The Life in Peloton Chronicles

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Well, this is it: the final episode of the Life In The Peloton Chronicles of 2026. Sveino and I are having one last monthly catch-up before we hang the mics up for the off-season. It’s been a hell of a year for both of us, with plenty of riding ridden, events organised, and cold ones sunk

In light of the recent news in the Dutch press about the culture i…

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TW this episode includes discussions of suicide.

Guys, this month’s episode of the Life In The Peloton Chronicles has a slightly different flavour. Sveino and I’s monthly catch-up has an extra voice - Andy McGrath.

Andy, or ‘Pidgeon’ as I call him (after Cricket legend Glenn McGrath), is a cycling journalist and writer, and in 2023 he released “God Is Dead: The Rise & Fall of Frank Vandenbroucke”.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit lifeinthepeloton.substack.com

Although we live on opposite sides of the world from one another, Sveino and I share a really deep connection. We spent years together racing, going through those gritty, hard experiences that forge the strongest friendships it’s possible to have; through suffering. We catch up once a month for an hour or so, and it’s something I really look forward to …

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July is almost here and, in the world of cycling, that can mean only one thing: it’s time for the Tour de France to begin. Le Tour, the big show, the Grande Boucle - whatever you call it, the Tour de France is the biggest cycling event in the world.

If you’re a pro cyclist, you’re going to spend your whole career being asked the same question: “Have you …

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The biggest bike race of the year has just wrapped up; the Jumbo Wild 600…

What did you think I was talking about?

If you haven’t heard of it, the Jumbo Wild 600 is an Ultra Cycling race in the wild heart of British Columbia’s Kootenays. The race was created by none other than my old mate - and the co-host of the Life In The Peloton Chronicles - Svein Tuf…

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The Spring Classics are done and dusted for another season. When I was a pro, I used to absolutely love these races. The grit they demanded of you as a rider, the passion of the fans in Belgium, the race craft you had to possess just to survive…man, I lived for it.

This month’s episode of The Life In The Peloton Chronicles is all about exactly that - sur…

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Sitting down and having a yarn with my mate Sveino is one of my favourite marts of the month. Sharing a huge chunk of my pro career with Svein and travelling the world racing our bikes together feels like a lifetime ago now, and sometimes we land on a topic that really brings home just how far the sport has come in the time since we both hung up our rac…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit lifeinthepeloton.substack.com

Guys welcome back to the Life In The Peloton Chronicles - exclusively for you Pelo members who go that extra mile supporting me.

I love getting the chance to sit down and have a yarn with old Sveino, and this month’s episode is a real banger. It’s a long one, but well worth it.

Svein and I were both professional athletes for a bloody long time - about 30 …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit lifeinthepeloton.substack.com

Guys, welcome back to another year of The Life In The Peloton Chronicles. 

It’s been a hectic start to 2026; I hit the podcasting ground running over in Adelaide at the Tour Down Under to start the year with a bang, so it was great to get back to Melbourne, slow down, and recharge with a catch up with my old mate Sveino.

I wanted to chat to Sveino about a topic that always comes up at this time of year; goal setting. Whether or not you write it down, we all come into a new year with goals we want to achieve throughout the season - we did it when we were racing, and we still do it now.

One thing I want to get back into the habit of this year is meditation, and that’s something Svein and I have a bit of a yarn about in this episode.

If you know anything about Svein, you know that he is one cool cat - super mellow, always chilled out. It really surprised me that actually he doesn’t meditate! He’s a big believer in channeling his negative energy and stress out through movement and activity, rather than dedicating time to sitting down with his thoughts.

Meditation isn’t something that came naturally to me. In my early days as a pro, I used to laugh at the idea of sitting there with my eyes shut just…thinking. That was until I was roommates with a guy called Taylor Phinney. 

The Phin Dog is probably the only guy I know who’s more chilled out than Sveino. From the mountains of the hippie haven of Colorado, Taylor grew up surrounded by spirituality and, after a life changing crash at the US national championships in 2014, he found meditation through his recovery. Years later, when we became team mates, he showed me the way when we were in a Belgian hotel room racing the spring classics. I tried to be open minded and, with Taylor guiding me, I started to get it - finding the calm in the chaos.

I gave Taylor a call to catch up and chat to him about meditation and how he practices it now he’s retired from a life as a pro rider - which is pretty stressful at times. 

Guys, this is a chilled one, but it was super interesting chatting to Svein and Taylor about tuning out the noise and finding peace through meditation, setting goals for the new year, and heaps of other pieces to kick off this season of Chronicles. 

Sit back, shut your eyes, take a deep breath, relax, and get your ears around this enlightening episode of Life In The Peloton: Chronicles.

Cheers!

Mitch

One of the main benefits of joining ‘The Pelo’ is exclusive access to a new series of pods I’ll be hosting with my old mate Svein Tuft in 2024. We raced together – and against each other – for several years, and he was always my go-to for a great chat in the bunch. 

The LITP Chronicles will be ten episodes a year, with each one based on a different topic. ‘Sveino’ and I are going to dive deep into some of the most interesting subjects in cycling. The eps will be longer than normal LITP episodes: we’ll research the theme, understand it through interviews, and then add our own thoughts and experiences.

Examples of what the shows might be about include ‘making it pro’, ‘retirement – taking the next step’ or ‘the pro cycling arms race for the best young talent’. We’re looking forward to giving you some really informative and entertaining pods around life in the peloton. Nothing is off the table, we’ll talk about whatever we think is interesting. 

I can’t wait to get it going with Sveino, and for you to hear it.

Cheers,

Mitch!

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