Life in the Peloton, presented by Rapha

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Inside La Vuelta a España 2022 - Fred Wright, Daryl Impey, Luke Durbridge & Luke Plapp Sep 07, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton!

The Vuelta a España is one of the 3 grand tours and it can slip under the radar after the hype of the Tour de France, but I can tell you first hand from a rider’s perspective it certainly is no easy feat.

It’s a notoriously tough old lap of Spain, raced in September towards the end of the season and known for its steep climbs and soaring temperatures. But in saying that, there are moments where the stress levels are lower than other grand tours and you can actually enjoy yourself. And that is why I loved it, it was my favourite race, behind Roubaix of course.

Naturally, I was keen to get some insight into this year’s Vuelta from the pros themselves – to hear about what looks to be one of the toughest Vuelta’s yet, how racing has changed from previous years and also how the battle for the points system is shaping racing this year.

I thought, what better way than to chat to all ends of the peloton. On the third rest day I spoke with Fred Wright, current UK professional with Bahrain-Victorious, riding his 4th Grand Tour at 23 years of age and in fantastic form.

Then I hear from long time pro, Daryl Impey in his 15th year pro, now racing with Israel Premier-Tech with 11 GTs under his belt.

And, of course, I had to speak to fan favourite Luke Durbridge, who is a GT veteran having ridden 13 GT’s in his 11 years pro with Bike Exchange-Jayco, but ironically this is his first Vuelta.

And finally, I wanted to hear from a newbie to grand tours, Luke Plapp. He’s current Australian Road Champion, 21 years of age and in his first year pro with Ineos Grenadiers, how is he finding the step into 21 day stage racing?

I tell you it was a laugh to hear their brutal honesty, especially being 2 weeks in and so close to the finish line.

Jump back into the world tour peloton with me for the last week of grand tour racing this season, I hope you enjoy the insight.

Stay tuned next week as I take Talking Luft on race with the pros at the Vuelta.

Cheers,

Mitch

Photo: Chris Auld

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc.

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Merch

Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now!

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Talking Luft! with Holly Harris Aug 31, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Talking Luft!

Holly Harris is an Australian Mountain Bike and Gravel racer, who I paired up with last week at the Reef to Reef MTB epic.

I thought, what better way to get to know her than going straight for the hard hittingTalking Luft questions – style, rituals, training, bikes, and of course, beverages.

Naturally, we chat all things MTB and I hear about her favourite MTB and gravel trails around Armadale, we discuss the step up to 29 inch rim mountain bikes from 26, first cycling kits, social rides vs. hour of power, hunting QOMs, cycling heroes and a whole lot more.

This was a good laugh, I hope you enjoy the chat.

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now!

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

On Race at Reef to Reef MTB with Holly Harris Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton!

It's no secret I'm a newbie on the MTB scene. Having raced on the road for 14 years I'm still finding my footing out on the trails. But I'm a firm believer that you learn by doing, and this year I have loved the challenge of getting out and competing in local events.

Over the weekend I took part in the Reef to Reef - a 4 day mountain bike stage race on the Tropical North East coast of Australia. It's one of the 3 'epic series' in Australia and I thought it would be a great challenge to tackle. But also a bit of fun to enter as part of a team.

I knew I needed someone with a little more experience than me, so I signed up for the mixed pairs event with 6 x Australian MTB & Gravel Champion Holly Harris.

I'd never raced with Holly before, or a four day MTB event for that matter, but that was all part of the fun and challenge - and I thought, whether we pull it off or not, it would be great to take you guys with us.

I wanted to capture the fantastic atmosphere of the 4 day event, give you guys a little bit of insight into the race and especially mixed pairs racing. But also to learn a little more about Holly, her career - getting so close to Commonwealth Games selection and how she tackles these events. I can tell you she taught me a thing or two!

I hope you enjoy the insight, as you'll hear it was a lot of fun with a bit of hard work in between.

Stay tuned next week for a special MTB edition of Talking Luft with Holly Harris!

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now!

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Talking Luft! with Mark O’Brien Aug 17, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Talking Luft!

I had Australian Mark O’Brien on the pod last week – ex-pro and now coach, giving all the insights on Strava and using it in training.

As you would have heard he’s fantastic to chat to, so I thought it would be great to sit down with him to talk a bit of cycling lifestyle this week on Talking Luft.

Over a cold Orval beer we chat all the good stuff – caps, beer, shaving your legs post career, wearing old pro kit vs. new wave kit, training loops around North Melbourne, beer v. wine, a war story of biting off more than you can chew in the Alps & much more.

This was a laugh, and I hope you enjoy the listen.

Stay tuned next week as I take you on-race at the 4 day, Reef to Reef MTB stage race up in Tropical North Queensland, Australia.

Until then.. cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

Talking Luft casquettes are back! Shop now.

Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Strava: Tool or Toy? - George Bennett, Jay Vine & Mark O’brien Aug 10, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton!

Strava, the social networking app that tracks physical activity, has become a phenomenon in the cycling world, with ‘taking Segments‘ and ‘giving Kudos‘ becoming part of everyday cycling chat.

Strava was something that I completely ignored as a professional. It didn’t exist when I was a young rider, and as I already uploaded my training for my coach and my team, and I raced people for a living, I just wasn’t interested in another way to be competitive or to measure my work.

This all changed when I retired, and I’ve found myself not only pretty active on Stravabut also really interested in how people use it.

For this episode, I thought I’d try to break right down what Strava is, how it works, how people use it and why. I wanted to understand it better and I also find out what the guys in the pro peloton currently think about it.

I started with my old mate Mark O’Brien who, post-career, has become a self-confessed ‘KOM hunter’ in Melbourne. Mark is also a coach and was great at breaking down the nuts and bolts of how it all works and why so many people enjoy using it.

I also spoke to two current professional cyclists, who I thought would have interesting point of views on Strava.

The first was Jay Vine. To me, Jay seems like a poster boy for the Strava generation. Even before he was a pro Jay had a reputation built on taking some pretty famous KOMs around Girona, and as he admits himself he has never known cycling without Strava being a part of it. Jay spoke about how he used Strava to help his career, how he now thinks about some of his famous KOMs and his current use of Strava in training.

For a different take, I also spoke to George Bennett. George has been a pro for twelve years, and he really comes from the old school of bike racing. He also, like myself, always considered race results to be the ‘real’ measure of ability and not just a time on an online leaderboard. But even George, it turns out, is a fan of Strava. I picked his brains about what he likes about it and what benefits he sees from using it alongside his training and life as a pro.

I enjoy using Strava these days and I know a lot of cyclists of all abilities do too. I found it fascinating to open my eyes up a bit more about it, and I hope you guys all get something from it too!

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are available online! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com

Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop this week.

Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Talking Luft! with Lizzy Banks Aug 03, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Talking Luft!

Talking Luft is back for another week of cycling style, culture, rituals & bit of life off the bike.

Following on from my Tour de France Femmes episode last week, I sat down with a teammate of theirs, British rider for EF Education Tibco SVB, Lizzy Banks.

And this was one hilarious chat. As you’ll hear Lizzy was a laugh to chat to and had some fantastic stories to tell.

We chat caps, bucket hats, aero hair styles, kit style, rice vs. pasta, race breakfasts, the best of curries, best & worst moments in a race, unplugging on the bike and, a first for the podcast – a war story that ends in victory!

All that, plus a whole lot more.

This was a great laugh and I hope you enjoy the listen.

Stay tuned next week for my ‘Ultimate Strava’ episode as I unpack everything Strava with George Bennett, Mark O’Brien and Jay Vine.

Cheers,

Mitch

Photo: Ashley & Jered Gruber

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are available online! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com

Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks.

Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Tour de France Femmes - Kathrin Hammes, Krista Doebel-Hickok & Letizia Borghesi Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton!

Photo: Twila Muzzi

It’s finally time for the women to take on the Tour de France. It’s a huge deal that the Tour is finally back on the calendar for the women, and as I wasn’t able to be on-race, I thought what better way to get the inside word than talking to some of the participants from this year’s edition.

On the eve of the race, I was lucky enough to talk to three of the women competing for EF Education Tibco SBV, Kathrin Hammes from Germany, Krista Doebel-Hickok from the US, and the team’s Italian rider Letizia Borghesi.

I think the growth of racing on the women’s side of the sport is fantastic. It’s no secret that women’s cycling is playing catch up with the men’s in terms of the budgets and races. I spoke to Kathrin, Krista and Letizia about how they look back at the pioneering women who came before them and also how it feels to now be in a position to be a part of the growth of women’s professional cycling.

All three of them have interesting stories of how they came to the sport, and talking to them opened my eyes to the fact that until very recently female athletes didn’t really consider that there was a career to be made in cycling. I very much got the sense that passion is more than the profession and that is perhaps an interesting distinction that explains a few differences between the men’s and women’s pelotons.

Of course, we also delved a little deeper into the nuts and bolts of the Tour de France Femmes itself and along with looking at the details of the course, we also spoke about what the team is hoping for from the eight days of racing across France.

I found it a really insightful chat, and I wish all the women racing the best of luck for the Tour.

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are available online! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com

Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks.

Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Talking Luft! at the Tour de France Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Talking Luft!

We had a special Tour de France episode last week, taking you backstage at the race, and this week we have a special Tour de France Talking Luft.

While speaking to several pros about the race I snuck in some cheeky Talking Luft questions, which were a bit of a curveball for a few of them but great fun hearing their answers.

This episode is packed full of riders at the race as I hear about cap style, favourite beverages, post race rituals, crosswinds v. mountains, race food, favourite riders, the best and worst parts of a race, how to wear kit, coffee, cheat meals & so much more.

I chat to: Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo), Marco Haller (Bora Hansgrohe), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Nick Schultz (Team Bike Exchange), Pierre Rolland , Adam Yates (Team Ineos), Taco Van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty), Connor Swift (Arkéa-Samsic), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep Alpha-Vinyl), Mike Woods(Israel Premier-Tech), Toms Skujinš (Trek Segafredo), George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates), Neilson Powless (EF Education First) & John Degenkolb(Team DSM).

This was a good bit of fun to have with the riders and I hope you enjoy the listen.

And enjoy the final week of the men’s Tour de France! I’ve got a great Tour de France Femmes episode coming up next week.

Don’t forget to get your hands on one of our limited edition T-shirts in collaboration with Çois Cycling. Our Copenhagen to Paris: The Road Less Travelled T-shirt, the perfect momento of this year’s Tour. Shop exclusively at coiscycling.com.

Until next week..

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are still available! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com

Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks.

Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Backstage at the Tour de France 2022 - Mitch Docker & the peloton Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton!

The Tour de France is a beast! A beautiful beast. It is the biggest annual sporting event in the world. Cycling fan or not, everyone knows about the Tour de France.

When I was a professional it was obviously a marked goal for all the guys in the peloton. An achievement to simply get to the start line.
Although never having ridden the Tourmyself, the last couple of years I have been able to to visit the race from the inside – as a journalist with media eyes on.

Working with my old mates from The Cycling Podcast last year and over these first 7 days of the Tour de France 2022 I have been able to absorb the energy the Tour gives to everyone who is a part of it.
I wanted to try to take you, as listeners, backstage. To speak to as many different people around the start and finish lines as I could. To try to paint the whole picture for you – that, even if you’ve never been on the sidelines, allows you to understand why so many people want to flock to witness this race pass by.

But most of all, I wanted take you inside the red tape, into the paddock with the buses, on course at the start/finish line, up close and personal to chat to riders and staff to hear what their experiences are from day to day travelling on tour.

Join me as I make my way through the first week of the Tour de France 2022 – from the Grand Depart in Denmark, to the cobbles of Roubaix and then to the first mountain climbs of the race.

It’s an episode jam-packed with guests and I hope you feel like you’re right there at Le Tour with me!

Big thanks to all those who gave me their time and insight while on the busy race:

Gregory Rast (DS Trek Segafredo), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Mat Hayman (Team BikeExchange), Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange), Nick Schultz (Team BikeExchange), Neil Stephens (DS UAE Team Emirates), Matti Breschel (DS EF Education First), Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech), Zak Dempster (Israel Premier Tech), Michael Rasmussen (Retired Pro), Bradley Wiggins (Retired Pro), Raj (Mechanic EF Education First), Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), Brett Lancaster(DS Team Ineos), Dylan Van Baarle (Team Ineos), Owain Doull (EF Education First), Bernie Eisel (Ex Pro/Commentator/DS), Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech), Ben O’Connor (Team AG2R Citroen), Carlos Verona (Team Movistar), JJ (Mechanic EF Education First), Tom Cools (Çois Cycling), Matt Stephens (Commentator), Luka Mezgec (Team BikeExchange), Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo), Richard Spink (Physio Team BikeExchange), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) & the amazing fans that I met along the way!

Stay tuned next week for an extra special Talking Luft, with the riders of the Tour de France.

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

. . .

Merch

Our Tshirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France is now live! Shop exclusively at coiscycling.com

Our first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks.

Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Talking Luft! with Steve Cummings Jul 06, 2022

Show notes

Rapha presents Talking Luft!

I had the breakaway specialists on the podcast last week talking all the nitty gritty details about the theory of the breakaway. And this week I couldn't resist talking some luft with British former pro & breakaway master and current Sports Director for Team Ineos, Steve Cummings.

In case you’re not familiar with Steve, he raced professional for 14 years, winning stages in the Tour de France & Vuelta a España among many others successes and made a name for himself for getting in and succeeding in breakaways.

He’s a legend of a bloke as you’ll hear and we sit back and chat all the great Talking Luft topics.

We chat cap style, racing with no helmets, 500 quid bike finds, favourite races & riders, training loops & rituals, his DJ name and an epic war story in true Stevo style from the Tour de France. That and a whole lot more.

Enjoy this one guys!

And stay tuned over the next couple of days for the release of our exciting Tour de France inspired T-shirt with Çois Cycling. We hope you love it as much as we do! They will be available exclusively at coiscycling.com.

Cheers,

Mitch

Listen

Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify , Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.

Show Notes

Check out Steve’s two Tour de France breakaway stage wins, 2015 here and 2016 here.

Check out Stevo’s most re-watchable race: Chris Froome taking the win at 2018 Giro d’Italia Stage 19

. . .

Merch

We have an exciting new Tshirt collaboration with Çois Cycling coming up for the Tour de France. Stay tuned to our Instagram and website in the next days for the drop! You will be able to shop exclusively at coiscycling.com

SOLD OUT! Our first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming months.

Paris-Roubaix Caps. Get your cap to wear at the Roubaix stage of the Tour de France now! Jump over to our online shop to grab one.

Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more..

Keep in touch

Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com

Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube.

Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton

Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

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