. So how did cycling come into the mix? Had that been like underlying the whole time or?
00:10:24 Skyler Samuelson
No. So actually at the time that I had to get the back surgery, I definitely I felt like I wasn't ready to like put cause I I was hoping to like grow at the next level. At that point, I wasn't ready to like.
00:10:36 Skyler Samuelson
Put down the idea of like being an athlete kind of at that next level and then a couple of things came into play. One is like I do have some like family connections at Nikes. So I actually did a couple of, like Physiology tests with their like physiologists there, who's like, I was like, look, I want to do the next level but like.
00:10:54 Skyler Samuelson
What should I kind of try to do in terms of like optimization for my body type and my strengths? I did that and he was like he's probably either do like cycling or like Nordic skiing which something also done but it was like you have to move to Europe for that. So that's like a little complicated. And then also at the time I've met.
00:11:11 Skyler Samuelson
The man who's not my husband and he was a triathlete, cyclist, person. So we start to ride bikes together and also cycling is way more accessible than rowing in terms of like being able to ride a bike and like training anywhere. And I wasn't sure where I was going to be after graduation. So it's kind of a combination of those things.
00:11:28 Kristi Wagner
I just feel like it's so cool that you're like, oh, I'm just gonna.
00:11:33 Kristi Wagner
Do these sports, but like really, really well? Because I enjoy riding my bicycle, but like in no way am I competitive at it. You know what I mean? Like, I think it's fun. Good time. I don't know. I just think that's really amazing.
00:11:50 Skyler Samuelson
Thank you. I mean, I am very competitive as you know, as are you, as are all of us. And I think also that like something really cool about cycling and bike racing when you kind of like get a little bit into it.
00:12:01 Skyler Samuelson
Is like. It turns your brain on in this way that rowing doesn't always require rowing. Sometimes, like the less you can think, the better, right? Like, just go as hard.
00:12:10 Skyler Samuelson
As you can from.
00:12:10 Skyler Samuelson
Point A to point B and cycling it took me a little while to learn like OK, like racing smart and racing hard are not the same things, right? Like you need to like choose when to go hard and when to like hide behind someone's wheel and get a little more draft.
00:12:23 Skyler Samuelson
So I found that really motivating and exciting to like.
00:12:27 Skyler Samuelson
Get to be obviously you're like, OK, now I'm the Coxon and the rower. Like, I have to make these game plans and these decisions. So like, it is a cool and obviously I know, like, right, you're in the double. So it's a little different. But like there's there's a lot more like game plan thinking.
00:12:40 Skyler Samuelson
When you're writing.
00:12:42 Kristi Wagner
Well, I also think it's crazy like how much like you're saying like strategy, but also seems like pre planned strategies, a lot of the.
00:12:50 Kristi Wagner
Time like.
00:12:51 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, it's definitely different. Also between, I don't know what kind of bike riding you've got.
00:12:56 Skyler Samuelson
But like I mostly do track cycling, so road and.
00:12:59 Skyler Samuelson
Track is like a little bit different also.
00:13:01 Kristi Wagner
Yeah. I was gonna ask you about track cycling. Like, how did that kind of start and maybe just explain, like I think people sometimes don't even really know what track cycling is or you know that you're like on a slanted surface or.
00:13:16 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, I think I kind of knew that I wanted to be a track cycling from the start. The goal was kind of always like Olympic stuff. And definitely there's like a smaller pool, like it's a little bit more niche. So there's a little bit more like there's a little more opportunities in that with tracks.
00:13:31 Skyler Samuelson
And also for my time in rowing, I was like, I'm like a fast, twitchy, slow athlete. And so like, a fast, twitchy, slow twitch, I guess, like, sprinted earth person and definitely track cycling is more. It's definitely a bit more of a sprinting. Sometimes I tell people it's like the track and field to the marathon in terms of like distance.
00:13:51 Skyler Samuelson
And physiological demand.
00:13:53 Skyler Samuelson
Of the Olympic and official distances are always on a 250 meter.
00:13:58 Skyler Samuelson
Track that's usually.
00:13:59 Skyler Samuelson
Wooden and indoor. So that's kind of like the gold standard of the surface that we compete on. And that banking can be up to like 50°. So it's very steep. It's really very fast and you ride on bikes that don't have brakes. So it's like a fixed.
00:14:12 Skyler Samuelson
Your bike and it's really fast and really fun, and then you know, Rd. cycling is obviously on the road with, you know, brakes and and kind of normal bikes. Until then, I still ride on the road a lot. Train on the road and I race on the road even a little bit. But everything happens so much more quickly on the track.
00:14:29 Skyler Samuelson
I mean races that are like long races are like 5 to 10 minutes, and then there's some races, you know, that are like a minute or less. And so everything just happens really quickly. The speeds are really high. And yeah, I think it's the most fun type of weight breaking there is.
00:14:45 Kristi Wagner
There are no breaks.
00:14:47
Yeah.
00:14:49 Kristi Wagner
How do you control where you're going? You just, like, move up and down to control your speed.
00:14:55 Skyler Samuelson
Sorry. Yeah, yeah, it's all good. So it actually makes it safer when you're riding in a big pack of people because one person doesn't have the ability to, like, slam on the brakes and stop and, like, kind of cause a crash and that way. So when you're riding in a big group, basically, you're just, like, moving up the track. That actually slows you down.
00:15:16 Skyler Samuelson
Riding uphill or down the track makes you go a little faster and obviously you can, like put pressure on the pedals and then like it's like those bikes, you ride kids and you like back pedal hard. You can kind of like break it.
00:15:28 Skyler Samuelson
But obviously it's not like when you're going really fast, you're not.
00:15:30 Skyler Samuelson
Going to stop but.
00:15:32 Skyler Samuelson
Slowly overtime, if you can like put backward pressure, you can kind of slow yourself down.
00:15:37 Kristi Wagner
This is an unimportant question, something I've always wondered why? Like is it just because of the incline that your coach kind of has to like hold you before you start and like, give you a little push?
00:15:50 Skyler Samuelson
You hold because of the fixed gear like you want to be like ready to go right away. You usually those events where your coach is holding you are like.
00:15:58 Skyler Samuelson
Timed events or time trials, you want to be able to just like push, right?
00:16:01 Skyler Samuelson
Away because the road races are longer, you can like, put one foot in and put the other foot. And that raises like 3 hours doesn't really matter like the first couple of pedal strokes. But for these events where the coach is holding you like every pedal stroke is counting. So you yeah, it's.
00:16:14 Skyler Samuelson
Because that star is so fast.
00:16:17 Kristi Wagner
Yeah, I thought it was really funny when I first watched beach sprints for rowing because the coaches like, hold the boats for the athletes and yeah.
00:16:27 Kristi Wagner
Finally, it's just like track cycling.
00:16:31 Kristi Wagner
Coach serves a purpose.
00:16:36 Skyler Samuelson
It's gonna bring him here for something.
00:16:38 Kristi Wagner
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
00:16:39
So.
00:16:40 Kristi Wagner
What do you like about sports now? Because I know, like for me, college sports were kind of one thing there was, like a lot of team stuff. There was definitely a real community there and there were, like things I really liked. I found that an elite growing like there is definitely still community, but it's really different.
00:16:59 Kristi Wagner
And it's like, way more personal. So what would you say are the things that like kind of keep you coming back and have, like, are your reasons to participate now?
00:17:08 Kristi Wagner
No.
00:17:09 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, I definitely agree, and I've definitely found that I think that people don't really realize leaving college sports, right, like a lot of the resources that were available to you both like tangible like student athlete, healthcare and intangible like your teammates, like go away and are are really hard to recreate. I do think still that like track cycling is a very small community.
00:17:29 Skyler Samuelson
And so like, I'm sure this is the same when you go to international regattas now, but it's like I see a lot of the same people at every race. So that's like really fun to.
00:17:36 Skyler Samuelson
Get to connect with people you know from all over the world at these big compete.
00:17:39 Skyler Samuelson
Actions I do also think that, like training and pushing myself and finding like those limits, is is really exciting for me still, and I think also like and I know we'll get to this. But like the Para stuff has been really motivating to me in a cool way that like I really love supporting other athletes, especially women.
00:17:59 Skyler Samuelson
Kind of like in their journeys. And so getting to do that on like a very personal level has been really motivating to me. And yeah, I I do think that like I, I feel like I have had more like.
00:18:10 Skyler Samuelson
A little more cynicism about sports as I've gotten older, but I do still believe that it's like a really cool place, like a low stakes place where we get to, like, do hard things and find out things about ourselves. So I certainly enjoy doing that and connecting with other people who do that.
00:18:26 Kristi Wagner
Yeah. I mean, I think it's an opportunity to like go all in on something also, which I just don't think that we'll like actually do in.
00:18:33
Yeah.
00:18:37 Kristi Wagner
Quote UN quote real life.
00:18:39 Kristi Wagner
But yeah, great segue into the para stuff like how did that first come about?
00:18:47 Skyler Samuelson
So I always kind of had the 2024 games as an end goal when I started cycling at the end of 2018 and I was like, let me see how far I can get, you know, by that games. Yeah, I mean, like, I won a lot of my braces. I did a lot of stuff and I was invited to a couple different camps that are kind of like.
00:19:08 Skyler Samuelson
You know, team selection camps and stuff. I mean, the US Women's Track program is very strong and I was kind of like on the bubble for a lot of those conversations and connections, which is great. It's also a hard place to be. I mean, as all of us know, right, it's like hard to kind of be knocking on that door, but like not quite there.
00:19:25 Skyler Samuelson
Then at the beginning of last year, the woman who was my coach also is coaching these these women from the tandem with the Women's Para and then their partnership split and my coach said, hey, would you ever think about doing this? I think you could do both. Like I think you could continue to try and like go for your own opportunities and the Olympic stuff and also do the.
00:19:45 Skyler Samuelson
Piloting thing and I was like, I don't think that that's true. It seems like this is a big commitment, but I'm happy to like give it a try and give it a shot. And I think at that time I was also feeling a little bit like not a little bit. I was feeling a lot of like.
00:20:00 Skyler Samuelson
Wow, this is really hard and I don't even know if I'm gonna make it. And like I'm putting so much of my own, like, money and everything into, like, trying to pursue this and it's like.
00:20:10 Skyler Samuelson
I'm getting close but like I don't know what's gonna happen. I think I just felt like with the tandem it is similar in a way, but it's also like a whole new skill set. I feel like for rowing people, it's definitely like growing in a single and then like growing in a double or like growing in a pair or something like that. It's.
00:20:25 Skyler Samuelson
It's growing, but it's like a different set of skills and I think we don't get that many opportunities to do that at a very high level in sports. And also like the project of getting to a formal relationship with someone, you know, in the blind community and, like, support her and her dreams just like felt. So values aligned and really like made me happier.
00:20:45 Skyler Samuelson
In sport, so I think that like the decision felt like a really big one at the time. So I was like, OK, I'm gonna decide to do this, like make this my number one priority and anything else that happens kind of happens. In retrospect. I think it was the right one for me, and it made me feel way more connected to sport and happier. And I've had some really, really cool experiences.
00:21:03 Skyler Samuelson
Doing that.
00:21:04 Kristi Wagner
From the get go, you knew you'd be partnering with Hannah.
00:21:08 Skyler Samuelson
It's Hanna, yeah.
00:21:10 Kristi Wagner
Sorry, but had you guys ever like met before? Like did you need to go through some sort of like try out process to make sure that you know it was all going to work out?
00:21:21 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, I did know that it was going to be Hanna at the time, yeah.
00:21:24 Skyler Samuelson
She is the only like track.
00:21:25 Skyler Samuelson
Athlete and she was the one looking for the pilot specifically and I did do a tryout with her and I went out. She lives at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Spring. So I went out to meet her and do the test ride in the US. It's not the same in all the countries, but in the US, it is the visually impaired athlete. She's also called the Stoker and gets to choose the pilot.
00:21:46 Skyler Samuelson
So for sure, I did feel like a little bit of like a first date source situation where I was like our personality is gonna mesh.
00:21:52 Skyler Samuelson
I talked to other people. I know her former pilot so.
00:21:54 Skyler Samuelson
I talked to.
00:21:55 Skyler Samuelson
Her. Yeah, I did feel a bit like a first date meets job interview, but I think it was kind of clear from the beginning that we were going to be a good a good pair. So I feel very lucky about that.
00:22:05 Kristi Wagner
That's really cool. I I I feel like I can relate a lot because I wrote in a two person vote and it is like just such an interesting.
00:22:11
Yeah.
00:22:14 Kristi Wagner
Sport relationship like team dynamic. I am intrigued because I feel like a lot of people say it is like a marriage and you are actually married. So would you say that a two person team is like a marriage or would you say it's it's different? There's no right answer here. I'm like really just curious.
00:22:34 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah. Yeah, no, I think.
00:22:37 Skyler Samuelson
I'm gonna avoid answering question for a minute and talk about the growing again, because I think that like I obviously was a quote, just pampered and we, you know, coached the AA lot. And then also I was around when Kate Bercow was coaching Megan and Ellen out of the Stanford Boathouse and obviously like they have a very interesting and long like personal relationship and also like.
00:22:57 Skyler Samuelson
In relationship and so I think I was bringing a lot of that experience into starting to work with the tandem right where I was.
00:23:03 Skyler Samuelson
Like, OK, like this could be.
00:23:05 Skyler Samuelson
The A very intense relationship I do think also it's a little bit different with the tandem where it's like it does have the capacity to have very skewed power dynamics where like the visually impaired athlete can say like, hey, this is my project and you are my motor get on board otherwise like I'm going to.
00:23:23 Skyler Samuelson
Fire you.
00:23:24 Skyler Samuelson
Or the pilot.
00:23:26 Skyler Samuelson
That has happened being like.
00:23:27 Skyler Samuelson
I can see and I have a lot more biking experience. Therefore you need to do.
00:23:32 Skyler Samuelson
What I want?
00:23:33 Skyler Samuelson
To say so, I think like I was aware of those things before. So it's like, hey, I really want to empower Hanna and make sure that she has a really good experience and also knowing that this is a team like effort. But it's like it is a little different I think than like, you know, when you're both able bodied.
00:23:47 Skyler Samuelson
Like in that partnership.
00:23:49 Skyler Samuelson
But I do think that like our relationship, like a marriage is like something that you actively need to like cultivate. I think that a lot of people like ask me about piloting and they're like, oh, well, I could just, like swoop in and, like, do this. And I'm like, oh, no, like, that's not how it works. Like, it's not just like you just put two strong people together or like, you just.
00:24:07 Skyler Samuelson
Put two people on the bike.
00:24:09 Skyler Samuelson
There's a lot of off the bike stuff that needs to be managed that I do think I think like in marriage, you know, you need to actively work on that. But I think that my husband and I have less of a professional relationship and I think that my husband and I are a little sillier than that.
00:24:22 Skyler Samuelson
Most of the time so.
00:24:24 Kristi Wagner
Yeah.
00:24:25 Kristi Wagner
Yeah, I think you made a really good point though of like it does take effort. I'd say like one thing that I've really learned about two person both that I think is true in in relationships, whether it's like friendships or romantic relationships is like anytime that I'm getting somewhat like frustrated or.
00:24:31
Hmm.
00:24:47 Kristi Wagner
It's like.
00:24:48 Kristi Wagner
I then have to remember that like the other person is also dealing with me like which I think you kind of touched on there. Like it's not like a plug and play situation which I do sometimes think that in like bigger rowing boats, not I. Their teamwork is definitely involved, but like you can kind of get lost in an 8 right like and you just can't get lost in a.
00:24:55
Yeah.
00:25:09 Kristi Wagner
On a on a tandem bike, you certainly cannot get lost. And like in a two person boat, you can't get lost. You have to have that trust and and it's not trust, can't be fake like it has to be real. It has to be.
00:25:21 Kristi Wagner
Earned.
00:25:22 Skyler Samuelson
100% and I think that like it puts more of a spotlight in you with like the emotions that you're bringing to the day or the workout or whatever. Like, if you're off your partner, something to know or realize, wait like you're saying versus like an 8 when it's like, OK, like whoever's in three state today is a little grumpy. Like I'm just going to turn around and, like, talk to someone else definitely.
00:25:43 Skyler Samuelson
I think it's a bigger emotional lift to be on and like, be supporting your partner in the ways that.
00:25:49 Skyler Samuelson
You can all the time.
00:25:51 Kristi Wagner
I watched your guys race and that was just like an insane race. Or is is that like a normal experience and like, were you like feeling in control or was like what was kind of going through your mind during that race? And I guess for context, they like at the very end sprinted.
00:26:11 Kristi Wagner
Into third place like it was wild.
00:26:15 Skyler Samuelson
That event was really special. Last year, World Championships for the first time in kind of the modern era, was all cycling disciplines and para and able bodied. So it was like Rd. cycling, mountain biking, BMX like trick cycling like artistic cycling. It was in Scotland and it was like this cycling Mecca.
00:26:35 Skyler Samuelson
All of the most famous cycles of the world, like the people that we watch in the Tour de France and us, are like there in the same space. So that was incredible. And also the UK is like a big cycling area. So for sure like that velodrome was packed. There was like thousands of people there and that environment.
00:26:52 Skyler Samuelson
Was like the most electric like I've got a goosebumps like myself, just like because, you know, like we were rowing like, OK, like, and the cycling like, you never have more than, like, a handful of fans, right. And so like to be in that environment where there's like thousands of people, you're like, this is crazy. And I don't think that I'm ever going to have that feeling again. Like, we went to World Championships again this year. And it was like.
00:27:13 Skyler Samuelson
This is not it's.
00:27:14 Skyler Samuelson
The same. So yeah. So we ended up in that race, which is like match sprints, where you're racing against another tandem, going against Italy in the bronze medal rides. And we lost the first one and then we won the second one. And then it's like kind of surprised. I talked to us in the last one and then we ended up being able to, like, come around them and at the end.
00:27:34 Skyler Samuelson
So maybe haha doesn't didn't know this as much of the time because she has been involved in sports for only a couple of.
00:27:40 Skyler Samuelson
Years. But I was like on it that.
00:27:42 Skyler Samuelson
Could have been as good as it gets.
00:27:43 Skyler Samuelson
For us forever, you know.
00:27:45 Skyler Samuelson
Those are the kind of moments that you're.
00:27:46 Skyler Samuelson
Like we were able to.
00:27:47 Skyler Samuelson
Pull it out in that moment like it was so close.
00:27:51 Skyler Samuelson
That feeling was, yeah, so special. And I think being able to pull out something like that, it doesn't happen all the time. And you just got a little bit of extra magic due too.
00:28:02 Kristi Wagner
It was very exciting. It's very exciting race.
00:28:06 Kristi Wagner
But you guys are still racing together right now?
00:28:08 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah. So we're hoping to go to Paris together, but kind of like all of our qualification stuff has finished and we're just basically waiting for like the road athletes to because our the spots are shared across track, cycling and road cycling for para. So we're kind of waiting for the road cycling.
00:28:23 Skyler Samuelson
To finish up.
00:28:24 Skyler Samuelson
And then see how many spots were allotted in general to see if we're actually officially going to make the.
00:28:29 Kristi Wagner
Oh, that's interesting.
00:28:30 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, it's a little kind of just like.
00:28:33 Skyler Samuelson
Hurry up and wait. Situation.
00:28:34 Kristi Wagner
Is there like a timeline or is it just kind of like floating?
00:28:38 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, there's a lot of different stuff with Para, also with selection, but it should all get wrapped up at the earliest and July 7th, and the latest is July 10th. So it's like just a little over a month before we leave.
00:28:50 Kristi Wagner
Wow, that's very close. So right now you guys are just like training as if you to go right. Like you kind of have to, yeah.
00:28:59 Kristi Wagner
How often do you guys train together and how often do you train like in a velodrome?
00:29:05 Skyler Samuelson
We've been working together now for about a year and a half and we've spent probably about half of that time together. I travel to Colorado Springs, kind of in camps to train with Hannah and then also we've spent time in LA, which is the only kind of like Olympic distance indoor wooden Belgium in the country. Yeah.
00:29:25 Skyler Samuelson
Whenever we're together, we're on the village Rd. And then when we're apart, Han is training on a stationary bike. Obviously inside and I'm mostly training on the road and also like my trainer inside.
00:29:38 Skyler Samuelson
I don't go to the track that much when I'm apart from Hanna.
00:29:40 Skyler Samuelson
But I do race. We have like local racing. So I go usually like once a week and race on the track. But yeah, usually just when we're together.
00:29:47 Kristi Wagner
How many miles do you ride every week?
00:29:50 Kristi Wagner
This is not an important question, I'm just curious.
00:29:53 Skyler Samuelson
No, it is an important question. It's funny because people ask me that question a lot and I'm like not that many because I'm technically like right now with Hanna. We're like, track Sprint cyclist because our like target event is A1 kilometer time trial and it takes like about a minute so.
00:30:10 Skyler Samuelson
Out of my efforts are very short and that I rest a lot so.
00:30:15 Skyler Samuelson
You know, so I probably ride like, you know, 30 miles a day or something like that, like at most. So not that many people, like, how many hours did you go? And I was like, I didn't go for, you know, it's not. It's more about, like, the intensity than the than the mileage. Most of our efforts are.
00:30:31 Skyler Samuelson
Very short when we're together.
00:30:33 Kristi Wagner
Oh, that's wild.
00:30:34 Kristi Wagner
Yeah.
00:30:35
Yeah.
00:30:36 Kristi Wagner
Just to switch topics a little bit, your blog, what was your like motivation behind starting it? Kind of how did that come to be, I don't know how long you've been doing it for?
00:30:47 Skyler Samuelson
I actually started my blog while I was an athlete at Stanford, so that was 2017. And at the time I think I would just had like a lot of big feelings about sports. I think I was when I like, really started to actually be like a women's sports fan. Like, I was watching women's sports and also was like going through my surgery. So I was having some like.
00:31:07 Skyler Samuelson
Identity, you know, issues and just like having some big deals about.
00:31:11 Skyler Samuelson
When I started writing in it a lot more recently, I thought about like restarting a new blog because you like look back at content you produce.
00:31:18 Skyler Samuelson
Seven years ago. And you're like, oh, I don't know if I would like, you know, write that again. But I decided just to keep it because I think it's like, fun to look back on and see, like, the sort of stuff that I was writing about. And also, like, some articles that I wrote that were, like, about equal pay, you know, and that's something people are like, ohh, equal pay women's sports like, you know, a bunch of years later and you're like, yeah, I know it's been around. So.
00:31:40 Skyler Samuelson
Hey I think I just started it because I wanted to share thoughts about women's sports and now it's kind of morphed into a place where I talk about, you know, my own things. But also I talked to my friends and I put their stories up on my blog and that is honestly one of my favorite things I do these days. It's a cool way for me to get to talk to my friends about sports.
00:32:00 Skyler Samuelson
And help share their stories.
00:32:02 Kristi Wagner
Yeah, I feel like it's a really cool, like of what I read, which was honestly just like the most recent ones. But just like a really cool mix of different, like, common themes. But it's not like so fenced in to only interviews or only personal experience or only more like pop culture.
00:32:21 Kristi Wagner
Trends like like it really encapsulates.
00:32:25 Kristi Wagner
A lot of stuff which I think is cool because it's not like we're just in Caitlin Clark era, but it's not like we're not in Caitlin Clark era, you know like.
00:32:33 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate that. Yeah. And something cool that I like about the blog, which is like it is mine and like I get to write about whatever it is that I want to write about. So I like for it to.
00:32:45 Skyler Samuelson
Be like flexible.
00:32:46 Skyler Samuelson
Like that? Yeah. And I think also it proves me like a lot more people read the blogs than I thought. And I think it's cool that, like, people still want to read stuff that's like.
00:32:54 Skyler Samuelson
A little more long form, you know, like people. I think people down. It's like people only want to watch Tik Toks and like that's not true like people do also want to read other people's stories or, like, listen to podcasts like that. So I enjoy that part.
00:33:05 Kristi Wagner
Do you have, like, goals for how often you write, or is it just kind of like when you feel motivated or inspired or?
00:33:14 Skyler Samuelson
My ideal kind of like ebbs and flows with like travel and like sometimes you know people aren't available. If I want to interview them or stuff like that. I try to put out something once a week ish, but some stretches of time are more consistent than others.
00:33:28 Kristi Wagner
Are there any like kind of big things that you've learned from interviewing different people or in like researching for the blog?
00:33:36 Skyler Samuelson
Oh, that's a great question. Something that I love to do that I feel like I wish other people did for me that other athletes have that they really like is like every time I write something about somebody, I send it to them first before I publish it. I think that's a huge pet peeve of sports reporting for me and like sports write ups is when like stuff is not.
00:33:56 Skyler Samuelson
Accurate about people's sport, people will say like stop. That's like inaccurate about cycling or growing. And I'm just like that's not how you would say that or like that's not that so.
00:34:04 Skyler Samuelson
I always really try to respect like other peoples like expertise by like sending it to them and saying like hey, is this accurate? Have I portrayed you in a way that you feel comfortable with and in a way that's accurate? And I've heard feedback from people that like they really appreciate that sometimes different people are pickier than others, right. Like they're like, oh, I don't want to say this. And then, like, I regret. I'm like, OK, this is actually still like my piece.
00:34:24 Skyler Samuelson
Like you don't get to say exactly what you want to.
00:34:26 Skyler Samuelson
Say but in.
00:34:28 Skyler Samuelson
The end. I'm really happy that I do that because I think it just like makes people, yeah feel more heard and then it's not like a surprise that I wrote something about them that they didn't like or wasn't true.
00:34:38 Kristi Wagner
That's actually such a good point. I feel like there.
00:34:41 Kristi Wagner
A lot of reporting on rowing. That is wrong, a lot of the time and I feel like people get really frustrated about it and I'm always like, yeah, but at least they're writing about rowing.
00:34:57 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, for sure. That's happened to me too. But then I just like don't understand and like, look, I I I could just not edit anything you're saying, but you could just ask me if.
00:35:04 Skyler Samuelson
Like you know, she is like the current records were of this thing. And I'm like, well, that's not true. Like, you know, what do you want to just, like, ask me before you write that. But I also agree that's like it's cool, right? What it's for it's. And also like, if you're not in this for yourself, you.
00:35:17 Kristi Wagner
Could like ask someone to take a look at it. I guess what I'm saying is that, like, I think you're right and we need to, like, hold people to.
00:35:24 Kristi Wagner
A higher standard. It's not that much work, right? And there's like very easy ways to check these things. It shouldn't be wrong. In. Yeah, 2024, we have the Internet, so.
00:35:29
Different.
00:35:36 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah.
00:35:37 Kristi Wagner
I just would love to know like what advice would you have for younger athletes? Like maybe somebody who's like you, maybe, like trying out a few different things, not finding like what exactly they want to be doing or maybe struggling with injuries or different stuff. You've really stuck with it, which is awesome.
00:35:57 Kristi Wagner
Like what? What would you say?
00:35:59 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, I do think that like.
00:36:02 Skyler Samuelson
Being flexible and taking the opportunities that come to you instead of like the opportunities that you thought you wanted has been really cool for me and definitely extended like my career in sports. I mean, the tandem is obviously a big one, but like even in Colombia and it was like say yes to stuff like say yes to things.
00:36:22 Skyler Samuelson
And kind of give it a try and see how it goes. Advice that I would give to like younger athletes. It's like there's always time to go.
00:36:29 Skyler Samuelson
All in, you know later. Like I think that there's a pressure right to like do that earlier. And I would say that those people tend to get burned out, you know, like obviously I did recruiting at Stanford, right, like talking to people who are like, I'm so sure what I want to do with my life when I'm 15. I'm like, I don't think so, maybe, you know, but like, being a little bit more open and, like, giving yourself time to explore.
00:36:50 Skyler Samuelson
Before you feel like you go all in on something and then just be gentle with yourself in transitions, I think if that's like a big part of what injury management is like and.
00:37:00 Skyler Samuelson
Thinking about retirement or thinking about changes and like high school to college and college to pro and things like that, leveling up and going to a different area or different level of what you're doing is always like really difficult. And I think that a lot of times, both as women and athletes, we want to be masters of everything right away or we want to look like we're not struggling. So I think like.
00:37:20 Skyler Samuelson
Grace in the transitions being flexible and then like taking opportunities that present themselves as they.
00:37:26 Kristi Wagner
Come. That's excellent advice.
00:37:29 Kristi Wagner
Cool. Well, I don't know if there's anything that I didn't ask you about that you'd really like to share.
00:37:36 Skyler Samuelson
I don't think so. I love your idea. Kind of like the other three years and the other parts of, you know, being an athlete. I love to what you're doing to say that athletes are also people, you know, I love hang out with my dog. I love baking, loves other things. So something I feel like has been a pet peeve of mine recently where it's like, so many people being like, oh, you must be like a really strict diet.
00:37:56 Skyler Samuelson
Right now, or like people like me, that comment and I'm like it's not malicious, you know.
00:38:01 Skyler Samuelson
But it's just like.
00:38:02 Skyler Samuelson
I am pretty much a normal person, you know, or it's like I eat normal food and like I watch movies or I like, go for walks. Like there's weird imagination idea that athletes like don't also have normal lives. So I like those parts.
00:38:17 Skyler Samuelson
Of my life too.
00:38:19 Kristi Wagner
Yeah, I totally agree. I get like very.
00:38:23 Kristi Wagner
Frustrated when people ask about my diet? I mean, I'm happy to talk to anyone about anything, but the idea of people sort of getting like food advice from me, I'm like I am a professional athlete. I exercise.
00:38:35
Yeah.
00:38:39 Kristi Wagner
Instantly, and I'm in my 30s, like I've figured out that I need to consume this amount of food and these foods work for me. Like I'm not saying eat this and look this way or eat this and achieve this like it's so personal.
00:38:55 Kristi Wagner
I think everyone in the world should eat what makes them feel good, and if that's some sort of diet, that's great. If that includes like for me pizza and cookies and you know, whatever then like that should be great too. You know, I don't know. Yeah. I feel like the diet culture, especially on, like social media these days just.
00:39:14 Kristi Wagner
Grinds my gears a little bit, so yeah, definitely.
00:39:19 Kristi Wagner
Well, I don't know if you have any questions for me before we wrap it up, yeah.
00:39:24 Skyler Samuelson
I love your question. For me about my blog. One of the things I've learned through having a blog do you like? There's something you learned through hosting this podcast.
00:39:33 Kristi Wagner
I think one thing I've learned from talking to just so many athletes is that, like everyone has had sort of struggles and like it has not been a linear or a direct or an easy path for anyone, like even people that I've interviewed that have.
00:39:49 Kristi Wagner
Have multiple Olympic gold medals like there's still struggle and like motivations through hardship in those stories. And so I think that's just like.
00:40:01 Kristi Wagner
Been really nice and eye opening for me and one of the reasons that I think rowing was such a great addition to my life was because it, like you were saying, with track cycling like it's such a small sport, the gap from like high school rowing to the national team still see him somewhat accessible. Like you'd see people, whether it was at the head of the Charles.
00:40:17
Hmm.
00:40:22 Kristi Wagner
Or whatever. Like, I don't mean that I hung out with Olympians when I was in high school. I mean, I could literally see them on the water.
00:40:29 Kristi Wagner
I just think that if you see it, you can be it like to tie it back to the podcast, like getting to hear from people that have quote UN quote made it that like they struggled too or they struggle with self-confidence. You know whatever it is like maybe if a, if a younger person or an older person honestly like we can all be motivated.
00:40:49 Kristi Wagner
In different ways, if that like resonates and helps them like believe in their themselves more. I just think that that's like really fulfilling and cool and I think has been good for like me in having my own self-confidence.
00:41:02 Skyler Samuelson
I definitely relate to that in that like it's cool to talk to other people, not only to show their stories, but then you're like, oh, I got to take.
00:41:07 Skyler Samuelson
That for my toolbox. I don't agree with that.
00:41:10 Kristi Wagner
In that vein, when I was watching your video today and your husband was like he said, something along lines of like last year when you were in a valley and I was like, that is the nicest way to say that ever. I'm gonna like take that. And so you can pass on to him that I appreciate him being like the.
00:41:30 Kristi Wagner
Kindest person, even in like a sort of uh, you know, maybe things weren't going well. Moment.
00:41:38 Skyler Samuelson
I feel like that would be like the mockumentary. It would be like he's like last year when she was in.
00:41:42 Skyler Samuelson
The valley and that's me.
00:41:43 Skyler Samuelson
Like sobbing on the floor.
00:41:49 Kristi Wagner
But that's a perfect example of like, Oh yes, that's this really nice thing. And the peaks always come so cool. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
00:41:54
Yeah.
00:41:59 Skyler Samuelson
Yeah, of course it was.
00:42:00 Skyler Samuelson
Really good to talk to you and I'm excited.
00:42:06 Kristi Wagner
So thanks for listening and thank you so much to Skyler for coming on and speaking so candidly and sharing so much. It was a really fun conversation and I hope everyone felt inspired and motivated by her, just like I did. So to close this, the show this week, I'm sharing a quote from this book I just finished called the Champions mind.
00:42:24 Kristi Wagner
By Jim Affil Moe. Afro mo, sorry.
00:42:28 Kristi Wagner
Anyways, this is a little bit of a lengthy quote. It's more like a story, but I'm just gonna read to you anyways because I really liked it during a momentous battle, a Japanese general decided to attack even though his army was greatly outnumbered. He was confident they would win, but his men were filled with doubt on the way to the battle. They stopped at a religious shrine after praying.
00:42:48 Kristi Wagner
But the men the general took out a coin and said I shall now toss this coin if it is heads, we shall win. If it's tails, we shall lose. Destiny will now reveal itself. He threw the coin into the air and all watched.
00:43:01 Kristi Wagner
Intently as it landed, it was heads. The soldiers were so overjoyed and filled with confidence that they vigorously attacked the enemy and were victorious. After the battle, the Lieutenant remarked to the general. No one can change destiny quite right, the general replied as he showed the Lieutenant the coin, which had a head on both sides.
00:43:20 Kristi Wagner
Hope you have a great week. See you next time. Thanks.
00:43:23 Kristi Wagner
For listening, bye.
00:43:27 Kristi Wagner
I'd love to hear from you. So send us a topic suggestion or if you'd like to submit a question for our ASK. Christy, anything segment head to our website, theotherthreeyears.com.