Stage 3 of Sahara Gravel took the riders away from the Atlas Mountains and towards the Sahara Desert, with 95 kilometers ending in a tailwind. Payson is joined by stage winner Eddy Le Huitouze to discuss how the race played out, but first, they do a little background on how he got here. The 22-year-old Frenchman talks about his time in the WorldTour, lining up for Flanders and Roubaix last year, and why he’s left the road behind to race gravel. 

Stage 2 of Sahara Gravel comprised 105km and 1800 meters of climbing. To recap the day, Payson is joined by former WorldTour pro Nicolas Roche and mountain biker Marta Torà, who are taking on the race together in the pairs category. They talk about how they’ve worked out their pacing strategy, what they each bring to the table with their vastly different racing backgrounds, and the tight battle they had today with a pair of men.

Stage 1 of Sahara Gravel was 99 kilometers in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Payson is joined to recap the day by UK Gravel National Champ and today's stage winner, Lizzlie Hermolle. They discuss the profile of the route, an unexpected camel caravan, and the difficulty of riding through the desert sand. Lizzie also discusses her bike setup for the race and provides some background on her recent entry into the gravel world. 

Caleb Swartz started racing cyclocross when he was eight years old, but the discipline has been dwindling in the US since the 2010s, and the writing has been on the wall for any American racers wanting to make a sustainable career from it. Last year, Caleb started branching out into a few gravel events just to see where it would take him, and he ended up with two standout performances at Grand Prix races — 11th at Little Sugar and 6th at Big Sugar. This year, he’s going all-in as one of the new faces on the GP roster. 

You might have heard that Allied just released a new feather-light trail bike this week. The FITZ is new territory for the brand, so it seemed like a good opportunity to bring in Allied’s CEO Drew Medlock and Director of Product and Engineering Sam Pickman to talk about why they decided to add a trail bike to their lineup and what makes this one so unique.

Most riders spend their first year in the Elite ranks just trying to find their feet, but Riley Amos was determined to be different. He had good reason for it. Not only did he have a dominant final season as a U23 in 2024, but he also finished 7th at the Paris Olympics, the highest an American male has ever finished in the Olympic XC race. Looking back on his mindset coming into 2025, though, he admits that he might have pushed himself a little too hard. 

Haley Smith has been on one factory team or another since she was in her teens. In that time, she spent a decade as a World Cup XC racer, went to the 2021 Olympics, and won the inaugural round of the Life Time Grand Prix. But this year, she’s embarking on a new chapter as a privateer. She’s also doing it while completing her PhD. 

Mads Würtz Schmidt might be a newcomer to gravel, but he’s already established himself as one of the best in the world. The 31-year-old Danish rider went all in on the sport last year with little financial support and ended up winning the Traka, becoming the European Gravel Champion, and snagging fourth at Unbound. This year, he’ll be racing alongside Keegan Swenson and Matt Beers as part of the new Specialized off-road team. 

We're back from our holiday break, and Payson and Nichole are here to recap a packed 2025. They offer a peek behind the curtain at their year, from the emotional toll of Payson's broken hip last spring to finally offloading one of the worst investments of all time. They also answer listener questions about Nichole's first year of structured training and racing, their favorite off the bike accomplishments of the year, and coffee.

Sarah Sturm is back for another monthly catch-up, and this time, she and Payson are talking gym routines. How much lifting is too much? Should you be lifting heavy or doing high reps? And how bad is it for Sarah’s cycling career that she can’t do toes to bar? Then, they do their Privateer Parts segment in which Payson tries to figure out what is in the box that was addressed to him but which definitely wasn’t meant for him.

When Kevin Vermaak left his job in IT to found a brand-new type of bike race, he had no idea how much money he’d lose up front or how successful the resulting event would become. 20 years in, and the Cape Epic is one of the most famous bike races in the world. This year, he launched Gravel Burn, a seven-day event in the Great Karoo.

Scott Bowden set out two weeks ago to tackle a 580km route across Tasmania. His goal was to beat Payson’s FKT from 2021, but most importantly, he just wanted to finish. With 11,000 meters of elevation, multiple river crossings, all types of weather, and punishing terrain, the route is brutal to say the least, and when Scott found himself struggling to keep his body temperature, he thought about pulling the plug. In the end, he did finish, and he joins Payson to swap war stories. 

Leni Carrillo, a self-proclaimed "gravel normie" from San Antonio, Texas is the genius behind the HolySpiritofGravel meme account on Instagram. Payson caught up with Leni for a little spin and chat the day before the final round of the Life Time Grand Prix, the Big Sugar Classic, to talk about how she got interested in gravel racing, where she gets her best ideas, and what she really thinks about the pros.

This week on the show, Payson sits down with Sarah Sturm to talk about the roster for 2026’s Life Time Grand Prix, which was released last week and contained more surprises than all the previous years combined. Payson and Sarah chat about the lengthy list of brand-new riders, the heartbreak and shock of seeing one of the most promising young racers of the past few years shut out of the series completely, and what they think about the controversial changes to the prize money.

With the inaugural edition of Gravel Burn in the rearview mirror, Payson sits down with Bradyn Lange for an overall recap. Due to illness, Bradyn wasn’t able to compete in the pro field and instead dropped in partway through the seven-day event to capture some media from inside the bunch. Then, Payson, chats with Dan Craven, a former professional road racer from Namibia who served as Gravel Burn commissaire.

Stage 6 of Gravel Burn did not go according to plan. Strong winds led to treacherous conditions, and after Swiss rider Andri Frischknecht suffered a crash due to high crosswinds, the 144-kilometre stage was neutralised. To recap the day, Payson is joined by South African rider Hayley Preen, who is currently sitting in third place in the GC.

Stage 5 of Gravel Burn was slow despite being more than 50% paved, and it finished on a 2500-foot climb. Tom Pidcock took the stage win and joins Payson to recap the day. They also discuss the logistics of his Il Lombardia / UCI Gravel Worlds double-header earlier this month, why he decided to take a break from his off season to come to South Africa, and how he chooses which events and disciplines to put on his schedule. 

Stage 4 of Gravel Burn was 111 kilometres of near-constant headwind. Payson is joined by Speed Company duo Lukas Baum and Georg Eggers to get the lowdown on their moves that shook up the race early and how Lukas’s flat impacted his third-place GC position. 

Stage 3 of Gravel Burn was rough and tactical. Simon Pellaud, who has raced in just about every corner of the world this season and is hot off his second-place finish in the Life Time Grand Prix, took the stage win over Matt Beers and is currently sitting in second in the GC. He joins Payson to talk about how the stage played out, his strategy for securing the win, and the crash he witnessed. 

Stage two of Gravel Burn was 108 kilometres from Avontuur to Willowmore and it was much drier than yesterday. Both Matt Beers and Axelle Dubau-Prévot managed to hold on to their leads, but there were shakeups in the rest of the field. Payson is joined by Haley Smith to break down the day, including her tight finish for third, why she was so excited to compete in the event, and how she's approaching this last race of the season after a challenging year.