With Pace

Tom Evans is one of the best ultrarunners in the world, having won both UTMB and Western States. Now, the British runner has his sights set on the Hardrock 100, one of the most technical of the major ultradistance races that starts at 9,300 feet above sea level and covers 33,000 feet of climbing in the rugged San Juan Mountains. Tom talks to Payson about the challenge of preparing for such a remot...

This week, Payson sits down for a candid conversation with Levi Leipheimer. They discuss his long road to processing his time in the WorldTour in the early 2000s, which was marked by remarkable professional success but marred by the doping scandal that shook the cycling world in the early 2010s. Levi talks about how he went from an idealistic kid in Montana dreaming of the WorldTour to his decisio...

Nino Schurter hardly needs an introduction. Widely considered the greatest XCO mountain bike racer of all time, he's won 10 World Championships, nine World Cup overalls, and Olympic bronze, silver, and gold medals. Having retired from World Cup racing at the end of last year, he's been dipping a toe into gravel racing in 2026.  In this conversation, Nino talks to Payson about his longevi...

In the second part of our Unbound recap, Payson speaks to three age-group riders who finished in the middle of the night during torrential rain and thunderstorms. First up is Will Bledsoe, who completed the 100 last year and did most of his training for the 200 this year on an indoor trainer. He talks about his preparation for the race, why he was the very last rider to leave Emporia at the start,...

This year’s Unbound was humbling. Mud, thunder storms, and mechanicals galore plagued the racers and culled the pro field. To recap the carnage, Payson is joined by Danni Shrosbree, who battled multiple crises to grab a top 10 and secure a wildcard position in the Grand Prix. They discuss their top 5 “What the f*ck” moments from the race, their 5 silver linings, and the 5 most painful parts of the...

Dan Hughes is a certified Unbound legend, having won the very first edition way back in 2006 and another three times for good measure. He’s seen the race go from 34 people in a hotel parking lot in Emporia to the most prestigious gravel race in the world. An Emporia local, he now works for Life Time as a Content Specialist and has already spent hours doing recon in the Flint Hills.  In other words...

Sam Shaw isn’t your average FKT setter. The Kiwi rider has raced XC, gravel, and Enduro over the years (he was on the podium at XCO nationals just this year), but since getting married and starting a family, he’s worked full-time off the bike as an ecologist and carpenter. Last year, he set the fastest known time between Auckland and Wellington, beating Lachlan Morton’s record. Earlier this month,...

The first World Cup of the season took place in a new country (South Korea) and featured treacherously muddy conditions that forced riders to navigate large sections of the course on foot. 24-year-old Maddie Munro crossed the finish line in third, using her cyclocross background to propel herself to the best result she’s had since joining the Elite ranks last year.  Payson caught up with Maddie to...

This week, we continue our recap of Levi’s GranFondo with this year’s winner, Lauren Stephens, who checked in from the Tour of the Gila to talk about running her own team, the dismal state of road racing in the US, and her controversial use of race radios during the Sea Otter Classic last month.  Then, Payson talks to Levi Leipheimer about why he decided to create Levi’s GranFondo back in 2009, wh...

Brennan Wertz wasn’t expecting much at Levi’s GranFondo last weekend. At 6’5” and over 200 pounds, he isn’t the type of rider who usually excels at races with nearly 14,000 feet of climbing, and, to use his own description, he'd “got his doors blown off” last year. But through savvy tactics and a sense of having nothing to lose, he managed to spend most of the six-hour race in two breakaways...

The 2026 Life Time Grand Prix is officially underway after an action-packed day at Sea Otter. In the injury-ridden men’s field, Bradyn Lange surged to victory in a sprint finish with Keegan Swenson. In the women’s field, Sofia Gomez-Villafañe took the win in a stacked field that battled headwinds and countless attacks throughout most of the day.  Payson sat down with Sarah Sturm to recap the day’s...

It’s been more than two years since we last had Morgan Aguirre on the show, and since then, a lot has changed for her. After two strong seasons racing gravel mainly in Europe, she is headed for the Grand Prix this year for the first time. Payson caught up with Morgan in Northern California this week, where they are both preparing for Sea Otter. They discuss her suboptimal start to the season, how...

Mike Woods' career in the WorldTour was practically a fluke. After earning a full ride to college for running, he quit the sport over a series of injuries and started riding his dad's bike on the weekends. Fast forward about a decade and he had won three stages of the Vuelta a España and one stage of the Tour de France. Last year, he announced his retirement after over 10 years in the Wo...

During Payson’s trip to Italy last week to race The Hills, he stopped by the headquarters of his new tire sponsor, Pirelli, for a tour of the factory floor. Afterward, he sat down with Samuele Bressan, the company’s Head of Global Marketing for its cycling division. They discuss why Pirelli, which is primarily known for its high-performance tires for luxury sports cars and Formula 1 racing, decide...

After more than three decades in the sport, George Hincapie has started a new venture this year as the founder of the UCI Pro Road Team Modern Adventure Pro Cycling. It’s already gaining steam much faster than he expected — so fast, in fact, that they’re headed to the Volta a Catalunya and Paris Roubaix this year. George sat down with Payson this week to talk about why he wanted to start a new tea...

Alex Miller is a two-time Olympic XC racer from Namibia with multiple road and XC marathon national titles. These days, he lives in Girona and races for Swatt Club, splitting his schedule between gravel, road, and mountain bike races. He joins Payson this week to talk about growing up on a 49,000-acre farm in Namibia, his journey to becoming an XC Olympian, the time he beat Matt Beers in a sprint,...

The last time we spoke to Luke Lamperti was two years ago, when he was just starting out as a WorldTour neo-pro with Quick-Step. This year, he’s switched to EF and has already racked up some impressive finishes. In fact, Payson ran into him just a day after he got back from snagging two top 10s at opening weekend of the Belgian Classics. Luke sat down with Payson to give the inside scoop on those...

To close out our Sahara Gravel coverage, Payson sat down with race volunteer Leoni Kolberg, who has spent the past four years riding around the world, often solo and sleeping in a tent. Last year, she rode across South America. Before that, she rode across Iran and Pakistan. Leoni sat down with Payson amongst the sand dunes to talk about what it’s like to live on the road for so long, dealing with...

Stage 3 of Sahara Gravel took the riders away from the Atlas Mountains and towards the Sahara Desert, with 95 kilometers ending in a tailwind. Payson is joined by stage winner Eddy Le Huitouze to discuss how the race played out, but first, they do a little background on how he got here. The 22-year-old Frenchman just completed two years in the WorldTour with FDJ and has been racing bikes since the...

Stage 2 of Sahara Gravel comprised 105km and 1800 meters of climbing. To recap the day, Payson is joined by former WorldTour pro Nicolas Roche and mountain biker Marta Torà, who are taking on the race together in the pairs category. They talk about how they’ve worked out their pacing strategy, what they each bring to the table with their vastly different racing backgrounds, and the tight battle th...

Stage 1 of Sahara Gravel was 99 kilometers in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Payson is joined to recap the day by UK Gravel National Champ and today's stage winner, Lizzlie Hermolle. They discuss the profile of the route, an unexpected camel caravan, and the difficulty of riding through the desert sand. Lizzie also discusses her bike setup for the race and provides some background on h...

Caleb Swartz started racing cyclocross when he was eight years old, but the discipline has been dwindling in the US since the 2010s, and the writing has been on the wall for any American racers wanting to make a sustainable career from it. Last year, Caleb started branching out into a few gravel events just to see where it would take him, and he ended up with two standout performances at Grand Pri...

You might have heard that Allied just released a new feather-light trail bike this week. The FITZ is new territory for the brand, so it seemed like a good opportunity to bring in Allied’s CEO Drew Medlock and Director of Product and Engineering Sam Pickman to talk about why they decided to add a trail bike to their lineup and what makes this one so unique. They discuss the nitty-gritty specs, of c...

Most riders spend their first year in the Elite ranks just trying to find their feet, but Riley Amos was determined to be different. He had good reason for it. Not only did he have a dominant final season as a U23 in 2024, but he also finished 7th at the Paris Olympics, the highest an American male has ever finished in the Olympic XC race. Looking back on his mindset coming into 2025, though, he a...

Haley Smith has been on one factory team or another since she was in her teens. In that time, she spent a decade as a World Cup XC racer, went to the 2021 Olympics, and won the inaugural round of the Life Time Grand Prix. But this year, she’s embarking on a new chapter as a privateer. She’s also doing it while completing her PhD.  Haley caught up with Payson in Girona this week to talk about the c...