Bike Talk with Dave: All things bike! Bikepacking, cyclocross, gravel, mountain bike, road & events

Traveling with his son, Quinten Hermans to the three-round UCI Cyclocross World Cups in the U.S. in 2021, Wendy Hermans took time to talk with Dave about how his son rose to the top of the World Cyclocross stage at the Jingle Cross World Cup. Since that time, Quinten has migrated to road racing with Mattiew van der Poel on the Alpecin-Deceuninck UCI World Tour Team.

Dave Wiens is so much more than his current title. He started riding mountain bikes in the 1980's and got really fast. He holds such titles as NORBA National Champ, World Cup Mountain Bike Champion, Leadville Champion and now serves as a champion for trails! As a mountain biker, he found it necessary to grab a shovel, rake or clippers to help build an maintain trails in and around his hometown of...

Peter Stetina spent a decade racing on the World Tour in the biggest races on the planet. He gave all that up, moved back to the U.S., found his own sponsors and lined up at the biggest and best gravel and mountain bike races - including the Lifetime Grand Prix. Now, instead of pacing his team leader to the top of mountain passes in the three grand tours, he races for the podium at the Belgian Waf...

After five years racing at the highest level with the EF Education World Tour Cycling Team, Emily Newsom made the decision to focus on gravel and U.S. road races. A high speed crash in a stage race in May left her with multiple broken bones and a challenging recovery. Now, with only one race left in the 7-race Lifetime Grand Prix series, she, amazingly only missed one and even completed the challe...

The art of storytelling is the story of Jake. Inspired by nature, cycling, and imagination, Jake shares his art with the rest of us in the form of huge murals which bring color and interest to public spaces around his hometown of Des Moines. His latest cycling-inspired work, along the Meredith Trail below SW 9th on The Depot, greets cyclists, runners and walkers as they wind their way through the...

Cole Paton discovered his panache' for longer endurance events when the pandemic made it impossible for him to chase UCI World Cup points on the European mountain bike circuit. His exceptional technical skills in the dirt and powerful engine have made him a formidable challenger in the season-long race series, the Lifetime Grand Prix . We connected on the fifth leg of the 2023 Grand Prix, the Cheq...

Cyclocross is many things to many people - fun, challenging, exciting, community - and to celebrate the beginning of #crossiscoming or #crossishere :) we took Mr. Microphone to a local VERY grassroots cross practice in Des Moines and asked people why they dig the niche sport. We also spent some time with Mr. BIKEIOWA Scott Sumpter to talk about this grassroots weekly practice- a model for other co...

We have all felt the let-down after a big event, but what if that event isn't over in a couple hours, or even a couple of days - but is long enough to become a way of life while you're on the trial, living the life of a bikepacker? Coming home can be hard, so hard that the sense of loss can lead to real grief - and if that grief isn't dealt with, anxiety and even depression can set in... After a l...

Dee and I were excited to sail our tandem through the 75-mile course at the 2023 Garmin Gravel Worlds and take you inside the event as we discover the oft-spoken about "Spirit of Gravel." We are happy to say, that even after a hard day with wet, sandy and muddy roads (let's not forget about the hills!) the spirit of gravel is alive and well! Thanks to Jason, Cory and the rest of the Gravel Family...

core4 leaves no surface untouched: Gravel, pavement, lumpy farm access lanes, grassy lawns, rooty singletrack, even a bit of cyclocross - and, according to yours truly, the hardest 50 miles ever! Dive into this fun, interesting, exciting and challenging ride with Dave and his special guest Eria Sabiiti - the YouTube superstar on his Iowa Gravel Gang channel! Together we'll take you from the start...

Have you ever looked around and noticed just how white cycling is? According to a recent USA Cycling survey with more than 7,000 respondents, only 3% indicated they are black, 6% hispanic or latino and 4% Asian. Jay Busch, a Cat. 4 living in Des Moines, began showing up on the race-paced group rides just a couple years ago. Like every group ride - it's hard to actually get to know anyone, other th...

In it's 50th year, RAGBRAI has grown from a few hundred cycling enthusiasts who joined a couple of columnists looking for stories from the small communities around Iowa to a massive cross-state seven-day bicycle tour with tens of thousands joining every year. We went along with our microphone this year to to find some stories from some who'd been going for decades and some first timers - we wanted...

Michael Marckx could, quite possibly, knock Johnathan Goldsmith off the podium as the World's Most Interesting Man. Growing up in SoCal, he surfs, rides great distances, was a professional cyclist, CEO of Spy Optics, downhill skier and was founder of what is now the largest series of bike races in North America - the Belgian Waffle Ride. After listening to this episode, you can find all the detail...

Brody Burnham began cycling at age 8 when his dad took him to a local cyclocross race. He continued racing, and discovered a passion for road racing at the monthly Thursday Night training races. As he grew, his dedication, determination and drive led him to move up the ranks, travel the country and even into Canada and land a spot on the Lindenwood University Cycling Team . He sat down with Dave a...

Shelby Stanger gave up a great corporate job working on the Warped Tour with shoe brand Vans to teach surfing and grab some freelance journalism gigs. She's worked for national publications such as Outside Magazine, ESPN, CNN and Shop-Eat-Surf.com , as well as several newspapers and television stations. Her life of adventure teaching surfing in Costa Rica and her work as a journalist led her to st...

In it's fourth year, the Ames Triathlon, a sprint triathlon in Ames Iowa, has grown each year and includes participants from the beginners to the pros. As nationally branded events continue to dominate the market more each year, we went to Ames to talk to participants about what makes grass roots racing, not only so appealing to compete in, but why grass roots events are so important for the growt...

Gary Crandall, a member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, has helped the Chequamgon Fat Tire Festival grow from it's 27-rider beginnings in 1983 (check out what episode this is!) to one of the monuments of mountain biking in the small northern Wisconsin towns of Hayward and Cable. In this episode Gary recounts the early days of the ride, from early courses, the people who made the race happen and...

Susan DeMattei was among the first generation of mountain bikers to compete in UCI World Cup races, World Championships and in the Olympics. While NORBA was the top level of competition in the 1980's, the UCI jumped on the fat-tired bandwagon in the 1990's. Susan DeMattei began competing in the NORBA races in the U.S. in the 1980's, which led her to two UCI Mountain Bike World Championship silver...

Daniel Barvin is no stranger to ALS - it's affected multiple generations of his family, and is currently expected to affect his life in the future, as he is a carrier of the gene that causes ALS as well as FTD. Not letting that stop him from living a life full with cycling and children, he's found a way to have children with his wife that do not carry the gene and has started a non-profit organiza...

On May 6, 2023, The International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) celebrated the International Women's Mountain Bike Day, encouraging clubs and individuals to invite women to experience the joys of mountain biking. In Des Moines, two members of the Central Iowa Trail Association (CITA) - the local IMBA affiliate club, hosted a ride on some local trails - Jolie Erbacher and Emily Orth . While rain...

In late April, a couple of Des Moines area cyclists, Rob Versteegh and Kyle Sedore, issued a challenge to the community: Ride 100 miles on the North Sycamore Mountain Bike Trail in one day before midnight on May 28, and they'd give you a plate. Not just any plate, but an old one they bought at Salvation Army with a leaf and "100" stenciled on it. Who could resist? I sure couldn't - so with one day...

Corey Godfrey began sailing the gravel seas around Lincoln, Nebraska nearly 20 years ago. After experiencing many long voyages through the rolling landscapes of Iowa in early Trans-Iowa adventures, he and Lincoln's Pirate Cycling League invited others to pin on a number and ride their favorite roads around Lincoln. Now in it's 13th year, Garmin Gravel Worlds has become a monument of gravel in the...

Great big gravely things are happening in NW Arkansas and this week we talk with Andrew Onermaa of the Ozark Gravel Cyclists and Director of a new event - the Ozark Randonneur this September. The race is also being hosted by Experience Fayetteville, so we bring on Fayetteville's Director of Cycling Tourism Brannon Pack. Between the two of them there are events and rides available throughout the ye...

Cory Rood battled the elements, fatigue, wind, rock and sleet to win the 2023 edition of the 340-mile I owa Wind and Rock Gravel Race. We met at GEAR Cafe in Elkader, Iowa the following weekend to catch up and find out how he found himself in the lead as he made the final climb to the finish line in 28 hours & 48 minutes. www.iowawindandrock.com Another race worth putting on the calendar is th...

In episode 74: Driftless 100 Race Recap, we referenced a fun video we made in 2017 at the Trek CX Cup: Name That Wisconsin Town. It featured eight European riders attempting to pronounce some Wisconsin towns. We thought it would be fun to add it to the podcast cue - plus the sequel: Name That Flemish Town! Plenty of incredible riders played along including then World Cyclocross Champion Sanne Cant...