SM: Where were you raised? Where did you attend school?
BH: I was born in St. Paul Minnesota and raised in Hastings, which is about 30 minutes southeast of the Twin Cities. I grew up there my entire life and went to college at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa where I earned a BA in Broadcast News and a BA in Psychology.
SM: What was your family life like?
BH: My parents have moved to Aspen, Colorado and a few years after I moved to Florida where my dad is retired and my mom works with the City. My sister is an archeologist working in her final year of finishing up her master’s degree from Brown.
SM: Family was a huge inspiration?
BH: My family was a big inspiration in different ways growing up. My father and I have always had a very strong connection through cycling, sports, nature, photography and your everyday life lessons of how to be a good person. Growing up, my dad and I would often put aside other tasks of the day (usually a Sunday) and go down to our favorite bike trail in Minnesota (The Cannon Valley Trail) and go for rides together. That weekly ride was something that while not too many “life conversations” were had, still formed a father-son relationship that I wouldn’t trade for the world. My mother was always the driven one of the family and that rubbed off more on my sister than me, but that drive has always been a part of the foundation for my inspiration. Growing up, my sister had her fair share of trials she had to go through and watching her go through those and come out the other side (sometimes continuing to work through new trials to this day) showed me a lot about the importance of perseverance. She and my mother are very opinionated and outspoken. I think that fire, that passion helped forge one of my core values in myself and while I may not be as outwardly outspoken or opinionated as they are, that attribute has still helped form who I am today.
SM: What made you want to engage in cycling?
BH: When I was a little kid, my dad was always going for rides with his friends or on his own. He would bring my sister and me with him in a child carrier and we’d go to the Cannon Valley Trail or around town with him on rides. Once I got a little older, I started going on smaller rides with him more regularly out on the country highways around Hastings. I grew up watching the Tour de France with him each year, so it was always a part of my childhood. One summer in my early teens I was out on a training ride and a random guy in his driveway along my route called me over and gave me a small magazine asking if I had done any racing. He showed me an ad for a race that was coming up and I thought, "What the heck! Might as well give it a shot." After that first race, I was hooked on racing and continued to compete ever since then.
SM: We all have people and situations that influence us. What are your main influences?
BH: For cycling, I grew up watching Greg LeMond in the Tour de France and he always seemed to carry himself with a lot of class in comparison to some other riders. Personally, my parents and sister have been a big influence on who I am today. My wife for continuing to find new ways I can build on what they started and for proving that living your life is one thing, but living FOR someone else is truly something special and my close friends, from Hastings to Florida for helping to be a part of the core of who I am.
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BH: The base of my core values is a simple phrase that carries over to every other aspect of my life, “Be Better.” I don’t mean that in a negative light, instead I mean it to be inspiration to always be improving myself. Becoming a better cyclist and being a better friend, husband, and person. This is something I have tried to pass on to others too when talking to friends. Challenges in life happen, but you shouldn’t look at them as a daunting task or stressful, negative situation. You should look at them as an opportunity to be better and take them head on. Show the world, and yourself, that you have what it takes to be better.
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