May 05, 2026

No shortcuts - Crispy Hot Honey Lemon Feta Chicken Cutlets

Life can often be boiled down to the basics. No shortcuts, no hacks, no way around the work. Whether it’s the final miles of a run or pushing into a headwind on the bike, you come face to face with a simple truth: you get out what you put in.

It’s not glamorous. It’s early mornings, tired legs, and showing up when you don’t feel like it. But over time, that effort compounds into something real.

Thomas Edison understood that. Progress isn’t one big breakthrough. It’s built one attempt at a time, through consistent, often unseen work.

The Warm Up!

Doing hard things will make you uncomfortable. You will look inexperienced. You will make mistakes. You will feel exposed. That is not a flaw in the process. That is the process.

Avoiding embarrassment avoids growth. Mastery requires a season of being new, awkward, and imperfect. Everyone who is good at something once struggled through the basics.

Let yourself be a beginner. Stay long enough to improve. Learning rewards those willing to look foolish in the short term to become capable in the long term.

Show up! Put in the work! Regroup! Put in the work! Don't quit! Believe in yourself! Develop your skills! Process > outcome! Be okay with uncomfortable! Compete!

The Journey!

Over the last week or so I’ve finally gotten some of the new kit out on the road, and it feels like it’s been a long time coming.

Last week I jumped into my first group ride since August and wore the new TC bibs and jersey. And honestly, I was almost in over my head. I was hanging onto the B group for dear life, half convinced my average heart rate was going to be higher than my average watts.

But that’s kind of the point. It was good to actually feel the kit in motion again instead of just looking at it in samples and studio shots. That’s always the test. The TC is a completely new build, and you can tell as soon as you put it on. The bibs especially have this soft, luxurious feel that you don’t really notice once you’re riding, which is exactly what you want.

This week I’m planning to roll into the Tuesday night ride in the updated H340 Apex bibs and jersey. Same foundation as the H340, but cleaned up in a lot of small ways. Better jersey fit, new straps on the bibs, free cut legs and sleeves. A few upgrades you don’t think about individually, but they add up over a couple hours on the bike. Might even sneak out the new Ferro bib color and the Dark Strata jersey and see what people think without saying a word.

Then this weekend is the photo shoot, and it’s shaping up to be one of those days where you just kind of embrace the chaos. Five riders, two different kit styles, a pile of bib and jersey color combinations to work through. We had planned to work with a photographer who has a really unique perspective, someone who’s both formally trained and an avid cyclist, so he understands what it actually feels like out there. But life may have other plans. His wife is about to have their second child, and it looks like the baby is coming early.

So now it’s a bit of a scramble. Piecing it together, figuring out who’s shooting, who’s riding, how we capture it all without overthinking it. Fortunately, I’ve got a few backup options lined up.

At the same time, I’ve been working through a full website redesign so everything is ready when this goes live. Once the photos are done, it’s about getting everything cleaned up and in place.

I’m really pumped about this new line and can’t wait for you to see it.

Meal Time

A couple weeks ago I shared my attempt at Chicken Alfredo, and the biggest win from that recipe, outside of how freaking good it tasted, was how well the chicken turned out. So this week, I stuck with those same techniques. Flattening it, breading it, and cooking it the same way, just switching up the flavors a bit with some different spices and feta in the mix.

This one was another big hit in the house. My wife loves anything with cucumbers, so the salad had her on board from the start. The hot honey glaze was the difference-maker though, giving the chicken that extra pop of sweet heat.

I paired it with some roasted potatoes, but couscous would work just as well. It came together quickly and felt like something a little different, with a lot of flavor packed in.

Crispy Hot Honey Lemon Feta Chicken Cutlets

Crispy feta-herb crust, sweet heat from hot honey, and a bright lemon finish. Served with a simple cucumber salad for balance.

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

2 large chicken breasts, halved into cutlets

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup crumbled feta (mashed)

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

For the Glaze:

3 tbsp honey

1 tsp chili flakes or hot sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

For the Cucumber Salad:

2 Persian cucumbers, sliced

1/4 red onion, shaved

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp parsley

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Instructions

Toss cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, parsley, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Set aside.
Mix honey, chili flakes, lemon juice, and zest. Set aside.
Set up breading: flour, eggs, and panko mixed with feta, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper.
Dredge chicken in flour, egg, then breadcrumb mixture.
Heat oil over medium. Cook 3–4 minutes per side until golden and cooked through.
Drizzle glaze over hot chicken.
Serve with cucumber salad, some roasted potatoes or cuscous.

This is What I Heard...

In my formative days, I did some dumb stuff. Some would say I still do. But it definitely felt worse back then.

I wasn’t a daredevil, I’ll leave that to my younger brother, and I wasn’t much of a troublemaker either. But I did love bombing a descent on my bike. And I definitely spent some time motor pacing on roads I probably shouldn’t have been on.

This week I came across a video from Safa Brian called Pray for Speed: The Dolomites, riding some descents in Italy.

The full video is about 15 minutes, but from around 6:30 to 9:45, it brought a lot of that back. That feeling of speed. The edge of control. The kind of risk that, at the time, didn’t really feel like risk.

Hitting 69.5 mph down Empire Pass in Utah.
Squeezing between an oncoming S10 and a granite wall coming back into Chattanooga at the end of a 3 State 3 Mountain Century.

Stuff like that.

And the music during that section pretty much sums up the way a lot of young guys feel in their late teens and 20’s.

Brian has a ton of videos like this. If you’ve never seen his YoutTube channel, it’s a bit of a rabbit hole worth going down.

Back to The Journey

No shortcuts - Crispy Hot Honey Lemon Feta Chicken Cutlets

The Warm Up!

The Journey!

Meal Time

This is What I Heard...

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