This week on The Pursuit with Mr. AdamX the guest is professional adventure athlete Eliza Sampey. Correction and retraction, that's DOCTOR Adventure Athlete Eliza Sampey. Or is it Adventure Athlete Dr. Eliza Sampey? Well, her friends call her Liz, and I'm calling her a badass human.
She is an ultra runner, Mtn biker, skier, kayaker, Doctor of Physical Therapy and performance coach and all while living out of an Astrovan. She hold the women's' course record for the AZT750. A 750 mile mtn bike race from the Mexico border to Utah, crushing the record and completing in just under 9.5 days. Legend.
She's followed a non-traditional path of the doctoring because insurance and the system in general didn't allow her to teach patience wellness in a sustainable manner. Bonus, it also did leave her more time with her bike and better one on one connection with her clients.
She and and Mr. AdamX also get into a van measuring contest and nerd out on specs and van things. But the take away is you don't live in a van, you live out of a van! There's also some talk about nutrition. Ya artificially orange crackers and cheese wiz are grabage. But what do they have in common with Clif Bars? They're both fuel. And when you're biking hundred of miles like Eliza, sometimes the body just needs fuel. And she would know. Still a doctor.
A year ago, Eliza had a fluke bike accident in Utah. Bikes and trees don't mix. Over the handlebars, full scorpion. She rode away "fine", but hours later the concussion symptoms set in. And concussions are fucking scary, and the affects are very real. She compared riding her bike again months later to riding drunk. It's kept her from competing since and symptoms have still persisted. Now she's focusing on facing a path back about stepping back and taking care of her brain. She's so open and honest . It's refreshing that such a badass can share these things on this pod and on social media, to put it out there and help others going through similar issues. It shows boundaries are important. And like she has shared on social media that quitting is ok, and even brave. There's a difference between quitting and giving up. And I don't see Dr. Eliza Sampey giving up any time soon. Wishing her the best on road to recovery and know she'll continue being a badass in life on or off a bike. Listen to the full episode now to hear it so much better than I could ever share. Cheers!
