Velo Podcast

If you grew up or currently live and ride bikes in a town with any sort of population, we bet there’s either a group ride of some sort that just happened or will be happening in a few days.

Maybe it starts from the local bike shop, or maybe it starts from the go-to coffee shop. Some rides are a chill Sunday spin that's gone on uninterrupted for the past two decades, while others are the three-hour World Championship ride with 50 of the local meatheads.

We do our best to define these group tries, describe what motivates these rides, and how to find your ideal group ride, even if that means starting one yourself.

Of course, we also dig into the news. That means talking about how the UCI handed out a last-minute ban on a Kask helmet visor that the Ineos Grenadiers have used for years, and talking to the team to find out what happened.

Then came the sealant conversation. Silca is so certain of its sealant working headache-free that the brand has promised to pay a $500 Bad Day Bonus to its sponsored athletes who get punctures that don’t seal. We dove into why it is so confident in its new Ultimate Sealant.

All of that and more in the latest podcast!

See more from Velo: https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured

Host Mike Levy has a hot take — or is it Senior Tech Editor Josh Ross who has the hot take? Find out this week as we debate the merits of aero road bikes.

And first, we take a closer look at Classified's patent on a self charging shifting system that could make the burgeoning alternative drivetrain maker's offering a whole lot simpler to live with.

Mike Levy sits down with Dan Sommer, owner of Jack's Cycle, to talk about the realities of running a bike shop.

If you're listening to this, there's a pretty good chance that you love to ride your bike. That can manifest itself in all sorts of different ways. Some of you like to do shuttle runs with your buddies on the weekend or go to the bike park. Some of you like to pedal up the hill. Some of you like to go down the hill. Some of you like to race your bike for a few hours. And some of you… Well, some of you like to race your bike for over 4,000 kilometers through sand, snow, hopefully, more than a little bit of sun, and everything else in between.

Today, Mike Levy talks to Meaghan Hackinen. Meaghan won the 2024 Tour Divide, and she's also a two-time 24-hour world time trial champion, which sounds absolutely insane. We're going to talk about those things, and we're also going to get to sleeping alone in grizzly country, waking up to a scorpion, strategies for doing these ultra-distance events by yourself, and I might have even slipped in a UFO question or two.

Meaghan Hackinen isn't just an adventure seeker; she's a heck of a writer, too. Find her latest work here: meaghanhackinen.com

Read an abbreviated transcript and see a whole bunch of photos here: velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-culture/velo-podcast-meaghan-hackinen/

See more on Velo: velo.outsideonline.com/featured

In this latest podcast, we're talking about winter riding from two different perspectives: the tips and tricks we’ve learned to stay warm during those cold rides, but also how to make your indoor riding suck the least amount possible on those days when you say, “Nah, I’ll just stay inside.”

Besides that, we also get into the news. We dive into the latest 2024 UCI Crash Statistics report and some low-hanging fruit solutions to make road racing safer. Alvin talks about why CES 2025 matters if you're a bike nerd, even if they call it 'personal transportation.' Then there's a breakdown of what the latest SRAM Force AXS leak could mean in the near future, and all of our latest gear on test.

Stories we reference:

‘35% Rider Error’: UCI Issues Intriguing Crash Statistics, Presses Pause on Gear Restrictions, Airbags - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/35-rider-error-uci-issues-intriguing-crash-statistics/

Vaporware or Gamechanger? The Bike Tech from the CES Show 2025 - https://velo.outsideonline.com/news/vaporware-or-gamechanger-the-bike-tech-from-the-ces-show-2025/

Spotted: Is an Updated SRAM Force AXS Groupset Coming Soon? - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-gear/spotted-updated-sram-force-axs-groupset/

See the latest from Velo: https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured

Will checks in from Australia at the Tour Down Under to fill us in on what has been going on in the women's race as well as the latest tech.

Will is on a plane going to the Tour Down Under, so it makes perfect sense that we have Senior Tech Editor Josh Ross in to talk all about marsupial pouches on bikes... right?

Today's conversation was all about our worst rides of 2024. Alvin got a series of unfortunate flat tires. Josh went to bonktown and back. And Levy? He had some serious GI issues that forced him into a hotel room.

We also talk about the untimely death of the NCL (National Cycling League), our experiences with AI coaching on the bike, a new carbon adventure gravel fork from No. 6, and a whole lot more. This one's a bit longer than normal, but we had a lot of fun with it, and we hope you will too!

Visit Velo here - https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured

How a LinkedIn post spelled demise for the NCL - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/the-national-cycling-league-is-officially-dead/

Our experiences with an AI coach - https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-gear/review-coachcat-ai-cycling-coach/

All about that new carbon gravel fork - https://velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-gear/no-6s-new-carbon-adventure-fork-hits-the-sweet-spot/

This week on the Velo Podcast, host Mike Levy is back with Alvin Holbrook and Will Tracy for the first official video podcast of 2025, and this week it’s all about reflecting on our favorite rides of the past year. 

A favorite ride doesn’t have to be the longest, hardest, or have any certain superlative attached to it — it just has to be memorable in one way or another. But before recounting our favorite rides, which range from dream routes in far-flung locations to an overnight solo expedition, we discuss some news.

Are AI coaching tools coming for the jobs of cycling coaches? We discuss Jim Cotton’s story about Team UAE's new AI tool called Anna, and the implications it may have on training and race strategies. 

In the world of cyclocross racing, the defending world champion Mathieu van der Poel is still out with a bruised rib, while Wout van Aert is back to his winning ways. How are things shaping up weeks out from the world championship?

And Betsy Welch has a story about politics in bike lanes in Toronto. A premier wants to take away bike lanes — but a video game designer is fighting back.

Alvin also fills us in on what’s in the test pipeline for him: including an inflatable helmet and a gravel Brompton.

This week on the Velo Podcast, we have something a little different for you as former Pinkbike editor extraordinaire Mike Levy joins the show to talk gravel and road bikes.

Some of you are no doubt asking yourself right now: “Wait, isn’t he the mountain bike guy?”

Right you are. He’s a multi-faceted person though who has spent the last year exclusively riding road and gravel bikes and has fallen in love with the drop-bar world, taking on some monster rides along the way and learning what a carb is.

In this special episode of the podcast, Levy is joined by yours truly Will Tracy, and tech editor Alvin Holbrook to discuss the pressing issues of our times in gravel and road biking.

We start out with a discussion of some of the latest news, including what a possible SRAM smart trainer means for the market, the transition of Astana to Chinese manufacturer XDS bikes, and Alvin's review of the Factor Ostro VAM.

Other topics include the emergence of carbon spokes and their impact on performance, as well as the unique features of the Kona Ouroboros and Santa Cruz Stigmata gravel bikes that the team has been riding recently.

Finally, we get to the main segment: reflections on personal cycling experiences and the lessons learned throughout the year. We learned a lot on the bike in 2024 (or so we like to think) including knowing when to quit or solider on and how to maintain and in some cases rekindle the joy of cycling, as well as the importance of proper nutrition and fueling and the supportive community found in cycling.

Colnago has unveiled its first aero model in a long time, and it's turning heads. Called the Y1Rs, it's claimed to be the fastest bike in the pro peloton in part due to taking advantage of recently relaxed UCI rules on bike design. It's sure to provide an advantage to the likes of Tadej Pogačar this upcoming road season.

Our tech team talked to Colnago about the new design and is here to break down this futuristic, and polarizing, design.

Later on the episode, Alvin Holbrook shares his thoughts on a road bike he just reviewed that he describes as the antithesis of Colnago's new aero bike, and our tech editors preview their upcoming articles.