Pro cyclist and MIT doctoral grad Christina Birch sits down with me today to talk cycling.

I ask her about how she got into cycling "late" in life eventually leading to her current circumstances of racing at a professional level.

We discuss the impact that race directors have on our lives. The way a good race director will both foster a sense of community and make race days more fun.

Christina shares with me some of her thoughts about racing at the top level, making race plans and learning to let go.

As we continue our chat Christina and I talk travel plans for races and how she deals with going a long distance before an important race.

Being that we're both overthinkers I give Christina the same advice my college coach once gave to me about why stupid people are so much faster than me.

I ask her about how she trains for vastly different cycling disciplines from gravel to track racing.

Before moving on we talk about dealing with fear and the effects of aging on the mind.

As we round out our discussion Christina and I discuss the differences in training methods between running and cycling.

I ask her about her PhD at MIT and how she decided to go from full-time academia to full-time athlete.

At the end of our chat I ask Christina my season 2 question: What's the purpose of sport? And we talk about the importance of reaching your potential.