Topics Discussed:

• Peter’s career history, how it relates to what he is doing now, and the reason why he and Phil haven’t spoken in so long.
• Peter’s youth, the troubles in Ireland when he grew up, and how he developed a love for flying.
• How Peter’s love for lying led to his pursuit in the military field.
• The details of Peter’s early military career and he eventually found himself working as a training officer.
• Peter developing his love for sports, and how that helped him figure out what he would do after his military career ended.
• How this led to Peter building a team to attempt the Race Across America (RAAM).
• The difficulty of preparing for the race, getting the team together, and ultimately how Peter and Phil met!
• The statistics of the RAAM; its length and the climates they had to ride through.
• The locusts they had to ride through early on in the race, and the cultural shock they experienced when dealing with America’s wildlife.
• Phil’s memory of deciding to apply for joining the support staff for the RAAM, and why he thinks Peter picked him.
• Phil’s opinion that he thinks the RAAM was actually more difficult for the support crew due to the sleep deprivation.
• Peter’s opinion that support crews are the real unsung heroes in the sporting world and also the commercial world.
• The importance of sleep, and how testing sleep deprivation is for people and their mentality.
• The team’s target to beat the previous military’s four-man RAAM record, and the number of miles they had to cover in order to beat that record.
• The sandstorm which hit them all whilst going through the desert, and how terrible it was for the riders who had to deal with it.
• The team’s decision to stay at a hotel overnight to sleep to help tackle the fatigue, and how it was against the plan but the right call to make.
• The strategy they adopted for the race, and how they altered this throughout the race when needed.
• How Phil got lost whilst driving the Winnebago, and how he had to make some risky maneuvers in order to return to the main road.
• How badly things can go so quickly, and how one of their racers crashed and had to go to the hospital, turning their four-man team into a three-man team with a new strategy.
• How the crash spurred the team on and helped them finish the race with a renewed purpose.
• How the race ended on a freeway, and the feeling when they finally finished the race.
• How during the end Peter needed something to eat, and he ended up eating a subway on the bike towards the end of the race.
• The fact they stopped emptying the Winnebago septic tank towards the end of the race as they were trying to save time, and the tank’s contents ended up coming out of the toilet and onto the Winnebago floor.
• How they managed to beat the 7-day record by a handful of minutes!
• The lessons Phil and Peter learned from taking part in the RAAM, and how they have taken it forward into their careers, especially during recent Covid times.
• The role-clarity there was on the team, the flexibility in the approach they adopted, putting people first, and the other traits they had as a team that helped them achieve their goal.

References:

Peter McRory’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/petemccrory/?originalSubdomain=ca

Peter McRory’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/peter_mccrory?lang=en

Peter McRory’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/peter_mccrory/?hl=en

Olympic Oval Website - https://oval.ucalgary.ca/

Race Across America Website - http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/about.html

Topics Discussed:

• How Andy and Phil met during their time working together in the RAF.
• The birth of Father_Son_Golf, and how it started as a diary to document Riley’s progress and his golf journey.
• Andy’s history as a fringe golf player for the RAF, and how he threw his own content onto the Instagram account in the hopes of getting some tips and advice from people online.
• How the quality of the content was really poor in the beginning, but it’s always been about Andy and Riley having fun playing golf.
• Andy’s decision in 2019, when the page started getting companies getting in touch with them, to take the page more seriously.
• The success of the lockdown during 2020 provided to the page, and Andy’s decision to engage in social media training in order to capitalise on that.
• How Andy keeps a bit of difference between Riley and the account, even if they don’t get that much negative feedback.
• The benefits and merchandise the page has provided for Riley, and how Andy wants to make sure that Riley doesn’t take it for granted.
• Pro-Noctis’ Instagram account and how it had been hacked and locked down, and their decision to start again.
• The importance of maintaining a good balance between ‘real-life’ and running a successful social media account.
• The putting green that Andy built in his garden over lockdown.
• The addictive qualities of social media, and Andy’s experience with this with their page.
• How Andy makes sure not to film every single round of golf, and to rather record a lot of content on one round in order to maintain a good real-life social media balance.
• The platform this account has created for both Riley and Andy’s future career’s.
• The negative comments Andy has received on the account and the effects they have on him.
• Why Andy got in touch with Phil for help, so he could make sure that he was creating an environment that was healthy for Riley, and Phil’s three principles for ensuring this healthy environment is being met.
• The importance of learning from mistakes but also consolidating what we did well in the past in order to maintain a healthy mindset.
• Andy’s top four tips for growing an Instagram account; stay consistent, use good content creation apps, focus on quality over quantity when posting content and use all the tools that Instagram gives you.
• Andy’s opinion on hashtags and how he uses them.
• Andy’s experience with collaborations, how they have benefited their account and how it’s important to be aware of what a collaborator is getting from you and vice versa, and making sure you get it all in writing.
• Andy’s future plans for the Instagram account and his own professional career.
• How Andy hopes the Instagram account can help Riley in whatever he decides to do as well.
• The Father_Son_Golf website and Andy’s plans for it.
• How Andy and his family got to meet Lee Westwood and the story behind it.

References:

Father_Son_Golf’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/father_son_golf/?hl=en

Father_Son_Golf’s Website - https://fathersongolf.co.uk/

Topics Discussed:

• Cherie’s racing career and how it influenced her professional career.
• How Covid affected Cherie’s previous team ‘Vitus Pro Cycling’, and how Covid led to a lack of sponsorship which led to the team having to close down.
• The psychology behind this decision, and how it affected Cherie emotionally.
• How, even if Covid hadn't happened, recent changes in the cycling industry were making funding a lot more difficult anyway. There was a change after 2017 which changed the landscape of cycling, which Covid may hopefully highlight to trigger future change.
• Cherie’s look for ‘real-world jobs during the worst periods of the Covid Pandemic.
• Cherie’s decision to start reaching out to WorldTour teams, and how she received very swift and positive responses from Israel Start-Up Nation.
• How Cherie got a job offer from Israel Start-Up Nation the same day she closed down the Vitus Pro Cycling Team and the mixed emotions she received during this period.
• The relief Cherie felt when she did close down the team, as all the issues she was having had all of a sudden disappeared.
• How Cherie is now the first-ever female Sports Director of any WorldTour Men’s Cycling Team, and how she didn’t think about this when she was looking for the job.
• How Cherie had the same approach during her riding career and never really thought about the fact she was a woman in a male-dominated sport.
• How men tend to struggle more with women being in the room/sport than women do.
• Cherie’s hit and run accident which ended her racing career and paved her route into being a Sport’s Director.
• The problems women have with being in leadership positions when pushing back against sexism, and how Cherie has found confidence will get you through this.
• How Cherie’s excitement for her new position has now dissipated and she is now just wanting to crack on with the work that needs to be done.
• Covid’s effect on Israel Start-Up Nation’s future plans and approach.
• The number of staff members for Israel Start-Up Nation and the difficulty this causes when planning races etc.
• The challenges Cherie faced when changing jobs.
• The logistics involved in travelling during Covid times, and the large amount of paperwork involved.
• Cherie’s proudest cycling accomplishment.
• Cherie’s Sporting Hero.
• The three guests Cherie would invite to her retirement party.
• Cherie’s one wish for 2021.

References:

Cherie Pridham’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherie-pridham-951b437b/

Cherie Pridham’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chezpro/?hl=en

Cherie Pridham’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/chezpro?lang=en

Israel Start-Up Nation’s Website - http://israelcyclingacademy.com/