Riding Tandem: One Couple, One Mission, One Bike From Mexico to Alaska

Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I have a little sleep secret I want to tell you about. Look, sleep is crucial for your fitness, but it's crucial for just plain old everyday life and function. And I find I sleep great unless I have a migraine. And I've had more than my fair share since perimenopause all the way through postmenopause. My secret weapon was Blue Sky CBD sleep gels. Each gel contains 25mg of CBD and 25mg CBN for deep restorative sleep. Something about it helps to reduce inflammation, which I believe for me was key in helping me get to sleep. But the biggest thing is so many of the over-the-counter solutions, whether for sleep or migraines, can ruin gut health, and liver health. Neither one of those did I want to be problematic for me. So this option is recommended by healthcare providers worldwide and backed by thousands of happy customers, many of whom come from our Flipping 50 community. There is zero THC, so it's non-habit-forming. It's made by a trusted family-owned company that we all can feel good about. Third-party tested for purity and potency. And if you're interested, you too can try a sample for just $6. But even better, you can get 30% off forever with discount code FLIPPING50. That's FLIPPING50. Just go to flipping50.com/blueskycbd. We'll put that link in the show notes and you'll find it everywhere on Flipping 50 at My Favorites. What are you waiting for? Good night. What would you think of spending at least 80 days within 2 feet of your partner? All about it today, talking about riding tandem from Mexico to Alaska with a couple that I know and I think that you will love. I'm Debra Atkinson and you're listening to Flipping 50. I started this podcast over a decade ago to answer questions about fitness and menopause and beyond before you know to ask them. The goal: to help accelerate your results with the science and the practical application of proven protocols while living your best life. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than a midlife woman. It's not just you, but it's the 3 generations that you influence. My unique 40-year career, including being a university senior lecturer in kinesiology, an industry subject matter expert and international speaker, to founder of the first and the only exclusively made-for-menopause-and-beyond fitness membership in the world. Every week, I interview experts behind the science of optimal hormone-balancing fitness and longevity and share answers to our community's questions so you can have the vitality and the energy you want, need, and deserve. In today's episode, normally a solo episode, I am joined with two dear friends today, and I could not be happier about the opportunity to introduce them to you. But I want to let you know and get the flavor of this. They're about halfway into a journey of 80 days. We'll we'll get the real intel on that during the interview, riding their bikes from Cabo— yes, we're talking Mexico— to Alaska. That's kind of a big deal, just saying. May or may not be world records involved. That's not the reason though for the ride. And yet you're going to hear all kinds of things about it, like what is it like for their health? Because They are in their 50s and so are things different training, recovering day after day on bicycles. And what is it like for their relationship being side by side? There is no me time when you're that close, when you're sleeping in an RV and you're getting on the bike again tomorrow. So there are no bad moods, there are no slammed doors, there's no moment to myself kind of thing, or is there? You'll hear about all the details. We're talking about doing this huge endeavor together, the connection, the long hot days, the miracles, as well as the obstacles and opportunities for growth in so many ways. My guests today are, first of all, Lady J.B. Owens. She's an internationally bestselling author. She's award-winning businesswoman, celebrated humanitarian, coveted speaker, trainer, and legacy mentor. She has been recognized, by the way, by Forbes Entrepreneur Magazine in Apple News. So if you recognize her or wonder where I heard that name, you're not mistaken. Her husband Peter Giesen is the co-founder and CTO at Ignite Publishing, software evangelist for aspiring authors, author, and adventurer with a deep-rooted belief in the transformative power of digital tools. Peter merges technology with storytelling to empower aspiring authors worldwide. The two of them really are all about that that one word I've said, inspiring. I think you're gonna find this inspiring, not just for their purpose, the mission in their life, work together, which really is going to work with your spouse day and riding a bike over 80 days. Yes, in tandem. So tune into this one. I think you'll love it. It's just a big change from our solo episodes, and I think you'll be glad we did it. Hey, look who's in the house, JB and Peter. Thank you so much for being with me.

We're so grateful to be here. Thanks for having us. We love it.

Yes, thank you. It's exciting to be here.

Okay, so tell me right now, how many miles do you have under you? Where are you at in this ride?

We are just shy of halfway, so about 4,500 kilometers, which is About 30 years.

A lot.

Yes.

And we have accomplished 2 continents or 2 countries, sorry, Mexico and the US. And we have done 3, the equivalent of 3 Mount Everest.

Holy crap. Okay. And you have broken some records. So this is also a big deal. Is this the biggest thing? I mean, was that really a like, we did that and it feels really cool, or is, you know, having a Guinness World Record anticlimactic? What does that feel like? I can't imagine because I've never been there.

Well, we wanted to break a world record. Okay, so we still haven't broken the first world record that we wanted, which is the most elevation gained in a single ride on a tandem bike, which is Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to Homer, Alaska, 10 times Mount Everest, 305 thousand feet of elevation. But we're still on the quest to do that. We still have a few more days, 40 more days to get there. But in the meantime, we did break a world record for the only tandem couple to cycle the Baja Peninsula north to south and south to north when we entered into the U.S. So that was something we did about 20 days ago, broke that record. So not a Guinness yet, but a world record. And so we're pretty excited. Um, It wasn't the goal, it wasn't why we did it, wasn't why we started, but it was a real beautiful icing on the cake. I did a Facebook post the other day saying 5 years ago in 2020, I had this crazy idea to ride a bike across Canada with my husband. Never rode before, was 60 pounds overweight, was suffering from sheltering in a coma, and I had this really crazy idea and I said to him, let's ride our bike and show people what's possible. And now 5 short years later, we're world record holders. So it just goes to show what can happen in a very quick time.

Yeah, I think when we set out, right, it wasn't initially any world record associated, right? It was like, okay, this is the trip we want to take, Cabo San Lucas to, you know, to Alaska. And as we explored it, it became, oh my God, this is 10 times Mount Everest. You know, that's amazing. And it just developed into this, this is a world record. And then as we started along it, other ones started to develop to say, okay, you know what? I want to say average. I think we're beyond average, but anybody can set out and say, you know what? I want to do this thing and turn it into something amazing.

Yeah. And we are also recognizing that we're one of the very few people who are doing the south to north version of it. We've seen multiple cyclists going north to south because of the tailwinds and just it's better, better roads. We've had many people shaking their head at us like, what are you guys doing going in the headwind for 40, for 80 days? Like, what are you thinking?

So literally, is that it? Is it 80 days?

Yeah, from Cabo to Alaska is 80 days of travel, of cycling time. But we've, we've already gone over a little bit. Well, we're not over 80 days, but our projected is that we might go over, which means we need to hustle to stay within our 80 days because Things happen. Life shows up, shenanigans and conundrums and chaos evolves.

But I think that's a big part of it, right, is the ability to— we set out 80 days. That's a lot of time away from family, away from business, away from home, but still being willing to pivot and keep persistent to say, okay, well, now it's going to be 85 days. It might be 90 days by the time we're done. Well, how do we still adapt our lives and still make that goal and not just, oh, we missed 80 days, we're going to give up.

Right. Or how do we shave time off? Like, we know that if we want to make the 80 days, we need to cycle even more than we're already cycling to keep our 80 days. So it's wonderful little balancing, but at the same time it's challenging and it's inspiring.

Well, I think one of the most inspiring things, and I don't want to step over this, so everybody heard this. So in 2020, I think you said it was right that we were all sheltering at home and we were like, uh, I can't look at these four walls anymore. But you said, I had never cycled before. Did you say that?

Yeah, I mean, I had bought— it's a kind of an interesting story. When I was a single mom, I bought a tandem bike with the hope of meeting somebody that would ride a bike with me. So I didn't even have a partner at the time. I saw a tandem bike in a bike store and I bought it thinking like, that's the kind of relationship I want. That's the kind of partnership that I'm looking for., and the bike sat in the garage for about 2 years. And it was a bit of a litmus test because people would come by and they'd be like, oh, what's that weird thing? And why would you ever want to do that? And does that ever look ridiculous? Until this gentleman showed up in my life and I happened to open my garage door and there was my tandem bike. And he said, wow, cool, can we ride that? And that's when we weren't even in a relationship. Here, fast forward 5 years later, Peter and I will probably at the end of this trip set the world record for the most consecutive rides in North America. On a tandem bike by a single couple, over 40,000 kilometers of riding. So in 2020, when I had gained so much weight, I was, you know, just totally unhappy with life. I again, yes, we were all supposed to be sheltering in. I said to Peter, would you want to cycle across Canada with me to show people what's possible, that you can just have an idea in your mind, you can just come up with something. You don't have to have all the knowledge. You don't have to have all the skill. You don't need to know how to do it. You just have to have the determination and the ambition to do it. And he, of course, answered with, yeah, that sounds cool. Let's do it.

And most people think the first question everyone asks is like, I bet you trained a lot for that. Honestly, we didn't. That first year, I think before we set off on the actual trip, maybe we had done 2 or 3 rides of 40 kilometers. Max at a time. And, you know, but we visualized it. We saw it in our mind that we would do this, right? That we could do 100 kilometers, that we could do 150 kilometers a day. And did the first day when we set out, did we do 100 kilometers? No, we did maybe 80.

And we were like, 98. I remember it very distinctively. I remember 98 kilometers on our first day, and we were— we've never done that before, right?

And we were gassed, and we were like, but we were so excited that we did 98 kilometers. And then we got to get up and do it again tomorrow. Yeah. Just with consistency, the strength and the power came. And that by the end of the thing, we were riding, you know, that's the year. Did we do 200 that year?

We did 200 that year. 200 kilometers in one day.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Wow. That's a long day.

And that just teaches your body. That just goes to show like your body can get your, you can show your body what it needs to do. You can, through visualization, we got our bodies prepared for our cycle ride the first year. And every year since, I mean, we go out of shape in the wintertime, we get back in shape in the summer, but we teach our bodies and our minds to see the finish line, to see the exercise, to see the momentum on the bike. And that really helps the brain know that it's possible.

Well, and I wanna go forward here with something, but I wanna come back just a step for everybody to understand that there's a greater mission to this. So first of all, you're on this tandem bike together to ignite humanity.

Humanity.

I want you to define that. What does that mean to you?

Well, I feel like humanity is all of our responsibilities, and we really need to be paying attention to what's going on for humanity. Why I even started this was because during COVID I had 4 teenagers at home, and they were all very lackluster about their future. They became very, a bit, you know, protagonist or like, you know, a little bit negative about their future. And it made me realize that humanity is so important. We need to be thinking about what's possible in our lives. We need to be thinking about what we're capable of. We need to be dreaming. We need to be thinking future forward thinking. And that's so important for humanity, for the longevity of humanity. And one of the things that inspires people deeply is the feeling that if you can do it, I can do it. Like if you can get there, if you can be 50 years old, you know, 16 pounds overweight, never cycled before, and get on a bike and cycle across Canada. Well, maybe I can do something similar. Maybe I could do something that I never thought I could do before. And it's so, it's this idea of stretching the imagination and widening the mind of what's possible for people. Because if we're all living in the center of what's possible for us, imagine what we can accomplish. And that's going to ignite humanity, this knowingness that we can do it even when It doesn't feel like it's possible even when there's odds against us. It's really this belief that if you have an idea, if you dream it, you can make it come true. And when you do it, you give other people permission to try it also.

Amazing. I want you to talk to a little bit about where does this factor in. So you're building classrooms and igniting hope in places where there potentially isn't any or isn't much opportunity. Where does that fall into place with relationship to the cycling or to what it is you're doing? How are you bringing awareness to your, your bigger purpose?

I really think it's about dreaming. Like, I had a dream to cycle across Canada. I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know all that was required. I didn't have all the answers, but I had the dream. And I had the dream because as a kid, I grew up being able to read books, and books gave me this idea to imagine and to step outside reality and to, and to fantasize and to theorize and to think about what was possible. And so that idea was really strong in me, that when children can read and when children are in an environment that expands their ideas and their innovation and their creativity, they can do all sorts of things. And I, I had this very strong sense when I told Peter that there are— just because you're born in poverty doesn't reflect your level of intelligence. And so there are millions of children who are highly intelligent, compassionate, empathetic, empathetic, with a deep desire to empower and make a difference in humanity. But they don't, they don't live close to a school, or they don't have the means to go to school. Well, that's a travesty for humanity. And so that really got me on my soapbox about if we can teach children to innovate, to create, to think, to think beyond their means, to think beyond the box that maybe they were born into, or the environment that they were put into, they can change the world. We just need to give them those tools. And the school is the place to start.

Yeah, definitely. And, you know, funny that you say that, right? Part of it is, is actually a classroom, but also it's part of it's us being out on the road and meeting these people. Yeah. And seeing it happen right in front of our eyes. Actually, about 4 or 5 days ago, it was a wet, rainy day. We were tandeming down. We're coming down this long, windy hill. Zooming by, and there was this other set of cyclists on, on road going up the hill. And we zoomed by so fast, I'm like, was that a set of tandem people with their children? So we literally slammed on the bottom, slammed on our brakes, and went back up, went back up and found this family. And literally, this was a family, a mom and a dad and their 3 children, 6, 8, and 10, who from Poland that came has been cycling together for 4 weeks, for 4 weeks, the Pacific Coast Highway. Okay. Kids are riding their own bikes. One, the youngest one was with his mom, but they're out there. And I got talking to the dad. They had done— they've done this every single year of their summer. That's how they spend their summer. They go to different places cycling with their kids. This is what their kids know. Their kids know that summer means out on the road and cycling. One year, he said, they missed it because of the birth of one of their children. But other than that, they've been out every single year. And we got to meet these kids, this 10-year-old girl on her own bike pedaling up this hill that most people would look at and be like, no way am I pedaling. I don't even want to drive my car up it, let alone my bicycle. And she was as happy as could be.

But yeah, so to cycle back to the schools is the idea of giving kids this opportunity to dream that it's possible. Like, she didn't know that that hill technically was too big for her, too tall for her, too hard for her. She just did it. And that, that teaching and that inspiration, that motivation that you can give to kids is so important because that gives them the ability to be great adults, to make great decisions, to do things for humanity.

That is amazing. Yeah, I love that story too. And yeah, it's, you know, sometimes it reminds me of teaching children swimming, you know. And really, when you're teaching really small children swimming, you're not teaching them, you're teaching the parent. Yeah, when they go, when they go under, don't rush in. Don't, don't say it's an emergency. It's like, oh my God, are you okay? Because that's what changes the whole game for them, you know, for better or worse. But yeah, wow.

What a weird example. We even offered to put them in our, you know, put them in our RV. We offered to, you know, do they need to get out of the cold? We offered to like get them some food and they were like, no, we're good. We're totally okay. They're totally okay. Like they can't, wasn't in their frame of reference.

Yeah, because we knew what they had ahead of them, right? So we knew the rest of the hill they had to climb. Oh. They're like, no way, we're good.

Yeah. And then the mom told me about a bridge that was coming up on our end that they had already passed, that the 10-year-old, she said the hardest part was that bridge that we came across. And so Peter and I cycled the bridge a few days later and it was terrifying for me. So scary. I'll put it on my, so on my social media, it was a scary, scary bridge. I mean, Peter had to really be in charge and really be in control of the bike. And that's one beautiful thing about being on a tandem. Is we have to work together, but there is one person who is, you know, we call the captain, who is leading the bike, shifting the gears, obviously steering the bike. And I'm on the back, which is known as the stoker. I can't see, and I can't see where Peter's going. So it's fully this trust opportunity. I can't see the road ahead. I can't see the bumps, pivots, the divots. I have to just really trust and believe in my captain and know that it's all going to be okay. And that's a really powerful thing in relationships.

Wow, I love that. Okay, so I want to get into that. So of course you've told the story, this is the first time that you've done extended day rides, you know, and unfortunately, you know, biologically we know some of this is true, but we, we don't get younger. So, you know, 5 years when you're in your 50s, that can be a big difference, more so for a female, I would say. So, JB, I'm going to ask you, I mean, are you noticing a difference recovery? Because if you're in any stage of menopause, perimenopause, I mean, estrogen is not helping you anymore on purpose. And Peter, that may be true for you. It tends to be true later for guys. But is the recovery different, say, this year than it was 5 years ago for you? What are you noticing?

Well, I'll— 5— so we've cycled every year for the last 5 years. Um, you know, first year was 5,000, 6,500 kilometers. 8, 10,000 kilometers was our biggest ride. Last year was 6,300. This year is 9,100. I will say, in all honesty, and I don't like to admit it, so even though this is public and it's recorded and it's live, I, I will say this year, at 55 this year, um, the one thing I noticed is my knees are a little bit sore than normal, uh, but we've done a ton of climbing. And we've done a lot of hills and a lot of coastline. So that's just normal. I don't know if that's age. Yes, probably. But I, but I will say also, usually I slim down quite quickly after riding. This year, it's not as fast as normal. I still get those sugar cravings. I still want to eat a lot more food to make me feel warm. I'm a pretty impatient person. So I know, you know, 3 months or a month from now, after the 3 months is over, I'll probably, you know, feel like I usually do in the best shape of my life. Every time I finish a cycle ride, I feel like I can leap a single building in a, you know, a tall building in a single bound because the momentum and the work and the, and the, and the heart rate and the, the good eating and the good sleeping and all of that is just so powerful for my body that I actually I don't feel the same menopause symptoms that I feel just at home in the middle of winter when I'm tucked in my cozy bed and I've done a day of work on the computer. I don't sleep as well, I don't eat as well, I definitely, you know, notice hot flashes. I haven't had a hot flash this whole summer. I think I had one the other day because I had eaten a big bowl of ice cream. I was kind of like, okay, I'm thinking maybe I'm feeling it, but it's really good for my body to work, to work out. And I don't know, how about you?

Yeah, I mean, so I have a couple of years on JV and I definitely realized this year that recovery and the energy management that I need is totally different than what's been in the past few years and that I really have to now think about it and be more focused on what am I eating, what are the supplements and type of things that I really need to maintain that mental and the energy every day. So there definitely is, as you know, as I get this year as, as our oldest, I do have to manage it a little bit better than I had in the past where I, before I could just jump up and go and, you know, not do a lot of stretching. And I still don't do a lot of stretching. That's my downfall. But that warm-up protocol is something—

pretend I didn't hear that. Just pretending did not hear that.

Yeah, but yeah, so I do, right? I do.

As I age, I, I am noticing a difference this year, which just makes you wake up to more care, self-care, I think, and self-awareness. Um, it doesn't spirit us to not do it. It just is like, okay, we need to be thinking more about our supplements, or we need to be taking different things. We've really enjoying doing some peptides and some other creatine and more things in our shakes and that sort of thing. So it's actually prompting more self-care. We have some great products that we put on our, on our muscles when they're sore at night, some essential oils, some homeopathic remedies whenever we're not feeling well. So we're just more aware of how to take care of ourselves better. Love it. And stretching. And I run in the mornings before I ride. I like to—

you run before you do the marathon for the day?

Okay, okay.

Well, everybody, every woman listening now hates you, but what about the way that you're thinking in terms of, uh, muscle mass? I know we've talked a little bit about strength training, but You know, you didn't, didn't do a lot before because you came into this actually with an injury you were dealing with. And what is so exciting, I think I'd love to unpack this because I think there's both physical things that you did to get over that injury, but I also think there's this— if people are watching the video, they see it, you're lit up. I mean, you don't look like someone exhausted because they're 25, 40 days into a bike ride, it's you look like you just stepped off of the beach and now we really don't like you. I mean, look at her. So talk about the magic of maybe being in something that you really love and you get up tomorrow and you say, I get to ride my bike again. Do you have a question for a podcast, a question you'd love to ask, or maybe a story you want to tell. Did you know we have a special group just for podcast question roundups and the answers? My community coaches and I provide answers daily inside of this group, but it's also where I go when I occasionally say, okay, open call for podcast questions, or tell your story, would you like to be a guest? So if you're looking for a community of women who are also interested in optimizing their health strengthening their mindset, and looking forward to every new year. Join the Flipping 50 Insiders group. That's Flipping 50 Insiders on Facebook.

I really have to speak to you and credit you for some— a lot of the support that you've given me. In January, I think I was probably in the worst shape of my life. Um, I just had spent probably 5 months of working nonstop, being on the computer all day, working, you know, in my chair, sitting down. I'm notorious for not eating or going to the bathroom because I have another meeting and I'm busy and I'm working. And come January, I got a substantial injury in my shoulder that graduated into 2 tears. I had a front tear and a back tear of my shoulder in the labrum and in the subscapularis. Subscapularis. Exactly. Which shocked me and, uh, was just totally knocked me off my feet because I didn't think that I was like injury prone, or I didn't think that that could happen to me. And what I noticed was just terrible inflammation all over my body, just real stagnation, and my body really calling for some attention. And so everybody said, oh, the bike ride's off, you're not going to be able to ride your bike. With your shoulder. And there were days when I was really— didn't know if I could do it either. I couldn't lift my arm, I couldn't put my hand on my hip, I couldn't reach for anything, I couldn't put my own clothes on. Peter had to help me with all my clothes. I couldn't do anything. My arm was completely unusable. And it was a wake-up call for me to take some serious attention to what I was eating, what I was thinking, how I was sleeping, how I was spending my day. And I had to get into the realm of fitness and repair and health and nurturing my arm to get it working. I do remember the day, it was like early April, it was freezing cold, and I told Peter, you got to get me on the bike to see if I can do it. And he didn't want to because my arm was in a sling, so damaged. But I literally, you know, took my arm like this and, you know, put it on the handlebar. And as soon as I I could get my hand on the handlebar for a few minutes. I said to Peter, okay, I'll be able to do it. Now I need to recover. And if you're watching, ta-da!

And that is so good. It's been amazing week after week to watch you. And so I will admit now, but I didn't then because I never wanted you to know that I was also worried. Like, is this the best the thing for you to do. Not, not, you know, is this going to happen, will it, but is there a risk that if we put you on that bike and what if the bike goes down and then you re-enter it and then, you know, yeah, I was worried about all kinds of things that I'm sure you were somewhere in your mind too. But, um, to watch you week after week, the range of motion improved every week. It was amazing.

I just want to say thank you for believing in me because I remember when we were working out together, like I couldn't, I was literally having spasms on the floor. I couldn't lift. I couldn't, I couldn't move. I couldn't roll over and help myself up. I mean, I was, and you just, you know, gave me faith and hope and believed in me that I could keep doing it. And so thank you for that.

Well, I know your spirit. So yeah. There was no way but up for you. So yeah, there's a way.

You'll find out that, you know, when you're injured, it's not about nerding, like sort of falling back and I don't even know, like, like babying it. Like that was the one thing someone said to me. It's like, don't baby it. Don't not use it, but use it wisely and nurture it and take care of it. And now I don't even think I have a shoulder injury and folks that never had any surgery. Everybody was pushing me to get surgery and I just said, I'm not going to do it. Even if I actually practiced riding the bike with my arm in a sling just so see if I could do it one-handed. Peter was practicing because he knew he was going to have to take on a little extra load.

And, you know, I think it was wonderful. I want to say thank you too, Debra, right? You know, I remember that week when you were there, when you were helping JB train. You know, she, it was a spot where up until then, I didn't, I would do, I didn't know if she was, I knew she could do it and I knew she would never say no, but I didn't know what, you know, the impact it would have. But you gave her this belief that's okay, just let's work it. Let's get some mobility going in. And from that time is when you really started to say, okay, let's shift things around. What do I need to do? What do I, What do I need to eat?

What do I need to eat? Not eat?

All that stuff. And from then is where it progressively got a little bit better, a little bit better. And then once we got on the bike, you know, on a consistent basis, it just, you know, opened up and it's just like, okay, I remember.

And folks, I just want to say, I— when I spent time with Debra, I knew nothing. I mean, I remember her taking me— she's like, you need to eat protein. I'm like, what's protein? Let's go to the fridge and look. I open up the fridge door. I'm like, tell me what I'm supposed to— what am I eating here? Which is— is this a carrot? This isn't a carb. This is a carrot. Why is this— this is yogurt. What is that?

There are some things that you cannot unsee, and that moment will never leave. I was like, how could this be?

This is so wrong. And you helped me see the importance of how to stack my food, how to eat at certain intervals, what to eat, make more important, and then just really support me in nutrients and supplements and even the exercises, you know, not exercising things that were just traditional in my mind, oh, I should do those, but doing things that were really going to help me and support me in my entire body, not just, oh, I want to have my legs look better, I want my abs to look better, but really this total health, and I'm really grateful for you for that.

And it's beautiful, right? I mean, when we started this, we told each other we want to do this until we're 75, 80 years old. And we may not ride, you know, 9,000 kilometers when we're 80 years old, but we want to go out every summer and continue to ride our bikes. You know, long distances day after day. And, you know, in order— and we can do that. But to do that, we have to be smart. We have to be wise about our nutrition, our health, and our mobility.

Fitness. And I just want your listeners to know, like, so I started this journey totally overweight. You know, there's pictures of me in my, in my cycling gear, and I am like busting out of the seams. Like, I am popping out in every area. I didn't know how to do it, but I decided I wanted to do it. And, and sure, there were lots of times where we even, we would fall on the bike sometimes. We were, it wasn't We weren't fast. We weren't good-looking. We weren't— we even had moments where we didn't even know what we were doing. We were trying to figure it out. But we just, every day, we just put a little— we put time into it. We just got excited to make it fun, to enjoy it, and to just do it and do it a little bit every single day. And that— it's not the turtle that wins the race. It's not that. It's not slow and steady. It's about a little bit every day, even 1%, just doing 1%. And I don't say slow and steady because a lot of people think like they don't get anywhere. I just mean like commit and do 1%. Go for it and put a little— and put that time and effort in, and you will be amazed at what can unfold for you.

I love that. I'm going to back up 1 minute because I think just a nod to everybody who heard you say someone told you don't baby it with your injury. And I just want to echo that I Many of you listeners know I, within the last few months, had stem cell therapy, and the doctor also said those words to me. And thank you that those physicians, health professionals, are out there, because I think so often we do baby it and then we lose ground, actually. And so we, we harm ourselves as opposed to, you know, there is a time when, yes, you don't push it, but, you know, pain isn't always telling you don't do something. Sometimes you have to work through that pain to gain a new level of range of motion. So just don't baby it. Might be words somebody needs to hear.

Yeah, mine is don't make it your story, because we're publishers. That's our business by trade. We help people tell their story. And when people make an injury their story, then they give it so much more credibility than it deserves. So don't make your injury your story. Like, I can't do this because I hurt my shoulder. Don't make it your story.

Beautiful. Okay, now I want to get into the juicy stuff. So you guys are sitting like really close together, and I know in part that is because we're on a video and where you have to sit close together to use and share the microphone. But this is a lot of together time, y'all. And you know, you get to a certain place in your life and maybe in a relationship where sometimes, you know, you need your own personal space. Like, I love them, but I love my time alone also, you know, there is none of that. So you're together then sleeping in an RV, but you're within 2 feet of each other like most of the time. How's that going?

Oh, it's more than 2 feet. I mean, there are times when sweat will go off of Peter and drip onto me. Like, we get it all, you know, like If there are any burping or farting or any of that, it's like, you can't hide that. Even yesterday, I had to go to the bathroom in the bushes and Peter had to just wait on the side of the road. I mean, it's pretty intimately together, it is, it's true. But I never feel like I wanna be away from him.

In the green room before we started, you actually said, yeah, when is it that we just get our together time? And we all laughed about that because are you kidding me, right?

Well, the interesting thing is what I actually love about it is obviously it's a relationship. So, we have our moments, right? And honestly, God and nature know when to give us that alone time, even on the bike. He'll make it super windy so we don't wear microphones or anything. So, we literally, for me to hear JB, I have to turn my head and sort of watch back to hear her, right? Because there are days and moments when the wind and the cars are just so much that we have to be quiet and then we can't talk to each other, or the road is so rough and choppy. Like, 90— I told you, Debbie, the other day, 95% of my mental focus is on my front wheel and what's in front of my thing. I don't want to, you know, I don't hit the bumps, I don't hit debris, you know, where's the white line, what cars are coming. So there are moments that the environment just gives us that a little bit of alone time, that space of mental reflection of what we're doing. But then the others, it's just beautiful and we can just turn our head and just constantly talk. And we talk about so many things.

Yeah, there's quiet country roads that we go on that are just— no one is around at all. And we have the whole vast, beautiful landscape to ourselves. And then there are other times which yesterday is a good example. We were on the bike for 6.5 hours. We were mostly on a highway. There was so much wind and traffic just going by, going by. It's like we couldn't really even talk to each other. So I'll listen to music or we'll listen to the same music or we'll, you know, or we'll just have quiet time. So we don't really always get time together. But there are these moments where we're going down a hill and I will tuck right in behind Peter. I'll wrap my hands around his legs. I'll lean right down. My head is like right, you know, by his hip. Um, or there are times when we both, you know, stand up together and I can lean on him.

I don't know.

I mean, the intimacy is so powerful. I, I'm going to share a really private, private story. Can I share something really private? Yes. The first year we cycled together was, uh, 59 days. We— the very first year it took us 59 days to cycle across Canada, uh, from— well, we cycled 5 provinces. We didn't go all the way across. And we never had sex those whole 59 days. But I felt more closer to him, more in love with him, more intimate with him than I had ever felt because we were breathing together on the bike. We were pushing together on the bike. We were seeing the eagle at the same moment. We were smelling the wildflowers at the same time. We were just talking about life, talking about silly things. Why are Smurfs blue? Like, what is Mickey Mouse really? When did that all start? Like, wasn't Captain Kirk way before his time? Wasn't Spock so cool that, you know, live long and prosper? I mean, we bring up the craziest conversation. What was your favorite song as a kid? What did you do when you were a child? And that intimacy and that personal and that, that makes the ride so intimate. And it was fascinating to me that, you know, we think that sexual encounters or, you know, our body intimacy, naked bodies together is what's so intimate. But when you spend time with somebody just seeing them push, I mean, we went up a hill in Mexico that was so daunting. I mean, it was the hardest best thing we've ever done, I think. And I said to Peter, like, you're a superhero that you got up that hill, because he had to steer, he had to keep us off the ditch, he had to keep us out of the road from the trucks, he had to keep us away from the guardrail, he had to make sure I was okay because I was on the back, he had to shift the gears, had to, you know, go around the rocks. I'm just in awe of him, you know. So that intimacy grows so much when you do things together. And it's not about I'm in control and I'm better and I know more and you know more and I'm going to acquiesce to you. We are really doing it together. Long answer.

That was amazing. Well, and everybody listening should know, I mean, you're a very powerful woman. You're a leader. You are, you are doing things to uplift humanity. But also, I think you're a great role model for other women who want to be leaders. You know, and so you are in charge most of the time. So I think it's, it's really awesome that you sit in the back and, you know, it's a different kind of leadership sitting in the back and yet it's not, you know, better or worse. It's just being a part of this team. And so it shows up differently.

I want to ask, I want to say that I think that happens like even in teams, there is usually somebody who is stronger or leading or, you know, in charge. And being on a tandem, that really doesn't happen. Like, it's really the leader— that it's really— I feel it's very much equal effort. It's not like one person is in charge. You're shifting gears, but there's lots of times where I have to call the gears. I have to share to Peter what's, you know, how the bike is running and what to do. And but thank you for saying that because on the back of the bike, I get to play. I get to have fun. We were in the Redwoods a few weeks ago, and I was throwing my head back and talking to the trees and looking around. And, and who gets to ride through the, um, that, through the Redwoods? You know, people are in a car, they're in a windshield, they're, you know, get out and walk around. I was on a bike, and I had, like, Peter was, you know, steering and handling everything, and I just got to play. I just got to be a kid. I just to see it from a whole new perspective. So that's really a wonderful thing about our, I think about our relationship is Peter can be really in charge when we're on the bike. I get to be really have fun and be in charge in the office, but we get to have some balance and some teamwork.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, we love to call the tandem the relationship maker and it'll make your relationship and there is this—

Or break it, right? Or break it.

But we like to stay positive. It's the relationship maker. And, you know, it is, it makes me happy to go through the redwoods and know that I'm focused on the road and that JV can just let go, like you said, right? Because she is from most of the time, the 9 months, she's the leader of the business, right? And all their energy goes there. So this is the time during the year where she just gets to open up. So the fact that she can sit up and, you know, and it's interesting because before this ride, when we said, hey, JV's shoulder, I went to my trainer. I'm like, listen, I was like, I need your help because I know JV has this injury and I know that I think that she's going to have to sit up more, right? And not be down. And when she does that, I can tell the difference. Right? I can tell because her power goes down, right, when you're sitting straight up. And I'm like, so I'm gonna have to help carry the load a little bit more, right? So I got to be stronger. And but I'm happy to do that, to give her that space just to enjoy. You know, I've seen moments along our journey, you know, you'll like this one, Debra, is that at one point she was carrying her stretchy bands on the back of the bike, and riding along and the bike is going like this. I'm like, what is she doing back there? And I turn around and she's got the stretchy bands exercising her arm on the bike because she can.

That's right, I gotta use my biceps on the bike, so I gotta like attach the stretchy bands to the— actually thought yesterday, there's this book I've been reading and I want to finish it. I'm like, I wonder if I could read the last few chapters while on the back of the bike so I can get back to They could just tape it to his back or something.

Right.

You know, this is great. One year we actually put a GoPro on Peter's back and for 30 minutes I would do my live training from the back of the bike while I was cycling live. Yeah. So it makes it a lot of fun and a lot of treats. So I get, I get, I can use the phone if I have to, or I can play with music. So I get a lot of play on the bike.

So I definitely encourage your listeners who are lot, probably primarily strong businesswomen. So you have a partner, right? Go and get a tandem bike and experience it and, and do both sides. Now, we, interestingly enough, we have never done both sides.

I've never— always in the front.

Yeah, but that's the way we like it because I think it shifts the dynamic from the other 9 months of the year. But for other people, do both, right? Figure out which is weird and just let go and have fun.

Along your travels, you have met so many people, like this family that was amazing. And there have probably been other instances that stick out that, like, super memorable. And I know people are probably curious when you two roll into town on a tandem bike and you, you know, pull up to a hot dog stand— of course you're not doing that, but What do you remember, like, from this trip? What's been like a standout in addition to the family, like, people that you meet along the way? There must be just some magical moments.

Well, I had one yesterday. We were— there was a man at the red light who was, um, you know, had a little cardboard sign asking for money. So I had him come over to the RV and we were stopped at the red light and I said, do you need food? Because obviously we have a lot of food in the RV. He goes, no, no, I just need money. And I said, what are you gonna do with the money? And he goes, food. And I said, okay. So I gave him— I just gave him $3, and that's all the money we had in our coin in the, you know, coffee cup thing. And when we drove away, Peter said, you know, he's probably not gonna buy food with that money. And I said, that's okay. We did our part. God asked us to give, we gave, and, you know, he's going to do what's best for him. And then like 4 hours later, we were pulled over on the side of the road, Peter and I on the bike, and we were just taking a little bit of a break, and a guy pulled up in his van, not an RV, just like a regular van. He's like, what are you guys doing? And we started telling him that we were raising money for charity, that we were sent crossing the continent, and he opened up his wallet and gave us a $100 bill. Oh my gosh, it was pay it forward, right? And it was that example of like, you have to give to get. You have to give freely, you have to give with magnanimous willingness to allow a person to do the best thing that they can do. But you have to give to get. And that was a big lesson that day to just remind that, you know, we could be asking money for charity. People could be asking panhandling. But if you really want to really move the needle in your life and make a big difference, you have to give first. You have to give, give without strings attached, give with disgrace in your heart, and give to humanity because humanity will give back.

So amazing. Okay. So I could talk to you too for hours about this because I think it's such a great adventure and I love it. And I hope everybody watching is inspired Maybe not to ride bikes tandem across Mexico to Alaska, but something, even something smaller, something not on a bike, something that you've wanted to do or maybe have yet to dream about. If there's just one thing that each of you, I'll give you the opportunity, could leave a listener with knowing she's in midlife and sometimes we wonder, is it downhill from here? What would you leave listeners with right now?

Well, my big thing is you got to do what makes you happy. Do what makes you happy. Even yesterday I said to Peter, because he'd been sick for a few days, I said, is everything good? Are you enjoying? You don't seem happy today. You don't seem like you're enjoying it. He said, I'm having a great day. And it made me remember that like not everybody's having your experience. You're having your experience. Your experience. You're really in charge of your experience. You get to define your experience. So if you're in charge of your experience and you get to define it, and it really isn't contingent on anyone else— we're literally on the same bike. I can't determine his experience. I only can determine mine. So I looked around. I can enjoy the, the weather. I can enjoy the flowers. I can enjoy the blackberries on the side of the road that we stopped to pick and eat. Do what makes you happy, because there are so many things pulling us in different directions in this world right now. And if there's one thing that you commit to every single day when you wake up is ask yourself before you even get out of bed, what's going to make me happy today? And do that, work towards that. Maybe, you know, it's I want to go to Paris. Okay, start a little jar, a little travel jar. I want to lose 10 pounds. Okay, read a book, get on a podcast, find a trainer, like do one little thing each and every day that's going to make you happy. And when you do that, happiness will show up because you'll be training the universe that what's important to me is I'm going to do what makes me happy. And when you're happy, like when JB's happy, come on, the rest of the world is happy around me because I'm happy, right?

She is contagious.

We have to give her that.

That is for sure. That's a great question, Debra. For me, I think it's is, you know, let the challenge go. Don't let the challenge overwhelm. So we came into this trip, our young son, millennial, 21-year-old, he's like, oh, this is like David Goggins type stuff, right? And so I came into this trip seeing, oh, this is going to be a challenge and it's going to be difficult and we're going to have to persevere. And guess what? It was a challenge.

Persevering. And it was difficult.

And it was difficult in the beginning. And so I'm finally to the point where I'm like, and that's where this trip has been more depleting. And because there's so many other things, and I'm finally realizing that I just gotta let that go and enjoy the trip. We'll get there. It might take us 90 days. It might take us 85 days to get there, but we're going to get there. And that's still enjoy the trip, have those fun moments. And don't let the challenge overwhelm you. So just be like, no matter how difficult you think it might be, just go enjoy it and have fun.

Such great advice. Thank you so much, both of you, for being here and for just being such great examples of how to truly live.

Thanks for having us. We appreciate you so much.

Tell everybody how they can follow your journey because some of the pictures you share are just Amazing. Where can they find you, JB?

Well, we started a new Facebook and Instagram account called Epic Tandem, so people can go to Epic Tandem and check out what we're doing. And then of course, we love people to come to IgniteYou.life where we're talking about all things about making your night moments happen in your life.

And if you look at Epic Tandem, there is actually a live tracker so you can see where we are at all times. And if we're coming past your neighborhood, let us know.

Yes. And get out your $3, right? Yes. Amazing. Okay, everybody, what are you waiting for? Let's start Flipping 50. Thank you so much for listening. To listen and access a decade of episodes and the show notes, visit flipping50.com. Where you'll be able to find all of our prior episodes. And I made it easy for you to make the most of your listening time by selecting 5 specific areas most commonly high priorities for our community and giving you top 10 lists if you let me know you'd love them. If you know a midlife woman or a soon-to-be one who wants to optimize midlife energy and time with the right exercise and lifestyle changes and a mindset shift about just what is possible, share this podcast with her, and I thank you. There is no more powerful health influencer in the world than you, midlife woman.