With Pace

It’s raining in Emporia, Kansas and thousands of riders are about to head to the start line for this year’s Unbound Gravel. Payson caught up with Velo reporter Betsy Welch to talk about the emerging variables to look out for in the race, including the weather, a new format for the women’s start, a top contender lurking in the men's field, and spicy tactics. Plus, they take a stab at defining "gravel beef" and consider whether runners might have a leg up in this year's race. 

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Dutch cyclists Ivar Slik and Jasper Ockeloen have been traveling to the U.S. a lot over the past few years. After successful road careers in Europe, they made the jump to gravel cycling and have thrown down some standout results. Ivar won Unbound last year, rocketing to a level of fame in the U.S. and Euro cycling worlds that he wasn’t expecting. Jasper won Gravel Locos last year and came second at Belgian Waffle ride, but after two years of bad luck, he's still waiting to do Unbound without a race-halting puncture. They’re both prepping for the event this year as top contenders. 

Payson sat down with Ivar and Jasper in Bentonville last week to talk about their cycling careers and the sock business they run together, Sockeloen. Jasper talks about his growing frustration with Continental racing that pushed him to lean into Sockeloen, and how fellow Dutchie Laurens Ten Dam inspired him to get into gravel racing. Ivar talks about his now-legendary attack at Unbound in a rainstorm and what it was like to become the unofficial king of gravel with the win (and a course record). They also talk about their long-time friendship, the nitty gritty scientific data behind Sockeloen’s aerodynamic credentials, and Jasper’s ever-present gold necklace. 

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Justin Williams returns to the show to talk about the rapidly-evolving criterium scene. He pulls back the curtain on his decision not to take part in the newly-formed National Cycling League; his announcement about his own series, Circuit Racing International Tour (CRIT); and how going behind the scenes at an F1 race last year informed his ambitions for cycling. He also talks about whether criterium has a problem with aggressive riding, adding a third team to his roster after L39ion and the Miami Blazers, and a recent incident when he decided to address online criticism head-on. 

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Ever since he was a child, Taylor Lideen knew he experienced the world differently. Even before he knew that he suffered from depression and anxiety, he noticed that his emotions seemed to run higher than other people’s. As a teen, he struggled with his mental health even as he built a  successful career as a cyclist. Over the years, he’s won 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo and Unbound XL, and is competing in the Life Time Grand Prix for the second time this year. But his bouts with crippling depression have been a consistent presence in his life, both on and off the bike. Last year, he released a film, Shifting Mindset, in which he opens up for the first time about his struggles with mental health. 

In this week's episode, Taylor talks about navigating depression and anxiety as a child, and how his love of cycling was both an escape and a trigger. He talks about how meeting his wife Mary in high school changed his life, how his relationship with his dad was caught up in his anxiety about attaining race results, and the therapy he credits with saving his life. Since speaking openly about his battle with mental health, Taylor says he’s felt a sense of relief. He tells Payson why he felt it was the right time to address his struggles publicly, and how he’s hoping others might benefit from hearing his story. 

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At some point during college, Caley Fretz realized that his aspirations of becoming a professional cyclist weren’t in the cards. By the time graduation rolled around, he was sipping limoncello on the coast of Italy while covering the Giro as a journalist. He never looked back. He went on to work as Senior Editor at VeloNews before becoming Editor-in-Chief at CyclingTips. While there, he shaped the outlet into a distinctive, often humorous, writer-driven voice in the cycling space. Late last year, he and many other members of the CyclingTips team were laid off by Outside, Inc., and he struck out on his own to create Escape Collective, a journalist-led, membership-driven antidote to mainstream cycling media.

In this conversation, Caley tells Payson about the gap in the market that Escape Collective is trying to fill and the state of cycling media that got him here. They talk about the investigative piece that Escape Collective published about the implosion of the Zaaf Cycling Team earlier this year and how he’s envisioning much more than road cycling for the future of the outlet. They also talk about the long shadow of Lance Armstrong, Caley’s unfiltered thoughts on Outside's takeover of cycling media, and Tom Boonen’s legs. 

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This week, Payson and VeloNews journalist Betsy Welch break down the first race of the 2023 Life Time Grand Prix. While there were few surprises at the front of the race, there were plenty of unexpected finishes and variables to suggest that we’re in for an exciting series. Payson and Betsy run through the leaderboard, discuss the riders that surprised them most, consider the implications of Keegan Swenson’s sprint finish with Russell Finsterwald, and highlight some serious mid-race comebacks in the women’s field.

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The 2023 Life Time Grand Prix is about to be officially underway. The seven-month series will encompass seven races and involve 70 of the best gravel cyclists in the world. This year brings a host of new competitors from across the globe, from South Africa to Australia, Alabama to Switzerland. There are some familiar faces as well as plenty of new riders with impressive resumes. There are world-class triathletes, road racers, and engineers; veteran gravel racers and those who have just taken up the sport in the last couple of years. It's shaping up to be an exciting and dynamic field, and it all kicks off this weekend.
In this week’s episode, Payson sits down with Michelle Duffy, Marketing Director for Life Time’s athletic events, and Betsy Welch, a journalist and senior editor at VeloNews who spent last year chronicling the series in detail. Michelle has been instrumental in bringing the Grand Prix to fruition and facilitates the application and selection process. She, Payson, and Betsy do a rundown of the riders, focusing on the ones that are new to the series. They also discuss the new format and how the altered points system, which allows athletes to drop two races from their final score, might affect tactics. 

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Aidan Haley has edited productions for HBO, Mercedes, and Patagonia. Most recently, he helped edit an episode for the Emmy-nominated HBO docuseries Edge of the Earth. He's also just wrapped up Payson's latest film about his one-day ride across Tasmania last November. 

In this episode, Aidan talks about his teenage years climbing mountains in the Pacific Northwest with his cousin, Colin, who is now one of the premier alpinists in the world, as well as moving to Paris after college to talk his way into a photojournalism internship, and finding his way in Hollywood after landing a job on the set of an Oscar Mayer commercial. He also discusses his approach to editing, whether he's working on a documentary, a commercial, or a feature film, and how his work has affected his ability to enjoy movies as a pastime.

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YouTube: Payson McElveen

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Brennan Wertz spent eight years as a top-level rower before transitioning to cycling. During that time, he raced for Stanford, nabbed a world record, and chased the Olympics before injuries sidelined him. When he picked up cycling to pass the rehab time, he fell in love with the sport and never looked back. In 2021, he jumped into Unbound and landed in the top 10. This year, he’s racing in the Life Time Grand Prix, which brings a whole new set of unknowns.

In this conversation, Brennan sits down with Payson in Monterrey, CA to talk about his rowing career, finding his way into cycling, and why he was hooked on gravel from the start. With only a year and a half of racing under his belt, he’s aware that he doesn't have the experience that his competitors have, but with years of rowing, he’s got the power numbers and the mentality to make up for it. He talks about how much he enjoys getting out of his comfort zone, how he's tried to bring the team spirit of rowing into his gravel training, and how he hopes to prove that bigger racers can perform at the highest levels of the sport. This year, he isn’t looking forward to the events that his 6 foot 5, 200-pound frame is most suited for, but to the races that pose new challenges. Mountain biking at Sea Otter and elevation at Leadville are two of the events he’s most excited about, and he tells Payson about how he's training for them, and whether he'd ever be interested in dipping his toe in professional road racing.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

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Ted King returns to the show to talk about the string of setbacks that left his career in limbo for the past couple of years. Some of those hurdles have been public, such as the numerous broken bones, while others have been largely private, such as an unexplained blood clot that has left him on blood thinners for the foreseeable future. The past two years have been a series of stopping and starting, from hospital visits and rehab to short-lived comebacks. This year, however, he’s back to racing, and he’s chosen a schedule that looks a lot different from his pre-2021 events lineup.

In this conversation, Ted tells Payson about the rollercoaster of the past two years, including some unexpected upsides. He talks about what it was like to line up in the age-group category instead of with the pros at this year’s Mid South, how he used his tentative race schedule last year to raise money for charity, and why the cycling community has kept him coming back to races even when he was still processing his most recent health scare. He also explains why he’s decided to pursue an alternative schedule this year in which he will compete in ultra-long distance races like Unbound XL and the Great Divide instead of lining up for the Grand Prix.  

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]