It's day two of Sahara Gravel and the general consensus is that the scenery was pretty mind-blowing on this 68 mile mountain stage. Payson sits down with Oti Zolati, the only Moroccan in the race, to talk about being a tourist in his own country and his bikepacking trip across Africa that got him hooked on cycling. Then he talks to the founder of the race, Janosch Wintermantel, about how he went from living in Switzerland and working at Scott to event organising in Morocco. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

It's stage one of the four-day Sahara Gravel stage race in Morocco and Payson is sitting down with the stage winners Luise Valentin and Matteo Fontana. They tell us how their days unfolded, what they do when they're not training (Luise is an engineer in Zurich and Matteo is a former triathlete and bike fitter outside Milan), and how they're feeling about the race so far. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

If you’ve seen two-time Olympian Alison Jackson in the media, chances are she was either dancing, standing on top of the Paris-Roubaix podium, or both. The EF rider won Roubaix in 2023 and quickly became a fan favorite for her joyful social media presence and finish-line celebrations. She caught up with Payson in Girona this week shortly after breaking her arm at a race, and somehow seems to be as optimistic as ever. She talks about growing up on a bison farm in rural Alberta, why she goes out of her way to seek novel experiences wherever she goes, and how she’s managed to prove that power numbers don’t hold a candle to a winning attitude.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Growing up in Ethiopia, Tsgabu Grmay was inspired to start riding by his father and older brother, who were both cyclists. As a teenager, he was selected to go to the UCI’s World Cycling Centre in South Africa and signed with his first UCI team in 2012. Since then, he raced 12 years on the WorldTour with teams including Lampre-Merida, Trek-Segafredo, and Jayco-AlUla. He retired from road racing at the end of 2023, but joined Team Amani as a rider and coach. This year, he’s on the roster for the Life Time Grand Prix. 

A lot of former WorldTour riders who turn to gravel are looking for a smooth offramp to retirement, or, at the very least, are hoping to professionalize the sport and bring more teams into the fold. But Tsgabu is fired up about all the things that make gravel different from road racing. He sat down with Payson in Girona this week to talk about his childhood in Ethiopia, the challenges he faced when he moved to Europe and joined the WorldTour, and why being on Team Amani and fostering cycling in East Africa is even more of a dream come true than racing the Tour de France.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Geerike Schreurs spent nearly a decade as a WorldTour soigneur, taking care of some of the best riders in the world. Now, she’s their teammate. The Dutch rider officially signed to SD Worx-Protime to race a combination of gravel and road this season, and even though she had a breakout season last year and snagged second place at Unbound, she says that this is the first time she’s finally feeling like a pro.

Payson caught up with Gee in Girona earlier this week to talk about how she made the transition to racing after so many years as a soigneur, what the team got up to during the non-training part of training camp, and her friendship with Anna van der Breggen. She also explains why being a soigneur is more physically challenging than being a pro cyclist, and discusses a gruesome injury she sustained last summer that she’s still navigating.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Emilly Johnston was wondering if she was going to have a team for her first Elite season when she got a call from Scott-SRAM team director Thomas Frischknecht. Shortly after she signed a contract with the team, she placed third at Worlds, rounding out a triumphant 2024 season that marked her as one of the most promising up-and-comers in the women's field. Emilly sat down with Payson in Girona earlier this week to talk about landing a spot on her dream team, the chaos of racing last year’s combined U23 and Elite World Championship, and throwing down tricks mid-race. She also talks about sharing an apartment with two of cycling's most fashion-forward men (longtime teammate Bjorn Riley and XC photographer Piper Albrecht), and why they describe her first and foremost as “very Canadian.”

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Throughout his 12 years in the World Tour, Thomas De Gendt was known as one of the preeminent breakaway specialists of the century, winning five Grand Tour stages including the infamous Queen Stage of the Giro on the Passo dello Stelvio. Recently, he announced that after 16 years as a pro on the road, he would be switching to gravel. 

This week, Thomas sat down with Payson in Girona to talk about his illustrious road career, including that now legendary surprise stage win at the Giro in 2012, stumbling upon the benefits of altitude camps long before they became standard practice, and how the collapse of a team nearly forced him into retirement when he was at the top of his game. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Riejanne Markus is a Dutch WorldTour rider who is currently racing with Lidl-Trek. She went professional over a decade ago and has moved from strength to strength, nabbing three national titles and finishing second overall at last year’s Vuelta a España. Riejanne sat down with Payson in Girona this week to talk about her decision to join Lidl-Trek after four years with Visma-Lease a Bike, growing up in an athletic family (her dad and younger sister are speed skaters, and her other sister, Femke, races for SD Worx), and why she’s still a staunch defender of race radios. She also talks about the highly publicized defeat of the Dutch team at the road World Championship last year, and how she broke the news of her team transfer to longtime teammate Marianne Voss. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

Bond Almand was just 20 years old when he rode the nearly 13,500 miles of the Pan-American Highway from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina in 75 days, beating the previous record by nearly 10 days. That feat is even more impressive considering that the last rider to hold the record was a professional racer who did it with a support crew, while Bond did it all self-supported between semesters at Dartmouth.

Bond sat down with Payson to talk about confronting months of intense loneliness, riding without a shirt for a week, clenching his teeth so hard they cracked, and getting to hug his dad at the end of the journey. He also talks about the beauty of the Andes, riding at 62mph in the dark on a road full of potholes, and the assumption people make about the ride that he wants to dispel. 

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]

In an extended outtake from our previous episode, Payson and Hannah chat about how they're preparing for the upcoming season, whether they're changing anything, and how they're balancing the Grand Prix schedule with non-Grand Prix events they love.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: [email protected]