There was a point when Payson thought there were two Heather Jacksons racing the Grand Prix. How could one person excel in so many sports? The former hockey star who landed a spot on the Olympic track cycling team is now known mostly for her career as a star triathlete on the Ironman circuit. Lately, however, she’s transitioned into gravel racing and ultrarunning, competing at the highest levels of both at the same time. 

Heather sat down with Payson before the final round of the Life Time Grand Prix to talk about why she started racing off-road events, what gravel racers can learn from ultrarunners, and how on earth she trains for two completely different sports simultaneously. She also talks about her early career as a hockey player, studying political science at Princeton, and why she still gets imposter syndrome on the start line of races. 

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When Justinas Leveika raced the Tour Divide for the first time last year, it was, according to him, “a disaster.” But despite having done almost no preparation, he emerged from two weeks in the wilderness in second place behind Ulrich Bartholmoes. His bike barely made it, and he resolved to put the event behind him. This year, however, he returned, and not only did he win the race, but he beat the official record that has stood for nearly a decade. All this is just par for the course for Justinas, who says he prefers to race with heart rather than numbers and forge his way through chaos rather than planning. He sat down with Payson to talk about heightening the adventure of every race through minimal preparation, stopping to take in the view every so often, and whether he considers “the real world” to be the time he spends off the bike or on. He also talks about his favorite gas station food, getting disqualified from the Colorado Trail Race this year on a technicality, and why he’s going for the Triple Crown anyway. You can follow his dot on the third and final installment, the Arizona Trail Race, starting this Thursday.

Register to attend Payson’s free Red Bull event in Bentonville, Chasin’ Payson, here.

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On this week’s episode, we’re covering round five the Life Time Grand Prix which took place last weekend in Trinidad, Colorado. We hear from listeners who attended the race followed by Payson's breakdown of the current points standings and some of the possible podium scenarios that could unfold in the final round in Bentonville later this month. 

Payson also chats to two breakout riders at the Rad, Finn Gullickson and Cecily Decker. At just 24, Finn decided to step away from pursuing a road career in Europe to pursue off-road racing in the U.S. He talks about why he left road racing, the frustrating middle part of his 2024 season, and how he managed to place sixth overall and fifth in the Grand Prix points in Trinidad. 

Cecily is also a recent convert to gravel. Having been medically retired from ski racing while still in college, she quickly learned she had a talent for cycling. She tells Payson about when she knew she was fast on a bike, how a crash at Chequamegon dashed her hopes of a mid-season reset, and how she placed 3rd at the Rad. 

Before all that, however, Payson provides some life (and podcast) updates and shares some thoughts on this weekend’s Gravel World Championships in Belgium.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:35 Life/podcast update
00:08:30 Gravel World Championships 
00:17:39 Listener recaps from the Rad
00:23:01 Points analysis
00:40:34 Finn Gullickson
1:03:50 Cecily Decker

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In just two short years, Rosa Klöser went from never having ridden a gravel bike to winning the biggest gravel race in the world. Between her first gravel ride in 2022 and standing on the top step of the Unbound podium in 2024, she also managed to spend some time as a visiting researcher at MIT as part of her PhD work on the green transition of the maritime industry. Rosa catches up with Payson this week to talk about how she discovered her talent for gravel by accident during a trip to Girona, how she balanced her PhD studies with late night training rides, and why her area of research has implications for all of us. She also takes us inside her rocky Unbound experience and explains why she was, uncharacteristically according to her, cool as a cucumber by the time that nine-person sprint rolled around. 

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Another Chequamegon 40 has been and gone, and we’re here to recap it all with the help of 7th place finisher John Borstelmann, 8th place finisher Anna Hicks, and the listeners who sent in their reports on the race. And because this was a Grand Prix race, Payson and Nichole also do some serious number crunching to figure out where the current standings lie (including drop races) and see how wide open the chase for a top 3 overall is in both the men’s and women’s fields. 

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When Brennan Wertz lined up at Gravel National Championships last weekend, he was coming off of a bad case of covid and wasn’t sure if he would make it to the end of the race. When he came across the finish line, he was National Champion. Brennan sat down with Payson to talk about his last-minute decision to attend the race and how it all went down, from the cagey tactics to his surprise attack that snagged him the victory. He also talks about how working with coach Dennis Van Winden has transformed his skills this season, and what he has planned in Europe over the next couple of months. 

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Anna Greetis is a mechanic and race technician for SRAM and one of the unsung heroes who helps to keep athletes on track during big events. As part of her role, she travels around the world to gravel events like Unbound and the Traka, road events like the Tour de France Femmes and Paris-Roubaix, and occasionally to cyclocross races and triathlons. Anna sat down with Payson last week after the Durango Derby to talk about what it’s like being a female mechanic in a male-dominated sport, why even she feels unwelcome at bike shops sometimes, and some of the on-the-fly fixes she’s done over the years that she’s most proud of. She also talks about the equipment she recommends everyone bring to a race, her experience at Migration Gravel in Kenya this year, and her not-so-secret horticultural skills.  

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When Christian Bagg crossed the finish line at the Leadville 100 this year, he became the first rider to complete (and start) the notorious high alpine race with a handcycle. He did it with a bike he created through his company, Bowhead Corp, the leading purveyor of adaptive mountain bikes. Taking part in Leadville was part personal challenge and part broader statement — he wanted to make it clear that cyclists with mobility disabilities can race alongside able-bodied riders at the toughest events in the world, no matter the terrain.

After an injury left him paralyzed from the waist down in 1996 at the age of 20, the machinist from Calgary spent over a decade contemplating how to design a bike that could handle narrow singletrack, loose ascents, and rutted descents. Nearly two decades and countless iterations later, he and his team have done just that. Christian sat down with Payson to talk about the long road to designing the bike, racing the Sea Otter Fuego XL to get into Leadville, and how he managed to assuage the race organizers’ fears that he might not be able to complete the 100 miles and nearly 12,000 feet of climbing that Leadville covers. They also discuss the potential controversy of para-athletes using motor-assisted bikes in competitive events, why having one is necessary, and why he wants to be the first line of defense in the debate.

Donate to Howard Grotts' recovery here:
Howard Grotts' road to recovery
Howard Grotts recovery fund

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There are many riders who dream of winning Leadville, but few if any have spent as much time working toward it as Melisa Rollins. She’s done the mountain bike race seven times, the stage race twice, the Leadville Trail Marathon once, and the back-to-back 50-mile running and mountain biking races. She even completed the Leadville 100 running race in 2018. She was the very last racer on the course for that one, making her perhaps the only participant to have finished first and last at Leadville events. This year, she conquered the mountain bike course for a decisive victory. Melisa sat down with Payson less than 24 hours after finishing the race to talk about her extensive history with Leadville, how taking a year to race exclusively on the road helped her finally win the off-road race, and what it was like passing her parents (who were also racing) on the way back to the finish.

Use code adventurestache20 at Maurten.com for 20% off. 

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To recap this year's Leadville, Payson sits down with two riders who had some of the most impressive results on the day, Michaela Thompson and John Gaston. Michaela rode to third place this year, a full hour faster than her time last year. She talks about returning to Leadville ready to change the narrative, gives a play-by-play of the race, and talks about the emotional moment she shared with Sofía Gómez Villafane at the finish.

John Gaston placed second at Leadville, even though cycling isn’t his main sport. He tells Payson about his aspirations for the 2026 Winter Olympics in skimo, how racing with the Grand Prix riders fulfills one of his childhood dreams, and how he managed to place second despite riding solo for much of the day.

We also hear from listeners about their experiences at this year's race.

Watch the Leadville race highlights here.

Donate to Howard Grotts' recovery fund here.

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