Miles & Mountains
Join Nick, a social worker and coach by day, as he unravels the inspiring stories of athletes and the public, uncovering the motivations behind their actions, from conquering mountains to participating in ultra-endurance races and competing in rodeos. Get ready for heartwarming tales of community support, acts of kindness, and the revelation that everyone has a deeper story to tell. Whether it's running, climbing, or participating in rodeos, these stories will inspire and uplift. #Running, #Climbing, #EverydayAthletes, #Rodeo
Miles & Mountains
From Idaho Gridiron To Olympic Skeleton Hopeful
What does it take to aim your life at 89 mph and keep your head still while the world blurs? We sit with Andy Whittier, a Team USA skeleton hopeful on the cusp of Cortina 2026 and pull back the curtain on a sport that pairs sprint speed with steel nerves and brutal precision. From a small Idaho town and Division I football to a niche winter discipline, he explains why size and weight caps push some athletes toward skeleton, how a 70-pound sled changes sprint mechanics, and why no two 50-second runs on the same track ever feel the same.
The journey isn’t glamorous. He left a secure marketing career, lived on sponsors and side gigs before a stipend finally kicked in, and accepted that holidays would happen without him. Training is a study in extremes: two to three runs a day, 4–6 G’s testing neck strength, and hours of film, sanding runners, mobility, and “mind runs” to map every curve. We trace the selection process from Park City to Europe—how circuits are assigned, how points stack from November to late January, and why only two men and two women will ultimately earn their Olympic start numbers.
What stands out is the mindset. He talks about crashing early and getting back on the sled 15 minutes later, about reducing life to the work in front of him, and about the electric weight of the anthem after a win. The culture is both cutthroat and generous—teammates push each other hard and celebrate each other’s breakthroughs—because the flag deserves the best-prepared athlete on race day. If you’ve ever wondered how visualization, relentless discipline, and community support can carry someone from a local track to the world stage, this conversation delivers an unfiltered look at the process and the price.
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Andy, what do you do? How are you? No bad days is what I tell people, Nick, honor to be here.
SPEAKER_01:No bad days. See, like before this, and I'm gonna say this. Before this, I had a crazy day at work. You know, I work at a high school, local high school, and then you know, to get my time in just to myself before I have this interview, I did a workout at CrossFit, and let me tell you, my back is still spasming. So I'm I beg to differ on that, but I I hear you. I hear where you're where you're coming from. There's not a bad day. No, I I hear you. Just some things here and there tweak, right?
SPEAKER_00:I always tell people like you can have a bad moment, but don't let that one moment ruin your entire day. So that's a bad moment then.
SPEAKER_01:I had a couple then. There you go. All right. Well, Andy, it's a pleasure to have you on, man. You're the first. I've had a lot of great athletes on here, and but I've never had an Olympian hopeful, man. It's huge.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's an honor to be here. It's pretty cool being in this position, heading into my first potential Olympic Games, going into Cortina, Italy for 2026 for the Olympic sport of skeleton. And I know we're gonna dive into that soon, but honor to be here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, you're the hopeful of skeleton athlete, you know, skeleton, skeleton. Now, the difference, and I'm just gonna say you don't have to say it. I know you say it all the time. The difference, skeleton is head first, face down position, which is wild, which is crazy. It's not like luge, kind of, but luge is feet first, face-up position. Correct. Okay. All right. With athlete standpoint, you go from football, I would think bobsled, because a lot of football players, ex-football players, do the bobsled, right? They do the team. Yeah, yeah, you're 100% correct on that.
SPEAKER_00:And then probably wondering why I chose skeleton.
SPEAKER_01:Well, well, considering it's head first, you just leaped in head first and said, you know, I'm gonna do skeleton. Let's go all out skeleton.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, actually, completely opposite. I when I tr submitted my numbers for the USA Bobsled Skeleton tryouts, I looked, I knew what bobsled was, right? I've seen cool runnings like most everybody, and I was like, Yeah, that's right up my alley. I looked up what skeleton was, and I was like, that's crazy. Why would anyone want to do that? And so when I showed up for the rookie camp five years ago, got the same thing I've been told my whole life: you're not big enough, too small, don't weigh enough. I'm like, all right. And so they're like, you're gonna be a skeleton athlete. And I was like, all right, I'm here. Let's see what we can do. And then for those of you that have watched the previous Olympics and will tune into these ones in Cortina, Italy, you're gonna see what our pop sled team looks like. You're gonna see six, two, two hundred and twenty, two hundred and twenty-five pound just behemoths pushing a four to six hundred pound sled. Not what I am, right? And so skeleton is much more advantageous to the way I'm built. Now, do you travel with that team? We we don't travel together, but we will be in the same locations together, yes. So, like we'll be training and racing together, more or less.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, those athletes are uh quite unique, man. They're their their thighs are pretty much the size of our torso, man. It's kind of kind of interesting, and it's massive. So when it when it comes down to it, how how tall are you? Me, I'm 5'7, 183. And those guys are 6'3, almost what 220?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we have that 220 because we in our sport, we have a weight cap between ourselves and the sled. So Bobsled's got a weight cap, we have a weight cap. And for those guys, it's harder because they have to mix and match between two and four dudes plus the weight of a sled, whereas for us, it's just myself and my sled. So those guys are kind of floating with each other. What are you weighing this week? What am I weighing? And so on.
SPEAKER_01:But those guys are massive, man. Those are like a specimen, man. Not saying you aren't, I mean, but you guys, dude, you guys are on a regiment from heck, man. Diet, training, which we'll get there. But like you said, you're hopeful for this year for 2026, February, Winter Olympics in Milan, Cortina, Italy. February 6th through the 22nd, northeast Italy. You ever been there around there?
SPEAKER_00:I haven't. The only part of Europe I've been to is Lillehammer, Norway. So I'm actually super excited to touch most of the tracks over in Europe this in about a week, week or two from now.
SPEAKER_01:Are you gonna be there this whole time until or you get a break, you go back to the states and everything else?
SPEAKER_00:No, we'll be there. So right now we're in Park State, Utah, taking care of some selection races, which will determine which circuit we all get displaced on, and then we'll go overseas to Europe. We'll race all season, and that'll be a bunch of different tracks all over Europe. And then after January 21st, depending on points when the team's named, those are gonna be the people that continue on into Italy.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so when you say season, your season hasn't started, it starts pretty much next day or next week, correct?
SPEAKER_00:I would say it started actually today. Today was official training day one of our selection races. So we'll train today, tomorrow, and Thursday. And then we'll race Friday and Saturday morning, and then after that, teams will be announced and away we go.
SPEAKER_01:That quick. That quick. So how many people are you competing against, if you if you don't mind me asking, or can you tell?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right now we have it'll be well, it should be right around 13 because we have 13 spots available across all circuits. So yeah, well, so our World Cup spots, we have three of those, our European Cup spots, we have four, and then our North American Cup, we have six. And that's just on the men's side, and then on women that qualified one more sled, so they have 14. But yeah, so basically against 12 other guys.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, all right. Are you are you excited, scared, all the above?
SPEAKER_00:It's all the above, but it it's what you want to do. Like if you're in this field and you're competing at this level, you want to know you're going against the best, and if your teammates are the best out there, I'm honored to be on the same track with them. One, so they can push me to be better, and I can push them to be better too.
SPEAKER_01:All right. One question What blows your mind the most in this sport, man? When you step foot, when you go on a practice run, right? What what blows your mind? I mean, you know, like I'm I'm an athlete, right? Not at your caliber, right? And my own caliber. I'm a coach, so I see things and hear things and know some things. What blows your mind when you step foot on, let's say, right before the shoot?
SPEAKER_00:The thing that I think kind of gets me is it's not even at the start line. I think it's at the finish line, right? Because right now we're in Park City, and all of us who are training here have been sliding on this track for years, right? This is one of our home tracks. We know it really well, like the back of our hand, right? We could go down this track, eyes closed, blindfolded, and be completely fine. But what's crazy is every run is so different than the last. And it's only 48 to 50 seconds of a run, but every run is that different than the last one. You do you get starstruck? No, I I mean I don't think so. I we we just had Flavor Flav come up here and be an official hype man and sponsor of the Bobson Skeleton team, and it was pretty cool to just be like, I've seen you on TV as a kid, I'm seeing you here in person as an adult. You are exactly who I thought you were. You are a genuine person who cares about the things that you go and do. So I don't think I haven't reached that level of starstruckness yet.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, hit him and Chuck D, man. You can't match that that rap, that that RB style, man. That yeah, you can't match it.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:All right, before we go anywhere else, you grew up playing football in a small town in Idaho, right? I mean, right next door to where I live, humble beginnings and always hungry. What made you just say, hey, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna try to be on the Olympic team? Because that's that's huge. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's and I gave up a huge portion of what my life could have been to pursue this this goal. So once I finished playing Division I football for Idaho State University, I had my pro day. I had a couple tryouts with the CFL, nothing had panned out for me. And I'm like, all right, still had that desire to be an athlete, just didn't know what was next in my life. I had already started my, I'm gonna say your normal career, right? I had begun working for Lookout Credit Union in our marketing division. I'd begun coaching high school football. I I had the cushed, easy life for I had the next 20 years of my life set aside, like nice and easy. And then doom scrolling through social media one day, I came across, like I said, that online trial for Bob Sled and Skeleton. And I'm like, I'm still training, I still feel fast, I'm still strong. I'm a late bloomer, anyways, for my athletics. Like, what do I have to lose? And like I said, I looked up Bob Sled, I looked up skeleton, I'm like, I ain't got anything to lose. The trial's in Park City, Utah, two hours from my house. I'm gonna go see what I can do. And I showed up, they told me you can't do Bob Sled. I was like, okay. They put me on a skeleton sled, and here we are five years later. Made a big decision to give up that safety net of a future to pursue the what if and what can I become for the USA.
SPEAKER_01:With you being so positive, you know, you preach, you speak positivity. Did you ever doubt yourself? Because I mean, you know, normally you'll see like, hey, join the army, hey, be an officer, you know, and United States military, you know, but then you here you are join Olympics, be on the Olympic team.
SPEAKER_00:Don't get yeah, don't get me wrong. It is like in the beginning, because you're not good at this sport right away, right? That's a very humbling moment for me at least, right? You're you dominate your high school, you dominate college, and then you kind of you're like, Oh, you're at the top of your game, and then you enter this brand new world, and you're like, Whoa, I suck. And you have to like kind of take a second to reflect and be like, I need to get back into the learning phase again. And don't get me wrong, there was a lot of there was a lot of walls that taught me how to learn this sport really quick at first. Oh, yeah, yeah. So, like within my first two weeks, and I'm actually very thankful this happened the more I look back on it now. I actually crashed, came off my sled at the bottom of this track, just blew apart, came came off, and I was kind of scared. I was like, what do people do crashing this sport? Like, what happens? And then I crashed, I survived, and I'm like, ah, all right, that's cool. I go back up to the top of the track in the next 15 minutes and I take my next run. And I'm like, all right, I I can do this. Like, I can go to the extreme of crashing and then get right back on the sled and go back to the top and take another run.
SPEAKER_01:Now, is there a technique that you are taught if you're if you go down?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, don't stay on one spot of the ice. Like, don't just like put your elbows down or anything like that. You kind of want to move around because you can get what's called ice burn, which we only wear like thin underarmor suits, like underarm material, and that'll just yeah, yeah, just like that.
SPEAKER_01:As I'm showing in my my arm, guys, from ice burn.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yeah, it's like turf burn, but just way worse and down to the bone really quick.
SPEAKER_01:Even with the gear that you're that you have on, it'll go through.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah. Like the gear that we wear is more for aerodynamics, it's not for protection. What? Yeah, like the only things we're wearing for protection. We got a helmet, mouthpiece, some baseball gloves. You can wear pads for trading, but obviously, once racing comes, that's not very aerodynamic. So you want to take those off and be as slipstream as possible. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Because it's not like hockey, it's not like you know, a year-round sport that you can have, you know, hockey, baseball, football, you know, running track or cross-country. Yeah, I mean, how does one pick that up? I mean, you basically you were told because your your size, right? But yeah, how does one pick that up unless you you know live Lake Placid or Tahoe or Park City? How? How does one pick that up?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, kind of like what you said there. I was basically volunteer about what my career is gonna be. And and as far as like picking it up and training, a lot of our athletes come from power and sprinting backgrounds, so you have that that part kind of I'm gonna say mastered, but then you have to transition it into a way for our sport being comfortable bent over running, right? Because our sled is on the ground, so you have to learn how to run full speed, bent over only using one arm, and then while the other arm is pushing a 70-pound sled, right? So there's that aspect of it that takes us all I'm gonna say all summer, two summers to really kind of get in the groove of that aspect. And then the sliding part that just takes repetitions, and then to kind of go on a subtangent of that. The runs, like I said, only last between 48, depending on the track, 48 seconds to one minute, right? That's it. We're pulling between 83 and 89 miles an hour, between four and six G's, right? That's a lot of pressure on your neck in a short amount of time. So what ends up happening is you take those runs, usually only get about two or three a day. So three minutes of training a day, and then your neck is shot, right? You can't keep it up in those G forces and those speeds.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you have to be locked in for those three, those three minutes, let's say. But then this is where the real training, the extra training comes in. When you're at home, right, and it's before bed, you got 10 minutes before bed, you lay on your sled. We call these mind runs, right? We talk about this in other sports. Hey, visualize yourself making these plays. That's what we're doing. Stand on our sled, either watching a POV of the track, or it's all in our head, just curve one, curve two, right? Just and flowing with it, and that's where the extra reps that you can get, those are what make the big difference.
SPEAKER_01:All right, put things in perspective right now, okay? What was your 40 in college? My 40 on throw day was a 434. What is your 40 now?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:They don't they don't do 40s or what no?
SPEAKER_00:How do they know we do 30 meter flies or 30 meter sprints now? Okay, so which is a three, I think my best one was like a 382 somewhere in there. I'd go get a cheap, but something like that. Not bad, not bad.
SPEAKER_01:So you okay, but with the man, but with man, uh just with the 70-pound sled, too. That's not easy, man. And crouch down and make when when I see your practice run or see them, you know, perform, it's just like, man, back, my back just wants a spasm for you guys, man.
SPEAKER_00:And that's part of like that's a huge part of our training. Like last summer when I moved to Lake Placid to train, and then this summer as well. The amount of yoga and extra stretching we do has helped me tremendously. So I'm in the same boat as you. My back's like, what are you doing in this C shape trying to sprint? And I'm like, all right, this makes sense.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, the invite. You got the invite, right? How hopeful were you to make or be invited for you know, make the team train in the training facility?
SPEAKER_00:To be honest, when I sent in like all my numbers and stuff, I was like, it it goes back to one of my very first thoughts about like how Olympians were made or how Olympic hopefuls were made. I always assumed that your mother, your father, or both of them were previous Olympians, and then they got together bread, and like that was my only idea like a thorough bread. Yeah, like that was my only idea of how we produced Olympic athletes into the world. So seeing a tryout and be like, oh, this is a way for me to work in progress to become a USA Olympian, like, yeah, sign me up and and become an Olympic hopeful for the USA. I I want to be a part of that, yeah. Okay, so man.
SPEAKER_01:So you thought that too, huh? And then you are I kind of thought it was a scam at first.
SPEAKER_00:When I first came across it on Facebook, I was like, there's no way this is real. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Did you celebrate when you when you got the invite to uh train at the facility full time?
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, so kind of celebrate. By that I mean I went back home uh after being gone for a month and a half working remote in Lake Placid for some racing and for running and stuff. That credit union I mentioned earlier, look out credit union, bless those guys, love them a ton. I I got the invite from our coaches and our staff, like, hey, we'd like to offer you summer housing and training out here in Lake Placid. We need an answer by tomorrow. I was like, okay, wow, yeah, yeah. This world moves so quick. And like I had already asked my boss for an extension to stay another week of slotting, and he's like, Yeah, that's fine. I'm getting on the radar. I was like, awesome. And then this end of March. I'm coming back the first week of April. They want me to report there May 1st back to New York. And so I'm like, you know what? This information probably isn't a phone call to my boss. So I committed yes, before I even let my employer know anything. I got back home. Yeah, the Olympics do. Yeah, and I love those guys so much. So, like, I let those guys know, I got back home, had to sit down with my boss, and this is why I love Lookout Credit Union so much. Like, they were so supportive from the very, very beginning of my career, all the way into what I'm doing now. He's like, I'm not gonna hate you for doing this. You have to go chase this dream. We're behind you 100% of the way. I'm like, man, it it takes some special people in an organization to be like, yeah, we're not gonna fire you right on the spot. We're gonna help you work through this summer, through some big events, and then when the time is right, we'll part ways. And so, like, thankful for those guys and and helping out with that big decision.
SPEAKER_01:What's your monthly allowance? Do they give you a monthly allowance or is it all by sponsors, or do you have side gigs here and there? What how does that go?
SPEAKER_00:More so on the second one. You have to move up in rank before you get a monthly stipend. So I just barely got moved up in rank last year after winning the North American Cup. So very thankful for that. But everything before that is you are, like you said, working side gigs, working summer jobs. If you have a remote job that works with the season, you can do that. Amazing. Yeah, sponsors take care of me. It's little known fact. Olympic hopefuls and most Olympians are self-funded athletes for the USA.
SPEAKER_01:It's crazy. It's crazy, it's sad, it's sad because you you know, you hear, you know, especially Summer Olympics, you know, they only get paid if they win. It's like, or place, and it's not much. If you don't get first, you're you're pretty much last.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, 100% rigging, Bobby.
SPEAKER_01:Right? Exactly. You caught on, you caught on. All right, so we talked about the pay and everything else. Tell me a day in life. Let's go today. How what time did you wake up? All the way up till the time five o'clock right now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so walk you through my day today. So today wake up 6 a.m. shower, breakfast, pack the car, we're out of the house by 6:35. Drive to the track, unload everything, set our sleds up, get ready, start warming up right about 7 a.m. Right, warm up for an hour, and then from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m., we're sliding. We'll take we're sliding with Bobsled right now, so the sessions are a little longer, but we're taking anywhere between two and four runs a day right now. Just get re-acclimated into the sport.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then from 11 to let's say 11:30 or 12, 11 to 11:45. We are debriefing with our coaches, going over film for the different curves that they were focused on and we were focused on for the day at the track. From there, came back home, quick little lunch, hopped on a podcast at 12, took a quick nap, hopped on a podcast at three. Man, you've been busy. Yeah, ate a little, ate a little food. Uh, just got done sanding my runners on my seleb and now hopped on this podcast with you. I'm gonna eat dinner, I'm gonna roll out, I'm gonna hot tub, I'm gonna go to bed by about 8 45, 9 p.m. and do it all over again tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I appreciate your time, man. Geez, I I couldn't talk that much, man. But you are a speaker, you you do get paid gigs of speaking, right? Yes. How is that? Did you always think you were gonna be a speaker? I mean, not everybody has the guts to be up front of thousands of people and be like, you know, I'm a full-time public speaker.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I never really knew it could be a career until I got a little more into my career life in the credit union. Like I'd always been on the news team and stuff in high school and doing fun videos and whatnot in college, and then being obvious of the marketing team for Lookout Credit Union, so always being in front of the camera, always talking to people, kind of letting them know this is what we're doing, this is who we are, and then going to events that we would sponsor and they'd have keynote speakers and stuff come in. And I'm like, oh, this is this is a real career, this is something you can make a living out of. And I'm like, now I've got a story to go with it and the mindset behind it. And I now I believe what I can share can help other people as far as positivity and optimism, really changing the trajectory of people's lives.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so it looks like it sounds like he had some adversity while growing up, right? I mean, not a lot of people do public speaking if they don't have that background, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, 100%. And I don't know, I just I just like it. Maybe I like the sound of my own voice, which I know I don't because I serve tables all through high school, uh high school and college. So I served for eight years and then like I get done serving, and I'd like I don't hear myself for the next 12 hours.
SPEAKER_01:Do you listen to the podcast after you're done with it? I do, yeah. You do. What's the worst thing you you catch up on? You're like, dang, I shouldn't have said that, or man, what what was I thinking?
SPEAKER_00:Uh sometimes like more it's I could went into depth here, or I didn't need to go into much detail on this little thing because I'm like, I'm in such a niche world that I probably explain stuff so much that these guys are like talking to a brick wall right now.
SPEAKER_01:No, because a lot of people don't know about the sport, you know. I'm thankful that your PR team got a hold of me, and I was like, you know what? I'm tired of you know, these uh advertisements to have people on. I'm just gonna go to the source themselves. And so here I am, you know. I'm like, hey, hey, hey, can you you want to be on the podcast? I got your PR team, and then here you are, you know, and that's how it works.
SPEAKER_00:I appreciate it. And that's one of the cool things about this is like I said, we're so niche, and most people don't know who we are. That's just sharing our story and sharing the sport is one of the best things to do for just us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm surprised they don't like give you a gag order or or you know, they don't keep you silent, you know, because it is a kind of a hush, you know, sport period. Being on the Olympics, you know, Olympics is right down the corner, your qualifiers, you know, and everything else, and you don't hear a lot of people promoting it right now, ever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think there were like I know the team USA social media accounts, they're starting to post a lot more, get a lot more stuff out there. We've had some people come through that, like I can't talk about who's been here and stuff that are gonna start promoting us as well. I know I said flavor flavor because we just went live with all of that, but yeah, there is there will be they call it a blackout period once the games do start, and then that's like NBC or however that works, they have rights to all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:I had to ask because man, I'm like, dude, I'm surprised this guy wants to talk to me on the podcast. But then here you are shooting out three podcasts a day, pretty much.
SPEAKER_00:It's really cool because it's like not just myself, my other teammates are on podcasts, they're getting interviewed by their local station. So it's like little by little we're getting the sport, the exposure it deserves. Because I always tell people, like, one, I'm gonna recommend you you tune in live this Friday and Saturday morning to watch our selection races at Utah Olympic Park on YouTube. And then if you ever have the chance, whether it's Lake Plaza, New York or Park City, Utah, or Whistler, Canada, those are our closest ones here in North America. If you can go there and you can do it, take a bobsled ride, take a skeleton ride. They we let tourists do this so you can have just a little glimpse into the world that we're in.
SPEAKER_01:During that, that little glimpse, how fast are they going, man?
SPEAKER_00:So they won't send you from the top, but they'll send you like halfway up, right? And you're still gonna reach 70, 75 miles an hour. Nah, I'm good, man. You're gonna do it one time, you'd be like, I'm hooked.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And that's what it took, right? That's what it took for you. Head first.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, probably more the second run. The first run when they pushed pushed me down the ice, a lot of thoughts went through my head of like, what life decisions have I made to put myself right here, right now? I was like, I don't know. I'm here, I better make the most of it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So you're a big football fan.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, more so college than NFL, but yes.
SPEAKER_01:All right, bangles or vandals? Bengals. All the way? Bengals already. All the way. Who has the best stadium?
SPEAKER_00:We do. We're the first, we were the first indoor stadium built in the United States in 1977. Okay, all right, all right, and you're sticking to it. Hey, man, I already said it. Words are on camera. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01:So we are here right now. You're about to leave, right? Thankful that you, you know, you you filled me in or put me in the schedule. Qualifiers are win.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that's the fun part about our sport. So a lot of other winter athletics kind of had their qualifying stuff late last season, and a lot of those athletes know that they're gonna be the ones going to represent us in the games in February. For us, we will get so, like I said, we have our selection races this Friday and Saturday. That will set us up for who's gonna race on our World Cup Circuit, our European Cup Circuit, and our North American Cup Circuit. From there, we start racing at the end of November. And from November until January 21st, every race is worth X amount of points, like wherever you place. So now we're all competing for points in our respective circuit. January 21st, when all the racing is over, the points will be tallied, and then the top two male and top two female athletes, that's who's gonna go represent us in the games in cortisons. Top two? Top two. Yep. Yeah. So and this is yeah, so we've got 13 sleds between the men and 14 on the women's.
SPEAKER_01:So you've got 28, 27 people competing for four spots. Is the atmosphere friendly or very competitive?
SPEAKER_00:Both. That that's the cool part about what I love that's going on is we're all here to make each other better and make sure whoever is representing us is the best of us, right? So during during racing, yeah, obviously, I hope I win. But if I get beat by my teammate, I'm gonna be just as happy for them as I would expect them to be for me in that situation.
SPEAKER_01:Always wondered, man. Always wondered because Olympics, I mean, Olympians are the best of the best, and you're just like, you're curious.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's cutthroat. Don't get me wrong. It is cutthroat to the T, but it's but it's like I'm here, I'm here for everybody's success. I don't think we can be a great USA team if it's so individualized.
SPEAKER_01:Gotcha. Okay. You travel after this. Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm stoked. I'm ready. Do my job, take care of business this week, and hopefully next Tuesday or Wednesday, whatever day it is, the fourth, I'm flying off to Italy. That's fine.
SPEAKER_01:Man, it's beautiful over there. I was stationed in Germany and spent a lot of time in the Alps. So yeah, it's it's it's nice and beautiful. It's different. It's different because you know, you from Pacific Northwest, those mountains. I would consider those mountains probably Montana. Mountains, you know, the ruggedness, okay. Sawtooth. So, yeah, that that that the sawtooth. So, I would I would say it's more like that, but it's just in your face. I mean, the the cities are all around. Yeah, you're you're gonna enjoy it, man. It's great. All right. When you travel, what's your go-to, man? Are it like I've noticed a lot of people who like that adrenaline, they they like to calm down with some Katy Perry or some soft tunes. What what's your go-to, man?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I'm pretty old school when it comes to this. I rock MM, late 90s and early 2000s hip hop, but like MMG MM is the majority of it, and then we mix in a little bit of that 90s and 2000s hip-hop.
SPEAKER_01:See, see, you're aging me. You say you go old school. I mean, man.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I was a I was a kid when I was coming out, so like growing up with it, this was babysitting me, and we're listening to MM the whole time. I'm like, all right, I feel this. And I was an adult, like I can feel the lyrics and I understand what they mean, and it just hits you different.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. When when you when you travel, are you able to bring anybody? Do you have a plus one? Are you able to get somebody there to the Olympics if and when?
SPEAKER_00:So we did get a link early summer about like if you do plan to go, here's kind of a family family and friends link for discounted tickets and stuff where we won't know any of that. I'm not gonna share any of that information with my friends or anything like that because I don't want to get hopes up and then be like, hey guys, I'm not going. So yeah, no, but it's when you're traveling, it's it's just you do you and your teammates, usually you're splitting rental cars, splitting Airbnbs, hotels, places to stay.
SPEAKER_01:And you guys plan on being there for Christmas, New Year's, it's just gonna be you and your buds.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, right? And that's one of the things with the sport that a lot of people maybe not realize, and I'm sure other sports are like this too. When your season starts and you're committed to it, there's not flying back across the world, right? Like, it's not just like I'm gonna drive over to a state away. Like, that's a 12-hour flight, another six-hour drive to get home and everything. Yeah, like I've had to have a conversation with a lot of friends and family family. Like, guys, I'm gonna miss birthdays, I'm gonna miss weddings, I'm gonna miss your kids being born. I love you guys, but I gotta go do this. I told my family last Christmas, I was like, this will most likely be the last Christmas I am home for for probably eight more years.
SPEAKER_01:That's tough. But that commitment, you gotta have it. I try to tell the kids, you know, that I coach, I'm like, you gotta, you gotta have the commitment, you know. A lot of people just want to come and go, do this, do that, you know, go to Hoko during, you know, districts and regionals and state, and it's just like, oh man, you guys don't understand.
SPEAKER_00:I know, and that's like feeling the same way coaching high school football before this. I was always like, you wish you could instill your what you've been through into that next generation. So it's like I because you don't want them to miss out on how great because you can see how great some kids are gonna be, and you're like, Man, if you just found it, you don't know the world that would open up to you.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly, but they gotta learn on their own. You can only tell them and show them so much, but you know, it's a live and learn experience, and that's what I just try to say like live and learn and move on. Exactly, exactly. So with the hectic schedule coming up, what keeps you going? What keeps you just going full tilt until it's time to you know find the end results, you know?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, honestly, it I think it day by day, right? Like I'm only worried about what's going on today. I'm not worried about what's happening tomorrow. And then I know if I do that, right, little steps at a time are gonna get me to that bigger goal that I've already set inside of my mind that I have for 2029, that I have for 2030 and 2034. But if I start looking so far into the future, I'm gonna forget what I need to do each day to get me there. So I really hone in on today's the only thing that matters. Can't take can't do anything tomorrow because that's the future. I can only take care of the present situation. Now let's make sure I set myself up to have a great future and not a questionable future, right? I don't want to get to the future and be like, did I do everything possible to put me in the position I want to be? Or am I gonna be like, well, what if I would have done this or this or this? But it's like, no, I did the things I needed to do to put me exactly where I want to be. Okay, why do you do what you do, man? One, I do it for the friends and family that are backing me and the community back home. Like I couldn't do it without those guys. And then the greater picture of all is just wearing the stars and stripes, getting to represent the USA on a national scale is unfathomable, unfathomable, honestly. And then when you're on top of a podium with a metal around your neck and you hear the national anthem playing, it might be one of the most electrifying and heartfelt moments I've ever felt in my entire life. And since feeling it last year, that is one of the feelings I am chasing now, just trying to bring it to the Olympic stage.
SPEAKER_01:Gotcha. Gotcha. Do you get teary eyed when you're up there, man?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Like a little teary eyed, singing the national anthem. It's it's amazing. And then, like, when you get to do it for your friends too, it it just hits deep at the same time, too. It's like I it's such an incredible emotion that I I truly can't explain it unless you're there, even as a spectator and a fan, and you get to join in in the national anthem and sing it. It's like you didn't win, we all won. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Where can people find you, man?
SPEAKER_00:Best two places to find me. One, my website, simple, andywittier.com. And then two, I keep everything updated on social media. So Instagram, which is the same thing, Andy underscore woodyer underscore. Keep it simple.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you can find that website on your Instagram as well. So pretty much Instagram.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Instagram's gonna be the best. I've got my link tree, which will take you to Facebook, LinkedIn, the website, everything like that.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Got a couple of uh off-the-wall questions just to get to know you. Do you have cheat days?
SPEAKER_00:Uh my one cheat day, my teammates think I'm so weird for this. So we go through four-week trading blocks over the summer, and I eat zero sweets the entire time.
SPEAKER_02:What? How do you do that?
SPEAKER_00:And our and our chefs in Lake Placid are amazing. Like, there's there's always a little dessert option at lunch and dinner, and I don't have any of it. But I wait until that last Friday of our block period, and then I'll go get myself like an extra large chocolatey chocolate chocolate milkshake. And I'm like, man, I earn this. But like in my mind, I gotta earn that treat. I can't just have it every day.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So that's your cheat. That's my one cheat, yeah, is a milkshake every four weeks. How many off days do you get during that block?
SPEAKER_00:Just the weekend, Saturday, Sunday. That's it. Yeah, we train five days a week.
SPEAKER_01:Well, what do you do during the off days, man? What do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_00:Oh man. In Lake Placid. So I was I'm thankful enough that I have a I got a truck through one of my sponsors. And so I drove my truck and my motorcycle out to Lake Placid. So if I'm not recovering in the training center, I am on my motorcycle ripping through the Adderon X in upstate New York. Better be careful. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm surprised. I'm sure it's coming soon. They're gonna be like no motorcycles in the contract.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, insurance too. They're gonna be like insurance.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:All right. What movie inspired you? The most you know, you get a movie, you're like, it hits the fills, it's it's it's preaching the choir.
SPEAKER_00:Honestly, one of the biggest ones that kind of changed me. My very first like emotional movie, what it's called Dead Poet Society from the 90s with Robbie Williams. That one kind of sticks true to my heart. Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01:Now, with all this time, do you have time for a lady?
SPEAKER_00:No, no, and I make sure I'm very clear about that with anyone that tries talking to me. I'm like, look, I'm overseas for five to six months. I train for the other five to six months, I am married to the game. I I think you're amazing, but this is what I'm committed to.
SPEAKER_01:Gotcha. Well, how does uh mom and pops feel?
SPEAKER_00:They support it, they they're a ton. I they're actually coming to watch the selection races in the next three days, so it's they're they're fully on board.
SPEAKER_01:Nice, nice, nice. Anything you want to add? Anything I forgot?
SPEAKER_00:No, I think you know that I think just keep chasing your dream. Doesn't matter how old you are. That's the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Andy, it's been a pleasure, man. I'm thankful that you put me on the schedule. I'm I'm glad you said yes. Surprised you said yes. I mean, I've had a lot of athletes on here, a lot of running, a lot of adrenaline, you know, rush junkies. I'm not saying you are, but you're kind of there. I mean, headfirst, going how many miles? 83 to 89. There's something going on there. I won't say it put it out there like that, but dude, it it's it's crazy. Just the sport that you're in going headfirst and what you're gonna do, how you're gonna do it, and what you have to do to be Olympian, hopeful. So more power to you, man. Andy, it's been a pleasure. Want you back on. I'm gonna be watching you for the last time. YouTube this weekend, correct?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes. This weekend, Utah Olympic Park on YouTube. We start racing 8 a.m. mountain time. Andy, until next time. Love it. Thank you, Dave.