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Adventure Bicycle Travel Interviews Philosophy

Vague Direction People: Bradford Haith [video]

6.45am. Stinson Beach State Park.

Brad is originally from Boston, and as a teenager sold drugs, until he was caught. On the day he was released from the jail that he’d spent the last 10 years in, he had a couple of options. Do something that would land him back inside – like punching someone, or choose a different path away from the place he’d now become comfortable. He chose to literally walk away. He’s been walking for the last 13 years.

“After 10 years, I had 60 dollars and one piece of paper. They dropped me off, right downtown Boston. Thousands of people, I didn’t understand what, who. I was taken care of for 10 years. I didn’t know how to live. I was scared and nervous, because I didn’t know how to react around these people. So, I seen a crossing guard, across the street. And I said, well, if I go and hit this guy, I can go right back home. But inside, my emotions in side me said no, just give it some time.”

Here’s a short film made in collaboration with Brad. Hope you take something away from it and share it with anyone who may be interested.

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Interviews Philosophy

Vague Direction People: Martha Higareda, Actress [video]

Quick little video interview before the weekend.

One of the most fun and rewarding things about this project is just the range of people who are stoked to tell their story and the lessons they’ve picked up along the way. People from all walks of life. This time it’s the turn of Martha Higareda, an actress from Tabasco, Mexico – who tells a story about how persistence can pay off in unusual ways.

“That burning desire is what you need to keep having. If that’s your passion, and you’re sure about it, keep doing it.  You can be working at something else. Fine. That’ll give you your food, and pay the bills. But if you are passionate, just keep doing it.”

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Interviews Philosophy

Vague Direction People: Matt Mullenweg [Video]

“The truth is that none of us have really done this before. And when you accept that, and just do your best, or try your hardest and learn as much as you can, I feel like when you rise to those challenges, it’s very satisfying because you’re constantly at the edge of your competence…”

Quick post from San Francisco; a new Vague Direction People video. Chatting with Matt Mullenweg.

Matt’s the co-founder of WordPress (more here), which is the online publishing platform that powers a huge amount of sites online, but rather than get into anything technical, we discussed the choices he’s made, work life balance, risk taking, and pursuing something you truly believe in.

“I think it’s important to keep things in perspective on the positive and the negative. It’s not the end of the world. Really what perspective is, when you think about the word itself, it is taking a step back.”

Here’s the video snippet – hope you enjoy!

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Interviews Philosophy

Vague Direction People: Nick Thune [Video]

A few days ago I met up with Nick Thune (comedian, actor, musician, writer) on a rooftop, and it ended up being one of the best and most fun interviews so far.

“At any moment you can change your attitude. It’s actually one of the most simple things. And a lot of the time it’s just changing the way you’re thinking about one thing. Like anxiety is also anticipation, and excitement. If you’re nervous about something, what if you were excited about it?”

This is a really fast edit, and just a brief snippet – a bit of fun for the weekend – there’s over an hours worth of amazing material where we go in-depth and cover all things – from how he ended up here, which is a really inspiring story of going for it, to the time his dad was attacked by a shark and shot by a cannon. For now though, hope you enjoy the video!

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You can see loads of Nick’s stuff on his site, Funny Or Die, or follow him on the Twitter. And see him playing Phone Tag below.

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Adventure Bicycle Travel Interviews

Interview with Mark Beaumont

Before the Vague Direction project commenced, I met up with Mark Beaumont to discuss several topics that relate to the project.

The obvious one is endurance cycling. In 2008, he smashed the world record for cycling round the world. After that, he cycled from Alaska to Southern Argentina, climbing Denali and Aconcagua along the way. So clearly he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to adventurous cycling expeditions.

But more than that I was intrigued about his career path, why he thinks it’s so important to follow your instinct and pushing your comfort zone.

Hope you enjoy the clip!

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Bicycle Travel Interviews

VIDEO: Injuries and Rehabilitation

I met with Graham Theobald from The Body Rehab clinic recently to try to and gain a bit of knowledge when it comes to cycling injuries and prevention. He’s currently doing a PhD in cycling-related knee pain, and is a die-hard cyclist, so it was really useful and eye opening to talk to him about what a long-distance cyclist may come up against.

In this short video, we discuss the injuries that a touring cyclist is likely to encounter.