I'm Pace McElvin and this is the WithPace podcast.

Right now is like a golden era for Durango cycling, for American cycling.

And, you know, I think a lot of that has spawned from that 1990s world championships.

And we do need to tell that story and we're hoping that this, you know, world championships

will spawn the next generation or even just keep it rolling what we have.

Like what's come out of that first world is what we see today.

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I'm going to try to keep this intro tight

because I could absolutely ramble on this one. My heart is as in this conversation as just about

any because the Durango World Championships are coming home to Durango,

Colorado after 40 years,

hosting the first ever mountain bike world championships in 1990,

and both that 1990 Worlds and today's guest, Todd Wells,

um,

directly and indirectly are responsible for both me being a professional cyclist right now and also living in Durango, Colorado.

And the flywheel effect that that first 1990 worlds here has created for our small community

in Durango, but also mountain biking as a sport

as a whole, just can't be understated. Definitely cannot all be explained at a 40-minute podcast episode,

but we touch on a lot. And this announcement just came down a few days ago. I guess the official

decision was made by the UCI just a few days ago with the Rwanda World Championships.

But the rumor of the possibility of Durango, winning the bid for the 2030 Mountain Bike World Championships has sort of been circulating in our community for a couple of years.

But with the news officially coming out,

it seemed like good timing to get Todd on

...