Episode 53: Rahsaan Bahati — Professional Cyclist, 10x National Champ, Compton raised speedster

King of the Ride

Ted King

Sports, Health & Fitness, Business

4.8 • 660 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2020

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his prime, Rahsaan Bahati was one of the fastest cyclist in America. Rahsaan’s entry into cycling is far from typical having grown up in Compton, California. Successful from very early on, this conversation covers his early days through the present, a time period where he celebrates the number ten quite well: the ten-time national champion with collegiate, road, and track titles is also celebrating the tenth anniversary of the organization he started, The Bahati Foundation, this year. Designed to inspire, empower, impact and transcend young people's lives, you can check them out at www.BahatiFoundation.org. Now as the Social Impact Manager at Zwift, Rahsaan finds himself in a role that speaks to that passion -- empowering people through the bike. The sport of cycling is certainly not lacking in the demographic of middle aged white guys. Take a dive into this conversation with Rahsaan who’s a person of color in a sport that is not necessarily welcoming to minorities, young people, women, and people without economic means. It’s an interesting peek into a perspective not often seen. I mentioned my 2020 calendar in the intro and here it is: www.iamtedking.com/schedule

Transcript

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0:00.0	I grew up in Compton and Compton had, at the time I was growing up, was gang infested, you know, if you could just look back, if you're into rap music, and if you're not just look it up, you know, like NWA, you know, the whole EZE movement.
0:12.8	So that was the era that I grew up in with, you know, F the police.
0:16.9	So police brutality that you see today, it was going on then. It was just we didn't have smartphones and could put it on the internet instantaneously, right?
0:28.9	Hey there, everybody.
0:30.0	Welcome back to King of the Ride podcast.
0:32.7	I am Ted King.
0:34.4	I'm your host.
0:35.9	And let the good times roll.
0:41.7	In this age of competitive gravel cycling,
0:47.3	I think we can agree that perhaps the tide is turning towards not just competitivity,
0:50.0	but hyper-competitivity in gravel.
0:52.4	Heck, maybe the tide has already shifted.
0:54.2	The ship may have already sailed.
1:00.5	And we're in an age of competitive gravel because that's just what human nature suggests we do.
1:06.7	Now, I'm not going to stew on this topic, but I think it's one that we're going to keep touching upon as this podcast evolves.
1:09.5	So follow along with me here.
1:12.8	King of the Ride will continue to dabble in all sorts of cycling,
1:15.9	especially and including my roots in road racing.
1:20.6	Just as our guest today has his roots in road racing too.
1:26.5	Rassan Bahadi, 10-time national champion on various road and track bikes.
1:28.0	This conversation is a stunner.
1:34.8	I am psyched to bring it to you. However, back to my point. So in this age of competitive gravel, I am wary of the formal releasing, the formal unveiling of my gravel race calendar.
	...

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