The Ultra Cycling Show

Elena Roch won first place in the women's division of the Race Around Niederösterreich (RAN) in 2020 with a time of 22h 36m. The beautiful 600km, or roughly 373 mile, course took racers through Lower Austria, one of the 9 states of Austria, climbing 6,000 meters or almost 20,000 ft.

In this episode, we talk with an amazing athlete from the beautiful country of New Zealand, Craig Harper, who is an all-around sportsman both as an ultra cyclist and previously as a rower who represented his country at the World Championships in different categories.

(Photo credit: Vic Armijo and RAAM Media.)

In this episode, we chat with Shreya Adhav, an award-winning nutritionist and founder of the SpirEat Sports Nutrition Clinic in India. With more than 5 years of experience advising athletes across the globe, Shreya has worked with runners, triathletes, swimmers, ultra-endurance cyclists, and many others.

We talk with a legendary rider of the Race Across America (RAAM) and the sport of ultra cycling, the great Valerio Zamboni from Italy currently resides in Monaco and has won the Ultra Cycling World Cup 6 times, which is just incredible considering he is over 60 years old!

Valerio entered ultra cycling late in his life after being a mountaineer in his youth and then suffered a major injury. He fractured many bones and even required an artificial hip. Instead of only riding his bike for rehab, he really got serious as an ultra racer.

Valerio's top results include 7 finishes at RAAM and Race Across Italy, 8 finishes at Race Around Ireland, and several World Records in the age categories of 50+ and 60+. While others think about retirement, Valerio is a man who really loves the sport, never gets tired, and always looks forward to his next challenges. Let's roll! 🚲💨

When you get an award named after you, it's a sign you're doing something right. Inspire India's Ultra Award "The Kabir Rachure Ultra Award" was first won by and then named after Indian ultra-cyclist and 2019 RAAM finisher, Kabir Rachure.

Kabir is one of India's finest ultra racers having won and podiumed in the Ultra Spice Race, the Great Himalayan Ultra Race, and the Deccan Cliffhanger. Kabir has also completed the Race Across America in 2019, joining the growing group of elite Indian ultra racers who have done the same in the last few years. Kabir has also ridden numerous long-distance brevets and crewed for amazing athletes like the Mahajan Brothers Cyclists in their Golden Quadrilateral expedition. Let's roll! 🚲💨

Adam Bickett competed in the Race Across America and Race Across the West. He also won the legendary “Furnace Creek 508” (now called the Silver State 508). After getting into cycling and riding many centuries and double centuries, Adam entered road racing and made it to the Cat 2 USA Cycling division and also participated in the Collegiate National Road Championships.

Later on he switched back to ultras and made his way to a victory with an 8-person team in RAAM, scored solo finishes at the world’s toughest ultra races and added another victory in the RAW 4-person team race.

In the last years Adam reduced his training, focussed on other aspects in life, but wants to come back to cycling soon. Let's roll! 🚲💨

An Olympic hopeful turned competitive ultra-cyclist, it's Ryan Collins. We'll be seeing a lot more of this 26 year old in the years to come. In just a few short years of ultra cycling, Ryan became the 2019 World Ultra-Cycling Association (WUCA) 12hr National Champion in addition to his other podium finishes at the Bike Sebring 12 hr event.

In 2020, Ryan went on to set 3 world records at the marks of 6 hours, 100 km, and 200 km, and even broke the Maryland Cross State Record (from North to South) by over 2 hours.

Outside of racing, Ryan has worked with at-risk youth, the Wounded Warrior Project, and Bike MS. As a newly minted MBA graduate and nutritional physiologist, Ryan is more than just an elite athlete, he's also a high performing individual. Let's roll! 🚲💨

We talk with 5-time Race Across America participant and ultra cycling veteran, Franz Preihs of Austria, who holds the lifelong RAAM number 351. Franz made his first appearance in the world’s longest ultra cycling race many years ago in 2008, finishing in 4th place even though he had a bad crash in Colorado after just a third of the distance and had to keep pedaling with a broken collarbone.

Louise Gibson is no ordinary single mother. After repeated running injuries, Lou switched over to cycling and has since ridden the full route of Le Tour de France as team manager and one of the riders of the InternationElles - they're 10 female cyclists & several crew from across the globe, united in the fight for equality and to boost women’s cycling.

Lou has also represented Great Britain twice at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, placed third overall in the 2020 Virtual Revolve24 24h challenge in a 4-female team, and Everested twice. The big question in this episode: Why shouldn't women have the same opportunities as men?!

Let's roll! 🚲💨

Welcome our new co-host Christoph Strasser as he interviews founder and ultra-cyclist, Justin Too—