Todd Ballard is the former Chief Marketing Officer at GoPro. During his nine years there, he was instrumental in elevating the brand to global recognition and choosing which athletes the company sponsored. In this conversation, he tells Payson and Justin what drew him to GoPro long before it was a household name, why passion is more important that fame when it comes to sponsored athletes, and why he chose to leave GoPro after so many successful years there. They also talk about impostor syndrome, business pressures, and the parallels between professional sports and high level companies. They also swap jokes, argue over favorite snacks, and hear the one story that’s impacted Todd the most in his career. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Ayesha McGowan is a professional road cyclist. As the first African American woman to reach pro status in cycling, she balances her racing career with advocacy for greater representation in the sport. In this conversation, she talks with Payson and Justin about using her platform to elevate athletes from underrepresented backgrounds, and her previous career in classical music and teaching. They also talk about unconscious racism, the snowboarding accident that ended her music career, and whether or not she has plans to start her own team. Things get contentious when Ayesha reveals her shoe of choice, stakes a position on which musical instrument is most like triathletes, and an investigation is launched into the origins of Justin’s inconsistent hairline. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

In the third episode of Quarantine Companion, Payson and Justin are joined from Andorra by pro cyclist Robert Gesink, whose many accomplishments include 4th place at the Tour de France in 2010 and 1st place in the Tour of California in 2012. He currently rides for the ProTeam Jumbo-Visma. In this conversation, Robert talks about how his training has changed since Andorra went into one of the world’s strictest lockdowns nearly two months ago, why homeschooling his kids is harder than racing, and how to get the most out of at-home training. He also talks about the pressures of being a team leader early in his career, what European racers could learn from Americans when it comes to media interaction, and how he thinks the Tour de France should evolve with the times. He also showcases his favorite quarantine shoes, and tells the story of the 16-screw injury that forces Payson and Justin to make an alteration to the usual Quarantine Companion push-up challenge.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

In celebration of The Adventure Stache turning one year old, Payson visited Reggie Miller, the show's first ever guest, at his home outside Los Angeles. Along with filming the first episode of "StacheTV", the new sibling YouTube series to the podcast, they sit down to discuss what legacy means to Reggie, his ever-growing ambitions in cycling, and an epic never-before-told story about Kobe Bryant. Head to Payson's YouTube channel to watch the YouTube video from this visit, where Reggie shows no mercy in a game of PIG, and Payson helps Reggie conquer some challenging switchbacks on his local trail. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of Quarantine Companion, Payson and Justin are joined by cyclist Rahsaan Bahati, whose twenty-year career in criterium and track racing included ten national championship titles and multiple appearances on the USA Cycling Worlds team. They talk about his career and transition into activism through his creation of the Bahati Foundation, which works to promote the health and education of inner-city youth through cycling, and his current role as Social Impact Manager for Zwift. Other topics include his childhood in Compton, his unlikely introduction to cycling, and how he became one of Justin’s closest mentors when Justin was an aspiring teenager. They also swap favorite jokes, discuss Rahsaan’s time as a member of the controversial Rock Racing team in the 2000's, and share some opinions about his unconventional quarantine essentials which include airplane simulators and Zombie Dust. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

In this first installment of Quarantine Companion, Payson is joined by co-host Justin Williams to lay the groundwork for this new limited series. They talk about how they’re getting by in the age of social distancing and lockdowns, including what books they’re reading, what snacks they’re consuming, how they’re maintaining motivation to train, and what their daily schedules and workflows look like. They also give some hints about what’s in store for future episodes of Quarantine Companion, including big name guests, shoe choices, and maybe even some listener-included push-up challenges. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Brook MacDonald is one of the best downhill mountain bikers in the world and has snagged multiple podium spots on the UCI World Cup circuit since he began racing professionally in 2011. Known as “The Bulldog” for his fearless, full-throttle racing style, Brook is no stranger to injury, and 2019 saw the most brutal setback of his career so far. At Mountain Bike World Championships in Quebec in September, he fractured his spine in two places and lost feeling in his legs, leaving his future on and off the bike uncertain. 

In this interview, Payson sits down with Brook to talk about the injury and how the crash itself was just the beginning of a grueling saga that left him on the mountain and without sufficient medical help for nearly five hours. They talk about his recovery process and celebrating the little victories, which other athletes he’s taken inspiration from during this process, and why he isn’t afraid to start racing again. They also talk about his love of road racing and its importance in his training, and why you might be seeing him at the Olympics in the future in a completely different cycling discipline. A New Zealand native, Brook also shares some of his favorite (explicit) Kiwi slang, and why driving in the U.S. has a steep learning curve. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Justin Williams returns to the podcast after appearing for the first time in episode 48 with Kate Courtney and Colin Strickland. In this episode, he and Payson confront some controversial topics, including the death and legacy of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, social media backlash, and why we should accept the shades of gray in the lives of influential public figures rather than choose to only see black or white. They also swap stories of their worst racing experiences, including a food shortage in Uruguay and fermented mare's milk in Mongolia, and Justin tells Payson about winning a cross country race in Belize that has special significance for his family, and the time he won a professional road race on a borrowed women's bike. 

Justin's cycling career started in his early teens and has included multiple national titles, including both the road and criterium races at the Elite National Championships in 2018. As one of the small number of professional cyclists of color, he has prioritized inclusivity and representation in a sport that still lacks diversity. In 2019, he and his brother and fellow racer Cory Williams founded their own team, Legion of Los Angeles, which seeks to elevate the careers of cyclists from diverse backgrounds. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Larissa Connors is a two-time winner of both the Leadville 100 mountain bike race and Belgian Waffle Ride. Payson caught up with her at her home in Orange County, California in February to talk work/life balance, over-training, and why she has unfinished business in Leadville. They also talk about why she’s glad she doesn’t live near any of her toughest racing competitors, how she manages to maintain her infant daughter’s breastfeeding schedule while training for races and working full-time as a math teacher, and how her work in the classroom allows her to find a consistent source of self-worth that is so elusive in the unpredictable world of professional cycling. Known for her love of extreme physical challenges, Larissa also has a few cautionary tales up her sleeve, including the time she did five 100 mile mountain bike races in less than six weeks, and her first (and last) experience at La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica when she nearly died of kidney failure and found herself alone in a rural hospital in the jungle with nothing but the kit she was wearing and a very limited understanding of Spanish.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Sarah Bidgood is a leading nuclear nonproliferation expert and Director of the Eurasian nonproliferation program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. As a specialist in US-Russia cooperation in nuclear security, she has written books, appeared on news outlets such as CNN, and presented her research at the United Nations in Geneva. In this conversation, Sarah and Payson talk about why the US-Russia rivalry is still so contentious decades after the Cold War, the advantages to working at a think tank rather than in a government position, why some countries are racing to arm themselves with nuclear weapons while others voluntarily renounce theirs, and what the best case scenario is for denuclearization in a world that has already seen destruction on a mass scale from atomic bombs. They also talk about why the “us vs. them” mentality in relation to our supposed adversaries is no longer relevant in today’s world, and why it’s in America’s best interest to denuclearize in spite of its desire to retain its global standing. Making a cameo appearance in the interview is Sarah’s husband and mountain bike mechanic Brad Copeland, who jumps in to ask a few of his own questions, and Payson asks for Sarah’s opinion of professional sports. Sarah is speaking in her own individual capacity in this interview. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]