Payson is joined by Geoff Kabush and Kateřina Nash to talk about all things Life Time Grand Prix. The six-race gravel series kicks off this weekend with the Sea Otter Classic. Both Geoff and Kateřina have won Sea Otter multiple times, and are racing it again this year. Neither of them, however, is participating in the Grand Prix. Earlier this year, Geoff penned an article in Cycling Tips that criticized the points system and entry requirements of the race, questioning its impact on the careers of pro racers. In this conversation, he, Kateřina, and Payson discuss his concerns and how the Grand Prix might adapt in the coming years.

Dave Hagen has been the Director of the Fort Lewis College cycling program for 18 years. In that time, he’s seen it grow from a club sport to one of the most dominant collegiate teams in the country. He’s helped guide the careers of future pros such as Sarah Sturm, Sepp Kuss, Chris Blevins, and Sofia Gomez-Villafañe, and watched the team secure 15 USA Cycling Collegiate national titles in mountain biking and cyclocross. But under his leadership, the program has focused just as much attention on amateur cycling enthusiasts as future Olympians and World Champions.

Payson sits down with this year’s winner of The Mid South, Cole Paton to discuss his victory and unpack the race. Having spent much of his career winning collegiate XC titles and chasing the World Cup circuit, the 23-year-old was as surprised as anyone when his fitness and savvy tactics snagged him the top step at the season’s first major gravel race. Despite his decisive win, Cole says that self-doubt and low expectations followed him all the way to the finish line, even after his solo breakaway with only a few miles to go.

Keegan Swenson joins Payson one week after setting a course record at 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. They talk about his pivot toward endurance racing after narrowly missing out on a spot at the Olympics for XC, and how he managed to beat out stiff competition to take the top step at 24 HOP in spite of it being his first 24-hour solo race.

Ted King joins Payson to talk about The Mid South, the unofficial kickoff of the 2022 gravel season. They discuss this year’s course, the weather forecast, and where they think the race fits into the bigger picture of gravel. They discuss of the depth of both the men's and women's fields and choose their podium favorites and a few dark horses.

Jesse Melamed is an enduro mountain bike racer who is currently ranked #3 in the world for that discipline. In this conversation, he talks about growing up in Whistler, BC, his love of skiing, and his relationship with his teammate and competitor, Remi Gauvin. He talks about the mixed response he received from fans and sponsors when he won the 2020 Enduro World Series which had several notable absences from riders due to the pandemic. He also talks about why big miles on the road is the best form of training, why filming and editing his own content has remained a priority in spite of a busy race schedule, and the bike touring trip he took from Texas to Louisiana this winter.

Lance Haidet is a professional road and cyclocross racer who currently rides for L39ion of LosAngeles. In this interview, he tells Payson about racing mountain bikes as a teenager in Bend, OR and going on to win U23 Road Nationals for Aevolo under the leadership of Mike Creed. He talks about why he's decided to jump into the gravel racing scene for the 2022 season with the Lifetime Grand Pre, and how he juggles multiple disciplines while getting an engineering degree at CalPoly. He also tells Payson about why he decided to join L39ion in 2020, what he thinks of the backlash the team receives, and how they've changed road cycling in the US.

Sam Pickman worked as an engineer for Specialized for 11 years before joining Allied Cycleworks in 2016. As one of the brand’s first employees, he has been instrumental in developing their unique designs and manufacturing process. In this interview, he tells Payson why he chose to move his family from the Bay Area to northwest Arkansas to work for an as yet unproven brand. He talks about why Allied’s “made here” ethos creates a higher performance product: by designing and manufacturing all their bikes and components under the same roof, they’re able to explore and test more innovative designs than a brand that outsources their manufacturing to other factories. He talks about his own creative process, how some of Allied’s most successful designs were developed, and goes through the steps of how a bike is made.

Marley Blonsky is the co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes, an organization that seeks to make the cycling community more size inclusive. In this conversation, Marley talks about the longtime lack of inclusive sizing in cycling, from clothing options to equipment, why she recently decided to leave her job in corporate America to move to focus on growing her role in the cycling community, and why she views the word "fat" as neutral rather than derogatory. She also talks about ignoring criticism in favor of positivity, her program sponsoring non-traditional athletes to race at SBT GRVL, and her new database matching companies to plus size gear testers around the world.

Cam Wurf started his athletic career in rowing, where he represented Australia at the 2004 Olympics, and went on to compete in road cycling for WorldTour teams including Cannondale-Liquigas. After retiring from the sport in 2015, he started racing triathlons, attaining 5th at the World Championship in 2019, and setting a World Record for the bike leg of the race. In 2020, he was lured back in to professional cycling at the highest level when Ineos Grenadiers came calling. He now leads an unprecedented dual career as a WorldTour cyclist and Ironman triathlete.

Since leaving her career as a professional cross country mountain bike racer, Gretchen Reeves has worked as an accountant for athletes and self-employed people from the outdoor industry. In this interview, she offers some financial best practices for athletes just starting out, those who are already established pros, and anyone who wants to get more value out of their income. She talks about the ways self-employed people often overlook significant deductibles, how to set yourself up for a comfortable retirement, and mistakes she often sees people make in their financial planning. She also tells Payson about her career racing for Tokyo Joe's in the late 90s and early 2000s and her subsequent adventure racing career, which included the 2020 Eco-Challenge in Fiji. She talks about what it was like being on camera for the race, which was hosted by Bear Grylls and streamed on Amazon Prime.

In 2021, Ashton Lambie became the first person in history to ride 4000m in under four minutes. He completed the distance in 3:59.93, surpassing the previous record held by Filippo Ganna, the current time trial world champion. This was Ashton's third time to break the world record, which he had first held in 2018. He went on to win the individual pursuit at the Track World Championships two months later. Given this history, it is perhaps surprising that Ashton grew up racing gravel in Nebraska before discovering his talent for track racing.

Payson answers listener questions about his upcoming 2022 season, including new and returning sponsors, his race schedule, and a few personal developments as well. He also shares some thoughts on the privateering model in gravel, and addresses what mountain bike he'll be riding this year.

For over two decades, Molly Cameron has been advocating for LGBTQ+ rights within cycling. In her career as a racer, she was banned early on from racing in the women's category, and was forced to race with the men. In 2015, she was briefly banned from racing in the men's cyclocross national championship when the rules were changed to require a person's gender to correlate with the gender on their driver's license.

Jack Aitken has been pursuing a career as a Formula One driver since he was seven years old. He's raced in both Formula Three and Formula Two, and was signed as a reserve driver for Williams Racing in 2020. Later that year at the Sakhir Grand Prix, he made his F1 debut when another racer tested positive for coronavirus.

Lizzie Deignan has held just about every title available to road racers. She was the 2015 World Champion, won silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, and is a four time British national champion.

In his role as President of Events and Media at Life Time, Kimo Seymour has been instrumental in the acquisition and shaping of mass participation off-road events such as Unbound Gravel and Leadville.