Jack Aitken has been pursuing a career as a Formula One driver since he was seven years old. He's raced in both Formula Three and Formula Two, and was signed as a reserve driver for Williams Racing in 2020. Later that year at the Sakhir Grand Prix, he made his F1 debut when another racer tested positive for coronavirus. In this conversation, Jack talks about his love of cycling, the cutthroat path to securing a seat in F1, and how he prepares physically and mentally for the demands of the job. H...
Dec 22, 2021•52 min•Season 1Ep. 151
Lizzie Deignan has held just about every title available to road racers. She was the 2015 World Champion, won silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, and is a four time British national champion. She has also won the prestigious trio of races consisting of the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the inaugural women's Paris-Rubaix earlier this year. In this conversation, Lizzie recounts her experience at Rubaix, including what it was like encountering the infamous cobbles for the fir...
Dec 14, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 150
In his role as President of Events and Media at Life Time, Kimo Seymour has been instrumental in the acquisition and shaping of mass participation off-road events such as Unbound Gravel and Leadville. Last week, Life Time announced a first-of-its-kind gravel series, where 40 professional riders (20 male and 20 female) will vie for $250,000 in prize money over the course of six races. The series, known as the Grand Prix, is comprised of three gravel races and three cross country races, including ...
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 149
Riley Amos became the breakout star of cross country racing earlier this year when he became the first American male to win a U23 World Cup . At just 19 and in his first year out of the junior ranks, he also snagged the podium at two other World Cup races in Albstadt, Germany and Nové Město, Czech Republic. He entered the 2021 season with uncertainty about his prospects as a professional rider, only to leave the season with offers from every factory team on the circuit. Last week, it was announc...
Nov 30, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 148
For over 20 years, Jamie Bestwick reigned as one of BMX's most decorated athletes in the history of the sport. Since competing in his first X Games in 1996, he's won 14 gold medals at the event, including in nine consecutive years. In 2005, he won every single event in which he competed. Now he's found a new outlet: gravel racing. In this conversation, Jamie tells Payson about his harrowing experience racing at Unbound Gravel earlier this year, including what made him complete the 206 miles in s...
Nov 23, 2021•1 hr 51 min•Season 1Ep. 147
Matt Phillips has ridden more bikes than perhaps anyone else in the world. And over the last 30 years reviewing cycling gear, he's tried just about everything the industry has to offer. But his job is not always the dream career that cycling enthusiasts might imagine. In this conversation, Matt opens up about the unsettled relationship between his work as a tech journalist and his struggles with mental health. While much of his job involves riding new bikes and testing cutting edge equipment, it...
Nov 21, 2021•2 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 146
Reed Boggs is a freeride mountain biker who placed third at this year’s Red Bull Rampage. The event is known for pushing the boundaries of freeriding and has seen its fair share of groundbreaking runs. Reed has competed in three Rampages, and explains why, in his case, experience was the only way to success. He also talks about how he got into freeriding as a teenager from suburban Ohio, why he wasn't sure that he'd even get to ride in this year's Rampage, and why he's outspoken about riding res...
Nov 13, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 145
Joe Cruz has been bikepacking since the 80s, when a college trip introduced him to the excitement and challenge of multi-day cycling adventures. Since then, he's raced and bikepacked his way across the world, including journeys through Ethiopia, Patagonia, Pakistan, and Tibet. When he's not riding his bike, he is Professor of Philosophy at Williams College in Massachusetts, where he also chairs the Cognitive Science Program. In this interview, Joe talks about how the physicality and adventure of...
Nov 06, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 144
Alexey Vermeulen began his career racing on the WorldTour circuit for Jumbo Visma. After falling out of love with the road scene, he decided to transition to gravel and mountain bike racing in 2018. Since then, his results have included second and first place finishes at the Iceman Cometh in consecutive years, and third at Belgian Waffle Ride. In this conversation, he talks about his decision to change the trajectory of his career early on, and the steep learning curve of switching from road rac...
Oct 26, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 143
Nat Ross has many firsts to his name. He was the first rider to race a World Cup on 29 inch wheels, the first winner of the Marathon National Championships, and competed in the first X Games...in two disciplines. He's also competed in forty 24 hour races and won nine, including two World Championships. During his professional racing career, he was often at the front of the line to try the latest innovations from industry legends whose names are now synonymous with the technology they pioneered, ...
Oct 19, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Sarah Sturm returns to catch up with Payson about how her life and career have changed since her first time on the show in 2020. She talks about learning to say no to things, why she doesn't like going back to races she's already done, and the imposter syndrome she still feels on the start line no matter how many wins and professional successes she achieves. They discuss how she chooses her race schedule, the hypocrisy of being an adventure advocate on Instagram, and why she's feeling pretty rel...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Chad Cheeney is the co-founder of Durango Devo, a non-profit mountain bike program for kids in Durango, Colorado. Since the program began in 2006, Chad has coached thousands of young riders, including Sepp Kuss, Christopher Blevins, Sarah Sturm, and Howard Grotts. But beyond those who have gone on to become world title holding pros, many more have achieved the program’s central objective: becoming life long riders. Chad talks to Payson about why he wanted to start a development program out of co...
Oct 06, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 141
At just 19 years of age, Vali Höll is no stranger to the World Cup podium. In 2018, she won every Junior World Cup race and went on to win the overall title two years in a row, occasionally beating the fastest Elite times. Her 2020 season was cut short by injury and further complicated by the pandemic and studying for her final year of high school. She tells Payson about the rehab process at the Red Bull High Performance Centre in her native Austria and her rocky start to elite racing during the...
Sep 29, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Annijke Wade is a mountain biker who was finishing her third season of racing when a crash on a familiar trail left her permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Now, almost three months later, she talks to Payson about coming to terms with her life-altering injury. Shortly before the crash, Annijke became a certified mountain bike coach and founded BIPOC AF, an organization that seeks to make the cycling community more inclusive and accessible to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. In spit...
Sep 25, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 139
Today on the show, photographer and Iceland expert Chris Burkard turns the tables on Payson to interview him about his record-setting self-supported 257 mile ride from the northernmost tip of Iceland to the southernmost tip in just under 20 hours. They talk about his gear and nutrition choices and how the ride stacks up against some of the other challenges he's done in recent years. They also talk to Evan, one of the photographers documenting the effort, and Nichole, Payson's girlfriend. Both ha...
Sep 15, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Payson, Lael, Nichole, Rue, and Chris sit down for one last Iceland recap. After eight days and 680 miles of touring the Westfjords, they talk about the most memorable moments from the trip, their favorite gear, the gear they wish they'd brought, and how they hope people might approach the route in the future. Payson and Lael also give a sneak peek of the competitive efforts they'll be undertaking in Iceland later this month. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@with...
Sep 09, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Payson, Chris, Nichole, and Lael talk about day seven of their bikepacking tour of the Westfjords of Iceland. With perfect weather, stunning coastal views and varied terrain, they're calling it the Queen's Stage of the route. They share their highlights and preview their final day. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc...
Sep 08, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 136
Payson, Lael, Rue, Nichole, and Chris discuss their sixth day of riding, which featured--as usual--a roller-coaster of weather and lots of eating. Evan the photographer returns for a second cameo to talk about his favorite moment of the day in the media van. Threinn the videographer (and former MMA fighter) makes his first podcast appearance to set the record straight on the pronunciation of his name, and to share a few highlights from the trip. And finally, Birna, the team "mom," makes her firs...
Sep 07, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 135
Payson, Lael, Nichole, Chris, and Rue review their fifth day touring the Westfjords of Iceland. After the previous day's tailwind, today featured 90+ miles of headwind, side wind, cold, and rain. They talk about the creeping onset of fatigue halfway through their trip, the day's animal sightings, and the brutality of the environment that dictates its beauty and its harshness. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc...
Sep 06, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 134
Payson, Lael, Rue, Nichole, and Chris discuss a very different day on the bike: 40 miles of tailwind. They talk about the impromptu piano concert they witnessed, Lael devises a nontraditional stage race for the route, and Evan the photographer makes a cameo appearance to share what goes on behind the scenes of the group's Instagram photos. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc...
Sep 05, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 133
After a grueling 140 mile day of rain and headwinds, the group sits down to discuss Nichole's biggest day on the bike ever, Payson's favorite encounter with a local family, Rue's observations from the van, and Chris and Lael's misadventures with wind, mud, and horse poop. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
Sep 04, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 132
Payson, Lael, Rue, Chris, and Nichole recap their second day of riding, including conversations with locals, the evening's hot spring, and Nichole's first peloton experience. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
Sep 03, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 131
Payson, Nichole, Lael, Rue, and Chris recap their first day of riding, which encompassed 90 miles and included a glacier, an arctic fox, a feast of blueberries, headwind, tailwind, and a hot spring at the end. They share their highlights of the day and preview day 2. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
Sep 02, 2021•17 min
Payson, Nichole Baker, Chris Burkard, Lael Wilcox, and Rue Kaladyte join us from their hostel in Ísafjörður for their first nightly dispatch from Iceland. They discuss their bikepacking route, first impressions of the Island, and highlights of the day, and preview their ride. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
Sep 02, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 130
In preparation for our upcoming daily series following Payson’s bikepacking trip of Iceland with Chris Burkard, Nichole Baker, Rue Kaladite, and Lael Wilcox, we’re replaying some of our favorite moments from Payson’s previous conversations with Chris about the country. He’s been to Iceland 47 times and traversed it in just about every way possible by plane, car, and bike. This episode features stories from three interviews with Chris, one from 2019 where he talks about his love of being immersed...
Aug 31, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Pete Stetina raced in the WorldTour for ten years before transitioning to gravel racing in 2019. During that time, he raced in the Tour De France, the Giro D’Italia, and the Vuelta Espana. Since moving to gravel, he has featured on the podium at many races, including winning the Belgian Waffle Ride during his first year on the gravel scene. More recently, he won the inaugural Leadboat, a two day challenge that combines the Leadville 100 and Steamboat Gravel. In this conversation, he and Payson t...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Rue Kaladyte is a photojournalist and videographer. She started out in journalism, working for the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska, where the pressures of the 24 hour news cycle led her to seek longer form projects, including one that introduced her to her wife, Lael Wilcox. Following the closure of the newspaper, she began working full-time as a photojournalist capturing stories from ultra-endurance bike events. Now, she and Lael travel all over the world highlighting some of the most wild and c...
Aug 15, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Chris Blevins returns to the show to talk about competing at this year's Olympics in Tokyo. It was a different experience than the one he anticipated in 2019, when he visited the city to test ride the course before he knew he would make the Olympic team. Since then, the event was delayed by a year and transformed by the pandemic. Chris talks about the bittersweet feelings of competing in his first Olympic Games without his family by his side. Complications with travel, isolation within the cycli...
Aug 10, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 126
Neil Beltchenko has competed in some of the most infamous bikepacking races for nearly a decade, including the Iditarod Trail Invitational, which he won in 2018, and the Arizona Trail 300, which he has won multiple times and where set a course record in 2016. In this interview, he joins Payson just days after winning the Colorado Trail Race. He has ridden and completed the Colorado Trail six times, and set a course record in 2016. In spite of these accomplishments, however, he tells Payson that ...
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 125
Jeff Garmire is an ultrarunner and thru-hiker who holds the unsupported running FKT for the Colorado Trail, which he completed in nine days earlier this year. He specializes in unsupported efforts, carrying all the food and supplies he needs from beginning to end, including any trash he generates along the way. He has also held the FKTs on the Arizona Trail, the Long Trail, and the Pinhoti Trail. In this interview, he talks to Payson about his unusual trajectory to ultrarunning, having started a...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 124
