The Bikepack Racing Podcast The Bikepack Racing Podcast

We couldn't think of a better way to kick off 2023 than with a multi-time world champion. Our guest for episode 26 is two-time 24hr Time Trial World Champion Meaghan Hackinen. Meaghan had an absolutely massive 2022 season: competing in The Transcontinental No8, setting a new fastest known time while taking the win at The Big Lonely, and then winning her second 24hr Time Trial World Championship. We discuss her efforts at these events, the specific training and preparation required to succeed at such a wide variety of events, and much much more. 

In this final episode of 2022, Ezra and Andrew sit down for a rather informal and rambling wrap up of the past year. They discuss their own personal highs and lows from the past racing season. Talk about the current state and future of The Bikepack Racing Podcast. And go on more than a few tangents into other bikepacking related topics.  Hopefully this episode finds you either on the couch recovering from a hangover or on the bike chasing new 2023 resolutions...either way...enjoy and thanks for listening in 2022!    

For episode 24, we have our first recurring guest of the podcast. Back in May, Lauren Brownlee sat down in Ezra's van to chat after a victory at Ride/Race Across Arizona and then a podium finish at Pinyons and Pines Bikepacking Race. You can listen to that conversation in episode 9. This conversation picks up where we left off as we discuss Lauren's second half of the 2022 season. Which included taking on the Boise Trail Challenge in a way only a seasoned bikepack racer would find fun, turning on "touring mode" after mechanical issues at the Colorado Trail Race, and then a return to winning ways at Idaho Smoke and Fire 400.       

Our guest for Episode 23 needs no introduction in the bikepack racing world. Kurt Refsnider is arguably the greatest bikepack racer of all time. He was the first person to ever win the "bikepacking triple crown", winning the Tour Divide in 2011, the Arizona Trail Race in 2018, and the Colorado Trail Race in 2019-- plus, he's earned countless other bikepack racing wins and FKTs. Kurt has also been remarkably active in the bikepacking community. He's the owner and head coach for UltraMTB ( www.ultramtb.net), co-founder the bikepacking advocacy organization Bikepacking Roots (www.bikepackingroots.org), and has recently become much more involved with the climate activist organization Protect Our Winters (protectourwinters.org).
If your curious about Kurt's background and previous year's adventures, I highly recommended checking out the podcasts I listened to in preparation for this absolutely fantastic conversation. Those podcasts are: Bikes or Death Ep. 24, Overland Archive Ep. 9, The Adventure Stache (Sep 29, 2020), Overland Archive Ep. 31, and BIKES BIKES BIKES! (Jul 4, 2022). I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!

...and we are back! This episode was recorded live from the finish of the 2022 Arkansas High Country Race in beautiful Hot Springs, AR where Ezra and Andrew sat down for an in person conversation with 3rd place finisher Daniel Connell. The conversation begins with a much too short exploration of Dan's extensive touring excursions in Central America, across the entirety of Africa (@locociclos on IG) , and on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route . We discuss the challenges and benefits of "winging it" while on an adventure, trip saving encounters with members of the Sudanese national cycling team, and much much more. We eventually transition to all things AHCR, where Dan and Ezra give a day by day recap of their battle for the final podium spot in the mountains of Arkansas...Spoiler alert: Dan wins!  

She's been a bit hard to track down...especially these past few months...as she bounces across the country from bikepacking race to gravel race to yet another bikepacking race. Even now, as I hit publish on this episode, Hannah Dhonau is on course at the Smoke 'n' Fire 400 in the mountains of Idaho. We wanted to get Hannah on the podcast after her first ever win at the 2022 North to South Colorado Bikepacking Race. And we do get to everything that went down in Colorado this July, but first we discuss her midwest upbringing, her two trips on the Tour Divide, her work with the gender expansive cycling team: Wild Composite Racing, and much much more!