Hey, guys, Dylan Bowman here. Welcome to the free trail podcast. Always love having you here today, something a little

different. My guest is friend and Red Bull teammate, Mr. Payson McKelvin, a professional cyclist,

both on the mountain bike and gravel scene. Payson is an absolute force to be reckoned with. He is just a beast on two wheels. He is also a

podcaster. He hosts the awesome show, of course, mostly focusing on his sport on cycling

called The Adventure Stash. It's an awesome podcast, even if you're not into the cycling scene.

I super recommend you check it out. I was actually on

his show a couple of years ago. And today I get to turn the tables on Payson. He joins to help us

learn a little bit more about himself and the sport in which he makes his living. I see such a

parallel between gravel racing, off-road cycling in general,

and what we're experiencing in trail running right now, much like trail running, mountain biking

gravel is experiencing explosive growth. So it was fun to learn a little bit more about that

sport and compare notes to the current circumstances

in trail running much like myself. Payson is sort of going through a big career evolution at the

moment, sort of a personal renaissance. So we talked a lot about that. We spoke about the state of the cycling

industry, the new Lifetime Grand Prix, which is super cool. We talked about being a 21st century

professional athlete, what that means, and a lot more. I just wanted to say also that we

recorded this episode a couple of weeks ago.

And last weekend at Payson's season opener for 2022 at the Mid-South Gravel Race, a race he's won twice in the past this past weekend.

He unfortunately broke his right collarbone and left hand in a super gnarly crash near the end of the race.

Of course, a major bummer for any athlete in a tough way to start the season.

But we'll be rooting for him as he battles back to health and back to the front of the peloton.

But yeah, again, we recorded this

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