Overland Archive Podcast

This week we are joined by Emma Bateup, the women's winner and 11th overall at the 2024 Tour Te Waipounamu.

We're back! Getting back to racing has sparked up some inspiration and I really wanted to hear the story behind Joe's epic run down the TTW route! Hear about his race strategy and the battle with Rufus up front.

We're back! Toto joins Lewis on this episode to discuss his GTMC FKT project and battling saddle sores on the Atlas Mountain Race.

Jay Petervary joined me days before heading up to the Canadian/American border at Rooseville for this years abridged edition of the Tour Divide. With the Canadian border still shut racing on the route will only be from border to border across America, in the vein of the original Great Divide Race. As such theres some differences to the route, throwing back to the ACA's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, where some deviations now exist between that route and the Tour Divide.

Simon joins me (in person!) to tell us all about his upcoming race in South Australia; the Kudlila Rally which runs from the River Torrens/Karrawirra Parri to the Spencer Gulf in Port Augusta with the Grand Depart on July 3. For more info on the race check out the facebook event: https://fb.me/e/2uOgQoQKm

This episode is packed full of short interviews from the Victoria Divide racers out on trail and a post-race chat with winner and new course-record holder Stephen Lane.

We're back! This episode we are joined by Brian Alder from New Zealand's South Island to tell us all about the inaugural running of his rugged, backcountry ultra race; the Tour Te Waipounamu!

Eliza Sampey joins us to talk about her bikepack racing accomplishments and the release of an upcoming book and project she's been involved with bringing to life: The Bike Raft Guide. For the uninitiated, bikerafting is a combination of bikepacking and packrafting. That is; riding to a river with a 2-4kg inflatable raft strapped to your bike, then inflating the raft, strapping your bike to the front and paddling down said river. It opens up some incredible opportunities to traverse the natural environment. Eliza is not only an accomplished bikerafter, with many epic expeditions under her belt, but also a talented mountain biker and bikepacker, holding the course record on the Arizona Trail Race 750. The Bike Raft Guide: https://fourcornersguides.com/thebikeraftguide/ IndieGoGo Campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-bikeraft-guide-by-doom-lizzy#/ The Bike Raft Guide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebikeraftguide/ Eliza's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizasampey/ Vital Motion Life: https://www.vitalmotionlife.com/

Kurt Refsnider who was an early guest back in Episode 9, joins us again to tell us about his new FKT on the Kokopelli Trail, breaking the record set by Lachlan Morton earlier in 2020. He also has some updates to share in regards to his non-profit Bikepacking Roots. Their new BIPOC Adventure Grant and a renaming of their Wild West Route to the Western Wildlands Route.

A slightly different episode this week. The first half is short chats with riders on course of the GDT400, then followed up by 3 slightly longer interviews with riders after they've had a chance for their legs to recover and gather their thoughts on the route.

This week we're joined by Craig Wiggins who recently smashed the FKT on the Munda Biddi Trail, taking very nearly a full day off the previous mark.

This week's guest is Ryan Hawson, the man who started the GDT400 race back in 2013. We chat about this humble beginnings of the event, and take a look at this history of bikepacking racing in Australia and how it evolved from the early days of the sport back in 2008.

Another Tech Talk, gear-focused episode this time focusing on tarps. I'm joined as always for the Tech Talk episodes by my good friend Ty Domin, and this time, also by Evan Howard, of Terra Rosa Gear, manufacturer of incredible ultralight tarps here in Melbourne, and someone who's pushed tarp usage to the extremes. Some great insights in to all things tarps including size and material choice, pitches, knots, and a general pro/con comparison of why you would choose a tarp over another type of shelter for bikepacking. A look at Evan's prussik system for his guylines as mentioned in the show: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGlnyY_lBZt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Natt Williams joins me from London on this episode to tell us all about his trip down the 550km Iceland Divide route that traverses the island North-South. The route crosses desolate glaciers and lava fields, with no towns or resupply options for its entire length! Natt's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natt.ewill/?hl=en or @natt.ewill

Good friend of the podcast and host of the Hidden Athlete Ross Burrage joins me to tell us about his story of redemption on the Tour Divide route in 2019 after calling it quits on the race in 2017 before he made it out of Montana. He also shares his story of how he became involved with the Masaka Cycling Club while training for his 2019 Divide run in Uganda. https://www.masakacyclingclub.com/ https://thehiddenathlete.com.au/ https://instagram.com/rossburrage?igshid=1t5660jass3vc https://instagram.com/masakacyclingclub?igshid=hgl237v3hhpq https://instagram.com/thehiddenathletepodcast?igshid=1lmtrexym2ql4

Melbourne local Faith Hunter joins me this week to talk about this history of women cycling in Australia in the 1890's. The birth of the modern bicycle was linked directly with the women's suffrage movement and also facilitated unprecedented levels of freedom and independence for women from traditional Victorian social standards. Many people will know about the history of the Overlanders racing their bikes across the country from city to city to best each other's records, but Australian women, although not as well documented, were out their overcoming social stigma and abuse pushing the limits of what was possible on the bike.

The winner of this year's GB Duro Josh Ibbett joins us fresh off the trail to talk about his victory. The race underwent some significant rule changes this year to accomodate the situation of the pandemic responsibly. Riders were required to be entirely self-sufficient from the start of the race, carrying all their food for the entire journey. Stepping foot into any business or public building for resupply or shelter would mean disqualification. These rule changes made for a very interesting race dynamic and one that we have never seen before in bikepacking. Josh talks us through how the race unfolded and some of the logistical challenges he faced in light of the new rules. Josh's GB Duro bike and gear setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu0RsE9-Ta0 VIideo from Josh's Tour Divide race last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqgWRjG9M2s Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/overlandarchive https://www.paypal.me/overlandarchive

This week is another Tech Talk episode! This time around, tackling the topic of navigation for bikepacking. I'm joined by Ty Domin and Emma Flukes for a round table discussion to cover everything from our route planning processes, navigation devices, phone apps, and GPS communicators/trackers such as InReach, Spot and ePIRB/PLBs. Resources/maps: NSW: https://maps.six.nsw.gov.au/ TAS: https://maps.thelist.tas.gov.au/listmap/app/list/map VIC: https://mapshare.vic.gov.au/MapShareVic/ SA: https://sappa.plan.sa.gov.au/ WA: https://www0.landgate.wa.gov.au/ Support the show: https://patreon.com/overlandarchive https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/overlandarchive

This week Patrick Farnsworth, host of the Bikes or Death Podcast joins me for a really fun episode with a twist! A co-hosted episode where we talk about bikepacking, media in the sport, how Patrick got started with the Bikes or Death Podcast and then he turns the mic on me and asks me some questions about my bikepacking, ultra racing and route creation! Instagram: @bikesordeath WebsiteL: https://bikesordeath.com/