September 17, 2024 • 33 mins
If you don't know who Kristen Faulkner is, you've probably been living under a rock. Kristen recently made headlines by clinching, not one but two, Olympic gold medals.
I'm thrilled to bring you an inspiring conversation with one of the biggest names in women's pro cycling today. In this interview, we dive deep into her story — exploring the incredible mental strength she’s developed to thrive at the highest level of her sport.
Kristen opens up about the unique struggles female cyclists encounter and shares some golden nuggets of wisdom for any girl or woman dreaming of a professional cycling career. She’s not just a champion because of her athletic prowess; she’s someone who's combined her diverse life experiences, unique skills, and sheer passion to craft a formula for success that we can all learn from. I know you're going to find her insights just as powerful and motivating as I did.
Full show notes: https://femmecyclist.com/kristen-faulkner-interview
Connect With Kristen
👉 Instagram: @kristenfaulkner
👉 Website: https://www.kristenfaulkner.com/
👉 Strava: https://www.strava.com/pros/16855613
👉Instagram: @femme_cyclist
👉Website: https://femmecyclist.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen Bonkoski (00:00):
If you don't know who Kristen Faulkner is,
you've probably been livingunder a rock.
Kristen recently made headlinesby clinching not one, but two
Olympic gold medals.
I'm thrilled to bring you aninspiring conversation with one
of the biggest names in women'spro cycling today.
In this interview, we dive deepinto her story, exploring the
(00:24):
incredible mental strength she'sdeveloped to thrive at the
highest level of her sport.
Kristen opens up about theunique struggles female cyclists
encounter and shares somegolden nuggets of wisdom for any
girl or woman dreaming of aprofessional cycling career.
She's not just a championbecause of her athletic prowess.
(00:45):
She's someone who's combinedher diverse life experiences,
unique skills and sheer passionto craft a formula for success
that we can all learn from.
I know you're going to find herinsights just as powerful and
motivating as I did.
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Head to femcyclistcom to getstarted.
Today, it's been about a monthsince you won not one, but two
gold medals at the Olympics,which is so huge and
congratulations.
How has your life changed sincethen?
Kristen Faulkner (01:49):
It's changed in a lot of ways.
I mean, the first was justthere's a lot of media attention
, you know, at the Tour deFrance, a lot of cameras on me
and I've been doing about twohours of podcasts every single
day since the tour finished, andso it's been quite busy just
from a media standpoint and andkeeping up with it all.
And then I think you know, I'mwriting a book about it.
I've had some inquiries about,you know, documentary or movie,
(02:12):
and it's just been really busy.
I think people want to hear thestory and they want to hear it
from me, and so it's been reallyexciting to be able to share my
story, but also reallyexhausting and but it's but it's
good, you know.
I think it's it's made merealize that, um, that I can
really use my voice now to havean impact on you know, bringing
more women um get, bringing morepeople to watch women's sports,
(02:34):
getting more girls on bikes andum, just like really raising
the profile of the sport.
It's it's um a really excitingposition to be in.
Kristen Bonkoski (02:41):
Why is that something that's important to
you?
Kristen Faulkner (02:44):
Um, I think, for for me, you know, women's
cycling it's something that's sobig in Europe, you know, and
and cycling in general, well,there's in.
In Europe cycling is a reallybig sport.
in America it's not, and I think, for me, the more people we can
bring into cycling.
I think the more um eyeballswatching women's cycling, the
higher the viewership.
(03:04):
The higher the sponsors, thehigher the salaries for the
sport, you know, and, and sothat's really important for me,
largely because right now it's avery male dominated sport.
The men's salaries at the topare over 10 times the women, and
I think the only way to reallybring gender parity to the sport
is to raise the profile and getmore people viewing the sport,
and so if I can get more peopleinterested in cycling, I think
we can bridge the gender gap inthe sport.
Kristen Bonkoski (03:25):
I think to the public, an Olympic medal is
like the biggest thing Is thatto you.
Has this been your biggestcycling accomplishment so far,
or is it something else?
Kristen Faulkner (03:36):
It's definitely been my biggest
accomplishment.
I think, you know, I was eightyears old watching the Olympics.
I'm thinking, oh, I want to dothat one day.
And you know, it's aculmination of years and years
of really dreaming about it andnot sure if I would make it
happen.
And so, to have it happen, it'sa bit surreal.
And, um, you know, people askme the day after the Olympics,
(03:56):
have you processed it yet?
And I was like no.
And then, a week after, haveyou processed it yet?
And I said no, and now'shappened.
You know, when you work forsomething for decades or you
know years and years and then inthe span of minutes or hours,
it can totally change your life.
I think it takes a really longtime to adjust to that.
Kristen Bonkoski (04:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
There's been a lot ofdiscussion about the mental
health of Olympic athletes andnotably Michael Phelps did a
documentary, the Weight of Gold.
Has that ever been somethingfor you?
Have you ever struggled withyour mental health?
Kristen Faulkner (04:29):
Yeah, definitely.
In fact, I was diagnosed withdepression when I was in high
school and, yeah, I saw apsychologist and a psychiatrist
for quite a long time through myadulthood and then in 2022, at
the World Championship, Iactually had to go back and see
my psychologist because I wasreally struggling and I wasn't
sure if I was going to race andI really leaned on my coach a
(04:49):
lot, who was down there with meto kind of get me motivated out
of the hotel every day and getto training and and it was a
tough time because they're youknow, the world championships
are really big event and it wasmy first time doing the time
trial there, which I'd workedall year to have that spot.
And so when you work all yearto have this opportunity and
then you get there and yourmental health isn't in the right
(05:11):
place, it's a really you knowit's really hard because you're
you're dealing with that, butthen you're also dealing with
like, but I don't want to giveup this opportunity, I don't
want to waste this opportunity,and so you almost push yourself
even harder to try and, you know, get to the race and and so I
think for me having apsychologist and a mental coach
throughout my career who I can,you know, maybe go to when I
(05:31):
need them and then take sometime off, and I think it's just
really important to have someoneon call when you need them, you
know.
Have someone who's always there.
And then I think the, you know,equally important though is is
having a circle of people whoyou can just pick up the phone
and call any time of day, nomatter what, and for me, I
really built that over thecourse of my career.
I think in school, you know, Ihad my friends and I had my
(05:54):
parents, and I think, as I'vegotten older, I've tried to
build a circle of people who,you know, care about me just as
much, but maybe also have a bitmore insight into what I'm going
through, who understand, youknow, and so it's, I think,
important to have people who'veknown you in your whole life,
but it's also important to havepeople who know the industry and
who know the struggles you'refacing, who can really not just
sympathize with you butempathize with you, yeah, and so
(06:17):
, yeah, I've made a big effortthroughout my career to really
like build that circle around me, and I think it's made the
biggest difference to my mentalhealth.
Kristen Bonkoski (06:26):
Are there any women that have served for you,
like as mentors, or that youhave looked up to within the
cycling world?
Kristen Faulkner (06:33):
Yeah, I mean in terms of mental health or
just in general.
Kristen Bonkoski (06:36):
Just, in general, but it could be either,
but I just imagine.
I imagine it's kind of a lonelyplace to be.
There aren't a lot of you knowgold medalists out there in the
world.
There aren't a lot of you knowgold medalists out there in the
world.
There aren't a lot of womenperforming at the level you're
performing at.
Have there been others ahead ofyou that you've been able to
look to for help?
Kristen Faulkner (06:53):
Yeah, although to be honest, I don't think um
like for me, I I say the personwho's been most impactful was
actually my coach at um.
Who's my coach for five years.
He was a guy actually and Ifelt that you know, he hadn't he
hadn't won a gold medal before.
He wasn't a woman who wasexperiencing the gender
inequality, but he's someone whohad raced in Europe for so long
and when I first moved toEurope, he was really impactful
(07:16):
because he was the one who waslike you know, go to the dentist
because you're eating sugaryfoods on the bike every day and
make sure that you call yourparents and make sure that you
take three days off the bikeafter a big tour and just gave
me a lot of advice that I thinkwas really helpful.
Um, and to be honest, I thinkit's um.
There's definitely women I lookup to in the sport and I've
(07:38):
definitely had mentors.
I mean, there's a girl, nina,who's been on my team for the
five years I've been pro, likeevery single team I've been on.
She's been on, we've been onthree different teams together
and she was quite experiencedwhen I started and and so for me
, you know, she's seen meprogress from my earliest days
and I think having someone inthe Peloton who knows me super
(08:00):
well, who can act as a mentor,has been quite helpful for me
who knows me super well, who canact as a mentor, has been quite
helpful for me.
Kristen Bonkoski (08:12):
Aside from like the support system you've
built, is there anythingspecific you've done to work on,
like your mental strength interms of meditation or mantras
or journaling?
What does that kind of looklike for you?
Kristen Faulkner (08:20):
Yeah, definitely One book that I
really like.
It's called the Little Book ofStoicism and it talks about just
the stoic mindset, which iscontrol what you can control and
don't worry about anything else.
You know, just really put allyour energy into controlling
what you can control.
And I think when I was youngerand even when I started out my
career, I think there werethings I couldn't control that I
(08:41):
would get really stressed about.
You know, it's like I'd getreally stressed about the rain
outside when I wanted to rain orwhen I wanted to ride, or I'd
get really stressed about, youknow, things on the team or just
the fact that I was far awayfrom home, and those things
would stress me out.
And I think learning to reallyjust focus on what I can control
(09:01):
and have that be the only thingthat takes my mental energy
really helped me a lot, becausesuddenly you know there's
actually this, um, this diagram.
I saw one time that I reallylike and it said you know, can
you fix it or can you and canyou fix the situation?
And then it was a decision treeand it was like, yes, okay,
then don't worry about itbecause you can fix it.
And then it was like can youchange the situation?
No, change the situation, no,okay, don't worry about it.
(09:22):
And I think it was interestingbecause it just, um, it really
taught me that I was likestressing out too much.
I needed to just really notstress about the things I
couldn't control, and then whenthere were things I could
control, just like, go fix it,go do what I needed to do.
Um, so that's that's beenreally helpful.
Um, I do write in a journal.
I find that's really helpfulfor me to relax and I like
(09:44):
having my memories on paperbecause I can go back and I
think when I retire I'll want toremember some of these things,
and I find that when I put mythoughts on paper I don't bottle
them up so much and I kind ofjust it's a way to like let them
out thought I was extroverted.
(10:06):
I'm one of five children and wegrew up in an incredibly chaotic
household.
You know it was.
It was a loving household, butit, just like all of us, did
sports.
We were running around, therewere baseballs flying through
the window and basketballs andhot.
You know I had three brothersand and, yeah, I had friends
over, and so I was alwayssurrounded by people.
And then in college, you know,I always had roommates, and so I
spent most of my life aroundother people and I always
(10:28):
thought, oh, I'm extroverted,you know, I'm always around
people, and it wasn't until Istarted cycling and actually
living on my own, where I waslike, wow, I really like.
Having alone time Like this isreally important to me, and so
between races, I actually spendquite a lot of time alone and,
and I'm not lonely, I just enjoybeing able to decompress in
that way, and I found that whenI give myself alone time, my
(10:50):
mental health is so much betterbecause I can just decompress, I
can relax and I can really justself-reflect and focus on what
I need and fulfilling my needs.
And then, when I go back to theteam, I'm so much more fresh,
and so that's been somethingthat's really helped me is just
realizing, oh, actually I'm somuch more fresh, and so that's
been something that's reallyhelped me is just realizing, oh,
actually, I'm not what I alwaysthought I was.
I actually I have differentneeds that I didn't realize
before, and and and I need tocater to those needs.
Kristen Bonkoski (11:13):
What does an average day look like for you
right now?
Kristen Faulkner (11:16):
Oh goodness, there is no average day, to be
honest.
So I'm currently at the USOlympic Training Center.
So on Monday, wednesday, fridayI have track training.
Usually I go to the velodromeat 9am.
I'm there for two to threehours doing kind of high
intensity interval type work.
I wake up quite early.
(11:37):
I wake up at six.
I usually do an hour of work onthe computer.
I'm actually writing a bookright now.
So I usually devote that timeto kind of putting my ideas out,
kind of waking up before youknow breakfast, and then I go to
breakfast for half an hour.
I come back, I do some, maybesome stretching, some light, you
know, glute activation, um andthen go to training, come back,
(12:00):
have lunch, go ride the road fortwo hours, afterwards, come
back, see the physio or massageto do some body work and then I
go to dinner and then in theevenings I'll work on my
nutrition course because I'mcurrently getting my master's in
nutrition.
Kristen Bonkoski (12:14):
Oh, wow.
Kristen Faulkner (12:15):
Yeah, it's an online course.
I'm really enjoying it.
It's it's just something Istarted this fall, but I've
always had an interest innutrition and, yeah, the
opportunity came through theUSOPC to do this online course
and so I decided to pursue it.
Kristen Bonkoski (12:29):
I mean, you were, like so mind-blowingly
impressive.
You're not only this Olympicgold medalist, you went to
Harvard, you had a successfulcareer in finance.
You're now a professionalcyclist and working on your
master's degree.
What do you think it is aboutyou that makes you so?
Kristen Faulkner (12:48):
successful.
Honestly, this I don't wantthis to sound like a cop-out
answer, um, but I really try tomake sure that everything I do
is something I really enjoy.
So I'm not I'm not just gettinga master's, I'm, and I wouldn't
be getting my master's.
To get a master's, I mean, ittook me until I was 31 to decide
this was worth it.
You know, I'm doing it becauseI love nutrition and I love
learning about nutrition, and sofor me, I don't see it as like,
(13:09):
oh, I'm getting my master's.
I see it as like, oh, I get tolearn about this topic I really
enjoy, and in a structuredenvironment, you know, and
someone's like they're teachingme about this topic I am really
curious to learn more about.
And then you know, with finance,like I had lots of job offers
after college, I chose venturecapital because it was the it
(13:34):
actually paid the least of allmy offers, but I was the most
excited about it.
I was interested in working withentrepreneurs.
I wanted to support more femaleentrepreneurs, I wanted to
learn about startups, and so Ithink I've taken a lot of steps
in my life.
That might seem kind of likethe wrong decision in the short
term, but the right one in thelong term.
You know I didn't take thehighest job offer after college,
but I took a job I really lovedand then I ended up leaving
(13:55):
that job to go make $7,000 ayear, my first year as a cyclist
moving to Europe.
My parents had no idea what Iwas doing.
It was a huge risk and thatseemed like a totally bad
decision to most people, but forme I was just doing what made
me happy and I only became anOlympian years later.
You know it wasn't.
I think I was.
You know people talk about thisquick trajectory, but I mean
(14:16):
there were four years where Iwasn't an Olympian.
My parents you know, like therewasn't a lot of media around me,
it was, it was four years oflike very little validation of
what I was doing.
And so I think, for you know Idon't want to sound like a
cop-out, but like it inretrospect, it's like, oh, she's
done all these successfulthings, but before I did any of
them, like they weren't obviousdecisions, they weren't um,
(14:39):
decisions I made because Iwanted to be successful.
They're decisions I madebecause it made me happy.
And then, once I started inthat pursuit, I was like, okay,
now I want to be the best I canbe, um, but if I had, you know,
at 26 years old, decided thatbeing successful was more
important than being happy, Inever would have become a
cyclist and I never would havewon these gold medals.
And so I think we always feelmore motivated and we're always
(15:01):
more inspired when we're doingsomething we really love.
And I think it's important toremember that, because when we
think there's no successfulpaths in our passion, you know
we can, we can create successthere.
It just might take a littlelonger and the path might not be
as clear when we start.
Kristen Bonkoski (15:18):
I love that.
What's next for you?
What goals do you still havethat you haven't accomplished
yet?
Kristen Faulkner (15:24):
Yeah, well, I have kind of a two-year plan, a
five-year plan, you know, a10-year plan I think you know I
want to make.
I want to stay cycling until LA.
I'd like to go to the LAOlympics.
That's something I'm reallyexcited about.
It's home Olympics, so that'skind of on the horizon for me.
I have the world championshipcoming up at the end of
September in Zurich, so that'salso a big goal of mine and I
(15:48):
think for the next few years,you know, maybe I want to.
You know I have quite a fewgoals in the bike.
I'd like to win a worldchampionship at the time trial.
At some point in my career.
I'd like to win a big stagerace.
You know, as a GC rider, becomea bit more of a GC rider.
I'd like to finish my book andpublish a book about my Olympic
journey.
And, yeah, maybe at some pointbefore I'm 40, I'd like to start
(16:12):
a family, but I don't know whenI want to do that, you know.
And so there's kind of these,these short-term and these
long-term goals, and it's kindof taking one step at a time.
Kristen Bonkoski (16:19):
There've been a lot of changes in women's pro
cycling over the last couple ofyears.
Things have kind of like movedrapidly, it seems like um.
What changes have you seenduring that period of time and
what changes would you stilllike to see take place?
Kristen Faulkner (16:34):
Yeah, the first is TV coverage.
You know, when I startedcycling in Europe, my parents
didn't know anything aboutcycling and there was no TV
coverage to watch me, so theyreally had no idea what I was
doing, what my life was like,what were these races I was
going to?
Were there even fans at them?
What did it mean to let a breakgo?
What did it mean to be in abreak?
Like they had no idea.
And so the media coverage forwomen has just really improved
(17:00):
over the last few years and nowpretty much every world tour
race you can watch on TV and insome of the non-world tour races
as well.
And so that's been really greatfor, you know, bringing more,
more fans to the sport, whichbrings more viewership and media
and dollars to the sport.
But it's also just been goodfrom a personal level and for my
friends and family to be ableto see what I do for my, for a
life and for my living.
You know, yeah, um, so tvcoverage is one.
(17:21):
The second is I think there'sbeen a lot more money going into
women's cycling and we see that, um, with a lot of men's teams
adding women's teams, whichbring more resources.
You know, they bring team buses, they bring physios, they bring
doctors to every race, theybring more media, and so the
resources and support that womenare getting is also much higher
, and that also means there'smore scrutiny on the teams.
(17:42):
And so I think you know, fiveor 10 years ago you may have
heard some sketchy situationswhere maybe, like you know,
there was an inappropriate youknow team manager that was a man
, or you know there are somesketchy things happening and now
, because it's under the radars,you know, there's these bigger
companies involved.
I think the sport is actually avery safe place for women now,
(18:03):
and I don't think that wasalways true, and I think you
still maybe hear about, you know, uncomfortable situations on
really small teams, but I thinkby and large it's way better
than it was 10 years ago.
And then I think women'ssalaries have definitely gone up
.
You know, when I started I wasbarely I mean, I wasn't making
enough to live off of, you know.
And now there's minimum wagefor all the major teams.
(18:25):
They have requirements thatthey have to give minimum wage
to the writers, and then also atthe top, the top writers are
making way more than they usedto, and so I think it's
motivating for a lot of womenbecause they see, oh, I can
actually make, you know, nowherenear the men, but I can make a
lot more money than I would have, you know, five years ago even,
and um, so that's reallyexciting to see.
(18:47):
And then just the level, youknow, because women don't have
to work part-time jobs on theside, they can devote more time
to training and recovery, theycan go on their five hour rides,
they can go to the gym, theycan go to the physio and can go
to the physio, and so, as aresult, the races are getting
way harder.
You know, it's like the fitnesslevel is higher.
Girls are able to take, youknow, the full season, because
before they maybe couldn't taketime off work, and so now
they're doing more races,they're getting better at racing
(19:08):
and so and we're getting, youknow, we're able to hire better
directors in the races, whichhelps with team strategy, and
then the girls pick up on thatstrategy.
So the whole field is just waystronger.
And I think, you know, if youwere good five years ago and you
stayed at the same level, likeyou would not be competitive
today at all you know, andeveryone, even the people who
are at the top, have had tocontinuously improve to stay at
(19:31):
the top, and, um, that's areally great thing for the sport
.
Yeah, so I think those are themain things.
You know, what I would like tosee get better?
I think salaries still, youknow, need to go higher.
The discrepancy between the topmen and women is over 10 times,
you know, and I'd like to seewomen getting paid the same for
men for doing the same work andworking just as hard and same
(19:53):
sacrifices.
You know, yeah, that's a bigone.
I think more viewership forwomen's sports.
Right now, you know, morepeople watch men's racing and I
think that's because you hearabout men's racing.
It's promoted online.
Um, you hear about the men'scharacters because for every
article about a woman, there's,you know, a hundred articles
about one of the top men, and Ithink people say like, oh, but
(20:15):
no one watches women's racingand it's like, well, no one's
going to watch something if theydon't know about the players or
the camaraderie.
You know the rivalries Like wehave to invest in it to get
people excited about.
You know the rivalries, thestories, the characters, you
know the courses, and so I'dlike to see more investment up
front go into women's cycling sothat we can bring the exposure
(20:36):
that we need.
Um, and then, yeah, I think, um, those are, those are the
primary things.
I mean, prize money from raceorganizers is still a huge
discrepancy, you know, I thinkfor the Tour de France and for a
lot of these major races, um,you know, it's five to 10 times
prize purse compared to men andwomen, and so we do the exact
same race on the same day and,um, the the men get way more for
(20:59):
winning and that's, you know,hurtful and disappointing,
especially when the spectatorsare there for both races, you
know, yeah.
Aside from the pay disparity, isthere anything like on a
personal level that you feellike has been a challenge as a
female cyclist, specifically asmaybe, as opposed to a male
cyclist- yeah, I mean I'll justgive an example, like one time
(21:23):
at a race I had a really badsaddle sore, you know, and it
was low and it was located rightbetween my legs in a really
private spot, and we only hadmale doctors at the at the race
and I really needed someone tolook at it because I was worried
, you know, would this getinfected, will it open up?
And so you know, would this getinfected, will it open up?
And so you know, it's just likehaving a male doctor look at
you as a little different fromhaving a woman, and those are
(21:44):
just some things like there'snot.
We bring doctors over from themen's team, you know, and we
don't have our own doctor.
I mean, we, we do.
Now on the team I'm in EFO, leeCannadale does, but in prior
teams we didn't.
And so, um, yeah, I think justthings like that, you know, or
having just a female director, afemale manager, I think it
(22:07):
gives me a role model.
You know how do they carrythemselves in a room full of men
, how do they speak, how do theydress, how do they talk?
You know, how do they like,when you watch a woman, it's a
little different from watching aman, and even if they're both
equally good at their jobs andthey can both hold their
conversation in a room, I pickup on cues from the woman that I
might not pick up on on the man, from the man.
You know, it's like I can belike that one day.
(22:28):
That's how I can hold myselfand and I think you, um, you
really need those female rolemodels in life and as a woman's
team.
In the last few years, I thinkthere's more women working in
the industry, more women who arebeing hired in senior roles,
and in the past there justweren't that many women in
senior roles because theindustry was dominated by men.
Kristen Bonkoski (22:52):
What advice do you have for young women or
girls?
Listening to this we're likeI'd really like to be a
professional cyclist too.
Kristen Faulkner (23:00):
I'd say get on your bike and, you know, if you
want to hire a coach and starttraining, then you can do that.
Um, the biggest thing is justspend time on your bike.
You know, get and have fun onyour bike.
You know, um, go around somecorners or race your friend,
learn bike handling.
I think when I started, I wasso focused on my fitness I was
like I want to be fit, butactually when you, when you want
(23:20):
to race, uh, the technicalaspects are way more important
or equally important.
You know, and, and so I thinkum, for young girls who want to
be cyclists, like, go work onyour skills too.
You know um, join some grouprides with the men to challenge
yourselves, um, and find somereally strong women to ride with
.
You know, because, you know,having a strong group of women
(23:43):
who you can go ride with makes abig difference.
It makes it more fun to makefriends and also there's just
this feminine like, there's thisenergy.
When you're in a group of strongwomen, you feel this feminine
energy that you just don't getwhen you're around men and I
don't mean to make that like ayou know, gendered thing too
much, but like there issomething about being in a
strong group of people who arelike you and having that group
(24:05):
and having that community.
That I think is reallyimportant for all of us.
Kristen Bonkoski (24:08):
Absolutely.
You had kind of a late start tocycling.
You didn't start until your 20s, although you were a
competitive athlete before that.
Do you think that late starthas actually been an advantage
for you?
Or like, for instance, I know alot of kids who are 12 years
old and they're already, like,very focused on cycling and
(24:29):
sometimes they burn out.
Does that, do you think thatthe timeframe where you started
has been helpful?
Kristen Faulkner (24:35):
Yeah, I mean.
The truth is, I'll never know,right.
Kristen Bonkoski (24:37):
Like, I'll never.
Kristen Faulkner (24:38):
I'll never know what it had been, what it
would have been like if I hadstarted young, and I think the
best answer I can give is I havea lot more skills in certain
ways that I wouldn't have hadotherwise if I'd started young.
I was also lacking certainskills that I didn't have, and I
think, um, for me, I I do seeit as an advantage in a lot of
(24:58):
ways.
I mean, the first is I had acareer before cycling, and so
there's not a single part of methat's worried about my
post-cycling career, like a lotof people are like oh, when I
retire from cycling, what am Igoing to do?
And it causes them anxiety.
Or maybe they race longer thanthey want to and they start
hating the sport because theyfeel like they have to do it.
It's their only job hating thesport because they feel like
it's their, they have to do it,it's their only job.
(25:20):
You know, they're like I don'tknow what else I could do, and
then it becomes like a job tothem instead of something they
really love.
And I think for me, because Ihad a job before and I a job
that I you know I'm theory couldgo back to, I never feel this
pressure Like I have to be here.
You know, cycling doesn't.
I mean it does feel like my job, but it doesn't feel like a job
I have to do.
(25:40):
It feels like a job I'mchoosing to do Every day.
I feel like I'm choosing it,you know, and that makes a big
difference.
I also think I learned a lot ofthings in my professional
career that I brought to cyclingand you know the thorough
diligence I did on companies.
I bring that to racing.
I studied the course, I studiedthe riders like I'm super
thorough and how I assess andanalyze and study for things,
(26:03):
because I had to be so thoroughand that my job and I think that
really sped up my learningtrajectory and I I learned on
the job like what questions toask, how to be super curious,
how to ask every question youcould possibly think of.
You know and and when Iapproach a race, I do the same
thing I check all my boxes andlearning how to do such thorough
(26:23):
research and thorough diligencereally helped me.
I think another thing that I'vespoken about before is in
venture capital.
We invest in highly riskystartups.
So maybe we invest in 10companies and only two or three
are successful, half of themkind of break even, and then
some of them don't work out andyou end up losing money, but the
ones who win you return theentire fund, and so it's this
(26:47):
industry that's very polarizing.
It's these massive wins andthen a lot of losses.
And so when I started cycling,like I was very okay with risk,
I was very okay failing, like ifthe camera was on me and I
attacked and I got caught, likeit didn't, like I didn't think
twice about it.
I wasn't like, oh, I failed onTV and everyone saw me Like I
was just like, okay, you know,try the next one, like it didn't
(27:07):
phase me at all.
I was just like, okay, you know, try the next one, like it
didn't phase me at all.
And that attitude, it justallowed me to be a very
aggressive rider, like I wouldattack and attack and attack
again, and I wasn't scared ofgetting cut back and ultimately
that's my race style Like that'show I won at the Olympics was I
just go for it?
You know, I'm not, I'm notafraid, and I think that was
(27:28):
largely informed from my job,where I knew that if I just did
over and over and over againenough times and strategically,
one of them would land and oneof them would result in a win,
you know.
And so I think I thought of itas, like this portfolio of
attempts, as opposed to justlike you know, on any given one,
if there's a 20% chance youmake it, most people wouldn't do
it, but for me I'm like, okay,if I do it five times, I'll make
(27:54):
it one of them and then I'llwin, you know.
So I think the way that Iapproached it and the way I put
racing and strategy was just alittle bit different from other
people and it allowed me to winin ways that maybe other people
wouldn't have been so willing totry.
Kristen Bonkoski (28:05):
Yeah, that's super interesting.
I love that, like all of yourexperience comes to make you who
you are.
Kristen Faulkner (28:11):
Right, yeah, and I think you know, if I think
it's not necessarily like Imean starting late, I knew I had
a lot to catch up on, so I hadthis sense of urgency too, but I
think you know, if I startedlate or started early, I think
the biggest thing is just that Ihad a range of experiences that
allowed me to learn so manydifferent skill sets that I
(28:31):
could then transfer over tocycling.
And so when I see kidsspecializing really, really
young, my fear is, like you know, if they specialize in
triathlon, like well, they learnhand-eye coordination skills
that they need, you know, laterif they're on the bike doing
bike handling and hand-oncoordination skills to like
dodge a um, like a hole in theground, you know, and so like
(28:55):
there's all these things and andfor me, I was an endurance
athlete my entire life and, yes,I'd done swimming and rowing
and things, but my biggestweakness when I started cycling
was my bike handling, because Ididn't spend a ton of time on
soccer and and ball sports.
You know, I didn't spend a tonof time on soccer and and ball
sports, you know, and so I thinkwhen we do different skills, we
we actually learn differentskills that are highly
(29:15):
transferable, even if we don'trealize they're transferable at
the time.
Kristen Bonkoski (29:18):
Yes, what have I not asked you that you would
like folks listening to know?
Kristen Faulkner (29:25):
Oh, that's a great question.
Um, you know I've had a lot ofpeople ask me, like, were you
scared when you left your job?
Were you scared about takingthe jump?
And my answer is, like,absolutely Like I don't.
I don't want people to thinkthat I just like left my job and
won two gold medals.
Like there was so much behindthe scenes, like there was years
(29:47):
of, you know, getting flattires in the rain and having to
call an Uber and being late latefor my meeting.
And you know like, missingholidays with my family and
traveling.
You know like there were somany things that made it so hard
that I don't think the mediatalks about.
And you know, I always say like99 of it is the work and the
one percent is you on stagewinning a race or winning a
(30:07):
medal.
And like that's, people see theone percent but they don't see
the 99% behind the scenes.
And so if you're working onsomething and you're like I keep
failing, I'm struggling, I feellike I'm falling, all that like
that's normal and that's anormal part of the process.
It's normal to feel like you'refailing Sometimes.
It's normal to feel scared,it's normal to feel a bit
overwhelmed or to feel likeyou're in over your head.
I mean you over your head.
I mean you don't want to havethat every day, but when, when
(30:29):
you're pursuing something reallyambitious, um, or even when
you're pursuing something that'srisky, like you're going to
have a lot of moments ofuncertainty where it doesn't
seem like it's working out.
And I think if you just reallykeep your focus on the big goal
and control, you can control andjust have a little patience.
I think it'll all work out inthe end.
But just don't like, don'tforget that that's all part of
(30:53):
the process and to just bepatient in the long run.
Kristen Bonkoski (30:56):
I have three final questions for you.
But first, do you have anysponsors you want to give a
shout out to, and where canpeople come follow along with
you?
Kristen Faulkner (31:04):
Yeah, so the three main sponsors of our team
are EF Education, oatly, whichis an oatmeal company, and
Cannondale, which is a bikecompany, and they have supported
our team.
Not just.
You know, they've made a bigeffort to really have a good
women's team and when you buyfrom those brands you're also
supporting women's cycling.
So I just want to give a shoutout to them.
(31:25):
And your other question oh,where?
Kristen Bonkoski (31:28):
can people come follow you?
Kristen Faulkner (31:30):
yeah, I post mostly on instagram.
My handle is arctic foxa-r-c-t-i-c-f-a-u-l-k-s, and
then I also have a stravaaccount where you can follow my
rides.
So those are probably the two,two social media platforms that
I'm I put, like the only twothat I'm really active on.
Kristen Bonkoski (31:47):
Three final questions.
The first one is what bike orbikes do you ride?
Kristen Faulkner (31:52):
I ride a Cannondale and it's a road bike.
I also have their mountain bikeand their gravel bike, so I'm
all in on Cannondale.
Kristen Bonkoski (31:59):
Second, question is where is your
favorite place?
You've ever ridden your bike.
Kristen Faulkner (32:05):
I would say in Menlo Park.
Well, in Marin, on Highway 1,it's just absolutely stunning
Over distance and beach on thewaterfront over there, or one of
the rides near Menlo Park whereI rode my bike for years while
I was training and got to knowthose climbs really well.
Kristen Bonkoski (32:25):
Final question is what is your favorite thing
about riding your bike?
Kristen Faulkner (32:29):
I love when the sun's on my face and the
wind's on my face and I justfeel like there's no one around
me, it's just me and nature.
I think it's an amazing feelingand that's when I feel so free
and creative and it's just meand my bike and the open air,
and that's an amazing feeling.
Kristen Bonkoski (32:48):
I'd love to ask you a favor.
My bike and the open air, andthat's an amazing feeling.
I'd love to ask you a favor.
If you enjoyed this episode,can you please go ahead and
share it?
You can do that by sharing iton your Instagram stories or
just letting a friend know aboutit.
The more that you help us getthe word out, the more women we
reach, the better quality ofguests we get on the show.
(33:08):
So it's a team effort and Ireally, really appreciate you.
Until next time, happy writing.
If you don't know who Kristen Faulkner is,
you've probably been livingunder a rock.
Kristen recently made headlinesby clinching not one, but two
Olympic gold medals.
I'm thrilled to bring you aninspiring conversation with one
of the biggest names in women'spro cycling today.
In this interview, we dive deepinto her story, exploring the
(00:24):
incredible mental strength she'sdeveloped to thrive at the
highest level of her sport.
Kristen opens up about theunique struggles female cyclists
encounter and shares somegolden nuggets of wisdom for any
girl or woman dreaming of aprofessional cycling career.
She's not just a championbecause of her athletic prowess.
(00:45):
She's someone who's combinedher diverse life experiences,
unique skills and sheer passionto craft a formula for success
that we can all learn from.
I know you're going to find herinsights just as powerful and
motivating as I did.
Real quick, before we jump intotoday's episode, I want to tell
(01:06):
you about the training plansI've created for you all.
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have a big event or race youneed to prepare for, a
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(01:26):
your needs.
Podcast listeners get 50% offwith coupon code PODCAST50.
Head to femcyclistcom to getstarted.
Today, it's been about a monthsince you won not one, but two
gold medals at the Olympics,which is so huge and
congratulations.
How has your life changed sincethen?
Kristen Faulkner (01:49):
It's changed in a lot of ways.
I mean, the first was justthere's a lot of media attention
, you know, at the Tour deFrance, a lot of cameras on me
and I've been doing about twohours of podcasts every single
day since the tour finished, andso it's been quite busy just
from a media standpoint and andkeeping up with it all.
And then I think you know, I'mwriting a book about it.
I've had some inquiries about,you know, documentary or movie,
(02:12):
and it's just been really busy.
I think people want to hear thestory and they want to hear it
from me, and so it's been reallyexciting to be able to share my
story, but also reallyexhausting and but it's but it's
good, you know.
I think it's it's made merealize that, um, that I can
really use my voice now to havean impact on you know, bringing
more women um get, bringing morepeople to watch women's sports,
(02:34):
getting more girls on bikes andum, just like really raising
the profile of the sport.
It's it's um a really excitingposition to be in.
Kristen Bonkoski (02:41):
Why is that something that's important to
you?
Kristen Faulkner (02:44):
Um, I think, for for me, you know, women's
cycling it's something that's sobig in Europe, you know, and
and cycling in general, well,there's in.
In Europe cycling is a reallybig sport.
in America it's not, and I think, for me, the more people we can
bring into cycling.
I think the more um eyeballswatching women's cycling, the
higher the viewership.
(03:04):
The higher the sponsors, thehigher the salaries for the
sport, you know, and, and sothat's really important for me,
largely because right now it's avery male dominated sport.
The men's salaries at the topare over 10 times the women, and
I think the only way to reallybring gender parity to the sport
is to raise the profile and getmore people viewing the sport,
and so if I can get more peopleinterested in cycling, I think
we can bridge the gender gap inthe sport.
Kristen Bonkoski (03:25):
I think to the public, an Olympic medal is
like the biggest thing Is thatto you.
Has this been your biggestcycling accomplishment so far,
or is it something else?
Kristen Faulkner (03:36):
It's definitely been my biggest
accomplishment.
I think, you know, I was eightyears old watching the Olympics.
I'm thinking, oh, I want to dothat one day.
And you know, it's aculmination of years and years
of really dreaming about it andnot sure if I would make it
happen.
And so, to have it happen, it'sa bit surreal.
And, um, you know, people askme the day after the Olympics,
(03:56):
have you processed it yet?
And I was like no.
And then, a week after, haveyou processed it yet?
And I said no, and now'shappened.
You know, when you work forsomething for decades or you
know years and years and then inthe span of minutes or hours,
it can totally change your life.
I think it takes a really longtime to adjust to that.
Kristen Bonkoski (04:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
There's been a lot ofdiscussion about the mental
health of Olympic athletes andnotably Michael Phelps did a
documentary, the Weight of Gold.
Has that ever been somethingfor you?
Have you ever struggled withyour mental health?
Kristen Faulkner (04:29):
Yeah, definitely.
In fact, I was diagnosed withdepression when I was in high
school and, yeah, I saw apsychologist and a psychiatrist
for quite a long time through myadulthood and then in 2022, at
the World Championship, Iactually had to go back and see
my psychologist because I wasreally struggling and I wasn't
sure if I was going to race andI really leaned on my coach a
(04:49):
lot, who was down there with meto kind of get me motivated out
of the hotel every day and getto training and and it was a
tough time because they're youknow, the world championships
are really big event and it wasmy first time doing the time
trial there, which I'd workedall year to have that spot.
And so when you work all yearto have this opportunity and
then you get there and yourmental health isn't in the right
(05:11):
place, it's a really you knowit's really hard because you're
you're dealing with that, butthen you're also dealing with
like, but I don't want to giveup this opportunity, I don't
want to waste this opportunity,and so you almost push yourself
even harder to try and, you know, get to the race and and so I
think for me having apsychologist and a mental coach
throughout my career who I can,you know, maybe go to when I
(05:31):
need them and then take sometime off, and I think it's just
really important to have someoneon call when you need them, you
know.
Have someone who's always there.
And then I think the, you know,equally important though is is
having a circle of people whoyou can just pick up the phone
and call any time of day, nomatter what, and for me, I
really built that over thecourse of my career.
I think in school, you know, Ihad my friends and I had my
(05:54):
parents, and I think, as I'vegotten older, I've tried to
build a circle of people who,you know, care about me just as
much, but maybe also have a bitmore insight into what I'm going
through, who understand, youknow, and so it's, I think,
important to have people who'veknown you in your whole life,
but it's also important to havepeople who know the industry and
who know the struggles you'refacing, who can really not just
sympathize with you butempathize with you, yeah, and so
(06:17):
, yeah, I've made a big effortthroughout my career to really
like build that circle around me, and I think it's made the
biggest difference to my mentalhealth.
Kristen Bonkoski (06:26):
Are there any women that have served for you,
like as mentors, or that youhave looked up to within the
cycling world?
Kristen Faulkner (06:33):
Yeah, I mean in terms of mental health or
just in general.
Kristen Bonkoski (06:36):
Just, in general, but it could be either,
but I just imagine.
I imagine it's kind of a lonelyplace to be.
There aren't a lot of you knowgold medalists out there in the
world.
There aren't a lot of you knowgold medalists out there in the
world.
There aren't a lot of womenperforming at the level you're
performing at.
Have there been others ahead ofyou that you've been able to
look to for help?
Kristen Faulkner (06:53):
Yeah, although to be honest, I don't think um
like for me, I I say the personwho's been most impactful was
actually my coach at um.
Who's my coach for five years.
He was a guy actually and Ifelt that you know, he hadn't he
hadn't won a gold medal before.
He wasn't a woman who wasexperiencing the gender
inequality, but he's someone whohad raced in Europe for so long
and when I first moved toEurope, he was really impactful
(07:16):
because he was the one who waslike you know, go to the dentist
because you're eating sugaryfoods on the bike every day and
make sure that you call yourparents and make sure that you
take three days off the bikeafter a big tour and just gave
me a lot of advice that I thinkwas really helpful.
Um, and to be honest, I thinkit's um.
There's definitely women I lookup to in the sport and I've
(07:38):
definitely had mentors.
I mean, there's a girl, nina,who's been on my team for the
five years I've been pro, likeevery single team I've been on.
She's been on, we've been onthree different teams together
and she was quite experiencedwhen I started and and so for me
, you know, she's seen meprogress from my earliest days
and I think having someone inthe Peloton who knows me super
(08:00):
well, who can act as a mentor,has been quite helpful for me
who knows me super well, who canact as a mentor, has been quite
helpful for me.
Kristen Bonkoski (08:12):
Aside from like the support system you've
built, is there anythingspecific you've done to work on,
like your mental strength interms of meditation or mantras
or journaling?
What does that kind of looklike for you?
Kristen Faulkner (08:20):
Yeah, definitely One book that I
really like.
It's called the Little Book ofStoicism and it talks about just
the stoic mindset, which iscontrol what you can control and
don't worry about anything else.
You know, just really put allyour energy into controlling
what you can control.
And I think when I was youngerand even when I started out my
career, I think there werethings I couldn't control that I
(08:41):
would get really stressed about.
You know, it's like I'd getreally stressed about the rain
outside when I wanted to rain orwhen I wanted to ride, or I'd
get really stressed about, youknow, things on the team or just
the fact that I was far awayfrom home, and those things
would stress me out.
And I think learning to reallyjust focus on what I can control
(09:01):
and have that be the only thingthat takes my mental energy
really helped me a lot, becausesuddenly you know there's
actually this, um, this diagram.
I saw one time that I reallylike and it said you know, can
you fix it or can you and canyou fix the situation?
And then it was a decision treeand it was like, yes, okay,
then don't worry about itbecause you can fix it.
And then it was like can youchange the situation?
No, change the situation, no,okay, don't worry about it.
(09:22):
And I think it was interestingbecause it just, um, it really
taught me that I was likestressing out too much.
I needed to just really notstress about the things I
couldn't control, and then whenthere were things I could
control, just like, go fix it,go do what I needed to do.
Um, so that's that's beenreally helpful.
Um, I do write in a journal.
I find that's really helpfulfor me to relax and I like
(09:44):
having my memories on paperbecause I can go back and I
think when I retire I'll want toremember some of these things,
and I find that when I put mythoughts on paper I don't bottle
them up so much and I kind ofjust it's a way to like let them
out thought I was extroverted.
(10:06):
I'm one of five children and wegrew up in an incredibly chaotic
household.
You know it was.
It was a loving household, butit, just like all of us, did
sports.
We were running around, therewere baseballs flying through
the window and basketballs andhot.
You know I had three brothersand and, yeah, I had friends
over, and so I was alwayssurrounded by people.
And then in college, you know,I always had roommates, and so I
spent most of my life aroundother people and I always
(10:28):
thought, oh, I'm extroverted,you know, I'm always around
people, and it wasn't until Istarted cycling and actually
living on my own, where I waslike, wow, I really like.
Having alone time Like this isreally important to me, and so
between races, I actually spendquite a lot of time alone and,
and I'm not lonely, I just enjoybeing able to decompress in
that way, and I found that whenI give myself alone time, my
(10:50):
mental health is so much betterbecause I can just decompress, I
can relax and I can really justself-reflect and focus on what
I need and fulfilling my needs.
And then, when I go back to theteam, I'm so much more fresh,
and so that's been somethingthat's really helped me is just
realizing, oh, actually I'm somuch more fresh, and so that's
been something that's reallyhelped me is just realizing, oh,
actually, I'm not what I alwaysthought I was.
I actually I have differentneeds that I didn't realize
before, and and and I need tocater to those needs.
Kristen Bonkoski (11:13):
What does an average day look like for you
right now?
Kristen Faulkner (11:16):
Oh goodness, there is no average day, to be
honest.
So I'm currently at the USOlympic Training Center.
So on Monday, wednesday, fridayI have track training.
Usually I go to the velodromeat 9am.
I'm there for two to threehours doing kind of high
intensity interval type work.
I wake up quite early.
(11:37):
I wake up at six.
I usually do an hour of work onthe computer.
I'm actually writing a bookright now.
So I usually devote that timeto kind of putting my ideas out,
kind of waking up before youknow breakfast, and then I go to
breakfast for half an hour.
I come back, I do some, maybesome stretching, some light, you
know, glute activation, um andthen go to training, come back,
(12:00):
have lunch, go ride the road fortwo hours, afterwards, come
back, see the physio or massageto do some body work and then I
go to dinner and then in theevenings I'll work on my
nutrition course because I'mcurrently getting my master's in
nutrition.
Kristen Bonkoski (12:14):
Oh, wow.
Kristen Faulkner (12:15):
Yeah, it's an online course.
I'm really enjoying it.
It's it's just something Istarted this fall, but I've
always had an interest innutrition and, yeah, the
opportunity came through theUSOPC to do this online course
and so I decided to pursue it.
Kristen Bonkoski (12:29):
I mean, you were, like so mind-blowingly
impressive.
You're not only this Olympicgold medalist, you went to
Harvard, you had a successfulcareer in finance.
You're now a professionalcyclist and working on your
master's degree.
What do you think it is aboutyou that makes you so?
Kristen Faulkner (12:48):
successful.
Honestly, this I don't wantthis to sound like a cop-out
answer, um, but I really try tomake sure that everything I do
is something I really enjoy.
So I'm not I'm not just gettinga master's, I'm, and I wouldn't
be getting my master's.
To get a master's, I mean, ittook me until I was 31 to decide
this was worth it.
You know, I'm doing it becauseI love nutrition and I love
learning about nutrition, and sofor me, I don't see it as like,
(13:09):
oh, I'm getting my master's.
I see it as like, oh, I get tolearn about this topic I really
enjoy, and in a structuredenvironment, you know, and
someone's like they're teachingme about this topic I am really
curious to learn more about.
And then you know, with finance,like I had lots of job offers
after college, I chose venturecapital because it was the it
(13:34):
actually paid the least of allmy offers, but I was the most
excited about it.
I was interested in working withentrepreneurs.
I wanted to support more femaleentrepreneurs, I wanted to
learn about startups, and so Ithink I've taken a lot of steps
in my life.
That might seem kind of likethe wrong decision in the short
term, but the right one in thelong term.
You know I didn't take thehighest job offer after college,
but I took a job I really lovedand then I ended up leaving
(13:55):
that job to go make $7,000 ayear, my first year as a cyclist
moving to Europe.
My parents had no idea what Iwas doing.
It was a huge risk and thatseemed like a totally bad
decision to most people, but forme I was just doing what made
me happy and I only became anOlympian years later.
You know it wasn't.
I think I was.
You know people talk about thisquick trajectory, but I mean
(14:16):
there were four years where Iwasn't an Olympian.
My parents you know, like therewasn't a lot of media around me,
it was, it was four years oflike very little validation of
what I was doing.
And so I think, for you know Idon't want to sound like a
cop-out, but like it inretrospect, it's like, oh, she's
done all these successfulthings, but before I did any of
them, like they weren't obviousdecisions, they weren't um,
(14:39):
decisions I made because Iwanted to be successful.
They're decisions I madebecause it made me happy.
And then, once I started inthat pursuit, I was like, okay,
now I want to be the best I canbe, um, but if I had, you know,
at 26 years old, decided thatbeing successful was more
important than being happy, Inever would have become a
cyclist and I never would havewon these gold medals.
And so I think we always feelmore motivated and we're always
(15:01):
more inspired when we're doingsomething we really love.
And I think it's important toremember that, because when we
think there's no successfulpaths in our passion, you know
we can, we can create successthere.
It just might take a littlelonger and the path might not be
as clear when we start.
Kristen Bonkoski (15:18):
I love that.
What's next for you?
What goals do you still havethat you haven't accomplished
yet?
Kristen Faulkner (15:24):
Yeah, well, I have kind of a two-year plan, a
five-year plan, you know, a10-year plan I think you know I
want to make.
I want to stay cycling until LA.
I'd like to go to the LAOlympics.
That's something I'm reallyexcited about.
It's home Olympics, so that'skind of on the horizon for me.
I have the world championshipcoming up at the end of
September in Zurich, so that'salso a big goal of mine and I
(15:48):
think for the next few years,you know, maybe I want to.
You know I have quite a fewgoals in the bike.
I'd like to win a worldchampionship at the time trial.
At some point in my career.
I'd like to win a big stagerace.
You know, as a GC rider, becomea bit more of a GC rider.
I'd like to finish my book andpublish a book about my Olympic
journey.
And, yeah, maybe at some pointbefore I'm 40, I'd like to start
(16:12):
a family, but I don't know whenI want to do that, you know.
And so there's kind of these,these short-term and these
long-term goals, and it's kindof taking one step at a time.
Kristen Bonkoski (16:19):
There've been a lot of changes in women's pro
cycling over the last couple ofyears.
Things have kind of like movedrapidly, it seems like um.
What changes have you seenduring that period of time and
what changes would you stilllike to see take place?
Kristen Faulkner (16:34):
Yeah, the first is TV coverage.
You know, when I startedcycling in Europe, my parents
didn't know anything aboutcycling and there was no TV
coverage to watch me, so theyreally had no idea what I was
doing, what my life was like,what were these races I was
going to?
Were there even fans at them?
What did it mean to let a breakgo?
What did it mean to be in abreak?
Like they had no idea.
And so the media coverage forwomen has just really improved
(17:00):
over the last few years and nowpretty much every world tour
race you can watch on TV and insome of the non-world tour races
as well.
And so that's been really greatfor, you know, bringing more,
more fans to the sport, whichbrings more viewership and media
and dollars to the sport.
But it's also just been goodfrom a personal level and for my
friends and family to be ableto see what I do for my, for a
life and for my living.
You know, yeah, um, so tvcoverage is one.
(17:21):
The second is I think there'sbeen a lot more money going into
women's cycling and we see that, um, with a lot of men's teams
adding women's teams, whichbring more resources.
You know, they bring team buses, they bring physios, they bring
doctors to every race, theybring more media, and so the
resources and support that womenare getting is also much higher
, and that also means there'smore scrutiny on the teams.
(17:42):
And so I think you know, fiveor 10 years ago you may have
heard some sketchy situationswhere maybe, like you know,
there was an inappropriate youknow team manager that was a man
, or you know there are somesketchy things happening and now
, because it's under the radars,you know, there's these bigger
companies involved.
I think the sport is actually avery safe place for women now,
(18:03):
and I don't think that wasalways true, and I think you
still maybe hear about, you know, uncomfortable situations on
really small teams, but I thinkby and large it's way better
than it was 10 years ago.
And then I think women'ssalaries have definitely gone up
.
You know, when I started I wasbarely I mean, I wasn't making
enough to live off of, you know.
And now there's minimum wagefor all the major teams.
(18:25):
They have requirements thatthey have to give minimum wage
to the writers, and then also atthe top, the top writers are
making way more than they usedto, and so I think it's
motivating for a lot of womenbecause they see, oh, I can
actually make, you know, nowherenear the men, but I can make a
lot more money than I would have, you know, five years ago even,
and um, so that's reallyexciting to see.
(18:47):
And then just the level, youknow, because women don't have
to work part-time jobs on theside, they can devote more time
to training and recovery, theycan go on their five hour rides,
they can go to the gym, theycan go to the physio and can go
to the physio, and so, as aresult, the races are getting
way harder.
You know, it's like the fitnesslevel is higher.
Girls are able to take, youknow, the full season, because
before they maybe couldn't taketime off work, and so now
they're doing more races,they're getting better at racing
(19:08):
and so and we're getting, youknow, we're able to hire better
directors in the races, whichhelps with team strategy, and
then the girls pick up on thatstrategy.
So the whole field is just waystronger.
And I think, you know, if youwere good five years ago and you
stayed at the same level, likeyou would not be competitive
today at all you know, andeveryone, even the people who
are at the top, have had tocontinuously improve to stay at
(19:31):
the top, and, um, that's areally great thing for the sport
.
Yeah, so I think those are themain things.
You know, what I would like tosee get better?
I think salaries still, youknow, need to go higher.
The discrepancy between the topmen and women is over 10 times,
you know, and I'd like to seewomen getting paid the same for
men for doing the same work andworking just as hard and same
(19:53):
sacrifices.
You know, yeah, that's a bigone.
I think more viewership forwomen's sports.
Right now, you know, morepeople watch men's racing and I
think that's because you hearabout men's racing.
It's promoted online.
Um, you hear about the men'scharacters because for every
article about a woman, there's,you know, a hundred articles
about one of the top men, and Ithink people say like, oh, but
(20:15):
no one watches women's racingand it's like, well, no one's
going to watch something if theydon't know about the players or
the camaraderie.
You know the rivalries Like wehave to invest in it to get
people excited about.
You know the rivalries, thestories, the characters, you
know the courses, and so I'dlike to see more investment up
front go into women's cycling sothat we can bring the exposure
(20:36):
that we need.
Um, and then, yeah, I think, um, those are, those are the
primary things.
I mean, prize money from raceorganizers is still a huge
discrepancy, you know, I thinkfor the Tour de France and for a
lot of these major races, um,you know, it's five to 10 times
prize purse compared to men andwomen, and so we do the exact
same race on the same day and,um, the the men get way more for
(20:59):
winning and that's, you know,hurtful and disappointing,
especially when the spectatorsare there for both races, you
know, yeah.
Aside from the pay disparity, isthere anything like on a
personal level that you feellike has been a challenge as a
female cyclist, specifically asmaybe, as opposed to a male
cyclist- yeah, I mean I'll justgive an example, like one time
(21:23):
at a race I had a really badsaddle sore, you know, and it
was low and it was located rightbetween my legs in a really
private spot, and we only hadmale doctors at the at the race
and I really needed someone tolook at it because I was worried
, you know, would this getinfected, will it open up?
And so you know, would this getinfected, will it open up?
And so you know, it's just likehaving a male doctor look at
you as a little different fromhaving a woman, and those are
(21:44):
just some things like there'snot.
We bring doctors over from themen's team, you know, and we
don't have our own doctor.
I mean, we, we do.
Now on the team I'm in EFO, leeCannadale does, but in prior
teams we didn't.
And so, um, yeah, I think justthings like that, you know, or
having just a female director, afemale manager, I think it
(22:07):
gives me a role model.
You know how do they carrythemselves in a room full of men
, how do they speak, how do theydress, how do they talk?
You know, how do they like,when you watch a woman, it's a
little different from watching aman, and even if they're both
equally good at their jobs andthey can both hold their
conversation in a room, I pickup on cues from the woman that I
might not pick up on on the man, from the man.
You know, it's like I can belike that one day.
(22:28):
That's how I can hold myselfand and I think you, um, you
really need those female rolemodels in life and as a woman's
team.
In the last few years, I thinkthere's more women working in
the industry, more women who arebeing hired in senior roles,
and in the past there justweren't that many women in
senior roles because theindustry was dominated by men.
Kristen Bonkoski (22:52):
What advice do you have for young women or
girls?
Listening to this we're likeI'd really like to be a
professional cyclist too.
Kristen Faulkner (23:00):
I'd say get on your bike and, you know, if you
want to hire a coach and starttraining, then you can do that.
Um, the biggest thing is justspend time on your bike.
You know, get and have fun onyour bike.
You know, um, go around somecorners or race your friend,
learn bike handling.
I think when I started, I wasso focused on my fitness I was
like I want to be fit, butactually when you, when you want
(23:20):
to race, uh, the technicalaspects are way more important
or equally important.
You know, and, and so I thinkum, for young girls who want to
be cyclists, like, go work onyour skills too.
You know um, join some grouprides with the men to challenge
yourselves, um, and find somereally strong women to ride with
.
You know, because, you know,having a strong group of women
(23:43):
who you can go ride with makes abig difference.
It makes it more fun to makefriends and also there's just
this feminine like, there's thisenergy.
When you're in a group of strongwomen, you feel this feminine
energy that you just don't getwhen you're around men and I
don't mean to make that like ayou know, gendered thing too
much, but like there issomething about being in a
strong group of people who arelike you and having that group
(24:05):
and having that community.
That I think is reallyimportant for all of us.
Kristen Bonkoski (24:08):
Absolutely.
You had kind of a late start tocycling.
You didn't start until your 20s, although you were a
competitive athlete before that.
Do you think that late starthas actually been an advantage
for you?
Or like, for instance, I know alot of kids who are 12 years
old and they're already, like,very focused on cycling and
(24:29):
sometimes they burn out.
Does that, do you think thatthe timeframe where you started
has been helpful?
Kristen Faulkner (24:35):
Yeah, I mean.
The truth is, I'll never know,right.
Kristen Bonkoski (24:37):
Like, I'll never.
Kristen Faulkner (24:38):
I'll never know what it had been, what it
would have been like if I hadstarted young, and I think the
best answer I can give is I havea lot more skills in certain
ways that I wouldn't have hadotherwise if I'd started young.
I was also lacking certainskills that I didn't have, and I
think, um, for me, I I do seeit as an advantage in a lot of
(24:58):
ways.
I mean, the first is I had acareer before cycling, and so
there's not a single part of methat's worried about my
post-cycling career, like a lotof people are like oh, when I
retire from cycling, what am Igoing to do?
And it causes them anxiety.
Or maybe they race longer thanthey want to and they start
hating the sport because theyfeel like they have to do it.
It's their only job hating thesport because they feel like
it's their, they have to do it,it's their only job.
(25:20):
You know, they're like I don'tknow what else I could do, and
then it becomes like a job tothem instead of something they
really love.
And I think for me, because Ihad a job before and I a job
that I you know I'm theory couldgo back to, I never feel this
pressure Like I have to be here.
You know, cycling doesn't.
I mean it does feel like my job, but it doesn't feel like a job
I have to do.
(25:40):
It feels like a job I'mchoosing to do Every day.
I feel like I'm choosing it,you know, and that makes a big
difference.
I also think I learned a lot ofthings in my professional
career that I brought to cyclingand you know the thorough
diligence I did on companies.
I bring that to racing.
I studied the course, I studiedthe riders like I'm super
thorough and how I assess andanalyze and study for things,
(26:03):
because I had to be so thoroughand that my job and I think that
really sped up my learningtrajectory and I I learned on
the job like what questions toask, how to be super curious,
how to ask every question youcould possibly think of.
You know and and when Iapproach a race, I do the same
thing I check all my boxes andlearning how to do such thorough
(26:23):
research and thorough diligencereally helped me.
I think another thing that I'vespoken about before is in
venture capital.
We invest in highly riskystartups.
So maybe we invest in 10companies and only two or three
are successful, half of themkind of break even, and then
some of them don't work out andyou end up losing money, but the
ones who win you return theentire fund, and so it's this
(26:47):
industry that's very polarizing.
It's these massive wins andthen a lot of losses.
And so when I started cycling,like I was very okay with risk,
I was very okay failing, like ifthe camera was on me and I
attacked and I got caught, likeit didn't, like I didn't think
twice about it.
I wasn't like, oh, I failed onTV and everyone saw me Like I
was just like, okay, you know,try the next one, like it didn't
(27:07):
phase me at all.
I was just like, okay, you know, try the next one, like it
didn't phase me at all.
And that attitude, it justallowed me to be a very
aggressive rider, like I wouldattack and attack and attack
again, and I wasn't scared ofgetting cut back and ultimately
that's my race style Like that'show I won at the Olympics was I
just go for it?
You know, I'm not, I'm notafraid, and I think that was
(27:28):
largely informed from my job,where I knew that if I just did
over and over and over againenough times and strategically,
one of them would land and oneof them would result in a win,
you know.
And so I think I thought of itas, like this portfolio of
attempts, as opposed to justlike you know, on any given one,
if there's a 20% chance youmake it, most people wouldn't do
it, but for me I'm like, okay,if I do it five times, I'll make
(27:54):
it one of them and then I'llwin, you know.
So I think the way that Iapproached it and the way I put
racing and strategy was just alittle bit different from other
people and it allowed me to winin ways that maybe other people
wouldn't have been so willing totry.
Kristen Bonkoski (28:05):
Yeah, that's super interesting.
I love that, like all of yourexperience comes to make you who
you are.
Kristen Faulkner (28:11):
Right, yeah, and I think you know, if I think
it's not necessarily like Imean starting late, I knew I had
a lot to catch up on, so I hadthis sense of urgency too, but I
think you know, if I startedlate or started early, I think
the biggest thing is just that Ihad a range of experiences that
allowed me to learn so manydifferent skill sets that I
(28:31):
could then transfer over tocycling.
And so when I see kidsspecializing really, really
young, my fear is, like you know, if they specialize in
triathlon, like well, they learnhand-eye coordination skills
that they need, you know, laterif they're on the bike doing
bike handling and hand-oncoordination skills to like
dodge a um, like a hole in theground, you know, and so like
(28:55):
there's all these things and andfor me, I was an endurance
athlete my entire life and, yes,I'd done swimming and rowing
and things, but my biggestweakness when I started cycling
was my bike handling, because Ididn't spend a ton of time on
soccer and and ball sports.
You know, I didn't spend a tonof time on soccer and and ball
sports, you know, and so I thinkwhen we do different skills, we
we actually learn differentskills that are highly
(29:15):
transferable, even if we don'trealize they're transferable at
the time.
Kristen Bonkoski (29:18):
Yes, what have I not asked you that you would
like folks listening to know?
Kristen Faulkner (29:25):
Oh, that's a great question.
Um, you know I've had a lot ofpeople ask me, like, were you
scared when you left your job?
Were you scared about takingthe jump?
And my answer is, like,absolutely Like I don't.
I don't want people to thinkthat I just like left my job and
won two gold medals.
Like there was so much behindthe scenes, like there was years
(29:47):
of, you know, getting flattires in the rain and having to
call an Uber and being late latefor my meeting.
And you know like, missingholidays with my family and
traveling.
You know like there were somany things that made it so hard
that I don't think the mediatalks about.
And you know, I always say like99 of it is the work and the
one percent is you on stagewinning a race or winning a
(30:07):
medal.
And like that's, people see theone percent but they don't see
the 99% behind the scenes.
And so if you're working onsomething and you're like I keep
failing, I'm struggling, I feellike I'm falling, all that like
that's normal and that's anormal part of the process.
It's normal to feel like you'refailing Sometimes.
It's normal to feel scared,it's normal to feel a bit
overwhelmed or to feel likeyou're in over your head.
I mean you over your head.
I mean you don't want to havethat every day, but when, when
(30:29):
you're pursuing something reallyambitious, um, or even when
you're pursuing something that'srisky, like you're going to
have a lot of moments ofuncertainty where it doesn't
seem like it's working out.
And I think if you just reallykeep your focus on the big goal
and control, you can control andjust have a little patience.
I think it'll all work out inthe end.
But just don't like, don'tforget that that's all part of
(30:53):
the process and to just bepatient in the long run.
Kristen Bonkoski (30:56):
I have three final questions for you.
But first, do you have anysponsors you want to give a
shout out to, and where canpeople come follow along with
you?
Kristen Faulkner (31:04):
Yeah, so the three main sponsors of our team
are EF Education, oatly, whichis an oatmeal company, and
Cannondale, which is a bikecompany, and they have supported
our team.
Not just.
You know, they've made a bigeffort to really have a good
women's team and when you buyfrom those brands you're also
supporting women's cycling.
So I just want to give a shoutout to them.
(31:25):
And your other question oh,where?
Kristen Bonkoski (31:28):
can people come follow you?
Kristen Faulkner (31:30):
yeah, I post mostly on instagram.
My handle is arctic foxa-r-c-t-i-c-f-a-u-l-k-s, and
then I also have a stravaaccount where you can follow my
rides.
So those are probably the two,two social media platforms that
I'm I put, like the only twothat I'm really active on.
Kristen Bonkoski (31:47):
Three final questions.
The first one is what bike orbikes do you ride?
Kristen Faulkner (31:52):
I ride a Cannondale and it's a road bike.
I also have their mountain bikeand their gravel bike, so I'm
all in on Cannondale.
Kristen Bonkoski (31:59):
Second, question is where is your
favorite place?
You've ever ridden your bike.
Kristen Faulkner (32:05):
I would say in Menlo Park.
Well, in Marin, on Highway 1,it's just absolutely stunning
Over distance and beach on thewaterfront over there, or one of
the rides near Menlo Park whereI rode my bike for years while
I was training and got to knowthose climbs really well.
Kristen Bonkoski (32:25):
Final question is what is your favorite thing
about riding your bike?
Kristen Faulkner (32:29):
I love when the sun's on my face and the
wind's on my face and I justfeel like there's no one around
me, it's just me and nature.
I think it's an amazing feelingand that's when I feel so free
and creative and it's just meand my bike and the open air,
and that's an amazing feeling.
Kristen Bonkoski (32:48):
I'd love to ask you a favor.
My bike and the open air, andthat's an amazing feeling.
I'd love to ask you a favor.
If you enjoyed this episode,can you please go ahead and
share it?
You can do that by sharing iton your Instagram stories or
just letting a friend know aboutit.
The more that you help us getthe word out, the more women we
reach, the better quality ofguests we get on the show.
(33:08):
So it's a team effort and Ireally, really appreciate you.
Until next time, happy writing.
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