A Two Time Gold Medalist from the 2024 Summer Olympics Showed Up on My Doorstep
You know you’re in the right room when you feel slightly uncomfortable.
Not scared. Not out of your depth. Just…aware that it requires your A-game because you can learn something from everyone in the room.
Two weeks ago, I got reminded what that feeling sounds like.
A professional cyclist I’d interviewed on the EDGE podcast two and a half years ago, Kristen Faulkner, was riding down the California coast.
She won two gold medals in the 2024 Summer Olympics, one in road bike racing and one in track cycling (as an aside she was an alternative on that Olympic team, story for another day). She sent out a message,
“Looking for company on any part of the three day ride we’re doing from San Francisco to Santa Barbara”.
I replied: “I’ll meet you in Half Moon Bay when you come through.”
She sent over a tracking link so I could time it to meet her.
When the dot was close to the house I rolled out of my garage, she was there with three other riders. Turned out I was not just joining a 2x Olympic gold medalist, but a mountain bike multiple World Champion (Kate Courtney) and the ultra-cycling world champion (Lael Wilcox).
No pressure.
From my first pedal stroke, the pace was different. They had a goal: Monterey, CA before sunset. No time for casual riding.
If you’ve spent any time around road cycling, you know the sound…
The high-pitched whir of carbon wheels cutting through air. It starts around 20 mph with a hum that says “we’re moving.”
But at 25 mph? The sound transforms. It becomes purposeful, almost a musical drone. Smooth and relentless. Like a turbine under full power.
At these speeds, everyone is locked in. No one’s coasting. No one’s half-committed.
As I sat on the back of the group, heart plumping and listening to our wheels humming, I couldn’t stop smiling.
This was fun. The kind of fun that only happens when you’re slightly outmatched.
Here’s the thing about being around people who are better than you… Something simply comes through and hits you. The focus. The expertise. The standards. The unspoken expectation that you’re going to match the effort.
You rise because there’s no other option.
And here’s what I’ve learned about myself over the years and maybe you’ll recognize this in yourself too:
When I’m the smartest person in the room, I get scared.
When I’m in meetings where no one challenges my ideas, I get nervous.
When I’m giving all the advice and receiving none, alarm bells go off.
Because I know what’s happening: I’m either stagnant or going backwards.
There’s no growth when the bar is set at your current height.
At best, you’re maintaining.
At worst, you’re getting lapped by people who are pushing themselves outside their comfort zone.
I’ve made this mistake before when I was younger. Stayed too long in comfortable situations. Said yes to opportunities where I was clearly the most experienced person in the room because it felt good to be the expert.
That’s not being smart, that’s you being scared.
You know what that cost me? Opportunities.
Opportunities where I could’ve been learning, stretching, getting better. Instead, I was coasting.
And coasting feels like moving forward until you look around and realize everyone else passed you.
It only took once for me to learn the lesson and luckily I learned it early in life because man would I have wasted a lot of years.
Make no mistake, this isn’t just about cycling…
It’s the entrepreneur who only networks with people at their level or below because it’s more comfortable.
It’s the writer who never shares work with better writers because the feedback might sting.
It’s the executive who avoids hiring people smarter than them because it’s threatening.
It’s the person in a relationship accepting less from their partner when they know in their heart more is possible.
It’s anyone who has stopped seeking out rooms where they’re the least accomplished person present.
That bike ride reminded me what excellence sounds like.
And more importantly, what it feels like to be part of it.
My guess is you’ve experienced it at some point as well.
Crazy thing, the next day when I rode, i set two personal records on the same course I’ve ridden for over thirteen years, years when I was in better shape then I am right now. And…
Even crazier, I wasn’t trying to set a PR, it happened naturally because the bar was higher.
I couldn’t help but think that was the result of just one ride, what if I was on that ride every day?!
What if you were on a ride like that every day?!
That’s what putting yourself in those uncomfortable situations with people better than you does for you.
So here’s my challenge for you in 2026:
Find one person who intimidates you a little, in a good way, and ask them to coffee.
Join one community where you’re the beginner, not the expert.
Say yes to one invitation that makes you slightly nervous.
Apply for one thing you’re not quite qualified for yet.
Find your version of the group ride where the sound of the wheels is just different.
Where the pace pushes you.
Where the standard is set above your current reach.
Because that’s where growth lives. In the slight discomfort. In the sound of excellence humming just ahead of you.
Your move.