The Paceline Cycling Podcast

On this week’s show, my guest is Damon Rinard, the engineering manager for road bikes for Cycling Sports Group. Rinard has more than 30 years’ experience in the bike industry. He came to prominence as a result of his work for Cervelo where he was instrumental not just in developing what were some of the most cutting-edge aerodynamic bikes on the market, but for helping consumers place aerodynamic...

Cycling is a great way to both enjoy the journey and the destination. Put another way it makes getting there fun. But how important should goals be? Are goals like finishing an event or standing on the podium the end in itself or just a means to an end?  And we revisit ebikes. It seems like most folks have made their peace with ebikes for transportation, but what about in other uses? What about an...

Allen Lim has spent his career guiding athletes to their best possible performance. From the UC Davis Cycling Team to grand tour riders, Lim's career as an exercise physiologist was focused on helping solve problems athletes had. Nearly accidentally, Lim began making his own drink mix to help athletes, and out of that effort Skratch Labs was born. Six years later Skratch Labs produces—in addition...

After a brief hiatus, the Paceline is back in a slightly different format. Fatty has a new Leadville podcast he's producing, and as one of only eight people to complete Leadville 20 times, there is arguably no one better to produce a podcast devoted to all things Leadville. Hottie has also decided to pursue some other endeavors, though we're hopeful we can coax him back into some appearances here,...

This week I interview NAHBS Best in Show winner Gabriel Lang of Altruiste Bikes from New Brunswick, Canada. Lang won with a long-travel 29er that was truly unique among the bikes shown at the show. In this, our second episode, we talk to him about his background as a builder, how he got his start, what he's best known and where he hopes to take his business in the coming years. 

The Pull is a new podcast from Red Kite Prayer. My many interviews with framebuilders over the years have all lost something in translation from the conversation to the printed page (or pixels). I spent years dissatisfied with the outcome and honestly, reduced the number of interviews I did because the outcome was so dissatisfying, not to mention time-consuming for something that missed the spark...

I first read Bicycling Magazine editor Selene Yeager's work in the 1990s. Having edited the work of health and fitness writers, I knew what good work looked like and hers was exemplary. She did a remarkable job of balancing the science side of things with the dimensions that are curious to cyclists. What makes Yeager different is that she wasn't a journalist first and a health and fitness writer s...

Down is up and up is underground. Our man Hottie, formerly the leanest man in masters bike racing has portlied himself up to a whopping 165 lbs! What to do! He confesses that without all the group rides and races, plus a bit more beer than he used to allow himself. (He once rationed beers at a rate of half a beer every third full moon. In a good year that was about 2.5 brewskis). So he asks a guy...

Hottie took off with Mrs. Hottie for a bike-packing trip. Only they didn't camp out and sleep in sleeping bags. They stayed in a hotel. He thinks Mrs. Hottie brought too much stuff. But just how much is too much? And for that matter, how little is too minimal? Cramping and bonking. Other than crashing there might not be anything less fun in cycling—except for realizing you can't afford your dream...

What's the craziest experience you've had in a bike race or event? Hottie puts this question to Fatty and Patrick and while they share some stuff you might not want to duplicate, their experiences comes up lame when compared to Hottie's guest. Elon Rubin of Giant Santa Monica is Israeli and in his second mountain bike race crashed and landed somewhere even worse than a cow pie. His story is so epi...

Fatty had an unfortunate encounter with another cyclist recently. Actually, the unfortunate part of the encounter was between his big dog Duke and one of the dogs following behind the other ride attacked Duke. Took a souvenir out of poor Duke's ear. What do you do in that circumstance? He's a cyclist, so we like him, right? Do you mention it to him next time you see him? Do you get the authorities...

Vacation. It's such a loaded term. Is it time away from work? Time away from home? Is it recreation? Can it be a vacation without a bicycle? Hottie recently reviewed four different bike travel cases and decided to put the question to Fatty and Patrick of what their tips are for good travel with bike.  Last week one of Uber's self-driving cars struck and killed a woman walking her bike through a cr...

It's a podcast about bikes, so it's no surprise that our hosts like to ride new bikes. And great bikes. And sometimes crazily expensive bikes, like the $15,300 Argonaut that Hottie had a chance to ride recently. In a world where we all joke about the correct number of bikes being N+1, Hotties wonders at what point a bike might be just too expensive. Fatty is also deep in bike love. He recently pur...

Where do you come from? Not, where were you born, or where did you grow up, but how were you birthed as a cyclist? This week Fatty tells how he got into cycling and asks Patrick and Hottie what got them into the sport. And despite a concussion on his first ride, Fatty is still at it 20 years later. Hottie asks what we would do without cycling. That is, if you suddenly couldn't ride anymore, what w...

How much work do you do on your bike? Are you the type who doesn't let anyone else touch your bike and it gets a tune-up monthly, or do you turn it over to a trusted mechanic tipped in hoppy beverages? Or are you somewhere in between? Hottie discusses a failed career path and how that has affected his willingness to work on bikes. Origin stories are a hot thing right now. From Marvel superheroes t...

This week Fatty, Hottie and Patrick are joined by a special guest. Yuri Hauswald is a former winner of Dirty Kanza, a Camelbak-sponsored athlete and a marketing pro with GU Energy Labs. He joins the boys to talk about the suggestion that cyclists should boycott Giro, Bell, Blackburn, Camelbak and the other cycling-related holdings of Vista Outdoor, a publicly traded company whose primary trade is...

Our man Patrick is back from the North American Handmade Bicycle Show and has stories to tell. As chief judge he, with the help of fellow judges Tom Kellogg (yes, that Tom Kellogg of Spectrum Cycles) and veteran mechanic to the stars, Merlyn Townley, inspected more than 100 different submissions for the awards. He talks about the bike that won Best in Show and asks Fatty and Hottie their thoughts...

Maybe it’s the gloominess of February, but the Paceline hosts — Patrick, Hottie, and Fatty — have some pretty serious topics this week…though they don’t necessarily approach those topics in a serious way (not all of them, at least). Hottie’s watching the Olympics, but can’t help but wonder about the huge doping cloud hanging over the whole thing. His question: why does cycling get such a bad rap w...

Let’s talk dogs. No, not those furry lumps of love that drool on (or sometimes eat) your shoes. We’re talking feet. Do you have problems with your feet? Do cycling shoes give you trouble? If so, you’ll want to listen in to Fatty’s pull, which is all about his trouble with cycling shoes and his inquiries about how to solve it. Hottie says food is mood. He puts more effort into his pre-ride and pre-...

The boys are back with another three-pull episode. Up first is Hottie and he asks, have you ever regretted a bicycle purchase? Not the money you spent, but the bicycle itself? Have you ever decided you invested in the wrong bike? Fatty is concerned about riding ugly. Between his namesake feature, dripping body fluids, a cadence like a minute hand on a clock and mismatched kit, he suggests that his...

Peter Flax is the editor in chief of The Red Bulletin, the 11-times-per-year magazine from energy drink maker Red Bull. He is also the former editor-in-chief for Bicycling Magazine, features editor for The Hollywood Reporter and a contributing writer to CyclingTips as well as RKP. For the three plus years Flax has been living in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, he has commuted to work by...

Someone smart told the boys that most podcasts don't ever produce 100 episodes, so this one is a bit of a milestone. We're not sure if they're too determined to quit or too clueless to know when to stop. Milestones aside, they take 100 seconds (give or take) to favorite moments from previous shows before moving on to the meat of the show. Up first, Hottie asks if you've ever had bike burnout, and...

This week we switch our format up a bit with each of the guys taking one hard pull. Up first is Hottie with a confession. For the first time in roughly 20 years he isn't taking out a USAC license. Hottie says he's got several reasons for not renewing: less interesting courses, an interest in gravel events and to some degree, the officials. The boys discuss whether or not they are carrying licenses...

It's winter time and conditions aren't exactly fun for riding in many parts of the country. For this week's Very Important Question we asked, "Which of these is the absolute worst conditions to ride your bike in?" A. Hard crosswind 28% B. Cold rain 35% C. Slushy road 30% D. "This isn't so bad" types 7% The real question is what kind of companion are you when conditions are tough on a ride. SpeedX,...

Fatty has been vacationing and says his kits don't fit. In the spirit of truth in advertising, we're actually pretty relieved. A skinny Fatty is not a fatty, right? Recently, he went with the Hammer to St. George, Utah, for some riding. Misadventure ensued. In other news, how important is your front brake? For this week's Very Important Question we asked, "You are on your your bike, you pass anoth...