Tough Girl Podcast Monika Sattler - Management Consultant turned World Record Holder - 1st Women to cycle the Vuelta a España - 3,058km with 49,337m of climbing!
Monika made history in 2019 when she became the first woman to ride the entire 3,058km route of the Vuelta a España. Which is know as one of cycling’s toughest grand tours. Monika started riding every morning at 6 am hours before the men started, she rode the full 21 stages which included a staggering 49,337m of climbing! This was all done in the blistering Spanish heat.
Her mission was to prove her own RAD (Real, Adventurous, Daring) Method and to inspire other women to live a more adventurous life!
During this podcast Monika shares more about her journey, studying over in America, not knowing if she was making the right decisions, trying to become a professional cyclist and realising it wasn’t for her. Monika is super passionate and positive about living an adventurous life! She goes after her goals with unbelievable focus - whether it is writing a book in 5 weeks or moving on a whim to a country she doesn’t speak the language of with just her bike and one nights accommodation booked.
Show notes
- Who is Monika
- Growing up in Germany until she was 19
- Wanting to be a CIA agent when she was younger
- Deciding to move to America with a full time scholarship to play volleyball
- Figuring out what she wanted to do with her life
- Having to decide between a career in the World Bank or being a professional cyclist
- Going back to her childhood and what life was like for her
- Moving around a lot when she was younger and living in multiple places
- Having a lot of energy and having a love for sports
- Getting into volleyball in a big way
- Not having a passion and struggling to decide what she wanted to do with her life
- Figuring out how to pay for school and needing to get a scholarship
- Spending 9 years living in America
- Being unemployed at 30, with no mortgage, no plan and trying to decide what to do with her life
- Moving with her bike to Spain (not speaking Spanish and not knowing anyone)
- Trying a wide variety of different jobs
- Making a positive impact on other people’s lives
- Coaching other to live to their full potential
- Making the change to professional cycling in 2011
- What she loves about cycling
- How her friends and family reacted to her decision
- What her definition of happiness is
- Figuring out that professional cycling was not for her
- Going back to a career - working for IBM as a management consultant as a management consultant
- Giving herself one year to make it happen
- Being scared that she had made a mistake
- Being motivated to make it work and trying everything she could
- Creating the RAD Method
- Figuring out your purpose in life
- Deciding to ride the in the Vuelta a España
- Getting funding for the race
- Everyone telling her she would fail
- What a typical day looked like while riding in Spain
- How she coped mentally with the pressures
- Writing a book about the experience in 6 weeks
- What the next challenge is going to be and why she wants to make a move into ultra running
- Top tips and advice for other women
- Inspiring others
- The next big challenge!!
Social Media
Website - http://www.radmonika.com
Instagram - @rad_monika