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Joe Petrowski: Quitting Rocket Science to Be a Pro Cyclist in France

Release Date: 04/24/2024

Abandon Your Family 30,000 Roundtable - Spencer Martin, Andrew Vontz, Jonathan Kaplan, Paul Redmayne

Choose the Hard Way

Tears, chamois cream, glory. Carb slurry was downed by the gallon and tears were shed in garages and at dinner tables around the world as the community collectively gave everything to secure midpack glory at select gravel major and minor races in mid 2026. — This episode is a conversation about the Abandon Your Family 30,000 experience with Choose the Hard Way & One Real Voice founder Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin of WeDu / Peacock / Beyond the Peloton, Jonathan Kaplan of the Riding With newsletter / pod & special guest Paul Redmayne in the UAE, a 4x outdoor Everester who drops the...

Jens Voigt on East Germany, Parenting Six Kids, Crashing at 70 km/h and Life after 17 Tours de France

Choose the Hard Way

Jens Voigt raced the Tour de France 17 times, wore the yellow jersey, won stages in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, and set the Hour Record on the track at age 43. He joins Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz how crashing at 70 km/h changes you in ways the world doesn’t see and the long arc of a life in sport. — This episode explores Jens’ childhood and upbringing in the former East Germany, his path through a state-run sports academy, and what it was like to build a career inside professional cycling without ever being the protected rider. — This is a conversation about...

Patrick J. Murphy - 1st Iraq War Veteran Elected to Congress - Former Under Secretary of the Army

Choose the Hard Way

Patrick J Murphy, First Iraq War Veteran Elected to Congress and Former Under Secretary of the Army — Patrick J Murphy was the first Iraq War veteran elected to the United States Congress and later served as Under Secretary of the Army. He joins Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz for a wide-ranging conversation on service, leadership and responsibility. — This episode explores what it means to engage seriously with people who hold different points of view and why stepping outside an echo chamber is a necessary discipline, not a political stance. — This is a conversation about...

The 10 Pack is Next - AYF500 Day 8 - Andrew Vontz, Jonathan Kaplan, Spencer Martin

Choose the Hard Way

On day 8 of the Abandon Your Family 500, Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin of Beyond the Peloton, and Jonathan Kaplan of Riding With share stories of deep fatigue, angry families, and the kind of indoor training glory you can earn but can’t buy. — They explore the strain this challenge has placed on their friendship, and why they can’t wait to do it again, slightly differently, in two weeks when they kick off the Abandon Your Family 30,000. — But first comes the second installment in the Choose the Hard Way Abandon Your Family Triple Crown, the 10...

Frosted Flakes & Point Break - Chase Wark x WUKAR Fit x Andrew Vontz x Jonathan Kaplan - #AYF500 Day 6

Choose the Hard Way

pounds Frosted Flakes & puts in 4.5 hours on a single bottle of water in his in-laws’ 15-degree garage to pass the 760 km mark -- and Kip Taylor -- on the Abandon Your Family 500 leaderboard on day 6. — Art O’Connor, aka , strength coach to pro cycling’s biggest names including Chase, World Champion Keegan Swenson and many more, reveals why Patrick Swayze is the secret to high performance on the trainer. — Jonathan Kaplan of reveals the indoor / outdoor hybrid approach that is taking D.C. and the Abandon Your Family 500 community by storm. — Spence logs off to continue...

#AYF500 Day 4 - Mad Watts: Carb Fury - Andrew Vontz x Jonathan Kaplan Reflect on the Event of the Year

Choose the Hard Way

Abandon Your Family 500 2025 Day 4 with Jonathan Kaplan and Andrew Vontz. Reflections on bad sleep, big carbs, and the skirmish between Front Range legends Andy Leach and Kip Taylor to top out first and complete #AYF500 in an FKT of under four days. — Day 4 sees the Kingpin, Big Spence, continue his secret training during the Boulder blackout. When will he switch his rides from “private” to “everyone” and deliver the big surprise sure to put him in the headlines? — Heads up. We have a full-length interview with Jens Voigt coming soon, and you will hear him in a way you never have...

#AYF500 Day 3 - Boulder Storm - Andrew Vontz x Jonathan Kaplan - Abandon Your Family 500 2025

Choose the Hard Way

Abandon Your Family 500 2025 Day 3 brings big drama when 100 mile-per-hour winds mean the power grid goes offline in Boulder and Big Spence has to skip the daily recording to keep banking secret miles to upload later at an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, Andy Leach powers over the top and dominates the leaderboard while Meg Volz enters the chat and shows her family what commitment looks like. Jonathan Kaplan of Riding With logs another signature indoor / outdoor Norwegian method dual threshold workout day and continues his love letter to High Fidelity with hopes of getting Nick Hornby into...

#AYF500 Update 2 - Kip’s Stealth Century Knock Out - Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin, Jonathan Kaplan, & Special Guest Kip Taylor - Abandon Your Family 500 2025

Choose the Hard Way

A deep dive on the big action and family fallout from day one of the Abandon Your Family 500 in a groundbreaking conversation with Andrew Vontz / Choose the Hard Way, Spencer Martin / Beyond the Peloton, Jonathan Kaplan / Riding With, and the front range legend Kip Taylor (of Kip’s Corner fame) making his highly anticipated Choose the Hard way debut. Andrew, Jonathan, & Spencer press Kip on his 11th-hour upload of a 105-mile ride on day one. Get a look inside the high-stakes world of #AYF500 strategy from one of the masters of the game in this discussion of the obstacles challenge...

#AYF500 Special Update 1 - w Spencer Martin, Jonathan Kaplan, & Andrew Vontz - Abandon Your Family 500 2025

Choose the Hard Way

Nothing says I love you like abandoning your family to get in shape for your endurance sport. The Abandon Your Family 500 is a challenge to ride 500 km on planet earth or on a virtual cycling platform over the course of 10 days brought to you by Choose the Hard Way / Andrew Vontz, Beyond the Peloton / Spencer Martin, and Riding With / Jonathan Kaplan. During the #AYF500, Andrew, Jonathan, & Spencer will be doing minisodes to share their experience participating in one of life’s most rewarding experiences: having fun doing something hard with your friends. Follow along here and at...

The Abandon Your Family 500 Challenge w/ Spencer Martin, Jonathan Kaplan, Andrew Vontz - p/b Kip's Corner

Choose the Hard Way

Choose the Hard Way is the show about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun. This episode is about living that philosophy and how you can, too. Choose the Hard Way & One Real Voice founder Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin of WeDu / Peacock / Beyond the Peloton, and Jonathan Kaplan of the Riding With newsletter / pod discuss the history and lore of the Abandon Your Family 500. The #AYF500 is a challenge to do what endurance athletes do best--focus on themselves, ignore their families and real life obligations and ride 500km between December 15 and 25. The second...

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Joe Petrowski landed a great job as an aerospace engineer right out of college. Then he got the bike racing bug. People told him to stick with his demonstrably awesome, impressive and very high paying gig. Instead, he quit to go live in at times dismal conditions to be a pro cyclist, first in the UK then in France. And if you’re not familiar with domestic pro cycling in France, teams there are known for their extremely old school, hardcore and at times totalitarian approaches.

Joe had some great times and also often wondered if he had made a huge mistake and what the hell he was doing. He never stepped up to the World Tour, the highest level of the sport.

And years later, he thinks going for it as a pro cyclist is one of the best and most important decisions he ever made.

Eventually he left pro cycling and went into computer science, high frequency trading and to what he does now, working on the decentralized web at polkadot.

People who stop doing the thing people who are not them tell them they should do to go do the thing they know they have to do intrigue me. That’s Joe.

Don’t forget, you’re the hero in your story, you are writing it every day, and when you hear the call to adventure, listen. It is after all, your story.

Choose the Hard Way is the podcast about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun.

This episode is brought to you by The Better Lab. Sleep is the greatest performance enhancer on the planet and the science to improve sleep is straightforward. Putting it into action on your own can be challenging. That’s why I co-founded The Better Lab to help active people like you mindfully build conscious, science-backed practices to sleep better that stick. It’s just what works to help you get great sleep and you can get started today at www.thebetterlab.io.

I make this podcast available for free and all I ask is that you go to the show page for Choose the Hard Way on iTunes and Spotify and hit 5 stars. To be in touch, DM me @hardwaypod on Instagram or email choosethehardway@gmail.com. Find Joe at https://petrow.ski/.

Thanks to our sponsor The Better Lab

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