Episode 43: December 16, 2020: Crit Queen featuring Kendall Ryan of L39ion of LA

The Lioness has found her way back to the pack. Kendall Ryan, now of L39ion of Los Angeles is focused on earning her spot on the the US Olympic team for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in the Team Pursuit and the Madison. However, that focus isn’t going to preclude her from pursuing her dreams of complete and total domination of the #critlife. The Crit Queen joins us to talk about how she’s taking the time to invest deeply in herself and preparing for the challenges that are going to face her in the coming year.

We also talk about her focus on recovery including the vital importance of sleep. She’s became an ambassador for ChiliSleep and cannot say enough good things about their product. And just for you she’s here to provide a promo code: Kendall22 to help save 22% off your purchase of a unit that she says has changed her sleep quality for the better.

Follow Kendall on IG @kendall_ryan92 or her team @l39ion.la

Episode 42: December 9, 2020: Mr. Ambassador featuring Allan Schroeder of CS Velo

When you think of the geography of crit racing in the US, you don't often put Boise at the top of your list . . . but you should. The guest on today's episode Allan Schroeder of CS Velo tells us all about why the Treasure Valley should be on your list of places to go, ride, race, and live. Allan is fresh on the scene; but he's already making an impact. That sort of energy gets noticed, and that's why he's been picked up by Philadelphia-based CS Velo. So come on board this week and learn more about Idaho and tacos.

Follow Allan on IG: @schroeder_allan

CS Velo: @csveloracing

Order your very own papas godras from District Taco

Episode 41: December 2, 2020: The Silver Fern featuring Olivia Ray

From the Cycling New Zealand Vantage Criterium Championship (left-to-right) Ally Woolston, Olivia Ray, Katie Richards.

From the 2019 Scranton Electric City Criterium

Olivia Ray is back on the show after completing her journey across the international date line and over the equator. She returns just in time to tell how she won the 2021 New Zealand National Criterium Championship and sealed a deal with Rally Cycling on a contract to ride with them for the coming year. We are also joined by her new sporting director Joanne Kiesanowski who fills in the details on how Olivia caught the team's attention and what their plans are for her now that she's a part of the team.

Follow Olivia on IG: @oliviaraycycling

Rally: @rally_cycling

Cycling New Zealand: @cyclingnewzealand

From the 2020 Cambridge Three Day track event, Olivia is the wee one.

Episode 40: November 25, 2020: Giving Thanks

This week's episode is Avenger's Endgame worthy. In this episode we bring together the guests from 2020 to give you a show about finding happiness and giving thanks in a year that was not designed for either. To do this we enlist the help of guest co-host Lily Williams of Rally Cycling and the 2020 Team Pursuit World Champion. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the stars of this year in order of appearance:

1. Robin Meidhof

2. The guys from The Gravel Lot

3. Lindsay Goldman, Eliel Cycling Apparel

4. Dino Piskopanis, ButcherBox Cycling

5. Adam Mills, Source Endurance

6. Madison Kelly, CWA Racing

7. Adam Pulford, DC Velo

8. Ali Sheehan, Team Tekkerz

9. Christina Gokey Smith, Team Colavita

10. Olivia Ray, ButcherBox Cycling

11. Zach Gregg, Project Echelon

12. Maize Wimbush, Team Twenty24

13. Jason Meidhof, Monster Media

14. Eric Hill, Project Echelon

15. Bruce Buckley

16. The guys from The Slow Ride Podcast

17. Amanda Nauman, SDG Factory Team / The Groadio

Episode 39: October 28, 2020: Community featuring Robin and Jason Meidhof

In summer 2016, the Meidhofs packed, 2 dogs, a cat, and their possessions into an RV and took off for California and a new adventure. Just a couple weeks after arriving, and without much in the way of a support system in LA, Jason was hit by a negligent driver and seriously injured. This is the story of his recovery, and return to form. Previously a master's world champ on the track, he was forced to rebuild his fitness and reconnect parts of his brain that were injured.

Fortunately he wasn't alone, and neither was his wife Robin. The two of them came closer together than ever before; and thanks to that bond, and the countless hours of help from others, they were able to get back to normalcy. And when you suffer a traumatic brain injury, normal is such a beautiful word.

Episode 38: October 14, 2020: What I Wish I Had Known

Tyler Reynolds, now of First Internet Bank.

Madison Kelly, CWA Racing p/b Trek, Gateway Cup, 2019. Photo by Dan Signer

Experience is a great; yet brutal teacher. The lessons we learn from it can make us stronger; however, we don't need to suffer the most onerous lessons ourselves. Rather, we can learn from others. In this episode we share with you some of the important ones to know when you line up for your first big race. Our teachers are the best of them all...the real life pros that light up the world's biggest crit stages.

Sit back and listen as your instructors Tina Pic, Kristen LaSasso, Christina Gokey-Smith, Whitney Allison, Kristen Arnold, Tyler Reynolds, Eric Hill, Stephen Vogel, Ricky Arnopol, Evan Hartig, Natalia Franco Villegas, and Cesar Gallego share what it is they wish they had known before signing up to race the best of the best. 

Clarendon Cup, Armed Forces Cycling Classic, 2019. Photo by Bruce Buckley.

Episode 37: September 30, 2020: She'll Be Back, Like Before

Olivia Ray, Gateway Cup 2019, photo by Dan Singer Photography.

Photo by Patrick Daly Photography.

Ata Marie, is good morning in Maori, the language of the native population of New Zealand, and the home of Olivia Ray. At just 22 years old, she already owns 16 U.S. and New Zealand national championships and a dominating crit racers. We met her earlier this year at the ButcherBox team camp in Southern California and knew we had to have a sit down with her to talk bike racing, the Olympics, and so much more. But our timing took a huge turn when she said she was willing to fly 26 hours, and quarantine for 14 days just to get back to Auckland to try her hand at the Vantage New Zealand national criterium championship in Christchurch. Cleary, Covid was also discussed.

Follow Olivia on IG @oliviaraycycling or her team @butcherboxcycling.

Olivia Ray, ButcherBox Cycling, Spring 2020. Photo by Patrick Daly Photography.

Episode 36: September 16, 2020: How it Would Have Happened.

Cory and Justin Williams of L39ion of LA at the 2019 USA Cycling National Criterium Championship in Hagerstown, MD. Photo by Bruce Buckley.

Starla Teddergreen of Hagens Berman/Supermint at the 2019 Armed Forces Cycling Classic. Photo by Bruce Buckley.

It’s been a rough year for us criterium racers. If some of us were lucky, we were able to sneak in a race in warmer climates or out west in March or February before the coronavirus hit our shores and shut everything down. It’s left a lot of us trying to figure out how to keep training and riding; or looking at other priorities in our lives.

For some of us, it has led to some incredible creativity and new discoveries like baking sourdough bread or that long-lost talent for guitar. However, for most of us it has left us frankly wondering what if.

Tom Gibbons of Automatic Racing, Littleton 2019.

Well look no further than this episode to answer that question. What if the 2020 crit season had taken place? Who would have walked away with the biggest prizes in all the land, from winning the USA Cycling criterium championships to the vaunted USACRITS overall in both the team and individual competitions. We’ve got that covered.

In addition, you’ve probably been thinking to yourself; what are the criteriums that can make a cyclists career? Why don’t we have the monuments of crit racing like the World Tour has its 5 monuments? Again, we’ve got you covered. We draft the top 10 essential criteriums in the US and Canada and explain why they’ve made our list.

And you might be asking, “we” who is we? This episode features a very special guest co-host. If you like what he does here please let us know and we’ll keep him around. So much going on in this episode, you are definitely not going to want to miss it.

The women of USACRITS at Littleton in 2019.

Episode 35: September 2, 2020: Like Fine Wine featuring Christina Gokey-Smith of Team Colavita

Photo courtesy of USACRITS. Thechampions of the 2019 USACRITS Women’s team competition. (left-to-right) Tina Pic, Laurel Rathbun, Jolene Holland, Natalia Franco Villegas, Yussely Soto, and Christina Gokey-Smith.

Christina Gokey-Smith (center) at the Boise Twilight Criterium, 2019. Photo courtesy of USACRITS

Perseverance is far from easy. When you get tossed off your horse and break your back, or when a tragic crash shatters bones in your body, you could be forgiven for giving up. However, Christina Gokey-Smith of Team Colavita never got that memo about giving up. She’s battled hardship, injury, and adversity to get to where she is among the elite of crit racing in North America. As she has gotten older she hasn’t slowed down; but rather gotten better and stronger. Each year she dedicates herself to refining and developing new traits to improve her training and performance; including delving deep into meditation and mindfulness, two often overlooked elements of athletics.

In late 2017, long after most teams were formed and with full rosters, she and long-time friend Tina Pic, picked up the pieces of Team Colavita, a legendary women’s organization with a storied history. Through trial and error, and with some serious bumps along the way, they cobbled together a group of women who would in time become sisters and cement themselves as the best crit team in the United States. They have the hardware to prove it, with the overall women’s team title and best U25 racer jersey from the 2019 USACRITS competition. Listen to their story here.

The women of Team Colavita, Sun City Criterium, 2019. Photo Courtesy of USACRITS.

Follow the team on Instagram @colavitacavaliered_oro or Christina @gokeysmith.

And don’t forget to visit their website.

Episode 34: August 19, 2020: In Formation featuring Eric Hill and Zach Gregg of Project Echelon

The motto of Project Echelon. Photo by SnowyMountain Photography.

Zach Gregg in yellow at the Tour of Southern Highlands, pre-Covid 2020. Photo by SnowyMountain Photography.

Everyday 22 veterans commit suicide in the United States. It’s a sad reality that has plagued our nation for far too long. In the absence of comprehensive public assistance programs, private citizens and organizations have stepped up to provide much needed services to this community. Enter Eric Hill of Project Echelon. After a veteran friend of his made his third attempt at suicide Eric acted to create a program to help veterans confront the emotional and psychological struggles they face through physical activity. At the same time he created an elite cycling team to help spread the message beyond Wisconsin and the Midwest. Thus was born Project Echelon the team, and the foundation.

Move forward 5 years and that team is now one of the best in the country and poised to start European campaigns in addition to their domestic schedule. This is where Zach Gregg comes in, already a collegiate national champion, and at 27 years old, at the beginning of an incredible career in bike racing. Zach’s rise in the sport mirrored that of his new team, coming from obscurity in 2016 to winning the general classification this year at The Tour of the Southern Highlands, he has quickly become a leader on Project Echelon, by his actions.

But when Covid 19 brought the in-real life season to a halt. Eric, Zach and Project Echelon went online into virtual racing where they have fundamentally altered its development.

Eric Hill of Project Echelon. Photo by SnowyMountain Photography

Follow the team on Instagram @projectechelonracing follow Eric @erhill and Zach @zachgregg3.

And don’t forget to visit their website www.projectechelonracing.com.

Episode 33: August 5, 2020: Reviresco featuring Ryan Cady of Eliel, Simon Marks of Feature Story News, and Spencer Haugh of the Slow Ride Podcast

The women of ButcherBox in the Eliel kit, photo by Patrick Daly Photography, San Diego 2020 (pre-covid).

Alex McLaughlin of ButhcerBox Cycling in his Eliel kit, photo by Patrick Daly, San Diego 2020.

Reviresco is a latin word which translates multiple ways; but our favorite is “I shall rise again.” Six months into the quarantine and amidst social turmoil we are confronted with unprecedented challenges to our cycling community. Those challenges face not just individual bike racers; but also the companies in the cycling industry. We are learning just how interconnected we all are, the lack of races means less marketing opportunities for clothing manufacturers, less bike racing means people are foregoing upgrading equipment and bike companies are struggling to keep up with a demand that went through the roof at the outset of the quarantine.

The events of 2020 have exposed the limits of our industry; but also they are creating new opportunities. In this episode we speak with 3 storytellers about the industry. First we speak with Ryan Cady of Eliel Cycling Apparel about creating a brand and what it takes to grow a company in the challenges of normal life. Then we speak with Simon Marks of Feature Story News about the macro impacts of the economy facing North America. We also talk to Spencer Haugh, the genius behind the Slow Ride Podcast and a life-long cycling insider about how 2020 is impacting our narrow part of the world.

Follow Eliel on IG @elielcycling. Follow Simon on Twitter @SimonMarksFSN. Follow Spencer on Twitter @spencerhaugh and The Slow Ride Podcast @TheSlowRidePod.

Harriet Owen, ButcherBox Cycling in Eliel at the Tour de Murietta, San Diego, CA 2020, photo by Patrick Daly Photography.

Episode 32: July 22, 2020: A Message from the Future featuring Maize Wimbush of Team Twenty20 and her father Mark

With the stormy present surrounding us all the time, sometimes it’s hard to remember that the future exists, and that the sun will rise tomorrow. Judging by the athletes who make up the juniors ranks, that future may be way brighter than we think. Take Maize Wimbush of the Team Twenty20 Junior Team, and a 14-year old from southern Maryland. Maize is already a multi-time champion in the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association; but she’s set her sights on an even loftier goal— becoming the first African American woman to represent Team USA in cycling at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. We had the opportunity to sit down with Maize and her father Mark to talk about her growing up a bike racer and how she’s primed herself to be one of the next great ones. But beyond that, this episode explores the issue of diversity in bike racing and how it takes a whole community to raise a champion. This community must be strong and vibrant, because Maize’s future looks solid.

Follow Maize’s story on Instagram @amaizencyclist or her team, @teamtwenty20.

Episode 31: July 8, 2020: Titanium, Sait Arana, Kelly Benefits Strategies

Titanium was first discovered in Europe in the late 1700s. Its value was immediately apparent as a lightweight yet incredibly strong metal. It goes into our bikes, and in some cases our bodies. After coming to the United States from Colombia, Sait Arana started racing bikes in the Mid-Atlantic in 2015. His rise up the ranks was legendary and in 2019 he landed himself on a UCI continental team, Skyline Bicycles. The bike racing world was his oyster. Then, at Spartanburg, he caught the edge of a metal crowd control barrier at full speed and found himself in the hospital. That crash earned him a titanium rod in his right arm and recalibrated what he considers important in the bike racing world.

2020 dawns with him sporting a slightly darker shade of green for Kelly Benefits Strategies and a positive attitude about life on and off the bike. That’s where this story picks up, I was lucky enough to get him to come over and hang out with me in the courtyard for a socially distant in-person interview.

Follow Sait on IG @saitaranofficial or his team Kelly Benefits Strategies on IG @kbs_cycling

Episode 30: June 24, 2020: Mr. Automatic, Tom Gibbons Automatic Racing

USA Crits leaderboard after the 2019 San Rafael Sunset Criterium (left to right) Justin Williams, Legion of LA, Tom Gibbons, Automatic Racing, Connor Sallee, ButcherBox Cycling.

Tom in the USA Crits Colavita Leader’s Jersey at the 2019 Littleton Criterium. He loves racing at night.

In Mr. Automatic, the 2019 USA Crits men's individual champion Tom Gibbons of Automatic Racing joins Rob from the back porch of a cabin in Idaho City, ID, to talk about the proper pronunciation of Boise. After getting that out of the way, we voyage on to "is it really the dream we think it is to race in Belgium." But mostly we focus on the place we all love and know-- criterium racing and what it takes to be the best in the country. Follow him on IG @vandergibbon and Automatic Racing @automatic_racing. And visit the Automatic Endurance website.

We also announce, in this episode that I will donate $1 per every mile I ride from June 24 - July 8 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to help support the continuing struggle for racial justice and equality. Please consider donating yourself as well.

Episode 29: June 10, 2020: Even Cleaner Faster Better with ButcherBox Cycling

Photo by Patrick Daly Photography. Left-to-Right Dino Piskopanis, Steve Cullen, and Steven Ramirez.

Photo by Patrick Daly Photography of Steve Cullen at the 2020 Tour de Murrieta, in California.

This episode was intended on being the first installment in a season-long documentary about the ButcherBox Cycling team. It features the three founders of the organization and they have a message for the cycling community-- we can do better. Unfortunately, most of the other episodes have been claimed by the lack of racing this year. But that doesn't stunt the message of this organization and its mission to bring human-high performance to city centers and downtown criteriums everywhere.

Follow them on Instagram @butcherboxcycling

or on their website: www.fasturdaysracingalliance.com

I had the privilege of spending a week with this team as they went through their team camp just outside of San Diego, CA. It was an incredible opportunity to see how, from the bottom of they were refocusing the way that bike racing is done. Dialed in and built for criterium racing, these women and me knew their mission and were working their way to get there for the 2020.

The women of ButcherBox Cycling training in California, March 2020. Photo by Patrick Daly Photography.

Episode 28: May 20, 2020: Flamingo Racer

Madison Kelly of CWA Racing p/b Trek

The time away from the hustle of commuting and office jobs has given some of us a little bit more time to think and an opportunity to be a bit more introspective than normal. So we thought we’d use that extra bit of introspection to talk with this week’s guest Madison Kelly of CWA Racing p/b Trek about her earliest memories of bike racing and what motivated her to come back time and again to the pointy end of the peloton. We also ask what is it that defines success in racing and it isn’t always finishing on the podium.

Follow Madison on Instagram @madison_m_kelly or check out her team @cwa_racing.

And definitely don’t miss the CWA Racing p/b Trek website. Or for more views of these super cool Safetti kits and the remainder of their lineup, click here.

Episode 27: May 8, 2020: Our Criterium Nation with USA Crits

The men of CLIF Bar and ButcherBox lining up before the Benchmark Twilight criterium in August 2019. It was all on the line in the USA Crits team competition at the series finale, and the gloves definitely came off. Photo courtesy of USA Crits.

As Steve Cullen of ButcherBox eloquently put it back in Episode 21, criteriums are America, they are the ultimate test of racers, machines, and teams. They are also a style of racing that lends well toward modern cycling media and with a huge fan engagement both at the event and remotely, the crit could quite possibly be the way forward for road racing in America. If we let it. And we see no reason why not, so we dive in with Scott Morris of USA Crits to talk about the league that he and others are working to create— a legitimate professional criterium league complete with standards, expectations, and savvy marketing.

Follow all the action from 2019 and in the future with USA Crits by visiting its website. Or find your favorite racer in any number of competitions and get ready to follow him or her in the future by going to Road-Results.com.

Follow USA Crits on Instagram or Twitter (@usacrits). Or check out the live-ish replays featuring expert commentary from the racers.

Episode 26: April 22, 2020: Gravel an Intro for Road Racers Featuring Amanda Naumann and Adam Mills

Amanda Naumann, 2 x Dirty Kanza winner. Photo by Peter Morning, courtesy of Amanda Naumann.

Adam Mills of Source Endurance. Photo by Danny Munson courtesy of Adam Mills.

Now might be the best time in the past couple of years to give something new a shot. This is a message for myself as much as it is for anyone else. The popularity of gravel racing and riding is on the rise and the industry is pushing people to explore and test the limits of their equipment. In this episode we offer an intro course into the who, what, where, when, and how of gravel taught by two of the best in the game- Amanda Naumann, 2x Dirty Kanza winner and Adam Mills of Source Endurance the promoter of the Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp.

Follow Amanda on Instagram (@amanda_panda_) or Twitter (@_amanda_panda_) and Adam Mills on Instagram (@the_adam_mills) or Twitter (@worldofmills).

Adam Mills during the Belgian Waffle Ride Survival Camp. Photo by Danny Munson courtesy of Adam Mills.

Some high quality spreadsheet artistry from Colin Reuter, lead developer BikeReg.com showing the breakdown of gravel registrants and the differences across the disciplines. All data is based on events that use BikeReg and is nationwide. So yes, this includes MidSouth but no it does not in DK.

For more on gravel visit the Gravel Cyclist and for all your gear needs check out Pure Gravel.

Episode 25: April 8, 2020: Lily Williams The Golden Girl

The 2020 season has been interrupted moving forward, but it doesn’t mean that cycling didn’t happen in 2020. Just ask Lily Williams of Rally Cycling and Team USA. She earned her rainbow stripes in the team pursuit in Berlin. Alone that is worth the story; but there is way more to Lily than just being a world champion. In this episode we talk about what it’s like to be an Olympic hopeful, her rise to prominence in cycling and how it took a total burnout in her prior life in track to discovery the simple joys of just being on a bike.

Follow Lily on Instagram: @willy_lilliams or on Twitter: @runt2pb

And learn more about her team Rally Cycling and all their great partners. And don't forget to register your bike at Bike Index.

Watch her and her teammates, Chloe, Jennifer, Emma win the rainbow jersey.

Before there was road or track there was CX. Photo by Ethan Glading courtesy of Lily Williams.

Episode 24: March 25, 2020: Life and Cycling in the Time of Coronavirus

The era of social distancing is upon us. Stay safe everyone.

The coronavirus pandemic may be a defining moment in our lifetimes, and it certainly has been a story that has, and will continue, to dominant the world and our news cycles. It definitely has had an impact on our lives including the sport of bike racing. With events being postponed/cancelled, and an uncertain future, we are confronted with options on how to respond. In this episode we change the script a bit and talk with four different people from four different parts of the sport to see how it is effecting them.

First we speak with Bill Schieken, @CXHairs on Twitter and Instagram, about his views on the impact the virus has had on the cycling season and the emotions that come with it. Then we turn to Zack Allison, @zacharylallison on Instagram, a cycling coach for Source Endurance (www.source-e.net), a pro with Team CLIF Bar Cycling, @clifbarracing on Instagram, and an event director for the FoCo Fondo, @focofondo on IG. Zack tells us how he’s approaching the situation when it comes to his event and how Team CLIF Bar is managing to maintain its focus without racing.

Up third is Ali Sheehan, @ali.sheehan on IG, you may remember her British accent from last season’s show about her journey to the US from England to explore our crit scene. She had an adventure three times as large planned for this year and because of the virus it’s all been interrupted. That would upset the best of us; but Ali shows us how she’s managing and keeping a positive attitude despite it all. The episode wraps up with Adam Pulford, @coach_AP on Insta and Twitter, a cycling coach for Carmichael Training Systems (trainright.com) and provider of perspective. As always, Coach Adam helps us see the forest for the trees and dial in on the things that are really critical.