Bryce Zoeller
===

[00:00:00] You said you were in Breckenridge? Yeah. Is that right? Nice. Mm-hmm. ? Yep. What was Buzz? What was the snow conditions? Cause I've, I've seen, we've seen the, the whole atmospheric rivers going on. Like, is there, this is great. A shit ton of 

snow. Uh, really good. Uh, the top was a little spotty coverage here and there some rocks on the bowls, but I mean, very skiable.

Um, I didn't hit any rocks that I know of, so that's good. , the bottoms, you know, my bases still looked good at the end of each day, so. Right. Yeah, it's great. 

Nice. Is breaking Regis a a usual 

spot for, for you? Yeah, you know, I've skied all kinds of different places, but, um, Re's always had a, a special place, um, to me just because I, you know, I first went there with some college buddies some 30 plus years ago, and.

I've been going back, you know, at least a couple of times a year since. Yeah. Even when I go ski other places as well. Yeah. 

I'm a great place. It's not that, it's not that far from Denver. No. Yeah. Um, it's massive. So you've got a little bit of everything, right? I mean, [00:01:00] yeah. It's a good place to go. 

Yeah. I've actually not, never skied there for whatever reason.

I've been around it a ton. Um, Predominantly mo most of my skiing halves in the northwest. Oh, okay. So up in Vancouver. So Nice. Head up the whistler and things like that. 

So that's on my, that's on my bucket list. Whistler and, um, Jackson Hole and Telluride. Those three. Yeah. Yeah. And I'd like Tip Mammoth in California too, but yeah.

Yeah, I've, uh, haven't, I haven't skied a few years. Should sounds I list for next year. Yeah. Hey, I'm in. Hey, I'll 

do it. I, I, I will never say no to, uh, invitation to go skiing. Yeah. All 

right. Noted. Lemme make a note of that. 

Ski ski 2023 ski . 

We were talking about though, how, and this doesn't relate to you cuz you're not at the age yet.

All right? But for us elder statesmen, like when we go to ski now, things have changed a little bit. And maybe I'm speaking for myself, but I'm, I'm not, I'm not as aggressive at all. [00:02:00] I don't ski enough to even to be aggressive and have to half to trip. I'm just trying to remember how to, how to do things again.

Um, but it's like this attitude, like I haven't blown out a knee yet. And I don't, I don't want to try at this point in time. Yeah. Because I got stuff to do, so. Yep. . We get 

golf to play too. I mean, well, right? Yeah, 

yeah, yeah. There, there are many times now I've got an 11 year old, a 23 year old and a 20 year old where I, they say, I'm gonna go down this part.

I'm gonna be, I'm like, okay, I'll meet you at the bottom. I'll wait for you down there. I'm gonna take a smooth groomer. And you, yeah. You tear up those bumps and tell me how it was. Yeah. 

Or, uh, my youngest, um, she was like, oh, hey, I'm gonna go do this jump. , you go right ahead. 

I'm not, yeah, that was something I never, I never got into was doing any of the jumps or anything like that.

I was just too much risk for not that much a reward in my, in my book. 

Right. Yeah. And you can't get hurt cuz you're, you're just getting back on the 

mend. There's so many things that have happened to my body over the last 10 years. I mean, um, [00:03:00] thankfully I've still got strong cycling legs, so that helps me a lot skiing, but Sure.

Yeah. Yeah. But, um, I, yeah, I'm not out, out looking for jumps or uh, bumps or trees or anything like that. Right. Yeah. Just put me on the smooth corduroy. I don't care how steep it is, but, Something that's groomed. Yeah. We're 

very strong in the whole concept of opre ski. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. We've 

had that down pretty well.

No, I'm great at the hot tub part. I'm great at the dinner of that night part. Yep. Um, but yeah.

Is this thing on?

Hey 

guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Summits podcast. Thank you for joining us from wherever you get your podcast, or if you're joining us on the Heroes Foundation YouTube channel. Thank you for tuning in. Today we've got a new Invented Heroes Foundation Board member, uh, team, [00:04:00] longtime team Heroes member, and all around standup gentlemen.

Mr. Bryce Seller, welcome to the Summits podcast. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Why don't, uh, you give our listeners a viewers a little background on 

yourself. Um, longtime cyclist, um, knew most of the guys on Team Heroes well before I joined Team Heroes, but I had a few. Few incidents over the years that kind of took me away from cycling.

I got hit by a car in 2014, um, got sepsis when I was in the hospital in 2017 and had to go into rehab, hospital, learn to walk, use my arms, all that kind of stuff again. Oh, wow. So did not a lot of time on the bike between 14 and 19. And then a, uh, work colleague of mine got me, uh, talked me into basically doing Odam, which is one day right across Michigan in 19.

And that's, uh, to raise money for juvenile diabetes. Um, I really like that. I like asking people, um, to help support a cause that I thought was important [00:05:00] and I kind of fell in love with the bike again. And that's, you know, I joined Heroes, uh, team Heroes shortly after that and decided, you know, look, uh, this Cycling's got a new purpose for me.

Now I can use it to, um, help raise money for causes that are really important to me. And Heroes Foundation was a perfect fit for me. , um, 

not to bring up any bad memories, but You said car in 14. Do we add car in? Oh 

yeah. the 22. 22 as as well. Yeah. Yeah. It was like right around the corner from where we're sitting.

It was, it was real close to here. Um, but yeah, that was in August. Uh, hit and run. She came in, came in the circle, a roundabout hit me, and then took. . 

No follow up from that at all. Just Well, maybe if you're, if 

you're watching or listen . Yeah. You know, feel free to call in late. A apologies. Better than no apology at 

all.

The, the hero's tip line is open. 

Yeah, right. If you were driving a gray Toyota Camry or Corolla on August 3rd and you [00:06:00] ran into a, um, neon colored guy in a, in a biking outfit, that was me. Thank you. , please, uh, re report to the authorities so I can. be made whole again. . Yeah. There you 

go. That's a very PC way of putting it.

Yeah. I appreciate that. That's good. Yeah, brother, than I would've done . Um, well we appreciate your support on team Heroes for sure. And, uh, we'll kind of get into how that's evolved, um, to today. Uh, when, when you did the ride across Michigan, had, you said you weren't necessarily riding actively at that point in time, or that's what helped get you back into 

it.

Is that correct? That's what kind of got me back into it. Um, that was in August of 19 and my buddy talked me into it in July, so I had about three or four weeks to train to do 150 miles. I'd done centuries a lot when I was younger. Right. Um, but. You know, I, I was really hesitant to, am I gonna be able to do this?

How, how many times am I gonna have to stop at rest? But, you know, it went, it went well. 

Yeah. Awesome. Um, [00:07:00] and then that has morphed into, let's kind of go into maybe today a little bit in terms of, um, when did you first start doing the ride in Kansas? How many years is that been? 

Um, this year will be my, Uh, fourth year, but the first year was canceled because of Covid.

Okay. So this'll be my third, third time out there. And, you know, that was, um, something that I was interested in. If it, it could provide me a way to, uh, raise money for heroes. And I thought, you know, look, that's a, that's a good, that's a good end with the people in Kansas, um, because I know it's, it's really hard to get in that race.

I mean, it's. 10 people apply, one person will get in. Okay. Oh, really? So, you know, I needed to have something that would make me attractive to them. Um, and then also, you know, the flip side of the coin is, uh, I've got an important race like that, that I can use to sell Heroes, foundation and, you [00:08:00] know, sponsor me to go out there and, uh, you know, go through that, go through that pain, and, uh, raise awareness about what we do.

Right. Let's, um, I'll take a step back. Let's go into what your cancer story is and then we'll kind of then come back full circle to what we're doing now together. Um, so Bryce, what is, what is your cancer story? 

Um, you know, I've had f f close friends, uh, family and colleagues, really close colleagues, um, have all been touched by, by cancer.

you know, I'd watched it happen. I'd been a spectator and, you know, my thought was we need more people to get involved. Quit watching it happen and, and try to do something about it. And I thought, you know, look, I'm a, I'm a perfect person to try to do that. Um, you know, especially with cycling as my, my means to that end.

Mm-hmm. and. Um, so yeah, I, I got tired of watching it happen [00:09:00] to people I cared about and I wanted to get involved. 

And So you've done, go, goes back to our, our Fit for Heroes event. You've done that event for the last, gosh, probably close to five years. I would say. Five years, yeah. Um, and that has evolved into where we're kind of headed now in that, so Bryce was, um, very active and, and fit and then, When that Kansas race came about, it just kind of flipped a switch and said, Hey, you know what, and this is also about the same time that Fit for Heroes was kind of evolving.

Mm-hmm. out of just the spin athon, indoors, you know, single day onsite event to something bigger than that. And Bryce was like, look, I want to, I want to do this Kansas race, but I wanna do it as part of my campaign for Fit for Heroes. And then here we are fast forwarding to, you know, now coming up on 2023.

Bryce new, uh, member of the Heroes Foundation Board of Directors. And a good piece of that [00:10:00] is just the flag that he's been carrying for heroes, um, in terms of his personal campaign and utilizing this race in Kansas as part of his campaign. Mm-hmm. . So why don't you tell us about like, maybe the last year or two of how that process has gone, and then kind of what your vision is for four three.

Sure. 

Well, I enjoyed, uh, you know, back when it was the Spin for Heroes and then Fit for Heroes. I enjoyed raising money for that. , I, you know, I've never had a hard time asking colleagues, friends, family, um, you know, to support a cause that's important like that. Mm-hmm. , and it went well. The first couple years I did it, I raised a lot of money and, and then I thought, you know, um, what, let's translate this to, um, it was then called Dirty Cons, and now it's called Garin Unbound.

Okay. And, uh, you know, I. Those are both events, uh, or, you know, the, the Garment Unbound is an event that occurs in June, and so I decided, well, I'm gonna start trying to use, um, this platform with heroes to try to raise money for that. Mm-hmm. . And so I [00:11:00] usually started the last two years, like April, April-ish, I'll start really kind of, you know, doing things on Instagram, on uh, Facebook, things like that.

Trying to, yeah, to. People that know me, um, you know, to sponsor me. Mm-hmm. , I, I talked to 'em before and after my training rides, um, you know, big rides. I, I talk, you know, I'll do a little snippet of video and, you know, ask people to, to help support and, and it went really, really well. I mean, , I went from, you know, raising three or $4,000 for fit for Heroes to, you know, $12,000.

Um, and then a little bit more than that last year. And, and this year, um, you know, we've talked about doing things a little bit differently. Instead of just focusing on individuals, uh, individual sponsorships, trying to get some corporate sponsorships, some law firms, people that, that know me from the business world mm-hmm.

to get involved in this. Yeah. [00:12:00] And you know, the, the thing that Vince and I had talked about was, well, let's maybe put on a presentation, uh, about cancer prevention mm-hmm. , um, you know, and, and give it to these law firms, businesses, uh, and their personnel. And, you know, maybe it gets them a benefit with their health insurer.

Uh, yeah. For having that type of education. And, you know, in the meantime, then we can also try to raise money for. for the event, which is now, uh, morphed into, um, what, what was, what was the name that we came up with for that? It was, uh, Unknown for 

Heroes. Un Unknown For Heroes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. . So yeah, we wanted to play off the Dirty Conza name, but I think there's a reason why they went and got away from that.

Yeah. Then of course then it led to other things and yeah. Yeah. 

So you've uh, we've, we've referred to it as the race a couple times in Kansas. So what's the, give a little more detail about what you know. Yeah. What do you have to do from the start to the finish line in that 

race? Well, they have [00:13:00] different distances.

The one I do is 105 miles. Okay. Um, it's probably 90% on gravel. . Okay. Gravel or dirt, you know, farm access, roads and, and road is putting it nicely. in some, uh, correct some sections of, uh, the Flint Hills of Kansas. Um, and unlike what I always thought of Kansas, it's actually very rolling hills in that, uh, particular section.

Okay. Um, and it's, it's 105 miles and it's about 5,000 feet of elevation. Wow. By the time it's finished. So, um, It's unsupported. Uh, there's a, a stop at midway where you can, um, you know, get snacks, food, water, um, mechanical things to your bike, get help basically. But other than that, you're on your own. You carry what you're gonna drink, you carry what you're gonna eat, and you carry enough tools to fix your bike.

Um, you know, flats. mechanicals, that stuff happens. Yeah. The first year I did it, I, you know, I [00:14:00] had multiple flats and I, I was out of, uh, a way to fix my bike and I had to ride the last 10 miles on a flat tire. Oh man. Which was, you know, yeah. Less than ideal, but yeah. . So, yeah, it's, it's, uh, anywhere from, you know, six to eight and a half, nine hours.

Okay. Um, from start to finish. Okay. 

So it's not paved roads. Yeah. And, you know, you're gliding on a road bike and things like that. It's a, it's a. It's a 

hall, it is all this. And you know, some of the, uh, you know, we will typically hit speeds of 40 miles an hour. And when you're doing that on gravel, in a, in a rut, you're just thinking, just hold my line.

Stay in that rut. Yeah. Stay in that rut, . Yeah. You know, don't, and I, you know, I've seen people wreck, I've seen people get, get hurt. Um, , thankfully n nothing super serious in Kansas. You know, there was a race up in Vermont last year that, um, you know, pretty well known cyclist died, um, an African cyclist. [00:15:00] So, I mean, it it is dangerous.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, and you burn through five, 6,000 calories and you're, it feels like you're eating and drinking constantly. Yeah, man, 

it's a bad thing. I beat on that part. Yeah, you do the eating drink, you constantly just not ride. Yeah. 

Yeah. Is there a ride along atv? I'll just, uh, 

Well, uh, well, and, and then sit in the, the whole, uh, vibe.

The whole scene. The, the gravel scene is just in, it's incredible. It's, you know, I used to do road racing when I was younger, and, you know, that's very, very competitive and cutthroat and, you know, you have to dive into corners, you know, to get results and things like that. You gotta be willing to risk a lot.

And it's not really that way in gravel. It's much more, you know, they call it, It's like a, a mullet, you know, business in the front party in the back. Um, the people in the very front are, are, you know, fighting for placings and those are the professionals. Okay. Um, but you know, the people in the rest of the pack are, are all trying to help each other.

[00:16:00] Um, you know, laughing, talking. encouraging. Yeah. Um, and the whole town gets behind it. I mean, this, this whole town of Emporia, Kansas, um, you know, there's a, it's a college town. Emporia State University's there, but the whole town just really rallies behind this. People, um, come out to see the race. Um, you know, I've met friends out there that I see once a year when I go out.

Yeah. Um, . You know, I told you, I, I rode the first year a flat tire. Um, and I had to get back to where I was staying, my Airbnb, which was five miles away from the start line. And so I'm sitting there for a while and I was out there solo my first year and you know, I see this. This elderly couple walk by and they start talking to me and they hear what's going on.

And the next thing I know, they're helping me load my bike into their truck. And, you know, if they're giving me a ride home and now I go, when I go out there, I, I hook up with them and have dinner and Nice. Some great friends. Yeah. Oh, 

that's cool. That's cool. When, uh, when is that race again? First weekend in June.

First [00:17:00] weekend in June. In June, okay. And what does the support crew look like 

this 

year? Um, I'm not sure if anybody's going out with me again. Last year I had, I had a, a friend that went out with me and she was super supportive, um, you know, following my stats online because, you know, she can get onto a link and see my, my heart rate, my watts, my speed.

Okay. Everything. Um, and, you know, she kept texting me supportive messages, Hey, you're way ahead of schedule. Don't you know, don't burn yourself out. Just, you're doing great. And so I'm, I'm hoping to talk her into doing it again. Um, but I'm also doing Finland Gravel, which is a little bit farther away the next week.

Okay. And I'm gonna have support for that. Um, , you know, I understandably like going to Finland and Candace on separate, separate weeks is not next to each other though, right? Yeah. Yeah. We're right next to each other. Right. A lot of the same people will be there. 

Hmm. I was just gonna offer up, like let's get, let's get a [00:18:00] group together and do be the support group.

I'm like Finland sounds fin 

sounds a lot better. Pretty cool. Yeah. 

I go to Finland the summertime. Yeah. But yeah. Hey, if you're looking to go to Emporia, Kansas, first weekend of June, we can hook you up. Uh, we'll get you some gear. It's gotta provide some, uh, some support services to Bryce. Um, yeah, we can, we can figure something out.

Yeah. And my 

support hit us up in the comment section. My support last year, um, Marla, she, she wore the hero stuff. Um, she did? Yeah. And she was, she was great. You know, she had people ask her about heroes and she talked, talked us up and you know, I tried to do the same thing and, um, You know, I'd like to somehow down the road get us affiliated with that race, um, because they, they have charities that they will, uh, support and let people get, get into the race if they'll, you know, help support that charity.

Oh, right, okay. So, yeah, I mean, I would love for us to get big enough to start doing something like that and get people from you. Outside of [00:19:00] Indiana to know what we do and try to help us. Right? Yeah. 

And then take it to Finland, 

and why not? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. But I don't, you know, I don't, I can't use Finland as my, uh, my pledge drive because nobody's really gonna feel sorry for me.

Right. But going to Finland to ride . Yeah, exactly. I can at least sell the Kansas experience as it's gonna be grueling. It's Kansas, it's gonna be dirty, filthy, um, right. You know, help, help me out 

here, . But on the, on the, the ride in Finland, are you allowed to put like water in a camel back or does it have to be straight vodka?

Oh yeah. . Right. Um, the race is put on by Valry BOTAs, who's a big, big gravel cyclist. He's a Formula One driver, right? Yeah. Um, and he went out and did Steamboat Gravel. Okay. Uh, which is, uh, run by, uh, my cycling Coach Amy Charity. Okay. You know, he, he got talking with her and, and she's a very, very, uh, brilliant business mine.

Um, but [00:20:00] you know, a big, big cyclist as well. Former professional and national team writer. Um, and, you know, they got to talking and so now we, we've got fill and gravel, um, on the calendar for this year and that.

and thankfully, um, you know, it helps to, helps to know the people that put the races on because it gets, makes the entry a little bit easier. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. 

Um, let's talk a little bit more about your, um, about the, um, Unbound for Heroes. Um, Campaign specifically, if you will, any thoughts on like, how, how do you, how do you envision it going?

What is, what is your pitch to folks who wanna support you in this endeavor? And, and, um, I know that you're look, looking at a couple things to, uh, really incentivize people to give. What, what does that look like for 

23? Well, um, you know, I've given it a lot of thought and I've talked about it with you a lot.

Um, and I. You know, the best way to really attack something and make it [00:21:00] meaningful is to set a, a, a goal. Um, and not just a, let's beat last year's numbers. I want to blow last year's numbers out of the park. I, I want to, you know, do $30,000 this year. And in a couple years I'd like to do $50,000. And I, I would love to see this morph into an event that 10 years down the road we're raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, um, through this.

Mm-hmm. , and I agree and, you know, hopefully the same individuals will still continue to support me. Um, but again, I think it gives, uh, companies, corporate, um, law firms, businesses, uh, an incentive if we can. You know, give them a presentation, uh, an educational presentation about how, you know, best ways to prevent cancer.

Statistically speaking, you know, you're this many times more likely to get cancer if you engage in these type of behaviors, these type of activities. And if we can make that meaningful, um, I, I think it, it will [00:22:00] pay for itself for those companies. Um, you know, certainly I know health insurance companies and.

I, I've seen things in the past where, when there's an educational component to it or something that's gonna help their company be more healthy. Mm-hmm. , um, they get real interested, very interested because it means less that they have to pay out. Um, . So, you know, they, my law firm, uh, Kittinger and Gray, we had something, um, presentation and then a follow up, um, health screenings and, um, gym memberships.

Mm-hmm. and it, it lowered our health insurance premium. And so I'm hopeful that, you know, if we can get some, some people to join me for some of these presentations, maybe some doctors or, you know, healthcare professionals and talk. Um, you know, prevention in a meaningful way, uh, that maybe the health insurance companies will give those people a little bit of a break, and that makes it easier for them, [00:23:00] um, to, to help sponsor this kind of event, 

right?

Yep. I agree. Um, I