Cody McKay of Project Heart
Episode notes
Cody McKay was racing his bike at an elite level at 29 years old when a routine chest X-ray — ordered for something as mundane as winter congestion — revealed an ascending aortic aneurysm. What followed was a journey through diagnosis, open heart surgery, and an unlikely return to competitive racing.
In this episode, host Svein Tuft sits down with Cody to unpack what it's like to discover a life-threatening heart condition when you feel completely healthy, the mental weight of being an athlete whose identity is suddenly on hold, and what recovery looks like when your sternum has been cracked open and wired back together. Cody also shares the story behind Project Heart, his not-for-profit using his racing comeback to spark conversations about cardiovascular health in the cycling community.
Svein opens up too — sharing his own experience with AFib during the Tour Divide — and together they make the case that fitness and heart health aren't always the same thing, and that the endurance athlete's sense of invincibility can be its own blind spot.
A conversation about performance, vulnerability, and why looking after your heart is part of the long game.