Shows / With Pace
With Pace
Professional mountain biker Payson McElveen sits down with some of the biggest names in sports and adventure to get an inside look at what sets them apart. With no script, the casual conversations are as diverse as the guests, with topics ranging from harrowing tales of survival, to debates on current events, to everyday tips and tricks and everything in between. As Payson travels the world for his two-wheeled day job, listen in as he rubs shoulders with and learns from some of the most…
Episodes
- With Pace
Maude Farrell on winning the Lead Challenge after months of balancing cycling and ultrarunning
Mountain bike racing is hard. Ultrarunning is hard. So why did Maude Farrell decide to make things extra brutal for herself this season by combining them?…
- With Pace
Ride With Pace: Zach Calton the morning after the Leadville 100
The day after placing top 10 at the Leadville 100, Zach Calton joined Payson on a ride to talk about returning to form after the toughest season of his career…
- With Pace
Ride With Pace: Bradyn Lange after Leadville
Barely half an hour after crossing the finish line at the Leadville 100, Bradyn Lange joined Payson for a painful cooldown ride at 10,000 ft. They debrief…
- With Pace
Leadville recap, with Torbjørn Røed, Cecily Decker, Emily Fagan, and key takeaways
In this packed Leadville 100 recap, Payson chats with 4th-place finisher Torbjørn Røed about his journey to the Grand Prix and their sprint finish last…
- With Pace
Cam Jones on his U23 misadventures in Europe and growing up in New Zealand
Cam Jones has had a pretty memorable 2025 season, rocketing from Grand Prix wild card to winner of Unbound. And yet, that dramatic turn of events pales in…
- With Pace
Robin Gemperle on winning the Tour Divide in under 12 days
Robin Gemperle defied all previous Tour Divide records earlier this year when he finished the notorious 2,700-mile race in less than 12 days, more than 300…
- With Pace
Kate Courtney on tackling Leadville and her first season as a privateer
Kate Courtney returns to the show the day after completing the Leadville Stage Race. Just a few months ago, it was barely on her radar, but after a broken…
- With Pace
Cécile Lejeune on her steep gravel learning curve and medically retiring from sports in college
Cécile Lejeune started racing triathlons in her native France at 12 years old and quickly began picking up national titles. After gaining the attention of…
- With Pace
Annika Langvad on coming out of retirement after having a baby
With six mountain bike world championships, a Leadville win, six World Cups, and six Cape Epic victories under her belt, Annika Langvad is one of the most…
- With Pace
Oregon Trail stage 5 co-hosted by Sarah Sturm, with Dylan Stucki and Nichole Baker
Payson and Sarah made it back to Bend. They may be a bit more haggard than they were at the beginning of the race, but that hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm…
- With Pace
Oregon Trail stage 4 co-hosted by Sarah Sturm
Payson and Sarah had two very different experiences on day four of the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder. They recap their respective miseries and triumphs on this…
- With Pace
Oregon Trail stage 3 co-hosted by Sarah Sturm, with Skyler Taylor
Stage 3 saw the riders heading out for an enduro day that turned out to be very heavy on the climbing. Skyler Taylor, who won the men’s stage, joins Payson and…
- With Pace
Oregon Trail stage 2 co-hosted by Sarah Sturm, with Cécile Lejeune
After the punishing 94.7 miles of stage two, Payson and Sarah sit down with Cécile Lejeune, who is currently duking it out for first place in the overall…
- With Pace
Oregon Trail stage 1 co-hosted by Sarah Sturm
As the dust settles on stage one of the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder, Payson and Sarah sit down to talk about the punishing 80 miles from Bend to Gilchrist…
- With Pace
Ride With Pace: Sarah Sturm and Taylor Lideen at Unbound
In this final episode on this year’s Unbound, we’re bringing you two interviews that Payson recorded while on the ground in Emporia. The first took place with…
- With Pace
Ride With Pace: Rosa Klöser the day after Unbound
Going into Unbound this year as the defending champion, Rosa Klöser knew she was a marked woman. What she didn’t expect was that the usual crashes and chaos of…
- With Pace
Unbound recap part II with Karo Migoń and key takeaways
In the second part of our Unbound recap, Payson chats with Karo Migón about her dominant win. After initiating an early breakaway with two other riders, she…
- With Pace
Unbound recap part I with Cam Jones
In the first half of our Unbound recap, Payson sits down with men's 200 winner Cam Jones to talk about his stunning breakaway with TudorPro rider Simon Pellaud…
- With Pace
Unbound preview with Dylan Johnson
It’s Unbound week and Payson sat down with fellow sidelined-by-injury Grand Prix rider Dylan Johnson to set the scene and make some predictions. They talk…
- With Pace
Nichole Baker on her unexpected detour into racing and graduating from Johns Hopkins
For years, Payson has maintained that Nichole is the most talented athlete in their household, but it wasn’t until this winter that she finally decided to add…
- With Pace
Alexey Vermeulen on shaking up the Grand Prix and bringing new talent into the sport
Alexey Vermeulen has a lot of thoughts on how US gravel can improve. A 100-mile Unbound. A U23 field. Fewer elite riders in the Grand Prix—the list goes on…
- With Pace
Iz King on balancing gravel racing and pregnancy
When Iz King got pregnant six months ago, she wasn’t sure how it would affect her career as a gravel racer. Like many female athletes who want to start a…
- With Pace
Biju Thomas on fueling the US Olympic team in Paris and cooking 900 pounds of chicken at Sea Otter
Chef Biju Thomas made a major impact on cycling when he helped co-found Skratch Labs with his friend Allen Lim, but these days, you're most likely to find him…
- With Pace
Anneke Beerten on her years as a four-cross champion, retiring after a brain injury, and becoming a top skills coach
Anneke Beerten was one of the top mountain bikers in the world for a decade, starting her career as a two-time BMX world champion before dominating the 4 cross…
- With Pace
Sea Otter recap with Hayley Preen and Simon Pellaud
The Life Time Grand Prix is back, which means we've got a whole new season of recap episodes on the way. To kick things off, we’ve got South African rider…
- With Pace
Allied ABLE is here: CEO Drew Medlock and Director of Product and Engineering Sam Pickman on the new gravel bike
Today, Allied Cycle Works released its long-awaited ABLE gravel bike. Payson has been test riding it for a year now and is pretty sure it's going to redefine…
- With Pace
Welcome to With Pace
Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Email: howdy@withpace.cc
- With Pace
Brayden Johnson on his disastrous factory team experience in 2024 and taking the 2025 season into his own hands
Brayden Johnson landed his dream situation in 2024 when he signed a contract with a factory team. As a third-year U23 rider, it was a crucial opportunity on…
- With Pace
Gwendalyn Gibson on her unlikely path to World Cup racing and bringing a fresh perspective to the 2025 season
Gwen Gibson is one of the best World Cup XCO racers in the world, but she almost didn’t make it into the professional ranks. In college, she juggled racing…
- With Pace
Rosa Klöser on joining Canyon-SRAM and the future of gravel
Reigning Queen of Gravel Rosa Klöser returns to the show to talk about some of the major developments in her career since we spoke with her after her surprise…
- With Pace
Bjorn Riley on Scott-SRAM training camp, painting, and his near-fatal snake bite
Payson stops by XCO National Champion Bjorn Riley’s apartment in Girona to hear about his training camp in South Africa with his new team, the one and only…
- With Pace
Sahara Gravel stage 4 recap with Petr Vakoč
The final stage of Sahara Gravel in Morocco ended in a sand pit that left some riders sprinting on foot across the line. Payson sits down on a windy sand dune…
- With Pace
Sahara Gravel stage 3 recap with Maddy Nutt and the GRL PCK
Stage 3 of Sahara Gravel in Morocco was harder than pretty much anyone was anticipating. Despite seeming to have hardly any climbing, it proved to be the…
- With Pace
Sahara Gravel stage 2 recap with Oti Zolati and Janosch Wintermantel
It's day two of Sahara Gravel and the general consensus is that the scenery was pretty mind-blowing on this 68 mile mountain stage. Payson sits down with Oti…
- With Pace
Sahara Gravel stage 1 recap with Luise Valentin and Matteo Fontana
It's stage one of the four-day Sahara Gravel stage race in Morocco and Payson is sitting down with the stage winners Luise Valentin and Matteo Fontana. They…
- With Pace
Alison Jackson on collecting stories and finding her winning attitude
If you’ve seen two-time Olympian Alison Jackson in the media, chances are she was either dancing, standing on top of the Paris-Roubaix podium, or both. The EF…
- With Pace
Tsgabu Grmay on 12 years in the WorldTour and fostering talent in East Africa
Growing up in Ethiopia, Tsgabu Grmay was inspired to start riding by his father and older brother, who were both cyclists. As a teenager, he was selected to go…
- With Pace
Geerike Schreurs on her years as a WorldTour soigneur and signing to SD Worx-Protime
Geerike Schreurs spent nearly a decade as a WorldTour soigneur, taking care of some of the best riders in the world. Now, she’s their teammate. The Dutch rider…
- With Pace
Emilly Johnston on joining Scott-SRAM and throwing tricks in the middle of Worlds
Emilly Johnston was wondering if she was going to have a team for her first Elite season when she got a call from Scott-SRAM team director Thomas Frischknecht…
- With Pace
Thomas De Gendt on transitioning to gravel and 12 years in the WorldTour
Throughout his 12 years in the World Tour, Thomas De Gendt was known as one of the preeminent breakaway specialists of the century, winning five Grand Tour…
- With Pace
Riejanne Markus on Lidl-Trek, speed skating, and race radios
Riejanne Markus is a Dutch WorldTour rider who is currently racing with Lidl-Trek. She went professional over a decade ago and has moved from strength to…
- With Pace
Bond Almand on smashing the Pan-Am record self-supported
Bond Almand was just 20 years old when he rode the nearly 13,500 miles of the Pan-American Highway from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina in 75 days…
- With Pace
BONUS: Payson and Hannah Otto talk preseason training and race FOMO
In an extended outtake from our previous episode, Payson and Hannah chat about how they're preparing for the upcoming season, whether they're changing…
- With Pace
2025 Grand Prix preview: Women's roster with Hannah Otto
This week, Payson is joined by Hannah Otto to run down the women's roster for the 2025 Grand Prix. They talk about the five new riders, the riders who won't be…
- With Pace
2025 Grand Prix preview: Men's roster
Big changes are coming to the Life Time Grand Prix in 2025. Among them are fewer events, fewer riders, less altitude, and an extra mountain bike race. There…
- With Pace
Haley Batten on Olympic silver and why she’s glad she went to college
Haley Batten spent years preparing for the Olympics, and it all came together this summer when she walked away with Silver. She sat down with Payson last month…
- With Pace
New Zealand Crossing crew recap
Earlier this week, Payson completed his latest ultra-endurance crossing challenge following his Crossing Iceland and Crossing Tasmania projects from previous…
- With Pace
Ryan Standish on his viral crash and Kokopelli and White Rim FKT attempt
Ryan Standish has had a tough year. During pre-season training in Madeira, he split open his knee during a crash and had to put his entire season on hold. The…
- With Pace
Kelsey Urban on a bittersweet win at XC Nationals and returning from injury
Kelsey Urban’s time racing the World Cup circuit has been anything but smooth. After years of suffering from a mysterious health condition that mystified…
- With Pace
Big Sugar recap with Matt Beers and Alexis Skarda
And that’s a wrap on another round of the Life Time Grand Prix. Payson goes over the final points breakdown and talks about the changes that have been…
- With Pace
Heather Jackson on the Grand Prix, triathlon, and ultrarunning
There was a point when Payson thought there were two Heather Jacksons racing the Grand Prix. How could one person excel in so many sports? The former hockey…
- With Pace
Justinas Leveika on his Tour Divide record and choosing chaos over preparation
When Justinas Leveika raced the Tour Divide for the first time last year, it was, according to him, “a disaster.” But despite having done almost no…
- With Pace
Rad Dirt recap with Finn Gullickson and Cecily Decker
On this week’s episode, we’re covering round five the Life Time Grand Prix which took place last weekend in Trinidad, Colorado. We hear from listeners who…
- With Pace
Rosa Klöser, winner of Unbound
In just two short years, Rosa Klöser went from never having ridden a gravel bike to winning the biggest gravel race in the world. Between her first gravel ride…
- With Pace
Chequamegon recap with John Borstelmann, Anna Hicks, and a points breakdown
Another Chequamegon 40 has been and gone, and we’re here to recap it all with the help of 7th place finisher John Borstelmann, 8th place finisher Anna Hicks…
- With Pace
Brennan Wertz on winning Gravel National Championships
When Brennan Wertz lined up at Gravel National Championships last weekend, he was coming off of a bad case of covid and wasn’t sure if he would make it to the…
- With Pace
Anna Greetis on being the go-to mechanic for the pros
Anna Greetis is a mechanic and race technician for SRAM and one of the unsung heroes who helps to keep athletes on track during big events. As part of her…
- With Pace
Christian Bagg on racing Leadville by handcycle
When Christian Bagg crossed the finish line at the Leadville 100 this year, he became the first rider to complete (and start) the notorious high alpine race…
- With Pace
Melisa Rollins, Leadville 100 winner
There are many riders who dream of winning Leadville, but few if any have spent as much time working toward it as Melisa Rollins. She’s done the mountain bike…
- With Pace
Leadville recap with Michaela Thompson and John Gaston
To recap this year's Leadville, Payson sits down with two riders who had some of the most impressive results on the day, Michaela Thompson and John Gaston…