The Paceline Cycling Podcast

John answers a listener question about getting comfortable and avoiding injury on the bike, and Patrick talks about how learning to deal with the hardest, darkest moments on the bike translates to resilience IRL. That and fresh pair of Paceline Picks, and you've got a show.

John talks daydreaming and what a helpful tool it can be in dialing up motivation. Patrick says goodbye to former teammate Jay LaPlante and talks about last weekend's winner of Milan-San Remo, Matej Mohoric and his secret weapon.

Bicycle retailing is not an easy business and thanks to the pandemic, life for retailers is even more challenging than it was. John asks what happens if we don't support those retailers? Patrick takes a look at speed and what we are seeking any time we go looking for faster.

This week we lead the show with a remembrance of a bike industry veteran, James Winchester. He was a friend of Patrick's as well as nearly everyone in the industry. John considers how our tag line, "If you ride bikes, you're one of us," speaks to a kinship we feel with other cyclists.

This week John takes on a listener question about fetishes and waxing. No, we're not talking about kinky sex, we're talking about chain waxing. Patrick discusses why this is the perfect time of year to visit a bike fitter and have your position on your bike examined.

John bumps into former co-host Patria and takes a look at stoke and how you fuel excitement for moving through the winter. Patrick takes on a question about how to stay comfortable while riding in the rain.

John's been reading physics, or is it philosophy? It might be both. But he shows how it relates to what we think about on the bike, not to mention how we think on the bike. Patrick got a question about gravel tire selection and he breaks down the factors that he considers.

The boys are back after Patrick's ice-storm-extended Memphis trip. This week John looks at the studded-tire dilemma, because, well, February. Patrick looks at strategies for rejuvenating your riding if you've been feeling stale or are trying to get a jump on spring.

Patrick is semi-stranded in Memphis. He’ll be back soon, but he wasn’t back soon enough to record this week’s show. We are putting up an old show to give you something to chew on until next week. Thanks for bearing with us.

Beyond being a vehicle for fun and games, the bicycle can be a force for change, right? John looks at how cycling infrastructure could solve at least a few different societal ills. Patrick encountered the guy who stole one of his bikes back in November. The encounter left him confused and not a little dissatisfied. Did he do the right thing?

This week is a tandem episode and my guest is Miguel Crawford, the organizer of the Grasshopper Adventure Series. The Grasshopper Series began back in the 1990s as a series of monthly training rides meant to get some local riders into shape for summer racing. They would gradually ramp up in distance and climbing from January to June. In the more than 20 years that the Grasshoppers have been held,...

This week John talks winter riding. Actual winter, not the imitation stuff some folks have had this year. He looks at some of the considerations necessary to keep riding when there is frozen water on the ground. With bike events just around the corner, calendar-wise, in some places, Patrick talked to Miguel Crawford of the Grasshopper Adventure Series. He excerpts the interview here and the full i...

John has come down with Covid and he did so just in time for his 50th birthday. Birthday celebration plans take a back seat to a communicable disease, as it turns out. Patrick takes a look at the year that was 2021 and considers what sorts of awards are in order. In his appraisal, another approach is warranted.

Back in 2013 when my youngest son was born he almost died less than three minutes after his birth. He had a condition that would have been terminal when I was born. He was moved to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where he proceeded to spend the following 39 days. Enter the Deuce is the story of his—and our—journey, from nearly losing him, through the ups and downs of his treatment until he w...

With the days getting shorter and Christmas right around the corner, the combination of less light and more family obligations has John thinking about scheduling. Patrick considers what it takes to ride in the rain and what that says about us as cyclists.

This week John looks at getting high, well, his version of it, which doesn't involve any illegal or recently legal drugs. Cycling is an indispensable part of the experience, but not all of it. Patrick discusses flow and how any flow experience begins with a period of struggle. Yes, those peak experiences follow some frustration earlier in the ride or day.

The Paceline is back following its Thanksgiving break. John takes a look at bike categories and just how blurry the margins are. What's it all mean? Patrick had an intimate encounter with a car and he takes a look at its after effects and offers a mea culpa.

John takes on a listener question this week regarding the notion of Safety 3rd. Is it foolhardy or a sound philosophy? John and Patrick ponder its implications. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Patrick takes a look at what he's grateful for and the how and why of his increased practice of contemplating what he has to be grateful for.

John wonders if Peloton riders just ride a Peloton or do they actually, you know, ride outside at all? Patrick takes on a listener question about riding in the rain.

With Halloween behind us, the retail world turns its attention to the holiday season. Patrick and John put together their Christmas wish lists which they hope listeners' significant others will act upon because gifts involving cycling are pretty terrific.

John has been doing what we'd refer to as gravel rides since before he had a gravel bike and while he enjoys increased specialization, he thinks we don't always appreciate just how versatile less discipline-specific bikes really are. Patrick talks to industry vet Rick Vosper about how the Dutch conglomerate Pon just purchased Dorel, one of the biggest producers of bikes for the U.S. market and jus...

This week John elects to take the road less traveled and concludes he's better for it. Patrick, on the other hand, has chosen to take a break from his riding in an effort to get a reboot.

With the arrival of fall John says the change of seasons increasingly truncates his day. To prevent the his abbreviated days from cutting into his winter riding, which will involve many hours in the dark, John says he's instituting the practices now that will carry him through the winter. Patrick looks at trail work and how it both provides a service to the community and feeds his connection to th...

John is just back from doing a very hard thing. A thing that was harder than he expected. We learn things about ourselves on these occasions, and he learned a thing or two. Back from Memphis, Patrick confesses that he failed in packing for his trip. Maybe he can save you some trouble before your next trip.

Our not-quite-man cyclist, Robot, will be running an ultra this coming weekend. He says that there are some remarkable parallels between endurance sports and suggests we are likely to agree. Padraig takes on a listener question about his new TCI series, The Angle. It's a fair question: Why should anyone care about bike geometry?