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Luke Tasker is a full-time Vancouver firefighter, a former Team GB modern pentathlete, and one of the newest names in pro triathlon. He won Ironman Victoria in his debut and took fifth at IRONMAN 70.3 NorCal against a stacked field. But his real story isn't about how fast he's climbed. It's about a man who knows exactly what he's living for, and isn't shy about saying it. We talk about leaving the UK for one ski season and never going back, and the 59 days he spent on a four-man rowing boat around Britain. He shares the psychologist's exercise that kept that crew from falling apart. He opens up about a father he's no longer close to but refuses to resent, and about why he tells his best friend he loves him. We also get into the 12 seconds that cost him a Worlds slot, and his unapologetic atheism, which leads to a candid, respectful back-and-forth on faith, meaning, and what happens when it's all over. This is a conversation about conviction: what it looks like to build a life around love and family when you believe this one is all you get, and what two people who see the world very differently can learn just by listening. Luke’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/taskertri/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Cole Kynoch is a first-year professional triathlete racing for Roka Standard Racing and an after-sales area manager for Lamborghini's Americas region — one of the more unusual day-job-and-side-hustle combinations on the pro circuit. But his real story isn't about supercars or race splits; it's about a self-described "jack of all trades, master of none" learning, later than he'd like, that figuring everything out alone isn't the same as thriving. We talk about what pushed him to turn pro after years of finishing races alone off the front of the amateur field, how growing up as the oldest with twin younger sisters shaped his instinct toward self-sufficiency, why asking for help still doesn't come naturally to him, what mutual respect and loyalty mean to him as guiding principles, his path from Volkswagen to Lamborghini and what climbing that corporate ladder actually looks like, and his evolving, agnostic relationship with faith — including why he walked away from a checklist version of religion in favor of just trying to live with integrity. This is a conversation about the quiet cost of always being the one who figures it out — in sport, at work, and in marriage — and what changes when you finally let people, and maybe something bigger than yourself, in. Cole’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/cole_tries_tris/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Benjamin Randall — known to most of the internet as Triathlete Benny — is a professional triathlete and a staff writer at Colorado State University. But his real story isn't the run splits people argue about in the comments; it's the shy only child who just wanted friends, and the years he spent training close to 40 hours a week trying to outrun something he couldn't name. What he's built since is less about fitness than about finally being a whole person. We talk about being labeled "just a runner who does triathlon," the strange math of having your worth measured in three sports, the high school journalism teacher who lit the fire that still drives his writing, and the coaches who found him at his lowest and asked what he was actually doing. Ben opens up about his eating disorder and the inpatient treatment that followed, grapples honestly with what recovery looks like when your sport rewards the same obsessiveness that nearly broke you, and shares the mental reframe that pulled him out of black-or-white thinking — plus why shoving his watch in his pocket made him faster. This is a conversation about what happens when you stop performing your identity and start living it. If who you are depends entirely on what you did last Saturday, what's left on the days you don't race? Benny’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/triathletebenny/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Tegan Phillips is a South African cartoonist, adventure writer, and creator known for her women's cycling comedy — and for riding 11,000 kilometers across Africa with her family. But her real story isn't the big adventures. It's the quieter, less glamorous choice to stay put and build something sustainable when running away would have looked braver. We talk about growing up in Cape Town and what inequality teaches a kid early, the boxes families and social media put us in, the eating disorders and comparison that shaped her teenage years, what it took to learn how to be honest in a friendship, and the gap between her chaotic online persona and the methodical business owner behind it. She opens up about the book she's been dragging her feet on for five years, and shares the most practical advice we've had on the show: if you want to make a living from your art, you have to learn how business actually works. This is a conversation about the difference between following your heart and running from discomfort — and how hard it is to tell them apart without time alone to figure out which voice is which. Tegan’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/teganphillipscomics/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Mike Reilly is the legendary voice of IRONMAN finish lines—the man who has called thousands of athletes across the finish line with four iconic words: "You are an Iron Man." But after decades of defining his life around announcing races and chasing the next event, Mike grapples with what it means to step away from the role that made him a household name in endurance sports. His real story isn't about the accomplishments or the voice—it's about learning, finally, where his actual finish lines really are. We talk about his parents' example of perseverance without preaching, what it truly means to be yourself in public, why sharing your goals with loved ones changes everything, the cost of missing anniversaries and birthdays for races, finding balance across mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions, staying sharp as you age, caregiving when you can't fix what's broken, and why your real finish lines aren't at races. Mike also opens up about his second book—a 15-month project that taught him more about writing and purpose than he expected—and why stepping away from Ironman felt like crossing the finish line he'd been training for all along. This is a conversation about finding your real finish line when the world has already built a monument to a different one. It's about presence over performance, legacy over accolades, and learning that what you do every day at home matters infinitely more than any achievement on a stage. Mike’s Book - Finding your Finishline: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HFG73C6H Mike’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/ironmanvoice/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

John Mollura spent 15 years leading mission-critical field testing for NASA and elite US military units. But his real gift—the ability to read people and see exactly what makes them tick—nearly destroyed everything. This is the story of how he learned to wield that power as a tool for connection instead of control, and what it cost him to get there. We talk about the moment a spiritual awakening forced him to see himself clearly, how he went from using emotional intelligence as a weapon to wielding it as a leader, and the painstaking work of separating your self-worth from your performance. John shares practical wisdom on the Enneagram, the difference between reacting and responding, why discretion is harder to develop than competence, and the quiet courage it takes to let the people you love struggle and figure things out on their own. Whether you're an athlete grappling with identity beyond sport, a leader trying to hold people accountable with grace, or someone trying to break reactive patterns that have shaped your entire life, John's journey offers both the challenge and the blueprint for transformation. John’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-mollura/John’s Site: https://johnmollura.com/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Peter Stetina is a professional gravel racer, former World Tour cyclist, father of twins, and one of the early architects of modern professional gravel racing. In this conversation, we dive deep into his career transition from the pressure-cooker of European road cycling to the emerging gravel scene—and what that journey taught him about identity, sacrifice, and what actually matters. We talk about the cost of making your body your job, the realization that comes when you're forced to let go of the dream you've chased since childhood, becoming a parent mid-career, the people who stick around when things get hard, and why "a happy racer is a fast racer" might be the most important lesson he's learned in 20 years as a professional athlete. This is a conversation about transitions, perspective, and finding peace in a life spent chasing something bigger than yourself. Peter’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/pstetina/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

James Cunnama is a former professional triathlete who finished top 5 in Kona, won Challenge Roth, and made a career of endurance. But his real story isn’t about race results—it’s about who he became after crossing the finish line. In this raw and honest conversation, James opens up about losing his identity when he retired from pro sport, struggling with suicidal thoughts, and learning that presence matters more than podiums. We discuss his coaching philosophy on removing friction to enable passion, why small daily improvements compound into life transformation, and how fatherhood forced him to answer the hardest question: Who am I? James also shares his last day working at GTN after five years, what his kids have taught him about what really matters, and why you can't help others until you're willing to reach out for help yourself. This is a conversation about mental health, purpose, family, and the often-invisible struggle behind someone who looks like they have it all figured out.James’ IG: https://www.instagram.com/jamescunnama/James’ Coaching: www.kiscoaching.com/inquiry Suicide Prevention Hotlines – Worldwide USA: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988, 24/7) BelleUSA (Crisis Text): Text HOME to 741741 (24/7) caCanada: 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline (24/7) BelleUK: Samaritans – 0800 689 5652 or 0800 689 0880 (24/7) Find a HelplineAustralia: Lifeline – 13 11 14 (24-hour) SamaritansNew Zealand: Lifeline – 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (7am–midnight) Mental Health FoundationNew Zealand (Samaritans): 0800 72 66 66 (24/7) Lifeline-internationalIndia: KIRAN – 1800-599-0019 (24/7) Find a HelplineSouth Africa: 0514445691 HealthcollectiveFrance: 3114 (24/7) Psychology TodayGermany: Telefon Seelsorge (online chat 4pm–11pm CET) Suicide StopSpain: 914590050 Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Jeremiah Bishop has spent over 30 years racing bikes at the highest level — national titles, ultra-endurance expeditions, and the Impossible Route, a documentary series he created that's racked up millions of views chasing unfinishable rides across deserts most people would never attempt. He just turned 50, and instead of slowing down, he won every race he entered this season. In this conversation, Jeremiah and I get into what three decades of racing all over the world actually taught him — not about training, but about perspective: how differently the world looks depending on who's telling the story, what he learned about America from wearing the national team jersey abroad, and why he's become wary of curated narratives, whether from a broker, a news network, or his own competitive ego. We also talk about fatherhood, growing up without his own dad from age four, and how a mother battling addiction shaped both his drive and his eventual peace with her. Jeremiah opens up about chasing validation through competition for most of his career, and the slow work of learning that fulfillment has to come from execution, not outcome. We close on stoicism, fear as "the mind killer," and his honest answer to what it would mean to have lived a fulfilled life. This one goes deep — from bike racing and media literacy to grief, mentorship, and what it actually means to make peace with the past. Jeremiah’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/jeremiahbishoprides/?hl=enWays to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Mango Fetzer is Luke Fetzer's mom — and one of the most vibrant, well-lived humans I've ever had the privilege of talking to. She's spent a decade sailing across oceans, worked as a private chef around the world, survived a beaten-bound-and-bagged home invasion in Panama, and taught her kids to see life as a gift, every single day, no matter what. This conversation went places I didn't expect. Mango talks about looking a masked intruder in the eyes and telling him to look at her before he pulled the trigger. She talks about coping with PTSD through Heart Math breathing techniques and cracking Australian stock whips with an old cowboy neighbor. We get into her decade sailing the Atlantic — the doldrums, the Cape Verde Islands, a retired naval captain who couldn't tolerate the smell of curry, waking up to bioluminescent dolphins outside Antigua at night. We also talk about her mother's final moments, watching the sunrise clouds burst as she passed, the ginkgo tree Luke planted in the front yard the day they bought their Laguna Beach home, and why she believes the more people you tell your dreams to, the more likely they are to actually happen. This one is a masterclass in living wide open. Bring tissues. Bring wonder. Mango’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/mangomama_laguna/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Elliott Teller is the founder of People's Endurance — a cycling and running apparel company built on a simple bet: that quality doesn't have to come with a brand tax. He's also a former director of photography, a tech sales guy turned entrepreneur, a new dad, and someone who spent his first two years running the business on virtually no sleep while juggling APAC hours, a newborn, and a wife going back to work with barely any paid leave. Elliott sits down with me to talk about leaving the film industry after watching too many burned-out, divorced veterans warn him off it, his seven years in tech sales that started with a week-long trial run and an air mattress in a buddy's home office, and the wild timing of quitting his job the same week his wife found out she was pregnant. We get into the actual mechanics of the apparel industry — dyed versus sublimated fabrics, why manufacturing still has to happen in Asia, and the privateer model he's building to let athletes sponsor themselves instead of chasing brand deals that rarely pay. We also go deep on parenting, mitochondria and longevity, the small daily decisions that keep your internal compass tuned, and why he thinks bigger brands are starting to quietly copy his playbook. This one's for anyone building something from scratch while also trying to keep a tiny human alive. Elliot’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/elliottteller/ Peoples Endurance: https://peoplesendurance.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqdKCZePjXPrPHD2cFVtQoHzb_sdGdXt_7TVGSqs6tEJot2rw-8Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Andrew Vos is a husband, father of two, endurance athlete, entrepreneur, and former Guinness World Record holder for the fastest mile while pushing a stroller. But this conversation isn't really about the world record—it's about the life behind it. Andrew shares how becoming a dad completely changed his priorities, why he no longer cares what other people think, and how his definition of success shifted from chasing titles and promotions to walking his boys to school every morning. We talk about growing up in small-town Wisconsin, getting cut from a Division I running team, finding a home in Division III, discovering triathlon at 34, and the hilarious story of breaking a Guinness World Record during COVID while his kids blasted fart noises through his headphones. We also dive into navigating ulcerative colitis while training, building businesses that create freedom instead of just income, raising resilient kids without overprotecting them, balancing ambition with family, and why the best legacy you can leave isn't a résumé—it's children who know they were seen, loved, and supported. This is a conversation about fatherhood, purpose, endurance, and the quiet success that often matters most. Andrew’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.vos_tri/ Wild & Free Hats: https://www.instagram.com/wild_and_free_hats/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Alex Wormuth is a software engineer, dad of two, and the founder of Transition — an AI-powered triathlon training platform he built in his nights and weekends because the existing tools weren't quite right for triathletes, and because he had a hunch that large language models could actually coach people pretty well. Turns out he was right. Alex sits down with me to talk about growing up in Riverside, traveling solo through Europe and Nepal straight out of college, living in Guangzhou during the early days of COVID, and how all of that shaped the way he thinks about building things and understanding people. We get into the parallels between entrepreneurship and travel — the risk tolerance, the discomfort, the not knowing what's around the corner — and why his dad letting him climb 30 feet up a tree at five years old probably had something to do with it. We also go deep on AI. What it's actually doing to software engineering right now, why the jobs most at risk aren't the ones people think, what the real value of a human coach still is, and why the companies best positioned to get disrupted are the ones most afraid to disrupt themselves. And somewhere in the middle of all that, we talked about whether a paper data center is a viable business idea. I think it might be. Try Transition free for 30 days: transition.fun Search "Transition Triathlon" on the App Store Transition IG: https://www.instagram.com/transitiontriathlonWays to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Ari Klau is back for round four — and this one goes places we haven't gone before. Fresh off a second-place finish at Chattanooga and building toward what may be the best season of his career, Ari sits down with me to talk about what's actually changed and what hasn't. We get into the mindfulness practice he picked up at a swim camp earlier this year and how it's quietly become the biggest performance differentiator in his racing. We talk about what it actually feels like to finally podium after years of grinding — and why it didn't feel the way he thought it would. We go deep on the tyranny of the mind, trusting external structure over internal impulse, and the philosophy of doing things you don't want to do as the real definition of self-care. We also talk about the mustache. It's gone. Apparently, two high-level team managers had written him off as not serious because of it. His dad saw photos from Chattanooga and said he looks formidable now. The results seem to agree. And then at the end, Ari shares something he's never talked about on here before — losing his sister in 2021, how it launched him into professional triathlon, and what it's like to still be processing that while also being the son who keeps forgetting to call on his dad's birthday. It's the same day as his late sister's birthday. It's a lot to carry. Ari’s YT: https://www.youtube.com/@archmdz Ari’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/archmdz/?hl=en Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup

Dr. Cory Rich has spent 40 years trying to understand one thing — what brings out the very best in the human condition. As a mental performance coach, he's worked with elite triathletes, Native American tribes using equine-assisted healing, addiction recovery programs, and everyone in between. And at the center of all of it is a question he first started asking when his father died in a car accident and he was seven years old. Cory sits down with me to talk about losing his dad, his aunt, his uncle, and his grandmother all before he was a teenager — and why none of it turned into bitterness. We get into his Pure Intelligence framework and what he calls the fourth and crowning intelligence — spiritual intelligence — and why developing it is more predictive of health, performance, and happiness than any drug or therapy on the market. We also talk about the day a doctor told him he probably wasn't going to survive the next few days, and what that kind of clarity does to a person's sense of what actually matters. This one goes deep fast and never really comes up for air. We cover identity architecture, why 95% of our decisions are made subconsciously, the difference between post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth, and why the most important question you can ask yourself right now is — if I died tomorrow, would I have any regrets? Oh, and SQ doesn't just stand for Stupid Questions. Turns out it also stands for Spiritual Quotient. Cory noticed it on the wall behind me and smiled. I think that's about right. The Transformational Power of Pure Intelligence — available on AmazonCory’s Site: https://www.pureintelligence.life  Cory’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/coryareich/ Ways to Support the Show👇🏼 Nothing Novel: https://nothingnovel.life  Socks: https://stupidquestions.show/pages/sq-merch  Newsletter: ⁠https://stupidquestions.show/pages/newsletter-signup