Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure

Send us Fan Mail A new chapter for BRAG starts here. We’re welcoming Domestic Ride Director Ron Ward to the family, spotlighting how he went from rider to crew to the person orchestrating the weeklong road adventure so many of us call summer camp on wheels. Franklin Johnson shares why international tours are accelerating, what growth means for the classic Georgia road experience, and how the team...

Send us Fan Mail A holiday gift list shouldn’t be hype; it should help. We pulled together a clear, field‑tested guide to the cycling gear that actually gets used, lasts through real weather, and makes every ride safer and more fun. From high‑lumen rechargeable lights that punch through daylight to the rear‑view bike radar that changed how we ride, we break down the smartest upgrades across budget...

Send us Fan Mail What if your early-season ride felt more like a festival than a sufferfest? We sit down with Cycle Zydeco’s ride director, Scott, to unpack a Louisiana cycling experience built around live Zydeco music, crawfish boils, dance lessons, and easy, flat miles that leave you grinning instead of gasping. With Breaux Bridge as the new base camp and Lafayette just a quick shuttle away, the...

Send us Fan Mail Fog hangs low, headlights cut thin ribbons through the dark, and somewhere ahead a line of red taillights refuses to be caught. We lean into the season with a Halloween ride that blends ghost stories, travel mishaps, aviation quirks, and a surprising amount of laughter from two cyclists who prize the journey as much as the destination. We kick off with Moonlight Mayhem bourbon, a...

Send us Fan Mail Bourbon on the brain, bikes in the rack, and a weekend that kept surprising us. We rolled into Lexington aiming for miles and meaningful pours and came away with a signed nine-millionth barrel at Buffalo Trace, a “unicorn” experimental bottle, and a reminder from Freddie Johnson that whiskey is really about the people you share it with. Between double allocation drops and an upsta...

Send us Fan Mail A bookstore with no checkout, a doorbell with a secret, and a barstool that comes with a story—our Kentucky journey starts where bike culture and bourbon tradition intersect. We kick off in Louisville on Whiskey Row, tracing two different arcs of American whiskey: Bardstown’s modern blending and hospitality machine and Michter’s deep Pennsylvania roots revived in Kentucky. Along t...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you combine cycling with ziplining? According to Michael, you get one of the most unique adventure experiences available—bike ziplining through the Mexican jungle. After returning from a week-long resort vacation with his family, Michael shares his discovery of this extraordinary activity that lets you pedal your way through the rainforest canopy, over water, and...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when tracking apps meant to keep your children safe become tools for insurance companies to monitor driving habits? This episode kicks off with a startling revelation about Life360 that parents of teen drivers won't want to miss, complete with a crucial tip on disabling the insurance reporting feature while preserving the app's family tracking capabilities....

Send us Fan Mail Saddle up for an episode that perfectly blends cycling camaraderie with bourbon-infused adventure!  Adam kicks things off with a fascinating glimpse into the surprisingly technical world of "bus rodeos" where he recently served as "Officer Obi" with radar gun in hand. These competitions test professional drivers' skills through challenging courses with dim...

Send us Fan Mail Seventy-five episodes! When we started this podcast, neither of us thought we'd make it past five or seven shows. Yet here we are, celebrating a milestone that represents years of friendship, thousands of miles cycled together, and a community that has grown beyond anything we imagined. Michael kicks things off with an update on his collarbone recovery - the x-rays look good,...

Send us Fan Mail Michael's fractured clavicle changed everything about this summer's cycling plans, but it led to unexpected adventures worth sharing. While nursing his broken collarbone (or "fractured clavicle" as his doctor insists on calling it), Michael took his family to Kentucky's bourbon country, visiting seven distilleries in a single day - though he made sure the...

Send us Fan Mail When the unexpected strikes, how do you adapt? Michael shares the story of his recent cycling accident where he encountered an almost-invisible brown hose stretched across concrete pavement during a training ride. With just seconds to react, his front tire turned 90 degrees, sending him face-first onto the road, resulting in a fractured clavicle and extensive road rash. This first...

Send us Fan Mail The Georgia hills couldn't break us! Picking up where we left off, Adam and Michael complete their wild journey across Georgia with the BRAG cycling event, sharing every triumph, challenge, and laugh along the way. Our layover day in Dawsonville delivers pure adrenaline as we race high-performance go-karts at AMP track, where Michael edges out Adam by just four one-hundredths...

Send us Fan Mail Saddle up for an exhilarating journey across Georgia with the Cycling Men of Leisure as we lead our largest-ever team of 43 riders through the challenging Appalachian foothills. This episode captures the first half of our fourth consecutive BRAG (Bike Ride Across Georgia) adventure, where the terrain proved anything but flat. From Rome to Jasper to Dawsonville, we navigate the not...

Send us Fan Mail Adventure meets technology in this gear-up episode as Adam and Michael prepare for their upcoming Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) journey and explore essential tech tools for cyclists. The duo celebrates a milestone moment when Adam correctly guesses Huntsville, Alabama as the previous Listener Spotlight location—the rocket city that inspired Elton John's iconic song. This...

Send us Fan Mail Mother's Day meets cycling adventures in this spirited episode where we dive into the exciting plans for Big Brag 2025 with Executive Director Franklin Johnson. Before our special interview, we share some cycling-related Mother's Day facts and celebrate that our upcoming Big Brag adventure coincides with World Bicycle Day on June 3rd! Michael regales us with tales from t...

Send us Fan Mail Balancing indoor training with ambitious road adventures takes center stage as Michael shares his surprisingly successful Peloton strategy—hiding the time and distance metrics that once dominated his attention. While Adam admits to having fancy indoor training equipment that rarely sees use, both hosts recognize the value of winter preparation as they gear up for their most ambiti...

Send us Fan Mail The unique balance of practical cycling wisdom and lighthearted camaraderie takes center stage as Adam and Michael reunite to share their latest adventures. After catching up on life updates, they dive into preparations for their upcoming summer cycling challenge featuring nearly 20,000 feet of climbing. With characteristic humor, they laugh about the recurring question they face:...

Send us Fan Mail Shane Cusick takes us on a fascinating journey through the transforming landscape of cycling, drawing from his rich experiences as both the former tour director of Bike Virginia and founder of Pello Bikes, a children's bicycle company focused on quality and performance. The cycling world stands at a crossroads. Traditional multi-day cycling tours that once drew thousands of p...

Send us Fan Mail Dive into a new episode of Cycling Men of Leisure where the joy of cycling truly takes center stage! We're excited to share stories, updates, and insights from our community of cycling enthusiasts. The journey is as rewarding as the ride itself, and in this episode, we showcase memorable experiences and playful anecdotes—from planning new jersey designs to tackling the upcomi...

Send us Fan Mail Returning from the sunshine of Florida to the frosty embrace of home brought a mix of joy and challenges, a journey Adam and I, Michael, recount with warmth and humor. Ever wondered about the true fashion crime of bucket hats? We tackle this hard-hitting issue, fueled by listener feedback, while also sharing heartwarming stories from our leisure community, like Rob Menser’s update...

Send us Fan Mail Ever tried scoring discounted wood using purple paint or faced assumptions about your friendship with a dining buddy at Disney? Join us on "Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure" as Adam and Michael take a light-hearted journey through the sunny realms of Florida. We explore the amusing clash of Michael's work commitments with Adam's leisurely golf outing...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered how a traveler with a stepladder or an unexpected hot dog order could spark a whole adventure? Join us as we embark on our Podfest 2025 journey in Orlando, where quirky encounters and laugh-out-loud mishaps are the norm. Whether it's our friend Armando gifting us a camera with a backstory or narrowly avoiding an escalator-induced trip to the ER, rest assured, ou...

Send us Fan Mail What do you get when you mix the unpredictable weather of Florida, a podcast convention, and a couple of golf enthusiasts? Join us as we recount our whirlwind adventure at Podfest 2025, where we mingled with podcasters from all walks of life, thanks to Buzzsprout's generous creator tickets. From insightful sessions on monetization to quirky custom keychains, our experience wa...

Send us Fan Mail How does the thrill of cycling adventures blend seamlessly with the allure of leisure pursuits like distilleries and cigar bars? Join us as we kick off the year with a burst of excitement—planning our participation in the Big Brag 2025 cycling event and setting our sights on Orlando for golf, great eats, and Podfest 2025. We're not just cycling; we're capturing the essen...