Ep. 84 - Ned Bachanko, 2021 CTR Winner
Bikes or Death
Patrick Farnsworth
4.8 • 563 Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2021
⏱️ 101 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week I had an opportunity to catch up with Neil Beltchenko, who raced the 2021 CTR under the pseudonym Ned Bachanko. Neil is no stranger to ultra endurance racing, he's been pushing his limits on the most demanding routes since 2013. In 2014 he and his wife Lindsay started Bikepacker Mag which was an online publication about bikepacking, routes, and gear. In 2017 Bikepacking.com absorbed Bikepacker Mag and Neil. You will now find Neil creating some amazing content for Bikepacking.com's YouTube channel, which I highly recommend. Whether on the bike or behind the camera Neil is always moving the sport of bikepacking forward and we are lucky to have him in our community.
Neil and Lindsay, also put on the Bikepacking Summit, which is where I met them in 2019. I can tell you, they know how to throw one helluva bikepacking party. We talked about the future of the Summit on the podcast, but you'll have to listen to find out 😊
We were able to cover a lot on this episode, we chatted about content creation, his introduction to bikepacking and ultra endurance racing, his 2015 Tour Divide race, pre-race anxiety and pressure, his soon to be fatherhood, his bike setup, this years CTR 1st place finish, and of course we talk White Sox.
After almost 10 years we had a lot to talk about and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I mostly enjoy Neil's seemingly unlimited positivity, it's contagious and I like it.
Follow Neil on Bikepacking.com's YouTube Channel or on his instagram @neil_beltchenko, he takes a nice picture, check'em out!
Episode Sponsors: tell them thanks for making this episode possible!
Rockgeist - This week we had Jessica on to tell us about some new fabric offerings! If you haven't checked out their Fabric Page, you should! They have collected an impressive about of data and information about fabric types, how they wear, and suggestions on what may be best for you.
Quad Lock - Personally, I dumped my bike computer years ago and have been using Quad Lock on all my bikes ever since. For me it was about simplicity. One less thing to charge, upload, download, update, etc. It's been a great solution for me whether I'm going on a mtb ride or a 5 day bikepacking trip.
Thanks also to this week's newest sustaining Patrons and welcome to The After Party 🎉
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Terence Bonsey
Joseph Knight
Keaton Haney
James Turner
Bob Brill
Chris Clodfelter
Vincent Schumaker
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, friends and welcome to the Bikes or Death podcast. As always, my name is Patrick and I'm your host. |
| 0:06.4 | And on today's episode, we've got an exciting guest. You may know him as Ned Becinko or |
| 0:13.7 | Neil Belcinko. The Ned is a reference to the pseudonym that he raced under during this year's CTR, |
| 0:23.2 | and we do talk a little bit about his decision to race under a pseudonym this year. |
| 0:29.6 | What can I say about Neil Belchenko? |
| 0:32.3 | He is truly a legend of the sport. |
| 0:34.6 | He's been around for a long time and been very active, both on the |
| 0:39.2 | racing, the riding side, but also on the content creation and sharing the bike packing stokes side |
| 0:45.5 | of things. He is just an all-around, nice guy, very friendly, very positive, and he's also a badass. |
| 0:53.7 | So I really enjoyed this conversation. |
| 0:56.2 | I've looked up to him for a long time, and I appreciate him taking the time to come on the podcast |
| 1:02.2 | and share a little bit about his story with you fine folks. |
| 1:06.7 | Now, before we get to his episode, let's give a thank you to the people that help make these shows possible. |
| 1:15.3 | Let's give a shout out to this week's newest patrons, starting with Terrence Bonzi or it could be Terence Bonzai. |
| 1:25.6 | I'm going to go with Bonzai just for fun. |
| 1:27.7 | Hope you don't mind, Terrence. |
| 1:29.4 | Joseph Knight, Keaton Haney, James Turner, |
| 1:33.9 | Bob Brill, Chris Claudefelter, and Vince Shoemaker. |
| 1:40.2 | Big round of applause for all of the newest members over at Patreon, |
| 1:46.5 | getting access to the Bikes for Death after party. And speaking of the Bikes or Death after party, the next guest is confirmed |
| 1:53.2 | and locked in. It's going to be Andrew Anurma. We're still nailing down a day and time, but we're |
| 1:58.9 | shooting for next week. So if you're interested in being |
... |
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