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 Amazon
Cory’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

Night one of three at Tulsa Tough and Team Cadence Cyclery came in short of the win — but not short of heart. Lucas Burgoyne, Luke Fetzer and the crew sit down with me courtside for a raw, unfiltered recap of how the night went down.We talk about Boldy crashing 15 minutes in and getting back up, Cesar carving through the peloton like an assassin, the two-lap moment where it all almost came together — and why a fourth place finish on night one might be exactly the fuel this team needs heading into days two and three.Short, real, and straight from the finish line. This is what crit racing actually feels like.🚴 Follow Team Cadence Cyclery: https://www.instagram.com/teamcadencecyclery/