The Adventure Stache

After participating in the Life Time Grand Prix in its first two years, Taylor Lideen missed out on a spot this year. While that might leave some riders struggling for motivation, it’s done the opposite for him. Two weeks ago, at Sea Otter (the first Grand Prix race of the season), he snagged 6th place, just seconds off the podium. The next weekend, he placed 6th at Whiskey Off Road. In February, he and Lachlan Morton set a decisive record at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. Taylor attributes these results to multiple factors, including a brand new approach to training that has put him in the best shape of his career. Without the pressure of having to wrestle for points at all the Grand Prix races this year, he's pursuing an ambitious and varied schedule, including Unbound XL, Leadville, and Vapor Trail. Taylor sat down with Payson in Bentonville this week to talk about missing out on the Grand Prix, why his new training methods might be controversial for some, and why seat tube angle was one of the things he was most excited about when he joined Allied this year. They also talk about the exacting approach to nutrition that helped him win Unbound XL in 2021 and the time he came face-to-face with a mountain lion on a training ride. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

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

After four years of pestering, Payson has finally convinced Nichole to return to the show to talk about her most recent trip to Uganda. In 2017, she visited the country for the first time to teach pathology residents and, based on her experiences and newfound connections there, started Path of Logic, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving cancer diagnostics and outcomes in equatorial Africa. She’s returned every year since to expand Path of Logic, and even started a Master’s program in Public Health at Johns Hopkins to deepen her work. In this episode, Nichole and Payson talk about the animated film she and her colleagues are working on to help destigmatize breast cancer in Uganda, her side project of riding her bike into rural towns around the southwest of the country to deliver solar-powered lights to school children, and how her work at Johns Hopkins is pushing Path of Logic forward. She also talks about getting stranded in Brussels on the journey to Uganda and why she thinks Payson’s lifestyle has made her soft. Get 15% off everything on the Dometic website with code PAYSON15 Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

It takes a particular kind of grit to win the grueling 800-mile Atlas Mountain Race, and Cynthia Carson did it on less than five hours of sleep. The rising bikepacking star has had quite a year, winning Spain’s infamous desert race Badlands in September and becoming the first woman to finish in the top 10. Cynthia joins Payson this week to talk about how she rose so quickly from casual gravel cyclist to one of the top ultradistance racers in the world. She explains why she’s chosen to focus on non-U.S. races since the start of her career, why her extreme competitiveness and relaxed approach to planning are a winning combination, and how an impromptu tea ceremony during the Atlas Mountain Race helped get her over the finish line. She also talks about nutrition, bike setup, and why she started her own race, Gravista, a few years ago. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

At 21 years old, Luke Lamperti is already riding for one of the biggest teams in the WorldTour, Soudal–Quick-Step, and he's hit the ground running. Since the season began, he’s racked up podiums at the Challenge Mallorca, the Muscat Classic, and the Tour of Oman, solidifying his place as a young rider to watch. Before signing with Quick-Step, he raced alongside Tom Pidcock on the Trinity Racing development team where he honed his reputation as a formidable sprinter, but he’s still figuring out where his skills lie. At the start of the season, Quick-Step manager Patrick Lefevere invoked Tom Boonen's name when speculating about Luke’s potential as a Classics rider, and the team has already given the newcomer plenty of opportunities to flex his muscles. Luke sat down with Payson in Girona earlier this month to talk about his first few months in the WorldTour, including what it’s like to have your idols become your teammates, coming to terms with just how good riders like Wout van Aert are when you have to race alongside them, and why his lifestyle hasn’t changed much despite having joined the highest echelons of the sport. He also talks about growing up in a ranching family, his love of motocross, and keeping a level head despite the breathless media coverage surrounding his first season. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

At approximately 12:30 a.m. last weekend, Beth McBride crossed the finish line of Mid South to a thunderous reception. The race is known for its celebration of riders of all levels, and the final rider to cross the finish line is arguably more of a celebrity than the first rider. Payson sat down with Beth to talk about her race, including overcoming her fear of riding in the dark, silencing the negative voices that she’s encountered over the years as a cyclist, and why the acknowledgment of the Indigenous land that the race passes through holds particular significance for her. She also talks about why she had to get up early the morning after the race to ride, and how her affiliation with All Bodies on Bikes has shaped her love of gravel. We also hear from listeners who competed in the race and sent us their stories. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

In 2019, Morgan Aguirre decided to step outside of her comfort zone. Having never competed in any sports, she rented a bike from her local Trek store with the goal of riding 50 miles. Things escalated quickly, and soon, fellow Seattle resident (and now WorldTour rider) Veronica Ewers saw her posts on Strava and asked her to join the Fount Cycling Guild, a Seattle-based team geared towards new riders. But just as her aptitude for road racing was becoming increasingly apparent, Morgan made an unusual decision: she moved to Spain. Now, several years later, she’s living in Girona and throwing down some attention-grabbing results in the European gravel scene. Payson sat down with Morgan last week to talk about why she decided to move to Europe and focus on European gravel despite being an emerging American talent, and where she’s hoping to take her career. She talks about grabbing first place at a stage of Santa Vall last month (and second overall) with a commanding performance alongside heavy-hitting pros like Ashleigh Moolman and Klara Sofie Skovgaard, and why she doesn't have plans to switch to U.S. gravel anytime soon. You can listen to our episode with Veronica Ewers here. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

During his eight years in the WorldTour, Paul Voss rode for some of the most successful teams in the sport, including Milram, Endura Racing, and Bora-Argon 18. In that time, he raced in multiple Grand Tours, and even wore the polka dot jersey for a stage of Tour De France in 2016. But in that same year, he was pushed off the Bora team when Peter Sagan signed on and brought several of his teammates with him. At 30, Paul retired from road racing, became a director sportif for Wiggins, did some cycling commentary for German TV, and put all his savings into starting a junior development team. Now, he’s found a second racing career in gravel. Last year, he won the Traka 200 and placed 3rd at the European Championships, and has his eye on Unbound this year. Paul sat down with Payson in Girona to talk about how his fitness is better now than it was in the WorldTour, how he thinks gravel World Champion Matej Mohorič will fare at this year’s Unbound, and stirring controversy with his podcasts. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

In 2023, just four years after competing in his first bikepacking race, Ulrich Bartholmoes won the biggest race of them all, the Tour Divide. The 2,745-mile route is always at the mercy of the elements, but Ulrich and his two fellow race leaders found themselves in a particularly strange (and scary) predicament when cold temperatures and constant rain left more than a hundred miles of the route unrideable. In a stroke of luck, the three racers happened upon a porta potty in the Great Divide wilderness, where they huddled together for almost 12 hours. Ulrich has a lot of stories like this from racing. A couple weeks ago, during the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco, he got food poisoning, climbed down from a second-story window with his bike on his back at 2 a.m., and suffered a collapsed lung after a run-in with a dog...all in the span of about four days. Payson sat down with Ulrich (still recovering from the crash) in Girona last week to get the inside scoop on that now-legendary porta potty, along with his unique take on bikepacking. He talks about how using granular data actually makes racing more fun for him, what he thinks about Lachlan Morton’s unofficial Divide record, and the mental recovery of such long events. He also talks about his plans for this year, which include tackling the Triple Crown. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

Danni Shrosbree knows a thing or two about multitasking. Having spent years juggling a full-time job in the footwear industry alongside professional road cycling, the British cyclist added the Life Time Grand Prix to her roster last year, traveling between races in Europe and the U.S. while holding down her in-person day job. Despite this grueling schedule, she placed 4th at Unbound a week after finishing the Ride London stage race. Payson caught up with Danni in Girona to talk about the differences between U.S. and European gravel, why racing the Belgian Classics is even more harrowing than it looks, and getting a front-row seat to the Tour de France Femmes last year when she was asked to co-host the Voxwomen Cycling Podcast. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

In 2016, Christian Meier made an unusual decision: at the age of 31, he walked away from a successful WorldTour career a year before his contract was due to end to focus on the coffee shop he and his wife had just opened in Girona, Spain. That year, they opened two more businesses. After dabbling in off-road racing for a couple of years, he made a second unconventional transition. He started competing in trail running events and found so much fulfillment in it that his focus began to gravitate toward professional sports again. Last year, he won TDS, a 150-kilometer trail race in Chamonix and one of the most iconic ultra races in the world. This year, he has his sights set on the biggest off-road running event of them all — Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). Payson sat down with Christian to discuss his journey from Canada to Girona before the town became known as a cycling haven. They delve into Christian's decision to leave the WorldTour early, his entrepreneurial ventures, and that time he started a breakaway at Unbound. He also talks about why he switched from cycling to running, and how the current state of ultrarunning mirrors where gravel was a few years ago. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

Lawson Craddock grew up in the flatland of Houston but fought his way onto the WorldTour feeder team Trek-Livestrong when he was still a teenager. After turning pro three years later, he raced for Giant-Shimano, Cannondale, and his current team, Jayco–AlUla. In his 10 years in the WorldTour, he's taken podiums at the Vuelta, won the Time Trial National Championships in back-to-back years, and had a standout performance at the 2018 Tour de France, but not for the usual reasons. Lawson caught up with Payson in Spain last week to reminisce about racing together in Texas as teenagers and his subsequent move to Europe and into the WorldTour. He talks about how getting pulled from the Vuelta in his first year in the pro peloton gave him extra fuel for a triumphant return the next year, and how a relentless training plan mandated by his team nearly derailed his momentum. He also details his viral performance at the 2018 Tour de France. After fracturing his scapula in the first stage, he went on the complete every remaining stage and raise $380k for his hometown velodrome in Houston which was damaged by Hurricane Harvey. Now in his early 30s and raising a young family, Lawson talks about whether he plans to move back home to Texas and whether he finally intends to fulfill his childhood dream of joining the family roofing business. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

In 2022, Heidi Franz was approached with an enticing offer: B&B Hotels-KTM, a revamped team with a sky-high budget and some of the biggest WorldTour riders set to sign on, wanted her on its roster. But after months of unfulfilled promises and extensive press coverage, the team collapsed, leaving Heidi and dozens of other riders without a team right before the 2023 season. When an unknown team called Zaaf approached her and several other would-be B&B team members, there was nowhere else to go. Soon, however, it became clear that Zaaf was neither prepared for the season nor capable of handling the fallout. With unpaid riders, dangerous working conditions, and swirling media speculation, the UCI revoked Zaaf’s license mid-season, leaving its riders floundering. Less than a year later, Heidi is back in the WorldTour with team Lifeplus–Wahoo, and joins Payson just after placing fifth in a stage of the Tour Down Under. She tells him about surviving the dramatic, high-profile collapse of two teams in 2023 and how a traumatic event in her father’s life inspired her to keep going. She talks about racing Gravel Worlds, snagging her first European win in late 2023 after joining DNA Pro Cycling shortly after Zaaf went bust, and how she feels that she's just coming into her own as a professional cyclist. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

Known to his fans as Jack Ultra Cyclist, Jack Thompson has been smashing world records left and right for close to a decade. Growing up in Perth, Australia, he struggled with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder as a teenager and eventually entered rehab for a drug addiction. Once he was able to channel his focus into cycling, however, he found his element. Quitting his construction job and moving across the world, he found a niche tackling seemingly impossible ultra challenges and raising money for mental health charities. In 2022, he broke multiple world records by climbing one million meters of elevation, Everesting once a week on a different climb each week, and raising $500k for mental health. Payson sat down with Jack in Girona to discuss growing up in Perth, his struggles with addiction and mental health, and quitting his career in the construction industry to follow his dream of becoming a professional cyclist. Jack recounts his first major challenge in 2018 when he decided to do the Taiwan KOM climb, considered one of the hardest on earth, four times without stopping. He also reveals just how brutal it was to complete a million meters of elevation in a year, how under-eating led to chronic fatigue, and why surfing gives him a respite from the bike. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

In 2014, Sam Gaze was a privateering teenager from a rural farming town in New Zealand when he took the men's title in the opening round of an eliminator World Cup in Cairns, Australia. With this breakout ride, he caught the eye of Specialized Racing and relocated to Europe, where he went on to claim five world titles, including U23 World Champion and Elite Marathon and Short Track World Champion. He now races for UCI team Alpecin–Deceuninck where he competes in the WorldTour as well as the World Cup. Payson sat down with Sam in Girona to talk about breaking Nino Schurter’s record-setting winning streak in the opening round of the 2018 World Cup, being mentored by Christoph Sauser, and how winning the World Championship in 2016 with his dad at the finish was the best day of his life. But they also discuss the low points, such as the infamous moment at the 2018 Commonwealth Games when his spur-of-the-moment reaction toward an opponent sparked a media frenzy. The experience intensified his ongoing struggle with depression and caused him to take a hiatus from cycling for much of 2019. In the end, it took medical advice and some encouragement from friend and former opponent, Mathieu van der Poel, to bring him back. Sam talks about his experience with depression, racing with Alpecin, and setting his sights on the Paris Olympics. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

Before migrating to off-road racing last year, Czech cyclist Petr Vakoč spent nearly 10 years racing in the WorldTour, most notably as a member of team Quick-Step. During his road career, he made the start list of multiple Grand Tours, including the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, and won the Brabantse Pijl in Belgium in 2016 after years of focused preparation. Payson sat down with Petr in Girona this week to talk about growing up in Prague and starting out mountain biking with his brother. They discuss Petr’s early dedication to turning pro, which included learning to speak French, and a two-month winning spree that finally caught the attention of Quick-Step team manager Patrick Lefevere and earned him a place within the legendary Wolf Pack. Petr also talks about his breakaway win at Brabantse and why he decided to retire from the road at 30 to focus on off-road racing. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

Even by the standards of WorldTour racing, Dennis van Winden’s career has seen a lot of highs and lows. Starting out on the legendary Rabobank development team as a teenager, he landed a spot on the WorldTour team and was starting to distinguish himself as a promising new talent when a catastrophic health incident changed his trajectory. He returned to Rabobank (then LottoNL–Jumbo) through 2016, but eventually stepped away from road racing and began focusing on the U.S. gravel scene. Now, he coaches a long roster of American talents through Orange Seal Academy, including Cole Paton and World Cup rider Savilia Blunk. Payson sat down with Dennis in Girona this week to talk about his 13 years in the pro peloton and his transition into coaching. Dennis discusses the mistakes he made as an overly-disciplined young racer, the surgery he had in his early 20s that was meant to improve his cycling career but nearly ended it, and how his “Dutch directness” ultimately led to his current role at Orange Seal Academy. He also reflects candidly on what it was like to enter road racing on the tail-end of the doping era, and how he’s coaching young cyclists to approach their training in exactly the opposite way that he did. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

In this final episode of the year, Payson answers your questions about training, the 2023 season, UCI points, mustaches, and much more. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

This week, cycling trainer Derek Teel returns to answer more questions about strength training for endurance cyclists. He goes over the importance of mobility, how to do a proper push-up, and the equipment-free exercises everyone should be incorporating into their pre-ride routine. He also talks about some of his own endurance efforts, including double Everesting, in which he climbed over 58,000 feet in 27 hours, Everesting Roam, in which he climbed over 29,000 feet over 326 miles. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen

Derek Teel began his career as a downhill mountain biker, only to pivot toward personal training when he became fascinated with his team’s trainers and nutritionists. Over time, he found a way to combine his two passions, and his company, Dialed Health, was born, a strength training program geared specifically toward cyclists. In this episode, Derek joins Payson to talk about why cyclists require a different kind of strength training than other athletes, and how conversations with his fellow gravity racers inspired him to start his business. He dispels some long-held beliefs about cyclists and strength training, offers advice for those who are short on time, and discusses where cyclists should fit strength training into their schedules based on their racing goals. He also delves into his personal journey and how the difficult decision to go all-in on Dialed Health at a pivotal point in his life paid off. Instagram: @theadventurestache YouTube: Payson McElveen