Off The Back Podcast

Matt got his hands on the new Speedplay Zeros by new owners Wahoo. They're great because they're Speedplays, but a bit better. We talk about our history of pedals, why we landed on the ones we use everyday.

The first monument of the season, Milan Sanremo, took place over the weekend with the usual boiling pot of a finale. This race is a favorite of the Pod and bring our usual Off The Back in-depth analysis.

We celebrate International Women's History Month by talking about some female cyclists who have inspired us over the years.

The spring classics continue with the men and women's edition of the wannabe monument Strade Bianche. The women's race was tactically better and technically more interesting.

Race news includes the return of Cavendish and Merlier winning for Alpecin-Fenix

We have some super news to announce: Danny's made it back to the Pacific Northwest and he's home! What's been happening for the past two months and why we took a break.

We also look back on what made cycling great and sucky during the COVID pandemic. Open roads were a big highlight.

Opening classics weekend brought us Omloop het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kurne with races that came back together for sprint finishes.

2020 was a bonkers year, but there was some seriously funny cycling moments. After recapping our weeks and this past few weeks of Cross racing, we talk some of the highs and lows of the 2020 year, both personally and in the pro peloton.

Specialized announced a 2.1kg balance bike for 2-4 year olds that's manufactured with FACT Carbon and retails for $99. Are they losing it or are they just cutting loose and having fun. Chloe Dygart of Canyon-SRAM is publicly rebuked by primary sponsor Rapha, Have they gone too far? Cyclocross racing has been going on for a month or so now and the season has been building up momentum. We talk about last weekends two races, how Lucinda Brand is dominating, how we have a new cross acronym, CDCA, and discuss why women's cross is more engaging and interesting than mens.

On the day of his return from a 4 day/500km bicycling adventure around the Olympic mountain range in Washington, Matt talks about his route, his kit, the memories that stand out, and the things that he'd do differently next time.

The shortest Grand Tour of 2020m the Vuelta a Espana wrapped up this past weekend with very consistent results. Roglic wore the Points Jersey from day 1, He and Carapaz traded leaders jersey, Martin carried the Climbing jersey for most of the race, and of course, Movistar won the teams jersey.

We get a bit real in this episode, reflecting on how our current climate is impacting us. Everything around us is stuck, waiting for something to change and its hard to have hope. We talk about how were dealing with it (or not as the case may be).

Next we get to bike racing, recapping Flanders, the Giro, and the Vuelta and then finally we talk about our Kit journey and re-iterate our best advice: Don't be afraid to buy the good stuff! It's worth it.

Specialized released a new bike this week, the featherweight Aethos. Its a premium, disc-brake, electronic shifting only bike that starts at $12k. Specialized claim they prioritized ride quality above aero. We ask: Is it worth it and discuss what we look for in a frame.

We celebrate Mads Peterson's Gent-Wevelgem win and Sagan's stunning Stage 10 win in the 2020 Giro.

The compressed season means a bunch of racing all at the same time. We highlight three things we've observed from these past few weeks including the World Championships, the Giro, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and Flèche Wallonne.

What do you ticker with when you first get a new or used bike? We all make changes to make our bicycles our own. What's most important and why do we alway talk about weight weenying in the end.

Finally, why are ugly kits beautiful and how does a company with no connection to cycling happen to make a kit that fits so well in the peloton and some bold speculation on MVDP's path to the World Tour.

Shocking! Startling! Unexpected! Surprising! Are all words that can be used to describe the 2020 Tour. While there were surprises, other events unrolled in very unsurprising ways. We talk about both those unsurprising and surprising events in this podcast with our conclusions on Pog's incredible time trial to Planche des Belle Filles!