Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

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        

Rapha presents Life in the Peloton! The Tour de France is a beast! A beautiful beast. It is the biggest annual sporting event in the world. Cycling fan or not, everyone knows about the Tour de France.  When I was a professional it was obviously a marked goal for all the guys in the peloton. An achievement to simply get to the start line. Although never having ridden the Tour myself, the last couple of years I have been able to to visit the race from the inside – as a journalist with media eyes on. Working with my old mates from The Cycling Podcast last year and over these first 7 days of the Tour de France 2022 I have been able to absorb the energy the Tour gives to everyone who is a part of it. I wanted to try to take you, as listeners, backstage. To speak to as many different people around the start and finish lines as I could. To try to paint the whole picture for you – that, even if you’ve never been on the sidelines, allows you to understand why so many people want to flock to witness this race pass by.  But most of all, I wanted take you inside the red tape, into the paddock with the buses, on course at the start/finish line, up close and personal to chat to riders and staff to hear what their experiences are from day to day travelling on tour. Join me as I make my way through the first week of the Tour de France 2022 – from the Grand Depart in Denmark, to the cobbles of Roubaix and then to the first mountain climbs of the race. It’s an episode jam-packed with guests and I hope you feel like you’re right there at Le Tour with me! Big thanks to all those who gave me their time and insight while on the busy race: Gregory Rast (DS Trek Segafredo), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Mat Hayman (Team BikeExchange), Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange), Nick Schultz (Team BikeExchange), Neil Stephens (DS UAE Team Emirates), Matti Breschel (DS EF Education First), Simon Clarke (Israel Premier Tech), Zak Dempster (Israel Premier Tech), Michael Rasmussen (Retired Pro), Bradley Wiggins (Retired Pro), Raj (Mechanic EF Education First), Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), Brett Lancaster(DS Team Ineos), Dylan Van Baarle (Team Ineos), Owain Doull (EF Education First), Bernie Eisel (Ex Pro/Commentator/DS), Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech), Ben O’Connor (Team AG2R Citroen), Carlos Verona (Team Movistar), JJ (Mechanic EF Education First), Tom Cools (Çois Cycling), Matt Stephens (Commentator), Luka Mezgec (Team BikeExchange), Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo), Richard Spink (Physio Team BikeExchange), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) & the amazing fans that I met along the way! Stay tuned next week for an extra special Talking Luft, with the riders of the Tour de France. 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 Our Tshirt collab with Çois Cycling for the Tour de France is now live! Shop exclusively at coiscycling.com Our 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! I had the breakaway specialists on the podcast last week talking all the nitty gritty details about the theory of the breakaway. And this week I couldn't resist talking some luft with British former pro & breakaway master and current Sports Director for Team Ineos, Steve Cummings. In case you’re not familiar with Steve, he raced professional for 14 years, winning stages in the Tour de France & Vuelta a España among many others successes and made a name for himself for getting in and succeeding in breakaways. He’s a legend of a bloke as you’ll hear and we sit back and chat all the great Talking Luft topics. We chat cap style, racing with no helmets, 500 quid bike finds, favourite races & riders, training loops & rituals, his DJ name and an epic war story in true Stevo style from the Tour de France. That and a whole lot more. Enjoy this one guys! And stay tuned over the next couple of days for the release of our exciting Tour de France inspired T-shirt with Çois Cycling. We hope you love it as much as we do! They will be available exclusively at coiscycling.com. 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 Steve’s two Tour de France breakaway stage wins, 2015 here and 2016 here. Check out Stevo’s most re-watchable race: Chris Froome taking the win at 2018 Giro d’Italia Stage 19   . . . 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 We have an exciting new Tshirt collaboration with Çois Cycling coming up for the Tour de France. Stay tuned to our Instagram and website in the next days for the drop! You will be able to shop exclusively at coiscycling.com SOLD OUT! Our first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming months. Paris-Roubaix Caps. Get your cap to wear at the Roubaix stage of the Tour de France now!  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! Have you ever wondered why riders attack off the front? Why do they form breakaways? Is it just for the TV cameras or is it actually a race-winning tactic? The Tour de France is upon us and you’re almost guaranteed to see a daily breakaway. It’s historically how a pro cycling race is run: the first 50km is riders attacking off the front – trying to form a breakaway, the breakaway goes, gets several minutes ahead, then the peloton chases them back for the final sprint.  But why go to all this effort? And is it really that straight forward?  Who controls how close the peloton gets? Is it the breakaway, or the peloton? Or even the team directors? And is it really that easy to just ride off the front of the peloton in the first place? There’s so much more to breakaways than meets the eye, and I was keen to dive into this essential part of racing with some of the true specialists in the peloton.  In this episode I speak to two masters of the breakaway: Dutchman Taco van der Hoorn (Team Intermarché Wanty Gobert) – the modern-day breakaway artist, and Steve Cummings (DS at Team Ineos Grenadiers) – the British breakaway Veteran, (who won two Tour de France stages from the break) to hear their perspective on the art of the breakaway.  I also chat to Neo-Pro Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) for a newcomer’s perspective on pro peloton breakaways.  And finally, I couldn’t forget the other side of a breakaway – the chase. I speak to arguably the best controller of breakaways in this generation, Belgian Tim Declercq (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), or The Tractor, as he’s known. All these guys had a different take on the art of the breakaway, but one thing’s for sure – they are breakaway specialists.  I absolutely loved this chat & hope you gain as much insight as I did into what’s really happening in the minds of the riders racing full gas to get away from the peloton. I hope you also enjoy hearing from special guest, Sam Bewley who helps me introduce the episode. Stay tuned next week for Talking Luft with Steve Cummings and be sure to tune in to The Cycling Podcast next week as I cover the Tour de France with them daily. 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 Taco’s win from the breakaway at Bink Bank Tour here and the Giro d’Italia here. Check out Steve’s two Tour de France breakaway stage wins, 2015 here and 2016 here. . . . 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 We have an exciting new Tshirt collaboration with Çois Cycling coming up for the Tour de France. Stay tuned to our socials for the drop next week! SOLD OUT! Our first release of our new Talking Luft cap has now sold out. Stay tuned for the next drop in the coming months. Paris-Roubaix Caps. Get your cap to wear at the Roubaix stage of the Tour de France now!  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 Subscribe  Sign up to Life in the Peloton email updates to get the latest episodes and merch news straight to your inbox.