The Duratus Mind - Dean Stott 'Relentless'

Dean Stott, former UKSF and security consultant talks all about his new book 'Relentless'.  From his time in UKSF to his 14,000 mile Pan American Highway World Record, Dean has always used his mindset and focus to get the job done.  In this episode he talks all things mindset, performance, overcoming injury, world records, Prince Harry, the 2018 Royal wedding and rescuing people from the Canadian embassy in Libya at the height of the Arab Spring.... to name just a few topics - Check it out!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Dean Stott, we're live, Stotty. How's it going, mate?

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yeah, good, yeah, very good. Uh I haven't heard that that name in a while, Stotty. Comes from the uh the ex-military community. Although someone did shout that out to me the other day on the tube when I was in London, and I thought it's got to be military, and it was, it was one of the old hero villa.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

For the people that uh that do know you as Dean Stott or don't know you at all, do you want to just give us a bit of a background about yourself uh and your journey, mate?

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Yeah, so um I was obviously ex-special forces, I served alongside yourself. Um, prior to that, um, you know, I was I was born into a military family. Um, however, it was never like forced upon me to pursue the same career as my father and my grandfather, etc. Uh, I grew up in and around Aldershot, which is the home of the British Army, so sort of living and breathing the military. When I decided I was gonna join the military, I approached my uh my father and told him of my um my intentions, and um the you know the comforting words I got back was your last two minutes, which probably wasn't the words I was looking for. So um, and ever since then, really, I've used those sort of you know, you can sort of dwell on those words and you know, have self-pity, or you can actually use them to as a motivator, and that's what I did. I thought, well, I'm not gonna argue with you until you're blue in the face, I'm just gonna prove a point. So, so yeah, I ignored, I could probably see where he was coming from. I was about nine and a half stone and five foot seven, soaking wet through. So, but yeah, I then joined the military and uh same same as my father, he was royal engineers, and um at the age of 21, I was I was in reccuping 5-9 commando, I was a diving supervisor, done the PTI course. I'd pretty much done every arduous course that the military could offer, except for UK Special Forces. So when I decided to go on on selection, for those who don't know who are listening, is obviously the UK Special Forces selection process, as you and I know. Um just opened the doors really to try services. You know, the normal route for someone myself being the army would be the SES. It's obviously your background being Marines would be the special boat service. So I'd spent eight years in Free Commander Brigade and I was also the senior dive instructor for the army. So for the SBS seemed like the natural transition for me. So you know I put in to do the uh the special boat service and became one of the first army lads uh to do so. Again, going against the grain and also upsetting a few of my friends up the road. Um but yeah, I was successful and yeah, I ended up joining the special boat service and serving alongside you and a load of the other guys, which was great. And I think I did about five and a half years there, but unfortunately I had a accident on a hey-ho jump. So on exit, my leg got caught up in the lines, it was just a freak accident. Um and the leg my leg got pulled up over my head and to the right, and instantaneously I knew there was something wrong. Uh but my first challenge was actually trying to land it, you know, 15,000 feet on the limits of auction. I was you know drifting in and out of consciousness and trying to stay stay with the team. Um it was a great landing, it was a one-legged landing, perfect landing actually. Um, but unfortunately, you know, the damage was too much. I saw my ACL, my MCL, my lateral meniscus, my hamstring, and my calf all on the tink bomb. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Absolute sync bomb.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah, yeah. So um, but and and again the the first challenge there as well was that remember the Icelandic volcano which had grounded all aircraft. Yeah, it was during that period, so they couldn't even get me aero medded out, and that initial period is crucial for your recovery. I mean, there was a spiral of other incidents as well, MRI scans getting lost, issues with you know normal medical stuff. So um, but unfortunately I I then had to leave the forces.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

But how long a period was that thing?

SPEAKER_02 4:26

So it was within within a year, it took me 44 weeks to have the operation. You know, there was a spiral of events. I'd say I well, you know, bad mouth in the military too much. The military are great, and I enjoyed my time in the military, but actually, my medical care during that period wasn't great. Um, unfortunately, I can't sing their praises for that period. It took me 44 weeks to have the operation, um, no, nearly a year. Um, by which point, you know, my leg, uh, my muscle wasted. When I we'll talk about the challenge soon, but when I actually started the cycling challenge, my leg was two kilos lighter than my left leg due to the muscle wastage. So, and I lost confidence in my in my legs as well, you know, a spiral of things. So I eventually I you know I walked out the gates. I was a I was now a civilian, and all I'd ever known for the last 16 years from a young boy at 17 was the military, you know, then your mother, your father, they they feed you, the clove you, they pay you on time. You know, I didn't know what counter-attacks banner was on and count, I didn't care. You know, I mean I was doing a job, a job that I loved. So the initial thing, I do a lot of a few podcasts and talks. The best way to sort of compare it to a lot of professional sports people, you know, you spend your career trying to get yourself to the elite to pick the pinnacle, and then all of a sudden, some sort of injury just changes everything completely. So it's an identity crisis. You know, I've gone from being in a role within a unit, knowing what I was doing day in, day out, I had a purpose to all of a sudden finding myself in an alien environment, which is a civilian environment, which it doesn't, you know, for civilians they're like, well, it's not an alien environment, but for people our backgrounds it very much is. Um, seeing how do I fit, how do I fit in this in this group here? Where do you fit?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yeah, where do I fit? Yeah, there's a there's a good book called Tribe, actually, and it's it's a very similar concept. We've left one tribe, there's a tribe here, and how am I gonna fit within there? So, yeah, I I had that identity crisis.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Um how long were you on how long were you in the grey area for Dean? So, like from you getting injured, how long was it that you knew you were gonna get embossed, you were gonna get sort of removed from the military for that?

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Um well the initial thing, I didn't really get embossed. You know, I I didn't get I didn't win my medical entry until five years later. Yeah, yeah, you know, the I didn't initially I was gonna get out of the military, and two weeks later I had the injury, which then just then just blurred all the lines. So so when I left, I still wasn't embossed, which I didn't think was an issue at the time, but sort of fast forward five years later, when I was successful on my tribunal hearing, and and they then like I now get a guaranteed income payment, and then they then backdated it. It was only then I felt a massive weight off my shoulders, and I felt that I could close that chapter. Yeah, I didn't realize at the time there actually was a dark cloud over me. It was only until I was successful that I thought, right, I now feel like I've been reciprocated for my time, yeah, and I can move on. Um, so that was a big turning point in my in my life, actually. I I wasn't aware of it until I was actually successful.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

It may speak, it may speak about, you know, I I dig deep into sort of psychology and it may speak quite highly of some of your coping mechanisms, you know, that you know, you weren't even aware that it was weighing so heavily on you, you were able to deal with it in a certain way. We may find out what that is or not uh through chatting. But uh, you know, that that that's significant, you know, because again, I can relate to that, you know, the the comfort blanket and uh the soft landing that I've had because of my guaranteed income. Ah mate, it's it's a game changer, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

It is, and and I think it's you know, uh, we chat that out a lot. I think a lot of guys feel they can't move on or or leave because they do have that comfort, that blanket. Well, in fact, when you're out here, actually, you know, there's a lot, you know, there's a lot for us, and we have a lot of potential. Again, I talk highly of the military. I I see a lot of people or hear a lot of people who you know, they've got their books or they're doing podcasts, and they're all ex-military, and they're they're speaking badly of the military, and I'm like, ah, well, you wouldn't be in that position for the military. The military give you so many, so many skill sets that we take for granted as normal, which actually so when you do leave and you are in that civilian environment, you are not you are um already ahead of the game. You know, I you know, I I've stood in front of 6,000 people in the O2 arena, not worried at all, quite happily, confidently stand there. And I've seen you know these guys, these marketing directors for some big oil and gas in Libya trying to promote their company, and they're just PowerPoint's all gone wrong. I mean, it's stuff that we take for granted, but in fact they are massive skill sets. Yes, we don't have degrees, but the people skills we have, the management skills they're there, and I'm willing to take risks. You know, this the current world we're in at the moment, especially in the corporate, it's all about blame. Who you know, if it doesn't, it's not successful. Who do who do we blame? Well, don't worry about who we blame it, it's how we're going to achieve that objective. And that's where the military guys and girls already have those skill sets, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I mean, massively agree. So, I mean, again, something we'd probably take for granted. Well, I don't think you or I do, but a lot of people can take for granted is um just self-discipline. And you know, I look before my military career, um, I it made me into who I am to a certain point in my life, but uh the the things that they inculcate into you the self-discipline through force discipline initially, but you know, you you take those things on board and they become part of you. And you know, I now, for things like you've just described, I will prepare well for something more often than not because I know that's how I'm going to get the best results, and I will consider all factors, do a little bit of planning, then put that into action rather than normally, you know, obviously there's times when you need to wing it and you need to cuff it, but uh and you've got the confidence to do that also. But that self-discipline is is massive, and I certainly see that's where with most people um those those fundamentals that is discipline and self-discipline rather, then um that's where most people really struggle, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Yeah, no, I I think I think the military are great in the fact that they you know they prepare you for that. And you know, I when I was on my uh we'll talk about the challenge later on when I was on the on the biking challenge. Um I remember that the last stages of the challenge. I had two guys with me, ex-military, one ex-boot neck, uh Ivo Morgan, Ivo, Ivo, and another guy, Johnno um John O'Adams, who's ex-royal engineers, and we had the documentary guys and their kit and their admin was all over the shop. And um I remember them saying these guys, yeah, they had cables and leads everywhere, and um they'd leave the RV and go do some filming or whatever, and John O and I were like you know, civvies this, civis that, and I said that I said we're wrong. And I was guilty of it as well. When I left the military, I was at civvies don't understand, you know, you know, and I started blaming the civilian community for things that weren't going right, and in fact, it's not, you know, the we're the we are different. Yeah, you know, we we are trained and indoctrinated in it in a way we need to try and fit into their will, not them fit into ours. And I think a lot of guys and girls get it get it wrong when they get out, and that's the first thing they say is oh civvies, they don't understand when it's not, they don't need to understand, you need to understand uh them. And I think that's something maybe a lot of the or the military guys getting out, or some of them that are out already, may need to consider as well. Is don't don't try and get them to fit around you, you need to fit into their sort of world.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

I know it's something that me and another um sort of ex-lad have have spoken about, um, who's now uh in media as well. And he is very similar. Story, you know, his TV crews, you know, he spoke to me afterwards and he was like, You wouldn't believe the epic admin that some people have. We could just we could we could own this space because they just do the simple things beforehand all the time, or they think they have, but they just everything's just a little bit less well planned, and you know, that diligence that we all have. I mean, just on that, so you know, up to that point then, so towards the end of your military career, yeah, and then what you've carried forward, but what what are the things that you feel like that you've uh needed most to succeed? What are those things?

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Well, I think we've we've talked about planning and having a good plan, but you know, you and I don't always go to plan. I think this is one of the great things we have in the special forces. You know, I I always say that the Green Army are very indoctrinated, they they need to know where they need to be at a certain time, where in, blah blah blah, and have an itinerary. Um, where I think we have the luxury in special forces is is yes, it's good to have that, but we're very expeditionary. You know, you get dropped off somewhere and you have an objective and you just need to make it happen. You know, I mean the plan isn't a straight road, you'll be zigzagging in everything, you'll be coughing it, winging it, you'll be doing everything in your power to make sure that it's um a success. So also having that sort of mindset um as well. So when I left, actually, so when I left the military again, I hear horror, you know, some you know some sad stories about people who are really struggling and everything else, maybe because some of the things we've already just talked about. Um, you know, and people with our skill sets, the normal without sounding like Liam Neeson, the normal natural progression was the private security sector. And when I got out, you had you know a lot of our friends who had very successful maritime companies and things like that. I didn't want to I didn't want to start treading on their toes, I didn't want to start competing with people you know. I just wanted to break away completely. And one of the best things for me was actually breaking away from that community, you know. Paul, I then lived in Aberdeen. You couldn't get further away from Paul. Um, but I wasn't seeing the guys all the time, I wasn't socializing with them as well. So I wasn't I wasn't caught in that gray area where you're thinking, oh, what if, what if, and things that, you know, I've cut away completely and I'm gonna go go on my own. So my wife's um very entrepreneurial. Um, you know, she's my transition was very smooth or smoother because because of it. Things that I would normally I would be worrying about when I got out for her was just normal. She she understood that. So she set up uh my first uh private security company on a Blackbury watching East End. I mean, on for me it's like three months of paperwork. I wonder whether I've ticked ticked the right box. Um, so yeah, so she she sort of made that that transition smooth for me. You know, again, I speak to a couple of guys who who get out and I ask them, well, you know, what is it still you have on your resettlement package from the military? And I think there's something they need to address, and it's interviews, interview techniques and CVs. Well, I've been out nearly what was in two, yeah, I've been out eight and a half years now, and I've never had an interview and I've never written a CV. You know what I mean? They need to be focusing on those normal day-to-day life skills that civilians take for granted, which we don't know about. Who do I need to speak to in the council about my heat? You know, who do I need to speak to? Writing a contract. No, some of the guys who come out didn't know how to write a contract or an NDA, what's an NDA and things like that. These are sort of skills that I think they should be focusing on. So my transition to come back was smooth because my wife was aware of all of that. Um, but my biggest worry for me was Alana was eight months pregnant when I exited the doors at Paul. So you're just like straight away, yeah, you're worried about how am I going to support my family? Is there work out there? Is there enough work that I'm gonna be able to support my uh etc, etc. And within 48 hours, I got a phone call from a friend. He said, Look, can I assist in Libya, help with the uh a Diffib project, which was one of David Cameron's babies, part of the British Embassy during the Arab Spring? He said, Look, I'll get you out there and I'll get you back within two weeks. And I thought, yeah, all right. Yeah, yeah, a bit like the military, yeah. We'll have you home, you know, still out there six months later, and your child has never seen you. So um I went out there and I soon identified this was this was the height of the Arab Spring. So Gaddafi was still in in Tripoli, still in power at this point. So all these oil companies were there, the media were there, the security companies were all coming together. Um, but I soon identified, having spoken to some of the Libyans, that it wasn't going to be your next Afghanistan and Iraq. They didn't want private security companies walking around with weapons, etc. Um, I also identified a lot of these private security companies were offering crisis management and evacuation plans, etc., and charging huge sums to these NGOs and gas oil and gas. But when I started scraping the surface, I soon identified there was actually nothing in place, you know. So I flew home, my wife gave birth to um Molly, and I came back in a month or so later. Uh went on another job to Guinea actually in between. Came back in and I took our life savings. Well, no, I took a risk, took the money that I had in the bank, and I bought 30 weapons on the black market, and I buried them between as you do. Yeah, as you do. You know, there's a huge proliferation of weapons at this time, you know what I mean? So for me, it was like, well, take advantage of this situation. Um, so I bought them and I basically buried them between shit and just did case reports, you know, with the petty cases, you know, stuck some comms kit in there and some money. And I wrote my own evacuation plans, either be it from the sea or or from the land, you know, did safe houses, put a dark corridor in, you know, just the normal stuff that we we know about. And um, and that was it, pretty much sound it. I I live in Aberdeen, so oil and gas capital of Europe, so you obviously can get in front of some of the big boys, and I um, you know, I had a couple of retainers and I thought nothing of it. Um, I could have gone out over to the Middle East and done some proven what I knew uh and start building up a profile. And in 2012, uh the American ambassador got killed in Benghazi, Benghazi battle. Well, I was there that night, just you know, right place, right time, or wrong place, wrong time, uh, whichever way you look at it. And um, I assisted uh a German oil company, had some German engineers stuck out in the field, and I got them back through safe houses uh and the dark corridor back to Tripoli. So that was a success. And then in 2014, um, during this whole period as well, I'm doing other projects, doing close protection, we're doing mentoring, we trained the Kurdish Special Forces, trained the presidential close protection teams, we're doing all sorts. I I then got I was in Brazil during the World Cup and I got a phone call asking based from the Canadian Embassy. So this time it was the Tripoli War, which is still ongoing now between the militias and the government. And they said, look, we are stuck in Tripoli, we can't get out. So I flew back in and I single-handedly evacuated the Canadian Embassy, 18 military and four diplomats back to Tripoli, uh to Tunia, sorry. Which sounds very sexy and everything else. And everyone's like, Wow, brilliant! But it actually wasn't, it was about as unsexy as it comes, you know. What it was, I didn't need to dig up any of my weapons, my weapons are still in situ, um, which is great and what I what I'm proud of. It was actually what we do a lot in the special forces, everyone has his perception of offensive action. Um having our arsenal, which we are good at and we train a lot for if needed, but that is worst-case scenario. Um, it's actually hearts and minds. So, what I would I'd done took from my time in the special forces and adapted into private security, but rather than going in there heavy-handed and then just causing issues. So, all I did was actually identify the right tribal leaders, not the guys on the gates with the weapons at the checkpoints, you know, who's in charge of them, who do I need to speak to above them? So, um, so that's all I did. It was actually speaking to the right people in the right places and just letting them know and communication, what we are what our intention is and why are why we are doing it.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Um I I talk about this a lot with various different organizations, you know, people have got that perception of guys or organization UKS. And the reality is most of the work that we end up doing, like you said, is hearts and minds, but it's relationship building, right? So it's you know, going into a place, building trust in organizations and countries, people of different race, religions, different languages, and actually getting alongside them and saying to them, you know, what do you want to achieve? We can help you do this, you know, let's do this together. And that's that's not easy. And people, I think, underestimate. They just don't see that side of it, they see the Instagram posts conflict, and they think that that's what what it's all about. Um, you made me smile about your your Libyan embassy, um, and uh just how you say it sounds, you know, people won't have heard about it in in most regards because it hasn't happened on Instagram. Do you know what I mean? It's that sort of uh mentality that one is social media, it's not true, huh?

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Exactly, right? Yeah, exactly. I think you've touched on there, you know, I talked about Libya, you know. I used to go to Samarita, Mogadishu, I used to go to Yemen and places like that, and I would go into the country and I would I'd like to go in on my own, but I'll then meet the people I need to meet too, and you'd be sat there in the evening having dinner with him and his family, you know, sat on the floor just sharing bread and food. Yeah, and then you know, you're in that country already identifying the atmospherics. And like I said, if you look at social media, you never go into the country, Mogged Issue. I remember um free diving south of Mogged Issue for lobsters and things like that. Honestly, it's some of the best beaches in the world. And um, but yeah, you you'd be sat there at that on the floor chatting with them, understanding the atmospherics, and they can see that you've taken the risk to come into their country. I didn't, but then that same person will receive five or ten emails from a security company in London or New York offering their services, and he's like, Well, no, this guy's come out and so that was the success I think of me in the security engineer, was taking those those risks. But actually, when you go out there, it's like any city, you know, there's places you don't go, you know, be it in Derby, be in Aberdeen. Yeah, the places you do go, it's just identifying where they are. But what I'm keen with the book and uh ever is everyone's uh as you touched on social media, everyone's very Quick to tarnish the Muslim community with one brush because of a very, very small minority. Um, you know, I've talked about a couple of the projects I've just done then, and that they would not have been successful if it wasn't for the local community.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

I needed the locals to help their country looking for security in their country, you know, and it's it's you know, we were working absolutely alongside them, and they were they were tight friendships, you know, and you know, it's it's awesome to sort of work in that regard, you know, in that regard. And I think people often can can think that um we're there for our own agenda. I mean, you know, at a higher level that that may be the case, but I mean at our level it was always about the people you're working alongside, right? And sort of do you buy into it and how do you get them to buy into it, you know. So yeah, I used to love that side of it. Um, talked, you know, up to now everything's been sort of all about success, and then so you know, we may as well go on to it because um it's been touched a little bit already. Sort of, I'm guessing a few years down the line from this, you you've got this idea of this Pan American challenge, which again people may or may not have heard about. Do you want to go into that?

SPEAKER_02 23:36

So I came back from that Canadian embassy job. Um I flew home that day and um I had to I had to deal with an RTA along the way. So as I got home, my normal normal military mind stage, deservice, reservice, recock, ready for the next phone call. Well, I said to my wife, and Lana, I said, Oh, can you get the blood out of my shirt? She goes, 'Yeah, I can't but I'm more interested in how you've got the blood in there.' Um literally it was sun uppers. Um we soon identified I'd only been home 21 days in a 365-day calendar because I was just so committed in trying to be successful in the security industry. And what it was, I'd actually not addressed the fact I'd left the military. You know, it's that period where I just thought I just sort of almost ignored it. But what I was doing, it was almost like a throwaway comment that I'd evacuated the whole embassy. She goes, you know, that isn't normal what you've just done. And um, and what it was, I hadn't actually addressed the position I left, but I was trying to match that drilling rush I had when I was still in. Yeah, I didn't have that support network around me, you know. Yes, successful projects, but could easily all all gone wrong, and and um, so something had to change. Um Alana was a property developer uh at this point, you know, so she was doing the property development. So I didn't actually need to go away, you know, financially. We had that that now that that blanket, that support. So um, so I said, okay, and during this whole period I'd neglected, so we're talking about five years since leaving the military, you know, I'd neglected my own physical uh well-being because it's been concentrated on work, and so I bought a uh a bike off Amazon, you know.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

You put a few pounds on mate, is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_02 25:16

You put a few pounds a few pounds there, upper body, yeah. I've lost it all my legs, and then um, so I just bought a push bike and I just cycled to and from the office in town. It's only about eight miles there, eight miles back. But after you know, because of the backstory and everything you've heard so far, you can imagine me sat in these architects and planners meetings. I was like, I wasn't really interested in the heating and the plumbing system, you know, more interested in the coffee and the biscuits. Yeah, so Alana could see that glaze, and she's like, Well, you you need to go do something. So I said, Well, look, I'm fast approaching my 40th birthday. I said, you know, ground rush midlife crisis. I was like, Well, I don't know, I've always fancied doing a world record, and she's like, Well, what in? You know, it's not like eating 12 Ferrari Rochets.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

I was like, Is there a record for that? I reckon I've got it.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Yeah, there is. That's my next one. That's it. Everyone, exclusive to start his next challenge. But the um here first, yeah, exactly. So I um I said, Well, I actually fancy I actually go mind cycling, it's not hurting my knee, and it had to be something physical, but also had to be something that wasn't my knee, my injury wasn't going to hinder. So I was thinking more Aberdeen to Dundee, you know, something like that, world record like that. But then my wife found the world's longest road, it's 14,000 miles, it runs from the southern tip of Argentina to northern Alaska. So it's the equivalent of cycling from London to Sydney and then 4,000 miles. So's that perfect. So still having only a cycle less than 20 miles. I applied for the world record. Um, that itself a challenge, you know, you know, applying. And they came back six weeks later and said, Yes, you've been successful on your applications.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

So now it's getting real.

SPEAKER_02 26:57

Yeah, it is getting real. Yeah, and that's I think once you know it's real, you know, again, you tell that's a good point. You see people, I'm thinking of doing this, doing that, and then you speak to them a couple months later, yeah. I'm still thinking of doing this, do that. Once you've applied for it, and then you, you know, been except be it London marathon or be it a mud runner or a tuck mud or whatever they're called, once you've applied for it, then it then it's real, and then you then you then start you know planning.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

I talk about this, I talk about this being, you know, a competition or an event, it's uh it's about uh accountability to yourself. And that actually the root of the word contest is uh to testify to yourself. So that's what you know, there's something a real motive. We're not you know, I I deal with online clients and sometimes they're like you know, struggling for motivation. There's nothing like pinning your colours to a mask of an event and saying, you know, why don't you try for that? Because at the minute you're just talking around it. What is it that you're trying to achieve? This is en route to it. Let's go for that. And mate, there's there's something it's powerful stuff, mate. So for finding the uh road, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah, I'll try I do a lot of guest speaking and I sort of say to them at the end, I say, look, you know, you need to set yourself a goal, you need to, you know, I'm not saying go cycle two continents because that's ludicrous, but be it, you know, if you want to do a London marathon, don't aim for the 26 miles, aim for a three miler, and then just build it up, you know. And also, I'll talk about later on how I managed it by size, how I broke it down by sizes. Anyway, yeah, so um yeah, Guinness came back with being successful, and I thought, well, this is a perfect opportunity to do charity work. So I wasn't I wasn't new to the philanthropy world, so I called probably the best philanthropist in the world, um, obviously Prince Harry, um who I met. Just drop that name. Yeah, massively name dropped.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Who was it again? Ding? The Duke of Sussex. So the um the one that flies helicopters and that.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

That's it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Prince. So who I actually met in 2007 on an FAC course, you know, so that's how him and I got to know each other. Um, so I told him on my plans. This was 2016, and um he would then say, Oh, there's a campaign he, his brother and Kate were going to launch the following year called Heads Together, which is a mental health campaign. I was aware about mental health within the military, you know, I'd seen it, you know, we've got friends obviously who suffered from that. Um, but I wasn't aware how big of an issue this was throughout the whole, you know, all sectors, you know, be it post-natal depression, young children, teenagers, all the way through to full full-grown adults and the military community. So I thought, perfect. Um, so then Harry then introduced me to the Royal Foundation, had a meeting with them, and they said, How much are you trying to raise? I thought a million pounds just threw that comment out there again. Um probably the biggest mistake. And then um they said, What's the what is the message you're trying to promote? This was it, this was key. And I says, Well, physical activity helps your mental state. They said, Oh, you you can't you know you can't use that one. I said, Well, why not? And they said, 'Cause it's not been scientifically proven. I said, yeah, but I don't need a scientist to tell me that I feel good when I'm cracking fizz. So I ignored them anyway. And three years on, and at the end a doctor came up to me, it was a big folder, and he said, It has been scientifically proven. So we now had the message, we had the campaign, and we had the uh the fundraiser. So for me, the first thing was obviously learn a bit more about cycling. So that weekend I went and did a century ride in the cycling community. And I just thought, well, this is no, this is 15 Lanz and John of Grotes back to back. So so Harriet asked also, would I cycle a Lanz and John of Groats with Inmictus, some of the Invictus games or Endeavour Fund? Uh and I said, Yeah, of course. So I thought, well, I'll do a recce ride. So I cycled, only having cycled three weeks, uh, Lanz and John of Groats. Oh my, probably the worst idea. No, yeah. You talk about cuffing it and winging it. It was like it was November. There's Storm Angus in the southwest of the first 48 hours. Um, I came off my bike in Bristol and like fractured my skateboard, then got to Moffitt up in Scotland. It was minus 16, the coldest it'd been in some like 10 years. So I had to rope the first bike off, and we had to go to, I had a friend driving the vehicle support wagon, had to drive to Halford and just buy a bike off the shelf just to finish it. Of course, everyone was like, Oh, you know, you're not bike fit yet. And I thought bike fit is fitness, it's actually the measurements to you and your bike. I just did it all completely wrong. But I just thought, well, if I can't do one, how am I gonna do 15? Six months later, I did it again, have it this time, now bike fit, knew about cadence, knew a bit more about cycling, and it sounds quite arrogant, um, but it had to be a training ride. You know, it's a lot of people's bucket list, but for me it was a a training ride. But the planning stage of this as well, I'd spoken as we do a lot in the military, especially special forces, is you know, we don't know everything, you know. I mean, we're always learning, we're always evolving, learning by our mistakes. You know, if you were to do that operation again, what would you do differently? You know, how would we know all that sort of stuff? So I spoke to the previous record holders, and all of everyone has started in Alaska and come down to Argentina, but all their issues are in South America, in Central America, be it bureaucracy at the borders, languages, you know, the biggest mountains, the hottest deserts. So I thought, well, why gamble with the second half of the project? Why not get them out the way early? Um, so that's what it is. So having spoken with um three of them, um, I then made my plan. I said, Well, I'm gonna do um the reverse, I'm gonna go south-north.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Uhhill. You're doing it uphill.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

I'm going, I'm going uphill, but you get all the issues out of the way early, and then once I'm in North America, because none of them had any issues in North America, Canada, or Alaska, but once I'm in North America, I'm either on target, which is fine. If I'm behind target, we can change the mileage, so you're back on. You know, just get all those. That's that's how I formulated my plan. And again, when I'm speaking, uh, when I'm doing the guest speaking, I I talk about I'm not taking anything away from the endurance fee at all. You know, it was a great insurance fee, but it was that military style, meticulous planning and detail that that went into it. You know, I just took exactly I just took a military set of orders and dropped it into cycling. You know, I just didn't need ammunition. The um that's what I mean. That's that's all I approached this challenge not from a cyclist's perpet perspective, but from an ex-military's perspective. You know, again, I put a slide up. There's more to it than just grabbing a water bottle and a banana and a bike and going north. You know, I mean, there's so many things you've got to consider. Yeah, um, especially when you've got a support team and a documentary team who are a bit more risk-averse than you, you've got to think about them, their welfare, you know, all the security issues, you know, ERVs, medical facilities, you know, communications, blacks, everything that we do normally in day-to-day planning in the military, I then put into cycle.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

But the planning side of it is is is where I can see that you've had sort of a massive advantage over some people that would be doing this. But I want to I want to sort of dig into it's a massive challenge what you were preparing to do. Um, so how did you deal with actually looking at it and going, I reckon I can do that? Because a lot of people I work with sort of have got grand ideas. You've already mentioned it a little bit um about the talk about doing something, you know, having a grand idea and then actually putting, excuse the pun wheels in motion towards that. So, how did you look at that plan, that mission, and go, right, I can do that? What's the confidence? What gave you the to do that?

SPEAKER_02 34:39

So it's breaking it down. It's like like when we go on selection, six month selection process. On day one, you're not thinking about bad today six months later. All you're thinking about is that day in front of you, and then the next day you wake up and you think about that day, and that's how I did it with this. I didn't look at the 14,000 miles. If you look at the 14,000 miles, it would just consume you, you wouldn't even get on the fly. You're I'm done. So, what I did was I broke it down into countries and broke the countries down into days. I mean, the days into four stages. So, nutrition and hydration were going to be key on this project. You know, you need to keep on top of your food and water. Um, so what I do is I get have a big breakfast, and in the morning I would just cycle as fast as I could for two hours. Um then, you know, when you're cycling here in the UK, if you go out for a bike ride, at some point you'll have a headwind, at some point you'll have a tailwind. Out there, if you've got a headwind, you've got a headwind all day, if you've got a tailwind, you've got a tailwind all day. So that first two hours would almost gauge how long I need to be on the bike that day to achieve the mileage I wanted to do. So I come off the bike after two hours and I would feed and eat and drink, but I was very disciplined in my timings. It was 30 minutes, and then I was back on the bike. I wasn't having a selfie with a llama or chance in the documentary team. I was back on the bike. I mean, all I would look at is the next two hours. And before, you know, I wouldn't even look at the afternoon. Before you know it, you've done like a day, you've done the country, you've done a week. So that's how I managed it in uh everyone.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

I think you learned that process again. So I've been asked before about the selection, it's it's the hills phase is what some people are uh are interested in. And uh, you know, did you go into that with a plan, or is this what you learnt to do?

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Well, I think for me, when I was doing the bike cycling training, um, you know, I mean, I'm quite a sociable guy. I get bored after about two or two and a half hours. So I sort of I knew that was my sort of threshold. You've got other guys like Mark Baumont that could be on the bike for 16 hours, you know. I mean, oh my god. Uh I mean for me it was almost doing the challenge, but you need to also be enjoying it, you know. I mean, so that that's where the two and the two half hours came came to me. I've got high metabolism as well, so I need to be need to be eating. So that's how I did with the with the project. That's how we how we did it. So in South America as well, we were basically dictated by security reasons. So we had to be off the road by last light. You know, I mean, I I was quite happy to you know just keep going, but when you've got documentary team and support team, you need to think about their welfare. So literally, it was first light to last light. That's how I would cycle in in South America and Central America. No, the first week we had 40 mile an hour crosswinds. I'd never experienced winds like it in my life. Um, you know, but I did know that it won't it won't like be like that forever. You know, when I spoke to a couple of the guys who said when you get to Peru, you'll get a tailwind. And I did, I've got a 2,500 kilometre tailwind. And what that does for your morale is massive. Um, it's just keeping going, keeping yourself admin, keeping yourself on top of the food and and water.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

You know, on that on that, Dean, you sort of sort you sort of brushed over just keeping going. So again, one of the sort of topics that I often talk about is performance under pressure. When you look at the sort of metrics for the the world's most elite athletes, the top 100 meter sprinters, the metrics are all almost similar. That's maybe not the best example, but like tennis players, for example, the metrics are all very similar. VO2 max, surf speed, um you know, reach, etc. Um, but it's what they do with their mind in between the points which makes the difference between fifth place and first place, right? And so when you're sort of going under these challenges, when endurance, especially, so you're on the bike for two hours, right? I know, and I'm sure you'll talk about um the negative messages that are constantly in your head. How do you deal with that? And then also, how do you sort of push the positive ones in, or what do you do to cope with that that side of it?

SPEAKER_02 38:40

Um, so for me, I'd also so that yeah, going back, I so for me it wasn't a will record attempt. For me, in my head, I was doing four fifth sessions a day. That's I didn't care as the full plan. Uh, also going back slightly, the will record at this point when I applied for will record was 125 days. When Guinness got back to me, it was 117 days. So was that so I was planning for 110 days always, and it wasn't, I think it did in my pro video, you know, I'm gonna do 110 days, and everyone's it wasn't because I wanted to smash it by a week. No, I had that fudge in the system, so should there be um issues out of my control, third-party influences at borders, you know, a coup, natural disasters, it wasn't eating into the record time, it was eating into that fudge. So, after that first week I was talking about where um we had really strong winds for for um 40 mile an hour winds or a week, the worst position I was in by the end of that week, I was 39 miles behind target. Yeah, so but my target was still a week ahead of the world record. Yeah, I then caught that up um a couple of days later. So for me, it was all about tick-off features mentally. So by so just little things like no, when I stopped for lunch, I'm past the halfway point, so I'll be back by the rest of the day. So I've already talked about breaking into four stages. So the first stage would dictate the rest of the day, the second stage I had lunch to look forward to. You always had something mentally, just trick your mind to look forward to. I had lunch to look forward to. The last stage you had the end of the day to look forward to. So on my third stage, I had nothing to look forward to. So it was actually something simple like a bottle of coke or an ice cream. So I just got treats um along the way.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Still, a still short-term injection of morale, is that right?

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Yeah, exactly. Just this that's all I was doing. That was something I you know, just to keep myself going. But also, I see people doing these challenges, um, and they say, right, I'm I'm 10 miles behind today. Uh what I'll do is I'll catch that up tomorrow. You don't know what's happening tomorrow. Yeah, stay on that bike or stay on that road, you stay on there for another 30-40 minutes because mentally, once once you're at you've hit your target for the day, you're in such a good mindset for the next day rather than knowing right, I'm gonna need to catch up 10 plus what I need to do. So they're all the little things I did. I would make sure that I had hit my target for the day or better, because then mentally, and then you're then as you know, this is an endurance challenge, which again a lot of lessons I learned taken into the next one. You know, physically, mentally, I was getting stronger. Yeah, and it's just gonna be quite quite achievable.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

That's and and do you look back on your your your first Lanzentage on a groats and seeing how horrendous it was, and actually, yeah, as a as a lesson to yourself, it's it's all it's all learning experience. So loving the process, actually, the hardships of that probably taught you a ton of things that you took forward into the Pan American, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Oh, yeah, yeah, massively. Yeah, I'm I'm glad, although at the time I wouldn't say it, but I'm glad I did that, uh, I did it wrong. Um, you know, and I thought I did not a chance I'd be able to sustain this because I didn't break it into four stages on that one.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

I was just going uh as trying to hit the objective for the day, which be it like 90 miles or a hundred miles, yeah, and then I'd be absolutely starving at the end, you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

I mean, it's like it's like uh you know the the 10k rows on a concept two, for example, nothing by comparison, but you're going for your best time. I have to flip the screen down because just seeing 10,000 counting down just destroys you, right? And you don't need that, you're just working, feel your body and working as hard as you can.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Yeah, and that's and and with my gaming computer, I would do the same. I would just do um, I would just do speed, I would just do uh speed and cadence. You know, I mean a great thing as well about this um this challenge, I'd never never trained with a heart rate before. I didn't know about power meters and things like that. It's gone very technical. Um, so when my sponsorship marketing team did a SWOT analysis at the beginning of this project, the only weakness that came back was my arrogance towards the cycling community, which I which again I just took as a strength. Confidence, yeah, it's just confidence, but you know, no one in the cycling community ever said that. But when I soon then start realizing that cyclists, you know, cyclists are geeks, they love data, they love data. You know, and I remember a guy and he he messaged me when I was on the challenge and said, How are you feeling today? And noticed your heart rate was about out the roof yesterday. I was like, that was it. So I had all those things, which was great, but actually, when I was on the challenge, I just went on how I felt. I didn't go to cadence, I didn't go to heart rate, I just went on how you feel because there's so many contributing factors out your your control which affect them. You know, my coach said, right, for the first week, I want you I want you at 160 watts on the power meter. If I was on 160 watts, I'd still be in Ushuaia. You know, I was doing 240 watts because I had to move, I had to get going, but I just went on how I felt.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Exactly, mate. I did a uh I ran a trail marathon with a a friend, long-term friend of mine last year, and uh he's a date, he works in data, he's an analytics in business in corporate, doing really well. Everything's about his heart rate monitor, everything's about the temperature, everything's about his breathing rate. And uh, we first first half an hour, it was the hottest day of last year that we ran it, wasn't by choice. And uh he was like, I'm it's too hot, my heart rate's too fast, I ain't gonna finish this in the first half an hour. And it's like, mate, put that watch away. That is doing you no favours, and then going through the positive messages. Was there any times in your challenge where you the negative messages were getting the better of you? You know, both in the cycling challenge and in selection, let's say. Um

SPEAKER_02 44:34

No, because I I I because of my plan, I was always ahead or where I should be. So that didn't really come into it. We'll talk about in a minute the challenges behind the challenges. The actual bike ride was easy. I was dealing with a lot of politics in the background, and that was having an effect on me mentally. Um, you know, I I hear about cycling, you know, cyclists, cyclists, cycling is great because you can go out for an hour or two and free your, you know, clear your head. When you're on the bike for eight to ten hours a day, it has the opposite effect. You start overanalysing things, and you're just like, ah, you know what I mean? So it did have a negative impact on me on certain things. But also, what kept me busy on this challenge is a lot of a lot of people do their challenges, but they don't be involved in the planning. Because I was involved from start to finish. I knew the project inside out. So I was already when I was on the bike to keep myself entertained, I was thinking about you know, is such and such ready, it's such and such at the border. You know, you're already thinking about the next two or three you're filling your mind, you're filling your mind with stuff to keep keep you busy, yeah, and take your mind off what's going on around you.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

You know, uh I did a I did a chat with Nims a while ago. Um, I'm sure you've been following his progress. And uh again, I I truly believe he's probably doing the same because he's that much planning going on, it just takes his mind off the risk of it all, and he's just very much focused on what the next section he needs to be thinking about is. Um just going back a couple of comments. Um, it's it's funny you mentioned sort of your affinity uh to the cycling community. I think you said the word geeks, and uh I googled your name earlier just in prep for this. And uh third on the list was a report in Cycling Weekly um about your Pan American challenge and the uh uh the the cheating claims. Do you want to talk about that?

SPEAKER_02 46:20

You know, that your your name was attempted to that that was actually wasn't Cycling Weekly, they just they just um um reproduced it. So it actually came from the mail on Sunday uh a defense editor called Mark Nickel. And I knew Mark Nickel before, and you know he wrote numerous times about Harry and a few of the guys in the S, and I've just pinned him out. But I had a um again lessons learned for the next next challenge. I I'd never cycled before, you know, and the Guinness World Record states that there's no distinction between supported and unsupported, so I was that support team, you know what I mean? So I thought, well, I'll get the experts in the industry. So we had we had a medic who volunteered, we had a soft tissue therapist who volunteered, we had an ops manager who volunteered, and we had um a bike mechanic, and three of them were actually ex-military. And I thought these people are coming on for the right reasons, blah blah blah. Um, and they're pro bono, they're so they're times free, which which I get, you know, everything else was covered. The ops manager didn't make it on the ground, you know, it was just too much. The planning from what he thought, again, he may have thought it's just grabbing a water bottle and a banana. There's actually a lot more to it, and you know, he you know he had a bit of a meltdown, so he he he didn't even make it on the ground. But when we were as soon as we set off, we had a team back here in UK, they were actually promoting their businesses on their own websites, and again, stuff I didn't know, it's actually legal to self-promote a business on the back end of a charity. You can do it in logos, but you can't be seen to be making money financially from it, so there's all these issues going back and forth with that. Um, so they've been told to take certain posts now. So, even from the off, this this stuff's going on in the in the background, and my wife and my team here trying to keep it away from me, but it wouldn't it just always end up on my lap. When I had those four breaks in the day, it would end up on my lap. And um day 13, I got told a phone call from the producer back in the UK that the medic was bullying the documentary team. I was like, what? He said, Yeah, there's allegations he's bullying the documentary team. Well, as a mental health campaign, you know, whether the allegation is true or not, I had to act on it. Yeah, so I sit home uh on day 13, which then caused ruptures within the team. Got to Mexico, and the soft tissue therapist and the medic were like, we want more profile, we want more than this. Um, we're now the ops manager and the performance manager. I said, Well, you're not, you know, you are the mechanic and the soft tissue therapist. They didn't think about the afterglow, you know, they all thought about that period, and as it was becoming more successful, they wanted more exposure, and that was actually part of the article as well. It was all about Dean, he got to social media. Well, sorry, I'm the one on the bike. Yeah, but the um so when we got to so Mexico, they said, Oh, these are new terms and conditions. I was like, I'm not I'm not agreeing to that. And they said, Well, you can't do this project without us, and I said, I beg to differ. So I uh I left them in Mexico and I cycled off, and Iva just drove the wagon. And actually, when they left, what a massive weight that was off my shoulders, having to deal with egos and politics in the background. I actually then started smashing it out then. You know, I was now it was almost like right, I'll prove you wrong. And so I got I got to the end, I got to the end, and they'd formed, they've got their legal team, they wanted the logos off and everything else, and you know, they got nowhere with that. Um, so what they did is they then went to the um Mark Nicole and said this defense head and said, Oh, he cheated, you know, and their allegations of cheating, you know, if you're cheating, you know, you missed the country or you've gotten a wagon or something like that. No, I still did the 14,000 miles because I have all the data to back that up. But I had one bike set up for the hills, which some sort of gears, and the others for the the flats. Well, actually, you're allowed to do that anyway, but I I didn't. So, um, so what they were trying to do is they're trying to tarnish the project to justify why they were sent home in Owen, and that's what it is, and that's all they've did they've been trying to do. So they did that, they did that one, and they've come back and they've refuted the allegations, which I've got the statement, and then the next one was this one's even better, which makes me laugh. I was being investigated by a charity regulator. So we handed over over 900,000 pounds in January.

SPEAKER_00 50:47

Yeah, but back in July, by the way, mate, that's absolutely outstanding. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:53

I mean, I always call it the challenge behind the challenge. The bike ride's quite easy. So when people said how did you manage it? I was like, any time on the bike was good. But the um so we handed over 900,000 and we did a photo shoot with Hello magazine back in July, August last year, where we'd had the first 500,000, and I said to Alana, rather than that be sat in our bank, let's get that out, you know, out to the charities. So we did a photo shoot with the 500,000, and because then we closed the campaign down in January and had said we'd handed over 900,000. Apparently, we stole the 400,000 because we haven't had a photo shoot. Honestly, mate, it's laughable. So all it is is just an attempt to try and tarnish the chariot the campaign to justify why they were sent home, and it's things like this, they're worried about the book, what's going to come out on the document. Um, it was mate. And unfortunately, fortunately, it hasn't had had any issues at all. We're still dealing with the people we were dealing with before, and everyone sort of saw straight through it, really.

SPEAKER_00 51:54

If I'm honest, Dean, you know, I've followed your progress anyway, um, naturally through knowing you, and it wasn't until I Googled just for uh just to see what popped up um before our chat that I even knew about that. It's gone nowhere. And so I just wanted your take on it, really. Just to go over the Pan American challenge, mate. Um, you you got a letter for a certain event which you've spoken about, sort of spurred you on. Do you want to uh talk about that a little bit more?

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Yeah, so it sort of goes about how about how I was aiming for 110 days. Um I took the South America where record, 10 days off the South America record. It was 58 days before, and I'd done it in 48 days. Again, such a motivational boost going into the second stage. We then got into North America on day 70, and I was 14 days ahead of my target. So I was like, you know, I mean, I'll take a day, you know, if I need a day's rest here and there, we we can have it. And I had a few missed calls off Alana, and Alana's the campaign director, so she knows, especially with all the issues we've had before, unless it's an emergency, she doesn't really bother me, you know. She teaches which is great about she keeps those distractions away from me. And um, so I thought this must be important or you know, or something wrong with the children. So I rang her up and she said, Oh, what do you what do I wear to a royal wedding? She said, Sorry. What's a royal wedding? I mean, she put screenshotted the invitation to Harry and Meg's wedding, which I'd thought of I knew it was going on, but because I hadn't been watching Teddy or social media, I wasn't really aware of everything back home. So Alana being Alana had already worked out for me to get back for this wedding, I needed to be polite on day 102, which is 15 days ahead. So I can imagine mentally going into that phone call, you're 14 days ahead, thinking, you know, I can take the foot off the gas to actually now being a day behind, which just changed the dynamics completely of the whole project. But the luxury I had, we talked about South America, where you know we're dictated by first light, last light, North America and Canada, you've got the luxury of security. You know, I mean, you don't there's no real risk. So that's where I had the luxury there, and I would cycle through the night. I got to Lubbock in Texas the next day, and we had 60 mile an hour winds and tornadoes, and we were grounded for 24 hours. So I'm now two days behind the target. So a couple of guys I met, Axel and Andreas in Dubai, who had the South America World record, they told me about uh an app on your phone called Windy TV, which I think is quite popular with sailors, but it gives you the strength and directions of the winds every hour forecasted for the next two weeks. So for me, I had to cycle 340 miles in the next 36 hours to mix the next weather window, uh, which I did. But then all I did then was I just played chess with Mother Nature. I just cycled when the winds had subsided or at the lowest points, or most advantageous to myself, um, through North America, and I got to Cheyenne. And it weren't to my favour when I got to Cheyenne. I picked up a 50 mile an hour tailwind and did 260 miles in 11 and a half hours cycling. So, but already you've got 80 days of cycling on the Alex, you're you're probably you know at your fittest at this point. So I did, I had 17 days planned from North America, did it in 11 and a half, and then I got a week outside on that right. I said, the you know, the the world records smashed, the royal weddings, we're gonna get back in time, take a foot off the gas. I was then made aware of a professional cyclist. You know, this guy's already got two or three world records, he's he's a Red Bull sponsor, Austrian team. Uh, can I still class myself as a novice? And the um he wanted to be the first man, he's gonna sit off in August, first man to do the Pan America Highway in under 100 days. I was like, you know, so the dynamics have just changed completely. So I cycled, you know, that last week, you know, trying to get as much time as I could. Well, the last two days I thought, right, to get in under the 100 days, I need to cycle 150 miles today and a hundred days, 100 miles on the last day, and that would be me under the 100 days. I cycled the first 50 miles and hit at noon hit a a um a roadblock, and the the girl was like, ah, she goes, you can't pass until eight o'clock tonight. So that's eight hours I had to wait. You know, imagine dealing with that mentally. So I had a little bit of a flash at the cameraman, telling they get the cameras out their face. Um, went back into the RV and I just took pen to paper, distance, speed, time, appreciation. Um, and I said to the lads, I said, right, eight o'clock tonight, I will carry on cycling until I get to the end, which is 200 miles away. And so I cycled literally 24 hours um solid, just stopping for coffees. But fortunately we had to land of the midnight sun, so it doesn't get dark. Yeah, and yeah, it was minus 18, and um I came in in 99 days, 12 hours, and 56 minutes. So the dynamics from the initial plan back here and how it changed and evolved on the on the project. You know, people say to me, I always say to people, sorry, if I'd known about the raw weather, known about this guy, would it have been too much? You know, had that would that be too much pressure on me? Um, but you know, I was just fortunate I was in a position I could I could act on it. You know, we had 99 days, but we had five days off three due to weather and two due to logistics. So there's 90 five days you could have caught up. So it worked out in the 94 days, 147 miles cycling uh a day. And my average speed, which was fast, was 16.7 miles an hour, which is fast for a cyclist, even cycling around town. Massive.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

So how did the uh how's the guy got on that's gonna smash it in 99 days?

SPEAKER_02 57:32

No, no, he he actually beat my world record. So he beat my world record. So I actually joke about that. The fact, you know, you know, the uh the arrogance from the cycling community. You know, the world record before I broke it was eight years, and all of a sudden, I mean it's been broken twice since. I mean, they all just thought, ah right, we need to get on it. But I was actually um I was doing a charity ride in May from Vienna to Prague. This guy's Austrian, and I walked into the cycling shop, and this guy's that oh, you're Dean Star, isn't it? Yeah, and he said, Oh no, we know you, we followed you and we sponsored Michael. So they rang him up, and the next day he came cycling with me in the morning, him and his fiance, and it was actually it was really good. And he said, You're he go, he was gonna go a slightly different route. He said, When I saw your route, he said, I took I did it to the mile. So that sort of meticulous planning, which was nice to hear, you know, records are there to be broken.

SPEAKER_00 58:21

And probably probably more importantly, Dean, uh you'd have you'd have took him in an arm wrestle, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 58:27

Oh, yeah, yeah. And my forearm was bigger than his, you know, his quad, you know what I mean? He he looks like a cyclist. I'll send you a photo late, he does look like a cyclist. Well, I I didn't so we actually went for a for a ride, and he said he was under so much pressure because he told the world that he wanted to do it under 100 days, and his sponsors are like, Well, you better do it because this guy's a novice, and he just has. Um, but what was a comfort to me, you know, I've talked about my support team, he had exactly the same issues with his support team, and I've spoken to a few other people since, and it seems to be a common theme. So, if anyone wants to do a challenge, don't go pro bono volunteers, get an NDA, get a contract. Um, yeah, so that was a bit of a comfort to me because I thought and I just had bad luck with these guys, and and it wasn't. But he, as he said to me though, he goes, Yes, I broke your world record, but you are still the first man in history to cycle it under 100 days. I said, Yeah, I'll take that.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

Can't take that away from you, mate. They cannot take that away from you, and probably as important, you got back for the royal wedding. So if you've got any gossip, any uh any selfies with some famous celebs, mate?

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Oh, to be honest, it was too it was too close to me finishing the challenge. You know, I I'd spent almost three and a half months on my own on the bike, you know, having a little bit of socializing with the team. I was still trying to come to terms with just normality, just having my family there and and the kids. I mean, all of a sudden I get back to UK on the 17th of May, you know, I had 11 interviews, you know, CNN, Sky News, all that sort of stuff. You know, it's great because Harry then spotted me when he did walked in the crowd and came down. On the day of the wedding, um, you know, I'd lost 12 kilos as well. You know, I mean, I was I was I looked like Chris Stream's younger brother, you know. I mean, I didn't look like uh Stott, but I didn't yeah, I didn't really take on board every everything. People at home would have seen it um a lot more. It was you know, no, don't get me wrong, it was great to be there, but I would have loved to have been now when I'm back to normal, you know. Um but I was a bit upsetting because you know, it wasn't for me, I didn't mind, but I was on Lorraine Kelly on the Monday morning, supposed to be me and Lorraine chatting about the bike ride because the wedding was so big, there's you know, it's all over the world. It was like me, Lorraine, Emily Nash from Hello Magazine, the woman from the kingdom choir. So I only got like a minute and a half slot. But I then um I flew home that day, later on that day, me and the family flew home. This is me first back in Aberdeen since setting off. And the first thing people said to me was, How was the wedding of that? I thought I just just smashed two world records and raised me. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:59

It was it was just like people don't care, mate.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:02

People don't care, mate. Because what's in the mean at the time, as we just touched on. So it was it it was good, it was good and it was nice to be there, but I would have liked to have a bit of a bit of a gap. It did sort of overshadow the challenge, but it you know, if it wasn't for Harry, you know, it's that it comes hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

So he basically owes you an apology, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:20

And I well, yeah, he owes me apology, but you know, it was an honour, obviously, to be to be invited to such such a big event. You know, I think one of the funny ones to me was the BBC uh Emily Nash was saying, no, she actually mentioned me as we were walking in. She said, Oh, yeah, you know, you've got your beckham's clubies, but there's some unsung heroes here, it's Dean Stott. And as she said, Dean Stott, the the cameraman had Tom Hardy on his side, so is that yeah, that would be yeah, that's a good as good looking, mate, is he?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:47

It's not as good looking. We'll move on from the cycling. Just before we do, um, any comments on the Biffim's bridge with having spent about 12 or 14 hours a day in the saddle?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:57

Oh, the gooch. Actually, um, to be honest, you know, I again back here, you're thinking, right, my gooch is gonna be in rag, you know. I mean, my back's gonna be in rag and everything else. Surprisingly enough, I had no saddle sores, not nothing, nothing really um to sing home about. South America, it was my lips. So you know, yeah, oh when I got to when I got to Ecuador, my lips are so blistered with the heat and everything else. So you've just cycled through the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is the driest, non-popular desert in the world, so it's 47 degrees when we went through it. You know, the biggest climbs uh on the Tour de France are 21 kilometres. My biggest climb was 67 kilometres from sea level at 4,000 metres. So you're just doing everything on steroids. There's a place down in London called the Altitude Centre, so room simulated at altitude. This is probably the hardest ride I've ever done. So I did a 10-hour wal bike session at altitude. What? But I again I knew I I could tick off that I can cycle at uh altitude. Now, luckily, there was a mirror in front of me and I'm quite vain, so I kept myself entertained for 10 hours.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:06

But that's few going, yeah?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:09

Um but for me, I'd I'd put myself, I tested myself in those environments before we went out rather than taking that risk when we're out there.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:17

And so on that, then so one of the questions I've been asked is whether you go back to the start of your career or what you're doing now every time you take on a new um role or you take on a new challenge. What is your best advice as someone that's clearly had a lot of success through your career of how to get started in pursuing whatever it is?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:38

Um so I think the first thing, as we touched on before, is actually apply for it, you know, get it in because you you won't take it serious until you've got so it's a bit like the projects, and we'll talk about my next project. You need a start date, you need something to aim for. Once you've got that start date, then you can then uh work back. So that's the first thing I would say to do. Um, but you know, I yes, I was in the special forces, and yes, I was successful on that bike ride. I'm still learning. Get as much advice, you know. The great thing you've got nowadays is is is internet and books and things like that. Get as much information as you can. And don't think, like I said, like I said, the the guys before they all went north-south. Um you don't have to do that, you know. Formulate your own, be cut, be confident in your plan as well. That that that's one thing as well, I'd say just be confident in your plan.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:28

Yeah, absolutely, mate. Buy into that big style. If you'd have asked me about five years ago, if what's my personal development plan like? No, but I didn't really have one. Do you know what I mean? Now, this podcast is is really quite selfish, really, mate. You know, I've got a pretty good network of people where I can tap into, but for me, it's good to learn about and also share my sort of knowledge and experiences. And I love that sort of development and just picking your brains of you know, super talented or people at the very top of their game. So yeah, so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

You you know, if you if you believe in your plan and also believe in yourself, I think that's the biggest hurdle for being where you need to believe. You don't believe, and there's no point in even in starting. You know, for me, I'm already visualizing the end of the challenge. You visualize the end of the challenge, you know. I mean, and I I think Team Sky do a lot with their their um therapists, it's it's all about visualizing the end. So for me, you know, it wasn't a Sean de Lise finish mine at all, it was minus 18 on black ice. I mean, it was ski goggles on as well, so it wasn't that, but what my visualization was we had a wheels down ball in London uh six weeks later, which was um a big fundraiser. You know, Harry came home and did the QA black tie event, all in London. So my visualisation was me and my family on the stage. That my son, who was at that point was two, would have a a you know, black tie, and my daughter would be dressed in, and that's what happened, you know, and made it happen. You have to visualize. Um, but I think a lot going back, yeah. I think a lot of people are already what I'm trying to promote to people, already if you say to someone, oh, do this, they're already looking at why you can't rather than for me it's like blocking off those exits and say, Well, why not?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Yeah, got you, mate. Got you. That's that's that's very true as well. Mate, two uh two sort of quickish questions. So uh before we go on to your next challenge, you know, well, you know, how what are you not very good at? We've spoken about sort of your strengths and it's that planning, that meticulous plan in the process, and and but trusting in yourself, but but Talking about yourself and the third person, Dean Stott, how does he uh how does he, or what are you not very good at?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:38

I'm not very good at um giving other people responsibility. And I think it's something you know I talk about the unrelenting pursuit of excellence. You know, I really struggle sometimes. I've got my wife's probably the closest person I know who who is as meticulous, you know, uh as I am, other than one of the lads, I guess. But yeah, it's giving other people responsibility. I try to do it all myself, and I'm I'm I'm seeing it now, especially with this next project. You need you need to trust others that they they can do it, you know. I mean, and that's something I'm I'm guilty of myself. Yeah, I I don't give people the full reign. Um, but then you realize when you haven't got when your time management's gone to pot that you're gonna have to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

Um control, but trust, but it's it's it's yeah, it's all on your shoulders, then isn't it? I can relate to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:26

I'd rather take that rather than but I mean the other one for me is also um I I was always guilt of it in the military, is I was very quick to judge, you know. I mean, and I love being proven wrong. I love being proven wrong. I was always quick to judge. So they're my two, they're my two faults.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:43

Yeah, I uh I I can relate to those, mate. You know, I don't mind putting my opinion on a flag and but then sort of you know, it provided you're prepared to take on other people, you know, be a good listener and go, do you know what? I was wrong, you know, that's that's uh that's a great quality to be fair. Um, and the other question is, you know, how do you unwind? So conscious you've got another event coming up, but how how does how do you unwind?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:07

If you ask my wife, she said I probably don't unwind. Um, you know, the thing is we've just moved house actually, and it's probably the first time I felt um properly related. So we do properly develop and we're now in the house that we think we're probably gonna stay in. So it's the first time I've started unpacking bags properly and wedding presents and stuff like that. So just being with the family is is my unwind. Um I like to be busy though, that's the problem. I think I think that's one thing we really struggle with when you're in the military, you know, you know, as you know, you like something too busy, but you like you know what you're doing for the next 18-month forecast, and that's very much what I like. I like to know what I'm doing. And if it starts getting quiet, I'll find things to do. Um, so whereas now things are starting to get busier, um, especially with like the books and other media stuff and the next challenge, I'm actually finding just time at home is is my unwind.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:03

Yeah, big style. How did you balance that? A question I've been asked before is uh around your military time. How did you balance that with your military time? Because obviously we were away for probably nine months of a year. You didn't live in the area where you worked either, as well as far as I'm aware. So, how did you balance that time away from your family, you know, your loved ones?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:21

Yeah, it's a difficult one because when you're in the military, you're away for a reason, it's your job. This time you're going away, and it's really difficult because you volunteered to do this. You know, the reason we rewind the reason we did this after I came back from the Canadian Image is spend more time at home. I'm about to go paddling for five months, you know what I mean? I'm going away even longer. But for me, um, and that's why I think the charity thing is is key for me. You know, it makes it a lot easier because there's a purpose in why I'm doing it, and I can then see the impact, it's gonna affect other people, and then my daughter and son will see that. So, what what I've got what's quite unique in in this setup, um is me is me and my wife, is the fact that I genuinely think anyone can break a world record. I genuinely do believe that anyone with the right mindset, right training, everyone else can break a world record.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:11

12 Ferrero Roches, I'm up for that one, mate. I'm up for that one.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:15

If you take away all those distractions, your business, your mortgages, everything else, and you've got the full support of your family, all you've got to do is train, and it it's achievable. So my wife very much is good at that. She keeps those distractions from me. She runs the businesses, she makes sure there's a roof over her head, and she's also the campaign campaign director, so she's fully involved in the projects as well. So she's immersed in it, and that makes it a lot easier. It it isn't easy leaving your family uh at all, you know. I mean, it's um my son's three years old and my daughter's uh eight now. Um, but you know, I made this decision to do it, so as long as it's there's a reason for doing it rather than just to fulfil my own dream of doing a challenge. No, that's just not enough for me. It has to have a purpose.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:01

Sound mate. Um, last couple of questions. I'm gonna have to wrap this up eventually, but um the book, mate, the book's out soon, or it's out very shortly, is that right?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:09

Yeah, well, I've got the first first copies in arrived the other day. So the book comes out the the 3rd of October. Um the again, I didn't look beyond the challenge. I didn't think I was gonna be writing books or doing guest speaking, you know, I just did it to keep busy. So the book's a bit of everything, um childhood, military, um, and the bike ride at the end. But the third in the middle, which I think is going to catch people out, is those eight years I would disappeared under the radar. You know, I've talked about you know evacuating the Canadian Embassy single-handedly, um, KCA doit tag as well, but there's actually some other juicier stories in there. Um, you know, I did that Canadian Embassy job for free.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:51

And where can people get it?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:53

So you can get Waterstones, Domate Smiths, Tesco, or you go to Amazon at www.deanstot.com. I mean you get a signed copy. It's actually assigned as well, not one of these printed signed ones.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

Yeah, Sam. And then so what's next, Dean? Uh, what's this challenge?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:09

Yeah, so for me, I think no, trying to separate myself from other people who are doing their challenges. You know, you you've got your guys who are who are cyclists, you've got your guys who are uh see these people doing challenges. I'll give you an example like Mark Beaumont, who's a great endurance cyclist, and he's outright, I'm gonna do this bike ride. Well, you're just like that. Well, he's probably gonna do it because he's done something before. My USP is now I've enjoyed cycling, dip my toe and dip it out. My USP is I'll take a sport I've never done before and find the biggest challenge, and that's what's unique about um myself or my challenges. So um I'm gonna kayak the River Nile, it's never been done before from source to sea, the whole route through uh Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt um in March next year. And the next campaign, no, the last one was for mental health. His campaign is actually for modern slavery and human trafficking.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:02

Absolutely epic. Um, I've done a bit of paddling myself. Um wouldn't wish that on anyone else. So, mate, are you uh how are you preparing for that? Because obviously you're not gonna be able to put the miles in very easily. Um, not like jumping on a bike. So, what's your plan there?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:17

Yeah, yeah, two totally different uh disciplines at all. Like I said, when you're when you're cycling training, your your bike is your mode of transport, it's actually trying to get to to a river. Fortunately for me, we've just moved house and the river D runs in my garden. Um I didn't buy the house purposely for that. But again, we talk, you know, when I talk about training um for the for the last challenge, you know, not much was going on in the background, so all I could focus on was that the distractions now going doing a book tour, doing your audio book, doing guest speaking, you know, doing the next challenge, it's really it is really difficult to get um a lot of a lot of training in. But lessons learned from the last challenge going forward with this is you know, it's four to five mum's padlet, but you do you know, it's like selection, you don't go on selection day one 100% fit because you'll burn out by week two. So it's very much like this. So I'm just gonna have a basic level of skills in kayaking. But regardless of how fit you are, the first 10 days uh and nails, whether you're super fit or whether you're you're unfit, so it's getting further those through those first 10 days, and then you're getting fitter as you go along, you know what I mean? So I'm sort of for me, as long as I can get to the start point uninjured, they reckon that's 50% of the way there. You know, the the the the big bit is what you're not seeing now, is building the campaign, getting the charities together, getting the sponsorship and everything else, so planning the project. So if I'm out there with the canoe or the kayak on day one, then then I'm happy and I'll get I'll get fit as I go along. Um again, it's a different fitness cycling. I did one the other day, I kayaked down from Patarch, which was 20 miles on a little creek boat. Um we did it about I did it in about three hours. My maximum heart rate was 113 beats a minute, it's not cardio.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:07

Um cruising, mate.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:08

Yeah, yeah. So um, so yeah, so that that's that's the more important thing for me is getting the campaign together and getting to the start point. Um, you know, not being naive, I don't need to do any training, yes, I do, I but I need to also be uninjured um and and reasonably fit. So I you know I'm quite toned up at the minute, which I'm concerned about. So I'm just gonna have a good Christmas. You know, trying to raise a million pounds was harder than the challenge itself. Um, so you know, we there will be a fundraise on this one, but this next one's gonna be more focused on education. You know, how can we ask people to donate if they don't know what they're donating for? So it's gonna be a lot, it's gonna be quite a bit of shock and awe, really. There's gonna be a lot of statistics out there, and you know, we'll be doing a lot of filming.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:53

Awesome, mate. Um, I massively look forward to it. Um, so mate, we'll wrap it up there, Dean. It's been a pleasure tapping up. Um, keep in touch. Everyone can find you, as you mentioned, on on deanstot.com. Um, buy the book. Uh, I look forward to reading it myself. Um, you got any sort of final thoughts or comments, mate?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:12

No, just um, you know, you know, set yourself a goal and and and believe you can achieve it, uh the main ones. Also, like I say, I think the success is breaking it down in the manageable bite size.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:25

Sage advice from uh from a man who's an expert now, buddy. So, yeah, awesome chatting, mate, and uh see you later.