The Pull

For as much as American cyclists idolized Greg LeMond in the 1980s and early 1990s, for a great many years there was really only one book on the three-time Tour de France Winner, "Greg LeMond's Complete Book of Bicycling." And while it included a fascinating look inside the 1986 Tour de France, the book was mostly prescriptive—a how-to—and as a result focused more on things like how to eat for racing and how to fit your bicycle.

My guest for this week’s show is writer Daniel de Visé. He has taken on this battle of the titans, and more in his new book is called “The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the true king of American cycling and a legendary Tour de France.”

De Visé is a journalist of the classic mold. He cut his teeth working at the Miami Herald where he was part of a team of reporters who won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the battle over Elian Gonzalez. Later, he worked for the Washington Post. His first book grew out of a story he wrote about a woman with complete retrograde amnesia, something that almost never happens, despite how often it turns up in TV shows. His second concerned Don Knotts and Andy Griffith and their on-screen as well as off-screen friendship. Considering those volumes, one could be forgiven their surprise at his decision to write a book about a bike race.

For as much as American cyclists idolized Greg LeMond in the 1980s and early 1990s, for a great many years there was really only one book on the three-time Tour de France Winner, “Greg LeMond’s Complete Book of Bicycling.” And while it included a fascinating look inside the 1986 Tour de France, the book was […]

On this week’s show, my guest is teacher, author and creator Kristen Ulmer. In the early 1990s Ulmer rose to international prominence as the world’s foremost female big mountain extreme skier. It’s a status she held for an astonishing 12 years. Able to huck any cliff and ski die-if-you-fall lines, she went big and gathered […]

On this week’s show, my guest is Damon Rinard, the engineering manager for road bikes for Cycling Sports Group. Rinard has more than 30 years’ experience in the bike industry. He came to prominence as a result of his work for Cervelo where he was instrumental not just in developing what were some of the most cutting-edge aerodynamic bikes on the market, but for helping consumers place aerodynamic equipment into a broader context of equipment selection and utility. It’s fair to say that without Rinard’s work, the concept of the aerodynamic road bike might still be languishing. These days, Rinard oversees the road bikes introduced by Cannondale and GT.

This week I interview NAHBS Best in Show winner Gabriel Lang of Altruiste Bikes from New Brunswick, Canada. Lang won with a long-travel 29er that was truly unique among the bikes shown at the show. In this, our second episode, we talk to him about his background as a builder, how he got his start, what he's best known and where he hopes to take his business in the coming years.

The Pull is a new podcast from Red Kite Prayer. My many interviews with framebuilders over the years have all lost something in translation from the conversation to the printed page (or pixels). I spent years dissatisfied with the outcome and honestly, reduced the number of interviews I did because the outcome was so dissatisfying, not to mention time-consuming for something that missed the spark of the actual conversation. Rather than talk with artisans about their choice of tubing or their philosophy on fitting, in these interviews I want to discuss the concept of craft and what it takes to be good at something. Honestly, this is, in part, a reaction against the rise of social media fame, and people who are famous and rich for no reason other than being famous. Most of us aren't that lucky, nor do we wish to chase that particular flavor of fame. This podcast is to some degree an outgrowth of a long-running conversation I've had with framebuilder Richard Sachs. While I can't be trusted with anyone's safety with a torch in my hand, Richard is an artist with flame. In that, I see a kindred spirit to what I do with verbs. It's fun to talk about how we keep the work fresh and what we've learned about how to do our jobs in this most recent phase of our careers.