TJ Eisenhart

THE STORY

Conquering Fear: TJ Eisenhart on Racing, Painting, and Why the Lion Sleeps a Lot

"I don't have that fear of starting. I don't have that fear of what it's going to look like. I just have fun with it and attack it."

That's how TJ Eisenhart talks about a blank canvas, and it's the attitude he's bringing to TEDxUnityPark 2026.

TJ has lived two careers that most people would be happy to have one of. He spent about ten years as a professional cyclist, then switched to painting full time. Today he's an artist with his own gallery, and at this year's TEDxUnityPark he's giving a talk about conquering fear and going after your dreams. TJ has felt fear from both sides, and the two didn't feel anything alike.

"It's funny, with the art, there's no way to lose. So it's just you're always winning."

The art came first, even if the bikes got top billing. "I'd done art my whole life," TJ said during TEDxUnityPark Media Day. Then came one ordinary training day.

"I had like a six hour training ride that day, and about two hours in, I kind of stopped at this like coffee shop... and it kind of just hit me like I just felt like I could be doing a lot more with my time, rather than just riding for six hours and doing the same races every year."

TJ did the math right there. "I was like, man, I could be riding for two hours doing art for two hours," he says, "and the rest of the day you're hanging out with your family and enjoying life."

What pulled him was the feeling of winning, and how much easier it was to find. Any time he picked up a pencil or a paintbrush, or even talked about design, something woke up.

"Wow, this feels like the feeling I would get when I would win a race."

On a bike, that feeling took months of training to chase. In a sketchbook, it took a pencil. TJ decided to go down the route of art.

In racing, he says, even talented riders are always afraid of losing. "It felt like the walls would close in," he said at Media Day, "and you were, you know, losing felt like life or death, honestly."

Art flipped that. TJ describes making something the way an athlete would: you attack it, and it gets whittled down into exactly what you want.

"You start with something everyone else has or could have, a blank piece of paper, a canvas, a car, and you can just create off your own. And at the end that you created something that nobody else could ever create, you know?"

Here's the part we didn't see coming. For a guy with ten years of pro training behind him, TJ is not selling the 4 a.m. gym routine.

"I like to say, the lion sleeps a lot," he says. We've been quoting that one to each other ever since.

"I think in our culture we've forgotten to, you know, really give time for ourselves and really allow the creativity to come because we're not bored a lot."

TEDxUnityPark's 2026 theme is Multiply. When we picked it, we were thinking about reach, the kind that grows through your relationships and through your work. TJ might be the most literal version of that on the whole lineup. After his talk, he wants to take the room on a community bike ride down to his gallery. One talk, one ride, and a lot more people who know each other by the end of it.

TJ, his wife and family moved to Greenville from St. George, Utah about three years ago. They live out in Travelers Rest, and they fell for the community right away.

"I really love that the community shows up and supports everyone, whether that's like a small business or a creative in town. People show up, which is just really cool to see."

What many don't know about TJ is that he's been workshopping this talk like a rapper with a deadline. "It's like six pages right now," he told us, before admitting he's had help. "I've had a few ghostwriters work on it. I'm not gonna name names, but... Drake." He also gave Community Tap a free plug. "Shout out Community Tap," he said. "Pay me for that."

That's TJ on camera. Loose, quick, and honestly a lot of fun to be around. We think this one will land for anyone who has a sketchbook in a drawer, or a plan they keep putting off until they're less scared. TJ's talk is a nudge to go start the thing, and maybe take a nap first.

"You have to live life to create life."