picture credit: Sawyer Pangborn & McKay M. Lewis
Have you ever observed a slight change in tone within the tone of First Endurance’s on-line content material in 2025? If that’s the case, congratulations in your supernatural powers of notion.
New copywriter Matt Denis has liked delivering all of the gems from elite athletes and docs to your inbox. He’s additionally a aggressive bicycle owner himself, and has been tasked with the privilege of cosplaying as a sponsored athlete by filling out his personal Q&A, and the problem of introducing it within the third particular person. Phrase is he’s additionally extraordinarily good-looking! Take pleasure in.
Title: Matt Denis
Sport: Biking
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Present Location: Salt Lake Metropolis, UT
IG: @mkowalskid
Strava Deal with: Yr Outdated Dragoon
Q: What are your 3 favourite First Endurance skus and why?
1. PRERACE 3.0 – Whether or not it’s science or psychosomatic (doubtless a little bit of each), I can’t ignore the truth that after I take Pre-Race I reliably have actually good legs and a little bit bit additional focus when the going will get actually robust.
2. Ultragen – Each taste, however particularly the Capuccino. There’s actually no different restoration shake I’ve tried (and I’ve tried A LOT) that may maintain a candle to Ultragen, by way of taste and dietary profile. It’s additionally a small blessing to have the ability to whack a restoration shake proper after a tough exercise or race and purchase myself an hour of being a sofa corpse earlier than having to pull myself to the kitchen to make an actual meal.
3. MultiV PRO – I’ve at all times liked to geek out over physiology and efficiency science, and up to now that meant mixing and matching dietary supplements to seek out the Goldilocks combo that might hold me wholesome and quick. With MultiV PRO, I can roll with one month-to-month subscription and know I’m getting every part I want. It’s additionally cleared out a complete shelf of house within the cabinet (my spouse is a giant fan of this profit, as effectively.)
Q: What are your targets for 2025?
I really feel actually fortunate to be racing with an area crew right here in Salt Lake, LHM Biking, that is filled with my superb buddies, and my major purpose is to take pleasure in coaching and racing with them. I wouldn’t say no to profitable just a few races, both!
Q: How previous had been you once you realized you needed to pursue the game and why?
I’ve at all times liked competing, and have been concerned with varied sports activities since I used to be a toddler. When it comes to biking particularly, I got here to it late. As a grad scholar in Boston, I began commuting by bike at a time after I hadn’t been concerned in organized sport for a number of years, just because I couldn’t stand ready for public transportation. Earlier than lengthy, I found Strava, which reawakened my aggressive spirit, and the remaining, as they are saying, is historical past.
Q: How did the place you grew up/your upbringing form who you’re immediately?
As an individual, I grew up in a family that valued exhausting work and accountability, whereas nonetheless encouraging me to be bizarre and pursue my very own path. As an athlete, I used to be dwelling in Iowa as I rose via the ranks, and in consequence, I’m well-versed and comfy within the chaos of hellacious crosswinds.
Q: How do you keep motivated throughout lengthy, grueling coaching classes or races?
After I’m within the field throughout a tough coaching session, I discover that creating mini end strains helps me immensely. As a substitute of fascinated by the truth that I’ve received three extra five-minute Vo2 intervals to do, I give attention to getting via the following one, then the one after that, and so forth. The fantastic thing about this technique is that there are countless methods to subdivide a exercise. If I’m actually waxed, I’ve been recognized to inform myself that my solely purpose is to make it via the following minute, as a result of I can do something for one minute, proper? Staying motivated throughout races is far much less of an issue for me. What I really like about racing is that it’s so dynamic. There’s at all times one thing associated to course, pacing, or techniques to occupy my thoughts and set me up for achievement.
Q: What was your largest setback, and the way did you overcome it?
I’ve had a “profession” blessedly freed from actually main setbacks, however final yr was definitely my most difficult as an athlete. I had made the choice within the offseason to just accept a proposal to step as much as the home elite stage of highway racing, however wasn’t ever in a position to get any form of momentum going, by way of coaching and feeling good about myself, on or off the bike. Certainly one of our beloved canine received extraordinarily sick early within the yr, and since I didn’t really feel proper touring the nation racing my bike when he wanted a lot care, I forewent the home elite spot. Even after he received higher, I managed to hit all the standard roadblocks for aggressive cyclists in a six-month window: psychological burnout, overtraining, a high-speed crash, extended sickness, and the conclusion that at 36 years previous, I had most likely already reached my potential a pair years prior. Overcoming these setbacks was merely a strategy of reorienting my targets towards having fun with the game, leaning into the nice driving companions I’ve right here in Utah, and being the perfect model of myself that I might be. I’m glad to say that I’m feeling fitter, happier, and extra assured going into 2025.
Q: What has being an endurance athlete taught you about life exterior of sports activities?
In any sport, however significantly biking, there may be a lot you can not management, and my time as an endurance athlete has taught me that it’s extra rewarding to give attention to course of targets somewhat than outcomes. You may go a great distance by specializing in the issues which might be in your management: being constant in your work and accountable to your actions.
Q: What recommendation would you give to somebody who’s simply getting began?
Don’t rush: possibly you might be just a few % higher when you employed a coach instantly, however you additionally wouldn’t discover ways to take heed to your personal physique. Possibly you possibly can goal improve factors like a mercenary, however for most individuals, I believe it’s higher to remain in your class a little bit longer and discover ways to win races earlier than transferring up.
Q: Who’re your heroes or function fashions in sports activities (or exterior of it)?
I’m persistently impressed by my spouse, my mother and father, and my sister, who’re all exhausting staff that method every part they do with love and dedication.
Q: What’s essentially the most shocking or humorous factor that’s ever occurred to you throughout a race?
In 2021, I participated in my first huge Cat 1 stage race at Joe Martin in Arkansas, Attributable to COVID, it was being held in August, somewhat than April, and temperatures had been effectively over 100 levels on the 100-mile first stage. It was a tough race from the beginning, and 70 miles in, I discovered myself in a chase group effectively away from the peloton, cruising towards a prime 10 in my first huge race. In the end, it wasn’t to be: I exploded within the warmth in a approach I didn’t assume was attainable, and ended up averaging extra BPM than watts for the ultimate 30 miles of the race, which took me nearly two hours. It was shocking (and miserable!) within the second, and humorous to look again on now.
Q: What is the worst coaching recommendation you’ve got ever acquired?
Being higher than everybody else is solely a matter of outworking them. Sadly, this horrible recommendation got here from deep inside my very own ego. In the midst of final yr, I used to be decided to get again all of the health I had misplaced because of the setbacks I discussed earlier. I used to be driving 16 hours every week with depth, not taking relaxation weeks, lifting weights, and consuming in a deficit so as to get again to “race weight.” There is no such thing as a doubt in my thoughts that I used to be going as exhausting as anybody else round me, however after I did flip as much as a race, I used to be utterly overcooked, rode like crap, and was compelled to take three weeks off to undo the harm I had accomplished by overtraining myself.
Q: What are an important facets of your weight-reduction plan and vitamin plan for peak efficiency?
I’m at all times at my finest when my vitamin is disciplined however sustainable. I ensure that I’m getting the carbs and protein I must gas and get well, which ensures that my coaching might be persistently well-executed. On the identical time, I give attention to not being overly restrictive by way of the meals I really like that aren’t gas for peak efficiency, which permits me to keep away from psychological burnout.
Q: Describe your favourite place to coach and why?
For me, it’s exhausting to beat the traditional Emigration-Large Mountain out and again right here in Salt Lake. The climbs aren’t too steep, so they’re good for something from endurance to eye-bleeding intervals, the descents are enjoyable, and the views are jaw-dropping.
https://www.strava.com/routes/3322284615068700136
Q: What’s your perfect pre-race meal?
Pizza
Q: What’s your favourite race?
I don’t have a favourite race, both as a spectator or a racer. Slightly, I’ve a sure kind of race that I take pleasure in competing in or watching, and that’s a punchy, attritional course the place the assaults are flying within the finale. These races require a mix of power and tactical savvy that I believe represents essentially the most compelling facet of the game.
Q: What’s your proudest sporting second?
A 3rd place on the queen stage of the Baker Metropolis Biking Basic in 2023. It was a race that I used to be actually focusing on, and it was so rewarding to see my exhausting work repay.
Q; Do you could have a coach? Why or why not?
Sure and no. I had a coach, Eric Kirouac, for a number of years, and he was instrumental in my growth as a racer. Now that I’ve stepped my ambitions again a bit, I’m teaching myself, together with a couple of dozen different athletes right here in Salt Lake. Fortunately for me, Eric and I turned glorious buddies over the course of our relationship, and I nonetheless hassle him incessantly with questions on physiology, coaching philosophy, and extra, and he generously indulges me in that.
Q: Who’s your best mentor and what did they train you?
Within the sport of biking, I used to be actually fortunate to cross paths with Jason Quinn after I lived in Iowa. Jason was a fantastic racer in his personal proper (he’s received nice tales about racing Lance Armstrong when he was a junior), and he taught me principally every part I find out about technical expertise, tactical know-how, and the mindset required to be a fantastic bike racer.
Q: What’s your “kryptonite”?
Crits! They’re fascinating and enjoyable, however there’s a rhythm to performing persistently in them that has at all times eluded me. Even after I win the odd one, it appears like an accident, somewhat than an epiphany.
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