The Slowtwitch Podcast

The North American race season is right around the corner. That means IRONMAN's rulebook for 2024 has officially been published. We bring in IRONMAN's Jimmy Riccitello to talk us through this year's changes -- and, crucially, what hasn't changed. From drafting to bike equipment to 3D printing your own parts and the all important zipper height, we go through it all.

We're back! We shake off the cobwebs to talk about the kickoff to the 2024 triathlon season. We touch base on Abu Dhabi's cancellation, and then Eric's experience down in Miami. We talk World Triathlon, CLASH Endurance, PTO, and a whole lot more. But ultimately -- did we leave with more questions than answers as to how the PTO will pull off its goal of bringing triathlon to the masses via broadcast content? We also chat about our new slate of writers that have joined the team over the last few months.

Jason West had a hell of a 2023. We recap it, then talk through his plans for 2024.

In this episode: Eric and Ryan talk about the Noosa Triathlon. The event embodies just about everything we love about our sport and community. We're then joined by 2022 IRONMAN World Champion Chelsea Sodaro. We talk about the conflict between being service-oriented and the selfishness that can be a part of long-course triathlon, Sodaro's openness about her mental health, and being an advocate to break down barriers to access our sport with her work with &Mother. Enter Chelsea's sweepstakes for a replica of her Kona bike here: https://andmother.org/chelsea-sodaro-bike-sweepstakes Follow Chelsea on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/chelseasodaro/

We relive the week that was the women's IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii. We dive into how the week builds, the behind-the-scenes of things like the expo and the Kona Bike Count, and Eric's experience trying to get coverage for us.

It's here! It's finally here! Eric and Ryan dive right into Kona excitement and some initial thoughts. We also dive into the art of race directing in 2023, the logistical challenges we're all facing, and our collective desire for something that resembles normalcy.

Two-time XTERRA World Champion Brad Weiss is this week's guest. We talk at length about the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice and his penalty and subsequent recovery ride and run from it. We also talk about being able to pivot from one discipline to another as he preps for this weekend's XTERRA World Championship event. And, for the gear heads, a bit of a deep dive on his mountain bike and choosing the right ride for a course. Dig in!

The first half of the IRONMAN World Championships have come and gone. We go in-depth with our man on the ground from Nice, and newest member of the Slowtwitch family, Brad Williams. Expo, venue, behind the scenes, Sam Laidlow's win, broadcast -- it's all here in this week's episode.

Ryan is back from vacation and COVID to join Eric as we lead into the men's IRONMAN World Championship race. And we're wondering -- is it the time of year, the fact that it's in Europe, or some combination of the current race calendar that's making it feel less like it's World Championship time? We also talk PTO, our picks for Sunday's race, the thankless job that is race commenting, and more.

Paul Johnson joins the program this week to chat through his naval experience, running, and his philosophy of more miles and more smiles. It's a fun one!

We're going off the beaten path this week, talking Xterra's World Tour stop in Avon, Colorado. We're joined by some of Xterra's pro athletes and staff, including Josiah and Sullivan Middaugh, Susie Snyder, and Steve Andru. Let's get dirty.

We're joined by Skye Moench for this week's wide-ranging conversation. Skye's been racing professionally since 2016, and with that experience, gives us insight into her financial decision making when building a race calendar. We also talk through the PTO's alignment with World Triathlon to build a new Championship Series, her recent coaching change, her laser-focus on Kona, and our collective love of FORM Swim goggles. To learn more about Skye, visit her website: https://skyemoench.com

Sean Conway is no stranger to massive adventures. His most recent exploit: complete a full-distance triathlon, within cutoff times, for 105 straight days. He joined us to talk about how he sets big goals and goes about achieving them, the routine of doing 140.6 miles every day in a row, and more. Learn more about Sean Conway at his website, https://www.seanconway.com/ And learn more about his charitable ventures here: https://www.trueventure.org.uk/

We've been traveling and that meant we took a small break. Whoops. But that also means a longer episode as we talk about our various exploits covering IRONMAN Lake Placid and 70.3 Maine. It also means we've got to talk about zippers and the troubles of Justin Metzler and Matthew Sharpe with them. We also chat through the importance of saddles through the lens of two different product reviews we have live on site.

The big news of the week is that IRONMAN CEO Andrew Messick will retire at the end of the year. We look back at his tenure, the social media reaction to the news, and then start to ponder -- who might be next in line for the role? Is it a case of "be careful what you wish for?" Eric also recaps his experience at Odyssey SwimRun Casco Bay.

Ken Rideout is our guest this week. Ken is an absolute character in the best sense of the word. We talk about his racing the Gobi March (a 7 day, 155 mile adventure race in central Mongolia), how he's married his business background to his athletic endeavors, attitude, and the art of training and racing with a young family. It's a trip -- we hope you enjoy the ride.

It was an incredibly busy weekend in triathlon. We cover off the weekend that was, leading off with IRONMAN CDA and the cancellation of events in Canada. We also dive into the news that the PTO won't be adding to their race calendar in 2023; where do they go from here? Then it's off to the center of the long course world in Roth and the record breaking performances there.

We are in Roth Germany to sit down with long time friend Felix to talk about the History of Roth and why it's considered the biggest triathlon race in the world.

We spend some time revisiting what the podcast is (and isn't) in light of feedback from our episodes last week. Then we're onto a Boulder 70.3 recap, with our big takeaway: Can Taylor Knibb be beat? We wrap up talking about our plans for Challenge Roth and Eurobike next week.

Ben Kanute joins the program. We lead off discussing the events at IRONMAN Hamburg and get perspectives from our collective experiences as athletes, media members, race producers, and more. We then pivot to Kanute's 2023 race season and looking forward to Challenge Roth.