Ep. 1161: Leaving Road to Go Gravel with Pro Cyclist Pete Stetina Revisited
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 580 Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gravel Cycling: Pro Cyclist Pete Stetina on Leaving Road Racing After Injury, Full Recovery, and Thriving in the Community-Focused Gravel Scene. After years of being in the biggest road cycling races in the world a devastating and life-altering injury left Pete’s career path felt shaken up and in need of more stability.
Growing up in Colorado and now residing in the Tahoe area, the outdoors were the places he felt at home and at peace. That’s when Pete started to explore the idea of leaving the world of road cycling for the up-and-coming gravel scene. It was a place that accepted newcomers, valued community and good beer, but also gave the edge to not just the fastest riders, but the toughest.
An unlikely full recovery is what even made this dream of going gravel possible. In today’s episode, we’re hearing a story of endurance, optimism, and the power of betting on yourself.
To find out more about Pete:
Instagram: @pstetina
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Adventure Sports Podcast. |
| 0:08.7 | We talk with adventurers from around the globe to bring you the inspiration and motivation |
| 0:13.2 | you need to get started in the outdoors or to keep you moving if you're already there. |
| 0:17.6 | Hello everyone and Happy New Year and welcome to the adventure sports podcast. This is |
| 0:22.9 | Kaylee. In today's revisited episode, we join Pete Stettna and Mason as they talk about going from |
| 0:30.8 | road bike racing to gravel bike racing. Pete was a big timetime road cyclist participating in some of the largest |
| 0:39.8 | road cycling races in the world before he tragically got a life-altering injury, which left |
| 0:47.4 | Pete's cycling career in shambles. Because of his injury, Pete felt like he needed more stability |
| 0:53.0 | in his life. |
| 0:59.7 | And that brought him back to his childhood love of the outdoors. |
| 1:08.9 | And through that, he found himself leaving the world of road cycling and discovering the up-and-coming world of gravel cycling. |
| 1:13.9 | I hope you enjoy it. Here's Mason. Today we're talking to Pete Stetna. He's a former pro road cyclist, you know, raced in events like the Tour to France. |
| 1:20.6 | The world tour all those events that are much more popular in Europe, but he was on an American team. |
| 1:28.9 | Did really well. |
| 1:30.0 | You know, you might recognize his name. |
| 1:31.8 | He was a very famous cyclist, but he made this really unprecedented move last year, |
| 1:40.2 | which was to leave road racing and go into gravel racing, which is pretty crazy in the world of |
| 1:48.2 | cycling because gravel is kind of unproven. It's a lot more, as you'll hear from his story, |
| 1:54.2 | a lot more fun, a lot less, you know, seems like it's a lot less serious on the outside, |
| 2:00.6 | but as people will tell you, that's not true when you're racing. |
| 2:05.0 | But there is, you know, just more fun. |
| 2:07.3 | People are having more fun, is what Pete's saying. |
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