With Pace

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Chef Biju Thomas on cycling, food, and emigrating to the U.S. Jun 30, 2024

Show notes

As co-founder of SkratchLabs and co-author of the FeedZone cookbooks, Chef Biju Thomas has played a major role in how cyclists fuel themselves. He and his family emigrated from a rural part of Southern India to Colorado when he was 10. As a teenager, he fell in love with cycling right around the time he started working in restaurants, and dreamed of combining his two passions. Decades later, he’s done just that, cooking for top cyclists, authoring cookbooks that have changed the way the cycling industry thinks about fueling, and starring in his own TV show for Outside.
Payson caught up with Biju in Bentonville earlier this month to talk about moving to the U.S. as a kid, falling in love with cycling after the 1984 L.A. Olympics, and finding a kindred spirit in future business partner Allen Lim.
You can follow Biju at @bijuthechef on Instagram or find out more about his latest projects at chefbiju.com.

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Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Paige Onweller on her surprise Unbound success after ankle surgery Jun 23, 2024

Show notes

A year and a half ago, Paige Onweller was working as an emergency PA and racing bikes on the side. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she won Big Sugar. Recognizing that she had a fraction of the racing experience that her competitors had, Paige quit her job, built out her sprinter van, and got to work racing weekend after weekend around the country. She tried everything from time trialing to mountain biking, eventually deciding to commit to gravel and the Grand Prix. At Unbound this year, despite having spent barely any time on the bike since undergoing major ankle surgery, she placed third overall and first in the Grand Prix.
Paige sat down with Payson in Bentonville shortly after the race to talk about how her nerdiness and curiosity have helped her go from amateur to top pro within a mere 18 months, the rare ankle injury she suffered during a crash in February that brought her season to a standstill, and how she played to her tactical strengths during Unbound to ensure she would stay at the front despite having almost no training under her belt. They also talk about how groundbreaking the race was for the women’s field and how the past four months have taken her to the darkest and brightest places of being a professional athlete.
Paige's YouTube video: How to Survive Unbound Gravel

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YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Lea Davison on putting the “tired” in retirement and being an advocate within the sport Jun 16, 2024

Show notes

Lea Davison thought long and hard about her retirement, but even when she finally decided to bring her mountain biking career to a close, she didn't have any intention of slowing down. During her racing career, she won a silver and a bronze medal at the World Championships, placed third overall in the 2015 World Cup series, and went to the Olympics twice. Now in "retirement," she's working as a race commentator, mountain biking coach, and public speaker. Last year, she traveled more for work than she did at any point during her racing career. Payson caught up with Lea at Unbound earlier this month to talk about how busy her work has been since stepping away from the World Cup circuit, why she was devastated to miss out on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics team, and how racing Unbound in 2022 forced her to confront the weight of her retirement. She also talks about a turning point a few years ago when she decided to go all-in on advocating for women in cycling, the difficulty of coming out as one of the few openly gay athletes in the sport in 2018, and her elaborate routine for preparing for the grueling 15 hour day of commentating for Unbound.
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YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Payson's 10 craziest moments from Unbound Jun 14, 2024

Show notes

Trains, a moto crash, the hero pull of the day, and two peeing mishaps are just some of the crazy moments from Unbound that make the cut in this episode. As the race expands every year, so does the potential for chaos within the peloton. Payson rounded up some of the most striking examples that you didn't see in any on-the-day coverage.
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YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Unbound recap with Pete Stetina and Lauren De Crescenzo Jun 08, 2024

Show notes

This year’s Unbound was one of the most dynamic and exciting in the event’s history, featuring two new winners, separate starts for the elite men and women, and a nine-up sprint at the women's finish. Payson caught up with two of the top riders to get the lowdown from inside the men’s and women’s fields. We also hear from some of the riders across the other categories, from 50-milers to the Unbound XL.
Payson and Pete Stetina discuss how the men’s race played out, including Lachlan Morton's crowd-pleaser of a win, how Gravel World Champ Matej Mohorič ended up being less of a threat than expected, and why starting separately from the amateurs and elite women actually impacted the race in a big way.
Lauren De Crescenzo joins Payson to talk about her ill-fated solo breakaway, why the new rules for the women’s race didn’t go far enough, and which Grand Prix riders over and under-performed.
Watch the Unbound race highlights here
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Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Jasper Ockeloen on Unbound, Sockeloen, and the Dutch Mafia May 30, 2024

Show notes

Jasper Ockeloen started racing on the road in the Netherlands when he was 8 years old and took up cyclocross not long after. The combination has come in handy now that he’s turned his focus to gravel and the increasingly popular discipline of beach racing, where he's a two-time European champion. This month, he’s back in the U.S. to tackle Unbound for the fourth time. In addition to racing, he runs the aero-sock brand Sockeloen, which he founded more than 10 years ago while racing for the Rabobank development team and doing a degree in commercial economics. Today, Sockeloen’s aero-socks are favored by some of the world’s top pros.
Jasper sat down with Payson in Bentonville last week to talk about their predictions for Unbound, how the race has changed since he and fellow Dutchie (and 2022 winner) Ivar Slik started attending, and why, despite some impressive road results, he never went to the World Tour. They also talk about how Jasper and his fellow members of the so-called “Dutch Mafia” are helping to make Euro tactics mainstream in American gravel, and how witnessing Ivar’s recent crash first-hand has made him re-evaluate the safety of the sport, especially in relation to his wife, Visma Lease-a-Bike rider Riejanne Markus.
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Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Kateřina Nash on 30 years of racing and her role within the UCI May 20, 2024

Show notes

At 46, Kateřina Nash has been racing bikes for three decades and continues to compete at the highest level. Originally from the Czech Republic, she competed in skiing throughout her early life, even competing in two Winter Olympics before discovering a love for mountain biking. She was part of the first cohort of the groundbreaking LUNA Pro Team in 2002, and stayed with the team for more than two decades. In that time, she won seven Cyclo-cross World Cups, competed in three Summer Olympics, and, for the past few years, has served as a Vice President of the UCI and President of the Athletes’ Commission.

Payson caught up with Kateřina in Bentonville last week to talk about growing up behind the Iron Curtain, moving to the U.S. on a ski scholarship, and why she still can’t believe she got to sign with the LUNA Pro Team. She talks about how her training has changed as she’s gotten older, why she still loves professional racing, and how she’s managed to stay so fast for so long. She also talks about how her roles within the UCI came about, and the phone call she received last year that is an athlete’s worst nightmare.
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YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Kenny Belaey on 9 trials World Championships and life after competitive cycling May 10, 2024

Show notes

Kenny Belaey started riding professionally at age 9 when he and his brother began doing trial biking shows in their native Belgium. Since then, he’s racked up nine UCI world championship titles in the discipline, more than any other rider. But even during the peak of his racing career, Kenny kept up with the performance circuit, using the shows as a training ground for the next competition. In 2007, for example, he did 170 shows in 17 countries on four continents while maintaining a full schedule of racing. Since 2012, he’s been a regular act during NBA halftime shows. Now living in Bentonville, he runs the Bentonville Bike Fest, an ever-expanding three-day event featuring nearly every style of cycling.

Payson caught up with Kenny in Bentonville this week to talk about his more than two decades as a Red Bull athlete, landing an Adidas commercial alongside David Beckham, and the grueling training regimen he maintained during his competitive career. He also talks about his many trips to the Middle East for Red Bull in the early 2000s and his unique artistic side hustle in which he uses his trial biking skills to paint large canvases.

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YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Taylor Lideen on missing out on the Grand Prix and starting the season with a bang May 03, 2024

Show notes

After participating in the Life Time Grand Prix in its first two years, Taylor Lideen missed out on a spot this year. While that might leave some riders struggling for motivation, it’s done the opposite for him. Two weeks ago, at Sea Otter (the first Grand Prix race of the season), he snagged 6th place, just seconds off the podium. The next weekend, he placed 6th at Whiskey Off Road. In February, he and Lachlan Morton set a decisive record at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. Taylor attributes these results to multiple factors, including a brand new approach to training that has put him in the best shape of his career. Without the pressure of having to wrestle for points at all the Grand Prix races this year, he's pursuing an ambitious and varied schedule, including Unbound XL, Leadville, and Vapor Trail.

Taylor sat down with Payson in Bentonville this week to talk about missing out on the Grand Prix, why his new training methods might be controversial for some, and why seat tube angle was one of the things he was most excited about when he joined Allied this year. They also talk about the exacting approach to nutrition that helped him win Unbound XL in 2021 and the time he came face-to-face with a mountain lion on a training ride.

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

Sea Otter recap with Hannah Otto Apr 23, 2024

Show notes

The Grand Prix is back and Hannah Otto is here to give a rundown of the first race of the season. She and Payson discuss the opposite tactics that played out in the men's and women's races, which new and returning riders caught their attention, and how the Cape Epic might have influenced the podium. They also answer a few listener questions and reveal the nutrition tip Hannah gave Payson the day before the race that ended up saving him on the day.
Watch Life Time's Sea Otter Race Highlights

Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen

Email: howdy@withpace.cc

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