The Transcontinental Race is often described as the self-supported bikepacking race across Europe, drawing some of the biggest names in ultra cycling each year. Riders plot their own routes across the continent — this year, roughly 4,700 kilometers — linking a handful of mandatory control points and parcours. Every decision, from navigation to sleep and everything in between, is left entirely to them.

Jana Kesenheimer has won the women's race not once, but twice, lining up in 2025 alongside riders like Lael Wilcox and Cynthia Carson in the most competitive women's field TCR has ever seen.

In this conversation, Jana reflects on the road that led her to ultra-distance racing — and why, despite all her experience, it took years to feel ready to line up at TCR. We talk about her 2025 race, confidence, and self-trust. As a psychologist, Jana brings a rare perspective to the mental side of endurance racing, exploring how gender, motivation, and self-perception shape not just how we race, but whether we feel like we belong at the start line at all.

Follow Jana's adventures and racing: @jananas.banjana

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Happy New Years Detours listeners! We'll be back on Jan. 8 with a brand new episode, but in the meantime we've got an awesome throwback to our first ever in person recording with Hannah Simon back in August 2024. This episode gets me fired up for the racing season ahead is the perfect companion for your next long ride.

***

Hannah Simon took the women's win at this year's Silk Road Mountain Race, in a time of 8 days 20 hours and 16 minutes. She navigated the 1939km and 30,000m+ with determination, resilience and grace. Not only was she the first woman home, but also landed 9th overall in an exceptionally deep field. In this episode we talk all about her preparation and the race itself. She shares so many great nuggets about her own personal hygiene, her kit and so much more. It was an absolute joy to get to record this episode in person together and to celebrate her achievement.

Stay up to date on Hannah's adventures by following her on Instagram.

If you loved today's episode please leave us a 5 star review wherever you listen and don't forget to subscribe. 

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

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I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season! This week we're throwing it back to an episode recorded right around this time last year with the incredible Alexandera Houchin. It's one I've found myself listening to as I ramp up training for HT550 in May and every time I listen there is a new pearl of wisdom. I hope you enjoy and see you in 2026! 

*** 

When I think of women in bikepacking, Alexandera Houchin is one of the first people that comes to mind. She’s raced the Tour Divide countless time and been a steadfast figure in encouraging more women to take on these big challenges. As an Indigenous woman and member of the Fond du Lac tribe, becoming a sponsored athlete, heck an athlete at all, was not necessarily a pathway she saw for herself growing up.

She joins me on the podcast to share about her journey to the bike, and how she’s made a career of this niche sport. We discuss what keeps her returning to these races year after year, her experiences navigating body image as someone with a bigger body, and how she’s redefining what success looks like in this next chapter of her career. Alexandera shares incredible insights on community, representation, and how showing up with her full heart have shaped her path in bikepacking.

Trigger Warning: We discuss topics related to body image and disordered eating between the 19:00 and 25:00 marks. If these are sensitive topics for you please feel free to skip this portion of the episode.

To keep up with Alexandera’s adventures follow her on Instagram @alexanderahouchin and read her writing on her Substack

As always, if you loved this episode, please leave us a review, follow wherever you listen and share it with a friend. Even better you can make a one time pledge of your support and any funds raised go back into creating this show.

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

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This episode is a little different. For the final episode of the year, the roles are reversed as Detours alum and journalist Hélène Fromenty steps into the host seat, turning the mic back on Mel Webb, creator and host of the Detours podcast.

Together, we reflect on a wild 2025 and what the year really looked like behind the scenes of Detours — from building and sustaining an independent cycling podcast, to working on the ground with the Mountain Races, to navigating a complicated relationship with cycling during a season when riding took a back seat.

We talk about imposter feelings, representation in bikepacking and ultra-distance race coverage, creative sustainability, and the ongoing balance between personal goals and creating work that serves a wider community.

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

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Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion

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The Arizona Trail Race is a massive undertaking for any rider — rocky singletrack, long stretches of hike-a-bike, and a full bike portage through the Grand Canyon. It’s an especially bold choice for your first bikepacking race.

This week, Detours listener Kara Woolgar joins the show after finishing the AZT DFL, a result she’s genuinely proud of (and we are too!!). Kara describes herself as fun sized, which means she’s had to get creative with packing on an extra-small frame. She also has a long list of food allergies, making resupply on the trail uniquely challenging.

In our conversation, Kara shares how she got into bikepacking, how she built confidence through local rides and overnighters, and what it was like to spend 17 days working her way up the state of Arizona. From near race-ending blisters to a heartwarming note left for her in a hiking ledger, Kara shares all about her ride at the back of the pack. 

Check out Kara's Instagram for write-ups on her experience: @karawoolgar

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

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The Triple Crown of bikepacking is a massive undertaking: three iconic routes, thousands of kilometres, and a season that demands a hell of a lot from you. 

In this episode of Detours, I sit down with my husband, Jake, to look back on his year racing across the United States, and everything that he's learned from taking on the Triple Crown Challenge. 

We talk about the early momentum he built on the Divide, the altitude sickness that nearly stopped him on the Colorado Trail, the slow, steady grind of the Arizona Trail, and so much more. We also get into what it's like to watch a loved one take on these races from the sidelines. 

Follow Jake on Instagram: @_jakecullen_

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The beauty of riding is that it can hold so many versions of us at once — the traveller, the dreamer, the person who loves a challenge, and the person who wants to prioritize fun.

Hélène Fromenty is a journalist and bikepacker has been bike touring for years, but Silk Road was her first ever mountain bike ultra — raced as a pair with her partner Stefan — and the experience opened up an entirely new corner of the sport for her. She doesn’t see herself as a racer, and approaches riding through a lens of curiosity, connection, and joy. But after Silk Road, she wanted to understand what she could do on her own. So she lined up solo at Trans Pyrenees Gravel Edition… and won the women’s race.

In this conversation, Hélène shares:

• how she learned to mountain bike just months before lining up at Silk Road Mountain Race
• navigating the tension between protecting the joy of riding and wanting to see her own potential
• what her life as a journalist actually looks like day-to-day (and how she squeezes training into it)
• imposter feelings after SRMR and how Trans Pyrenees helped her find her footing
• the mechanical disaster that almost derailed her race — and the calm she surprised herself with
• and how bikes are so much more than a sport

Follow Hélène on Instagram: @hfrome

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There’s a certain kind of freedom that comes with slowing down: giving yourself time to stay, to notice, and to let a place leave its mark on you.

Over the years, Weronika Szalas’s mindset has shifted more and more toward slow travel — working in the winters and touring in the summers. This year, she spent nearly five months on the road with her partner, bikepacking through Central Asia.

In this episode of Detours, Weronika all about her adventures on the road, from Google Translate disasters to long days on remote tracks, quiet dinners with strangers, and finally making it to Kyrgyzstan, a place she’d dreamed of for years.

We get into:

• How slow travel changed the way she experiences new places
• The emptiness of the Mongolian steppe and navigating without a shared language
• The surreal reality of riding through Western China and dealing with constant surveillance
• Highlights from bikepacking in Kyrgyzstan including Karakol, Peak Lenin, Juku Pass, and the Pamir Highway/Bartang Valley
• How her definition of freedom has evolved, and what it feels like to settle back into regular life after months outside

LISTENER SHOUTOUT: As a little bonus content this week we have a voice note from Kara Woolgar who finished the Arizona Trail 800 as her FIRST EVER bikepacking race! Congrats Kara and thanks so much for sharing your story!

Follow Weronika on Instagram: @weronika.szalas

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Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion

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Whether you’re fuelling for a multi-day bikepacking race, trying to get more out of your training, or simply hoping to feel a little better on your everyday rides, what and when you eat can change everything.

This week on Detours, I’m joined by Uri Carlson, a sports dietitian who helps athletes at every level build sustainable fuelling strategies — for daily training, long days in the saddle, and multi-day adventures alike.

Together, we get into what truly supports strong endurance nutrition. From building a solid day-to-day foundation to knowing when a full meal mid-ultra might be exactly the right call, Uri breaks down the science, the strategy, and the real-world flexibility that long-ride fuelling requires.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to build a strong endurance nutrition foundation, and why consistency matters more than perfection
• How to fuel for training, racing, and recovery, including ways to avoid the dreaded gut bomb
• Practical fuelling for sensitive stomachs, back-to-back long days, and multi-day bikepacking races
• How much protein endurance athletes truly need, and when timing matters
• How to make good choices at a gas-station resupply (and why sometimes a Snickers is exactly the right call)
• Why carbohydrates remain the backbone of endurance performance, no matter what trends say
• What you need to know about hydration and electrolytes to stay consistent on long rides

Follow Uri on Instagram: @uri_carlson_nutrition

Learn more about Uri's nutrition services here

Have more questions about nutrition that you want us to cover on a future episode? Send us a message on Instagram or email [email protected]

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

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Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion

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When you’re chasing big goals, it’s easy to get tunnel vision — to pour everything you have into one idea of what success should look like. What you should do next. How far you should go. The kind of person you should be.

This year, artist and bikepack racer Quinda Verheul set out to take on the Triple Crown of bikepacking: the Tour Divide, Colorado Trail Race, and Arizona Trail Race. After the Tour Divide, her year took a turn in a direction she couldn't imagine. 

In this conversation, Quinda opens up about the pressure to keep proving yourself, the vulnerability of letting go, and the freedom that comes from redefining success on your own terms. We talk about the realities of professional ultra-cycling, the mental and financial load of chasing big races, and the courage it takes to change direction when your goals stop serving you.

Follow Quinda on Instagram: @quindaverheul_

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling

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Use code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from Albion

If you love this show please consider pledging your support to sustain producing this show: https://buymeacoffee.com/detourspodcast