Speaker 1: Joining me now is a guy who I mean, some
Speaker 1: of you cyclists in our listening audience may remember. He
Speaker 1: was an incredibly successful sixteen year old cyclist in New Mexico,
Speaker 1: I believe cyclist of the Year, even when he suffered
Speaker 1: a devastating accident. But Nathan Marcosi was not one to
Speaker 1: keep that let that keep him down, and his story
Speaker 1: of recovery is simply astounding.
Speaker 2: So welcome to the show, Nathan.
Speaker 1: You know what, We've had a few weeks of rough news, right,
Speaker 1: so I'm ready.
Speaker 2: I'm ready for good stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to hear about how you suffered a tremendous
Speaker 1: accident but still managed to turn it into something good.
Speaker 2: First of all, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: And Mandy, thank you so much for having me. It's
Speaker 3: an honor to be with you right now. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I would love to bring a little bit of light
Speaker 3: to the world. Right There's there's always you know, you
Speaker 3: hear you hear all of the negatives all the time.
Speaker 4: That's how our world keeps revolving.
Speaker 3: But it's really fun to be able to bring some
Speaker 3: light to the world and give people some positivity and
Speaker 3: some courage and some joy. And so I'm excited to
Speaker 3: dive into this with you, Mandy.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about you were a highly competitive athlete.
Speaker 1: Were you always wired that way? Did you fall in
Speaker 1: love with cycling? Tell me a little bit about that story.
Speaker 4: Yeah, great question.
Speaker 3: So I've been an athlete since day one of my life. Right,
Speaker 3: I was always very, very active. And it's funny. I
Speaker 3: have two boys, and they're both very active as young
Speaker 3: little kids. And my mom told me, Nathan, I've only
Speaker 3: seen kids this active when you were a child, right,
Speaker 3: And so it is, it's really fun I've been incredibly active.
Speaker 3: I've always loved to be outdoors doing any sport that
Speaker 3: I could growing up, right, And I did them all.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: I did basketball, I did I did tennis, which wasn't
Speaker 3: my favorite. I did swimming, I did cross country, I
Speaker 3: did triathlons, baseball, and and my mom was a pet
Speaker 3: and so she never let me do football, but of
Speaker 3: course I was. I was doing all of the long
Speaker 3: distance sports in particular, and she was.
Speaker 4: She was a big motivation behind that. You know.
Speaker 3: She was always run in the mornings with her best
Speaker 3: friends and she was training for a marathon. And that
Speaker 3: that inspired me, you know, to have my mom getting
Speaker 3: up early every morning to run with her friends when.
Speaker 4: It was still dark. Right.
Speaker 3: That's an inspiration to a young child, right, that has
Speaker 3: a very ambitious athletic desire.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: And so since the beginning, yes, I've been very athletic
Speaker 3: and wanting to pursue a life, a life with athletics,
Speaker 3: a life that is outdoors and always active.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: And that's that's where we began my career as a cyclist.
Speaker 3: So I'm sure we can dive into that.
Speaker 1: It sounds like your mom was trying to wear you
Speaker 1: out right by putting it in every sport.
Speaker 2: It was possible. But what was it about cycling?
Speaker 1: Were you just naturally gifted in that sport or did
Speaker 1: you develop a passion for it?
Speaker 3: Well, this is a combos and now we're bringing in
Speaker 3: my dad. So my dad was he was a big
Speaker 3: mountain biker, right. He loved to ride on mountain biking
Speaker 3: trails and he had quite a few mountain bikes sitting
Speaker 3: on our garage. And so he taught me how to
Speaker 3: ride my bike. And I was born and raised riding
Speaker 3: a bike, but never truly pursuing competition, right, just riding
Speaker 3: for fun. And then while I was in middle school.
Speaker 3: I went to a charter school down in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Speaker 3: And at that charter school, there weren't at the time
Speaker 3: that I was there, there weren't any established sports that
Speaker 3: were you know, team sports, right, So it was traditional basketball, football,
Speaker 3: whatever the.
Speaker 4: Case may be.
Speaker 3: So what I did, what I did pursue was the
Speaker 3: triathlon team. So I really pursued running, and I loved
Speaker 3: the cross country team. I loved getting up early every
Speaker 3: morning and running on the boski and seeing the beautiful
Speaker 3: skies of New Mexico each morning. And I loved the
Speaker 3: cross country team, and I loved my cross country coach.
Speaker 3: He of course was also the coach of the triathlon
Speaker 3: team as a whole. So one day I was running
Speaker 3: at cross country practice and he asked me, Nathan, do
Speaker 3: you want to try doing competitive cycling?
Speaker 4: You want to give it a swing?
Speaker 3: And so I thought me and maybe we should, right,
Speaker 3: maybe I should try it out. So this was big
Speaker 3: because I also was playing baseball when I was a kid,
Speaker 3: and I played a lot of baseball, and so this
Speaker 3: was around seventh grade and I had to decide between
Speaker 3: baseball and cycling, and that was a big decision for me.
Speaker 3: But I decided to pursue cycling, and it was a
Speaker 3: good thing that I did because my first race ever
Speaker 3: was the New Mexico State time trial. Right, so not
Speaker 3: even a race that you can leverage your teammates.
Speaker 4: It is just you.
Speaker 3: Against the clock and the fastest legs win, right, And
Speaker 3: I won state champion for my age group on my first.
Speaker 4: So I thought, you know what, I might stick with this. Right,
Speaker 4: that's mighty for me.
Speaker 1: I might have found my niche here that that's so
Speaker 1: obviously you it suited you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and I fell in love with it very quickly.
Speaker 3: The freedom on a bike, as I'm sure a large
Speaker 3: majority of your audience can attest to, right, The freedom
Speaker 3: that you feel on a bike. You just you can
Speaker 3: ride forever, and you're out in the open, right, You're
Speaker 3: out in the free air, and and it is a
Speaker 3: beauty being on the bike. Riding in that saddle is
Speaker 3: just a beauty that you can't compare.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: I want to jump ahead because not only did you
Speaker 1: win your first race, you won many races. You became
Speaker 1: you were the cyclist of the year. You're sixteen years old,
Speaker 1: You're out on a road, you know, road ride one day.
Speaker 1: Tell me about the accident that changed your life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well this is it is really, I mean, it's
Speaker 3: a it's a devastating story, but it also has so
Speaker 3: much life, you know, towards what now that we are
Speaker 3: in today. Right, And so it did all begin that way, right.
Speaker 3: I was the state champion in New Mexico. I was
Speaker 3: the road race leader for my category in New Mexico.
Speaker 3: I still hold the title to be the youngest to
Speaker 3: ever win the Tour of the Hila, which is based
Speaker 3: out of Silver City, New Mexico, for the category I
Speaker 3: was racing in as a sixteen year old, I got
Speaker 3: some soft commitments from UHC development team, and I was
Speaker 3: setting my eyes on the Olympics, on the Tour de France,
Speaker 3: going to race for Canondale, being sponsored by Canondale, and
Speaker 3: going to race internationally. That's where my vision was set.
Speaker 3: And then in January of twenty sixteen, I was training
Speaker 3: with my coach and my teammate and we were training
Speaker 3: for this next year's Tour of the Hila, and I
Speaker 3: had upgraded a category, so I was racing now against
Speaker 3: semi professionals a higher category.
Speaker 4: Right, And.
Speaker 3: While we were training, while we were on this ride,
Speaker 3: we were riding from Albuquerque.
Speaker 4: Down to thelin I believe, and it.
Speaker 3: Was on this long stretch of road where cyclists were
Speaker 3: permitted to ride. There was a cycling lane right, and
Speaker 3: there was a distracted driver who was driving at sixty
Speaker 3: miles an hour who for some reason miscalculated where we
Speaker 3: were on the road and he hit me. Hit sixty
Speaker 3: miles an hour, flying one hundred feet and sprawled out
Speaker 3: on the ground. So my body hit the windshield of
Speaker 3: the car, and there's pictures of that. You can see
Speaker 3: where my shoulder hit and my really my hip hit,
Speaker 3: and you can see the imprint of my body on
Speaker 3: the windshield that shot me forward, like I said, about
Speaker 3: one hundred feet. Immediately, I was in a coma, So
Speaker 3: I don't remember this whatsoever.
Speaker 4: This is me just conveying to you what I've been told.
Speaker 3: My coach, you know, scrambled to my side and I
Speaker 3: was unresponsive. So he's started tapping me, you know, trying
Speaker 3: to shake me a little bit.
Speaker 4: Nathan Nathan.
Speaker 3: No response, and so the officer who came to the
Speaker 3: side of the scene reported it as a fatality.
Speaker 4: So I did.
Speaker 3: I died on the scene, and they put me in
Speaker 3: an ambulance and they rushed me to the ICU in
Speaker 3: un M hospital. And I mean, God, bless my parents, right,
Speaker 3: I say this time and time again.
Speaker 4: They got the call that I was on the way
Speaker 4: to the hospital.
Speaker 3: Dead and it was actually my coach who called my mom.
Speaker 3: And if my mom always says, if she would get
Speaker 3: a call from my.
Speaker 4: Coach, she knew that something is, something.
Speaker 3: Bad happened, right, you shouldn't be getting a call from
Speaker 3: a coach during a long ride.
Speaker 4: So they rushed to the hospital and I was.
Speaker 3: I was in a coma for two weeks, and by
Speaker 3: God's grace, of course, I opened my eyes after two
Speaker 3: weeks paralyzed on my left side. So I was in
Speaker 3: the ICU for a month, and then then they put
Speaker 3: me on a medical flight up to Craig Hospital.
Speaker 4: And yeah, we can dive into my recovery. I'm sure
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 1: Well, I want to talk for just a moment and
Speaker 1: on your website, and I have all of Nathan's information.
Speaker 1: He's got a new book coming out we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about in a few minutes.
Speaker 2: But you and your story, you say you.
Speaker 1: Have the accident in your timeline, a catastrophic car crash
Speaker 1: that claimed my life on the side of a desolate road.
Speaker 1: In that moment, everything I knew sees to exist, followed
Speaker 1: by eternal peace, light and joy and experience of the
Speaker 1: joy and piece that awaits us all a radiant light,
Speaker 1: a homecoming. I am fascinated by near death experiences. My
Speaker 1: audience knows this. I think they give us a window
Speaker 1: into what we cannot understand on this earth.
Speaker 2: Tell me about that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is this is fascinating, Mandy. And why I'm
Speaker 3: excited you asked me about this question is because you
Speaker 3: have an experience with death or near death experience stories.
Speaker 4: Right, You've heard several yourself.
Speaker 1: I told him that I talked to Vinnie Tolman and
Speaker 1: how much I love these interviews that I've done.
Speaker 3: But go ahead, yeah, yeah, And this is so interesting
Speaker 3: because so many people, unfortunately, right around the world have
Speaker 3: experienced near death experiences. Right. There's there's an abundance, unfortunately,
Speaker 3: of stories with people who have experienced this, this same
Speaker 3: near death experience. And what is miraculous to me, Mandy,
Speaker 3: is that all of the stories mirror each other, right,
Speaker 3: they all they all mimic each other in regard to
Speaker 3: that light, right, in regard to that piece that perfect
Speaker 3: piece and my personal near death experience. It's it's really
Speaker 3: hard to put this into words, right. It's something that
Speaker 3: people have always asked me about, and it's hard to
Speaker 3: articulate because words are you know, words don't cover the incredible.
Speaker 4: Experience that we don't have the vocabulary to experience.
Speaker 1: We don't have the vocabulary that is big enough to
Speaker 1: That's what I've been told multiple times, like we are,
Speaker 1: vocabulary doesn't get close enough to what the actual existence is.
Speaker 3: Absolutely and this is that is exactly true, right, And
Speaker 3: I think if I were to articulate it and put
Speaker 3: words to the experience, the way I would describe it
Speaker 3: would be it was this large field, right glass grass field.
Speaker 3: And it was very yeah, I mean obviously very very
Speaker 3: bright and joyful and peaceful, eternally peaceful. It's just the
Speaker 3: most piece you could ever imagine. You can't imagine that
Speaker 3: type of peace on this earth, right, And it was perfect.
Speaker 3: And while I was there, there were there were seven
Speaker 3: I call them angels, right, So seven holy presences with
Speaker 3: me that I had a fear of, you know, conversing
Speaker 3: with because I didn't want them to take me.
Speaker 2: Quote unquote right.
Speaker 3: But I knew that this was the place where I
Speaker 3: was meant to be right. It was it was perfect,
Speaker 3: it was peaceful, it was eternal perfection, right.
Speaker 4: And so while I was there, it was.
Speaker 3: An experience that I actually told my grandmother about when
Speaker 3: I was back home recovering. I told her Man, I
Speaker 3: would never want to do anything wrong ever again in
Speaker 3: my life because I know I know the perfection that
Speaker 3: awaits us, all right. And so when you experienced that
Speaker 3: type of perfection that you know, that private revelation, right,
Speaker 3: then you realize what we all are promised and what
Speaker 3: we all have in store. And so I think that's
Speaker 3: something that I would love for this audience to hear
Speaker 3: and every audience to hear, right, is that it's easy
Speaker 3: to get lost in the trials of each day, right.
Speaker 3: And this is what you were talking about when we
Speaker 3: first started this episode, right, Mandy, that there's a lot
Speaker 3: of bad news all the time, and that's always pushed
Speaker 3: in our face, that's always shoved down our throats, quote unquote,
Speaker 3: But really the key to life is realizing that every
Speaker 3: time we open our eyes right, tomorrow is never promised.
Speaker 3: So each day that you open your eyes, it is
Speaker 3: a blessing, right, and it's all about how we utilize
Speaker 3: this time, which is so precious to us. Right, Our
Speaker 3: time is so precious to us. Utilize your time to
Speaker 3: create the life that you dream of, right, and to
Speaker 3: create the life that you long for. Maybe it's maybe
Speaker 3: it's riding your bike all day long, like I was right.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's building a business. Maybe it's starting a family.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's going into a place on your own to
Speaker 3: read a book and be at peace. Maybe it is
Speaker 3: it is finding your own piece.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: There's so many different opportunities for so many people. But
Speaker 3: the only difference between holding yourself back and letting yourself
Speaker 3: move forward freely is just really taking gratitude for every
Speaker 3: second that we live, because each day is a miracle
Speaker 3: for us all.
Speaker 1: Did this experience help you get through the significant challenges
Speaker 1: that you faced when you woke up because you went
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 2: Were riding your bike, you got hit by a car.
Speaker 1: You want to you got hit by a car as
Speaker 1: a healthy athlete sixteen years old. You woke up devastated physically.
Speaker 1: Do you think having that experience helped you get through
Speaker 1: the hard parts that you had to face?
Speaker 3: Well, this is an interesting question, Mandy, because I do
Speaker 3: believe that it did help me, but it is a
Speaker 3: It's something that I've spoken with with several of my mentors,
Speaker 3: my business mentors, and my partners just about my mentality.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: It's kind of a David Goggin's mentality, if you want
Speaker 3: to call it that, right. It's obviously when I was
Speaker 3: an athlete, as a cyclist, my eyes were set on
Speaker 3: the Olympics and the Tour de France, like I said,
Speaker 3: and I was sixteen years old, and I would do
Speaker 3: anything it took to get me there, and I was
Speaker 3: achieving each goal that I set myself to in order
Speaker 3: to get there. And that is a mentality that has
Speaker 3: a lot of fortitude and grit and perseverance. And so
Speaker 3: I know that that same mentality is what brought me
Speaker 3: through the recovery. It is very difficult to lay in bed,
Speaker 3: right when you're laying in a bed and I have
Speaker 3: to attempt to lean over and press a button to
Speaker 3: have a nurse come roll me out just to wake
Speaker 3: up in the morning and put me in a wheelchair
Speaker 3: to be in that bed. While I also knew that
Speaker 3: I was a nationally ranked cyclist. Is is that's that's
Speaker 3: a struggle, right, That is pain and difficulty to the
Speaker 3: to the greatest extent that I could imagine for myself,
Speaker 3: and so that was.
Speaker 4: A really difficult.
Speaker 3: I guess, I guess sense of self worth that I encountered, right,
Speaker 3: But that sort of mentality is what kept me pushing forward,
Speaker 3: and I was always motivated to get back to my
Speaker 3: fullest capacity what and that that can be mirrored in
Speaker 3: in my life story here in my life story with
Speaker 3: businesses in my life story many times over, right, as
Speaker 3: it can be mirrored in many other people's lives.
Speaker 2: I want to I.
Speaker 1: Want to get to your business stuff because I think
Speaker 1: it's super interesting that you have had in and obviously physically,
Speaker 1: how are you doing because we're almost out of time,
Speaker 1: and I want to make sure to talk about this
Speaker 1: transition because I think you're approach to what you do
Speaker 1: in business is very interesting, right, It's very interesting. So
Speaker 1: how are you physically now these how many years later?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, well, these how many years later is a great,
Speaker 3: great question. So physically I am very blessed. I ran
Speaker 3: a marathon about two years ago.
Speaker 2: God, Nathan, you make it does all look bad? Come on, man,
Speaker 2: least I'm for.
Speaker 4: The rest of us.
Speaker 2: No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3: So, and I wake up every morning at four point
Speaker 3: fifty two to outdoors every morning with the F three
Speaker 3: group here in Colorado Springs. We work out starting at
Speaker 3: five thirty in the morning until six fifteen, and it's
Speaker 3: always outdoors. So physically, I am very blessed. I'm doing
Speaker 3: well in regard to the time frame of recovery. This year,
Speaker 3: this January twenty third, marks the ten year anniversary, if
Speaker 3: you want to call it that, of the day that
Speaker 3: I was hit by the car. And this year, on
Speaker 3: January twenty three, I am publishing my book Old Wealth,
Speaker 3: New Wealth, True Wealth, which was co authored by Sharon Lecter,
Speaker 3: who's the one who wrote Rich Dad, Poor Debt. And
Speaker 3: what we're doing is is this book is really redefining
Speaker 3: wealth for a new generation. And I'm sure we can
Speaker 3: dive into this more, but it's an incredible full circle.
Speaker 3: Ten years since I was hit, I'm able to begin
Speaker 3: my next phase of development.
Speaker 1: Right, Nathan, I love I love this and I'd love
Speaker 1: to have you back on in January just to talk
Speaker 1: about the book and just to talk about why a
Speaker 1: guy who has a near death experience decides to go
Speaker 1: into the financial area. Because a lot of people would
Speaker 1: say cynically, well, of course, now he's.
Speaker 2: Going to use that for sympathy.
Speaker 1: But after just reading on your website, your philosophy, to
Speaker 1: your point, I think is going to resonate, especially with
Speaker 1: a lot of younger listeners. Like my kids are millennials,
Speaker 1: and though they have done an amazing job financially for themselves,
Speaker 1: they're Dave Ramsey acolytes. They have no debt, They've really
Speaker 1: done amazing things. The reason they want to build wealth
Speaker 1: is to use it for something else, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Their goal is not to have a giant
Speaker 1: mansion or a Ferrari. Their goals are much much different,
Speaker 1: and it seems like that is what this new book
Speaker 1: is about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, so true. Wealth right isn't just what you
Speaker 3: earn or what you own. It's who you become, right,
Speaker 3: the freedom you have with your time, and the impact
Speaker 3: that your life creates. Right, And it's the perfect alignment
Speaker 3: I think. You know, most people don't fail financially, they
Speaker 3: fail because becoming They fail be becoming someone that.
Speaker 4: They didn't recognize in the process.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So it's so true that we need to be able
Speaker 3: to keep ourselves grounded and keep our purpose right. Money's important,
Speaker 3: of course, which is why I think it's funny you
Speaker 3: mentioned financial But it's a terrible master and it's a
Speaker 3: powerful servant, right, So if your success costs you your health, family,
Speaker 3: your peace, it's too expensive.
Speaker 2: Amen to that. Nathan. We're out of time. Yeah, we're
Speaker 2: out of time.
Speaker 1: But I did put a link to Nathan's website if
Speaker 1: you want to know more about him, If you want
Speaker 1: to go ahead and pre order the book. But Nathan,
Speaker 1: we're going to have you on in January before the
Speaker 1: book comes out, maybe a couple of days give you
Speaker 1: that last little boost to get you over the edge.
Speaker 1: What a fascinating story, and what a fascinating way that
Speaker 1: you approach life because of all of these different travails
Speaker 1: that you've gone through. I can't wait to read the book.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate you making time for us today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Mandy, thank you.
Speaker 3: It is such an honor to be speaking with you
Speaker 3: and to be collaborating with you to be able to
Speaker 3: bring more positivity to the world.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Nathan Barcosi, thank you for making time for us today.