The Paceline Cycling Podcast

It's reader questions once again this week. Selene was asked how to structure a training plan so that a racer can maintain a high level of fitness year around, especially if there are six "A" events spaced throughout the season. Most training plans start from zero, and honestly, how many of us are starting from zero? Another reader says his wife is an injured runner and he's trying to get her into...

This week I’ve got a twofer for you. I’m interviewing two people responsible for creating new clothing for Pearl Izumi. Cory Hibbard is an apparel designer who has worked on a variety of products, from their BikeStyle line of casual but cycling-functional apparel to new jersey designs hitting bike shops this spring. She likes to call her work “adventure-powered design.” My other guest is Cory’s co...

Selene was recently a guest for Lovingthebike's Bike School. She was asked a number of questions, but two memorable ones were: what is the lowest temperature you will ride in? How cold can you take it? Another was what your favorite ride distance is. How long does a ride need to be for you to feel like you've been for a good ride? So whatever happened to all those cool brands that got bought up by...

This week, my guest is Steve Hampsten, the man behind Hampsten Cycles. While Hampsten Cycles may draw its fame from Steve’s brother Andy, the only American winner of the Giro d’Italia and Tour de Suisse, Steve has been in the bike industry for more than 30 years. He has worked in and around framebuilding for at least 20 years. While Andy’s role in the company has been to help conceive of models an...

This week we take on a veritable buffet of reader questions. Selene opens with oval chainrings, moves on to whether or not frame material matters, why there aren't more Clydesdale categories in races and winds up with the age-old question of whether or not your choice of chain lube matters (hint: it does). Patrick's pull also takes on a reader question: where would you want to go in the world and...

In the second part of my conversation with photographer Brian Vernor, we talk about storytelling through photography as well as photography when it is in service to a written feature. We also discuss the difference between commercial work and editorial work and how storytelling is a more compelling way to reach people than just marketing a product. Prior to flying to Japan to work on the "88 Templ...

You'd think eating is easy. We've all been doing it longer than we can remember. But eating on the bike while pedaling hard enough to make people miss the couch isn't easy. If it was, we wouldn't be getting listeners asking about how best to execute so they don't bonk. Bonking, after all, is a thing. But not our favorite thing. Selene addresses strategies to make sure you get everything down, keep...

On this week’s show, my guest is photographer, writer and filmmaker Brian Vernor. For many cycling aficionados, Brian Vernor came to prominence as a result of his work with Rapha here in the U.S. His photography seemed to capture the experience of being a cyclist and doing the hard miles to be fit in a way almost no one else had. To this day, his work often has a sense of the viewer being a protag...

This week Selene veers into gymnastics. Don't worry, she's got a good reason. Perhaps you've seen the video of UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi's perfect-10 performance. Selene muses on body image, what it means to be supported and guided, and ways in which we evaluate our bodies that don't do us any good. Paceline listener Romany is going to race the Breck Epic this year. And she's thinking of replaci...

In the second part of my interview with veteran framebuilder Dave Kirk, we talk about the last phase of his career with Serotta, and then his move west to Bozeman, Montana, where he opened his own shop. This interview takes a really deep dive into fillet brazing and the finer points of one framebuilding's most under-appreciated techniques. We begin with a discussion of the patented DKS suspension...

On this week’s show, my guest is Dave Kirk, the man behind Kirk Frameworks. The path to becoming a skilled framebuilder isn't set. I've met masters who apprenticed under legends. I've met geniuses who chafed under menial tasks at big productions houses and left to figure it out for themselves. I've met stars who took a class at UBI. Any of those routes can work. However, if I was to write the fict...

This week Patrick and Selene take on two reader requests. First up is an explanation of flow states; Patrick begins with a definition of what constitutes flow and how to identify the experience as well as an explanation of why it feels so incredible. He also goes into the neuroscience behind it and how that proves that it's not just a cute name of an upbeat mood, but a real physiological experienc...

It's the new year and it's a time to establish what the next 12 months will bring. Selene took a look at her year-end summary from Strava and was amazed by her totals. Nearly 8500 miles ridden, more than 600 hours spent on the bike and enough climbing to Everest 20 times. What's it all mean? Is it worthwhile to look back? And if you do, how does that information guide future choices? Patrick is lo...

"Spun" was an antidote to the driest of eyes. It was the story of Judi (nee Rothenberg) and Dominic LoPresti, two ex-junkies who had cleaned up, relapsed, cleaned up again and against the longest of odds, met, fell in love, and in the least likely of all turns, stayed clean, married and opened a bike shop. Steve Friedman's feature about the two was as raw as their past and ran in Bicycling Magazin...

Winter is here, huh? Selene takes on some of the challenges of winter riding, lot least of which is staying warm on rides. She talks skin care, cloverleaf routes and something that may not seem like a typical winter topic: single speeding. She says there's a logic to it this time of year.  Patrick is back from the Emerald Cup, the big annual cannabis festival in Santa Rosa, where he was able to le...

The Colorado Classic has announced a big change. It's a women's race now. Only a women's race. With a new course and new prize list and a plan to livestream the race on Facebook, the Colorado Classic will be very different in 2019. It's an intriguing change in direction and one that will be an incredible boon to women's racing. The last month or so hasn't been kind to the bike industry. The parent...

Jeremy SyCip is a real-life fantasy. He began college with an eye toward industrial design but quickly realized he wanted to be more hands-on. So he took a course in framebuilding at United Bicycle Institute. His teacher for the class? None other than Albert Eisentraut, arguably the most important builder ever in the U.S. and maybe the most important teacher of framebuilders in history. His next s...

Selene and Patrick open the show with an appreciation of broadcaster Paul Sherwen who passed away earlier this week. Sherwen was more than just a broadcaster; he was a pro rider in the 1980s as well as a media liaison for teams and PR specialist for races. Selene talked to former pro mountain biker and full-time badass Mark Weir following the discovery that his heart had a 99 percent blockage in o...

On this week's episode, I continue my conversation with Carl Strong. Strong is unusual among framebuilders in that he has constructed bikes in every mainstream material being used in high-performance bikes: steel, aluminum, titanium and now carbon fiber in his new venture, Pursuit by Carl Strong. In our second part Carl talks about forming Pursuit and his partners. It is one of only two companies...

Unless you're racing cyclocross, the off season is here. Selene says she's done her last event of the year and has recently returned to the gym for strength training. He gym routine may surprise you, but she says it's what most cyclists ought to be doing when they are trying to increase their strength.  With Christmas just around the corner, Patrick takes on gift giving and how he thinks about gif...

On this week’s show, my guest is frame builder Carl Strong. The Bozeman, Montana-based builder behind Strong Frames is best known for the titanium road and gravel frames he makes from titanium, something he’s been doing for more than 20 years. Recently, though, Strong launched a new venture, called Pursuit by Carl Strong. Working with some other bike industry veterans, Pursuit is building monocoqu...

It's November (you may have noticed) and that means that unless you're at the height of your cyclocross season, November can present challenges in terms of motivation for workouts, and is the point in the year when finding time to ride in daylight can be a challenge if you normally ride after work. Selene addresses motivation and taking on new challenges while Patrick looks at how sunlight or a la...

Patrick is back from his trip to Taiwan. While there he attended a trade show, rode a few ebikes, did a bike tour down the eastern coast of Taiwan and then visited a series of factories. He even managed to squeeze in a group ride. Before the jetlag sets in too much, he discusses with Selene the things that impressed him most on his visit.  There's no time like the present, right? We're always sayi...

Veteran Sarah Lee says she faced a choice. Figure out how to reconnect with her nation following her military service ... or kill herself. Fortunately for her, and her many compatriots and fellow vets, she found a way to reconnect with her nation. She decided to ride coast to coast and discover America at the granular level, one person at at time. This is a long interview, but it is worth staying...

How hard would it be to climb the height of Mount Everest in a single ride? That is, riding until you climbed 29,029 feet. So what about Everesting on Mount Everest? If there's a more difficult way to tackle that feat, it hasn't occurred to us. Selene interviewed Shannon Bufton who runs a tour company that took people to Everest base camp to ride a 1.5-mile stretch of road that climbed at 5 percen...