The final round of this year’s Life Time Grand Prix saw several upsets in the pro field, including Stella Hobbs’ win in a breakaway. She joins Payson to talk about how she captured her first Grand Prix win, from meticulous course recon to knowing exactly how to lull her competitors into a false sense of security before attacking. Plus, she discusses what it’s like running a bike shop.

Cole Paton’s win at Little Sugar last week was just the latest in a series of big events that have shaped his life on and off the bike this year. Over the winter, he got a new coach, bought a log cabin on 40 acres in central Washington, and started adding mountain bike races to his schedule. Despite taking a wrong turn at Little Sugar, he won handily, without another rider in sight. 

Sepp Kuss is back on the pod after yet another historic season racing all three Grand Tours, and after his stage 19 win at the Giro d'Italia this year, he is now one of the few riders to have won a stage in each. Sepp caught up with Payson during a break in racing to talk about his infamous crash while leading stage 20 of the Tour de France this year, whether he actually enjoys doing all three Grand Tours in a season, and how his life has changed since becoming a dad. 

Most high schoolers spend their time hanging out with friends and worrying about college applications. Jacob Hora spent his time getting trench foot in Central Asia and riding solo across 800 miles of Armenia. At 15, he tackled the notorious Iditarod Trail Invitational with his mentor, Jay Petervary. The following year, he did the 1,200-mile Silk Road Mountain race in Kyrgyzstan. Now a senior at Fort Lewis College, he juggles classes with ultra endurance events like the Tour Divide and the Colorado Trail Race.

Fans of XCO World Cup racing might have been surprised to learn at the beginning of the year that Mārtiņš Blūms was headed for the Grand Prix. The Latvian rider has been a mainstay on the World Cup circuit for a decade, racking up podiums and even winning the 2017 overall as a U23. But as he tells Payson in this conversation, there are fewer opportunities for XCO riders these days, and he was ready to try something new.

One month after giving birth to her daughter, Sarah Sturm is back in the studio with Payson to talk about what has changed and what has stayed the same in these past few transformational weeks. She and Payson also talk about the future of the series now that the entry requirements have been overhauled.

Quinn Simmons made headlines last month when it was announced that he’d be jumping into Leadville just a couple of weeks after racing the Tour de France. He sat down with Payson this week to talk about his last-minute decision to do the race, his standout performance at the Tour, and the stage win at Dauphiné that helped get him there.

This year’s Leadville 100 was unlike any other, with wildfires last month necessitating a reroute of the iconic course and cool temperatures and rain contributing to a chaotic race. Quinn Simmons and Rosa Klöser dropped in just after finishing their respective Tour de Frances, and Keegan Swenson had to sprint for the line for the first time thanks to a standout ride from Matt Wilson. 

A lot has changed for Cam Jones since our last episode with him a year ago. Back then, he’d just had his breakout ride at Unbound, winning the biggest gravel race in the world as a Grand Prix wild card. Now, he’s the defending champion of the entire series and anything but an underdog. He joins Payson this week to discuss how the racing dynamics have changed now that he’s a known quantity in the peloton, what it's been like settling in the US for now after years of constant travel back to New Zealand, and much more.

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.