Going into Unbound this year as the defending champion, Rosa Klöser knew she was a marked woman. What she didn’t expect was that the usual crashes and chaos of gravel’s biggest event would start as soon as the first handful of miles. After a fall, a flat, and a wrong turn in the finish shoot, Rosa managed to walk away with fourth place. She caught up with Payson for a recovery spin the day after the race to talk about how her race went down, how she tried to combat the caginess of the chase grou...
Jun 16, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 331
In the second part of our Unbound recap, Payson chats with Karo Migón about her dominant win. After initiating an early breakaway with two other riders, she went solo with nearly 50 miles to go, finishing all on her own despite having a slow rear puncture. Her ride is even more impressive considering that last year was her first gravel season and she's currently on sabbatical from her job as a coder. She talks to Payson about why she decided to hop into a breakaway so early, when she knew it was...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 330
In the first half of our Unbound recap, Payson sits down with men's 200 winner Cam Jones to talk about his stunning breakaway with TudorPro rider Simon Pellaud that stuck from mile 50 all the way through to a massive course record. Cam went into the race hoping to earn a wild card slot in the Grand Prix and left the race as a favorite for the series overall. He chats to Payson about his decision to stick to Simon’s wheel, the camaraderie they built over 150 miles together, and how he managed to ...
Jun 05, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 329
It’s Unbound week and Payson sat down with fellow sidelined-by-injury Grand Prix rider Dylan Johnson to set the scene and make some predictions. They talk about how last year’s race played out, what the weather is shaping up to be like and how it could impact the race, and why they think the team tactics will be completely different this year. They also have the obligatory conversation about tire choice, explain why the aid stations might be the most important selection points, and pick the ride...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 328
For years, Payson has maintained that Nichole is the most talented athlete in their household, but it wasn’t until this winter that she finally decided to add some structure to her riding and shoot for some concrete goals. It all came about during an unusual lull in her schedule shortly after she and Payson finished his crossing project in New Zealand and got married in Tasmania, and just after she completed her capstone project for her Master’s Degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins. Payson...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 327
Alexey Vermeulen has a lot of thoughts on how US gravel can improve. A 100-mile Unbound. A U23 field. Fewer elite riders in the Grand Prix—the list goes on. Since leaving the WorldTour to join the American off-road scene, Alexey has become one of the most prominent racers in the sport, finishing second overall in the first two years of the Grand Prix and being a leading voice among his peers through a host of media projects. This year, he’s started a post-race debrief podcast with Keegan Swenson...
May 18, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 326
When Iz King got pregnant six months ago, she wasn’t sure how it would affect her career as a gravel racer. Like many female athletes who want to start a family someday, she was all too aware that pregnancy, like being an elite-level competitor, is contingent on a finite biological window. She knew right away that she wanted to continue racing, but she also knew that her career was going to change significantly. This year, she’s continued to race, but she has no intention of being at the front o...
May 12, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 325
Chef Biju Thomas made a major impact on cycling when he helped co-found Skratch Labs with his friend Allen Lim, but these days, you're most likely to find him cooking for cyclists at large events. For example, he was part of the squad that fueled the US cycling team at the Paris Olympics last summer. More recently, he was busy making several thousand meals at Sea Otter. Biju sat down with Payson in Bentonville to chat about the logistics of cooking for Olympic athletes from such different discip...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 324
Anneke Beerten was one of the top mountain bikers in the world for a decade, starting her career as a two-time BMX world champion before dominating the 4 cross circuit with three world titles. She’s gone through many career transitions over the years, embracing Enduro and Crankworx to earn even more accolades. In early 2020, just after finishing her best season in enduro racing, she was in a car accident that forced her to retire from racing. She spent years in rehab, moved states, and started o...
Apr 28, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 323
The Life Time Grand Prix is back, which means we've got a whole new season of recap episodes on the way. To kick things off, we’ve got South African rider Hayley Preen and Swiss rider Simon Pellaud here to take us inside their races. Hayley just won the South African Gravel Nationals shortly after grabbing third place at the Cape Epic and is on her second go-round of the Grand Prix. Last year, she had to drop out after a broken wrist, but she’s started off this season strong with a fourth-place ...
Apr 20, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 322
Today, Allied Cycle Works released its long-awaited ABLE gravel bike. Payson has been test riding it for a year now and is pretty sure it's going to redefine gravel racing. He sits down with Allied CEO Drew Medlock and Director of Product and Engineering Sam Pickman to break down exactly what makes the bike so different, including that 57mm tire clearance, and how they developed it from idea to factory floor. They also talk about the input from Payson that was integrated into the final design, t...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 321
Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
Apr 03, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 320
Brayden Johnson landed his dream situation in 2024 when he signed a contract with a factory team. As a third-year U23 rider, it was a crucial opportunity on his way to the elite field. He had already shown his potential, winning National Champs and podiuming at World Cups. Soon after moving to Italy for the new team, however, Brayden started to notice some red flags. Before the end of the season, he was blacklisted from the team shortly before organization collapsed altogether. This year is his ...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 319
Gwen Gibson is one of the best World Cup XCO racers in the world, but she almost didn’t make it into the professional ranks. In college, she juggled racing with a full class schedule and held down three jobs to make ends meet. When she graduated, she thought it was probably time to quit her dreams of being a World Cup racer and find a ‘real’ career path. But then she started showing up to races and beating some of her idols, and in 2022, she had a breakout season, winning a World Cup short track...
Mar 23, 2025•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 318
Reigning Queen of Gravel Rosa Klöser returns to the show to talk about some of the major developments in her career since we spoke with her after her surprise win at Unbound last year. That victory launched her into the spotlight as a major new player in the gravel scene, but her spur-of-the-moment decision to race German Road Nationals really brought her to the attention of the broader cycling world. After coming in 9th place in a stacked field, Rosa scored a contract with the WorldTour team an...
Mar 17, 2025•50 min•Season 1Ep. 317
Payson stops by XCO National Champion Bjorn Riley’s apartment in Girona to hear about his training camp in South Africa with his new team, the one and only Scott-SRAM. They also discuss the part of winning a race that people don’t often talk about: the terrifying moment when you decide to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. Then, Bjorn pulls out some of the artifacts he’s found in abandoned buildings on rides in the Spanish countryside and recounts his experience of getting bitten by E...
Mar 10, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 316
The final stage of Sahara Gravel in Morocco ended in a sand pit that left some riders sprinting on foot across the line. Payson sits down on a windy sand dune to chat with stage winner Petr Vakoč about how the event went for him over the past four days -- the highs, lows, and his favorite type of tagine. He also talks about his plans for the rest of the season and his unconventional travel plans to get back to Europe from Morocco tomorrow. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Ema...
Feb 27, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 515
Stage 3 of Sahara Gravel in Morocco was harder than pretty much anyone was anticipating. Despite seeming to have hardly any climbing, it proved to be the toughest day yet and the first stage that took the riders deep into the Sahara Desert. Payson sat down with British rider Maddy Nutt, who has been battling for first place with Luise Valentin since day one. She talks about getting caught in the sand, how this race stacks up with Migration Gravel, and why she avoids events with a certain type of...
Feb 26, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 314
It's day two of Sahara Gravel and the general consensus is that the scenery was pretty mind-blowing on this 68 mile mountain stage. Payson sits down with Oti Zolati, the only Moroccan in the race, to talk about being a tourist in his own country and his bikepacking trip across Africa that got him hooked on cycling. Then he talks to the founder of the race, Janosch Wintermantel, about how he went from living in Switzerland and working at Scott to event organising in Morocco. Instagram: @withpacep...
Feb 25, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 313
It's stage one of the four-day Sahara Gravel stage race in Morocco and Payson is sitting down with the stage winners Luise Valentin and Matteo Fontana. They tell us how their days unfolded, what they do when they're not training (Luise is an engineer in Zurich and Matteo is a former triathlete and bike fitter outside Milan), and how they're feeling about the race so far. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc...
Feb 24, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 312
If you’ve seen two-time Olympian Alison Jackson in the media, chances are she was either dancing, standing on top of the Paris-Roubaix podium, or both. The EF rider won Roubaix in 2023 and quickly became a fan favorite for her joyful social media presence and finish-line celebrations. She caught up with Payson in Girona this week shortly after breaking her arm at a race, and somehow seems to be as optimistic as ever. She talks about growing up on a bison farm in rural Alberta, why she goes out o...
Feb 16, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 311
Growing up in Ethiopia, Tsgabu Grmay was inspired to start riding by his father and older brother, who were both cyclists. As a teenager, he was selected to go to the UCI’s World Cycling Centre in South Africa and signed with his first UCI team in 2012. Since then, he raced 12 years on the WorldTour with teams including Lampre-Merida, Trek-Segafredo, and Jayco-AlUla. He retired from road racing at the end of 2023, but joined Team Amani as a rider and coach. This year, he’s on the roster for the ...
Feb 09, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 310
Geerike Schreurs spent nearly a decade as a WorldTour soigneur, taking care of some of the best riders in the world. Now, she’s their teammate. The Dutch rider officially signed to SD Worx-Protime to race a combination of gravel and road this season, and even though she had a breakout season last year and snagged second place at Unbound, she says that this is the first time she’s finally feeling like a pro. Payson caught up with Gee in Girona earlier this week to talk about how she made the tran...
Feb 02, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 309
Emilly Johnston was wondering if she was going to have a team for her first Elite season when she got a call from Scott-SRAM team director Thomas Frischknecht. Shortly after she signed a contract with the team, she placed third at Worlds, rounding out a triumphant 2024 season that marked her as one of the most promising up-and-comers in the women's field. Emilly sat down with Payson in Girona earlier this week to talk about landing a spot on her dream team, the chaos of racing last year’s combin...
Jan 26, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 308
Throughout his 12 years in the World Tour, Thomas De Gendt was known as one of the preeminent breakaway specialists of the century, winning five Grand Tour stages including the infamous Queen Stage of the Giro on the Passo dello Stelvio. Recently, he announced that after 16 years as a pro on the road, he would be switching to gravel. This week, Thomas sat down with Payson in Girona to talk about his illustrious road career, including that now legendary surprise stage win at the Giro in 2012, stu...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 307
Riejanne Markus is a Dutch WorldTour rider who is currently racing with Lidl-Trek. She went professional over a decade ago and has moved from strength to strength, nabbing three national titles and finishing second overall at last year’s Vuelta a España. Riejanne sat down with Payson in Girona this week to talk about her decision to join Lidl-Trek after four years with Visma-Lease a Bike, growing up in an athletic family (her dad and younger sister are speed skaters, and her other sister, Femke,...
Jan 12, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 306
Bond Almand was just 20 years old when he rode the nearly 13,500 miles of the Pan-American Highway from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina in 75 days, beating the previous record by nearly 10 days. That feat is even more impressive considering that the last rider to hold the record was a professional racer who did it with a support crew, while Bond did it all self-supported between semesters at Dartmouth. Bond sat down with Payson to talk about confronting months of intense loneliness, ri...
Jan 05, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 305
In an extended outtake from our previous episode, Payson and Hannah chat about how they're preparing for the upcoming season, whether they're changing anything, and how they're balancing the Grand Prix schedule with non-Grand Prix events they love. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
Jan 04, 2025•27 min•Season 1Ep. 304
This week, Payson is joined by Hannah Otto to run down the women's roster for the 2025 Grand Prix. They talk about the five new riders, the riders who won't be returning, and how the slimmed-down field might affect the overall series. They also go deep into the weeds on whether the Grand Prix is now geared toward mountain bikers (spoiler alert: they're biased), talk about why they want more rules rather than less, and speculate about how all the drop races and surgeries in the women's field this...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 1Ep. 303
Big changes are coming to the Life Time Grand Prix in 2025. Among them are fewer events, fewer riders, less altitude, and an extra mountain bike race. There are new riders, riders who were absent for a season but are coming back, and riders who have featured heavily in the series who won’t be returning. Payson unpacks all the changes on the men's side, including the new riders, the most painful omission on the roster, and why some racers decided to sit this season out. Instagram: @withpacepodcas...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 302
