You are now listening to The Model Health Show with Shawn Stevenson.
For more, visit themodelhealthshow.com.
Welcome to the Model Host Show.
Today, you're going to discover the power of exposure and how getting outside of your usual environment can transform your life and your results.
You're also going to learn how forms of exercise and movement like cycling can radically reduce anxiety and mental strain, helping us to better process stress and increase our energy as a result.
Plus, you're gonna learn how cycling and other sports aren't only physical, they're deeply creative.
This episode is so rich and so impactful and it resonates so much with me personally because if it wasn't for the power of exposure, I would not be here with you today, and that is a fact.
Just having those imprints, those moments of exposure to different environments, to different relationships, to different ways of thinking, completely changed my life.
And coming from these circumstances, where I grew up Most of my childhood living in poverty, living in the inner city surrounded by drugs and alcoholism and violence, and not really having a blueprint for how do you quote make it out of this situation?
Is it even possible for me?
And I deeply knew that it was.
I didn't just know that it was, I knew that it was imminent.
I knew that this was not going to be my future because I had those experiences of exposure.
And so whether that is going to a particular friend's house outside of my inner city environment and being able to see what a healthy family structure looked like in this area where there is more safety simply going outside of your doors.
I didn't have to watch out for gun violence.
I didn't have to watch out, for If I'm going to the basketball court and seeing needles on the concrete and just seeing that this was a different life, this was a different possibility for me and also having those moments of deep experiences of love and significance,
Being able to live with my grandparents for a couple of years and having that sense of certainty and safety and routine really imprinted on me when I was thrust into environments with so much uncertainty.
And violence and not knowing what life was going to look like when I woke up in the morning or if I was going to get woken up due to all of the noise, whether this is gunfire outside of my doors or violence within my household.
And again, I cannot overstate the power of exposure and having mentors, even if it's from afar, and aspirations and examples, especially from people who I can relate to, really changed so much in my life.
And I can't overstate the value of us carrying this forward and being that for the next generations, the generations of kids that are around right now and future generations.
It's never been more important than providing that exposure and providing examples of what's possible, of what's real, of what's sustainable.
More than ever.
And a special shout out to my eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Blackmore.
All right.
She made me feel like my words matter.
She published my poem.
We had a poem project.
We had all kinds of different poems that we needed to do for this project.
We had to do like a tanka and a haiku. a free form poem as well.
And she published my poetry in the school newspaper and it was read aloud over the school intercom.
Like, can you imagine?
And so just having those moments of feeling like I was seen and knowing that I had power to influence what's going on in the world changed everything.
And who knew that I would end up writing multiple international bestselling books and national bestselling books?
USA Today bestsellers.
And just like, I had no idea that that would be in the cards for me.
But those moments of exposure and having this experience along the way of people that I can relate to and see what they're doing as well, you know whether that was even on television and seeing that family structure when it came to like the Cosby show and movies like Boomerang for me with Eddie Murphy, and just seeing like oh, like this could be really elevated.
And you know this college educated and running this agency and all this stuff, like I didn't even know that stuff was possible.
And so today's episode is incredibly valuable because it's a testament to the power of exposure and for us to know how Simple sometimes that it can be to get out of our normal, usual day-to-day environment and simply get exposure, and how simple it can be because of the power of two wheels.
All right, so this is an incredible episode filled with incredible stories and insights.
And without further ado, let's get to our special guest and topic of the day.
Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Dante Young has been a professional in the cycling world for nearly a decade.
He grew up in a very rough environment, but he stumbled upon cycling through connection with friends, and it changed everything.
After years of racing and training, Dante started winning and making a name for himself, drawing inspiration from other inner city cyclists and eventually joining prolific teams like the Miami Blazers and Legion.
Today he has nearly 300 races under his belt.
His brand sponsorships include Canyon Rafa, Camelback and Never Second, just to name a few.
And his eyes are on the 2028 Olympics but, more importantly, his heart is on elevating the sport so that more kids from underprivileged circumstances have the opportunity to compete and to learn and to grow in this sport that can literally lift you out of your perceived boundaries.
Let's dive into this conversation with the one and only Dante Young.
All right, Dante, thank you so much for coming to hang out with us today.
Of course, man.
Thanks for having me.
Coming from the environment that you come from.
How on earth did you end up cycling in this whole different universe, really?
How does that even happen?
Yeah, man.
Honestly, it just really fell into my lap.
Like.
I had a bunch of friends in school and they just started riding bicycles, fixed gear riding, which is like single speed riding, was becoming a thing and especially has one gear on it.
You know pedal forward, you pedal backwards, you know just single gear.
And everyone was riding them at the time.
And obviously I want to hang out with my friends.
So I was like you know.
I borrowed a bike from one of my friends, fell in love with it, found one for like 200 bucks.
And we literally were riding to Venice beach every day eating pizza, staring at girls riding back home.
Like that was just the cool thing to do.
And then, Because you're riding to Venice from where?
So at the time there was this bike shop in North Hills.
And so I'll go to the bike shop in North Hills and we would take Sepulveda all the way down, ride up and over Sepulveda Pass, ride all the way to Venice Beach.
And we would hang out in Venice Beach, eat pizza, hang out at the skate park, whatever.
Then we would ride all the way back up North Pole to pass.
And then I would just take, you know, take the train if we were too tired.
And that was like our meeting point.
And it was like almost every day, all summer long, we'd go downtown, we would go everywhere.
So it was like another, it was like 20, 40 miles a day.
I didn't even realize that I was riding with my friends and eating pizza, ice cream, the whole nine.
And then that translated into like Discovering that there were.
There was bike racing, because one of my friends, who introduced me to this famous Jericho and unfortunately like in a bike mass group ride called Critical Mass, which is going through by UCLA um, he had a bicycle accident and ended up passing away at that event um, so i had wanted to honor him because it was a brand that he loved called leader bikes, and i was telling, like my friend, that when the bike shop owner um, at the bike shop in the north hills, like i want to, I want to ride for this brand, you know, because at the time riding for brands was like skateboarding.
You know you can, if you can ride your bike really fast in the streets and go down hills really really fast, like you can get, like you know, sponsorships and stuff like that.
And they were like well, you got to start racing, you know, and underground racing was a huge thing in LA like, literally like.
I feel like Fast and the Furious like type you get a Facebook notification.
There's a race on Sixth Street Bridge, you know, five bucks to enter winner takes all.
You get like 70 people show up.
There's no like it's live traffic.
There's no like barriers.
You just here's the route.
And this is how you that you win.
So I didn't wanna race, but he's like, if you wanna get their attention, you gotta start racing.
So then in 2012, 2013, I started racing and that was horrible for a while.
And then- How old were you at the time?
16, just turned 17, which is very late.
But again, I still wasn't thinking to where I am today.
I was just thinking about tomorrow.
So I'm just thinking like, all right, like I'm gonna get, tomorrow is I get the sponsorship.
So I'm gonna train and post on social media and like, you know, get their attention.
And after a year um, i got their attention and i had finished second in this race in long beach and they sent me an email like offer me a contract which i didn't even read, just signed it.
I was like i don't even care, I've made it.
And then that sparked like literally everything that from that point on, like my whole life, pretty much changed over the next 10 years.
Dang.
Well, you know, getting introduced into that part of the life from your friend and then him passing away, like I would imagine, that could dissuade you in a way.
But you reframed it and really was like I'm going to do this for him, in honor of him, or carry on the legacy.
Is that kind of your mindset?
Yeah.
I mean, it was just like it was.
It was my first time experiencing a death of someone close.
That wasn't family, which is similar but different.
And it was worse because I just saw him the day before.
And then the day after, like he was gone kind of thing.
And then all the friends that I was riding with at the time, we were all close to him as well.
So we were all impacted by his passing.
And I just saw an opportunity to like, pay homage and pay respect and, in the same breath like, do something that like I want to do and something that I feel like he would be proud of.
And so when I achieved that, i had a moment of being like i made it, like this is super dope, like i'm hyped on this, but then thinking like dang, like he would be, so he'd be hyped on this.
You know, i get free bikes, i get to travel, a little bit like i didn't know what was about to come yet.
But just the fact that i can say that i am an athlete of this brand was just, you know, and i get to wear the jersey and ride the bike, which is already really big.
And then that sparked the like, okay, well, what else can I do?
Because again, it was already you know from stepping away from like thinking that okay, I'm gonna play basketball, which is what I thought I was gonna do, or stepping away from being like, all right, I'm gonna go to college to be a you know, a nurse, or get my, like my regular degree.
It's like.
This is such a different.
I have a path that I can't see what's next, but I'm gonna try to like go this direction.
And so honestly, like if that didn't happen I don't even know, like if I would have really kept going.
Yeah.
Just I would imagine again just the environment South LA and not seeing really a lot of people doing anything like that, like cycling, like taking it seriously.
And that exposure, like just having that little bit of exposure, and for you getting outside of your environment, Like how valuable was that for you to start to like be able to go around the city, to have like that access, that freedom, whereas so many of us in those conditions, we tend to be defined by those conditions and we don't really see much outside of that.
Yeah, I mean, the craziest thing is, you know, when you're a kid you sit in the backseat and you just go wherever your parents take you.
And I thought the beach was a four hour drive away, like Six Flags is mad far Raging Waters, like all these places are so far.
And When I first rode to these places, I'm like, oh, it's really not that far.
And the fact that I got myself here kind of thing.
The thing that really changed my mindset, which was I rode to Bel Air and Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills on my bike, being over on like Slauson and then riding all the way up to like Hollywood and Hollywood, to West Hollywood to, you know, Rodeo and Beverly Hills, and up into the hills and riding through Bel Air and seeing just like being in an area that felt like I'm not supposed to be here, but also the fact that my, that my bicycle brought me here, which made me feel like, as long as I have this bicycle, like I can go wherever I want.
Like I'm like untouchable in a sense, but then open my eyes to like all this place is real, you know like, and it makes me, it makes it feel a little more obtainable because, like I can, I came here, kind of thing.
And that sparked so much, because I've ridden all over the city, you know, and I've ridden all over the world and through these two wheels,
And so going from a place where I grew up and then going to a place where most of us would think is just like not a real place or we're not even like allowed to be there, kind of thing.
And then walking in there like head held high, chest out, and be like Like I'm here and I can be here.
And like, you know, I'm probably going to be in the house one day.
Like really just open my eyes to like what's really possible.
Amazing.
Amazing.
For real.
Like that accessibility, the imprint as well, and exposure is super valuable and like sometimes it can come in the most unexpected ways because i would imagine when you were a kid you were not like this bike is going to take me all over the world, you know, and so it's so cool to see how you, your progression and how you followed the path.
But I'm curious because it's got to be something as well that keeps us doing the thing.
And obviously life happens.
A lot of challenges happen.
A lot of struggle, stress.
Is there something about cycling for you that has... helped you to like process things?
Is this a place for you where you're like, you know, metabolizing stress and you know, cause for some people it's like going out for a run or, you know, going to the gym.
Is it like that for you on the bike?
Yeah, it's funny because usually when I'm if I'm really going through it, I just go for a really long ride.
And like my version of a long ride is like anywhere between four to six hours, like on the bike.
And There's something about again being able to leave the chaos.
You know, like LA's, as you know, it's a fast moving place.
There's a lot of stuff going on, a lot of noises, a lot of energy that just could be very just a lot.
So, like my place of solitude is just riding in the Santa Monica mountains and I'll ride, you know I'll suffer, I'll sweat, I'll grind and get to the one of the highest peaks up there, where it's just quiet, you know, and on that way I'm going through the motions of like what I'm stressed out about.
I'm going through resolutions.
I'm going through solutions.
I'm going through all the thought processes.
Sometimes I'm like talking to myself out loud and it's kind of like figuring out what it is and it helps me so much and brings me a lot of peace that I can do that.
And then when I'm up there, sometimes you just need like a minute.
So I'll be up there and I'll look down at like PCH, or I'll look down at like Santa Monica.
I can see downtown, so I can see the chaos, you know, and I'm looking at it from a place of like peace and also a place of like beauty.
And I'm just like all right, you know, have a moment, take a break, take a breath.
You know, chill for a second.
And then when I go back into it, like I'm more focused, I'm more ready to go.
And even to this day, like whether I'm racing or not, whether I'm, you know, I'm always going to ride the bike, because the bike again, brings me peace.
I'm also a creative.
I'm also a person who likes to explore.
So like riding down a new street or a new neighborhood or a new city and being able to see new cafes or people, just like living their lives, reading a newspaper, kids playing, like all these little things bring me joy.
And it's through these, you know, the same two wheels.
Incredible.
So I'm curious like, and again, some of this stuff, a lot of this stuff we don't have a blueprint for.
And so like you accidentally happened upon, like being able to zoom out and look at things like, And truly, that's one of the greatest gifts, because we think our problems are so solid and it's just like, so inflammatory.
But like you zoom out and look at the entire city, like how big are your problems?
You zoom out and look at the world.
And all of these collective problems going on in the world, it just like, it vanishes.
How big are your problems now?
And so, just like happened upon these things and adding to that fire, but also adding to your ability to process and metabolize, so you can keep going and feel lighter.
That's incredible.
And I'm wondering, I'm wondering what your family was thinking about this.
Like, what's up with Dante and his bike?
Like, were they just on board with that in the beginning?
No, like, so... But talk about your family dynamics, too.
So, like...
I grew up with my sister and my grandma.
So I have a big family.
On my mom's side, there's eight of us.
So there's four boys and four girls.
But my mom wasn't really around.
And so my grandma adopted me and my sister when we were both very young.
And then the household was my grandma, my uncle, and my sister.
That was just, that was the family dynamic.
But dad, I didn't meet until I was, like, 22.
So like it was a small family dynamic, but like I had siblings all over LA, San Diego whatever, but like not a lot of us just didn't really associate.
So, My grandmother passed when I was 12.
And at that time, cycling, I wasn't even cycling, I was skateboarding.
I thought I was gonna be a professional skateboarder.
And then I saw how big these stairs were.
And I'm like, I don't feel like going off that.
Like, am I breaking a bone?
Like, not for me.
Um, but then when I started cycling or rewind, like from that, like my sister, became head of household.
She was 21.
My, she just had twins.
They're six months old.
So, and it's my uncle.
So she became big boss.
And so me and her have a dynamic where she's my sister, but like, I respect her like my mom.
I know I could curse in front of her, but I hesitate because I'm like this is kind of like mom right now.
But when I started cycling she thought it was weird.
You know, because I'm riding around in tight-ass spandex all day.
I just want to be on my bike all day.
And her dynamic was like you need to be, you know, you need to be in school, you need to get a job, you need to do the.
You know the stuff that we're instilled to do once you graduate or are about to graduate the whole nine.
And at the time it's like she had a moment where she took a step back because I wasn't in jail, I wasn't on the street, I wasn't gang banging, I wasn't doing drugs, which all those things were in my family and in my environment.
And I had every opportunity to do so.
And, to be frank, I was curious like about like gang life, you know, and drugs, and just like running the streets, you know, and.
But I always love to be active between skateboarding, mixed martial arts basketball, like I always wanted to do be active.
So when I was riding the bike And she would come see me race.
And I'm just getting my teeth kicked in every single day.
I'm not finishing races or I'm finishing dead last, but I come out the race hype.
Like you can come again next week.
And she's just like, bro, you're getting demolished out here.
Like, why do you still want to do this?
And she had a moment where she's trying to like get me to like step away from it and taking other things more seriously.
But then she stopped and she's like Well, you're not doing any other things that everyone else in the family has done and everyone else in your environment has done, and you're passionate about it because you were having these horrible experiences, but you keep coming back for more, with joy and exhilaration and wanting to continue.
So like, she kind of just like took a step back and just kind of let me do what I was doing.
And when that happened, like, the following year, I went from finishing dead last to finishing mid pack, mid pack to getting, like, top five to, like, third to winning one or two races, and then...
I think what really set forth her is that there was a race in New York called Red Hook Crit and it was like the biggest fixed gear race in the world.
And I had always wanted to do it.
And when I signed to Leader Bikes the following year, I resigned and they were like we're going to send you to Red Hook in New York.
So my sister, I'm like, hey, I got to go to New York.
She's like, okay, how are you going to get there?
And I was like, oh, well, they're paying for it.
And she's like, okay, well, where are you going to stay?
I said, well, they're paying for it.
She said, what about food?
How are you going to eat food?
And I was like, they're paying for it.
And she's like, okay, when do you come back?
And I was like, oh, on Monday.
It's like a four-day trip.
And she was like, they're paying for everything?
And I was like, yeah.
And no one in my family really left California.
So now I'm going literally the opposite side of the country.
And that I think she was like, this is insane.
Like, all right, go like they're paying for it.
And you get to travel like for free.
And then like for me and for her changed the whole mental aspect.
Because when I got to New York and I'm in Times Square and I'm like oh, it is just like how it is in the movies.
Like, this is crazy.
Oh, you sound just like the dude from the movie.
Like you have the accent, you know, you like all these little things that I'm like a tourist.
And then I'm like, I can't believe like I'm all the way in New York.
And I was like, if I can get to New York, like where else can I go?
Like how much further can this take me?
And that curiosity, is what drove me for a little bit until things really started to blow up.
But just like, how much further can I go?
And for her, it's like, you are doing something passionate.
I don't know where it's gonna take you, but it's obviously taking you somewhere positive.
So I'm just gonna let you do what you're doing, you know, so.
Wow, man.
You know, so many of these success stories were to be 1000, like a lot of stories are not.
They don't turn out like this.
They're not successful, you know?
And it's like these little steps along the way, even your family dynamics and your sister letting you go, like you know, and the relationship dynamic that you have with her, and just being able to like, qualify yourself each step along the way.
And even having her presence, like her showing up at some of those races, just again thinking you're weird or just like whatever.
It's like those add like a little coin to that, a piggy bank of like figuring stuff out.
And so that's so special, man.
But also I'm saying that because it's the balance of something that can also be very isolating this particular sport.
But then at the other side, there's a team dynamic if you're on a team.
And so we have you here and this is like foreign language to a lot of us.
So I wanna ask you about some of these different things, but Before we do, I wanna ask you a little bit more about the Vin Diesel aspect of it, like the underground bike scene because again, that's something that seems foreign to so many of us.
I know it was foreign to me until I found out about you.
Like I didn't know, cause that's like really, That's gangster, like for real.
Like you get a text, like meet up, $5, winner take all.
Like that's incredible.
And you get to show up and like, you can maybe walk away with $500.
Yeah, like the crazy thing about that was, again i have such a untraditional entry into the sport of cycling and compared to like we were talking about earlier how this kid was going getting into the tour de france era like my entry into the sport of cycling came from undergone racing and again underground racing which i thought which transitioned straight into the red hook racing i thought was like that was my career path that just those two as a whole and it was it made cycling more approachable and more in the entry into sport was a lot better because you needed a bicycle that could be the bicycle that was passed down from your family or like your homie sold to you for like, again, 100 bucks.
And the bicycles that were needed had They're very simple.
It was two wheels, a crank, a chain, a cog and some handlebars and a seat, you know, and so they're very cheap.
You can get them brand new for 500 bucks.
And then it was all black and brown people, it was Latinos and blacks and whites.
It didn't really matter.
The minority was the majority, which was also really nice.
And they're always at night.
And the vibes were always good, positive.
Like no one was trying to fight each other.
No one was game banging on each other.
It was just like, we're here to ride bikes, have some fun.
You know, the OGs are maybe like smoking some weed, drink some beers, watching the kids have fun.
And then yeah, I asked my sister for 20 bucks.
Cause I can get me a Chipotle burrito.
I can get a ride home if I need to, or put some money on my tap card and I got five bucks to enter.
And if I do well, I'm leaving with maybe a few hundred dollars, or I'm leaving with a bunch of cool product that was donated from sponsors that I can sell, or whatever or like, or I'm leaving with just a dope experience that makes me come back for more.
So like doing that and doing all over the city, it was like, you look forward to it.
And then when I started racing more like in a sense of like the road racing side of it where i was doing both.
So i go, do you know, on sound friday night i go do an underground race in k-town and on, you know sunday morning i'm doing a, you know, world race road race.
That costs me 60 to enter.
That I got from the money, that I got from the underground race, you know.
And so I could race all weekend long and all over the city.
And literally I don't, I talk to people, if I didn't do that, I don't think that I would have like, really got it into the sport, you know, because when I transitioned, I was expecting what I experienced in underground racing to be in traditional racing.
And it was very different.
And you know, I think because of that and the people that I was surrounded by, you know, being able to try to implement some of that and bring a little bit more of that culture into it definitely helped a lot.
Yeah.
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And now back to the show.
This got me thinking we're going to stay in the Fast and Furious comparison, but like Dom was really like a mentor for a lot of those guys, but in particular with Brian.
So again, that succession, or that growth, the ability to perform, to figure things out, to deal with obstacles, that mentorship can be, I think it's priceless really.
So I would imagine along this path to where you are now, you had some mentors along the way and people who were teaching you the ropes like how do you handle certain situations?
Because listening to you and learning from you from afar and just kind of spending time in your world listening to your interviews and just watching some of your stuff, it's like I never realized that cycling is a contact sport at some point you know what I'm saying.
Like so can you talk about the role, like who were mentors for you, who you know kind of, maybe took you under their wing and like, taught you about how to do this stuff?
Yeah, so like when I started to transition from the fixed gear era to the road cycling era, which a lot of that most people, if you think of cycling, you think about you know a ten speed bicycle brakes gears, the whole nine.
When I transferred over, I'm looking for people to look like me.
So, and I discovered a handful of people.
One was Rahsaan Behati, who was basically like our Black Lance Armstrong.
And he's still around today, doing a lot in the community.
Sharon Smith.
And then there was these three brothers.
And they were the Williams brothers.
It was Justin Williams, CJ Williams, and Corey Williams, oldest to youngest.
And Justin and Corey were like two of the best in the country.
And they had these cool YouTube videos of them racing.
They had these huge GoPros in their head.
This is back when GoPro footage was just like not what it is today.
So it's super shaky.
You get sick watching YouTube video.
But like I was hyped to see one.
I'm getting.
I'm seeing a perspective in the racing that I like to do, but from a person that I can relate to, I was like I gotta I have to like be around these guys.
And so the cool thing about cycling is like you can't go to the basketball course and expect to see LeBron James or, you know, Josh Hart or whatever like shooting around.
I'm like, yo, can we play a game?
But I can go riding on a group ride on a Saturday and I can run into Justin Williams and Corey Williams and be like hey man, like I've seen your videos, love what you guys do.
Like, I love to kind of like, you know, learn from you guys.
And they were doing things in the community to do that.
They were hosting events and races to help you know people that look like them come into the sport, because when they were racing at the height of their careers, it's just a bunch of white people.
And they're going through things that is making them almost jaded from the sport.
And so at the time, there was this team being started, called the Concept Teams, like a development team per se.
And Justin was uh, one of the founders of that program.
And I remember my friend Alonzo was like Hey man, you should probably you should come hop on board with this.
It could be good for you to learn a lot.
And when I did that, Jess and I became really close, and Corey and I became really close, and CJ and pretty much all three of them as a whole taught me so much, you know, especially when it came to the fundamentals of criteria and racing, which is what I do now.
And you know whether it's keeping your bike clean 24 seven, whether it's understanding how to navigate through a group of people, understanding when to lean into the contact or to avoid the contact, all these little things.
And then being able to have these like big brothers at the same time in a group, in an area where I can't because it's like I can't relate to anyone here, but i can now relate to people here and then also do the thing as well.
So, like i think that really helped me lean into wanting to be bike racers, because i had that support and still to this day, you know, like one of the races i have this weekend, like i will, they'll be in boise racing with me or racing against me as an essentially um, but I we still talk about racing and they're still giving me game and I still you know, you know, or ask questions and whatnot, and which is nice, because now I take that same initiative to pass down to people like hey, like here's how you can be better um, which is also like a really cool thing to be able to do for the future.
For sure. it's like a higher need that we have.
It's like to contribute, you know, especially if you get your basic needs met, then you just feel compelled to do that.
And it's fulfillment, you know?
And this is one of the things too, that really stood out for me.
You know, researching you and you know our introduction is just like the example that you're setting, but also like being proactive at like helping other kids to be able to get into this universe.
And it's so powerful because this universe literally can take you not just we're not talking about out of the country, out of the city, all this stuff, but like just those 20 miles that you were riding out of your environment and just being in these entire, what would seem like new worlds, and that exposure and how all of that really creates this like patchwork quilts of experiences and insights.
And just like really, it's one of the things that our ancestors were well-versed with, which is to explore right.
And to test our bounds, especially for kids, you know?
But today we are tethered Everybody's tethered to their device.
They're not outside playing.
They're not getting, they're getting extra superficial exposure to these things.
And it's creating even more distance, because what the data's indicating is that it can give you a false sense of experience, right?
It's so much.
I could tell you this from my like.
It's so much different to be in the space, to actually be there.
And I didn't have that exposure either.
Like when I was a kid.
It was Before MTV Cribs, all that I'm talking, you know.
Two decades before that it was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, with Robin Leach right.
And it's this British guy and he's talking about caviar and you know the limousines and all this stuff.
And it just like, it was so unreal to me and fake.
Like this is not even real, but with being able to like, get outside my environment to get those exposures, to have people who mentor me and these imprints really helps to elevate everybody as a community.
And so I wanna ask you about where it's taken you because again, We have gotten some insight into the beginnings of it.
But You mentioned is it?
Is it Cretan?
What is it?
Crit racing.
Criterium.
Criterium.
Criterium racing.
Criterium racing.
So what you see, I don't even know the language.
So what is that in like, what, where are you at in this whole dynamic?
Like, what are you working on right now?
Yeah.
So criterium racing, or crit racing for short, like Basically first within cycling there's a bunch of different disciplines, right?
So the Tour de France stuff like that which most people know about, that's road racing, which is basically a point A to point B, you know, or a really big like circuit, which usually consists of anything between 60 to 150 miles.
And A crit race is usually a mile and under in length, and it's a circuit.
So let's say this building that we're in right now.
If we were to race on the street around this building, There'd be barriers set up.
There'd be 100 people registered and we would race around this building for between an hour to an hour and 30 minutes.
We would average anywhere between 28 and 32 miles per hour for that full duration.
And we can reach speeds up to close to 45 miles per hour to give it a visual.
I would imagine Formula One or MotoGP, if in any way.
In Formula One, in the sense, like everyone's racing into the corner, you know you take the corners with precision.
You know everything's very calculated.
It's a set amount of laps.
First person across the line first wins the race.
And for bike racing.
It's a really cool dynamic because we're in your city for a day and then we go to the next city.
So like these races are all over the country.
I'll race in LA.
I'll race in New York Oklahoma Wisconsin Chicago Georgia Colorado, like Texas, like they're everywhere.
And the big ones are in places that you probably wouldn't even think about.
Like the biggest criterium race in the country is in Tulsa Oklahoma, which is dope for me as well, being black and going to somewhere that has a lot of history and then wanting to excel even more because of that history.
But we race in front of 20 or 30000 people and you get some of the best criterion races from all over the world Germany, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and then the best in the country.
And winning a race there, pretty much just like sets you up, solidifies you as one of the best.
And so we do that everywhere.
And I've even done some, you know, in Italy, I've done some in Spain, I've done some in London as well.
So, like it's, it's a really cool dynamic as well for a spectator, because normally they have, like vendors, they have beer gardens.
It's like it'll be on, you know, a ship right here where the bars, and maybe like the restaurants, are also still open, so you can be inside eating and watching the race, or you can go get some food and come outside.
They'll have intermissions where they'll have kids racing or like you can bring the kids and they can have like be able to ride the course and enjoy, and so forth.
So like it's a pretty special kind of race that Everyone can grasp, and everyone that I've brought to a race whether they know what's going on or not has always loved it.
And they've never been like, oh, it's boring, or oh, it's this, it's that. loves it.
And then the more you understand it, the more they're actually intrigued by it.
And they're like, okay, good.
Like, I understand what's happening.
I get it.
When's the next one?
Um, which is you know why I'm always trying to like, advocate for it and also try to, you know, bring more notoriety to it, because it is a sport or it is a discipline that a lot of people can really rally behind.
Amazing.
So I want to ask you about this, because you mentioned that you're creative earlier and you obviously are in so many different ways.
But even in the domain of cycling itself, it's very creative endeavor that we might not think about because you think again, it's point a to point b or a race, and when i heard you talk about this it made me realize, just like how all athletic endeavors really are complete creative.
Unless somebody is just very robotic in their head, like learning how to do dance steps, kind of thing.
It's literally, it's so much about reaction.
It's so much about dealing with the moment, the microsecond, and constantly making adaptations and being creative.
Talk about that relationship with creativity and athletics.
Yeah, it's is actually very true, because there's a common misconception with Criterion Racing that it is just like the stronger you are the better you are, kind of thing.
But in reality it is a sport of skill and creativity, as a sense.
So like the more you can focus on the fundamentals of criterion racing, whether that is being hyper aware of your surrounding, understanding the flow and how momentum works, understanding how to shift your way, how to engage in contact, how to read, erase all these different things in a fraction of a second.
To the point where, like I feel like like that's a Raven sometimes, where I can like see something happening before it's going to happen.
And these two are going to crash into this corner.
I'm going to go over here because I don't mean part of that.
And I go around it and there's a huge crash, you know, but there's also a sense of calmness into it.
And I think because my mind is always normally working very quickly that when I am racing, everything slows down.
It's like driving on a freeway and everybody's driving 80.
So it looks like everyone's going real slow.
In reality, we're all going pretty fast.
And it allows me to really pay very close attention to detail to things.
But then when I make a mistake, I can also go back in my mind to that moment and like what did I do wrong?
And how can I fix that?
It's going to happen again.
Maybe not tomorrow, but it might happen in a month.
And then I'll overanalyze what I did and how I can fix it.
And then when I do that, I'm able to.
When it happens again like oh, I've been in a situation before.
So this is what I got to do.
And maybe that fix fixes it and I get through it or only fix is part of it.
And I got to go back and do it again.
But in the same breath, like that has also allowed me to be able to apply that same mentality to pretty much anything, because i'm like, if i can suffer through literally an hour of pain or some of the races i've done have been again six, six and a half hours of pain and get through this and like and figure it out, then I can literally figure anything out that comes my way.
Yeah.
One of the reasons that we marvel at athletes is that expression of creativity, you know, but I don't think we think about it.
We just like, you know, just watching greatness.
But it's such a creative endeavor and it's like this combination because also with sport too, especially professional sports, we put so much on the strategy and that's why fans really get mad at coaches a lot too.
Just like I even know what to do.
You know, but the strategy piece, but within that, the ability to to, I think wisdom is a part of it too, which is like seeing things from multiple perspectives, if there's a tactical way to look at it.
And, like you just said, that's such a great analogy with the Dassault Raven, you know, and just being able to see these patterns, pattern recognition and reactivity, and all of this stuff is happening just like at this incredible pace.
Yeah, and so you know, i this is a reason why i think it's so valuable, no matter what age people are at, to engage in some kind of sport, you know.
It's funny because I do it and I do it to a pretty high level, I get it.
So when I watch basketball, football, soccer, like I understand what they're going through.
And I understand that it's more than just putting the ball in the net, or it's more than just touchdown.
Like, I know that there's so much more.
And I usually like to go down these little like rabbit holes of like understanding the, like you know the uh really, what goes the the, the one percent of it?
You know like where it's, like with football.
Like understanding you know the rotation of the ball, understanding that if we are in a dome or in an open you know field, like how the air can change the length or the or the, how far the ball can be thrown, or the turf.
You know stuff like that.
Or like basketball, like playing in Denver versus playing in LA, like that has a huge impact on your release because the air is thinner and also your air your, you know being able to breathe, like all these little things that you know, or like the impact on how you move.
So because I like understand all these little things and I'm watching NBA finals game seven and I'm seeing everything happening.
And obviously I have moments where I'm like oh, like this guy, like he doesn't know what he's doing.
But I also take a moment to be like it's game seven.
You're a hundred games in.
There's so many pieces that you're focused on, like this guy's closing out here, this guy's doing that whatever.
Like I gotta shoot, maybe I'm a little tired maybe, like you, make a last minute decision while mid shot, like all these little things that you're focused on.
I get how hard it is.
And I agree, I feel like people should play sports.
You don't even need to play at an elite level to understand that it's much more than put the ball in the hoop, score the goal, get the touchdown, like you know which.
You want it to be that simple.
But then in reality you realize that there's so much more to go into.
And then you have like um okay, i get it, i respect prime example formula one.
They think it's just driving a car.
I can take 10 minutes off my ETA.
I know I can drive a Formula One car, but then they put people in these cars with them and they realize that these guys are actual athletes.
They're pulling five, six Gs of force into a turn which no one even knows what five, six Gs feels like.
You pull a quarter of a G when you take off into a plane.
So, like you know, and then being able to make a decision in a fraction of a second at 200 miles per hour and then to train that like I get that.
You know, I know I can't do it, but I definitely have a respect for it.
And I think because, you know, being in sports.
Yeah, obviously there's like an emergence of, you know, people playing pickleball and you know also, I think, life finds a way.
You know, we've been so separate and like disconnected and again people being tethered to their devices, you know, and AI is here big time now.
So with life finding a way, and of course there's infinite options in this infinite universe.
But my wisdom is saying and pointing to we're going to kind of swing to more connection, like it's gonna be even more valuable.
And AI can either automate everything and you don't do shit, you just get more into the matrix, or is gonna free up time to be more human than you've ever been right.
And so connecting, playing, competing, And those kind of things, it's embedded in our DNA.
This is even how kids even learn is through play.
And the crazy thing is we never stop learning, right?
And so utilizing play is so valuable.
And some of the most intelligent.
Um their incredible health span.
You know, their cognition.
These are.
I know people in their 70s and 80s who regularly play like ultimate frisbee or like they're finding something for that because they found out along the way like it just makes life better.
Yeah, and i think I know that I'm always going to want to do something.
I can't ever really sit still.
So I know that I'm either always going to ride a bike or I'm going to do something that is active and also stimulating my mind.
I literally just started swinging a golf club because I know how hard it is from an outside perspective.
And when I first took a swing I was like okay, this is really hard, but that makes me want to lean more into it, because I know there's so much more that goes into it.
You know, I picked up running again, something that's very hard, and It's these small little things that if you tweak it can make you so much more better, which is also like huge in the cycling.
You know, if I'm running, if I change, if I don't land on my heel but land like this, like my strides better, I can run a little bit further.
If I rotate the golf club like this versus being like this and, like you know keep, stay square, like that makes it your swing 10 times better.
And it's stimulating my mind, but also like the fact that I am, I'm outside, I'm in nature, I feel the breeze in my head, I'm sweating, like all these things, like there is a value in being just active and outside and i'm, like you know, as i was talking about earlier, like i try to tell my nieces and nephews, like just go do something, like like i don't mind you if you're on your phone great, but go be on your phone, like and walk down the street, and i guarantee you at some point you're gonna put your phone down because you're gonna be like oh, like i didn't know there's a chicken spot right here.
Let me pop inside this chicken spot real quick."
Or maybe you run into an old friend, now y'all are talking and you guys go get a coffee.
So being outside will force us to kind of just be in the moment, which I really hope we don't ever lose, because it's an important quality.
Yeah, I just I was actually about to bring up golf, because last night I was having dinner with some people and then they got the subject of golf came up and then they just kind of got like a little higher up in their chairs about the subject.
And then you see a lot of athletes that have found success in other sports transitioning like LeBron is heavy into golf now.
I just saw the video, he's making fun of Kevin Hart, like he found a little golf club or whatever.
And all of these guys are like finding this competition and physical expression and being outside and being amongst your friends and your colleagues.
And there's so many different iterations of what that can look like.
But the most important thing and what I'm getting from you too is just getting outside your door.
Yeah, and I think golf is pretty unique, because I see everyone does it.
And I think it's, if I can think about it as an athlete you want to do something that is challenging but different, but isn't gonna be so strenuous on the body.
You know in the sense, like you know swinging a golf club and rotating, you know extra hard or whatever.
Like you may become a little sore but you're not going to like.
It's like going skateboarding with your friends or whatever the case may be.
And it's also as an elite athlete where every minor little detail is important and you are a peer in your craft.
When you start golf, you come all the way down to ground level.
So now you're humbled because you're not good at it and you're trying to find these little half a percent 1 of things.
That's going to make you a little bit better, because that's how you operate in your craft.
So you're taking the fundamentals of how you've learned into a different sport that you can now learn something new at.
And at the same time, like you, can hang out with your boys, who also understand.
You know, or maybe you have a friend that doesn't play basketball, but he's better than you and you're a competitor.
So now you're trying to, like, beat this guy.
So I get it.
You know what I'm saying?
And like that's why from now like now i'm looking at golf clubs and i'm left-handed, so i gotta find left-handed golf clubs, and that's a whole other thing, you know and then just trying to like learn these little things that i can do.
Where i can go for a long bike ride, you know, on saturday, and afterwards me i need to go to the range, just like hit some balls and then decompress for a little bit and just learn and then do it all over again.
Yeah, it's a really interesting time right now, especially just kind of like what's swirling around you in your life here in la.
Like we got world cup going right now, you know uh, we got the all-star game just happened.
We got the olympics coming up here as well, in your backyard yeah, so talk about what's going on with you as far as eyeing the olympics.
You know like it's it's When I first heard about it, it was definitely something that has been on my mind of trying to obtain.
Like it's so much harder as an American to make the Olympics.
And especially in cycling.
You know we have a lot of guys that compete in the Tour de France and, like a lot of those guys, especially on the road, are pretty much solidified for Olympic selections.
But then we also have, again, we talk about how many, just so many disciplines.
We have indoor track cycling, which is like an indoor wooden track that's banked at like 45 degrees.
It's about 200 to sometimes 400 meters in length.
And it's a race on the same kind of bikes I started racing on, but these bikes cost like 20000, 30000.
And because it's indoor and it's a controlled environment, they race at speeds.
They can average speeds of like 35 miles per hour and they're hitting speeds of like 47 miles per hour sometimes.
Like it's pretty insane.
So if I were to like, I feel like I would love to like compete in the Olympics and I would love to like go down this this, this journey you know it's only going to happen once, or a handful of times, they can get that opportunity.
And it was something that I was like exploring, which kind of like was starting to come toward a little bit more of a dead end.
But it's also like I have like I have such a different perspective on like what really is bringing me value in my life through sport.
And you know, I I feel like where I'm at, like people are, are um trying to excel at their sport and be the absolute best that they can possibly be.
You know.
And I think for a while I was like that.
Like, I want to be the best Criterion racer.
I want to do the Tour de France.
I want to be an Olympian.
I want to be this.
But I feel like what really is important to me is like the value that I can add to others, in a sense of maybe creating a path or an avenue that can allow others to either achieve that or and then some you know or you know instilling some knowledge into people that again couldn't create, again a path.
And then some like what brings me full fulfillment is isn't being the absolute best bike racer in the world, which is like weird to say, because I am a competitor and I still want to.
I do want to win and, like I do enjoy winning, but what brings me, if not equal or more joy, is being able to educate and inspire people to just like enjoy what they're doing.
You know what I'm saying?
So, like I meet people, I was at a practice race last night in El Dorado Park and This kid was asking me Hey man, like I'm a category five, which is like a beginner category,
Um, it's from five to one, which is how we rank it.
And he's like, how can I be a better sprinter?
Like how, what would it be your tips or like, well, how, what should I do today in this race?
And I like light up like, all right, so.
Boom.
Like try this, like focus on this, you know, like you're a beginner, try a new thing.
Like I'm just giving him all this free game and he's hyped on it.
And then as he leaves and I'm sitting in my car getting dressed, I'm like I'm in such a good mood now because like that is either going to help this kid or it's going to go on one or not the other, but like the chances of it helping him and like maybe he does better today but then he goes back the next day and maybe that game i gave him he gets somebody else and he creates this like domino effect That brings me so much joy.
And I know people that are gonna be competing in the Olympics and gunning for the Olympics in the road race and track and field and in velodrome stuff.
And at the end of the day, I'm just hyped that we have it back in our backyard, because the track that I started racing on is an outdoor track and actually here in Encino.
And it's not that far from here.
And it was in the 84 Olympics.
That was the track that they raced on.
So like to even just be able to be in the city and be alive and be able to be like I was at the Olympics in you know 2028, you know when it's 2060 and talk about that.
Experience is like To me that's you know and then be able to watch the competition and see, like my friends and stuff competing and stuff like that.
Like to me that has the utmost value to me right now.
Yeah yeah, and also, you know, for me too, even hearing your story and your perspective on this, it's the, it's the striving, you know it's having that thing and and just continuing to qualify yourself.
Yeah, because you know you never know really where it's going to land you.
Yeah um my my, where I see value and like richness and wealth in life is like very different from.
I feel like you know, we talked about people like on their phones, and they're feeling this false sense of like you know reality and what's.
You know what it means to be wealthy and rich and fulfilled, whether that's the cars and the girls and the money and the whatever.
And it's instant gratification.
Like you can be a TikTok star tomorrow morning and all that stuff.
And it's like I find that like i get to travel, i get to meet new people.
I have met some people i never thought i might meet in my life like i've my family's healthy, like i'm healthy, you know, and i i get to do what i do every day as a job.
And, you know, my bills are paid.
I get to.
You know, buy shirts from Zara.
You know, like to me, like that's genuinely like all that I need, you know.
And I also try to like let people know that like this other stuff is not, you know.
Like yes, you know, if we all had a billion dollars, like yeah, of course we're probably gonna go spend some money and whatever, but like I've made a decent amount of money and I've had been in the cars and I've had the designer stuff and it's like it's really not.
It's not that big of a deal.
Like it's all very material.
And I think because again, where I grew up and is having fun with what you got and the places I've been to, whether you just make do with what you have you know like and I understand this is you don't know any better than what they have like in Africa and stuff, which is a whole nother topic but, like you know, you really find that you don't need much and being outside and being in the moment and reality of what's what's real,
Like, like if you can do what you love to do every single day, like if you love this podcast and it just brings you joy, like to me, you're richer than anyone that has a million dollars and lives in in in the hills and drives a ferrari, and like.
That's kind of like how i operate and like how i see everything.
I think because of that, like i feel like i'm so much more happy.
I'm much happier than the people, my peers sometimes, because they're stressed that they don't have a billion dollars yet and i'm like I mean I'm, I'm great.
But life is.
Life is good, you know, and I don't lose sight of what's right here in front of you.
You know like because you life goes on real quick.
And you're gonna be like Oh, I didn't realize that my niece was walking, or I didn't realize that you know, like I missed out on family this time over here, or that like I had this over here, and then you can't get that stuff back.
Yeah.
Two wheels can take you far physically obviously, but also clearly it could take you far mentally and emotionally, spiritually even.
So man, I'm sure one wheel could too.
Shout out to the unicycle riders.
I've seen some of those, some people that be doing the unicycle stuff, and I see in them is be like You're doing that.
I'm not going to do it.
Hats off to you.
But yeah, it's so mental.
Cycling is so mental.
And I've gone through some prime example.
Like a buddy of mine, Ry Benjamin, he's a track and field.
Last cycle won two Olympic gold medals.
Fell in love with cycling.
And I took him on this bike ride and it happened to start raining.
I ride in the rain and it was a big group.
We're all like, it's fine, we'll ride in the rain.
And it was probably a two, maybe three hour bike ride.
He shows up, we go for a ride.
We're riding up the Hollywood Hills and he is going through it.
Like he's kind of bonking, which means like he ran out of food.
He's going through it.
It's very steep climbs.
I'm pushing him.
I'm giving him food, all these little things.
And he told me like, bro, I was going through it like mentally.
It's one of the hardest things I've ever done.
And he's like, you're just sitting there, like you're just chilling.
You're not even fazed by it.
You're offering me food.
You're giving me this, giving me that.
And you're just like, this is another day.
And he's like, it changed.
It really felt like he needed that, you know, that like humbling that, like bring back to ground zero, and that mental stability of like you know to go the extra mile, you know to get there.
You know because he's up here in his craft, you know.
And when he, that was before the Olympics.
And I think it was earlier that year.
And he goes on that year to win every 400 meter event, 400 meter hurdle event that he entered and then won his Olympic gold medals in the 400 meter.
And like Not to say that it was all because of me, but just like under, like understanding that yeah, cycling is like I've done races and I've cried on the bike.
I've gone through just such you know, mental, just I'm in so much pain, I want to stop.
But some reason your legs are still kind of just going through it.
And I genuinely feel like it's made me so much more mentally stronger stronger in every sense of my life like nothing can be harder and more painful than what I've endured on the bike at this time.
And I kind of just deal with them.
All right, this is it.
Like cars broke down, you know, like, um, This sponsorship fell through or like this is going on.
It's all right.
Like, we'll figure it out.
Like, it's not that bad.
Like you know, and I don't think, I don't think I would really again have that without those two wheels,
Amazing, man.
Well, you've helped so many people yourself and the inspiration, the exposure.
How can we help you?
You know, what can we do to support you, follow you?
Let us know.
I mean honestly, like that's actually a really that's a really good question.
It's funny because i don't really think about that.
I think about like, how i can help everybody else, and that's a great question.
Um, i don't know man, like i, my goal in life right now is, you know um, i'm still traveling and racing.
I'm focused on creating really cool content, projects through my partners that I have, that it can be a way of telling stories through my craft and then allow myself to still be creative, whether that's through co-activations that I can do with the community, any community per se.
But also just be able to travel all over and be able to show people that cycling is fun.
You don't need to be a professional cyclist.
You don't need to ride up these mountains, that I do, just ride a bicycle.
Like we've all ridden bikes.
As a kid i remember riding a bmx bike and putting cans and taping it to the back, so that's in the spokes and it sounds like a motorcycle and making neighbors real mad.
I'm doing this eight o'clock at night, you know.
Just like being outside um, and then being able to also like tie in more things that makes cycling more appealing, like fashion, something i'm passionate about like looking nice and and and and tying it into the sport of riding a bicycle, you know, and athleisure, like there's so many things that I try to just incorporate into cycling, because I generally think cycling is one of the coolest sports that is somehow underrated and yet everybody does it um, but i just want to spread the love and joy of riding a bicycle with anybody that i can and everybody.
So if you know, if we can amplify that and can be able to get to connect to more people to ride a bicycle um, you know, that would be really cool and I think in the future like, I really want to like just be able to have like a day, you know, back in the day we had Ghost Skateboard Day, which is still around but just have like a day where it's just like, you know, we can have a huge cookout, huge party and like everyone can just bring their bikes and we can, you know, have a cool like maybe escorted ride that is around the city with hundreds, if not thousands, of people, just like riding bikes and connecting
There's no hierarchy.
There's no one better than you.
We're not trying to race each other.
We're just here to ride bikes, have fun.
You know, let the kids be around.
You know, bring your grandpa and grandma and put them on two wheels.
It's been years and just connect.
And if I can do that, then I'm a happy camper, man.
I'm good.
Love you.
I love it.
So where can we follow your journey?
Like you got Instagram?
I'm on Instagram.
It's Dante Young underscore underscore.
I have YouTube that I'm trying to like work out as well and bring more content towards.
And those are my two main platforms where people can find me all over.
So I usually let people know if I'm gonna be in their city.
Cause if I'm at a race, just come up, talk to me.
I'm the kind of person that just loves to connect in any way.
I'm a big coffee head.
So I'm always looking for the dope coffee spots in every city that I'm at.
I'm heading to Boise this next week or this weekend.
And then I race Miami Beach.
And then I might be heading to France in two weeks for the last week of the Tour de France as well.
So, like you know, I try to let people know and that way I can just stay in the loop and hopefully meet people in real time, you know.
Yeah, that's what it's all about, man.
It's like, I love social media, but I'm also about like just real connections, interaction.
Real social.
Real social where like, you walk into a coffee shop and you, you meet, you interact and you exchange information or you just have a moment in time of connection and then that might just make your day.
And, you know, that way you can go do something else and whatnot.
So, like I'm always big, like if you see me on the road or you see me riding my bike or posting to the coffee shop or wherever I am at, just you know, say what's up.
Like we can have a little chat, talk about life, talk about bikes or how good a coffee is.
And then go on about going about our day.
Awesome.
I want some coffee now.
Hey, brother, I got a list.
Let me know what city you are, if it's Westside, if it's in downtown, if it's in Pasadena.
I know all the coffee shops.
For sure.
For sure.
Well, I appreciate you, man.
We'll put...
The socials and the show notes for everybody.
Check out the one and only Dante Young, everybody.
Appreciate y'all.
Peace.
Yes, sir.
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode today.
I hope that you really enjoyed this.
For me it was very cinematic and I was able to kind of go along with Dante on some of these adventures.
And I... cannot, again, overstate the value of exposure.
And this is something that we can all be proactive in, because no matter where we are in our lives right now, we can still be an inspiration and provide some exposure and insights for others.
And just recently, actually this week, a couple of days ago I was on a call with a friend of mine who's a friend of the Model Health Show as well, the amazing Jamal King, and he's also known as the nine to five millionaire.
All right,
He accumulated his success and his wealth while being a full-time Chicago city police officer.
All right.
And while his coworkers might have taken their time quote in the hole, where they're just watching YouTube videos on their break or, you know, eating donuts.
All right.
He said it, not me.
He was studying real estate and he was going and looking at properties and just thinking outside of the bounds of what he was accustomed to.
And through that process he figured some things out and was able to change the trajectory of his entire family.
And just this past week, after our call, he was getting ready because he was having 60 high school kids over to his house for a barbecue, because he promised them that them getting a certain GPA and them getting everything in alignment for their degrees and college aspirations he would have them over to his house for that exposure, to see what it looks like to be in an environment like the one that he's built.
And so again, there's some way that we can.
That's an extreme example, but there's some way that we can all provide exposure, because it could be a kid like me.
You know that exposure from my eighth grade English teacher which my best friend actually.
You know he lived in the good neighborhood that we were bused out to from the city.
And right outside of his backyard, there was a fence.
And on the other side of the fence was Ms.
Blackmore's house.
Never seen a teacher outside of school, you know, and just the interest that she took in me that stayed with me.
And that was definitely one of the puzzle pieces to me becoming an author.
And I've got so many little stories like that, those little micro exposures that literally just changed the course of my life.
And you know, I wouldn't be who I am today without Mrs Blackmore, without my grandmother, without my Auntie Janet, you know, obviously with all my mom and my stepfather and my siblings, of course.
But these individuals were bright lights in my life.
In particular, my auntie Janet, my grandmother and Mrs. Blackmore.
So you never know who you're impacting.
And that led to this receptiveness to when I met my wife and my mother-in-law who, thank goodness, thank goodness, I've been acclimated to these powerful women being in my life.
And you know, she came along at a time when I had aspirations of changing the world and she saw greatness in me and she supported that.
So again, you never know who you're impacting with your exposure and making them feel welcome, making them feel seen.
So let's do that for someone today.
Let's do that for our children.
Let's do this for our community and for these kids who need it more than ever.
So definitely check out.
Follow Dante, follow his journey, support him, support his work, support his creativity, support his competition.
And because that's just gonna elevate the sport.
It's gonna elevate the exposure for the sport and the interests in kids that come from similar circumstances, just to see what's possible.
And let us not negate the value of getting on those two wheels and getting outside of our usual environment.
It just takes those two wheels.
I appreciate you so much for tuning in today.
We got some epic masterclasses and world leading experts coming your way very, very soon.
So make sure to stay tuned.
Take care.
Have an amazing day.
And I'll talk with you soon.
