With Pace

Kiel Reijnen is a professional road cyclist who currently rides for the WorldTeam Trek-Segafredo. He talks to Payson about his unique path to professional racing, having grown up on an island off the coast of Washington State and coming to cycling relatively late in life compared to his World Tour teammates. He explains why, even after going to college in Colorado and living in Europe some of the...

In this fourth and final Unbound recap episode, Payson talks to Jonathan Levin, the last rider to cross the finish line. Jonathan decided to race Unbound with a few friends on a whim, having trained less than intended and with less knowledge of the course than they thought. In spite of never having ridden more than a hundred miles beforehand, they all reached the finish (with less than 10 minutes...

In our third recap episode of Unbound Gravel, Payson sits down to talk with two racers from the Unbound XL, the 350 mile race, Will Loevner and Amanda Nauman.  Will Loevner finished Unbound XL in second place, in spite of being younger than any of his competitors and a relative unknown at the start of the race. However, this achievement is only a fraction of the story. After crashing around mile 2...

Abi Robins competed in Unbound Gravel this year as the first finisher of the non-binary category. In this interview, they talk to Payson about being the only person to compete in the category, how that knowledge fueled their ride, and how they hope other races will follow suit. They also talk about the struggles of the race itself, from helping fellow riders with spare co2, to a chance mid-race en...

Today in the first part of our Unbound recap series, Payson talks to Lauren De Crescenzo and Ian Boswell, winners of the 200 mile race. Lauren talks about the traumatic brain injury that she suffered in 2016 and the long, steady road back to cycling. She talks about going to Unbound with a winner's mindset, why she's already doing intervals again, and her Everesting record from last year...

Today on the show, Payson answers your questions about his first race of 2021, Rule of 3 in Bentonville, Arkansas. He talks about nutrition, race etiquette, the challenges of a packed racing schedule, and much more. He's also joined by a few special guests who each share their own experiences of Rule of 3. Andy Chasteen, co-founder of the race, talks about why he decided to create an event, h...

Ian Boswell is gravel racer who formerly raced for WorldTour teams such as Bissell, Trek-Livestrong and Team Sky. During his road career, he raced in the Vuelta a Espana, Giro d’Italia, and Tour de France. Following a series of traumatic head injuries, he stepped away from the sport in 2019 at the peak of his career. Now a year and a half later, he is back to racing, but this time on the gravel sc...

Darian Harvey is the service manager of Mountain Bike Specialists in Durango, CO and a former downhill National Champion. The list of pro cyclists who entrust her with their bikes include Ned Overend, Sepp Kuss, Riley Amos, Ruthie Mathis, and Todd and Troy Wells. Payson has also relied on her expertise ever since he moved to Durango over ten years ago. In this conversation, she tells Payson about...

Today on the show, Payson talks to two influential behind-the-scenes figures in gravel racing. Michelle Duffy is Associate Marketing Director for Life Time, and oversees its  off-road events such as the Leadville 100 and Unbound (formerly Dirty Kanza). She came to cycling after spending years as a marketing manager for the New York City Marathon. Amy Charity is the owner and co-founder of SBT GRVL...

Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas are the stars of HGTV’s home renovation show, Bargain Block, which premiered last month. In it, they buy, transform, and resell properties that have fallen into disrepair in Detroit. Evan comes from a science background and carries the technical aspects of their projects, and Keith is the artistic mastermind, tailoring each home to his specific creative vision, all on a...

Payson and Nichole answer your questions about their recent trip to Uganda to work for her non-profit, Path of Logic. They answer questions about Nichole’s career, how she came to work with pathologists in Uganda looking to expand the country’s cancer diagnostics facilities, and how she avoids the “white savior” problem. They also talk about Payson’s epic gravel ride through the rift valley, their...

Maghalie Rochette is a three-time Canadian Cyclocross Champion, three-time Pan American Cyclocross Champion and Cyclocross World Cup winner. After racing for the Clif Pro team for six years, she decided to strike out on her own as a privateer in 2018. In this interview, she and Payson talk about what prompted her decision to leave her position on such a legendary team, how she learned the hard way...

Today on the show, Payson is joined by photographer/adventurer Chris Burkard, “Queen of Pain” Rebecca Rusch, and adventure filmmaker Gus Morton to discuss their recent fat bike expedition across Iceland’s interior to forge a new route from North to South. The journey lasted six days and involved -23ºC temperatures and punishing  wind and snow. In their first interview after the journey, they talk...

Brad Copeland is Kate Courtney’s mechanic of over seven years. But while “mechanic” may be his official title, he is so much more. Bodyguard, grocery shopper, and fan favorite are just a few of the many other roles he plays when he’s with her on the race circuit. Kate even wrote a song about him. He’s also one of the most experienced and respected mechanics on the World Cup circuit.  In today’s ep...

In this final installment of our Cape Epic series, Payson is joined by Trinity Racing teammates Chris Blevins and Cameron Mason. Chris won the U23 cross country Pan American Championships in 2019 and placed second at the UCI U23 World Championships last year. Cam is a cyclocross racer from Scotland who placed third in the U23 European Championships last year. Both of them are at the forefront of t...

Alex Howes and Lachlan Morton are teammates on the UCI WorldTeam EF Education-Nippo. Alex is the reigning American road National Champion, and Lachlan has won stages at the Tour of Utah and the Tour of the Gila, among others. In addition to their road credentials, they’ve been making a name for themselves doing off-road races including Dirty Kanza (now Unbound) and the Leadville 100. They’ve been...

In this second episode of our Cape Epic series, Payson is joined by Scott teammates Nino Schurter and Lars Forster. Nino is the reigning six-time World Champion with a few Olympic medals under his belt, and Lars is a multi-time Swiss cyclocross National Champion and winner of the 2018 European Mountain Bike Championships. Together, they won the 2019 Cape Epic and the 2020 Swiss Epic.  They joined...

Annika Langvad and Kate Courtney join Payson to talk about their experience racing as a team in the 2018 Absa Cape Epic, an eight day stage race in the Western Cape of South Africa spanning over 435 miles. When they teamed up for the race, Annika had won it three years in a row, while Kate was still an up-and-comer on the UCI circuit who had never participated in a stage race, let alone one that h...

Brian “Safa” Wagner has carved out a niche for himself within cycling as one of the fastest road descenders outside of the pro peloton. Through his Youtube channel, he shares films of his most nail-biting descents that see him maintaining average speeds of nearly 50mph over the course of 15-minutes. Safa started out as a bike messenger, navigating the crowded streets of cities such as London, Sydn...

Chris Cosentino is a celebrity chef and avid cyclist, best known for his many television appearances on shows such as Top Chef Masters (which he won), and for owning restaurants across the US. Chris first made an appearance on the podcast in episode 16, and returns this week to talk about the state of the restaurant industry. Perhaps no area of the economy has been hit harder by the pandemic, and...

Jolanda Neff is one of the most decorated cross country mountain bike racers in the world. In addition to winning the XC World Championship 2017, she has won 12 XC World Cups, five Swiss XC national championships, and competed in both XC and road races at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She now has her sights set on the 2021 season and the Tokyo Olympics.  In this interview, she talks about how she got stu...

Ted King returns to the show to talk about the uncertainties of 2021, leaning into the Vermont winter weather, and why he isn’t stressing about perfect training conditions. He also tells Payson about his first bikepacking experience at the end of October when he won the 1,017 mile Arkansas High Country Race. They compare the battle scars they each sustained from their 2020 adventures, as well as t...

In this very special one hundredth episode, Payson, Justin, and Colin are reunited nearly a year after their first conversation on the show. They talk about their plan to revolutionize American cycling, and, of course, the moment that Payson, Colin, and Kate Courtney got to present  Justin with his Red Bull helmet (a day that featured celebrity cameos from Reggie Miller and Chris Froome). This ful...

Pat Lemieux may be best known as the husband of Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen, but he has recently entered into a new role as an athlete agent following a request from pro cyclist Ellen Noble. He now works for athletes such as triathlete Lionel Sanders and cyclocross racer Stephen Hyde, and as the partnership manager for the entire Rally Cycling team. Even though he hadn’t planned on being...

Maddie Munro is one of the brightest up and coming stars of the cyclocross scene. Following her bronze medal at the 2020 junior World Championships, she joined Trek Factory Racing and is currently competing in the Elite category at just 18 years old. In this interview, she tells Payson about why she decided to start college just as her racing career is taking off, what her first semester has been...