Sofia Gomez Villafañe has many accolades to her name. Olympian, winner of the Cape Epic, winner of Unbound, and winner of Leadville are just a few of her claims to fame, and she also happens to be this year’s winner of the Life Time Grand Prix after clinching the overall victory in just five races. Payson caught up with Sofia a few days before the seventh and final round of the series in Bentonville, Arkansas for a wide-ranging and long overdue conversation.

The second-ever Gravel World Championships took place in Veneto, Italy earlier this month, and we’re bringing you a full episode about it. Payson chats with Keegan Swenson about his fifth-place finish in a field dominated by Europeans who were well-versed in the kind of tight, twisty terrain that the course had to offer.

As new addition to the Grand Prix series, the Rad Dirt Fest was an unknown quantity for many of the racers last weekend. Alexey Vermeulen and Lauren De Crescenzo came away with the wins, shaking up the standings and setting the stage for the final race in Bentonville at the end of the month. In this recap episode, Payson catches up with Velo reporter Betsy Welch to talk about the race.

Cole Paton returns to the show after a transformative year in his career. When this conversation was recorded earlier this week, he was sitting in second place in the Life Time Grand Prix and had just won the Marathon Mountain Bike National Championship the week before.

In our latest recap of the Life Time Grand Prix series, we’re covering Chequamegon, the punchy, 40 mile mountain bike race in Northern Wisconsin. This year’s event saw new riders at the front of the pack and drama in the sprint finishes.

Last week, Lachlan Morton finished the 2,670-mile Tour Divide in just 12 days, 12 hours, and 21 minutes, more than a day faster than the officially recognized record. He also did it in the midst of the Life Time Grand Prix, between Leadville and Chequamegon.

PC: @_ryan_hill

This week, Payson is joined by one of the Australian riders in this year’s Grand Prix, Brendan Johnston. Brendan dominated the marathon mountain biking scene in Australia for several years, winning the national title no fewer than four times and winning 19 consecutive races between 2015 and 2017. He’s also dabbled in road racing, finishing third at the 2022 National Championships in a stacked field. After juggling cycling alongside a full-time career, Brendan decided to focus on riding this year and moved across the world to compete in the Grand Prix.

This week, Payson catches up with one of the fastest racers in this year's Grand Prix, Zach Calton. So far this season, Zach has placed 6th at Leadville and 9th at Unbound, and is currently sitting 8th overall in the Grand Prix standings. He also happens to have a full-time job off the bike.

Payson caught up with fellow Grand Prix racer Maude Farrell at Leadville a couple of weeks ago to talk about how her season is going, why she went to Leadville even though she chose to skip racing it, and how she juggles professional racing with a full-time career at the electric vehicle company Rivian. They discuss the challenges of trying to have it all—professionally, athletically, and personally—and do a deep dive into the state of the electric vehicle industry and why there’s no silver bullet when it comes to making transportation more sustainable.

There was one story that dominated Leadville this year. Keegan Swenson smashed the course record by more than 15 minutes and finished nearly 25 minutes ahead of second place. On the women's side, Sofia Gómez Villafañe won a tight battle among the top five, followed closely by Ruth Winder.

The queen of ultra-endurance cycling returns to the show to talk about her punishing experience at this year’s Tour Divide, her upcoming stab at the Colorado Trail race, and her plan to race around the world, which she devised while riding several thousand miles to the start of the Tour Divide.

This week, we’re bringing you the next installment of our series on the women racing in this year’s Life Time Grand Prix, this time with Alexis Skarda, Bella Hyser, and Anna Yamauchi.

This week, we’re bringing you the next installment of our series on the women racing in this year’s Life Time Grand Prix.

Ellen Campbell has been riding bikes since she was a kid growing up in Durango, Colorado. She raced in college and on the national circuit, but it was only last year that she decided to step into professional gravel full-time. Joining Sarah Sturm’s privateer program, she competed in the Grand Prix in 2022 with the goal of finishing every race. This year, she’s racing in the Grand Prix again, but her perspective and goals are shifting.

The third round of the Life Time Grand Prix is an Infamous gravel race in Southwest Utah with over 10,000 feet of climbing over a punchy 69-mile course. This year’s race was defined by a distinct lack of drama, but it was still historic. Keegan Swenson became the first (and only) rider in the event’s history to finish in under four hours, while Sofía Gómez Villafañe smashed the women’s record by more than six minutes. Payson and Velo reporter Betsy Welch talk about these wins as well as some of the other noteworthy finishes. From Matt Beers to Paige Onweller, there were many riders who staked their claim on the leaderboard last week with breakout performances.

This year’s Life Time Grand Prix brought a host of new contenders to the women’s roster along with some familiar faces from last year. With such a stacked field, we thought it was high time to get to know the individuals behind the results. To kick off our series, we have four racers whose vastly different paths have led them to the Grand Prix, Jenna Rinehart, Deanna Mayles, Iz King, and Leah Van der Linden.

Sepp Kuss is a cyclist for WorldTour team Jumbo Visma. In 2021 he won a stage of the Tour de France, and last year helped secure the victory for his teammate Jonas Vingegaard. Last month, he helped Primož Roglič win the Giro d'Italia.

Kristen Legan works in PR and Communications with some of the biggest cycling brands in the world, including Shimano and Mosaic Cycles. But on race weekends, you can find her battling for the podium. A couple of weeks ago, she walked away with the win after tearing through the mud-drenched 350 miles of the Unbound XL.

Unbound is always full of adversity, perseverance, and unexpected triumphs, and this year was no different. With plenty of inclement weather, mud, upsets, and drama, the race has reignited long-standing debates in gravel and elevated a few riders to a new level of prominence. Payson chats with Velo reporter Betsy Welch, and catches up with this year’s surprise winner, Carolin Schiff.

It’s raining in Emporia, Kansas and thousands of riders are about to head to the start line for this year’s Unbound Gravel. Payson caught up with Velo reporter Betsy Welch to talk about the emerging variables to look out for in the race, including the weather, a new format for the women’s start, a top contender lurking in the men's field, and spicy tactics. Plus, they take a stab at defining "gravel beef" and consider whether runners might have a leg up in this year's race.