Pro Women's Cycling

I have always been a fan of how women bike riders have made their own media, so I was really excited when two American riders started their separate, and very different podcasts. Abby Mickey, who rides for Colavita-Bianchi, has been interviewing riders she's raced alongside, and with; while Lindsay Bayer, who's the co-owner, manager and rider for Hagens Berman-Supermint, is talking to people involved in women's cycling in different ways, and a different setting (mostly involving alcohol).

I wanted to know more about them both - so I invited them on for probably my most meta podcast ever - podcasting about podcasting! We talk about a lot more too - why Bayer started her own team, how both of them have almost always ridden for female-run teams, how to spot Mickey's mother at races, and much more. Have a listen - it's only half an hour long!

Click through to my blog to find all the links to where you can find Bayer, Mickey, and most importantly, their podcasts:

https://prowomenscycling.com/2017/03/14/lindsay-bayer-abby-mickey-podcasting/

This week we celebrate our vindication for having such lofty expectations of Strade Bianche. It was such an exciting and gripping race with one of the most exciting finales we've seen in recent years. Once we're done recapping that (it takes a while)we take a look ahead at the Ronde van Drenthe, and then we get into an interesting and maybe controversial proposal for a new race series.

This week we catch up on the opening races of the classics season. The Omloops (het Nieuwsblad and van het Hageland aka Tielt-Winge), and Le Samyn des Dames. It's been a great opening to European racing with diverse pelotons and results! There's a lot to unpack and enjoy, there's also track racing to catch up on and some other news from around the traps. Remember to park for a clean getaway and then settle in for a hell of a listen.

This week we preview the first of the Spring Classics! Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Tielt-Winge are on this weekend (the weather looks horrendous!!! Yay!). We review the Cali Track World Cup and the results from the last cyclocross race of the season in Leuven. There's some tougher news that we need to talk about, but it's positive in the sense that good journos like Laura Weislo are doing some great work in following up on these stories. Most importantly it's time for round two of our kit vote, so make sure to get in and vote for your favourites!

This week we talk through the last few cyclocross races of the season. We also take a quick look at all the track racing that's coming up soon, including the paracycling world championships. We take some time to kick off the great team kit voting challenge for 2017, so make sure to visit the post to see the pictures, videos and (of course) to vote! We do talk about some of the tougher stories to have come out recently regarding the types of abuse that have been uncovered in the sport. It's tough reading and listening, but it is good for the sport to bring these problems to light.

The 2016/17 cyclocross season has been an amazing one for Ellen Noble, the 21-year-old American rider who not only won the U23 Cyclocross World Cup series (and came 6th overall in the elite women's series), but finished the season coming second in the U23 Cyclocross World Championships, with some incredible descending skills.

She tells me all about how it's been, what's helped her get here, and where she wants to go next, with a lot more - including how she felt when the USA cycling media said there was no chance of an American getting onto the podium at the U23 Worlds!

Click through to my website for the links of things we talked about:

https://prowomenscycling.com/2017/02/10/sarah-interviews-ellen-noble/

This week we talk about all the racing that's happened in the last couple of weeks from the Deakin Women's Race as part of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race through to the Cyclocross World Championships in Luxembourg. There's been some amazing racing and even more to discuss! There's also been some disappointing news from around the traps and we cover those important events as well. We finish on a high note though, with Sarah's wrap up of how you can help women's cycling in practical ways!

Seven-time Cyclocross World Champion Marianne Vos talks about the 2017 CX Worlds, and how her season has been.

You can also read the transcript of this on my site, with some more rider interviews: https://prowomenscycling.com/2017/01/28/2017-cyclocross-world-championships-marianne-vos-sophie-de-boer-and-christine-majerus/

This week we catch up on all the Australian nationals results, the cyclocross nationals and the Women's Tour Down Under along with a detailed and robust conversation about how hard it is (or isn't) to provide race highlights. Sarah's been suffering with a terrible lung infection and manages to only cough up parts of her internal organs, while keeping the entire episode actually within reasonable bounds. It's the unicorn episode kid.

Links and videos from things we talked about this week:

https://prowomenscycling.com/2017/01/20/podcast-2017-episode-2-race-coverage-and-podium-presenters/

It's the first week of 2017 and we're already knees deep in a whole bunch of racing, it's been fantastic! Dan anoints another honorary Australian and we celebrate the joys of the diversity of Orica Scott tactics. There's a new Australian national criterium champion and there's a HUGE amount of changes in the 2017 UCI Racing Calendar to discuss. There's also some cyclocross, some Vos and some other goss to cover. It's a big and exciting start to the new year.

Videos from the week's racing, and more links we liked, on our website:

http://prowomenscycling.com/2017/01/04/podcast-2017-episode-1-is-the-world-tour-less-worldly/