Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton! Lael Wilcox is an American Ultra-distance cyclist and one of the absolute legends of the discipline. She is the record holder for some of the sport’s most famous races, such as the 2,475 mile Tour Divide and the 4,400 mile Trans Am Bike Race (If you don’t fancy the math – that’s roughly 4000km and 7000km!) - and that's against both men and women.  ... Ultra-distance racing is an intriguing and new side of cycling that I have only started to discover in the last couple of years. Lael was the perfect person to explain and dive into the interesting ins and outs of this kind of racing. Having originally taken up cycling to get to work, she found her way into long-distance riding by pure accident, and within a year was already competing in her first 400-mile (640km) event! Since taking on that first challenge in her native Alaska, Lael began travelling the world and competing in other Ultra events. In almost no time at all, she was breaking records. Lael explained perfectly how the sport works, and the key differences between the types of events, either supported or self-supported.  We had a great laugh at some of the stories from Lael’s many adventures and we went into the details of how she manages her equipment, her preparation, and even what she prefers to listen to on those long nights alone on the bike. I also wanted to know what makes Lael, and so many other women excel at Ultra-distance races. It was really interesting to hear her take on why women are so competitive and to hear her recount her excitement when she first started overtaking the men (passing them while they slept in hotels on the route, and then sleeping under a hedge for two hours to drop them all the next morning!) This chat also came at a great time for me, as I was in my final preparations for my own long-distance adventure riding 1,250km from my home in Lancefield, just outside of Melbourne, to the Road World Championships in Wollongong in five days. (Stay tuned for my On the Road to the Worlds episode in 2 weeks time).  For now though, sit back, relax and enjoy this one. Lael was a fantastic person to chat all things Ultra-distance and more and I really enjoyed recording this one. Cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.  Show Notes Check out more of Lael’s adventures: Tour Divide – Rapha Gone Racing – https://www.rapha.cc/es/en/stories/lael-wilcox Arizona Trail 2022 – https://youtu.be/4HOk0MmgFwE . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now! Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Rapha presents Talking Luft! Well, the Vuelta a España has come to an end, but I managed to sneak in some time to get talking luft with the pros on race. And I’ve got a fresh batch of Vuelta-themed questions as we chat the hilarious intricacies of the Vuelta and Grand Tour racing. I caught up with Fred Wright, Daryl Impey, Luke Plapp and podcast favourite Luke Durbridge and asked them about cap style, racing in the rain vs. heat, their art of getting bottles from the car, grand tour saddle sores, some hilarious on-race scenarios and much more! This was a great laugh as always and I hope you enjoy the listen as much as I did. Cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.  Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now! Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo    

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton! The Vuelta a España is one of the 3 grand tours and it can slip under the radar after the hype of the Tour de France, but I can tell you first hand from a rider’s perspective it certainly is no easy feat.  It’s a notoriously tough old lap of Spain, raced in September towards the end of the season and known for its steep climbs and soaring temperatures. But in saying that, there are moments where the stress levels are lower than other grand tours and you can actually enjoy yourself. And that is why I loved it, it was my favourite race, behind Roubaix of course.  Naturally, I was keen to get some insight into this year’s Vuelta from the pros themselves – to hear about what looks to be one of the toughest Vuelta’s yet, how racing has changed from previous years and also how the battle for the points system is shaping racing this year.  I thought, what better way than to chat to all ends of the peloton. On the third rest day I spoke with Fred Wright, current UK professional with Bahrain-Victorious, riding his 4th Grand Tour at 23 years of age and in fantastic form.  Then I hear from long time pro, Daryl Impey in his 15th year pro, now racing with Israel Premier-Tech with 11 GTs under his belt.  And, of course, I had to speak to fan favourite Luke Durbridge, who is a GT veteran having ridden 13 GT’s in his 11 years pro with Bike Exchange-Jayco, but ironically this is his first Vuelta.  And finally, I wanted to hear from a newbie to grand tours, Luke Plapp. He’s current Australian Road Champion, 21 years of age and in his first year pro with Ineos Grenadiers, how is he finding the step into 21 day stage racing? I tell you it was a laugh to hear their brutal honesty, especially being 2 weeks in and so close to the finish line. Jump back into the world tour peloton with me for the last week of grand tour racing this season, I hope you enjoy the insight. Stay tuned next week as I take Talking Luft on race with the pros at the Vuelta. Cheers, Mitch    Photo: Chris Auld Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.  Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now! Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Rapha presents Talking Luft! Holly Harris is an Australian Mountain Bike and Gravel racer, who I paired up with last week at the Reef to Reef MTB epic. I thought, what better way to get to know her than going straight for the hard hittingTalking Luft questions – style, rituals, training, bikes, and of course, beverages. Naturally, we chat all things MTB and I hear about her favourite MTB and gravel trails around Armadale, we discuss the step up to 29 inch rim mountain bikes from 26, first cycling kits, social rides vs. hour of power, hunting QOMs, cycling heroes and a whole lot more.  This was a good laugh, I hope you enjoy the chat. Cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.  Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now! Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo      

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton! It's no secret I'm a newbie on the MTB scene. Having raced on the road for 14 years I'm still finding my footing out on the trails. But I'm a firm believer that you learn by doing, and this year I have loved the challenge of getting out and competing in local events. Over the weekend I took part in the Reef to Reef - a 4 day mountain bike stage race on the Tropical North East coast of Australia. It's one of the 3 'epic series' in Australia and I thought it would be a great challenge to tackle. But also a bit of fun to enter as part of a team. I knew I needed someone with a little more experience than me, so I signed up for the mixed pairs event with 6 x Australian MTB & Gravel Champion Holly Harris. I'd never raced with Holly before, or a four day MTB event for that matter, but that was all part of the fun and challenge - and I thought, whether we pull it off or not, it would be great to take you guys with us. I wanted to capture the fantastic atmosphere of the 4 day event, give you guys a little bit of insight into the race and especially mixed pairs racing. But also to learn a little more about Holly, her career - getting so close to Commonwealth Games selection and how she tackles these events. I can tell you she taught me a thing or two! I hope you enjoy the insight, as you'll hear it was a lot of fun with a bit of hard work in between. Stay tuned next week for a special MTB edition of Talking Luft with Holly Harris! Cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.  Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch Talking Luft and Official LITP casquettes are back in stock. Shop now! Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo

Rapha presents Talking Luft! I had Australian Mark O’Brien on the pod last week – ex-pro and now coach, giving all the insights on Strava and using it in training. As you would have heard he’s fantastic to chat to, so I thought it would be great to sit down with him to talk a bit of cycling lifestyle this week on Talking Luft. Over a cold Orval beer we chat all the good stuff – caps, beer, shaving your legs post career, wearing old pro kit vs. new wave kit, training loops around North Melbourne, beer v. wine, a war story of biting off more than you can chew in the Alps & much more.  This was a laugh, and I hope you enjoy the listen. Stay tuned next week as I take you on-race at the 4 day, Reef to Reef MTB stage race up in Tropical North Queensland, Australia. Until then.. cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app.  Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch Talking Luft casquettes are back! Shop now. Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one. Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo    

Professional cyclist George Bennett, cycling enthusiast Jay Vine, and Mark O'Brien discuss the Strava phenomenon. They explore the addictive nature of Strava, strategies for hunting KOMs, controversy of Strava segments in races, comparing oneself to pros, and Strava's role in professional cycling.

Rapha presents Talking Luft! Talking Luft is back for another week of cycling style, culture, rituals & bit of life off the bike. Following on from my Tour de France Femmes episode last week, I sat down with a teammate of theirs, British rider for EF Education Tibco SVB, Lizzy Banks. And this was one hilarious chat. As you’ll hear Lizzy was a laugh to chat to and had some fantastic stories to tell. We chat caps, bucket hats, aero hair styles, kit style, rice vs. pasta, race breakfasts, the best of curries, best & worst moments in a race, unplugging on the bike and, a first for the podcast – a war story that ends in victory! All that, plus a whole lot more. This was a great laugh and I hope you enjoy the listen. Stay tuned next week for my ‘Ultimate Strava’ episode as I unpack everything Strava with George Bennett, Mark O’Brien and Jay Vine. Cheers, Mitch Photo: Ashley & Jered Gruber Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app. Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are available online! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks. Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one. Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo        

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton! Photo: Twila Muzzi  It’s finally time for the women to take on the Tour de France. It’s a huge deal that the Tour is finally back on the calendar for the women, and as I wasn’t able to be on-race, I thought what better way to get the inside word than talking to some of the participants from this year’s edition. On the eve of the race, I was lucky enough to talk to three of the women competing for EF Education Tibco SBV, Kathrin Hammes from Germany, Krista Doebel-Hickok from the US, and the team’s Italian rider Letizia Borghesi. I think the growth of racing on the women’s side of the sport is fantastic. It’s no secret that women’s cycling is playing catch up with the men’s in terms of the budgets and races. I spoke to Kathrin, Krista and Letizia about how they look back at the pioneering women who came before them and also how it feels to now be in a position to be a part of the growth of women’s professional cycling. All three of them have interesting stories of how they came to the sport, and talking to them opened my eyes to the fact that until very recently female athletes didn’t really consider that there was a career to be made in cycling. I very much got the sense that passion is more than the profession and that is perhaps an interesting distinction that explains a few differences between the men’s and women’s pelotons. Of course, we also delved a little deeper into the nuts and bolts of the Tour de France Femmes itself and along with looking at the details of the course, we also spoke about what the team is hoping for from the eight days of racing across France. I found it a really insightful chat, and I wish all the women racing the best of luck for the Tour. Cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app. Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are available online! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks. Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one. Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo    

Rapha presents Talking Luft! We had a special Tour de France episode last week, taking you backstage at the race, and this week we have a special Tour de France Talking Luft. While speaking to several pros about the race I snuck in some cheeky Talking Luft questions, which were a bit of a curveball for a few of them but great fun hearing their answers. This episode is packed full of riders at the race as I hear about cap style, favourite beverages, post race rituals, crosswinds v. mountains, race food, favourite riders, the best and worst parts of a race, how to wear kit, coffee, cheat meals & so much more. I chat to: Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo), Marco Haller (Bora Hansgrohe), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Nick Schultz (Team Bike Exchange), Pierre Rolland , Adam Yates (Team Ineos), Taco Van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty), Connor Swift (Arkéa-Samsic), Michael Mørkøv (QuickStep Alpha-Vinyl), Mike Woods(Israel Premier-Tech), Toms Skujinš (Trek Segafredo), George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates), Neilson Powless (EF Education First) & John Degenkolb(Team DSM). This was a good bit of fun to have with the riders and I hope you enjoy the listen. And enjoy the final week of the men’s Tour de France! I’ve got a great Tour de France Femmes episode coming up next week. Don’t forget to get your hands on one of our limited edition T-shirts in collaboration with Çois Cycling. Our Copenhagen to Paris: The Road Less Travelled T-shirt, the perfect momento of this year’s Tour. Shop exclusively at coiscycling.com. Until next week.. Cheers, Mitch Listen Listen & subscribe to this series on the Life in the Peloton website, at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Stitcher, Youtube or your favourite pod app. Show Notes . . . This episode is brought to you by Rapha, makers of the world’s finest cycling clothing & accessories and the worlds largest cycling club, RCC. Find out more about Rapha: their kit, their club, their events and awesome clubhouses at rapha.cc. . . . Merch The last of our T-shirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France are still available! Shop now exclusively at coiscycling.com Talking Luft casquettes: The first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming weeks. Loved the Roubaix stage at the tour? Get ready for next year’s cobbles with our Paris-Roubaix Cap. Jump over to our online shop to grab one. Shop LITP casual Merch anytime online at our store. From casual caps to mugs, embroidered tees, logo tees, sweaters and much more.. Keep in touch Find all our episodes, LITP news and merch on our website www.lifeinthepeloton.com Listen on all good podcast apps, and now on Youtube. Follow us on socials: Instagram: @lifeinthepeloton Twitter: @lifeinthepelo