Just a few hours after winning Gravel Nationals, Bradyn Lange sat down with Payson at the house they were sharing in the lead-up to the race for a wide-ranging conversation about the event and all the things that had to fall into place to get him there. Bradyn has always identified more as a mountain biker than a gravel racer, but after struggling to find sponsors and snagging a rogue 4th place at Big Sugar in 2021, he managed to secure a sponsorship from Pinarello and a place in the 2022 Grand Prix. That season, he lived out of his van and worked multiple part-time jobs, and still managed to rack up some stand-out results, including the win at Chequamegon. 

In this conversation, Bradyn tells Payson about this phase of his life, as well as his unlikely win at Nationals, in which he crashed, got blocked by junior riders, broke his cleat, and missed the breakaway, all before launching to the front and winning solo. He also talks about his pivotal training camp with Orange Seal Academy last month, the financial gambles he took this season in the hopes of getting better results, and his lucky Blarney Stone.

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