With Pace

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. 
In other words, there is no better person to talk to about the course. Payson sits down with Dan this week for a detailed breakdown of this year’s route. For the 20th anniversary of the event, the organisers decided to make this one extra special, incorporating new roads and some old favourites. They discuss weather, water crossings, trains, a new feed zone for the pros, and much more. But first, Dan provides some backstory on the race that has become the focal point of the gravel calendar. 
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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 nationals just this year), but since getting married and starting a family, he’s worked full-time off the bike as an ecologist and carpenter. Last year, he set the fastest known time between Auckland and Wellington, beating Lachlan Morton’s record. 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. 
Sam caught up with Payson during his lunch break from building a roof to talk about how he took on the route, including training while commuting, riding a bike he received just hours before setting off, having to plan around conservation laws that put part of the route off limits at night, and fueling. 
Head to NordVPN.com/WithPace for 4 months off their two-year plan. 
Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen
Email: [email protected]

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. 
Payson caught up with Maddie to talk about starting the race on tires she’d never ridden, battling with the World Champion at the front of the race, and the emotional reception she received from her team at the finish. They also discuss the broader implications of her result. After signing with Trek Factory Racing at just 18, Maddie did not have her contract renewed after last season, which left her scrambling to find an alternative. Now racing with Liv Cycling, she says she felt at home almost immediately. 
Head to Saily.com/WithPace and use code WithPace for 15% their new eSIM. 
Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen
Email: [email protected]

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, why putting on road races is so much more expensive in the US than it is in Europe, and what gravel events can and can’t learn about race coverage from road events. 
Head to NordVPN.com/WithPace for an extra four months on their two-year plan.
Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen
Email: [email protected]

Brennan Wertz wasn’t expecting much at Levi’s GranFondo last weekend. At 6’5” and over 200 pounds, he isn’t the type of rider who usually excels at races with nearly 14,000 feet of climbing, and, to use his own description, he'd “got his doors blown off” last year. But through savvy tactics and a sense of having nothing to lose, he managed to spend most of the six-hour race in two breakaways and landed in fifth after a bunch sprint for the win. On this episode, Brennan gives a play-by-play of his race, including insights on how to pace a breakaway, how he drafts off of much smaller riders, and the moment that he truly took in the magnitude of his effort. 
This episode is sponsored by Saily. Head to Saily.com/WithPace for 15% off their eSIM.
Instagram: @withpacepodcast
YouTube: Payson McElveen
Email: [email protected]