In this episode of the Fitness CEO, Bryce Henson dives deep into the world of resilience, leadership, and the power of a relentless mindset with the extraordinary Dean Stott. A British Special Forces soldier turned world-record-breaking cyclist, Dean shares his journey from the battlefield to breaking the world record for cycling the Pan-American Highway. His story is not just about physical endurance but also about overcoming adversity, pushing the limits of what’s possible, and the importance of mental strength. This episode is a masterclass in achieving excellence, driven by the belief that with the right mindset, discipline, and support, anyone can achieve their goals, no matter how ambitious you are.
00:00 Introduction: Dean Stott
02:03 Dean Stott’s Back Story
10:36 Identity and Transition
14:27 Embassy in Benghazi
23:07 Skillset and Leadership
29:33 Spouse as Business Partner
37:25 Guinness World Record Story
01:02:59 Right Mindset
01:05:57 Leadership
01:08:35 Biggest Hero and Villain
01:09:53 Biggest Fear
01:11:39 Best Piece of Advice
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Bryce Henson is CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp, the world’s fastest-growing fitness boot camp franchise.
Having over 10+ years of experience in the fitness industry and owning 2 FBBC locations, his passion is spreading fitness to the world, in addition to mentoring fitness professionals on how to grow their businesses and change more lives in their local communities.
Bryce is the Host of the Fitness CEO Podcast and is bringing his knowledge & experience of owning, operating, coaching, and consulting Successful Fitness Businesses to the forefront.
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We were doing so much in such a short period of time we had Afghanistan was on at the time there was AA that was going on which the SAS were dealing with you know we diving on cartel boats in Colombia or rescuing hostages in Somalia it was literally the busiest time in
Uksf history doing predeployment train to go back out to Afghanistan again did a heho jump so you have Halo which is skydiving this one’s actually connected to the aircraft and I’ve done know numerous jumps of these and on this day it was jump three of the day when I
Exited my leg got caught in the in the in the lineup above my head so I was frantically trying to clear it in time I couldn’t clear it and it ripped my leg over my head and to the right to all my ACL my MCL my lateral miniscus my
Hamstring my Cal and my quadricep because of the altitude at 15,000 ft you’re on the limits of oxygen it was so thin and I was drifting in and out of Consciousness as well trying to fly this parachute my friends went off to Afghanistan and then yeah I ended up
Entering the wildest civilian Street I never wanted to leave the military I was what we call a lifer but no it’s thank you for your time it’s time to leave Welcome to the Fitness CEO podcast hey friends welcome back and boy do I have an episode for you today who I
Interviewed my dear friend Dean stot who is British Special Forces tier one special forces a storyed 16-year career when he graduated he then transitioned and started and launched a very successful security company and if that wasn’t enough decide to challenge him challenge himself and broke the world’s
Record for cycling the longest road on Earth from yua Argentina all the way to the north of Alaska my friends today you’re going to learn about mindset you’re going to learn about leadership and you’re going to learn how to overcome adversity get ready my man Dean stot welcome to the show my brother
Thank you for having me so lots of cover Guinness Burke of world record cyclist um Special Forces tier one incredibly storyed career uh you are just an not American Badass you are English badass but living here in the the states and just super excited to have you on the
Show lot to unpack today Dean uh give us the backstory as uh my first opening question yeah so the starting point was probably the military you know my father was in the military my grandfather was in the military you know continued that family tradition um didn’t really know
What I wanted to do in the military at the time my father was in the Royal engineer so I think because at the time I was weighing as you Americans probably say I was weighing about 150 pounds and I was 5 foot seven I wasn’t the size I
Was today so my father thought well he’s probably only going to do about three years you know so get what you can from the military in that short period so I ended up joining the Royal Engineers but as soon as I did my first course basic training um I I soon became confident
Physically and mentally each course I went on and in a short period of time within 18 months I went from 150 to2 200 and 5’1 I literally just grew out as as an individual starting to turn in to a man but each course I was going on I was
Getting physically stronger but I was getting more importantly mentally stronger uh at the age of 18 I did the all arms Commando course which is our tier 2 Special Forces joined the Airborne uh reconnaissance unit within that and spent eight years in free Commander Brigade and I saw all my
Friends then going off the only option for me then was tier one special forces but coming from an army background I would have to go to the Special Air Service the SAS so here in America if you’re in the Army you you go to the Delta Force and if you’re in the Navy
You go to Seal Team Six but um I wanted to join the special Boat Service was our other tier one unit the naval Special Forces because I’d the SPs uh recruiting is 100% from the raw Marines and I’d work with them for the last eight years I was also now the senior diving
Instructor for the Army so I was very comfortable being in the water so much of the discuss of my friends in the SAS I volunteered for the SBS but unlike here where Delta Force had their own selection and and uh Dev grw have their SE Team Six as his joint so it’s
Actually the same course any it it’s not that one is easier or harder than the other and yeah turned up on that course uh day one um supposed to be the greyman I was a greyman for about 2 minutes my name was called outy man greyman so on these courses especially a selection
Process where they’re looking at you you don’t want to try and bring any attention to you for the right reasons or for the wrong reasons what what they tell you to do is try and just blend in don’t stand out um because later on as the numbers dwindle you know you will be
They will see who you are and they will be identify you but you don’t want to bring any attention to you especially in the early stages in the early stages so I was a gray man for two minutes uh but two um 6 months later from 200 we were
Down to the last eight that finished and I was one of those from 200 to8 2008 we have a 95% attrition rate on selection yeah and so um yeah I was I wasn’t the gry man uh but I was confident in my abilities um I knew I had What it Took
Uh I just had to ignore the the background noise and really all it was now in reflection is the sces were worried that I would if I went how many other people would follow me along that path and I think now 15% of their special Boat Service come from the Army
Um so yeah one of the first to really open those open those Gates and for me I’d reached my Pinnacle in my career you know I was working alongside like-minded individuals had the same drive and passion how old how old were you at this moment moment at this moment now I was
In I was 27 okay yeah so you enter when you were about 17 entered when I was 17 10 years later then then you’re uh when you’re in the Special Forces cuzz for us you have to do a minimum amount of time as well and I I also uh I also went to
Colchester prison which was a military prison which actually uh stalled you to go special forces for three years and so there was a there was other things holding me back uh for that but yeah when I was successful that um working alongside these these other guys who had
That sort of Drive passion same goal and I was we were doing so much in such a short period of time we had Afghanistan was on at the time there was a rack that was going on which the SCS were dealing with you know we were diving on cartel
Boats in Colombia rescuing hostages in Somalia was literally the busiest time in uksf history U man know fortunately the first ever operational parachute jump for the S SPS and are you saying you went on these operations or just like in general so in in we I wasn’t in
Iraq but the other the other operations I was talking about I was I was on those ones yeah because what we had is the SAS would run Iraq and the SP SPS would run Afghanistan and I think that’s why we ended up getting a lot of army guys in
The end because once Iraq tapered the guys wanted to see where action was and so Afghanistan was was the lean to but I was uh doing predeployment training to go back out to Afghanistan again on on another tour and I did a heho jump It’s a high altitude high opening jump so you
Have Halo which is skydiving so you’re just free of any lines this one’s actually connected to the aircraft and as you enter exit the aircraft the parachute will open for you it’s a static line they call and then you fly up to uh 30 minutes in the air or 50
Kilometers to the Target area and I’ve done you know numerous jumps of these and on this day it was jump threee of the day just a training exercise but when I exited my leg got caught in the in the in the line above my head so I
Was frantically trying to clear it in time I couldn’t clear it and it ripped my leg over my head into the right and straight away instantaneously I knew things were going through my head I’m not going on tour it’s probably the end of my career you knew right I I knew
Right away I’d never experienced pain like I was vomiting because of the the pain but because of the altitude at 15,000 F feet you’re on the limits of oxygen it was so thin and I was drifting in and out of Consciousness as well trying to fly this parachute I could see
My team in front of me um but my first concern was Landing it um because if if I had a bad landing I could damage the other leg but I actually Landed It one-legged it was great great landing but uh vomiting like one leg just so
Just one leg Yeah well as you as you were coming in you have like a we call it NATO te on the um on the the drop zone so you look at it what they tell to do is come in so the the tea is looking
Like forward and the way that tea is is based on the winds on on the ground level cuz obviously at different levels in the in that above there’s different winds different directions so that tells you what the ground the ground winds are doing so I was watching all these other
Parachutes and seeing how they were landing and then sort of gauge gaug my landing and yeah it was a perfect Landing but unfortunately the damage I tore my ACL my MCL my lateral miniscus my hamstring my calf and my quadricep so normally you have an ACL tear or an MCL
Tear your supporting muscles will be able to to help you I know a lot of rugby players and football players can still run with that but it’s the fact that all the supporting muscles uh went as well so I my friends went off to Afghanistan and then yeah I ended up um
Entering the world of Civilian civilian Street which for me i’ never really I never wanted to leave the military I was what we call a lifer I wanted to do my full career and Beyond until I was in my 50s um but no thank you for your time
It’s time to leave and to your forced transition because the indust forc transition and and in a a rapid time as well normally when you come up to your end of your career they give you there’s almost like a 2-year transition program workshops and just you know what is it
You want to do beyond your time in the military do you want to be self-employed you know do you want to do a totally different career change and and they will give you the tools uh and the workshops to help you transition transition yeah I didn’t have that I
Didn’t literally was like you know thank you for your time and thankfully for me I had my wife who was a very entreprene IAL she was a bank manager for four of the biggest banks in northeas of Scotland at the time okay and so everything that was worrying me about
Leaving you know I from the age of 17 I joined the military I didn’t know um I didn’t know who who to speak to about getting my gas or my electric it was already automatically done for taking care of you you know like your mother your father know thankfully for me Alana
Picked up all those worries for me and and sort that help my transition and she set up my first our first security company on her phone within 30 minutes you know did all the application form with company’s house I’m like you know for me I would be worried about if I
Ticked the right box and so those sort of worries uh had sort of subsided but also additional worry was she was eight months pregnant you know may our first child you know in my head was how am I going to support my family is there enough work out there I know cuz I
Haven’t had this lead up this transition but within 48 Hours of leaving the military Gates I got a phone call asked to set up the uh British Embassy in Benghazi so this is May 2011 during the Arab Spring okay and soon went out there and started working there I I wanted to
Shot straight away straight away straight out with in 40 hours so let’s take a stop back here a second CU I want to unpack this a little bit there’s just a lot of transition and one of the things that I feel like you know parallel and Entrepreneurship and specifically military is when you’re
Transitioning out your identity so what does that look like for you in this particular transition because up at that point you always want to be in the military you want to be a lifer in your own words and now this is forced on you what does that look like from an
Identity and transition I’m glad you pulled me back could always skim over that bit but yeah in reflection I was going through what’s known as an identity crisis cuz where I got to in the military was because of my physical robustness you know I got to where I was
And achieved what I’d done because my physical attributes I now couldn’t even Run 100 meters without my knee giving away so I’d lost that sort of phys physical um ability but also you know I’d gone from knowing what I was doing day in day out for the next two years
They literally have structure for you I knew what I was doing for the next two years working alongside light-minded individuals who had that drive and the passion to where do I now fit in society what is my role ofin Society you know months before we probably would be
Briefing up the Prime Minister on a hostage rescue now no one knows who you are we didn’t have social media we’re not allowed on social media so you’re just almost like a ghost that’s just entered this world you know cu no one’s seen you for 16 years yeah and it’s very
Similar you know when I do a lot of talks and things there’s similarities in you know sport the sporting Arena you know when these professional athletes they’ve done from a young young age they want to be a professional athlete and so they’re doing everything possible they go through the uh the amateur leagues
They then hit the Prem the professional leagues and they’re trying their best to stay on Peak and and perform at the highest level and that’s exactly what we’re doing in tier one and then as soon as you get injured you know whether it’s a bad tackle whether it’s a bad
Parachute you know that’s taken away from you and so you see your friends going off on a rugby tour or or you see your friends going to Afghanistan and your left back you know to pick up the pieces but it’s not just sport it’s not just Special Forces I actually think
Identity crisis is for anyone who’s been involved in any sort of team or any tribe you know people can work for companies for 30 years and then as soon as they leave those company know companies that they’re lost I was going to say it’s it’s a sense of loss that’s
What it is that’s it and that can be any transition be career it could be in military it could be Sports Athletics it could be launching a business you know at the end of the day like you’re in a career path and you want to you know attack something different something you
New but when you take that first step you still feel that loss like as you did in transitioning in that Pro yeah and people want to set up their business as well a lot of people are happy to have that stay in that blanket knowing they’re going to from a big company
Knowing they’re going to get paid each month knowing you know they they’re supported to taking that leap you know and and when they do take that leap you know the this I always say the the net will catch you the safety net will catch
You you just got to take the leap um but yeah then and then there is that sort of identity loss well there I was part of a tribe and there’s a great book called tribe anyway you know we like to be especially the males we like to be part
Of the tribe and then you know I come from this tribe I can’t get back into that tribe so what other tribes do I do I fit in and sometimes you’re looking for these tribes and um you know that’s why guys like to do probably the MDK
Project they feel like they’re part of a tribe they feel like they’re part of a community uh and things that so just and I actually at beos cooling live where we first met we launched a legacy tribe which is like you know coaching group for you know guys and gals who want to
You know develop their self Mastery personal growth leadership skills you know create more income and impact but doing in a tribe in a community just you know is way better is better yeah and and you feel like you’re not alone as well yeah you then meet other like-minded individuals and realize
Actually there’s other people out there either suffering like you are or have the same sort of drives or gos as you so yeah tribes are very important especially for the maleo community oh yeah yeah oh yeah all right so I interjected there 2011 you you you basically had to be forced retired you
Then now shifted off to I guess open the embassy in Benghazi so take it away yeah so I I moved over there I moved over to Benghazi so at the current situation on the ground now so Benghazi is on the East um of Libya over in the West Was
Tripoli and Colonel Gaddafi or Gaddafi oh this is when everything was going down is all when it was going down Gaddafi was there that the city had now been um circled so it was only a matter of time before it was going to fall so
In benal JY you have just had so many uh oil and gas companies NOS turning up security companies cuz they’re just media companies they’re just waiting to get in and fill the gaps you know and help the Libyan people and probably take advantage of the oil and and the
Situation so I was there and I was we’re in this hotel called a teste it was the biggest hotel and so you had the UN there all the media and I was watching these security companies and I was just sat there having a coffee listening to them and these guys are selling six
Figure seven figure sums for retainers and crisis management evacuation plans when in fact and these oil and gas and NGS were signing away and I was there’s actually nothing there you know you’re signing for something that’s probably not even even there and then it became apparent later on that actually my words
Were true so I I flew back two weeks later my wife gave birth to our daughter Molly and I said look uh I’ve I’ve got a I’ve got an idea you know these guys are selling these evacuation plans Libya didn’t want security come they didn’t want it to be in another Afghanistan and
Iraq they didn’t want security companies coming in with their own weapons they didn’t want to see westerners carrying weapons and they wanted to take control of their country but this period of time while there still this Civil War there was a huge proliferation of weapons so I
Needed to act quick so I went back in and I bought 30 weapons off the black market and I buried them between Tunis in Egypt spent a month in the desert just burying them in P cases with communication kits and money what was the purpose the purpose was cuz I knew
If we had to have an evacuation or if you needed them we could drive in or we could fly in we know weapons and but I knew where they were if we needed them and they were located next to safe houses that I had across the country so
It wasn’t the fact that it was just all more of a comfort they’re there if we needed because if we needed them then it meant it was like this another civil war um if we didn’t need them then at least I had the Comfort no and no there so
That was it and then we lived in abedine which is the oil and gas capital of Europe um so like the Houston of America and um so we had access to a lot of oil and gas companies and yeah I sold my evacuation plan plan to those guys you
Know some of the smaller companies and sort of sat on that you know again fortunate for me my wife very entrepreneurial I didn’t want to I could have easily gone and got a contract with a security company or an oil and gas company done six weeks in Iraq six weeks
Back and you know done those rotations but I wanted to be a bit more entrepreneur I wanted to learn more about the industry I wanted to find a niche within the industry I wanted to stand out I just didn’t want to do more rotations so I was doing ad hoc jobs
Every phone call was a different job every time I I took a call it was a different country different task um you know when you tell people in your security you know they probably think you’re a dman from the local nightclub but you know it’s everything from surveillance close protection coaching
Mentoring you know um this crisis management there’s so much there’s so much and then you’ve got cyber and all these other things now bolted onto them and so I was getting know one phone call would be like uh the UAE royal family their super yacht wants to go from
Barcelona to Maldives can you you take the crew down to maldiv that’s yeah that’s a cracking job you know the next one can you go to Kurdistan and train the Special Forces there to fight Isis um you know then the next one you’d find yourself in South Africa or you then
Find yourself out in Venezuela so literally in a short period of time I was learning a lot about the secure industry I was getting exposure to so many countries uh and so many um guys on the ground and it’s really built up a a reputation but I tended to find that so
People don’t realize in the security inse risk reward ratio isn’t balanced like you could be in Iraq or Afghanistan on on I say like $500 a day you know a job or you could be looking after a CEO of of a multi-billion pound organization on $1,500 a day in a festar hotel in
Paris or Barcelona it isn’t balanced at all so I was really focusing on that sort of corporate Clos protection but each time I did a good job there was always a bad job behind it and uh so I just finished the London Olympics in 2012 um great six weeks in London you
Know got exper got went to all the all the events you know my family were there it was amazing yeah and then next week I was in in uh Benghazi and it was September 11th 2012 when the American ambassador got killed and they made a
Movie called 13 hours and I got a phone call from a German oil company called KCA doac asking if I could help him and so I took them from Benghazi to tripley through safe houses that I had already designated and had in my evacuation plan uh over 36-hour period and because of
The success of that two years later I was in Brazil the World Cup the football World Cup yeah you know and another great sporting event 2014 at this point yeah 2014 yeah and done lots of jobs in between and same scenario I was at a major sporting event and then I get a
Phone call from the Canadian embassy now the triple war in Libya civil war between the militias and the government all the other embassies are gone all the security companies are left but these guys were sort of Left Behind and and they said look your name you know multi-billion pound security comps your
Name keeps coming up well let me ask you actually from my business mind I’m thinking okay like you you’re clearly making a name for yourself so you’re getting these calls is this completely off referral in world of mouth and your reputation yeah uh this is pretty much
On reputation at this at um at this stage yeah reputation referral I didn’t um I I never I’ve never had a website um I’ve never really needed one it was almost like Atlanta my wife I got a name of what is it is the man the man who
Goes when others won’t it was it was something like that you know normally if people are going that way I’m I’m walking the other way I sort of joke when I speak to some clients now I goes normally if you see me it means it’s all
Gone wrong or this is your last Last Resort um but it wasn’t um yeah so I’ll go back to that slightly but so I I ended up going in and I single-handedly evacuated the Canadian embassy 18 military and four diplomats uh got them from tripy to uh you say single-handedly
Meaning like you yourself or your team of people I would imagine so my team was me my fixer who was a Libyan guy and and the success of this yeah I’ll go back to my team me my fixer and then two drivers who had fish wagons that’s all I needed
Just four of us yeah three locals and me and so really when I sort of tell these stories and there’s more that’ll come you know sounds very sexy in Hollywood and things like that but actually you know when you see hear about Special Forces you see all the movies on on
Hollywood and things that and that’s that’s known was as the offensive action the biceps the bullets uh the biceps the the bullets and the bombs as we call it you know your Dwayne Johnson Jason STS Expendables the makers look good and it helps probably Navy and Army Recruiting
A lot but actually that’s 25% of what we do and that’s normally Our Last Resort 50% of what we do is called support and influence it’s hearts and Minds so a lot of times as tier one SF we get embedded with locals it’s four to six man teams working with tribes working
Understanding the the ground through of what’s going on so for me that’s what I did in security I just literally took that skill set I didn’t need the weapons they were there if I needed them but I didn’t walk around I’ve never had to carry a weapon on any of my security
Jobs ever and it was understanding demographics the politics the tribal influences you know uh my my fixer you know we were going from Tripoli to uh Tunis you know this is the West Benghazi and and Tripoli totally different there’s 1600 tribes in in Libya so his understanding having the right fixer oh
Yeah for the right area you know so when I did the Benghazi one I couldn’t take the drivers it took us from the Benghazi to the safe house onwards to trip had to get those drivers in so it’s really understanding you know the the the ground truths as well and that was the
Success so 50% of your role is influencing like the the the situation on the ground situation on the ground and and and not what the media I call it the media Monster not what the media monsters telling me what is actually happening on the ground so when I used
To go Yemen so Somalia I go on my own and I go on my on on my own and I’m not been getting any of these like uh security reports or media reports and I’m like you know this is the ground Tru yes there is a a threat uh but I don’t
Think it’s as bad as everyone’s making out you know when I go mugged issue I go spear fishing of mugged issue you know it’s beautiful Coastline so what’s your skill set there because Dean when I think of leadership actually we’re going to talk about that today with you and
Your journey um I think leadership is influence and being able to lead people lead yourself first and foremost but then you be able to lead influences or influence the situation in terms of people having a good understanding from a preparation perspective how does this all come together what are the skill
Sets you need I think the skill sets to me my wife says my USP is I can communicate with anyone anyone doesn’t matter whether you’re a member of the RO family or whether you’re young boy in the street you know I will not change my
Tone or my approach to you I will talk to you doesn’t matter what culture what religion you’re from I speak to everyone you know I’m not a religious person I’m very impartial and that apparently that comes across you know because you look at me you look like a big bow guy with
Tattoos and like quite know scary to approach but you know now that’s what my wife says is is those communication skills you can do that but from a leadership I think you have to always lead by example oh yeah you know when I I used to be an instructor on the uh all
Arms Commando course and I remember doing my commando course and the instructors I’d learned nothing in in in on my commander course I learned how to be cold and wet and do a lot of PT you know we were been instructors would just shout all the time so I didn’t pick up
On anything but when I went back as an instructor you know we were then it was totally different we were having to teach them but we still had a couple of instructors I remember them coming out every morning they’d come out and of course they’d be doing press ups and I’m
Like well and then they’ leave and I said so why you been giving press ups and they’re like we don’t know I was like okay so I would I would really have a bit of banter with them um and if they did press UPS I’d do them with them I
Never asked them that I couldn’t do myself and and that’s one thing that was important and I remember on the on the one of the end of course drinks um the student said they found me more intimidating than the other two why because I was almost a smiling assassin
Because when they did mess up with me as in a genuine mess up it was 10 times worse than what they they gave them but they also felt they’d let me down that was the difference they didn’t really have any respect for these guys just because they scream and shout and curse
It’s like okay but is that because did you develop a relationship why did they feel that connected with you it’s more that relationship thing you know I you know when I come out I get who’s got a joke you know I mean get a joke you know
Could it could it is it you also I’ve been in their position before I remember being 18 nervous like that a little skinny boy and and we’re like oh my God what are they going to do to us today so it’s almost like just calm them down you
Know don’t cuz you can’t they can’t spend 10 12 weeks on a course in fear you know and it needs to be the B there needs to be an element of fear that they don’t not on the sun lounger um but you you’ve got to get the balance right uh
And that’s what I saw through my time in the military I saw good leaders and I saw bad leaders and I literally was just handpicking the best bits that’s a great point from your perspective what would be the qualities that you see and and some of the best leaders and then the
Opposite in terms of leaders that you just never connected with or never could follow a rank what are the qualities and separations of both I think as I just touched on there the ones that scream and shout and the ones and it doesn’t matter if you scream and shout the ones
Who didn’t do you know like I said I would never ask any I couldn’t do myself and I used to see it sometimes like on our commander course team we had a really good team actually even with the other two guys who were quite angry we all carried the kit we all volunteered
To carry the kit and then I remember we had an officer once who came on and he started doing these star jumps alongside him and things like that and then I mean I grabbed Bergen at the end he had nothing in it and I was just like okay
And remember we uh on day one of the course they have to do uh I me it’s 10 overarm pull-ups it’s the entrance test and there so many other tests uh a mile and a half run in Boots in 9 minutes you know these sort of things and we would
Do it with him and he said oh no no we can’t do it with him I said why in case we fail I said well if we’re failing then we shouldn’t be on this on this training team H and so that’s the biggest one for me is is is is the fact
That it’s having that presence without being vocal mhm you know I mean you can still have have presence and have respect from your your students just purely by Leading by example cuz they they’re looking at you all the time totally they’re watching you all the time totally and and that’s and because
I know I’ve been there as a student and I was watching all the time and so for me that’s the biggest thing about being a leader what about from your lens uh being the high press environment that you work in and certainly me being a CEO of a business uh International Fitness
Business there’s a lot of pressure right yeah however there’s a different level of pressure in terms of the business and civilian world than the things that you experience so what does that look like to you I don’t think there is you know sometimes I think the pressures of some
Of the CEOs of these corporates is is harder than ours you know when I was in the when we’re in the teams you know the only pressure we had was to get my team everyone on our team back on that helicopter or back on that submarine or
Whatever alive that was the pressure I had there was quite a small I would argue that’s pretty good pressure you know if something went wrong yeah yeah then it’s life changing it goes wrong but you got some of these CEOs who you know they’ve got um you know got 1500
Staff those staff in have families you know those numbers start getting bigger you know if you start making wrong decisions oh yeah it’s it has that waterfall effect you know your bad decision then may lose jobs then I that family then may be struggling or you know homeless whatever you know so so
For me I I didn’t see that I’ve actually got quite a small responsibility compared to some of the other CEOs so it depends um like for me my wife says like you can drop me anywhere in the world and I’m actually relaxed but when it comes to the business side of work
Contracts and that’s Alana’s bag and and the reason you know Alana has a book called How to ask for money and the best way you should put it we come from an environment you know if I was planning an operation in Afghanistan and I needed like two shinook helicopters I needed a
Spectre gunship I needed fast air I needed UAV I needed 40 guys I needed so much ammunition no one gives me a price no one tells me that bottom line what that price is it’s automatically done for you you know there’s no contracts there’s no ndas there’s no rfis and so I
We come from an environment where we don’t we’re not comfortable in asking for money we’re not comfortable talking about business it’s automatically done for us and so that’s where some people struggle as well so that’s why I think actually me on the ground I’m quite chilled us back home dealing with all
The contracts and everything else that for me is more intimidating than what I do on the ground so I want to uh stop there for a second I want to kind of you know continue down the conversation about security and then the big uh world record that you knocked down but
Speaking of Alana correct yes Alan you are able to work with her she’s your business partner and uh interestingly can I’ve seen in my business career in the fitness space A lot of times uh people decide to partner with their spouse and it can be a very good thing
It also can be very challenging in the same right so could you shed some light from your perspective in terms of working with her The Good the Bad and the Ugly yeah so Alana had the financial background and um when I met her she she then trained to be a close Protection
Officer surveillance and things that and then she got you know then we had Molly so we always really work together I’ve had other business partners and she’s always sort of said give me little warning signs and I oh no no no these guys know what they’re doing and then
They I’ve been let down and then we always end up coming back uh together remember one of my friends he xas saying oh you can never work with your wife it just won’t happen um but actually over the years we’ve found that actually it does happen you know when I was talking
About the tribe earlier you know I was coming out from a tribe of uh amazing talent professionals you know the unrelenting suit of excellen these guys and I’m trying to find it when actually it was already under my nose she was already there you know she had
Everything I was looking for in those skill sets um and so yeah we’ve we’ve literally done this we’ve come out and we come back together come back I mean we’ve actually realized now the last few years actually let’s just work together the hardest thing we find is is trying
To take work out of the house yeah that’s the problem cuzz it’s always always work just consuming it’s just consuming and you can never get away from work you know our nature of our work as well being security you’re 24/7 365 days a year you know in the in the
12 years that I’ve been out there’s two Christmas days that I’ve left two even on Christmas Day I’m working um so it’s that’s the hardest thing about our job and and something we’re we’re uh mindful of moving forward is that there has to be your home time and then there has to
Be uh a work time so creating that separation yeah the other thing too I mean clearly your skill sets are different so I would imagine they’re very complimentary in terms of you working together what does that look like to you yeah know exactly and that’s probably the success uh of our
Relationship in business is is that strength weaknesses you know she knows my strengths and she knows my weaknesses and thankfully my weaknesses are her strengths and her weaknesses are mine so we sort of inwin you know I’m very physically um strong you know Lana hasn’t doesn’t do much PT believe it or
Not she got burnt as a young child so her when she was going through spent 18 months in hospital in a a like a a rap know back in the days know medication’s a lot better now so academically shut up cuz the school was just giving her all
Her work and and she just shut up a stars and everything uh but physically wasn’t doing those so anything academically wise she’s good uh anything physically I’m good she’s more of an introvert I’m very much the extrovert uh and so really we just compliment compliment each other yeah now um what
Would be the most challenging thing and the reason I just asked this is important because you know when partners are coming in and you know it can be a really really good thing my wife and I we work together we built you know our fitness businesses for the last 10 years
Local brick and Motors within the Fit Body franchise it’s been incredible same thing we have opposite skill sets but also it could be challenging so from your lens what does that look like as well and some things to look out for if an audience is listening in about to
Partner with their spouse yeah so for me actually believe or not I’m more risk averse than my wife when it comes to business you know I’m worried no cuz I’ve never dealt with money and things like so I’m worrying about certain things and she’s like no it’s fine and
I’m like okay so that’s a frustration uh for me but also um no trust each other trust each other you know H and actually listen to each other because there C there have been periods of times where I was like well these guys are the experts
And that and we need to be listening to them and then actually know she had the right answer all the way along you know there are people out there who will pull the wool over your eyes you know they that’s why we don’t have a website is because the amount of security companies
Out there all EX Special Forces all do this that and that it just depends on their marketing budget you know for me is actually we don’t need it because we know that we have the talents um so for me yeah trust listen to your partner trust him um and yeah that’s it
Communication’s key communication’s key I’ve done it a few times where I’ve just like okay you know I actually going back to the Canadian embassy uh I came back from that trip and I’d only been home 20 21 days in a 365 day calendar Co I thought Alana wanted me to be out
Working when she thought I wanted to be out working we hadn’t actually communicated and we we know nearly you know split know chapter 16’s called dead or divorce that’s the conversation by the way got gied my man Dean start Relentless right here I’m going to dive
Into it my friend so chapter 16 is dead or divorce she we sat down a couple of bottles of red wine and she’s like you realize you know you’ve only been home 21 days and I I totally dis year in a whole 365 day calendar yeah um and what
It was I disconnected from society um but what I was doing and another sort of pin drop moment in my life was I was trying to match that adrenaline rush I had when I was in the Special Forces without come to terms with the fact that I’d actually left you know thankfully
For me all my missions as a civilian were were successful but should there be an issue I I didn’t have the team guys coming in to rescue me you were you were on your own and so yeah that that again that’s where I sort of reference as partners you know
Communication’s key you know talk to each other cuz yeah we never I mean that’s important Partnerships leadership I mean business life military work so yeah love that all right well I I interjected there continue on the path and eventually I want to lead us to the
Big uh world uh Guinness book or world record I guess that you nailed home so why you walk us through well I think yeah probably from that moment that conversation Alana and I had you know she said you don’t need to going taking his risk she was also a property
Developer had her own property developing business which was doing really well anyway so financially we didn’t need me going out she thought it was more for me to get my my my Thrills yeah yeah and so decided to take a sabatical um hung up my security boots
For a period of time and this leg now we’re talking this is 5 years now after leaving the military to this point and this leg now was um 2 kilos lighter than this leg lighter because of the muscle wastage and you know for all my American friends this a solid5 pounds roughly
Yeah5 pounds yeah in my in my right leg and so during this period of five years in the secureity industry I I sort of neglected my own physical and mental well-being I I took a I took a TRX with me and if I could train I would train
But I wasn’t really allocating any time for my own physical mental wellness and so I just bought a a road bike off Amazon our office at this time in abine was about 8 miles away from the house so I just cycled to him from the house but
Within that first week of cycling was almost like a huge weight off my shoulders that identic I said earlier about losing my physical attributes you know I had my lungs going again I I felt great but you know you’ve heard my backstory I’m sat sat in these Architects and planners meetings with
Alana you know she’s giving me our new son Tommy I’m holding him and and she’s just doing all the business and I just felt you know just felt I wasn’t contributing and she looked over and she could see that that glaze in the eyes so
We got home and she said look this isn’t for you you know you need to do do something to keep yourself physically and mentally engaged but I’m not letting you go back out and start you know risking your life and I said well you know we did a lot of philanthropy we had
Up in that five years as well we do a lot in the philanthropy sector with veterans and so we’re already doing stuff anywhere so well let me do a fundraiser and um maybe a world record and she said well what in I said well cycling’s good could it won’t hurt my
Knee I was trying to find a sport that yeah although I had cycled more than 20 miles in my life you know something that was low impact and so living in Scotland and I thought you know at Lana was going to do east to west coast she pulls out
The Guinness book of records and then just points at this Challenge and it the first challenge we looked at actually was Cairo to Cape Town but majority of my security work was all in Africa so I’d seen the continent anyway so I wanted something that was going to be
New to me and she went found the world’s longest road it’s called the Pan-American Highway which runs from Southern Argentina to Northern Alaska 14,000 miles 14 14,000 miles yeah 22,000 kilometers yeah um 14 countries two continents I said perfect so having only cycled 20 miles I applied for the world
Record you’ve cycled 20 miles in your life at this point Maxim ever 20 mil yeah yeah Ma and the great idea to actually knock down the world record yeah well I knew that you know mentally I had the the uh the robustness uh endurance wise I’ve been tested before I
Just had to do it in something that you know took me out my comfort zone and was new to me yeah and so yeah I apply for the world record it was 120 it was 126 days at the time and was the record was the record at that point when I
Applied for the Wheel record six weeks later Guinness came back and said yes you’ve been successful in the application form but now the new whe record is 117 days in that period of the six weeks a Mexican guy called Carlos had already you know shaved nine days
Off eight nine days what year is this roughly so this is 20 this is now towards the end of 2016 okay so you have this idea okay you like a challenge you’re up for it although you haven’t cycled more than 20 miles in your life yeah you have the mental fortitude for
It your wife’s thrown out you know different options you thought maybe in the UK one in Cairo South Africa but she actually pulls out the Pan-American Highway 14,000 miles the world’s longest you figure okay I’m going to put in an application for the Guinness Booker World Records it comes back and by the
Time the application comes back nine days is are been shaved off by another dude what’s your thought process here and what’s the next step uh my thought process there was um you know I I well my thought process was I need to get on a bike first there was two things there
Was the planning side and there was the physical side So within a week I ended up there so for a lot of cyclists they train over the summer to do a Sentry ride it’s like 100 mile ride and uh the following weekend there was a Sentry ride in and around Scotland it was
Called the eat Royale which wasn’t far from us in in in the country of Scotland so I hired a bike and I I I entered this race did the 100 miles and I I remember seeing people in their 60s 70s just coming past me and I was I was like oh
My word you know and it really open eyes how difficult you know could be cycling but actually what it did to gave me a boost is that actually these people are old you know cuz that was one of the things as well I’m aged 40 when I’m
Applied for this world record yeah so I’m not a young pup and so that also gave me a bit of a kick up the bum but also motiva age isn’t a barrier on this um two weeks later so we did it for a charity called heads together which was
A mental health charity uh 11 Charities four veterans seven civilian ones everything from young children te teenagers all the way up to uh the veterans and the adults and um so I did a promo video um with Prince Harry uh good friend of mine it was his charity
That we we said we’d do it for so when the cameras had finished on the promo video he said oh what sort of training are you going to do there’s a famous ride in UK called lanzen Jon Gro it’s top of Scotland to the the southwest corner of England it’s about it’s like
Sing from LA to Portland it’s about 950 Mi oh yeah and so Harry had asked if I would do it as some of the members in in Victor’s games in the March the following March and we’re probably in we’re in October now yep uh I said yeah
Of course but I wasn’t comfortable just going on a ride with them I wanted to sort of like do it myself and so two weeks later I just only two weeks been cycling cycled L and John did everything completely wrong nearly 1,000 miles nearly th000 miles did it all completely
Wrong I saw it in a magazine someone did it N9 days I was do it in nine days and people like you’re not bike fit you’re not ready I thought bike fit was Fitness when actually it was a measurements to your bike you know I did everything
Completely wrong but I had to do it because the paname highway was 15 Len J Gros back to back at a six day rate not a nday pace and so it was a mental boost that I had to go through and I have to think people in the UK who do this
Particular race in the UK that is like the Pinnacle of their career yeah a lot of people it would it would be on their bucket list yeah it’s on their bucket list whatever they do it in nine days whether they race it or whatever they just take their time you know it’s what
They want to do but for me it was a training ride it a training ride yeah and I never mean to sound arrogant cuz then 6 months later later I did it with the Invictus games guys and we and we set off this time from Scotland down and
It was a totally different experience I now had six months training in I had a coach I knew about Cadence had a bike that fit me and yeah I just I just saw it was a training ride it was a n-day training ride and it had to be I had to
Sort of get into that mindset uh for that holy smoke so you knocked that down now what’s the next preparation look like for the big race so next preparation I was looking at the um the countries that were going through the temperatures and it literally had everything when did the bite ride you
Know it went from plus 47° Centigrade 120 plus to- 18° centigrade and everything in between you know so so I fortunate in the military to have been in the desert the Jungle the Arctic you know operated them but I never done it on a bike so I wanted to sort of
Replicate those situation scenarios before I went on the Challenge from a preparation perspective Sim the same condition simulate yeah so I flew out to Dubai it was 50° out there did two week which is probably like 125° yeah that’s it yeah so I was cycling in the day for 4 hours and
Cycling at night which is still probably about 110 okay um and then yeah just so I could be happy with myself what my body was doing uh what I needed to do to adjust to ensure that I can do 100 150 miles uh I had a friend who had a
CrossFit gym out in Thailand you know 100% humidity you know but the roads weren’t safe but I went out there did a lot of CrossFit training uh I actually started the bik ride weighing £2 200 and I didn’t look like an endurance cyclist but my mindset cuz cyclists are probably
So lean and th as that pen you know if my Coach had have it’ have Me 2 to 3% body fat as th that pen and here you are 200 muscle bound dude yeah but I I again I’d not cycled or anything like that i’ done nine days whatever but for me it
Was like when we start Special Forces selection you know you don’t start day one 100% fit because you’ll burn out by week two or three you start about 75 80% % fit carrying a bit of weight and then as the course goes you know it’ be hard
At the beginning but as you start shaving the weight as you start getting fitter you you have those reserves and so that was the mindset I had for this but it was also doing the research it was almost like doing a Polar Expedition I would lose weight from the day I
Started to the day I finished I would never be able to put on weight because the amount of calories I was burning you knew that going in I knew that going in and so I wanted to have that additional weight to help me so without spoiling it
Well I will spoil it but I started at 90 Kil or 200 and I finished at 78 kilos which would be 25 26 oh wow so you lost 25 in the journey so so I I know I it was a right decision to have that weight on
Yeah so yeah so I was doing all that training altitude wise you know there’s a famous bik R called Tour of France oh yeah and they do about 20 to 25 uh kilometers their biggest climb each year depending which route my biggest climb was uh was 67 km from sea level to
45,000 m in a day uh so so I went from the banana plantations up into the mountains and so again I had to work at altitude I found a altitude Center I would cycle at altitude the hardest I think the hardest one of the hardest
Bike rides I did a 10hour w bike session solid just on a on a w bike in the altitude room what what type of bike is that a w bike is H it gives you the the power it tells you the your wattage the power you’re pushing through your pedals
It’s on a it’s on a screen in front of you a lot of cyclist use it now yeah yeah so I uh I Ed you know just got to try and keep the perfect peanut you know it’s about balance of power so yeah I
Did 10 hours yeah I did I had a shopping bag on the handlebars we just snacked just 10 hours at altitude and people were coming in throughout the day in London and sort of joining me so but again just to tick off that on the day I
Can cycle 10 plus hours a day at altitude so what’s this preparation look like how much time are you you know setting your preparation before you actually attack one year we gave ourselves one year yeah so I was due to set off you know so I well it’s a bit
Over a year actually because did the video in the October did the Len J GR in the November and we then got our main sponsor um probably again October 2017 and my original start date was the 1st of March 2018 and they said look we have a big annual company meeting can you
Come guest speak 10,000 people in the O2 Arena you know they they then became the sponsor and so for me I was like perfect but I wasn’t comfortable in in breaking my training to come down for a week do all the pr to then go back home for
Maybe a week and a half to then fly to Argentina so I was like spoke to my wife Alana who was running the campaign uh order logistic spoke to the uh support team and the documentary team they were ready I was physically and mentally ready so I brought it forward a month so
For me I was getting into the right mindset Alanda said she sees it every time I leave is I start disconnecting from the family and getting into the zone so I wanted to say goodbye to my kids and then that was it I didn’t want
To be then coming back and then you know say goodbye to my kids and then get into the Zone get ready and so yeah we moved it forward a month um we had a big fundraiser that evening of the ACM they raised 265,000 and then matched it pound
For pound so we had 530,000 you raised nearly half a million or over a half a million before it even set off before it even set off and how did you do that um so literally so heads together which is the mental health campaign the launch
Platform for was the um was a London Marathon but you had Prince Harry William Kate they were the patrons for it and everyone started talking about mental health so a lot of the big corporates wanted to get back behind that and and sort of support support that did you leverage your relationship
With Prince Harry he’s a good friend of yours we tried to leverage it uh but actually becomes more of a negative and a positive you know moving forward a lot of people think having a big name yeah to it helps and actually doesn’t really it did help and it did help and it
Didn’t help you know mean um I think on this matter it probably did help okay um but also we were fundraising as well you know we also were planning this was one of the the strangest things we we’ done a fundraising event in Aline a few months before and we raised £70,000
Towards the the Char which is good but we had to use £50,000 of that as a deposit for the hotel for the welcome back function we were planning a a function six months before I was even setting off and you know you so you can imagine that we we we got this
Fundraising team together which is led by atana uh we had a huge events manager down in London and we’re having this conversation and she’s like so Dean what is the contingency plan you know and I I never used to answer her and Alana would say well the contingency as we go to
Dean’s funeral so and she’s a good friend of mine Amanda but when but you can imagine the pressure we’re already selling tickets with Prince Harry as a guest for this thing for the welcome back that I’m going to break this whe record you know I mean like once you
Finish the race this a welcome back C with this within about four weeks of getting back yeah four weeks of getting back but um so yeah that was all going on behind the scenes as well so not only were we planning the campaign the bik ride and training every else we also you
Know trying to could we set a target of a million pounds that was our Target as well the world records was for me the world records was so that I had motivation to get up every morning when it’s snowing get out you know I had to
Have a Target you know in the in the military we’re very Target driven or Mission OB Mission driven and that was the mission that was the mission and so that was my mission and Lana’s mission was a million pounds so we had a number of things going on at the same times
Which is very very I guess relatable to the business world you got to have a mission this is why I love working with people from the military a lot of people from the military have came in and join our brand because that mission Focus you set a Target and you take action until
You hit you have to yeah yeah you have to and so yeah we set off and um you know keep it short you know the will record was 17 17 days as I mentioned I was aiming for 110 and it wasn’t because I wanted to smash it by a week you know
When I was doing when I was looking at the planning and the researching and and everything else I there was things out of my control natural disasters coups in the country there was a coup actually in Nicaragua four weeks after I cycled through um third party influence things
Are out your control so if you encounter any of them I didn’t want to eaten into my time I wanted to give myself that fudge and so my target was always 110 days on the challenge you just build in fudge or Flo I would call it like extra
Week extra week yeah so if we did encounter them I’m not try I’m not then chasing myself I’ve given myself and when your target is 110 days did you reverse engineer like how many miles per day that you run the timing and all that yeah we had a thing called The Oracle
And we literally knew how many miles we were going to do each day um up until the end but that only lasted the first week you know the first week we had uh 50 mph winds in in h in Honduras Nicaragua in um ushaa the bottom of
ARA bottom of the Earth the bottom of the Earth yeah you know living in aines like living in Chicago is the windy sea but i’ never experienced winds like it so by the end of the first week you know I I was 30 miles behind Target but my
Target was still a week ahead of the world record um and then from then on the the the weather changed and from that point on I was just gains it was gains and gains in a good way and the Oracle kept changing now let me ask you
Here Sor to interject but uh you said start in Argentina knowing your story I actually want to be able to provide you some space to give the insight to our audience why you start in Argentina because from my understanding the previous World Records didn’t do didn’t
Go that route no they didn’t when I was doing my research you know I was looking I uh at the route and the guys were going from Argentina to Alaska and you know one of the things we do in the in the military uh one of the reason one of
The best military or special forces in the world isn’t because we got the best caliber of guys the best training it’s because we’re always learning you know learning from other people you know Gathering that information and and learning from our mistakes and so I reached out to the previous record
Holders uh there was a guy who did it in 126 days Scott napia Carlos who broke it in 117 days uh there was two gentleman Axel and Andreas who I met in Dubai who had the South America world record as a pair and and there’s another gentleman
Mark Bowmont he’s done Around the World in 80 Days very famous cyclist he’s also done that route so you intentionally reached out to all these people has guys and mentors yeah intally reached out and literally bumped into the two guys in in Dubai and I and the and the hot debrief
Consists of three questions and it’s great because it’s not just in sport military it’s in business as well it’s that what worked what didn’t work and if we were going to do that again what would we do differently it’s just three very simple questions and so these guys
Are quite open in in giving me all their information they said well look you know all their issues were’re in South and Central America be it bureaucracy languages or spare sort of B apart from Carlos his was more more and more America um you know spares for the bikes
Uh the weather issues it was all down in the South but they started in Alaska and finish in Argentina so for me being a military guy was like why take a gamble with a second half of the challenge why not address those issues early get them
Out the way and then once we’re in North America you know hopefully everything’s behind us and so that’s what I did I one of the things I’m proud of I turned on his head 180 and I started from Argentina and went up so you attacked the biggest issues at first got them out
Of the way yeah eat the Frog which I think is a great analogy of life and success and Excellence yeah good on you man yeah it was it was a good decision from a cycling perspective from a logistics perspective it was slightly different so so coming up um you know I
Got Tailwind in Peru after the winds out of Argentina you know the weather was great I got Tailwind in Peru so that’s 2,500 km of a Tailwind help right on my back you know I took 10 days off to South America America will record you know before we even got to the second
Half but we were having to change the vehicles in every country you couldn’t get a vehicle from Argentina to Chile you had to swap at the border and then Chile to Peru so it was slowing us down oh yeah yeah but you can if you can cross the uh daring gap between Panama
And Columbia that’s the only part you have to fly over or or get a ferry y if you can get a vehicle from Alaska all the way to Argentina coming up we’re having to swap Vehicles so Atlanta um we are sponsored then bought an RV in a 4×4
Uh it was in Fort Lauderdale it was going to get shipped to Panama and that would then once I broke the South America Wheel record fly from Colombia from kahena to Panama City those Vehicles would take us all our way to Alaska was this planned or you did this
Okay this was planned yeah this this was planned this wasn’t planned actually this was planned halfway through South americaid yeah mid route we need to Chang the plan you know and so we changed the plan but then I was in Ecuador about two weeks out and ATA gets
A phone call and says that the vehicles haven’t been loaded on the container they’re still here in they’re still in Florida so familyy for me Alana my PA and two of my friends flew out and they drove the vehicles 4,000 mi in 8 days from uh Fort Lauderdale through Mexico
All the way through Central America to Panama so you got to be kidding me no so I broke the world record at 8:00 in the morning and by noon I flew over Atlant the world record for South America South America yeah so and South America world
Record for me was just a tiof a lot of people messaged me they’re like hey you can relax now you got will record I said no because that’s not the will record I’ve told the world I’m doing that’s just a Brucey bonus you know I mean on
The way but it’s one of those tick-off features in my head and yeah broke the world record Alana drove in an hour later and literally gave us the keys and then that would then take us on so what where the importance of that is people
See the front of house to see the CEO to see the person in the face of the business it’s actually the team around you which is success so people saw me on the bike you know I’m riding the bike but actually I had there was so many
Moving parts around me which you know if it wasn’t for them doing that you know probably wouldn’t have broke it in such a fast time so that’s the important to them and and like Special Forces for every operator for us to step on the ground jump out plane whatever take
Seven other people we don’t see seven seven to one ratio is what it is team sport baby team sport shooting this podcast right now you and I you’re a talent today but my team Pablo La in the back and all my marketing putting this together that’s just a great analogy for
In this case business but in your case leadership military you know breaking World Records yeah and if one of them wasn’t here or able to do their job then this won’t be happening it’s exactly the same in ours it needs everyone in that team from top to bottom for it to work
And so yeah so that was the uh that was the um that was the the South America uh issue with that but I and and then I got into you know and then I got into North America on Day 70 and I’m like 14 days ahead I’m like perfect you know two
Weeks ahead of pace two weeks ahead of pace you’re feeling great right now feeling great now and I’m like okay you know we’re good to I don’t know whether coming into US was such a a relief in the fact that everyone spoke the language you know the culinary options
Were a lot better um but also the fact that the previous record holders all their issues now were behind us you know what I mean so from mentally as well mentally yeah I’ve eaten the Frog I’ve done it and I’m now 14 days ahead but an
Hour into Texas I got five I had five Miss calls off Atlant you know she’s now back in UK with the kids and so my aut and she’s very good at keeping distractions away from it so my automatic thought was there’s something wrong with the children so straight off
The phone and I called him and she said oh what do you wear to a royal wedding I said sorry she what would you wear to a royal wedding I said what do you mean she goes oh we’ve been invited to Harry and Megan’s wedding I said oh that’s
Nice and she goes no you don’t realize you’re now a day behind you know your the earliest flight you can get back to make the wedding is day 102 and I’m and I’m going for 17 day will record so 14 day going into the phone call is 14 days
Ahead 10 minutes later I’m now a day behind that is just like an anergy for life and business holy hell so yeah I’d mix emotion cycling off my Ginger friend um was nice to be invited but uh so yeah so we then had to change the change the
The second half of the challenge you know in what way um in South America because of the security situation and things that it wasn’t safe to be on the roads at night so my my was Prett any any daylight hours so more first light to last Light in North America we had
The luxury of security you know you could cycle at night so I got to um I got to lck the next day and we had 50 m hour winds and tornadoes and so I was grounded for another day I um so it’s now two days behind there’s a great
App on your phone I used to call it my second wife cuz I was always looking at it it’s called windy TV and it gives you the strength and directions of the Winds every every hour for the next two weeks it’s about 95% accurate so I was just literally just scrolling hour looking
What the winds were doing and I was making a a plan I had to cycle 340 mil in the next 36 hours to miss the next weather window and so I did that and then basically I was just playing chess with Mother Nature on on the app and and
Most times the wind subsided was at night so the majority of my cycling was done in the evening but also I was using it to my advantage I had to get to Cheyenne one morning so I cycled from Pueblo uh which is in Colorado yeah all
The way up to the border of of Wyoming in in a day about 180 miles because the next morning I had to be in Cheyenne and I picked up a 9 uh at 9:00 a.m. I picked up a a huge tailwind and I cycled 270 mi in 11 hours with with 10,000 FT
Elevation so we had 17 days planned for North America I cycled in 11 and a half days so I pulled back that time that I needed shave six days off yeah shave six days off to get back for this uh wedding and then that was uh that was shortlived
That that emotion as well because I was in a town called uh White Horse uh about an a week outside Fairbanks and I’m in McDonald’s and I’m you know because I can eat whatever I want you’re in Alaska now I’m I’m in um canas I’m I’m just
Coming in Canada just coming in into into Alaska and I’m I’m just eating all this U McDonald’s and the two gentlemen I mentioned from Dubai Axel and Andreas were follow me and they’re like this guy’s come out he he’s a professional cyclist he’s got three other will
Records he actually got the Cairo cake Town whe record sponsored by Red Bull young 26 year old as thin as that pen and he um he come out and said that he was going to cycle the Pan-American Highway in August and be the first man
To do it under 100 days that was his goal and I was like great so every time I hit my objective my objective kept moving and so for me I could have probably just yeah let him have a go um and then just carried on on my own pace
Or and then sort of try and live with yourself that you know did you give it your oil um so I just pushed on and for the last the last two days I planned it I was that right have 250 miles to do and
Then I’m in under the 100 days so I did the first 50 miles and at noon we hit this roadblock and um it’s on a road called Dalton’s Highway the last 400 miles it’s where they film Ice Truckers the last 400 miles of the race last 400
Miles at a race takes from Fairbanks all the way up to the Arctic Ocean and what month is this right now this is in May okay so may you’re Alaska you’re like basically at the home stretch I’m at the home stretch I’m at the home stretch my
Family have now flown into prudo Bay that to see finish yeah see I think they’re the only kids ever to be on an oil on the on the oil rig uh CU it’s it’s Big Oil Company up there or reserves and so um yeah so 50 miles hit
This stop sign in the gills at in a big gravel a gravel road goes no one’s passing to 8:00 tonight I I’m trying to break a whe record but you know for them it’s health and safety so lost 8 hours straight away uh I I went in the RV made
A cup of tea and again I just started looking at the map made a plan thankfully it was a land in a midnight sun it doesn’t get dark in Alaska so I had daylight at night and so 8:00 that night when the road workers moved off I
Cycled all the way till 7:00 the next evening uh the next 200 miles the winds were so strong I was only moving between 9 and 11 miles an hour um but I just kept going so I cycled by 18 uh sorry 22 hours in the last 30 hours was in minus
18 to make sure that I came in under the 100 days holy smokes so we did it in 99 Days 12 hours and 56 minutes just under 100 just under 100 yeah so it wasn’t it wasn’t the original plan you know if I’d known about the wedding if I’d known
About the world record um you know it may have been too much you don’t know I had five days off fre J we and two Logistics I may not have taken taken them off and I may have burnt out you just don’t you just don’t know so let me
Ask you the question what worked what didn’t and what would you do different if you had to do it again what worked was the south to North I I think what didn’t work was the logistics I’d probably uh I’d probably do a bit more research and maybe speak to some of the
Embassies and get some sort of dispensation um for that and I wouldn’t do anything different it was my challenge it’s the way that I did it you know if I was to do that again exactly the same it would be different because there’s so many factors in play you know
The weather being one you know the political situations Nicaragua having a coup four weeks after you know things that in you know you can’t control the uncontrollables is what I say you know you just go with whatever is in front of you and I think the success of this is
Is twofold I sort of contradict myself it was good to have a plan and we had a a solid plan we had the Oracle we had it on digital we had it on paper everyone knew their roles but actually the success was being reactive to all the
Changes that happened you know that was a success being able to adapt and overcome just roll yeah just adap over overcome just roll it you know the start point and the Finish point will always be the same the route there you just bounce along dude man that’s incredible
So so humbled so inspired I guess uh a few more questions around this mindset this is something you talked about you always had a strong mindset was that factory installed uh or was that developed and if so how did you how have you developed a rock solid mindset to do
An incredible things like you’ve done including this race yeah I I get asked quite often you know is it something in stored or you know but um I think for me you know as a young child my father was the Ted lasso of the um of the army he
Was the soccer manager player and Coach so he was what we call a tracksuit Soldier so his whole career was sport sport sport and so in the house everything was competitive so I had a very competitive drive from my father I probably wasn’t as confident until I
Then joined the military and then when I started growing and then seeing that actually although I had to competitive I was always trying to be the first and then when I actually realized I was I was up there you know that mental boost then sort of helped and then yeah there
Then got a point I remember my uh we have these annual reports and um every year mine would be the same you know know corpal start Sergeant start you know color Sergeant start you know there um there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance and it wasn’t
That I was arrogant it’s just that I was confident it was oozing and and for me it was like well you need to be confident because your guys are looking at you you know you’re leading these guys through doors jumping out of planes and things that if you lack confidence
Then it’s going to have the ripple effect you know they see fear in you you know it’s going to have the effect and so for me it then became yeah just became part and parcel I was confident nothing and then also working with like tier one special forces you know
Everything has to be a success and all it is is Mission success and you have to have that right mindset if you go in with any slight doubt without being naive we’re not totally you know thinking we’re indestructible but we but because we’re confident in in the way
That we’ve trained we’ve trained and rehearsed then we’re confident we would do it and how was that I guess led to leadership in terms of your sense of accomplishment when you’re winning when you’re you know Victorious I would imagine your following are going to buy in your leadership more yeah that’s it
Yeah you you lead by example they see the successes you’re doing you know I’m not a cyclist you know and what I was trying to promote with this is that anyone can s anyone can take a sport at any age and be successful you know you
See these you know when you look at these other athletes you know you strip it all down they’re just normal human beings but people don’t see that they see like these superheroes you know I in the special it’s we’re just normal individuals and that’s what I’m trying
To do is trying to break down you know that’s what that’s what we are you know we’re not we’re nothing special we don’t come from another planet uh we’re born on the same Planet we’ve just we just uh surround ourselves with with the right people the right training but also have
The right attitude and approach you know it starts with yourself people say I’ve always said said it’s belief you need to believe yourself cuz if if you don’t believe yourself and no one else is going to believe you where does that come from how do you develop belief um I
Think that comes from from time you know if IID done that bik ride at 20 24 years old at a nice prime age I probably wouldn’t have done it you know you can’t be experienced without experiences and so all those experiences i’ I’ve done whether it’s in the military whether
It’s in the security whether it’s in sport they all relate they’re all relatable and so I sort of look into look into that you know what what there might not be the exact same experiences but there similar scenarios you know how did you how did you do what work what
Didn’t what would you do differently and just having those fre questions in everything you do so and like stacking the wins and you know winning and sensing accomplishment when you do those like that just adds the whole ethos of your mindset to strengthen your leadership perspective so it all just
Kind of forces Force multiplies together yeah exactly and and know we’re telling about all the success stories you know there’s failures along the way you know people see the successes but you also need to you know balance with the failures don’t think you could you’d be successful and win at everything because
No no one can no one can um so it’s how you deal with those failures and those losses you know pick yourself back up and uh and crack you know like for me I picked myself up after the parachute and injury it took me five years to pick
Myself up but did and realize yeah but you know I then realize that you know there I am still physically capable of doing stuff it might not be running anymore but I can do it in into another sport my man Dean this has been so freaking expiring inspiring I’m just
Fired up hopefully audience you are too I’m standing in the presence of Gress greatness Relentless Pur suit of excellent which I know is your Mantra um so you’ve been gracious with your time I still have a few more minutes so I’m going to round us down with the bonus
Round and see us out if that works for you my friend yeah let’s do it all right bonus round you are a hero to many who is your biggest hero and why uh my biggest hero I I I never watched Telly never read Comics as a kid my proba
Biggest hero looking back is my father um you know my parents split when I was younger uh at the age of eight and my father would travel 240 miles every other weekend to pick me and my sisters up you know put his career on hold um
And now being a a military man I knew how much he sacrificed uh for that you know he told me at the last two minutes when I joined the military you know wasn’t the best things but I now I know that’s reverse psychology I know he had
Good intentions um so yeah my father good on you yeah on the flip side what about enemy or villain who is your biggest villain or a force that you’re I guess uh looking to overcome probably biggest villain is myself my biggest enemy is myself and sometime like
Believe it or not doubt myself a lot you know my wife was the one or not so much anymore you know I believe it now but in the earlier stages when I left the military and I was I can’t do that you know cuz you know you know I can’t ask
For that amount of money she goes no you’re worth that money I go yeah but my friends are good at that she go no you’re different from your you know I didn’t see how good I was or or the um the potential that I had within I it was
Someone else who had to pull it out of me um so yeah so my biggest enemy and villain was probably myself uh you seem Fearless but you know as we know we’re humans right what’s your biggest fear and why my biggest fear probably is failure and and and and well anyone who
Says they’re Fearless talks rubbish everyone has fears you need to have fears you know I take some of those fears and I turn it into into positive energy you know for me I’ve got myself in a in a position um that everyone expects you’re going to do it all the
Time you know actually when I did the bite ride we had a documentary team and um that the the director was like to my wife this guy is shown no emotion it’s like a military operation I machine baby yeah he like machine I was just hitting
My targets like yeah and then and then we had a coffee in the RV and we got chatting and it was didn’t realize the camera was on and I said look everyone has feir I said look my biggest fear is I’ve no so the unrelenting pursuit of
Excellence is an ephos to the UK Special Forces um which me and my wife a trademark for for physical activity and um so the unrel pursuit of Excellence is OS UK Special Forces so I said to them you know I’ve told the world this is our
OS what does it look like to the world if I fail this challenge so actually my pressures I had on a bite ride were self-induced I had no pressures from the sponsors no pressures from the Charities they were like loving it it was for me
Was whether I could show face in the bar again back in the Special Forces Unit and that was it you know so that’s my biggest fear is failure but you channel that but you Channel it you just take those fears adrenaline you know when you guys are parachuting doing a lot of guys
Don’t even like jumping or diving but they do it they just they just Channel it and just you and have a a positive output leadership you’ve certainly LED yourself LED an incredible amount of team in your special forces career G given a lot of incredible advice what’s
One of the best pieces of advice you’ve ever received and why uh my best piece of advice actually was actually when I was uh I was out I just um no it wasn’t I was when I was in it was actually the evening I met Alana and it wasn’t from
Alana it was from a a mutual friend and he said uh you make your own luck that’s what he told me you make your own luck you know cuz I was uh you know I knew I I I I’d seen what some of the guys were
Doing and I was I can’t do that said know make your own luck you know nothing gets handed to you on a plate and I I sort of took that and that’s what I’ve probably done in in my in in my private security career you know as you know
Recently with with Israel you know within 24 hours of it going off you know I flew out there you make your own like you go out there you know you see opportunities you know you you seese seese certain uh opportunities and you you just grab them no one’s going to
Give you on a plate you know so yeah make your own luck was one that stood out for me love it all right my friend two last questions um our audience is watching you and seeing the list of accomplishments and all the things that you’ve done also the transitions you’ve
Made in your life which you know creates transition identity and accomplishment um from your lens what’s your parting piece of wisdom or message for someone listening or watching this podcast they know know they’re meant for something better um but there’s a transition ahead but they’re scared they’re nervous they
Have that self self-doubt what is your Parton piece of wisdom for that so my P and piece of wisdom for them and I’ve I’ve used it before some of my recruit recruits and going forward even myself is anticipation is worse than participation people overthink things too much when actually once they then
Take the leap they’ve done it they then look back on reflection like actually it wasn’t that bad um so I’d say anticipation is worse than participation jump two feet in all right my friend as you can see the sign back the name of this show this podcast is the fitness
CEO podcast Dean from your lens what does it mean to be a CEO I mean to be a CEO you’re in charge of your own destiny you know you know I I left I left an environment in the military where I was being told what to do and what to do and
I actually I I quite like that um but now coming back you know if there is a mistake if something’s gone wrong there’s no one I I I Look to or look to blame it it’s on me so you’re in charge of your own destiny and um
Yeah enjoy it don’t be scared um you know a lot of people are scared they like to have that comfort of knowing that they’ve got some sort of top cover you are the top cover you will make mistakes don’t worry about it just do the uh the hot debrief what worked what
Didn’t work and if you’re going to do again what would you do differently so again about the failure people do fail people do make mistakes but I don’t like to call them failures I like to call them experiences so you’ve had that experience but if you make that same
Mistake again then you haven’t learned from that experience so you can make mistakes as many mistakes as you want as long as they’re not repeated all right before we wrap I want to give you the opportunity to make sure audience can connect with you awesome book Relentless
Uh where can our audience find you if this is the first time they’re connecting uh so I’m on social media Instagram and Facebook as Dean and website dean.com awesome we’ll put all that in the show notes Dean my friend this has been awesome it was great
Connecting a few months ago at BK live and uh I guess I just want to uh spend a few words not only to thank you for being on the show but just acknowledge you as a person and when I look back and you know short short time knowing each
Other but connecting now the second time seeing you on stage seeing them in the green room um courageous leadership passion but most importantly heart you know your ability to help other people come with a serving heart your huge heart for philanthropy that just says a
Lot about you so I just want to thank you and acknowledge you for that thank you I appreciate it thank you well my friends I know you got a ton of value assuming you did two ask for you if you can like this uh particular episode and
Share this with someone who needs a sense of inspiration some motivation to attack their life and attack their Big Dreams that would help us a lot and uh assuming you got a lot of value please do and as always my man Dean appreciate you be on the show if no one is coming
To save you you must save yourself and the time is now thank you so much and we’ll see you in the next Episode
1 Comment
Dean is the MAN! Respect!