What does a 2,700-mile bike race across the Continental Divide teach us about leadership?

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Dr. Ty Hopkins, chair of the Department of Exercise Science at Brigham Young University, elite endurance athlete, and someone who knows firsthand what it means to push past limits. After reading his article in the BYU alumni magazine about racing the Tour Divide (a grueling ultra-distance bike race from Canada to Mexico with nearly 200,000 feet of elevation gain), I knew we had to bring his voice to this podcast.

But this isn’t just a story about athleticism. It’s about what’s under the surface: the mindset required to train for nearly a decade, the breaking point he hit in a Colorado meadow, and the transformation that followed.

We cover:

• Why physical and mental endurance are learned through discomfort, not inherited by talent.
• The hard truth that there are no shortcuts and why that's actually freeing.
• How process-based leadership, not goal-chasing, creates resilient departments.
• What “don’t coast” means as both a cycling principle and a leadership mindset.
• The power of journaling and reflection as leadership tools.
• And the unforgettable moment when Dr. Hopkins nearly quit, only to wake up in a mountain meadow and find his whole outlook changed.

Dr. Hopkins offers sharp insight into how great leaders build confidence: not by wishful thinking, but by giving people real wins earned through effort. His story reminds us that the pain of growth, when processed well, becomes the fuel of transformation.

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