For the past 20 years, Chad Cheeney has been one of the most influential people in U.S. cycling, even if you’ve never heard of him. As the co-founder of Durango Devo, he’s helped foster the childhood talents of Sepp Kuss, Chris Blevins, Howard Grotts, Riley Amos, and Quinn Simmons, to name a few. But today, he’s here to talk about his latest cycling obsession, tracklocross, which involves riding a fixed-gear track bike on the most counterintuitive terrain possible.

If you were racing with Matt Wilson last year, it was pretty clear that he was one of the strongest in the bunch, but he never managed to translate his talents into a top finish. This year, the Kiwi rider is out to prove what he can do. Six days after earning a wild card spot in the Grand Prix at Unbound, he lined up at Tulsa Tough, the biggest crit race in the U.S., and won it on his gravel bike.

Tom Evans is one of the best ultrarunners in the world, having won both UTMB and Western States. Now, the British runner has his sights set on the Hardrock 100, one of the most technical of the major ultradistance races that starts at 9,300 feet above sea level and covers 33,000 feet of climbing in the rugged San Juan Mountains.

This week, Payson sits down for a candid conversation with Levi Leipheimer. They discuss his long road to processing his time in the WorldTour in the early 2000s, which was marked by remarkable professional success but marred by the doping scandal that shook the cycling world in the early 2010s. Levi talks about how he went from an idealistic kid in Montana dreaming of the WorldTour to his decision to take EPO.

Nino Schurter hardly needs an introduction. Widely considered the greatest XCO mountain bike racer of all time, he's won 10 World Championships, nine World Cup overalls, and Olympic bronze, silver, and gold medals. Having retired from World Cup racing at the end of last year, he's been dipping a toe into gravel racing in 2026. 

In the second part of our Unbound recap, Payson speaks to three age-group riders who finished in the middle of the night during torrential rain and thunderstorms. First up is Will Bledsoe, who completed the 100 last year and did most of his training for the 200 this year on an indoor trainer. Then, Emily and Justin talk about their Unbound experience. Emily decided not to do the 100 this year and was therefore on full-time support duties for Justin, who was hoping to complete his fifth 200 and join the 1,000-mile club.

Mud, thunderstorms, and mechanicals galore plagued the racers and culled the pro field at this year’s Unbound. To recap the carnage, Payson is joined by Danni Shrosbree, who grabbed a top 10 and secured a wildcard position in the Grand Prix. They discuss their top 5 “What the f*ck” moments from the race, their 5 silver linings, and the 5 most painful parts of their bodies when they crossed the finish line.

Dan Hughes is a certified Unbound legend, having won the very first edition way back in 2006 and another three times for good measure. He’s seen the race go from 34 people in a hotel parking lot in Emporia to the most prestigious gravel race in the world. An Emporia local, he now works for Life Time as a Content Specialist and has already spent hours doing recon in the Flint Hills. 

Sam Shaw isn’t your average FKT setter. The Kiwi rider has raced XC, gravel, and Enduro over the years (he was on the podium at XCO Nats this year), but since getting married and starting a family, he’s worked full-time off the bike as an ecologist and carpenter. Earlier this month, he set the FKT on the Great Tracks Traverse, a 240-mile route that covers New Zealand’s Paparoa Track, Old Ghost Road, and Heaphy Track, which Payson tackled in 2024. 

The first World Cup of the season took place in a new country (South Korea) and featured treacherously muddy conditions that forced riders to navigate large sections of the course on foot. 24-year-old Maddie Munro crossed the finish line in third, using her cyclocross background to propel herself to the best result she’s had since joining the Elite ranks last year. 

This week, we continue our recap of Levi’s GranFondo with this year’s winner, Lauren Stephens, who checked in from the Tour of the Gila to talk about running her own team, the dismal state of road racing in the US, and her controversial use of race radios during the Sea Otter Classic last month. Then, Payson talks to Levi Leipheimer about why he decided to create Levi’s GranFondo back in 2009, and what gravel events can and can’t learn about race coverage from road events. 

Brennan Wertz wasn’t expecting much at Levi’s GranFondo last weekend. At 6’5” and over 200 pounds, he isn’t the type of rider who usually excels at races with nearly 14,000 feet of climbing, and, to use his own description, he'd “got his doors blown off” last year. But through savvy tactics and a sense of having nothing to lose, he managed to spend most of the six-hour race in two breakaways and landed in fifth after a bunch sprint for the win.

The 2026 Life Time Grand Prix is officially underway after an action-packed day at Sea Otter. In the injury-ridden men’s field, Bradyn Lange surged to victory in a sprint finish with Keegan Swenson. In the women’s field, Sofia Gomez-Villafañe took the win in a stacked field that battled headwinds and countless attacks throughout most of the day. Payson sat down with Sarah Sturm to recap the day’s events.

After two strong seasons racing gravel mainly in Europe, Morgan Aguirre is headed for the Grand Prix this year for the first time. Payson caught up with Morgan in Northern California this week, where they are both preparing for Sea Otter. They discuss her suboptimal start to the season, how she’ll be blending European and American events this year for Pas Racing, and which Grand Prix race she’s most nervous about. 

Mike Woods' career in the WorldTour was practically a fluke. After earning a full ride to college for running, he quit the sport over a series of injuries and started riding his dad's bike on the weekends. Fast forward about a decade and he had won three stages of the Vuelta a España and one stage of the Tour de France. Last year, he announced his retirement after over 10 years in the WorldTour. 

During Payson’s trip to Italy last week to race The Hills, he stopped by the headquarters of his new tire sponsor, Pirelli, for a tour of the factory floor. Afterward, he sat down with Samuele Bressan, the company’s Head of Global Marketing for its cycling division. They discuss why Pirelli, which is primarily known for its high-performance tires for luxury sports cars and Formula 1 racing, decided to start making gravel tires back in 2018, and how their products in that area have evolved since then.

After more than three decades in the sport, George Hincapie has started a new venture this year as the founder of the UCI Pro Road Team Modern Adventure Pro Cycling. It’s already gaining steam much faster than he expected — so fast, in fact, that they’re headed to the Volta a Catalunya and Paris Roubaix this year. George sat down with Payson this week to talk about why he wanted to start a new team, what he hopes they will achieve in the coming years, and why he almost turned down that Roubaix invite.

Alex Miller is a two-time Olympic XC racer from Namibia with multiple road and XC marathon national titles. These days, he lives in Girona and races for Swatt Club, splitting his schedule between gravel, road, and mountain bike races. He joins Payson this week to talk about growing up on a 49,000-acre farm in Namibia, his journey to becoming an XC Olympian, the time he beat Matt Beers in a sprint, and how he might have some sneaky WorldTour aspirations. 

The last time we spoke to Luke Lamperti was two years ago, when he was just starting out as a WorldTour neo-pro with Quick-Step. This year, he’s switched to EF and has already racked up some impressive finishes. In fact, Payson ran into him just a day after he got back from snagging two top 10s at opening weekend of the Belgian Classics.

To close out our Sahara Gravel coverage, Payson sat down with race volunteer Leoni Kolberg, who has spent the past four years riding around the world, often solo and sleeping in a tent. She sat down with Payson amongst the sand dunes to talk about what it’s like to live on the road for so long, dealing with the solitude, perfecting the art of reading books while riding, and why she’s decided to change things up this year.