Podcasts about Pinarello

Unbound has become the epicenter for not just the latest gravel bike tech but also some of the most interesting equipment choices of the year. Alvin Holbrook spent the week in Emporia, Kansas, tracking the race and also tracking down prototype bikes from Orbea, Pinarello, and Specialized. He also found Lachlan Morton's Cannondale Topstone with its water-carrying Tailfin rack and custom front bag, some unreleased rubber from Pirelli, and what most of us would consider a reverse tire set-up that ended up winning the race. 

Dans cet épisode, on discute avec Charles Ouimet, influenceur cycliste et créateur de contenu, des grandes tendances qui transforment l'industrie du vélo. Gravel, Vélo à Assistance Électrique (VAE), Direct-to-Consumer, retour des vélos aéro : on fait le tour des enjeux et des opportunités. Est-ce que les marques traditionnelles sont en train de perdre la game ? Est-ce que l'influence pèse plus que l'expertise et la connaissance? À écouter pour comprendre où s'en va l'industrie cycliste en 2025.

We ask a pro mechanic who races at a domestic level what bike he intends to buy in 2025. What are the biggest issues facing home mechanics and Chris gives us a Peaks Challenge wrap up.

Diego Colosio is one of the most experienced sales executives in the cycling business today. Diego's journey spans over three decades from building frames in a small Lombardi area workshop to leading global sales for iconic brands like 3T, Cinelli, Colnago, Bianchi, and now Pinarello. We explore his remarkable career, the evolution of the industry and his unique perspective on leadership shaped by his philosophy of being "The owner of your face" which is, in other words, your reputation.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

Most Kiwis will know the name Mark Hadlow. The NZ Order of Merit recipient is best known internationally for his roles in King Kong and the Hobbit, but he has his fingers in many pies. In 2017, Hadlow had a one man show called MAMIL (Middle Aged Man in Lycra), exploring the male midlife crisis and the way many of them turn to road cycling. The show received rave reviews, touring the country for eight years. Seven years on, Hadlow has created a sequel – GOMIL, standing for Grumpy Old Man in Lycra, premiering in Christchurch in early 2025. He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it was great being back in the saddle – literally. “The show opens with a big sequence, so it's really interesting getting back on the Pinarello again,” he said. “Oh goodness me, that was fun.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Esta semana hemos tenido algunas novedades interesantes como la nueva Colnago Y1Rs con la que Tadej Pogačar va a correr la próxima temporada; o la nueva Specialized Chisel Comp EVO... el concepto EVO, con horquilla de 130 mm, llega a la doble de XC y cuadro de aluminio D'Aluisio Smartweld. Evidentemente hemos analizado estas dos nuevas bicicletas. Pero es que también hemos dedicado un buen rato al hecho de que Pidcock vaya a correr en carretera con las bicis SCOTT de su nuevo equipo Q36.5 y en montaña y ciclocross con Pinarello. Esto nos ha dado para debatir un buen rato sobre los patrocinios y los intereses financieros que hay en el ciclismo. Igualmente hemos dedicado un buen rato a analizar lo que implica la llegada de Aleix Espargaró al ciclismo, el papel que puede tener el ex-piloto de MotoGP en el Lidl-Trek y hasta dónde puede llegar su carrera en este deporte. Este episodio del podcast ha sido posible gracias al apoyo de la marca alemana FOCUS y su último lanzamiento: la FOCUS JAM2, una e-bike de corte Trail / All Mountain tiene todo lo necesario para disfrutar al máximo en los senderos gracias a su motor Bosch CX y la posibilidad de elegir entre baterías de 600 o 800 WH. Tienes más detalles en https://www.focus-bikes.com/es_es/ Las 5 claves de la nueva Colnago Y1Rs de Tadej Pogacar: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/las-5-claves-de-la-nueva-colnago-y1rs-de-tadej-pogacar Tom Pidcock seguirá compitiendo con Pinarello en XC: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/tom-pidcock-seguira-compitiendo-con-pinarello-en-xc Shimano entra en el UAE Team Emirates como patrocinador oficial: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/shimano-entra-en-el-uae-team-emirates-como-patrocinador-oficial ¡Se confirma! Aleix Espargaró se une al equipo Lidl-Trek: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/se-confirma-aleix-espargaro-se-une-al-equipo-lidl-trek Nueva Specialized Chisel Comp EVO: más recorrido delante para la XC de aluminio: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/nueva-specialized-chisel-comp-evo

On this week's Spin Cycle, we dive into the biggest milk-related controversy to hit cycling since Eddy Merckx hung up his wheels, plus:Tom Pidcock's unique sponsorship arrangement with Scott and Pinarello, and the implications for Ineos and Q36.5.David Gaudu's new look and philosophical approach to racing.Tadej Pogačar's 2025 race schedule, which includes a return to the Tour of Flanders and a possible Giro d'Italia appearance.Maxim Van Gils's transfer to Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe and the team's strengthened Classics squad.Remco Evenepoel's new safety campaign and the Dutch reach technique.And lots, lots more.Join Escape Collective for more of the cycling content you love.

It's a big week in the cycling tech world with Strava dropping a bomb on many connected apps. To learn more about what this upcoming change could mean for you, Ray Maker, aka DCRainMaker, joins the pod.Following that chat, you'll hear from Suvi, Ronan, Dave, and Brad on various topics, ranging from Rouleur Live, a bunch of new bikes, and answering a couple of member questions. Plus, Dave shares something on his mind that then follows a different path.As usual, we encourage you to visit escapecollective.com to see and learn more about the products and themes discussed.Enjoy!Time stamps:1:00 - DCRainMaker joins to explain Strava's unexpected API changes21:30 - Rouleur Live highlights25:30 - Reap Type 300 gravel bike and rapid prototyping32:40 - On our mind: products shouldn't be annoying to use and an unexpected tangent into disc brake caliper piston service and Dave's tool testing43:30 - Bunch of new bikes, starting with the Mondraker Arid Carbon gravel bike46:30 - Argonaut's Supernaut48:00 - Colnago has a new steel bike, the Steelnovo52:25 - Pinarello's entry-level F1 road bike56:00 - DT Swiss partners on a dynamo hub and complete wheels59:50 - Ask a Wrench: Brake feel and air in Shimano brakes1:09:00 - Ask a Expert: Why compliance matters beyond the tyres

Brian Park and Sarah sat down with Federico Sbrissa, Pinarello's Chief Marketing Officer and Federico Meneghetti, the R&D Engineer on the mountain bike project just after Tom Pidcock took the win at the Nove Mesto World Cup at the end of May. We talked about why Pinarello decided to make a mountain bike after a decade without one, how their prototype mountain bike came to win a World Cup race just four months after the project was started, and what's next for Pinarello in the mountain bike space. We also go into a lot of detail about the suspension, geometry and layup of the Dogma XC cross-country mountain bike.

It's time to geek out. This week Brad Copeland, Ronan McLaughlin, and Dave Rome are on the pod to talk all the major news in the world of tech and what's on their minds.There's a new road bike from Pinarello, and a new head unit that promises to be self-sustaining, and a more affordable full suspension race bike from Specialized. Plus Dave and Brad share some things on their minds.Forward warning and an apology as the sound quality on this one doesn't meet our usual standard. Dave was already under the weather, and if that weren't enough, he then had mic issues. The information is there, it's just Dave sounds like virus-riddled bot!Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.Also, we'd love to get your feedback on this show and our other shows. Share your thoughts at escapecollective.com/podcast-survey.Time stamps:2:24 - New Pinarello Dogma11:50 - Coros' entry into head units22:05 - More new alloy from Specialized, this time the Chisel FS28:33 - Spoken has been run, a bonus episode is incoming29:25 - Spare seatpost length is on Brad's mind33:30 - Dave explains why he's a reformed chain waxer43:50 - Quick tech bite in the form of Giant's new kids bike50:05 - Brad shares a tip for getting tips

It's time to geek out. This week Brad Copeland, Ronan McLaughlin, and Dave Rome are on the pod to talk all the major news in the world of tech and what's on their minds.There's a new road bike from Pinarello, and a new head unit that promises to be self-sustaining, and a more affordable full suspension race bike from Specialized. Plus Dave and Brad share some things on their minds.Forward warning and an apology as the sound quality on this one doesn't meet our usual standard. Dave was already under the weather, and if that weren't enough, he then had mic issues. The information is there, it's just Dave sounds like virus-riddled bot!Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.Also, we'd love to get your feedback on this show and our other shows. Share your thoughts at escapecollective.com/podcast-survey.Time stamps:2:24 - New Pinarello Dogma11:50 - Coros' entry into head units22:05 - More new alloy from Specialized, this time the Chisel FS28:33 - Spoken has been run, a bonus episode is incoming29:25 - Spare seatpost length is on Brad's mind33:30 - Dave explains why he's a reformed chain waxer43:50 - Quick tech bite in the form of Giant's new kids bike50:05 - Brad shares a tip for getting tips

A lot has happened in the world of cycling tech over the past week. The Dauphine has teased new bikes getting dialled in for the Tour. While Unbound has shown that gravel tech is still progressing at a rapid rate, including wider tyres, new 1x drivetrains, and aero-shaped suspension.There's a full cast of geeks to chat about it, with Ronan Mc Laughlin tuning in to discuss what's new in the road space, while Dave Rome and new-old voice Brad Copeland discuss the rest.Of course the geeks discuss something on their mind which should prove helpful for anyone with a stuck crank. The episode closes with tech news including Fulcrum's new Sharq wheels, a new gravel race handlebar from Pro, a well-priced mountain bike shifter upgrade from SRAM, and more.Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.Also, we'd love to get your feedback on this show and our other shows. Share your thoughts at escapecollective.com/podcast-survey.Time stamps:4:26 - A swarm of new road bikes are coming from Canyon, Willier, Pinarello, and more24:00 - A corrections corner24:51 - New tech seen at Unbound Gravel, including things from SRAM, wider wheels, aero Fox suspension, and new bikes42:20 - On our mind: stubborn crank bolts and methods for overcoming them55:00 – Bianchi's ribbon-cutting ceremony has us giggling58:20 – Fulcrum's new wavy-shaped Sharq wheels1:02:40 – Pro Bike Gear's new Discover Aero Carbon handlebar for better GRX integration1:08:10 - SRAM's new Pod Rocker upgrade for AXS

A lot has happened in the world of cycling tech over the past week. The Dauphine has teased new bikes getting dialled in for the Tour. While Unbound has shown that gravel tech is still progressing at a rapid rate, including wider tyres, new 1x drivetrains, and aero-shaped suspension.There's a full cast of geeks to chat about it, with Ronan Mc Laughlin tuning in to discuss what's new in the road space, while Dave Rome and new-old voice Brad Copeland discuss the rest.Of course the geeks discuss something on their mind which should prove helpful for anyone with a stuck crank. The episode closes with tech news including Fulcrum's new Sharq wheels, a new gravel race handlebar from Pro, a well-priced mountain bike shifter upgrade from SRAM, and more.Escape Collective's podcasts are made possible by our members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.Also, we'd love to get your feedback on this show and our other shows. Share your thoughts at escapecollective.com/podcast-survey.Time stamps:4:26 - A swarm of new road bikes are coming from Canyon, Willier, Pinarello, and more24:00 - A corrections corner24:51 - New tech seen at Unbound Gravel, including things from SRAM, wider wheels, aero Fox suspension, and new bikes42:20 - On our mind: stubborn crank bolts and methods for overcoming them55:00 – Bianchi's ribbon-cutting ceremony has us giggling58:20 – Fulcrum's new wavy-shaped Sharq wheels1:02:40 – Pro Bike Gear's new Discover Aero Carbon handlebar for better GRX integration1:08:10 - SRAM's new Pod Rocker upgrade for AXS

Oi, you there! You can't record your podcast around here…We've got a special bonus Dauphiné and election edition of the road.cc Podcast this week, because surely you didn't think we were going to ignore THAT incident, involving a seemingly super top secret new Pinarello Dogma and a stubborn British team at the key pre-Tour tune-up race, did you?So, with everyone (including a few other podcasts) talking about our tech team's run-in at the Dauphiné with the Ineos Grenadiers – who were steadfastly obstinate about refusing to allow any filming or photography around their shiny new bikes (despite said bikes appearing on TV all this week) – Jack, Ryan, Jamie, and Mat decided to go behind the scenes (or the team car, or the hedge) to discuss what really went on in France, and why pro teams continue to ‘play the game' when it comes to new bike tech. We also chat about the other new bikes Mat and Jamie spotted at the Dauphiné, and where bike tech is headed in the future. Oh, and why white handlebar tape is back in fashion…Meanwhile, in part two, Ryan and Jack were joined by Cycling UK's Sarah McMonagle to discuss that other big topic of the moment, the general election, and why cycling policy needs a reset come next month – before digging out our crystal balls to find out what active travel pledges (if any) will pop up in the major parties' manifestos over the next few weeks…

Today's episode is supported by BIKES ONLINE. Ride More For Less.Bikes Online US

In this conversation, Neil interviews Dimitris Katsanis, one of the world leading experts in bike design. They discuss the UCI regulations that govern bike design for road and track racing. Dimitris explains the evolution of bike design and the role of carbon fiber and titanium in creating lightweight and aerodynamic bikes. He also talks about his collaboration with Pinarello and the development of the Dogma F8 and F10 bikes. Dimitris emphasizes the importance of balancing weight, stiffness, and aerodynamics in bike design and the ongoing pursuit of improvement in the field. In this part of the conversation, Dimitris Katsanis discusses the evolution of bike design, the importance of aerodynamics and system drag reduction, the differences between track and road bike design, the interactions between the bike and rider, the impact of weight and aerodynamics in solo breakaways, the ongoing weight vs. aero debate, the role of stiffness in bike design, the relationship between stiffness and comfort in bike frames, and the potential of 3D printing and additive manufacturing in bike manufacturing. In this conversation, we also discuss the limitations of carbon fiber in bike design and the potential of 3D printing to overcome these limitations. He explains how 3D printing allows for the creation of custom shapes and internal structures that can improve the performance and weight of bike components. Katsanis shares examples of 3D printed handlebars and frames that are lighter than their carbon fiber counterparts. He also discusses the future of mass customization in bike design and the impact of regulations on innovation. Finally, he speculates on what bikes may look like in the future if design restrictions were lifted.Chapters06:40 Introduction and Background11:10 UCI Regulations and Bike Design17:48 Evolution of Bike Design and UCI Regulations25:27 Influence of Weight and Aerodynamics on Bike Performance32:01 Pushing the Limits of Aerodynamics37:16 Yaw Sensitivity and Aerofoil Sections40:53 Continual Improvement in Bike Design42:25 The Evolution of Bike Design42:51 Aerodynamics and System Drag Reduction44:21 Track vs. Road Bike Design47:05 Interactions Between Bike and Rider48:02 The Importance of Aero in Solo Breakaways53:00 Weight vs. Aero Debate56:00 The Impact of Weight on Performance58:04 The Role of Stiffness in Bike Design01:04:01 Stiffness and Comfort in Bike Frames01:11:56 Materials in Bike Design: Steel, Aluminum, Titanium, and Carbon Fiber01:18:08 The Potential of 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing01:19:45 The Limitations of Carbon Fiber01:21:41 The Potential of 3D Printing01:24:10 The Surprising Lightness of 3D Printed Titanium01:28:02 The Future of Mass Customization01:34:06 The Impact of Regulations on Bike Design01:43:09 Speculating on the Bike of the Future

Joshua Riddle is originally from North Carolina and and has been working in the cycling industry in Italy for 15 years. He started his career at Trek Italy 2010 which recently closed their doors due to consolidation of their European offices to Madrid.Joshua has worked in Marketing for Trek, Pinarello, Campagnolo, Basso Bikes, and is currently the Global Marketing Manager at Hayes Bicycles.I spoke with Joshua about the current state of the industry and the evolution of the bicycle market in recent years. We also discussed what he sees as unique about Italian cycling brands that the brands themselves often have a hard time recognizing.Read the latest 'The Business of Cycling' BlogSign up for 'The Business of Cycling' Newsletter

Tras muchos días ausentes, por diversos viajes y presentaciones, por fin logramos juntarnos los tres miembros de la redacción para recopilar y acercaros las últimas novedades del sector. Y comenzamos, precisamente, por el último viaje de J.Daniel Hernández, que ha estado visitando la sede de la firma DT Swiss, obviamente, en territorio suizo, para traernos novedades como el nuevo sistema Ratchet DEG o su familia de suspensiones. Saltamos a Italia para comentar que Pinarello ha puesto en el mercado las bicis con las que compiten los Pidcock y Ferrand-Prévot, tanto en sus versiones Dogma XC como en las 'sencillas' XC. Sin dejar el MTB, seguimos desgranando novedades procedentes del grupo FOX, como la nueva tija telescópica Transfer SL, el plato Race Face Era, los nuevos manillares Era y Turbine de esta misma marca o la nueva horquilla Marzocchi Super Z. No nos olvidamos tampoco de la competencia directa, RockShox, que recientemente presentó sus nuevas horquillas de trail y enduro, Psylo y Domain, así como una renovada Rudy XPLR de gravel. A nivel de neumáticos, Hutchinson nos trajo hace unos días su nueva línea de XC, representada por el mítico Python, mientras que Bontrager ha actualizado sus gamas de gravel, XC y trail, bautizando cada neumático, además, con nombres icónicos de cada disciplina. Nos nos olvidamos de las transmisiones y comentamos las últimas novedades de Shimano y su accesible ESSA, así como la nueva versión del motor E-P3+ de Polini para transmisiones por correa. Y acabamos este intenso programa revisando las novedades de Trek y su nueva luz+radar CarBack, la nueva Giant Stormguard E+3, el casco Lazer Verde KinetiCore, la Cannondale Synapse Neo... para finalizar hablando, una vez más de bujes, con las novedades en la colección Solix de Industry Nine. En este programa, además, estrenamos patrocinador: MMR. La marca asturiana ha renovado recientemente su gama Adrenaline de carretera, de la que puedes encontrar todos los detalles en este enlace: https://mmrbikes.com/ Aquí os dejamos las referencias a todos los contenidos: DT Swiss Ratchet DEG: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/dt-swiss-presenta-el-nuevo-sistema-ratchet-deg-que-equiparan-sus-bujes-240-deg Pinarello Dogma XC: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/pinarello-dogma-xc-y-xc-las-mtb-de-tom-pidcock-ya-estan-disponibles FOX Transfer SL: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/fox-transfer-2025-mas-fiable-con-menor-mantenimiento-4-tallas-y-recorrido-ajustable Race Face Era y Turbine: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/nuevo-plato-race-face-era-aluminio-carbono-y-acero-en-una-pieza-unica Marzocchi Super Z: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/nueva-marzocchi-super-z RockShox Psylo y Domain: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/nuevas-horquillas-rockshox-psylo-y-domain-mas-accesibles-para-trail-y-enduro Hutchinson Python: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/las-5-claves-del-nuevo-hutchinson-python Neumáticos Bontrager: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/bontrager-renueva-su-gama-de-neumaticos-para-xc-y-trail Shimano ESSA: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/nuevo-grupo-shimano-essa Polini E-P3+: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/polini-presenta-su-version-del-motor-e-p3-para-transmisiones-por-correa Trek CarBack: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/nueva-trek-carback-la-luz-de-dia-flare-ahora-con-radar Giant Stormguard E+3: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/giant-stormguard-e3-la-suv-de-giant-ahora-disponible-en-una-version-mas-economica Cannondale Synapse Neo: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/nueva-cannondale-synapse-neo-y-neo-allroad-con-motor-bosch-performance-line-sx-y-la Lazer Verde KinetiCore: https://www.maillotmag.com/actualidad/lazer-verde-kineticore-el-nuevo-casco-urbano-y-ecologico-de-la-marca-belga Industry Nine Solix: https://www.mtbpro.es/actualidad/nueva-familia-industry-nine-solix-tope-de-gama-para-gravel-y-carretera-sl-y-g-y-mtb-m

Welcome back to Geek Warning! In this week's edition of the regular show, Ronan and Dave discuss why current road bikes may not be ready for emerging trends in seated positions. Later Ronan shares a PSA related to multi-tools that turns out to be more of a Pick One and a rant.On the news side, the geeks discuss the new Cannondale Scalpel cross-country race bike. Pinarello has finally officially revealed its Bolide F HR that Italy will race on the track in Paris. There's more 3D-printed tech to discuss in the hubs of Scope's new and impressively light Artech wheels. And Dave gets excited at the chance to talk about Feedback Sports' new Pliers Wrench tool.As usual, the end of the episode is kept for a quick discussion of other interesting new things. There you'll hear about Wahoo's firmware update, another new Mirror saddle (the comfy 3D-printed type) from Specialized, and CeramicSpeed's new OSPW RS derailleur cages.Happy geeking!Time stamps:4:25 - Cannondale's new Scalpel is yet another 120 mm cross-country bike option9:10 - Pinarello's 3D-printed Bolide F HR track bike is now official15:10 - More 3D-printed tech with Scope's new Artech wheels23:40 - Feedback Sports release a Pliers Wrench28:00 - The limitations of modern road bike geometry is on Ronan's mind40:45 - A non-PSA that unexpectedly into a wider topic and Pick One about multi-tools53:40 – A firmware update to Wahoo head units55:15 – Specialized brings S-Works Mirror technology to the Phenom saddle56:04 - Our thoughts on CeramicSpeed's new OSPW RS1:01:00 - Where much of the Escape Collective team will be next week

Welcome back to Geek Warning! In this week's edition of the regular show, Ronan and Dave discuss why current road bikes may not be ready for emerging trends in seated positions. Later Ronan shares a PSA related to multi-tools that turns out to be more of a Pick One and a rant.On the news side, the geeks discuss the new Cannondale Scalpel cross-country race bike. Pinarello has finally officially revealed its Bolide F HR that Italy will race on the track in Paris. There's more 3D-printed tech to discuss in the hubs of Scope's new and impressively light Artech wheels. And Dave gets excited at the chance to talk about Feedback Sports' new Pliers Wrench tool.As usual, the end of the episode is kept for a quick discussion of other interesting new things. There you'll hear about Wahoo's firmware update, another new Mirror saddle (the comfy 3D-printed type) from Specialized, and CeramicSpeed's new OSPW RS derailleur cages.Happy geeking!Time stamps:4:25 - Cannondale's new Scalpel is yet another 120 mm cross-country bike option9:10 - Pinarello's 3D-printed Bolide F HR track bike is now official15:10 - More 3D-printed tech with Scope's new Artech wheels23:40 - Feedback Sports release a Pliers Wrench28:00 - The limitations of modern road bike geometry is on Ronan's mind40:45 - A non-PSA that unexpectedly into a wider topic and Pick One about multi-tools53:40 – A firmware update to Wahoo head units55:15 – Specialized brings S-Works Mirror technology to the Phenom saddle56:04 - Our thoughts on CeramicSpeed's new OSPW RS1:01:00 - Where much of the Escape Collective team will be next week

Are road cyclists bio-hacking, some new channels take flight in cycling YouTube, while comparing bikes is a thing again. Chapters00:00 intro00:30 Bio-Hacking On The Bike09:58 Mitch Boyer Blows Up14:53 Comparison Videos Are Back27:22 Zwift Pinarello Collab 31:34 Do Team Names Matter?41:41 Pro Continental Teams46:20 2024 Announcement Posts Grab a nero kit: https://nero-club.myshopify.comSUBSCRIBE On Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1tThe Nero Show is available on your favourite Podcast platformSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0UEODvANsVqrvSZV5TAqBvAmazon:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28558e66-2a6b-4ff5-a6bf-709f05b1ffe9Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nero-cycling-show-|-unfiltered-cycling-podcast/id1659229051 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Good chain lubes can extend the life of your drivetrain, and bad ones can shorten them – but do you know how much that might actually cost you? A new online calculator using Zero Friction Cycling's data aims to tell you just that. Our crew of geeks also pick their favorite road helmets, Ronan has some thoughts on stock component sizes, the UCI is at it again, 3T and Bianchi have some fancy new gravel bikes, and if come across some new Pinarellos that seem way, way too cheap, there might be a reason for that.Timestamps:6:03 – The UCI has updated their penalties, but it's probably not going to change anything10:07 – That cheap bottle of chain lube might actually cost you $5,000.17:20 – More bad news from the bike industry18:19 – Pinarello needs a better fence – and maybe a stronger door20:25 – Stock component sizes, chickens, and eggs32:54 – Our favorite road helmets47:50 – Bianchi's new Impulso RC gravel bike actually looks really good48:21 – 3T is going really, really big with its new Extrema Italia gravel bike

Good chain lubes can extend the life of your drivetrain, and bad ones can shorten them – but do you know how much that might actually cost you? A new online calculator using Zero Friction Cycling's data aims to tell you just that. Our crew of geeks also pick their favorite road helmets, Ronan has some thoughts on stock component sizes, the UCI is at it again, 3T and Bianchi have some fancy new gravel bikes, and if come across some new Pinarellos that seem way, way too cheap, there might be a reason for that.Timestamps:6:03 – The UCI has updated their penalties, but it's probably not going to change anything10:07 – That cheap bottle of chain lube might actually cost you $5,000.17:20 – More bad news from the bike industry18:19 – Pinarello needs a better fence – and maybe a stronger door20:25 – Stock component sizes, chickens, and eggs32:54 – Our favorite road helmets47:50 – Bianchi's new Impulso RC gravel bike actually looks really good48:21 – 3T is going really, really big with its new Extrema Italia gravel bike

Sticking with RIM brakes, Creepy cycling stalkers, Pinarello vs Specialized, and the TRUTH behind the MAAP ambassador program. Stoked to have Jen come in and chat with us, she certainly challenged us on more than our opinion on disc vs rim. SUBSCRIBE On Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1t Chapters 00:00 intro 00:30 Creeps On Bikes 09:27 Specialized SL6 vs Dogma 15:47 No More Racing? 24:30 Coolest Cyclist 30:32 No female Nero show? 47:12 riding or working? 49:45 expensive bike regrets 52:13 dogma froth? 59:16 The MAAP Story The Nero Show is available on your favourite Podcast platform Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UEODvANsVqrvSZV5TAqBv Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28558e66-2a6b-4ff5-a6bf-709f05b1ffe9 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nero-cycling-show-|-unfiltered-cycling-podcast/id1659229051 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bike chat, bike chat and some more bike chat.Pinarello, Bianchi, Ridley all launch new bikes, while we discuss our 2023 bike FLOPS. MVDP chooses to ride the Olympics MTB instead of the road race and we chat about how to keep you mates riding bikes. SUBSCRIBE On Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1t Chapters 00:00 intro 00:29 Pinarello X 06:44 Ridley Falcn 10:44 Bianchi Specialissima 14:52 Bike Flops of 2023 30:00 Pro Tour Transfers 39:57 Dylan Johnson 46:11 Mates That Leave Cycling 53:38 Scary Masters Races Footage courtesy of @davidarthur The Nero Show is available on your favourite Podcast platform Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UEODvANsVqrvSZV5TAqBv Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28558e66-2a6b-4ff5-a6bf-709f05b1ffe9 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nero-cycling-show-|-unfiltered-cycling-podcast/id1659229051 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roughly a decade after problems first started surfacing with its bonded aluminum road crankarms, Shimano has finally issued an official recall for certain Ultegra and Dura-Ace models – and we have some thoughts on the matter. SRAM is also making its long-awaited entry into the e-MTB scene with its new Powertrain system, Specialized wants people to start thinking about e-bike performance a little differently, X marks the spot for Pinarello, and there's some dodgy stuff going on out there when it comes to ultralight road wheels. Timestamps: 5:16 – Shimano's bill has finally come due 22:35 – SRAM is now entered the e-MTB game 27:45 – How much does e-motor efficiency matter? 32:05 – Pinarello's new endurance road bikes 40:31 – Canyon sure does like its CP0018 three-piece integrated cockpit 46:28 – Ignore those ETRTO rim dimensions at your own peril 51:50 – Introducing Ronan's new podcast: Performance Process! 55:58 – Dave has gone down the eMTB rabbit hole 1:00:01 – Should MTB rims switch to Schrader valves? 1:04:22 – Ronan's view on aero gains? Testing, testing, testing

Roughly a decade after problems first started surfacing with its bonded aluminum road crankarms, Shimano has finally issued an official recall for certain Ultegra and Dura-Ace models – and we have some thoughts on the matter. SRAM is also making its long-awaited entry into the e-MTB scene with its new Powertrain system, Specialized wants people to start thinking about e-bike performance a little differently, X marks the spot for Pinarello, and there's some dodgy stuff going on out there when it comes to ultralight road wheels.Timestamps:5:16 – Shimano's bill has finally come due22:35 – SRAM is now entered the e-MTB game27:45 – How much does e-motor efficiency matter?32:05 – Pinarello's new endurance road bikes40:31 – Canyon sure does like its CP0018 three-piece integrated cockpit46:28 – Ignore those ETRTO rim dimensions at your own peril51:50 – Introducing Ronan's new podcast: Performance Process!55:58 – Dave has gone down the eMTB rabbit hole1:00:01 – Should MTB rims switch to Schrader valves?1:04:22 – Ronan's view on aero gains? Testing, testing, testing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Stephens chats to Josh Tarling about his breakthrough season with Ineos Grenadiers. Recorded just days after he became British National Time Trial Champion, and weeks before he earned a podium at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow, Josh is relaxed and candid as he chats about his goals for the season. A fascinating retrospective listen, the young rider fantasises about custom Pinarello paint jobs, describes how he keeps pre-ride stress at bay, and shows his knowledge of local chippies in his hometown of Aberaeron. 

Rouleur editor Edward Pickering catches up with photojournalist James Startt to chat about the first nine days of the 2023 Tour de France. And Dan Cavallari hosts the latest instalment of the Rouleur tech podcast with an interview of Pinarello's chief of operations Maurizio Bellin and Pinarello's chief marketing officer Federico Sbrissa to talk about the Italian company's two new line-ups for 2023, the F and X series.We're grateful to GCN+ for supporting Rouleur Conversations through the Tour de France. Subscribe to their excellent coverage of all things cycling and racing and get a 15 per cent discount by visiting www.gcn.eu/rouleur15.Thanks also to BMC for supporting our Tour coverage. Their excellent Riders Digest podcast can be found by searching for Riders Digest wherever you get your pods, and we urge you to subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Tour de France can't be that big of a deal. After all, they couldn't even sign up 200 participants! But despite the low turnout, there's quite the disproportionate amount of new tech to discover there, including a mysterious new Ridley aero all-rounder road racer, new tires and saddles from Specialized, a hint that a new SRAM Red groupset may be pending, new aero helmets, comfy-looking shoes, and upsized wheels from Campagnolo. We also discuss Pinarello and Tune recently changing hands, how everything new in the MTB world seems to be designed for e-bikes, the return of CNC machining, and why your suspension fork is probably feeling sadly neglected. 3:50 — A sneak peek at Ridley's new semi-aero all-rounder 7:09 — Specialized now has road tires just for wet conditions 15:50 — Yet another 3D-printed saddle model from Specialized 21:16 — Is a new SRAM Red groupset coming soon? 27:15 — Some funky new shoes from Q36.5 29:13 — Ekoi's got a new aero road helmet 30:31 — Campagnolo is going wide with its new Bora Ultra WTO 45 wheels 32:31 — Mmm, built-in satellite shifters 36:34 — Pinarello has a new owner 42:40 — Lightweight has purchased Tune to create a German weight-weenie powerhouse 45:35 — Garbaruk has a new CNC-machined road and gravel crankset 49:30 — CNC machining is back in a big way 56:21 — UDH isn't coming for road bikes; it's already here 1:05:35 — MTB R&D seems mostly aimed at e-bikes these days 1:13:49 – Your suspension fork probably isn't working as well as you think it is

The Tour de France can't be that big of a deal. After all, they couldn't even sign up 200 participants! But despite the low turnout, there's quite the disproportionate amount of new tech to discover there, including a mysterious new Ridley aero all-rounder road racer, new tires and saddles from Specialized, a hint that a new SRAM Red groupset may be pending, new aero helmets, comfy-looking shoes, and upsized wheels from Campagnolo.We also discuss Pinarello and Tune recently changing hands, how everything new in the MTB world seems to be designed for e-bikes, the return of CNC machining, and why your suspension fork is probably feeling sadly neglected.3:50 — A sneak peek at Ridley's new semi-aero all-rounder7:09 — Specialized now has road tires just for wet conditions15:50 — Yet another 3D-printed saddle model from Specialized21:16 — Is a new SRAM Red groupset coming soon?27:15 — Some funky new shoes from Q36.529:13 — Ekoi's got a new aero road helmet30:31 — Campagnolo is going wide with its new Bora Ultra WTO 45 wheels32:31 — Mmm, built-in satellite shifters36:34 — Pinarello has a new owner42:40 — Lightweight has purchased Tune to create a German weight-weenie powerhouse45:35 — Garbaruk has a new CNC-machined road and gravel crankset49:30 — CNC machining is back in a big way56:21 — UDH isn't coming for road bikes; it's already here1:05:35 — MTB R&D seems mostly aimed at e-bikes these days1:13:49 – Your suspension fork probably isn't working as well as you think it is Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Modern cross-country mountain bike racing is absolutely on fire these days. The riders are faster, more skilled, and more interesting than ever; the courses are technical and physically demanding; and the bikes are so capable they'd put the "trail bikes" of yesteryear to shame. But one has to look no further than some dyed-in-the-wool road brands to see how hot the segment is right now, because even they're getting into the game.Also, in this week's show: (some) bikes are getting cheaper, there are prototype cross-country suspension forks everywhere, and the UCI dropped a logistical bomb on teams just weeks ahead of the Tour.Episode time stamps (oh, that's new for us!):2:35 - BMC's TT bike and company news.13:30 - Pinarello is returning to mountain bikes.16:35 - What are P1 Race Tech mountain bike wheels?19:29 - Cervelo getting deeper into XC.21:23 - A flurry of forks and the boom of XC.30:35 - Lauf drops Seigla prices in the USA. Plus other price drops.35:30 - Will we see new UCI technical controls at the TDF?49:45 - The growth of tyre inserts.60:00 - On our minds and debating cup and cone bearing hubs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pinarello has refreshed its Nytro electric bike range. Alongside the new F-Series and X-Series bikes launched in February, it's clear the Italian brand hasn't been sitting still through lockdowns, supply chain problems and global uncertainty.  For this edition of the BikeRadar podcast, senior tech editor Ashley Quinlan sits down with Federico Sbrissa, Pinarello's marketing maestro, to discuss the new line-up. We also find out how Pinarello appears to be immune to the pressures experienced by many other bike brands.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pinarello has launched its new F-Series race and X-Series endurance bikes, and Ash was on-site to get a first glimpse of the new bike we're fast coming to think of as the ‘baby Dogma'.  In this episode, Ash sits down with Maurizio Bellin, Pinarello's chief of operations, to get the inside track on the new bikes and their technical development.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The team talk Cav, Pinarello, snow cross and.......maternity leave?

Content warning: eating disorders, trauma If you need a huge dose of inspiration, this episode is for you. Our guest, ultra runner and gravel cyclist Hillary Allen, best known for her incredible comeback after the near-fatal accident she survived during an endurance race in Norway, is the definition of resilience. Hillary is a Boulder-based ultra-endurance athlete who races for both the Brooks running team the Pinarello gravel bike team. She's also a scientist with a Master's degree in neuroscience and physiology, a running coach, and the author of Out and Back, a memoir chronicling her incredible story of recovery and resilience. Hillary was at the pinnacle of her running career, when, while competing in 2017 a sky race in Norway, when one misstep almost cost her life. She fell 150 feet off of a ridge when and had to be airlifted out with a long list of injuries. Doctors said she would never run again. Not only is she running again, she's crushing it. With strength training and gravel cycling in her repertoire, she recently complete her first 100-miler at the UTMB, where she placed third American.In this interview she shares how she got into trail running, her eating disorder recovery, what motivated her through her arduous rehab process, how she manages strength training, running, and cycling, how her creative process helps with her mental health, how she keeps perfectionism at bay, why she wrote her memoir Out and Back, what community means to her, how she healed from trauma, and so much more. Connect with HillaryWebsite FacebookInstagramHillary Allen - Athlete - Brooks Running | LinkedInHillary Allen - YouTubeTrail Society on Apple PodcastsLinks/ResourcesAmelia BooneRea KolblBig Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Hillary's newsletter (sign up and get a free workbook)

In late September, it became official: 18-year-old Michael Leonard signed with Ineos Grenadiers for three years. About a month later, he returned home to Oakville, Ont., from his base in Italy. He was staring at his new team bike, but couldn't ride it. In this episode, find out why Leonard wasn't taking that sweet new Pinarello out, as well as how he landed on the pro cycling's richest team.Also, the Matts talk riding in Italy—where Hansen was recently to check out Campagnolo's facility—and masters cyclocross. Pioro had a short CX season riding across fields, sliding in mud and running through sand. Do you know what drivetrain was on his bike? It's Classified. No, really. It's Classified. Find out more.

With the news that Pinarello's new Bolide F HR 3D track bike is the first UCI-approved 3D printed bike, Ronan visited Metron Dimitris Katsanis and find out how a bike is 3D printed and why.

I partenopei azzannano la Cremonese e provano la fuga. Nel mondo delle due ruote, l'azzurro Filippo Ganna riporta il record dell'ora in Italia, in sella ad una Pinarello ispirata... alle megattere.

In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Christoph Jenny, Co-Founder von Planted, über die erfolgreich abgeschlossene Series-B-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 70 Millionen Euro. Planted stellt Fleisch aus alternativen Proteinen her und verwendet dafür einen neuartigen Biostructuring-Ansatz, der Proteinstrukturierung und Biotechnologie kombiniert. So können alternative Proteine in jeder Größe, Form sowie Faserung hergestellt werden, sodass selbst größere Fleischstücke mit komplexer Struktur, Textur, Saftigkeit und Zartheit in der Produktpalette zu finden sind. Die biostrukturierten Proteine könnten laut der Vision des Startups zukünftig tierisches Fleisch in Bezug auf Geschmack, Nachhaltigkeit, Gesundheit, Produktivität und Preis schlagen. Planted verwendet ausschließlich natürliche Zutaten und verzichtet auf Zusatzstoffe. Alle Produkte werden in einer transparenten Glashaus-Produktion in Kemptthal produziert. Die Produktionskapazität liegt hier mittlerweile bei einer Tonne Fleisch pro Stunde. Neben der Schweiz ist das Fleisch auch in Deutschland, Österreich, Frankreich, Italien und in Großbritannien in Restaurants und im Einzelhandel erhältlich. Zudem liefert Planted über den eigenen Webshop europaweit an Endkundinnen und -kunden. Das FoodTech wurde im Jahr 2019 als Spin-Off der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule von Christoph Jenny, Eric Stirnemann, Lukas Böni und Pascal Bieri in Zürich gegründet. Mittlerweile beschäftigt Planted mehr als 65 Mitarbeitende in den Bereichen Forschung, Technik und Produktentwicklung. Das Jungunternehmen belegte 2021 den ersten Platz bei den TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards. In einer Series-B-Finanzierungsrunde hat das Schweizer Startup nun 70 Millionen Euro unter der Führung von L Catterton eingesammelt. Seit 1989 haben die Fonds von L Catterton mehr als 250 Investitionen in dem Bereich der Konsumgüter getätigt. Das verwaltete Vermögen des Wagniskapitalgebers liegt bei rund 30 Milliarden US-Dollar. Zum Portfolio gehören u.a. Better, PatientPoint, Dragonfly, Canida, Ganni, Pinarello, Truck Hero, West Marine, Ideal Image, Alliance Animal Health, Kodiak, Bartaco, John Hardy, Bliss, Dentalcorp und Birkenstock. Planted möchte mit dem frischen Kapital die Einführung einer neuen Produktlinie für sogenannte Whole Cuts, wie beispielsweise einer pflanzlichen Hühnerbrust, sowie die weitere internationale Expansion und die Erhöhung der Produktionskapazität vorantreiben. One more thing wird präsentiert von OMR Reviews – Finde die richtige Software für Dein Business. Wenn auch Du Dein Lieblingstool bewerten willst, schreibe eine Review auf OMR Reviews unter https://moin.omr.com/insider. Dafür erhältst du einen 20€ Amazon Gutschein.

Der Besenwagen ist fertig gepackt und bereit zur Abfahrt. Die Sonne ist noch nicht ganz aufgegangen, aber der Weg ins Zentralmassiv ist auch lang. Nach einem sportlichen Frühstück geht die Reise los. Apropos Reise - während der Eine noch vom Urlaubsflirt schwärmt und der Andere über fehlendes Gepäck meckert, biegen wir in einem der vielen Kreisverkehre in Frankreich bei der Ausfahrt "marché des transferts" ab. Mussten wir nicht nach "toutes directions" oder doch "autres directions"? Bevor wir uns einig sind, kommt schon der nächste Kreisverkehr und wir sind mitten im Transferkarussell. Irgendwann reicht es uns dann, wir drücken "Zurück zum Start" im Navigationssystem und fahren nach Hause. War jetzt auch mal genug Frankreich in letzter Zeit! — Besenwagen - der Radsport Podcast wird unterstützt von Rapha https://www.rapha.cc/ — Besenwagen x RAPHA - hol' dir das Kit hier: https://shop.besenwagen.com/collections/rapha — Le Tour, la Vuelta, Worldwide - alle T-Shirts jetzt im Shop! https://shop.besenwagen.com/ — Schreib' uns eine E-Mail! kontakt@besenwagen.com — Hier kannst du unseren Newsletter abonnieren: https://www.besenwagen.com/newsletter — Niemanden erreicht? Hinterlasse uns eine Nachricht auf dem Anrufbeantworter: https://www.besenwagen.com/anrufbeantworter — Am 27.08. parken wir vor dem Fietsen in Stuttgart! Weitere Infos & Tickets findest du hier: https://fietsen-stuttgart.de/events/fietsen-besenwagen — Werbung: Lade die kostenlose CLARK-Versicherungsmanager herunter und erfahre alle Infos zum Shopping-Gutschein für Marken wie AppStore, DAZN, Zalando, und viele mehr hier: https://www.clark.de/landing/social/besenwagen/ Mit dem Code "BESENWAGEN" (alles großgeschrieben) kannst du dir einen Shopping-Gutschein bis zu 30€ sichern. — Werbung: Der BBBesenwagen wird in dieser Folge von BBB Cycling Parts unterstützt. https://bbbcycling.com/

BikeRadar's deputy editor Jack Luke sits down with senior technical writer Simon von Bromley to discuss this week's hottest news from BikeRadar. The pair discuss CeramicSpeed's divisive aerodynamic oversized pulley wheel system, their favourite cycling meme accounts, Bafang's automatic shifting three-speed internal gear hub, Pinarello's new ‘leaked' Bolide time trial bike and more. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/ceramicspeed-ospw-aero/https://www.bikeradar.com/news/bafang-3-speed-automatic-hub-gear-system/https://www.bikeradar.com/news/new-pinarello-bolide-time-trial-bike-spotted/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

June is turning out to be an exceptionally hot month in terms of new bike releases, and Ronan joins James and Dave as a special guest to help us talk through them all. Although we don't have official information just yet, we know a new Trek Madone, Giant Propel, Canyon Ultimate, and Scott Foil are all likely to be announced within the next few weeks -- and thanks to revamped UCI technical regulations, there's once again some legitimately unique thinking going on in terms of design features. We also dissect Pinarello's new Grevil F gravel race bike, chat about Dave's favorite bikes from the Handmade Bicycle Show Australia, and wrap up with another round of Ask a Mechanic.

This week we sit down with Jess Cerra and Sam Boardman to discuss the Last Best Ride in Montana. Held in Whitefish, MT in August, Last Best Ride boasts not only an amazing route, but also an amazing community. Episode Sponsor: The Feed Last Best Ride Website Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Last Best Ride [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the podcast. We welcome Jess, Sarah and Sam Boardman onto the show to talk about Montana's last best ride. Many of you will probably recognize justice name as a gravel cyclist, often at the front end of the pack of these gravel races. She's also the founder of Jo J bar and currently as vice president of product and community development at both Joe, Jay and salt stick. She's also a member of the Pinarello Scuderia project. And a long time envy athlete. Sam Boardman, not as well known on the gravel cycling scene, but certainly a crusher out there on the road. He's a member of the powerful Legion squad and riding very well. Having one stage three of the Joe Martin stage race. Recently. The two partners have come together to create last best ride as a showcase for the love of their home in Whitefish, Montana. I hope you enjoy learning more about this event. It certainly sounds from all accounts that it's a great community event. And a spectacular ride. Before we jump in i need to thank this week sponsored the feed. For those of you who aren't familiar with the feed, the feed is the largest online marketplace for your sports nutrition, offering brands, you know, and love from scratch labs to cliff bar, to Martine plus their athlete customized supplements called feed formulas It's those feed formulas that I wanted to talk to you about and make sure you're familiar with feed formulas are personalized supplements for athletes developed in part with Dr. Kevin Sprouse from the EDF pro cycling team. Following the same protocols, the top athletes use. These are best in class, branded supplements, never generic. You get personalized recommendations based on your needs as an athlete. They're all packaged in a convenient daily pouch. So no more messy bottles keeping organized on the counter. You just grab a single pouch and it's got your fully customized order. Right. In one place, you can go on the website@thefeed.com slash the gravel ride and save 50% off your first order today. On that website for feed formula, you can walk through what are the individual supplements that you need. They've got a base formula, then they have multiple different add on packs based on your age, whether you're recovering, whether you're peaking for something. So it's a really great way to make sure you've got all the supplements you need and in an incredible easy way to consume them each day. You're not going to forget anything in a bottle somewhere on the other shelf. Everything's in those. Personalized formula packages in their daily pouch. You can get 50% off your first order, simply visit the feed.com/the gravel ride. Would that business behind us let's jump right in to my interview with just sarah and sam boardman Hey, Jess, Sam, welcome to the show. [00:03:18] Jess and Sam: Hey, Craig. Thanks for having us, Craig. It's good to be here. [00:03:22] Craig Dalton: Where am I speaking to you at right now? [00:03:25] Jess and Sam: We're in a beautiful and snowy, Whitefish, Montana. [00:03:30] Craig Dalton: It's hard to believe. I literally just had a pool party for my son this past weekend in California. And you're still getting snow over there. [00:03:37] Jess and Sam: Yeah, we little bit embarrassing, but Rose Grant is a professional mountain biker who also lives here. And we tried to do a ride on Friday and we had to get rescued and we know what we're doing. We failed the pool parties. [00:03:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah, not this time of year anyway, was the listener knows. We always like to start off the show by learning a little bit more about your background and how you came to gravel cycling. And then I'm excited to talk to both of you about last best ride and the big gravel events you've got coming up this summer. So just why don't we start off with you and just talk a little bit about your journey to cycling and how you found yourself riding off road. [00:04:16] Jess and Sam: Yeah. Well, I'm actually from Whitefish, Montana, which is something not a lot of people can say. And I growing up here. You have an affinity for the outdoors? No matter what I think most people who move here and raise families live here because they want to spend time outside. With that said cycling, wasn't a huge part of growing up here. I pretty much found cycling in grad school. I. I went to the university of Montana for my undergrad, studied exercise physiology, and then moved to San Diego to pursue my master's in the same field. And it was when I was studying elite athletes in the lab and actually bringing cyclists into our exercise physiology lab. That my curiosity was peaked and I ended up randomly doing a VO two max test on a lab bike and finding that I had the engine, I just needed a bike and all the things that go with it. So one of my professors was I'm on a mountain bike team and she helped me get started. And I started on that team and I raced Xterra off-road triathlon and mountain bikes for a long time. And then I. Professional road racing career after that. And instead of officially retiring, I say that I evolved into gravel cycling because I think gravel is that area where you, you can be a pro without having to only be competitive, you can bring value to the sport in other ways. [00:05:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah, absolutely. So unpacking that, I'll just a tiny bit first off for the uninitiated. Explain exactly where Whitefish is located in, in Montana. [00:06:04] Jess and Sam: So it's up in the Northwestern corner. It's tucked by Flathead lake in glacier national park, which is a big draw to the area. We're about 30 minutes away from glacier. What like nine 90 minutes on the bike. If I'm drafting behind Sam. [00:06:20] Craig Dalton: and then it's pretty close to the Canadian border. Is that right? [00:06:24] Jess and Sam: Yeah. like an hour from the Canadian border. [00:06:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Amazing. And when you were growing up, were you doing other endurance athletics, like running or skiing? [00:06:33] Jess and Sam: Yeah. So we, you know, and we'll touch on this. When we talk about the mission for the last best ride I grew up in, you know, a pretty humble family, pretty low income. So access to. A lot of sports like cycling or skiing? It was a little tricky for us. There's a ton of community support here. There's actually grants for kids to participate. So I was able to do some Nordic skiing that way. We have an outdoor figure skating rink, and I did some figure skating with some of those grants. But it's funny because looking back, I was always drawn to endurance. I just didn't have an example of what endurance as a sport or as a career would be like something like professional cycling. And you think that I would, and in Montana that, that I wouldn't have that, but it just really wasn't something that was part of our daily life. You know, my parents were focused on working and I grew up with a single mom, so. That was challenging, but she did her best to get us outside. We did a lot of hiking and exploring here. But Yeah. [00:07:41] Craig Dalton: Amazing. And then, so when you went to college and you discovered the bike for the first time, as you started to become involved in. That the team aspects of road racing, was it immediately apparent that you had an engine that was better suited for the longer, more endurance stuff versus sprint site? Tough. [00:07:58] Jess and Sam: Yes. It's funny how you, you learn that. I actually was a really strong climber and I think that I began goes back to. The VO two max and lung capacity, but definitely I like to suffer for a really long time, rather than compacting that all into five seconds. So those were the systems that I trained. [00:08:22] Craig Dalton: yeah, that makes sense. And then Sam, how about you? Where, where did you grow up and what was your journey to the bike? Like. [00:08:28] Jess and Sam: Well, I'll tell you that, but first I want to add something to justice story that she did not add, which I think is the funniest part, the random aspect of her introduction to cycling. Wasn't so random. It was. Part of the protocol for her research was taking the temperatures of the athletes, who she was studying. And to do that back in the day when she was doing it, the only way to do that was through a rectal thermometer. [00:08:56] Craig Dalton: I thought that's where we're going. [00:08:57] Jess and Sam: So the people who were doing the studies, they were always super jilted because they would always come in according to way adjust all that. And they would say, well, have you done the test? And eventually she just wanted to say like, but yes, I've done the past. And that's how she actually took the test and how she was discovered by her superior supervisors as a very gifted endurance athletes. So people should know it was not so much random. Low grade bullying and yeah, [00:09:27] Craig Dalton: I love it. [00:09:28] Jess and Sam: it's I don't know. I just, I liked that because it's, it's similar to this rumor and legend. I heard about Alex House where as an endurance athlete, everyone who he talked to, who he told I'm a professional cyclist and he would tell them like ever in the tour de France and stuff like that, they'd be like, yeah. Cool, cool, cool. Have you run a marathon? He always was just saying, no, I've never run a marathon. And then apparently, and this is what legend has at one day. You just woke up and was like, gosh, darn it. I just need to run a marathon so that when people ask me that from now on, I can say, yes, we did. And he like broke all his toes or something like that. And just bloody wind speed. But point is, it's an important detail. [00:10:08] Craig Dalton: yeah. Now he's a reasonable athlete, according to the best people out there. [00:10:12] Jess and Sam: yeah. With a rectal thermometer. No, [00:10:17] Craig Dalton: Well, you never know. [00:10:19] Jess and Sam: my my introduction to the bike was a lot less invasive, I guess you could say. It w it was brought on mostly as a way to fill the void that I had in my life when I left running. And I say left running as if it was like something that I chose to retire from it wasn't, it was just my life in high school. And when I, when I discovered it freshman year, I, you know, fell in love with it. And it just was everything that I wanted to do. And when it came time to apply to college, I realized like the only schools that I wanted to go to having come from very small private school and wanting to broaden my horizons, as far as my educational experience goes, were large state schools with very, very competitive running programs where, I mean, they had these kinds of schools were pumping out national champions left and right. And if I wanted to be part of, you know, the, a squad, the division one squad, I would either have. Scrap my way onto the team so that I could just race be races or I would have to run at the club level and doing either of those didn't really fit in my competitive zeal that I accrued during my high school life and running. And I knew that it would also probably destroy the love that I had for the sport, because it would probably just Jade me to the point where I didn't want to do it anymore. So I decided to just try something new, find something. In the meantime, the summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college, which having gone to UCLA who were on the quarter system and they notoriously start very late. I had five months off between when I ended my senior year and when I started college and it wasn't because I took a semester off or anything, it's just, that's how the calendar works. So I had a lot of free time to figure out what I wanted to do. In the meantime, I was working as a janitor in my high school, and my parents had gotten me a fixed gear bike to commute, to work with. And I just fell in love with scooting around in the city. And just finding the bike scene in Washington, DC, where I grew up and discovering the bike and that kind of communal aspect. And then finally come August. Of 2014. I decided I wanted to get a road bike because as is the natural progression for most people that I've talked to in cycling, you wanted to be able to go further and go faster and actually be able to change gears and not blow your knees out of their sockets. So I use the money that I've gotten working as a janitor and bought my first road bike, went to California, found the club team and just became obsessed. Race the club scene for three years when I was in college, until I got onto a domestically amateur team and then started branching out into more competitive national events. And then I signed my first pro contract in 29. [00:13:14] Craig Dalton: Amazing and shout out to rock Creek park in DC for a little road riding. [00:13:20] Jess and Sam: I grew up. Yeah. Rock Creek park. It's I mean, it's funny. It's like I go back there very frequently and I basically rediscover or discover for the first time, in some cases, parts of the cycling scene, which is super exciting to me because having grown up there. You know, you think, oh, I know everything about it, but it's actually really cool to be able to go to your hometown and find something absolutely new to it in the sphere of what you love to do. And that it's actually robbery park is one of my favorite places to ride it's right by my house. [00:13:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah, quick aside. I, I went to school at American university in Washington, DC and discovered mountain biking and amazing. So I discovered a mountain biking in DC, which is very sort of counterintuitive, right? Like where would you find green space to mountain bike in DC? But as you probably know, there's all these sort of interconnected green spaces in Washington, DC, that once you sorta tipped off to them, you sort of do a little section. They're all short of obviously. You're a little section, then you go around next to some apartment buildings you find another section to do, and you can do these neat hour long loops in the city. [00:14:25] Jess and Sam: Oh, my gosh. I mean, I. So much credit I have to give to my high school running coach to who instilled in me the kind of sense of adventure. And you could call it, I call it organic navigation, but most people know that as being bad at directions where it's basically kind of just, you know, where to go when the road looks a certain way, or you kind of just decide, you're going to feel out your route. And he was the one who introduced me to just looping together. Different routes. So, I mean, like you're saying, we would start in Tenleytown, we'd go download the Archibald trail through Georgetown we'd loop through all these little random back trails that kind of nestled themselves in the woods through spring valley and all these areas where it's just, you know, he taught me how to just have fun exploring during your training [00:15:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, absolutely. And another shout out to the CNO canal, many miles on that canal [00:15:21] Jess and Sam: many miles on the CNO canal. [00:15:24] Craig Dalton: So great. So you you've, you're racing professionally on the road. How did you find yourself in Montana? [00:15:30] Jess and Sam: So just being from here ever since we met, had always talked about wanting to go back. I mean, I think she can tell you that she never really clicked with big city living or at least like being in larger urban areas with. It never really bothered me. Having grew up in Washington, DC, moved to LA for college and then moved to San Diego. It was funny where we were living in north county, San Diego Encinitas. That was pretty sleepy beach town in my mind. And just at the time it was living in Oceanside two towns up, which again, very small town in my mind, but there's still towns of 150, 200,000 people. And it's all part of one big conglomerate to call it, you know, its own town. It's kind of ridiculous because similar to LA it's just, you know, San Diego county LA become just massive giant cities with little pockets of populations here and there. But eventually when it came time for us to leave where we were living in Encinitas, she decided she wanted to move back to wipe this. And she said, if you want to be with me, I'm going to be up there. So ball's in your court. So the decision was pretty easy. So now I'm here. But Yeah. honestly, I've, I think I've taken to it pretty amazingly. I mean, I love the writing that we have up here. I love the community that's up here and it's just a very welcoming place that. Just champions, outdoor living in every form that you can imagine. And I think what was really important to me as someone whose life has revolved around road racing for the past seven years, it was I think, a big step for me to try and find a place that I could visualize myself living, where I could have fun where the road bike wasn't the apps. Epicenter of my existence. And you know, this past winter, I learned how to ski for the first time and my knees are still intact. So that was sweet. And I learned that I loved it. And that really gave me a lot of, I mean, hope is a weird word to use, but it did where it's like, you know, there's this kind of panic that sets in sometimes when you think about, oh my gosh, what am I going to do when I leave competitive road cycling? I mean, there's just so much to try out here. There's so much to do and so much stuff to have fun with that. You know, I'm really glad that I was brought up here because now having lived here for a couple months now, it's just, it's hard to imagine being back in a big city, it really is, which is very odd. I always thought I wanted to stay in a big city. [00:18:13] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's interesting. And for listeners who live in California, California, is this weird place, right? You can ride your bike all year round, very little interruption. In fact, it's hard to take a step back and think about having a quote unquote off season. Whereas most places elsewhere in the country, in the world, you have snow, you have real winter and you're forced to do other things. And I remember growing up on the east coast for me, that was sort of a healthy. Sort of cycle of the year, right? Because you just sort of naturally transitioned to something else, whatever it was in the winter, rather than just riding your bike hard core all year round. [00:18:50] Jess and Sam: oh yeah. I was pretty nervous even. Yeah. Being the one that pushed us to move here and what our long rides every weekend are so important to me. And to your point, I feel healthier. I feel it is so nice to just take a break from those things, because now I'm looking forward to riding more than usual, but it also is weird to not be so fit and may [00:19:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, [00:19:16] Jess and Sam: I'm used to being so, so come may. Not [00:19:21] Craig Dalton: not quite there yet this year. [00:19:23] Jess and Sam: quite there yet. It's also like your life has changed too. Yeah. And my life revolves more around work. I mean, so the thing that I discovered is. To justice credit. Like she's just, she's training differently now because she's working multiple jobs, basically with organizing the race and her own full-time job and balancing training competing. But to her credit, if she wanted to be fit and trained, she could. And that's just the thing about being in an environment that's not California, which is perfect weather all the time. He kind of just ended up getting creative. Like you, you know, during the winter, Jess was doing a bunch of. Yoga yoga sculpt doing some like gym workouts at home. She was doing endurance hit workouts at home. Yeah. You did a ski race. I mean, it's just, I honestly think that it, you know, for me and I re I reckon for justice as well. It actually was very refreshing to be in an environment where bike racing and bike riding. Wasn't the only way that you could get fit. And it actually felt good. Going into the season, having not just written my bike and myself into oblivion, because it actually got me excited for the season, whereas an excited to ride my bike more like justice thing. Whereas I found in, you know, past years, sometimes you get to the end of your base training phase, which for most Californians, I mean their base training starts in October, November, and it goes all the way until January, February, where racing starts pretty early relative to. Season or re rest of the country. And by the time you get to that first race of the season, you're just like, oh my God, I can't stand training anymore. I need to race. I need a race. Whereas this year, I mean, I took some time off and then learned how to ski. And that was like the first couple of weeks of off season activities was just learning how to do the activity and then doing those activities and actually staying fit in a relatively, you know, fun way that was new. And then by the time I got. To the point where I was supposed to raise, I was actually really excited to just like be on my bike, not just race, but like be outside in the warm weather where my knees can be exposed to the elements. [00:21:36] Craig Dalton: Being part of the Legion program. Did you find yourself, had you hit the fitness you needed to hit for some of the late the races they had you slated to. [00:21:43] Jess and Sam: I think it was in, I would say probably not the fitness that I would have wanted, but again, it was. I don't think I was actually unfit for the races. I just don't think I was fit in the way that a lot of the people who I was racing and surfing and in the sense of like racing fitness, because a lot of the riders coming from warmer climates who are doing those early season races, that the program that Legion does in California, they've been racing since January. And I literally just flown from a blizzard. And we'd seen a lot of snow during the winter. And I was mostly doing like base training work starting in December, going through February to one of my first race in Arizona was, and it's not that I felt, felt unfit to the point where I couldn't finish the races. It's just like That top end wasn't there. But now, you know, having had a bunch of races under my belt and we're going into the next block, which is like the key block, the target block of the year from. I do feel a lot fitter and I don't feel the same level of burnt out as I would normally at this time of the year where I'm just like praying hands and knees for break after the blast block. So I actually, I did feel less fit, but, you know, I felt like I was excited to raise again. [00:23:03] Craig Dalton: That makes sense. And then just for you racing gravel this year, you're part of a program. Do you want to talk about that team you're involved in and what your goals are for the year? [00:23:15] Jess and Sam: Yeah. So the scooter Rhea Pinarello program is sort of a multi-faceted program that emphasizes what I was mentioning earlier that there's unique skillsets and unique people. They deserve to have an opportunity in the cycling world. And so. The idea of our marketing director of Pinarello is Kim Rogers. And she's just an incredibly hard worker. I have a lot of respect for what she's accomplished with the program in the first year, and then leading into this year. But we're a group of athletes that range from competitors to adventure, people, to community leaders. So my role is a community leader. And basically what that means is I'm none of my partners and of my sponsors expect me to be winning races are on the podium. And that's something that I've communicated to everyone and they they've accepted, you know, I've had my time for that. Being a trained really hard and, and won races and had the injuries and then the whole deal. And now it's what I really want to focus on is helping more people get into the sport, making it a welcoming place where you know, all types of people are accepted and have opportunities and just being able to. Represent amazing brands like Pinarello at large events is, is super important. And it's like, because I don't care about a result, I'm going out there to have fun. And the pressure isn't there, you open yourself up to creating those experiences with people. Like I'm constantly on my feet in the sun before I do an event and talking and hanging out and. My, the energy bar company that I founded, Joe Davis. Is now a part of a larger suite of sports, nutrition brands, and my company kind of mirrors. We go to the events that mere my schedule with Pinarello and support. So I'm also doing that on the side. And it's just, it's super fun to. To know that we're in a place now where the emphasis isn't always on results. I mean, that's amazing. It's super cool. I still look up to the women who are crushing it right now. And I think that is great, but it's also really more relatable to a lot of people who have families and work and see like they do, they do have a place and you don't have to come to an event to. You can come to just ride your bike and meet people and you'll be accepted and you're not doing anything weird. You're probably doing what 95% of the other people around you are doing. So Yeah. it's, it's, it's a good, it's a good, a good team for me, for sure. [00:26:12] Craig Dalton: Awesome. Let's take a two minute detour and hear about your company. What can you tell us about like the judge, a bar philosophy and the types of products that you make? [00:26:21] Jess and Sam: Yeah. So this is also a concept that after grad school, I decided not to do a PhD, which was the track that I was on. Like from high school, I knew I wanted to do this path and I was really into research and I diverted to pursue cycling and I. I had met a nutritionist who I worked with and she was a private chef. And so I started helping her kind of as her assistant at first. And then I ended up taking over her clientele when she moved away. So that's kind of the piece about nutrition and being in the food world, but is important to the story. So I had this background in exercise physiology. I S I started this private chef company. I started catering events and I really focused on just fresh food healthy food that people who wanted to be active, wanting to eat. And I just took the guesswork out of it. So, at the time, this wasn't in 2008. 10 ish. There was really no good energy bars out there. We weren't in this food revolution where there's like all of this amazing all these amazing choices when you walk into whole foods or whatever. And so I thought I wanted to create something that was delicious, but tastes in homemade. My favorite things to eat are. Cookies or baked goods or stopping by the bakery before I ride. I also wanted it to make sense from a macronutrient standpoint. And so I kind of flip the script on how bars were made. They were always really carb-heavy before which we need, but I also wanted to add in more fat for. Those zones that are more endurance and I wanted it to be something that was digestible and you could eat, eat a lot of it. At the time I had a coach who had Lyme's disease and was on a gluten-free diet. And so I thought, well, I'll try making it gluten-free little. Did I know that that segment was going to blow up in the future and become so. So I created this bar and it was just kind of a rinky-dink operation out of my kitchen at first. And I actually, some of my private chef clients helped me move into my first co-packer and I was in a small co-packer down in San Diego and just grew the brand grassroots style within the cycling and trapline community. And a big, the big wind for Joe Jay was when we got into REI. And I think we were accepted at the end of 2018, and that really helped our, the brand breech our people in the outdoor space and in let's see. I think of October of 2019, I was approached by this company called elite active nutrition is the name now a L E T E, which means all athletes, not elite athletes. And they reached out to me. They had started this platform by acquiring electrolyte brand called salt stick. Really huge in the triathlon world. I'm hopefully helping it become huge in the travel world. So they reached out to me about acquiring Joe, Jay, and it was a great fit because it allowed me at this point, I was caught up in all of the logistics of running a business. And also the logistics of being the hamster in the wheel of cashflow when you own a small business. And this allowed me to step away from that. And I'll admit, I don't love entrepreneurship from that standpoint. I just am wired in a way where I want to help other people and I want to do the right thing. And I want a brand that does those things. And I really don't like the other part of it. This company enabled me to do that. They said, we're going to take all of that. We have a team in place already, and then you can create your role in the company and you will come on and you will do that role. And so it was a perfect fit. They didn't want to take the bar and change it and, you know, cut the margins and do, do all the things that sometimes larger companies want to do. So I created my role of VP, of product and community developers. Enjoying this team, we've now also acquired bonk breaker and we'll be acquiring two other brands. And yeah, so that's what I do. I work on product development. We're developing some new flavors right now. And then I also, like I mentioned, I get to be out in the community and we, I get to lead all of our brands and make sure that we. Have at our heart and soul, we are an accepting platform. We have a diverse group of athletes and ambassadors. We're inclusive. We're thinking about doing the right things for the environment in sport and all of those, you know, amazing things that I like to focus on. So, sorry, that was not two minutes. That was like five. [00:31:32] Craig Dalton: That's okay. Now I appreciate the entrepreneurial journey and that's a great outcome and amazing that the vision can now be propelled forward, you know, with the distribution that maybe you weren't going to be able to achieve this company can get it out there even further and allow you to focus on what you love. [00:31:49] Jess and Sam: Exactly. [00:31:50] Craig Dalton: fabulous and allow you more time to start things like gravel races in your hometown. [00:31:55] Jess and Sam: Yes. [00:31:56] Craig Dalton: So let's talk about that. I mean, I love talking to event organizers because I think it's such a, such an art behind creating an experience that is native to the community that you're in and showcases everything you want to showcase. I feel like it's like a love letter to your commute. When you design a gravel course, and I love designing courses here in Moran. So I'd love to hear about the inspiration for last best ride. And then let's talk about the details. Let's get the listener stoke to put it on their calendar. [00:32:25] Jess and Sam: Okay. Well, I think to back up a little bit, when we first started spending a lot of time here was in 2020 during the Panda. When we realized we weren't going to be doing any racing. And we kind of did the thing that everyone was doing. We scattered to a smaller place only. This is my home. And we also bought a piece of land at that time, which turned out to be total baller, move that we had no idea. This is going to be like the best decision of our lives, but I think. We, so to Sam's point about being adventurous, he started exploring and making these gravel routes for us, these crazy off-road routes. And he didn't even have a gravel bike yet, but he was taking me places that I had never been after growing up here. And remember the first gravel. Right. We did. You did it on your road bike, that old KTM bike and yeah. We ride this route consistently now. And we're like, how on earth did you write this on your road bike? Like we it's like when you don't know any better, when you first start exploring off road, like you might throw some wider tires on your road bike. And you're like, oh yeah, like, so we were kind of exploring and realizing that this place is prime for a gravel event. I had also. My first event, the season before was our friend, Kevin Laura King run an event in Vermont called rooted Vermont, and the little town there from Richmond reminded me of Montana and attending that. Having such an amazing time. And knowing that gravel was a place that I wanted to be, I thought that they're just nailing it. Like how that the community embraces this event. It's super low key. They make a whole weekend out of it. And I told Laura, I said, my wife is really needs an event like that. It's so incredibly beautiful here. So. I think we started exploring more and then I can pretty sure I made you ride like an old steel, gravel bike of mine. Remember that? And it was like two sizes too small for you. And then he ordered a gravel bike and we just like, I don't know how we went from. Two rides to like the next day we were at the forest service office with our masks on like knocking on the door where it's like appointments only. And we were like, hi, we would like to put on an event. They were like, why we're in the middle of a pandemic? Why would you, when you talking about, and we're like, no, it's definitely the, the pandemic won't be here next year. Like we're looking at next year. Little did we know that it was going to be an extended, extended pandemic, but luckily we picked August as our month because you're pretty much guaranteed. My dad will tell anyone that comes here, that he's seen snow here every month of the year. But if you're going to pick one month, August is a pretty safe bet. So we picked August for our race and that's Yeah. that's kind of how we started. [00:35:30] Craig Dalton: and was the community embracing of it. Like I know a lot of rural communities when they hear about the prospect of a thousand athletes coming to town and booking hotel rooms and accommodations and food and all that stuff. They're super excited to get behind it. Were you experiencing that in Whitefish? [00:35:48] Jess and Sam: Well, there's been a little bit of a shift here and Whitefish? I believe this was the fastest growing town in the country during COVID. Which is why, when I mentioned us buying this little plot of land we didn't know that was going to happen. I had a, I had a theory. I was kind of actually obsessed about real estate at the time. I had a theory that something was going to happen because I remember what happened during the last recession. And. So to your question, it's a little different here. It there's a lot of people that come here in the summer in glacier park has gotten so overrun that they now actually have a ticketed entry system. So it was sort of a balance of knowing that we already have a lot of tourism and this isn't a town that needs that tourism boost to survive. So we wanted to make sure that this event was going to be a net positive for the community and that our community was going to feel supported. And that, again, that it's a positive. And so that's one of the reasons why we wanted it to focus around our scholarship. [00:36:56] Craig Dalton: And do you want to describe what that scholarship looks like? [00:36:59] Jess and Sam: Yeah. So, as I had mentioned before, growing up here fairly low income I did not have a college fund growing up and I had a guidance counselor in high school. My sophomore year that came to our classroom talking about college. And when I found out that it costs money to go to college, I had a little meltdown. My dad actually took me to her office and we spent three years together working on scholarship applications and I won. So many local scholarships along with Pell grant and federal aid, but I didn't have any student loans for undergrad and she just had this profound impact on my life. Mostly just because she believed in me and she didn't hold my hand by any means, like she made me do the work, but I've always had this dream of creating a scholarship and. Giving that back to the community and finding young women who deserve to be uplifted and supported financially. So we figured this rate. Was a good way to accomplish that goal. We both have our careers. We felt like it'd be a perfect way to invest back into the young people and the community. And I full heartedly believe that one of the best ways to get young people into cycling is to equip them with the ability to go out and. Either learn a trade or get an education and become, you know, get themselves into a place where financially they can afford a bike and they can enjoy that and incorporate into their life. And they're empowered to do that. So it kind of like. What does the bike race have to deal with the scholarship, but it, as Sam put it, he wrote in the tech guy, like simply by attending this race, you are bettering the lives of young women in our area who are, you know, have financial need, but also have academic merit. So. [00:39:08] Craig Dalton: Yeah, what's interesting as well is I think just the sh. Participation levels in the community, people who aren't cyclists are going to notice that it's happening and they're going to see and hear that, oh, a scholarship comes out of that. So maybe it even helps some of these younger women become aware that scholarships are available and that a path towards a higher education as possible with these, you know, following the same path that you did. [00:39:31] Jess and Sam: That's so interesting that you just brought that up because I learned fairly recently that one of our recipients from last year, her friend read about the scholarship and. Her friend did not have financial need, but she, she drugged this young woman down to the counselor's office and said, you have to apply for this. And she didn't think that she even deserved or knew that she can have that opportunity. And then she ended up being our top recipient. So we were really good point. And that it's like something that I, I want these young women to know that like, you. You deserve a chance and like at least apply for it this year. We have five recipients. So, and I'm about to go to the scholarship nights at the schools and the next couple of weeks, and actually give the awards out. But we also have seven land permits. So it's pretty, it's an arduous task with the land permits. And I know that. you know, the people who are at the head of these entities, it does mean something to them that, you know, it's not just a bike race. It's for-profit [00:40:44] Craig Dalton: let's talk about the courses. It sounds like you're going through a lot of different types of properties. So what's the gravel of riding like in Whitefish. [00:40:51] Jess and Sam: Awesome. I would say it varies from. You know, depending on where you are in the valley, where we live, it can vary from champagne, gravel to straight up single track the way that we like to ride, but the courses themselves traverse through a, I would say pretty wide variety of surfaces. So. Both routes. We'll take a route that heads east out of town. And you will go up through some logging roads that are owned by a local lumber and logging company that who are wonderful. They're wonderfully supportive of the event. And that will then transition you into forest lands, which is where most of I would argue what 90% of our race takes place on 80 to 90% of our race. And once again, the forest service are wonderfully supportive of the event as well. And we appreciate everything that they've done to help us. They were actually the ones who were. One of the most ardent supporters in the beginning when we were trying to design routes that were cool and they were the ones encouraging us saying, this is exactly what we love public lands to be used for. Is this kind of recreation that is based in exploration and, you know, cyclo eco-friendly tourism. So then we'll try the routes then traverse through forest lands that. Pretty much wind your way through a bunch of the mountain roads up north of town. So Northeast of town, they will then bring the riders back to a dividing point where there will be an aid station where the short route will then take some more of those forest service road. Through some single track trails onto mountain property. So we have a local ski resort, big mountain ski resort that has also helped us immensely in providing sections of their property for our route. And that will basically direct riders up to a section of the mountain road where they can then explore some of the single track there and then head back down. Into town, the long route diverts back to where close to where we started. And then they start heading up north along what is called lake shore drive, which is a beautiful picture of. Road exactly, as it says, which borders the east side of a Whitefish lake, and you make your way north along this road, and it will pretty much on align, transition to gravel, depending on the time of year, it can be either champagne, gravel. It can be kind of rutted if it's rained or it can be straight up washboard. So you get, you don't know what you're going to get. Typically. It's fairly dry. And it seemed a lot of traffic because that is nearing the end of huckleberry picking season. So a lot of locals will go out that road to some of the secret huckleberries spots that I don't even know where they are. Cause they're so secret. But so it can typically be a little washboard, but that we'll head north all the way to a road called Warner peak. There is some. Road name and technically most of the roads around here are called forest road or forest service road, big old number. And I should know this because I designed the route, but I get confused and all the digits, but it's commonly in locally known as water peak. So you bank, you take a right and you start climbing it's about a six mile climb from the turnoff of what is upper Whitefish lake. To the top of Warner peak, and that basically deposits you onto this Ridge line that overlooks the entirety of the valley. it. truly is on a clear day, a stunning picture SVU and that surface transitions from the kind of predictable, typical valley country champagne S gravel road to pretty Rocky technical climbing. And the gradients aren't, hellaciously steep in that section, but they are steep enough where you're going to be going slow and you're going to be needing to have some technical savvy to be able to navigate around some of the bigger rocks and sections. And there are also some drainage pipes that are late. The road to help ease snow melt washing away some of the roads. So if you can practice a little like bunny hopping or lifting your front wheel and back wheel whilst climbing it's summarized. It's one of the hardest climbs. I think you'll find in a gravel race, the hardest climb you'll find in a gravel race comes shortly thereafter. You descend down the Ridge line that takes you to the backside of the be of big mountain ski resort. Now the course then takes riders to the top of big mountain, the absolute peak where the summit house is. And this is where the ski resort basically has all their chairs going to the very top to get to that. You go up what we have called the. The mountain goats scramble this big horn sheep, big horn sheep scramble. And basically we discovered this ride on, or this way up on a ride that we did early in 2020 when we were kind of just moseying our way to the backside. And we found ourselves kind of running along the Ridge line of all of the ski slopes. And we're kind of looking up and seeing all the ski runs and we finally made our way to a service. And we said, Ooh, let's turn up. That, how high can we go? And apparently you can go the highest you physically can, but to do so you have to go up. What is essentially a wall of roughly 35% average gradient for 300 meters, the longest 300 meters of your life. [00:46:40] Craig Dalton: It is an actually rideable. [00:46:42] Jess and Sam: So there are two people that we know who have written it on a bike. One of which is me. The other is one Caleb Swartz, who is a Marian university alum who wrote for the bear dev team. And recently completed. Really Stellar's a cyclocross campaign is a private two rider who lives in Missoula. He trains a lot with Howard rots and some of the local Missoula hitters. He rode his XC bike at the race and he was the only person in the race to ride up the entire scramble without take unclipping, walking his bike. [00:47:18] Craig Dalton: All right. There's a big challenge for you people out there. [00:47:20] Jess and Sam: Yeah. So you get to the summit house, there's a feed station. Then you descend down another climb. It's called Taylor Creek, which takes you back to upper Whitefish lake road. And you go back the way you came out back into town. [00:47:35] Craig Dalton: right on. So tell me the distances of the short course in the long course. [00:47:39] Jess and Sam: So the short course. is 47 miles with about. 4,500 feet of climbing in the long course is 90 miles with that 8,200 feet of climbing. We might have to make a couple tweaks. We know we have to make a couple tweaks. So the short course this year, because of some logging that's happened, but it will be. Similar within that range. So it's a good, it's a, it's a good distance. Like the pro the pro dudes last year, Ted and Howard, and a local guy named Andrew, Andrew, Frank, they, we could not believe this. They finished. And just under five hours, we, we were expecting like a five 15, but I would say on average the short course would take you. Around three and a half to four and a half hours in the long course would be close to. I don't know, six, six to seven hours if you're relatively cruising, but it can be a huge range because it's just such a, a hard course. So the benefit of the the three finishers we've mentioned in there super fast time, the road Taylor Creek, the descent that you take back down into town had just been basically flattened by logging equipment. So it wasn't really the gravel that Jess and I had previewed throughout the summer, but it actually was so packed down because of all, it was basically concrete is what it was. And I remember I previewed it actually with Ted on Thursday, before. And we were descending it. And we were looking at each other and saying like, people are going to rip this. Cause I mean, you didn't even have to worry about dodging any kind of rocks or ruts or anything. It literally was just smooth pavement made out of mud that had been flat. And it rained also, which well, we, we say our race is predicated on the views because. I don't think that as Sam went through this course, like you cannot describe these views. They are jaw dropping. When we ride here, we're riding in all the time and it never looks the same. It's just so amazing. But then it poured rain, which cleared out all of the wildfires. So that was the benefit and it was very foggy in the morning of the race and people still that it was like a, just like I said, a different kind of view, but that we, I was like calling the medical volunteers. Like we need to put someone, we need like two people going on that descent, like to medical stations, because I was so afraid that someone was going to be doing like 60 miles an hour down this gravel descent and just fly off into space, but it turned out. We had, I think one of the most advanced medical plans, the forest service actually asked us if they could keep the template of it to use as an example. And we treated a bee sting and that was it. So the other side, Yeah. When you become an event director, you're pretty much just stressed out the whole time about someone getting hurt or something going wrong. [00:50:49] Craig Dalton: a hundred percent. So it sounds like with a fairly rowdy course, you need some pretty capable tires. Is there a size that you recommend? [00:50:57] Jess and Sam: I mean, I am of the camp of you should run as, as big as you can. It's a, it's a big debate for us on our course, because we know again, given the conditions of really the back sections of the course and the climb, like. I think the debate is now whether a hard tail mountain bike is the fastest bike for our course, but there, there are a lot of sections where having a pretty rigid snappy gravel. Where you can just easily put out power very consistently would help, but tire wise, as wide as you can run. I mean, I think, and less than the 36, you will not be caught. You will not have a fun 30, 36 is the minimum that you can do to, I would say like complete the ride. You will not be comfortable. You won't necessarily be happy, but you'll be able to get through. I ride the rose and cert courses around here on my crux, my specialized crux, which is a 2019 model that clears the 38. And I'm pretty comfortable on that bike. I don't ever feel really that I'm under biked. And I went, it's fairly dry and I'm not worried about getting mud in my stays. I will, I can clear a 42 on that bike. And I would say if I could run that consistently without worry of, you know, starting to take pain off, I'd run a 42 easily. I would say that's probably most traveled bikes. We'll clear 42 minimum. But that's, that's the. [00:52:34] Craig Dalton: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I mean, I think that's one of the interesting thing about taking a survey of all the gravel events out there. It's interesting seeing what people recommend, and I'm always frankly, more attracted to the races that are saying, bring your big tires. You're not going to regret it because it means they're getting creative with course design and really pushing the limits and capabilities of both the athletes and the bikes. So to onto some just not simple. What are the event dates and where can people find out more information about the event and are there still slots available this year? [00:53:07] Jess and Sam: So our date is Sunday, August 21st, and we have a welcome happy hour and scholarship fundraising evening on Friday, August 19th, that packet pickup and some liberal community rides are Saturday, August 20. Our website is the last best ride empty as in montana.com. We have been sold out for some time. We do have a wait list. It's pretty big. So if you got on the wait list now, unfortunately, You're probably planning for 2023, which is actually good because I don't even know if you could find a hotel room or an Airbnb at this point and Whitefish. It's why we send out early communication. Like before Christmas, the year before letting people know, like here's our links to our favorite camping and hotels, and like, here's how to make your life easier to plan to come to this little area. I just want to say as an aside, because we do talk up this course as being. Hard. It was also very important to us, but it is something that you could do if you're trying your first event. And our short course is manageable for anyone trying your first event. And we even have different start waves for the event for people who have different goals. If you want to hang out and meet friends, if you wanna, you know, ride a little more steady or if you really want to. You know, go full gas. Just the introduce that like, you don't have to start in the front and like elbows. So I really want to emphasize that our long course, definitely fitness would be the biggest challenge if you're newer to gravel. But it is inclusive. [00:54:53] Craig Dalton: And then finally, what's the finish line experience? Like what have you designed there? [00:54:59] Jess and Sam: Well, that was really, that was really important to us. And again, we wanted to focus on like our local vendors. And so we have above average race food. We have a local chef named Tim. Good. He has a catering truck. He owns a restaurant here and he has a catering truck called the cuisine machine. So last year you would find Mac and cheese. You'd find corn bread, chicken Marsala pork chops with huckleberry barbecue sauce, watermelon salad. And then we had our local ice cream company out and we had huckleberry ice cream, which is specialty to Montana. We had one, they made one forest called gravel road. And then we had beer vendor, wine vendor, and a local kombucha vendor, and all participants receive two drink coupons so they could use it however they wanted. Yeah. What else? Oh, and we offer bear spray. We never even touched, touched. The wildlife area, but yeah, we also sell bear spray and highly, highly recommend that you ride with it and know how to use it. [00:56:05] Craig Dalton: Well, we'll let people do their own research. As they're thinking about 2023 for this, I love getting these types of events out on people's radar. We realize that they're not unlimited capacity, so you've gotta be able to plan ahead. And I, for one really loved traveling to new areas and experiencing gravel around the country. It just reminds you of what a special place the United States can be and how much amazing outdoor activities is right there on our own country. [00:56:30] Jess and Sam: We would love to have you up here. I mean, if You can come this year, we we'll we know the person [00:56:36] Craig Dalton: one special slot. Nice. [00:56:38] Jess and Sam: special slot for you, but if 2023 works better, we'd love to have you up here. And yeah. [00:56:44] Craig Dalton: Thank you for that. And I appreciate both of your time. It's great to get to know you. And, and again, I hope everybody checks out last, last, best ride. I'll put link in the show notes and we'll make sure everybody knows how to find you guys. [00:56:56] Jess and Sam: Thank you so much. Hope to see everyone. [00:56:59] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Sam. And just for joining us. I love the sounds of what they've created out there in Montana, and certainly hope to visit it someday and myself. I'll be sure to put appropriate links in the show notes. If you need any more information about last best ride. Huge. Thanks to our sponsor. The feed. Remember you can get 50% off the feed formula. Just visit the feed.com/the gravel ride. If you're interested in connecting with me, I encourage you to join the ridership. Just visit www.theridership.com. It's a free global cycling community based in the slack channel. You can visit us and communicate with other gravel cyclists all around the world. If we're able to support the podcast, please visit buy me a coffee.com/ Solo ride. Additionally ratings and reviews are hugely helpful in my discoverability and my goal of connecting with as many gravel cyclists as possible. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels  

Leith rode Pinarello an absolute treat to win the QLD Derby on Saturday and then shocked everyone by pulling up stumps on his career.

The BroomWagon Podcast at the Road Bike Connection Spring 2022 EP. 4A summary of my 4 days at the Road and Gravel Bike Connection Spring 2022 event. Rides, chats, dinners, beer talks, everything in one single episode. I also made a couple of good reviews of the bikes and components I tested during the event: Wilier Rave and Filante, super embargoed Hutchinson tires, Fulcrum Rapid Red Wheels, Ridley Kanzo Adventures and way more. Are you ready for some goofy and windy chats? Jump on the BroomWagon Podcast then

This week we sit down with rising gravel racing star, Brennan Wertz from the Pinarello Scuderia team. Brennan has been tearing up the Northern California gravel scene in early 2022 with wins at the Grasshopper and Shasta Gravel Hugger. Episode sponsor: The Feed Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Brennan Wertz - Pinarello [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. Let me start this week with a question. Did you come to gravel, cycling from another sport? This week's guest certainly did. Brendan worked, spent his high school and collegiate years at the front end of another pack. The USA rowing pack. Brendan road for the national team, as well as Stanford university. But injury led him back to cycling a sport. He discovered in his youth here in the town of mill valley, California. We're going to dive into his background and what's led this pro to be at the front end of the field in 2022. Before we jump into this week, shall I wanted to extend a big, thank you. And welcome to the feed. A new sponsor here on the gravel ride podcast. I've been enjoying getting to know the team over in colorado from the feed and have been really impressed by their commitment to bring together not only products but education around this idea of human performance. Today. I wanted to talk to you in particular about one category of product, their feed formula. As you know, on the podcast, I've been kind of investigating through my own lens. The idea of nutrition and performance and what I need as I've aged as an athlete. The team at the feed has been working with Dr. Kevin Sprouse. Who's the head of medicine for ETF education for cycling team. In their athlete, daily formula, they've designed a supplement. That's the right combination of micronutrients that can offset decline in energy production. Help avoid burnout and speed up next day recovery. What I found super cool about the product that in addition to the base product, you can have optional ad-ons. So, if you're looking for additional immunity or more joint support, you can add those into the packets. Regardless of what you add into the package. We're not talking about a hundred bottles sitting on yourselves. The feed formula is delivered in customizable. Many sleeves. So each morning you pick one of them out. You rip it open and it's got all the supplements organized for you in one simple place   [00:02:27] Craig Dalton: The feed is running a special offer on the feed formula. Right now, you can get your first order at 50% off. By simply visiting the feed.com/the gravel ride. Again that's the feed.com/the gravel ride for special 50% off your first order of feed formula. With that business behind us, let's jump right in to this week's interview. brennan, welcome to the show. Thank you so much [00:02:53] Brennan Wertz: for having me. It's good to be [00:02:54] Craig Dalton: here. It's a rare instance that I've got someone in my home in mill valley. So I'm stoked to have this conversation face to face. [00:03:00] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, me too. No, it's a, it's a real pleasure. [00:03:02] Craig Dalton: We always jump into the conversation by learning a little bit about your background. So growing up in mill valley, when did you discover the bike and where did it go to from the. [00:03:12] Brennan Wertz: Uh, really early on, it was a vehicle that I use to get to. And from school, just down the road here, I went to tan valley elementary school. And I would ride with my parents when I was first getting started and, you know, kindergarten or the early days ride to and from school. And then later on in elementary school, it just became more of a fun toy, something that I could go out and explore with and go with my friends out in the Headlands. You know, rip around Mount Tam on our mountain bikes. So, uh, pretty quickly I got into mountain biking, more descent oriented, I would say I would go and do Downieville with some friends every once in a while, and even went and did some of the downhill. Shuttle access riding at north star one. [00:03:49] Craig Dalton: Nice. Did they have the Tam high school mountain bike program at that [00:03:52] Brennan Wertz: point? They did. Once I got into high school, it was when I was I kind of got swept into rowing and that required my full-time focus. [00:03:59] Craig Dalton: How did that happen? I'm super curious to dig into your rowing career, because I think as I mentioned to you before I've met so many rowers that came into cycling and with this huge engine. So I'm just curious to dig in a little bit that, so your freshmen in high school, it sounds like you started. How did that come to pass? I think of rowing as like a European or east coast sport. So out here in the west coast, how did you get drawn into. Yeah. [00:04:22] Brennan Wertz: I think a lot of people have that traditional view of the sport being very much like east coast, Ivy league or in, you know, England and in central Europe. But the west coast has produced a lot of really high quality rowing talent. There are a lot of top schools on the west coast here. I went to Stanford. That was a good brewing program. And then there was university of Washington and Cal Berkeley both had very, very good programs. And I think a lot of it just has to do with the climate. You know, it's the same with riding a bike around here. We can train all year round with rowing. We didn't have to deal with frozen water. So, I think that gives the west coast a big leg up on, on its competition and on the, you know, the, the school. Uh, east but more specifically how I got into it. I, my parents were both rowers in college. My dad grew up here in Morin as well. Uh, and he wrote for what was Redwood high school back in the day when he was there. And it's now the Marine rowing association. So I rode there and in high school they introduced me to the sport. They definitely. Pressure me to get into rowing. But they just introduced it to me. And they were actually kind of hesitant for me to get into rowing because it's not the best spectator sport travel, these odd places for this weird, you know, oblong body of water to go and do these races that, I mean, it's kind of like watching a road race. You're standing on the side of the road or on the side of the lake and boom, the race goes by and in an instant it's over. So, but they were encouraging and I went and, and tried out my freshman year and quickly found some success and found that the mountain bike riding that I had been doing in the years prior had help set myself up for some success there with a lot of leg strength and leg power and just generally good cardio. And so that was kind of a smooth transition. Like I said earlier, the, the mountain biking I was doing was much more descent oriented. And so I had to kind of put that to the side because I knew the two didn't really compliment each other. I was going out on the weekends and riding my mountain bike and you're trying to do more jumps and just rip down single track. And that wasn't really providing me the cardio benefit that I needed for training for rowing. And it was more of just a risky, fun hobby. So. But that to the side and hung the bike up in the garage for a number of years, what is it [00:06:28] Craig Dalton: like when, when you get into the sport of rowing what are the workouts look like and how long are the events that you would typically train for? [00:06:37] Brennan Wertz: The events vary by season? So in the fall, the races are five kilometers long, which is roughly 18 to 20 minute effort. And then in the spring, And that's usually kind of like a time trial where you're racing against the clock and you start on roughly 30 minutes staggers or sorry, 30 seconds staggers in the spring. You're racing six boats across head to head and it's a 2000 meter, two K race. And that's about five and a half minutes. And so it's. Really a VO two effort. It's really intense. It's just that horrible combination of an extended sprint, basically where you're sprinting out of the gate. And then you settle into your rhythm for a few minutes and then you're sprinting again at the end. And you're just red line the whole time. So to prepare for that, you spend the winter and fall kind of building your base similar to how you would for cycling, where you're just doing longer, steady state rows. And you're you know, just getting the heart rate in that kind of mid tier zone. And then later in the winter, you start building the intensity in and working that VO two engine a little bit more. And then as you get into the spring, then it's just sort of fine tuning. But I would say that there's also a really, you know, it's a huge, it's a really important team swore like the team element is huge in the, in the sport of rowing. Not only is the training really important, but also the comradery, but then the technique like matching with your teammates and really being on the same page as you go through the motion of the rowing stroke, you have to be really in synchronized motion for it to click and for it to [00:08:02] Craig Dalton: work. Yeah. I've heard that technicality of rowing is just really important. Like you've got to have good technique. You can have all the power on the. And if you don't have synchronicity with your teammates, it's a complete disaster. Yeah, exactly. So going into, you know, what would an endurance rowing workout look like? Is that like sort of, you know, we think about you probably go out for six hour rides routinely when you were training for rowing, would endurance be an hour long, workout, [00:08:26] Brennan Wertz: more maybe 90 minutes, two hours. So often what we do, uh, when I was at Stanford, what we would do is we'd go out on the bay in the morning when the water was calm and we'd do maybe two hours on the water we'd mix in some interval. The nature of the bay is that we had this kind of channel that we would run as a shipping channel in the port of Redwood city, similar to in high school, we wrote in the, of an air Creek. And so you have this. Two kilometer stretch of water. And so you can't ever really get a super long effort in because you're turning the boat. And so you have to stop and turn the 60 foot boat around in the body of water. And so it takes a minute or two to spend the boat. So you can't really get that super long, extended, steady state effort in unless the water is extremely calm. But I did spend one summer in Hanover, New Hampshire training with the national team there, and that. An amazing place to train in the summer because we're on the Connecticut river and you could go as far as you want it. So we would just take off and head north for an hour and then spin once and then come all the way back down. And so then it was really, it was really eye opening for me to see the physical benefit you get from that kind of like real long endurance. So to come back around, I guess I would say that the morning sessions were usually on the water. And then in the afternoon we would do a land session that was either. Some, not usually a ton of weightlifting, but some combination of like indoor bike and rowing machine and just kind of cardio and cardio and or fitness testing. [00:09:49] Craig Dalton: Cool. Thanks for allowing me to drill into that. Cause as I said, you know, knowing rowers always come out strong now it makes sense. There's a lot of work that goes into it. So you were competing at a pretty high level with USA rowing at the end of your career. What led to you kind of leading the sport of rowing and coming back to the sport of cycling. [00:10:06] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, most recently I was on the U 23 national team in 2018 and we spent the summer, uh, first the selection camp for the national team was held in Seattle. So we were training in Seattle. Uh, once I made the cut for the national team, then we spent that summer, uh, traveling around Europe racing. We went to Raisa elite world cup. Uh, we were the U 23 national team, but we were racing up at the elite level at the world cup in Switzerland. We raised that, and that was when I started to have some really challenging rib pain and back pain. So ribbon back injuries are quite common in rowing and effectively. What it is is your ribs are separating and kind of stress fracturing through the rowing motion. Just that repeated motion over and over again. And it was on my front and back, and it just caused a ton of pain. And, uh, it was really difficult for me to sleep or laugh or cough or sneeze, any of those, those things cause a lot of discomfort. And so from there, I, we had a training camp after we were in Switzerland at the world company, Italy for 10 days, we went on the training camp and I couldn't row it all that entire time. And so that was meant to be our final tune-up before we had to Poland for world. And I was basically sidelined that entire time and riding this indoor spin bike and the eight man boat was going out with seven guys and there was just like, I could see them out on the water rowing and there's just this one empty spot. That was where I was supposed to be sitting. Or they would have an assistant coach fill in who hadn't been rowing in two years. So yeah, it was kind of a grim situation and I had to just patch it together and I had a lot of KT tape and, you know, daily, or, you know, I was meeting with. The team, physical therapist, multiple times a day to get massages and get taped up and everything. And so really just hanging on by a thread through the end and went to worlds. We had a great team, the program that we were, uh, Uh, part of that year was a very, very high level, a lot of really talented athletes there. And we ended up coming away with the win at worlds and we set a world best time. So on paper, everything was awesome. But I had even had food poisoning during the event too. So I just kept getting all these, you know, these blows along the way that Just kind of felt like maybe I should take just, you know, take some time on my body, recover from this and heal. And, uh, so I took some time off from the sport and I came back home and was in really good shape, but I wanted to, and I wanted to keep that going. I wanted to remain fit and exercise, but I needed a break from my body from rowing. And so I grabbed my dad's road bike and just started cruising around Moran a little bit. And. Really quickly, you just found the group rides and found the culture and the scene here in Marin, and really loved going out on those rides. And when did a couple of rides and had just come back from winning a world championship, I thought I was, you know, in this amazing fitness and everything had been going, going. Training was good. And then I go on my first couple of group rides and I just get obliterated. I get dropped I'm way out the back. I remember having to almost get off my bike overall. I Alpine down, I'd never really been, been out there and done that loop and had no idea where it was or how much further I had to go. And, uh, it was really humbling and I loved it. I was like, wow, this is just such a cool experience. I get to go out and explore these new places and not to say that rowing training isn't inherently fun. I dunno, maybe it isn't where the act of riding the bike is just, it's inherently so much fun and it just brings so much joy and you're out seeing these beautiful places. And for me, that really quickly. Pulled me into the sport. So that was, was that 2018? That was, yeah, that was like fall of 2018. [00:13:28] Craig Dalton: And at some point you must've had to come to the conclusion that your body or your mind, or you just didn't want to do rowing anymore. Was it, was it the body that kind of was telling you, you can't go back to the sport? [00:13:40] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was the body for sure. But then I also had an insert. I'll have this other voice in my hair. Like, Hey, look like this alternative is also awesome. Like it's not like you're just walking away from something. Cause I think if I had just left the sport wrong and then had done nothing, it would have been really hard, but I had this other option that was amazing. And I was really enjoying. And at that point in time, the bike wasn't something new to me. I knew I knew the bike. I had come to appreciate it. I spent, you know, early in, earlier in college I spent a summer living in Germany doing an internship and I brought a mountain bike with me and I took the summer completely off from rowing and. That was the first summer where I rode the bike consistently and actually thought I was training on my bike and I'd go out and I'd just ride. It was a cross country bike. And I would rip through this, uh, German mountain range in central Germany, near Frankfurt and tons of single track and beautiful gravel roads. Uh, I wasn't racing at all. I wasn't really looking at any numbers. I had Strava on my iPhone. But I wouldn't really, I wasn't geeking out on numbers or data or time or anything. I would just go out and ride and really enjoyed it. And I had the opportunity to load my bike up a couple of times and go on these bike packing adventures that summer. And so that I knew at that time, I was not in a position where I could just walk away from rowing. Cause I, uh, I was on a scholarship at Stanford. I knew that I, you know, I wanted to go and sort of see that through. And that was my main sport at the time. But I did always have in the back of my mind, like, Hey, that's summer in Germany, you know, that bike packing trip through the black forest. Like that was pretty amazing. So, kind of the inverse of a lot of people have a lot of people come into to cycling and gravel racing. You know, it's very common to see people come from the world tour from pro road, racing into gravel and into this adventure side of cycling. But for me, it was actually that's really what got me into cycling and just riding a bike at all in the first place was, was that adventure cycling. Sleeping in my hammock, in the woods and packing all my belongings onto my bike and then riding on to the next town. And so anyway, that was always in the back of my mind. And then when I, when I had the time sort of the forced time from that injury, then it just became this, you know, it became much more realistic for me to focus more on, on the bike. I [00:15:42] Craig Dalton: ended up joining the local powerhouse team Mike's bikes eventually, and did a fair, fairly heavy season on the road to pre pandemic. Is that kind of the way it played out? [00:15:53] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, I spent that whole summer or that whole, the whole spring seasoned racing as much as I could. I was just totally in love with it. I wanted to get as much experience as possible and then. I made it from CalFire Volvo to cat too. And it was just really enjoying the road scene and decided I wanted to try to go and race in Belgium, uh, just because that seemed like really cool cultural scene. They love cycling there. There's tons of racing opportunity and I just wanted to go there and see if I could make it and see if I could kind of make the cut and figure it out. Unfortunately, got hit by a car the first week I was in Europe for that summer. Uh, and so I was sidelined for that summer and I didn't get to race at all. That was in 2019. But then when I returned in the. The fall of 2019, I had sort of had a year of like, all right, this is, I really, I'm still loving this. I still really want to focus on the bike. And that was when I got bumped up from the Mike's bikes development team to the elite team and decided I would continue to focus on road cycling, kind of going into what became the pandemic year. [00:16:48] Craig Dalton: And I believe they gave you a little bit of leeway to try some gravel racing, [00:16:53] Brennan Wertz: right? Yeah. Yeah. So they, they were, you know, Creative team. It's a creative bunch of guys and they all like riding gravel too. And they, you know, they saw the potential there with a lot of these events. And so they supported me to go to a couple of different gravel events and I went and did BWR with them. And so, you know, now last year in 2021, I had this awesome opportunity to go attend a few of these big gravel events, both with Mike's bikes. And then also with above category where I had started working. And then that's really. What got my feet wet in the gravel scene in the gravel racing scene, I guess I'd had a gravel bike for a couple of years, or, yeah, I guess a year, two years at that point. So living in Murren, there's an, there's an awesome amount of gravel riding. It's kind of everywhere. It's really easy to access. So I'd been riding a lot of gravel, but I'd never really done an erasing. And so then I had that opportunity to go do attend some of these races and then just totally fell in love with it. [00:17:43] Craig Dalton: And as you looked into this season and I presume at some point you had to make a decision, do I want to stay on the road? You know, continue with the Mike's bike squad or look for another deal. Obviously, domestic road racing has its own challenges economically. What was your mindset in terms of choosing the gravel route? And how'd you come to that decision? [00:18:02] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, I think last year I had a really amazing learning experience and that the month of June, I spread myself way too thin. I started the month off with Unbound and that was my first big high-profile gravel race. And we built. A very, very specific custom mosaic gravel bike for that event with above category. And I really enjoyed going through the process of designing this bike specifically for this one event and, and specking it out with all these amazing components. And that was when I really began to see the power of building these relationships with sponsors and working with partners that you really value as an athlete, and that the brands really value as an athlete. And that there's this really awesome mutual. Respect for one another and understanding that like, Hey, we're going to do something really cool together with this project. And so we put together this amazing bike. I had the opportunity to go out and race. I had a blast building the bike. I had a blast at the event. I ended up getting a 10th there and that results sort of opened up some doors to go to a few other events throughout the summer [00:19:00] Craig Dalton: under the MC spikes flag at [00:19:01] Brennan Wertz: that point still for the most part under the Mike spikes flag, that specific event at Unbound I did as a marketing project with the both category. And then later on in the summer, I did Steamboat again with above category, but for the most part, yeah, all my other races, it was with my bikes. Gotcha. You had to come back to that month of June. I did Unbound. And then right after Unbound, I went to pro road nationals and race status about 10 days after finishing Unbound, I was on the start line at pro road nationals in the time trial. And that was an event that I've been preparing pretty specifically for. So I had this sort of weird split in my training where I was doing these epic long endurance rides, going up into Sonoma, Napa riding in the heat to train specifically for the Unbound effort. But I was also during the week doing intervals on my TT by. Knowing that a week after Unbound I'd be racing the pro nationals time trial. And that was a big, I wanted that to be a big focus of mine, the time trial, but just the way that the calendar worked, it, it just, it was too short of a window for me to recover fully from Unbound and then prepare for the time trial. So I can remember what I got. I think I got like 15th or 16th and I was, I was pleased with it, but I knew like I could have done so much better. My power target was 50 Watts under my power target and, uh, at pro nationals. The following weekend, I went and raised elite nationals because Mike's bikes is an elite and amateur elite team. And so we got to race up at the pro road nationals, but then we went to the elite amateur nationals, which is kind of like our national championship at our level. And by that point I felt like I had recovered a little bit more. I made a few minor fit adjustments to my time trial bike felt like I was flying on the TT bike. Uh, ended up getting second in the TT and nationals by I think, two seconds. So a bit frustrating, but I felt like I, you know, I hit my power target, everything kind of clicked and it all, it all worked. But. I still felt like I left that event. Like, I don't know. I just spent these two weeks doing these, these national championships on the road and the racing superintendents, and it's super fun. And it's really awesome to push yourself like that and be in that environment around all these, you know, like a pro road nationals, you're racing next to people. You've watched on TV for a number of years and you're like, oh, I'm right here next to them now. So it's a super cool experience, but you know, I finished those races and it just seemed like it was kind of looking around. They're just everyone just after the race kind of went, did their own thing. They went their own separate ways and no one was really talking to each other. It wasn't, it just didn't seem like all that much fun. I was like, what's going on here? Like, [00:21:20] Craig Dalton: that's your Unbound experience where there's a joy at the finish [00:21:24] Brennan Wertz: line and everybody's celebrating each other and it's this huge party and there's, you know, a barbecue or whatever. And it just, it's, it's a little bit more of a, of an experience. And so then I'd kind of had those two, those two national championship experience. And then to finish June off, I think it was early July. I went down to San Diego for Belgium wall fluoride. And that was, that was kind of the moment when I was like, I think there's something like this, something really attractive here with gravel. And I went and did that race and it felt just as professional as pro road nationals, like we had, there was a caravan, there were cars were taking feeds from the, the follow car. We're getting bottles like everyone's you know, riding very professional. But then afterwards, it's this huge party and everyone's having a good time and you're, you're chatting with sponsors and there's this big expo and there's tons and tons of people. And I just thought like, oh, this is, I think this is much more my speed. And this is really what I'm, what I'm into. I [00:22:20] Craig Dalton: remember watching some of that coverage and seeing a couple of Mike's bikes jerseys. One, that's just fun to see the local team down there, uh, doing it. And two, I was sort of scratching my head. I was like, well, who are these guys? So, you know, it's great full circle to, to kind of have you on the podcast now and talk about that journey. Yeah, [00:22:36] Brennan Wertz: no, that was an amazing moment. And then, and then that really was the turning point. I think for me, where I realized, like, I think there's something here that I need to focus more on and pay more attention to. And at that point then I started looking at. To all the other gravel races throughout the rest of the season, like what can I get entries to? What can I attend? And from there, I got to go to Steamboat and did the rest of the Belgian waffle ride series. And, uh, ended up coming second in the overall for the Belgium Wolf ride series. And just really love the, the, the way that that season unfolded and having the opportunity to go to all those races. It was really, uh, really a privilege. Yeah, that's awesome. [00:23:09] Craig Dalton: So it sounds like, like 20, 22 this year defining your own schedule. Can you talk. One that the team and organization that's supporting you this year, and then two, let's talk about, you know, your first month of racing this year and all the big events you've hit and the successes you've been having, it's been great to watch. [00:23:27] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. So I signed with Pinarello to be a part of their scooter Rhea Pinarello team. It's an amazing team. Uh, a couple of different, uh, kind of a couple different focuses. Like there I'm part of the, it's like the competitive side of it. And so me and my teammate, Brayden Lang, we're going to be taking on all the biggest gravel races around the world. I have a packed calendar with races, both in the U S as well as internationally. And then some of the, uh, the other teammates that we have they're there. Community leaders they're really active in their communities. They're inspiring people to get on their bikes. And what I really love about the team is that it's a super supportive atmosphere, similar to what I had back in my rowing days, because there's this whole like gravel, private tier scene. I think it can be a little bit lonely from time to time. Like you're, you don't have a team network around you. You don't have that kind of base that I've become really accustomed to and really love. And so. Having that network of teammates around me that are supporting me and motivating me and inspiring me with all the stuff that I'm doing and then, you know, vice versa, they're inspiring and motivating their community. Uh, I think that it's just a really cool combination, so I'm really happy to be a part of. [00:24:33] Craig Dalton: Are they handling some logistics? Like if you go to Unbound, are they kind of getting a team house together [00:24:38] Brennan Wertz: and that kind of stuff? Yeah. Yeah. There's some of that as well. Which is nice. I mean, in the race itself, like we won't be doing any like teen tactics or anything like that. Like it's not that type of team, but it's, it's this really cool collective of individuals that are all. Coming into the sport of gravel for various reasons and are looking to achieve different things in the store and looking to but like at the core of it, the team motto is to motivate and inspire. And so it's just trying to get more people on bikes and more people to come in and see the joy that we're all experiencing while out on our bikes and want to be a part of it. [00:25:08] Craig Dalton: Just something I'm curious about in that team, is everybody riding the same equipment or do you. Other sub sponsors, uh, personally to the [00:25:16] Brennan Wertz: table. Yes. So everybody's riding a Pinarello frame. And then from there, we kind of, it's up to us. Figuring out how we want to spec it out and, and you know, what relationships we might have to, to kind of fill out the rest of the bike. So for me, for my bikes for my growl bikes specifically, it's the Pinarello Greville or Graebel and I'm working with envy and ceramic speed, and this is all kind of done through above category as well. So that's another one of my main sponsors local shop here. In Marin county and they're taking care of all the builds, making sure that the bikes are always super dialed and I'll take my bikes there to Robert, the mechanic for service. But yeah, envy wheels, ceramic speed for all the bearings. Uh, I've got Garmin for all the, the data and the analytics and everything, uh, Ceram road components for everything, uh, Rene her's tires. So yeah, it's really. Special build. And it's been really fun to be a part of the process of putting together all those various sponsorships and, and building this incredible bike that I get to now spend the season racing [00:26:13] Craig Dalton: in the show notes for a picture of your bike, as it is a beauty. Top end across the board. It's real. It's just a beautiful machine to look at for sure. [00:26:22] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Very feeling, very fortunate to have the opportunity to ride such an incredible machine. [00:26:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So you've, you've come out in 2022, just smashing, not only like super busy and hitting a lot of races, but having amazing success thus far. Remember, as we were trying to schedule this, it's kind of like I'm racing every weekend. I have like a kind of two day window between traveling to the next thing. So you've done some grasshopper. Want to grass opera this year already. And just this past weekend you won the Shasta gravel hugger. [00:26:53] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Yeah. It's been really, really fun to get out and hit these early season races hard. And you know, I've, I've been very blessed with incredible weather all winter, and it's been sad from an environmental standpoint that we haven't got the rain that we really need. In terms of training and preparing for the race season, it has been, it has been really, you know, the weather has been incredible for that. So I've been riding a ton and just really excited to come, come into a big season ahead. I think this next weekend, I'm going out to Oklahoma for mid south, and then I'll take a little. Mid-season break. So we'll take a few days off and just rest and reset and talk to my coach. Kind of look, look at the plan, assess where we are, and then begin to build up to some of the bigger races later in the season. Like the Belgium waffle rides and, and Unbound. [00:27:37] Craig Dalton: Well, yeah, you know, it's interesting having talked to you and learned a little bit more specifically about your background specifically, that focus on time trials that you had kind of as a, as a road race. Watching some of the imagery come across social media. I think both of the events where I've seen you, it's just like Brennan on a time trial, you know, unafraid to just kind of take off and hit it on your own. You want it? Can you talk just a little bit about your mentality in this races and if it's helpful. To kind of talk about the Shasta race specifically, like how it broke down, because I know ultimately you ended up out there with Adam road there. So yeah, just, just curious, like what your mentality is and where you think your strengths are and how you try to break these races up. [00:28:20] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. I think what's been really fun for me in these early races is that if you look at all the courses that I have raised, they've been very, very different. So. Uh, I did a little low gap hopper, which was, it started out with a 20 minute climb and it was an eight or 9% and you've got Pete stepped into there. And so for me, when I look at these early season races, I look at trying to find just this really cool mix of diverse courses so that I can try different things out. And, you know, the effort at each one of these races was so different. And so for me, I know that. Uh, race like the Shasta gravel hugger. That's kinda my, that type of course is sort of more of my bread and butter. It's rolling the elements of that. So like not a ton of climbing. I mean, I can climb when I need to, but it's not my favorite thing to do. You know, living here in Marine county, we've got tons and tons of climbing. You can't really go anywhere without climbing, but I do really love these fast rolling courses, uh, where you can just paddle all day long. So Shasta was very much that, and same with Huff master hopper the week before. And for Shasta specifically, I know, you know, Adam wrote bears was there. I think that was his first race of the season. And I had a ton of really good battles with him last year. And a lot of respect for him. He's, you know, he's definitely at the top of his game. And, uh, he showed up to the start line of it had been snowing the night before and he shows up with no legwarmers, no shoe covers. Some are gloves, short finger gloves, and, you know, I'm bundled up, I'm wearing tights and shoe covers and thermal based layers and hat. And you know, all this warm gear and he's from Canada. He's been riding his fat bike all winter. So I get it like he's, he's been riding in the snow, so it's nothing new for him. I don't have that opportunity. I don't get to ride in the snow all that often, but I kind of, I saw that. I know. Okay. He's probably, he's trying to, he's trying to hit it hard early if he's coming here, dressed like that. And so I was keeping my eye on him and I was actually way in the back of the pack, having a quick chat with Pete stetting about his recent trip to Columbia, and we were just catching up and then the corner of my eyes, see Adam just take off from the front and like Pete and I kind of rolled her eyes, but like really already, you know, this is early in the race. I, I knew exactly when he, when he attacked, like I had to be right there, otherwise he would get away and that could be the end of it right there. So I had to blast up the gutter kind of along the side of this dirt road. And I think we're 20 minutes into the race or something. And, uh, at that point I was able to catch up to him. We had a few people on our wheel for just a brief moment, but then it very quickly became just the two of us. And it was clear that he was, he was there to work and he was there to ride hard. We settled into a rhythm and he's also at a time trial list. That's sort of his background on the road. And basically it was just like, all right, how long you want to rotate for two minutes? All right, let's go. And then just 400 wallets for two minutes and then switch and then do it again. And again and again. And then two hours later, we're still doing it. And it took about two or three hours for us to get any sort of time gap. And then we got a time gap about three minutes, and then, then it started to get a little bit more spicy. There was some attacking and some cat and mouse But I've been doing a lot of training recently where I'd go out and do these five to seven hour rides, really working specifically on the last hour or two and doing all my intervals and the really hard stuff in that last hour, so that, you know, when it comes to that point in the race, that that's what I'm prepared for. And it's very, very different from any of the rowing training I've been doing. You know, you have this basically five-hour warmup to get yourself nice and softened up. Dehydrated and sweaty and everything. And, and then you, you really hit the intervals at the end of the end of the session. So I felt like I had been doing a lot of that in training. So I knew that going into that last hour, I would be in a, in a pretty good place and I was feeling good. So, I knew that the course was changing direction. We were coming out of a long headwind section into more of a crosswind cross tailwind section. And so I attacked him over the crest of a. Got into the descent and I'm a little bit bigger than him. And so I was kinda able to just really put the hammer down on this descent. That was a pretty fast, but a peddling descent. And then once it flattened out, then it was just kind of Tom trial mode and basically put the head down for 40, 45 minutes and ride as hard as I could back to 10. [00:32:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Amazing. Congrats on that victory. Thank you. You must feel good. Now going into, I feel like mid south is going to be the big test because obviously. The Northern California seam is the scene is all was cracking this time a year. And for me, I encourage anybody who's interested in seeing who's going to be at the front end of the field to look at those grasshopper results. Because the last few years running the side from the pandemic, you could always see who was coming out and with really good form, going to mid south. Obviously you're going to get athletes from different parts of the country. You know, sort of unofficially one of the bigger openers of the season, how you feeling about that course. There may. It's certainly going to be cold. So you had a little bit of Shasta. It could potentially be more. Are you changing your setup on the bike? You changing how you're thinking about that race? Yeah, [00:33:02] Brennan Wertz: I would say the only thing I'm flirting, the only equipment I'd probably change is going to be my tires. Everything else is going to be the same. And to be honest with you, I haven't even decided what tires I'm going to run. It's kind of one of those things I'm going out there with one setup. I'll probably have my, uh, Renee has 38 C Barlow pass licks on and cross my fingers that it's dry. But yeah, it does look like there's snow on the forecast for Friday. So the day before the race. So we'll see what happens there. I will bring definitely a spare set of novels just in case it does get really nasty and muddy, but I'm crossing my fingers for a fast, dry race. I think that would, that would suit me a little bit better. But with that being said, a crazy mud Fest, it's one of those things where it could be an epic experience. You never know what's going to happen. And I would also embrace that wholeheartedly. [00:33:45] Craig Dalton: I really enjoyed watching. Pace and battle Pete stat know that one year. And it was interesting as someone with a mountain bike background, I saw how Pete was treating his bike versus how paisan was treating his bike. And it just seemed to me that at some point Pete's bike is going to fall apart because he was just not babying it, it wasn't cleaning it in the same way pace and was, and so it was interesting to see, kind of play out in that, in that respect. I do. I mean, I tend to hope for the, all the racers sake that it turns out to be a dry year and hopefully. The snow cold, snow hard pack. And I'll be a fast, fast a day. Cause I think that'll be an interesting race to, yeah, [00:34:23] Brennan Wertz: I'm really excited. I was messaging a little bit earlier today with both pacing and Ted king and we've been talking about, you know, setups and everything and it's going to be a good one. I think, I think a lot of the top contenders are going to be there. It'll be our first big showdown of this, this season. Hi, I couldn't be more excited to be kind of lining up against the top of the whole world's gravel seen at the, yeah. Yeah. [00:34:44] Craig Dalton: It feels like, I mean, obviously last year we had a bunch of races go off, but it didn't feel like with what had happened in 2020 with the pandemic, it didn't feel like it was full throttle and everybody didn't have the same choices and opportunities. And I feel like 20, 22 is a clean slate. Like everybody's getting to where they want to get to the races are going off and it's just going to be. To see all these talented athletes just kind of attacking this. Yeah. [00:35:08] Brennan Wertz: And I think it'll be interesting too, to see like what people have been up to in the off season. Like my off season was very brief. You know, all, I took a month completely off the bike, but then pretty quickly got into riding quite a bit. And then, you know, like I said, we had amazing weather, so I was training a lot. I did the coast ride all the way down to San Diego with Ted king and a bunch of others. And So, yeah, I'm just really curious to see like how everyone's recovered from last season. Cause that season did go pretty long and I think people got really excited and hit it super hard for a long period of time going way late into end of October. And so I'm just super excited to see like where, where everyone's at and get this kind of first, first barometer first opportunity to gauge everyone's form. And, and then, you know, we'll take it from there. [00:35:47] Craig Dalton: Yeah. You mentioned you've, we've got obviously a lot of gravel athletes coming from the world tour who have had long careers and I've come to group. You're kind of at the beginning of your career coming in and charging, how are you intimidated when you get on the line against some of these names that you've, you know, you've seen in the pro tour? [00:36:04] Brennan Wertz: I think I was a little bit last year. But at the same time, like I didn't grow up watching cycling, like I didn't, you know, we'd watch the tour de France every once in a while. And that was cool to see. To be honest, like, I didn't really know who these people were anyway. Like, you know, as I've come into the sport of cycling, I've done my, I feel like I've done my due diligence to watch as much road racing as I can. And I love watching road racing. I love watching the classics, especially. But yeah, I think, I think that's only really become something that I've come to appreciate in the last year or two is. The having the opportunity to align up against these guys that have come from this incredible background in the sport and someone like Lawrence 10 damn. Who's been at the top of the road cycling scene for so many years. And now to get to line up with him at the start line and Unbound or at any of these gravel races is a huge honor. So yeah, I think, yeah, it's it's, it was, I was nervous last year. And now I think I view it really more as an honor, and I'm just excited to get to line up against all these fierce competitor. I have a, have a solid battle. [00:37:03] Craig Dalton: Yeah. It sounds like you're willing to put it on the line for the win no matter who's [00:37:07] Brennan Wertz: there. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And you know, it's, it's also part of the, I think part of the sport, you have to be really focused on, on your equipment, on your own, your own race. Like you can't just go out there and ride as hard as you can for the first hour or two, knowing that you're going to explode and pay the price for that an hour 8, 9, 10, whatever. So you have to. Self-aware you have to know where your fitness is, what you're capable of at that moment in time, and then also manage your bike and your equipment and know that you're not digging yourself into a hole you can't get out of, [00:37:37] Craig Dalton: particularly in these ultra distance races like Unbound, you know, it's a different story, right. You know, I've heard from other pros that, you know, the first 30 miles is super intense and there's a lot of jockeying and then it'll shake out a little bit. It'll settle in and then kind of realizes like, you know, we're going to be on the bike for, I don't know, 10 hours. It's a, there's certain amount of miles. We just need to cover a little more tranquil and just get through it and then we'll attack each other later. [00:38:01] Brennan Wertz: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. It was very much what it was even this past weekend with Adam, you know, there was three hours or two to three hours where we were just working super well together. It was basically a team time trial. We're just rotating knowing that Pete Stetson and a few others are behind chasing and the harder we're riding together. Now just putting us further and further ahead of them. That'll pay off in the long run. So yeah, it's a, it's a really fun way to race a race. You [00:38:23] Craig Dalton: mentioned sort of some of the high points for the rest of your year. And correct me if I'm wrong, you're doing an Unbound and the BWR series. [00:38:29] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. So I decided not to apply for the lifetime grand Prix this year. I'd already kind of set up my calendar. A few of those races didn't quite suit me. And I'm really excited about Steamboat two and coming from C-level I think going up and wanting to prioritize Steamboat is one of my big races for the year, but then doing Leadville the day before, just sort of felt like I'm was probably shooting myself in the foot. So I'm super excited to watch that whole lifetime grand Prix shake out and see, you know, fall out from season, start to end. Yeah. Couldn't be more excited to follow it. But for me, for my calendar, I'll be focusing more on Unbound Steamboat big sugar at the end of the year. And then throughout all that, I'll have the BWR series going as well. So I'll try to do, uh, as well as I can in the overall. They're nice. [00:39:14] Craig Dalton: Well, it sounds like you got an exciting season ahead of you. [00:39:17] Brennan Wertz: Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't be more [00:39:18] Craig Dalton: thrilled. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, thank you. So we're coming by and talking about it. It's great to get connected with you. You know, I'll be rooting from, from the hometown. [00:39:26] Brennan Wertz: Definitely. Thank you so much. Really? It's been a pleasure. Cheers. [00:39:29] Craig Dalton: So that's going to do it for this week's broadcast big. Thanks to Brennan for joining the show and huge thank you to the feed for joining us. Remember to get that 50% off the feed formula. Simply visit the feed.com/the gravel ride. If you're interested in connecting with me or other gravel, cyclists, I encourage you to join the ridership@wwwdottheridership.com. It's our free global cycling community for gravel and adventure. Cyclists. If you're able to support the podcast as a couple easy ways, you can do that. You can visit, buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride for financial contributions. But I'd also just encourage you to share this episode with a friend or one of the earlier episodes. Sharing is a great way to spread the word that along with ratings and reviews are hugely helpful to everything we're doing here at the gravel ride. Until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels  

Hoy en HABLANDO DE CINE CON, tengo de invitado al increíble Jorge Pinarello, actor, director y creador te contenido que se dio a conocer a lo largo del internet por su canal "Te lo resumo, así nomás", y que ha logrado presentar diversos proyectos en los últimos años. ¡Síguelo en sus redes sociales!

Bienvenidos al EPISODIO 100 de El Club de los Amargados, celebrando 100 semanas de amargura a lado de los primeros invitados del programa: Jorge Pinarello (Te lo Resumo) y Chucho Calderón (La Zona Cero). Este episodio se transmitió originalmente en Twitch en la cuenta @elsergiomunoz. *Se presentaron problemas con el audio durante los primeros 7 minutos. Una disculpa.Matt Damon rechazó estar en Avatar Creador de Avatar: The Last Airbender dice que hay muchas cosas que le gustaría arreglar de la serie Netflix busca agregar videojuegos a su plataforma The Continental, el spin-off de John Wick, será una mini-serie La serie The Last of Us es descrita como el proyecto más grande que se ha filmado en Canadá James Gandolfini recibió $3M por parte de HBO para no interpretar a Michael Scott Película de la semana: Space Jam: A New LegacyTema de la semana: Películas que combinan animación y live-action Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.