Life in the Peloton, presented by MAAP

Mitch Docker

Ever wondered what life is like as a professional cyclist? Australian ex-professional cyclist Mitch Docker takes you inside the world of Professional Cycling. Bringing you the stories behind the individuals in the sport - from the pros in the peloton to staff behind the teams - to commentators & legends, plus training insights & debriefs on major races throughout the year. It’s all here! Newly retired from the professional peloton, Mitch is exploring his new pelotons - all the pelotons that exist outside of the world tour - bringing you new stories from within the cycling community. His spin off series, Talking Luft - a bit like the DVD Extras - is where cycling style & culture takes centre stage. Talking cycling caps, bikes, kit, coffee stops, training loops and all the best things about riding a bike. Listen to all episodes here weekly! Find all our episodes, merch and more at lifeinthepeloton.com read less

SportsSports

Start Here

What is Enduro? With Paul Van Der Ploeg and Matt Fairbrother

What is Enduro? With Paul Van Der Ploeg and Matt Fairbrother

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP Since retiring from the pro pelo, I’ve been itching to dip my toes into as many different cycling disciplines as possible. I raced on drop handlebars and skinny tyres for over a decade, now I want a heap of new challenges to tackle on the bike. I love getting out and exploring on my gravel bike, and I’ve tried my hand at some gravel races; but the bikes and bunch dynamics feel a little too similar to road racing sometimes. I want to get out of my comfort zone! Cross-country mountain biking was the natural next step. I started out by exploring my own backyard on the rowdy moto tracks in the Cobaws, then some races in Aussie events like Otway Odyssey, Reef to Reef, and Cape to Cape. Every time I got on the XC bike I felt like my skills were improving and I was growing more and more confident - the same feeling I had all those years ago when I first got into road cycling as a youngster. It was new, challenging, and I could feel the progression with every ride. My cross-country journey hit new heights at the end of last year as I took on the creme de la creme of XC MTB; the Cape Epic, alongside my good mate and fellow retired road racer, Ian Boswell. Despite completing one of the biggest mountain bike races on the planet, I still feel like there’s more to explore in the world of flat handlebars, chunky tyres, and suspension. I want to keep working on my skills and pushing myself in areas other than pure fitness. That’s why I’m diving headfirst into the world of Enduro. Enduro is the perfect next step on my mountain biking journey; there’s some pedalling, sure, but it’s more about technique, skill, and balls! In Enduro racing it’s all about the downhill - only the descents are timed. Nobody gives a fuck how fast you can climb, you just need to get to the top so you can send the next trail. Riders race multiple stages throughout an event, and at the end the lowest cumulative time wins. I started by chatting to Paul Van Der Ploeg. A great bloke, and a fantastic mentor to show me the ropes and teach me the basics, Paul and I headed out to Mount Macedon so he could critique my technique and give me some pointers. Paul has raced all sorts of bikes over the years, and even became a world champion himself in the Cross Country Eliminator in 2013, but was humble enough to strip it all back and teach this newbie some basics. Next, I spoke to Matt Fairbrother. Only 20 years old and hailing from Christchurch in New Zealand, Matt is a ripping Enduro racer who made a name for himself by bikepacking his way between the races at the Enduro World Series - sometimes thousands of kilometres at a time! Matt and I had a chat on the road to the New Zealand MTB Rally; a brand new event that I’ll be taking on to help me better understand the world of enduro. Despite being almost half my age, Matt’s one of the most experienced riders out there and shared a lot of his wisdom with me on a road trip down the coast of the South Island from Christchurch to Nelson. When we arrived we had a couple of days to spare before the racing started, so Matt took me out to some of his favourite trails in Nelson City and Cable Bay to show me the race course so we could pre-ride, re-ride, and then free ride! We also spoke about the tech side of enduro. I’ve not got much clue when it comes to tyre selection or suspension settings - so I spoke to Paul and Matt about the bikes to get some pointers. I even learnt that my bike’s got a mullet just like me! There’s so much for me to learn about all things mountain biking, but I’m loving being a beginner again and soaking it all in! Have a listen to me talking to some real experts as I send it into the world of enduro. Cheers! Mitch

Episodes

What is Enduro? With Paul Van Der Ploeg and Matt Fairbrother

What is Enduro? With Paul Van Der Ploeg and Matt Fairbrother

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP Since retiring from the pro pelo, I’ve been itching to dip my toes into as many different cycling disciplines as possible. I raced on drop handlebars and skinny tyres for over a decade, now I want a heap of new challenges to tackle on the bike. I love getting out and exploring on my gravel bike, and I’ve tried my hand at some gravel races; but the bikes and bunch dynamics feel a little too similar to road racing sometimes. I want to get out of my comfort zone! Cross-country mountain biking was the natural next step. I started out by exploring my own backyard on the rowdy moto tracks in the Cobaws, then some races in Aussie events like Otway Odyssey, Reef to Reef, and Cape to Cape. Every time I got on the XC bike I felt like my skills were improving and I was growing more and more confident - the same feeling I had all those years ago when I first got into road cycling as a youngster. It was new, challenging, and I could feel the progression with every ride. My cross-country journey hit new heights at the end of last year as I took on the creme de la creme of XC MTB; the Cape Epic, alongside my good mate and fellow retired road racer, Ian Boswell. Despite completing one of the biggest mountain bike races on the planet, I still feel like there’s more to explore in the world of flat handlebars, chunky tyres, and suspension. I want to keep working on my skills and pushing myself in areas other than pure fitness. That’s why I’m diving headfirst into the world of Enduro. Enduro is the perfect next step on my mountain biking journey; there’s some pedalling, sure, but it’s more about technique, skill, and balls! In Enduro racing it’s all about the downhill - only the descents are timed. Nobody gives a fuck how fast you can climb, you just need to get to the top so you can send the next trail. Riders race multiple stages throughout an event, and at the end the lowest cumulative time wins. I started by chatting to Paul Van Der Ploeg. A great bloke, and a fantastic mentor to show me the ropes and teach me the basics, Paul and I headed out to Mount Macedon so he could critique my technique and give me some pointers. Paul has raced all sorts of bikes over the years, and even became a world champion himself in the Cross Country Eliminator in 2013, but was humble enough to strip it all back and teach this newbie some basics. Next, I spoke to Matt Fairbrother. Only 20 years old and hailing from Christchurch in New Zealand, Matt is a ripping Enduro racer who made a name for himself by bikepacking his way between the races at the Enduro World Series - sometimes thousands of kilometres at a time! Matt and I had a chat on the road to the New Zealand MTB Rally; a brand new event that I’ll be taking on to help me better understand the world of enduro. Despite being almost half my age, Matt’s one of the most experienced riders out there and shared a lot of his wisdom with me on a road trip down the coast of the South Island from Christchurch to Nelson. When we arrived we had a couple of days to spare before the racing started, so Matt took me out to some of his favourite trails in Nelson City and Cable Bay to show me the race course so we could pre-ride, re-ride, and then free ride! We also spoke about the tech side of enduro. I’ve not got much clue when it comes to tyre selection or suspension settings - so I spoke to Paul and Matt about the bikes to get some pointers. I even learnt that my bike’s got a mullet just like me! There’s so much for me to learn about all things mountain biking, but I’m loving being a beginner again and soaking it all in! Have a listen to me talking to some real experts as I send it into the world of enduro. Cheers! Mitch

Talking Luft Top 6's! Paris Roubaix Most Influential with Matt Goss

Talking Luft Top 6's! Paris Roubaix Most Influential with Matt Goss

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP We’re back this week with another Talking Luft Top Six. This week it’s the turn of special guest - and Monument winner, Matt Goss, who shares his Top Six Most Influential from Paris Roubaix! As those of you who caught the last edition will know, we’ve mixed things up with Talking Luft this year, focusing on a single event each month, talking through the most influential, editions, teams, riders styles and stories from that race. It’s a lot of fun, and this week is a bit of a special edition for me. I get to discuss my most influential moments from my favourite race of all, Paris - Roubaix. Not only that, I get to do so with Gossy, a former teammate of mine - but perhaps more importantly, a former teammate of Roubaix greats like Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O’Grady at the mighty CSC team. Of course the dust is still settling on this year’s edition of Roubaix. Gossy and I couldn’t avoid spending a bit of time dissecting the race, and chatting about the changes that have happened even in the few years since we both left the peloton. There are so many influential moments at each Roubaix and it is itself such an influential race that one of the hardest parts of this show was actually narrowing things down to just six (…to be honest we did end up making it more of a top seven!), but being a couple of Aussies from the same generation there are some moments at Roubaix that neither of us could leave out. I’ll leave you to have a listen to what those moments were and why they were so influential to us. As always everyone should have a different top six - so let me know what you guys are thinking: does anyone else love Tafi throwing his cut off cap away? Which is your best Boonen moment? Is now a better Roubaix era than the 90’s!? Give it a listen, and enjoy! Mitch

Ketones - Fuelling the Peloton

Ketones - Fuelling the Peloton

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP In this week’s Life in the Peloton pod, I’m taking a dive into the topic of ketones. Ketones arrived in the peloton just a few years ago, and to many people they are seen as a sort of wonder fuel, but to others they are still a grey area supplement. To get stuck into the subject I was lucky enough to chat to Michael Brandt, the co-founder and CEO of H.V.M.N, the ketone partner for team Visma Lease A Bike. Michael is a pretty handy athlete himself (with a 2:40 marathon time!), an all-round endurance sports nut and is one of the leading voices on the subject. In a similar way to when electrolytes first became commonly used in sports drinks just a few decades ago, Michael believes that it is only a matter of time before ketones are seen and used in the same light. As a pro rider I had previous experience using ketones at races and talking to Michael allowed me to finally be able to break down what the product really does and the science behind how and why they work. Michael also helps tackle the questions around the perceived taboo around ketones and gives some interesting insight as to why he thinks this came about in the first place. I also caught up with a good mate of mine George Bennett, who was fresh off the back of a very hard Volta Catalunya and was happy to chat about what ketone use is like for the guys inside the peloton. Having been a professional for over a decade in some of the world’s biggest and best teams, George is perfectly placed to explain the way that the trends have changed in the bunch with ketone use in the past few years, and to recount his own experiences using the supplement. It is an interesting subject, that needs more attention as we seek to understand what keeps the peloton improving and pushing the limits of performance. Whether you know a little or a lot about ketones, it is definitely worth giving the pod a listen to see how they are being received and used in today’s professional peloton. And if that is not enough, then as an added bonus, the team at HVMN have an offer for all Life in the Peloton listeners with a whopping 30% offer for orders when you use the code LIFEINTHEPELOTON with your order! Cheers! Mitch

The Race Communiqué - Episode 3

The Race Communiqué - Episode 3

It’s full gas racing season in Europe, so I’ve been really looking forward to catching up with Luke & Tom for what I knew would be a pretty action-packed Race Communiqué! The boys have been on very different schedules; Luke has been with Jayco-Alula at Paris-Nice and then on to the cobbled classics, which he dialled in from this week. Meanwhile, Tom is on the Ardennes program with EF Education - Easypost (obviously avoiding having to drive his car over cobbles) in stage races in Spain and Italy. For my part, I’ve been loving spectating and seeing the races that used to make up such a big part of my season from the comfort of my armchair at home. It’s a different view from the outside, so it was great to catch up with these two and get the inside line on what is happening in the pelo at the moment. As usual, I take us through the races from the past month and get some insight on how things went down on the road, and what we all think that means for the big races that are coming up. Luke has some fascinating insight into race nutrition plans, and how riders are currently working to fuel in races whilst also keeping track of their race weight. I found this section fascinating, as it is eye-opening how much the sport has moved on in the short space of time since I retired. In Tom’s segment, we go behind some of the more impressive tactical moves that he’s noted down this spring, and there is even time for a gripe about UCI fines! It wouldn’t be the Race Communiqué without our famous quiz and this month it was Tom’s turn to be quiz master, pitting Luke and I against each other in a Classics death match quiz – with a cricketing twist! This was a real blast to make and I’m sure you guys are gonna enjoy it too! Cheers, Mitch

Tom Boonen - King of the Classics

Tom Boonen - King of the Classics

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP It’s Classics season! It’s my favourite time of the cycling year and I am so stoked to be able to bring you an absolute legend of the Classics, a Flandrien legend, and a true king of the cobbles, Tom Boonen. When it comes to the Cobbled Classics, Tom’s palmarès are mind blowing: he is the joint record holder for wins at both Flanders (3) and Roubaix (4) as well as being the out and out record holder for the most wins in E3 (5). Just one of those wins would be enough for most riders, but he can also count three Ghent Wevelgem’s, a couple of Schelderprijs… and we may as well mention his world championship for good measure. This is an extra special pod for my personally, as Tom’s career wound up in 2017, meaning that I spent a good portion of my racing career at the classics getting my legs blown off by his attacks, and knowing that his was the wheel that everyone wanted to be on when the races got serious (I managed it once - have a listen to see how that went…). I was lucky enough to sit down with Tom at his home in Mol and really get in to chatting about the races that we both love so much. Tom is a fantastic interviewee, and I got a real buzz from the excitement that he obviously felt recalling the ups and downs of his career and the details of some of his most incredible wins and defeats. As well as getting some great takes on the races that have become legendary in the last decade, I got to ask some of the other questions that I’d always wanted to know about; what was it really like being a superstar in such a cycling mad country? How did he handle the pressure of being a 24 year old world champion? I also got to ask about a comeback story that is remarkable in that it has always been overshadowed by Matt Hayman’s own incredible tale around the 2016 Paris Roubaix. Amazingly after such a successful career, Tom hasn’t sat back and just smoked cigars since 2017. He’s now a racing car driver and he talks as passionately about his new career as he does his old one. Honestly, I would have stayed chatting about the microscopic details of the Arenberg forest sector of Roubaix for hours if I could. There is so much in this pod, I really hope you guys enjoy listening to this as much as I did making it. Cheers! Mitch

Talking Luft Top 6's! Milan San-Remo's Most Influential

Talking Luft Top 6's! Milan San-Remo's Most Influential

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP Ok guys, here we go, Classic season is almost here and to get things going we’ve torn up the old Talking Luft script, and come up with something new! So then, let me introduce Talking Luft’s Top Six… In this new format, we are going to focus on a single race with our guests and discuss the six most influential rides or editions that each of us can remember from that particular race. It doesn’t need to be the most famous or prestigious win that makes it, but instead some of those rides that made that race (or winner) stand out - either to the world or even just to our guest. I bet almost everyone has a different top six for every race out there. It could be the first edition that someone remembers, a year where a rider won against the odds or with real style, it could be a win that launched a rider’s career or changed the way race is raced. With the first Monument of the season just around the corner, I thought what better way to kick things off than to start with our Top Six Most Influential at Milan-San Remo. For this first edition, I was lucky enough to be joined by a very familiar voice for our Australian listeners, Dave McKenzie. Macca as we all know him, was a pro for nearly a decade in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s - and he knows a thing or two about racing in Italy, as he has a Giro stage win on the palmarés! These days he is best known as one of the most highly regarded cycling commentators in Australia. Macca was a great guest for this first-ever edition of the top six, he’s just that bit older than me so we cover a couple of generations and - like me, he also loved the challenge of nerding out on such a cool race. Even though I raced San Remo a couple of times myself, there was still a heap that I learned from hearing someone else view on which riders and how they had shaped a different person’s opinion of such an amazing race. So if you want to find out what we started with, which editions and riders we agreed and disagreed on (and why it is a top six and not a top five) then give it a listen. Cheers! Mitch

Life in the Peloton Chronicles: Sauna life

Life in the Peloton Chronicles: Sauna life

This is a short excerpt from the longer episode. To listen to the whole thing and future episodes become a member of The Pelo. For our second subscriber special, in this episode of Life in the Peloton’s Chronicles, Sveino and I take a deep dive into the hot topic of sauna life. Saunas were something that both of us got into at a young age and also found ourselves getting into during our racing careers, and since then (but not because of us!) more and more people are being drawn to the many benefits of a good sweat followed by a duck into some freezing water. Even though we both knew that saunas were ‘good’, we weren’t ever really aware of why or how. This episode of Chronicles allows us to get stuck in to a really interesting topic that could have a benefit for every single cyclist out there. To kick things off, Sveino has gone native and talks to his good friend, and former racing buddy, Marsh Cooper about the culture of the sauna. Marsh is Canadian by birth but now lives in Finland where the sauna is as much a part of life as the pub is in Australia! He explains the many social functions of the sauna and how its use as part of daily life benefits millions of Finns every year. Going deeper into the potential benefits for athletes, I then spoke to EF Easypost’s Director of Sports Science Dr Kevin Sprouse. I asked him exactly what is happening in the body when you take a sauna and how this can help an athlete. I found this whole conversation fascinating. We discussed the how’s and why’s as well as the best way to implement using a sauna to benefit your own performance. Finally, staying local, I spoke to a neighbour of mine here in Lancefield, John Simpson the owner of Hello Sauna who actually builds saunas! I got to sit down (and have a sweat) while we talked about how they are constructed, the best wood to use to build them, and the actual process of making a sauna. ‘Sauna life’ as Sveino and I have often called it, is a fast developing culture in the UK and Australia, going hand in hand with wild swimming and other healthy and simple pursuits that not just sportsmen but also the general public are getting the benefits from. So, whether you fancy working a bit of sauna action to your training program, if you are already on it and you want to know exactly what benefits it can have, or even if you are already on the verge of getting your own one built, then I think there is something in this pod for everyone. Sit back, chuck a bucket of water (or beer) on the coals, and enjoy! Cheers! Mitch

Allen Lim the Skratch labs dude

Allen Lim the Skratch labs dude

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP In this episode of Life in the Peloton I get to have a chat with one of the most interesting (and interested) people I’ve met in the world of cycling, co-founder of Skratch Labs, Allen Lim. Dr Lim… Allen… or Al (as you can call him) may not be the first person who springs to mind when we think of the transformation of the sport over the past couple of decades. However, as he explains in this pod, his thinking and approach to the sport helped cycling move forward beyond a very traditional world to a much healthier and professional sport, from the use of power meters at Phonak to the development of the bio-passport at Garmin - Slipstream. I first met Allen whilst riding for EF Pro Cycling after a huge day in the saddle at training camp. I was blown away by how he managed to stand in front of a bunch of tired bike riders and an hour later have the whole room wide-eyed listening to his story. He is so passionate about helping athletes improve. What is more his own story is genuinely fascinating and includes some of the most important characters and periods in the sport in recent times. Allen is a guy who has made a career from listening to people and finding ways to solve what he calls the ‘bottlenecks’ to performance. I love chatting with Allen because he asks questions that others don’t seem to be able to ask, and his philosophies around nutrition are based on real food and supplying what athletes really need. This is pretty much the exact reason that he ended up making sports nutrition after spending one race in Ireland having to feed the riders with only boiled potatoes! As well as discussing his background with me, Allen also took the time to answer some of your questions at the end, and - as you’ll hear, his answers as always are worth a listen! There is a lot in this one: whether you love the details of sports science & nutrition, the history of cycling, or even just a great story. Sit back relax and enjoy. Cheers! Mitch

The Race Communiqué - Episode 2

The Race Communiqué - Episode 2

We’re back this week with the Race Communiqué; getting the inside track on what is happening in the pro peloton with myself and my good mates Luke Durbridge and Tom Southam. The last month has been a busy one for the pro peloton. We’ve had the first European races, some stage race action in the Middle East, plus of course the most important bit - the classics season finally got going over the weekend in Belgium, at Het Niewsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Naturally we had a load to catch up on and we managed to pack a heap into this pod. As well as the racing news, I ask what we can really learn from Opening Weekend - what it feels like to ride it, and whether it is worth skipping if you want to win big later on? Durbo – who was fresh (or as fresh as you can be) off racing the Opening Weekend himself, has some great insight as to what happens when a race is impacted by severe weather and what the process looks like to change a race on the go. It’s something that fans rarely get to hear about but something that impacts everyone involved – including those of us watching at home. Talking of harsh weather, Tom has just returned from O Grand Camino in Galicia, where he saw up close the condition of defending Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard and draws a few conclusions from the action there – as well as nominating his favourite tactical ploy of the month. There was so much to chat about, and we covered much more in our conversation but most excitingly (for me) we have a new format for (the newly retitled) Communiquiz! As well as a new name Durbo also takes over this month as question master – meaning that I get to go head-to-head with Tom in the new format. I’ll leave it to you to have a listen and see who comes out on top! We had a lot of fun with this, and we hope that you guys do too. Cheers! Mitch

The Aussie Monument - Melbourne to Warrnambool

The Aussie Monument - Melbourne to Warrnambool

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP The Melbourne to Warrnambool is a race like no other. It may not get a huge press outside of Australia, but the 129-year-old event truly is an iconic race. Starting off as a handicap back in 1895 the race route has never included any major climbs, instead it is a race that is shaped by its brutal length and frequent crosswinds. In years gone by it was the biggest race of the year for generations of domestic Australian professionals, in recent years it has been a direct stepping-stone to the professional world for riders like Cam Scott and Jensen Plowright. In this edition of Life in the Peloton we get stuck in to all the things that make this great race so special. I tracked down and spoke to some absolute legends of the race; Tim Decker, Peter ‘Bulldog’ Besanko and Simon Gerrans. There was so much great stuff that came out of what these three very different riders had to say about the race. We covered some of Bulldog’s wild stories from a much different era in the handicap events in the seventies and eighties – when the riders used to do the three hundred kilometres on three (yes three) bidons! Tim explained how he was probably the last of a generation of riders who used to prepare specifically for the event, and what the race meant to him. While Gerro – who turned pro off the back of beating some top Euro pros at the race in the early 2000s explains what an impact winning the race can have even now. But that isn’t all! Not content with never having done the race myself, I managed to get ‘hands on’ in this year’s edition behind the wheel of a team car as DS for Team Duda, a local Melbourne outfit. It was a great day out in the team car (my first one behind the wheel!) and it finally gave me a great taste of what this race really is about. The passion and the history of this race really comes across from everyone I spoke to for this pod, and I just love some of the stories that came out. It really is epic stuff. It may not be a Monument in the context of the big five European Classics, but I think that it is a race that has earned the title: The Aussie Monument.

Talking Luft! TDU Special

Talking Luft! TDU Special

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP We’ve got a bumper edition of Talking Luft for you this week, as I had the chance to hit up the 2024 World Tour peloton with some of our favourite - and most important, questions from the show, at the Tour Down Under. The TDU starts are famously laid back, so it was the perfect place for me to mill about and get some answers from some World Tour heavyweights, lightweights and everything in-between. We’ve got the likes of Bernie Eisel, Bauke Mollema, Dan McLay, George Bennett, Danny Van Poppel and Kellan O’Brien, to name just a few of the amazing group that we got for this pod. I hit them up with the big racing issues of course; what are the best (and worst) parts of a race, and why? What is it like starting the season Down Under - and why is it so good? Being Talking Luft, I also cross examined the guys on some key style issues like, how do you wear your casquette? And shoes, black or white? You’d think that in 2024 everyone would know not to wear their cap swimming hat style, or not to choose black shoes and white socks… but you’d be surprised! As always this was a really fun one to make, with some great names from the peloton. Have a listen, enjoy and judge the sock choices as harshly as you like! Cheers! Mitch

Life in the Peloton Chronicles: Making it

Life in the Peloton Chronicles: Making it

Chronicles is a new podcast that I’m excited to be bringing as exclusive member content for 2024. This is a short excerpt from the longer episode. To listen to the whole thing and future episodes become a member of The Pelo. For this series, I’ve got together with my good friend and former team (and room) mate Svein Tuft. As a few of you will know, ‘Sveino’ is a fascinating guy, with a unique perspective on pretty much any subject out there. Both Svein and I love to dive into new topics – take them apart and discuss ideas, theories, and trends from every possible angle. Back in our racing days, we would spend hours - in the saddle or hotel rooms, chewing over ideas, challenging each other, and looking at ways to learn and develop our understanding of the sport. This is what we wanted to recreate with Chronicles. It’s a chance for us to get together and get stuck into the topics that interest us in and around pro cycling. We’ll be listening to people’s stories, asking questions, doing the research, and gathering the information that allows us and you to get to grips with these key parts of the sport and the wider culture of pro cycling. First up, this month we started with a question that we have both been looking for the answer to: how do you turn professional? This was something that jumped out at us when we thought: why us? How did we make it, and not others? What did we do so differently or well? Or was it just luck? To unpack this subject, we wanted to get as many angles of the conversation as possible, and we have a whole host of people with a range of opinions and expertise. We kick things off with a man who wrote the book, ‘How to Become a Pro Cyclist’, Jack Burke and asked the question, if turning pro really is something that you can engineer, or if it’s too random even for people who ‘get’ how the system works? Svein spoke to a key figure in the US racing scene Jonas Carney, the former manager of Human Powered Health, to discuss what a team looks for when selecting riders, whilst I spoke to my old boss Matt White of Jayco Alula about how teams work with agents to find new talent. Sticking inside the teams, we also caught up with Sebastian Langeveld from EF Education Easypost who oversees scouting riders for EF and asked him if it was all numbers and data these days or if there is such a thing as the X factor. We also spoke to two current riders, James Whelan of Q36.5 and Riley Sheehan of Israel Premier Tech, who gave us opposing stories of what happens when you get to the World Tour too easily and how hard it can be to have to battle through the ranks. Just as we hoped there was so much great stuff that we could get stuck into here, turning pro and how you do it is a massive topic that certainly doesn’t have a simple answer. And as always with Svein, the fun part was exploring the subject! Have a listen as we do our best to understand all about it. Cheers! Mitch

Grassroots to World Tour with Luke Plapp

Grassroots to World Tour with Luke Plapp

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP As things are wrapping up on a fantastic Aussie summer of racing, I’ve got one more piece of Australiana for the pod: three-time Aussie national road champion Luke Plapp. This was a really cool pod for me to record. Both Luke and I are members (and started out) at the Brunswick Cycling Club, here in Melbourne. I happily took the opportunity to go back to the Brunswick Velodrome to catch up with Luke a few weeks ago, in what was the early phase of his build-up to what he hopes will be a breakout season. Even though he’s still only twenty-three, it seems like ‘Plappy’ has achieved a lot in a short space of time. Before turning pro with Ineos in 2022, he was a decorated track cyclist, picking up Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals, as well as a junior world title. It’s been such a fast rise, I was really keen to get the whole story from Luke: going from a sports-obsessed kid in Melbourne, his time on the track, and turning pro with one of the biggest teams in the world. I also wanted to know about how he’d adapted to life as a pro in Europe and to hear about the challenges that he faced having turned professional with limited exposure to racing and living over there. Like a lot of champions, Luke has a great ability to recognise and work on the things that will help him improve. It was really eye-opening for me to have such a humble conversation with someone in his position. I think it’s a great listen because of this, and there is a lot in his approach that could be of real interest to you guys at home. Indulge in the last rays of the Aussie summer, and give this a listen; you’re gonna love it! Cheers! Mitch

The first Race Communiqué of the season

The first Race Communiqué of the season

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP Welcome to the first Communiqué for the 2024 season! First off, I’m delighted to say that my good mates Luke Durbridge and Tom Southam are back with me for another year. If you haven’t heard it yet, the Communiqué is our pro racing specific podcast, and I couldn’t think of a couple of better guys to have on board to get some great insight into the races. As well as being good friends of mine these two have years of experience in pro cycling with Luke currently racing for Jayco Alula and Tom who is a DS at EF Education Easypost. All through the racing season we will be diving inside the pelo with Luke, hearing the view from the team cars from Tom and, of course, I’ll be providing my own armchair style take on the racing! For this first episode we’ve got an early season theme. After a good few weeks at home Luke is well settled in Perth, getting ready to start racing without having done any racing back in Australia – something he’s – amazingly – never actually tried before! He reflects on the difference between starting early at races like TDU or kicking off in the more traditional European style. We discuss our thoughts on the way that the top riders tackle the off-season these days (or don’t!). He also has some cracking tales from his legendary local bunchie - which I’ll leave for you to enjoy. I’ve been on the ground at the Tour Down Under of course, and I’ll bring you up to speed with the latest racing news, as well as a few of the things that grabbed my attention at the first World Tour race of the season. It’s also been a busy period for Tom, who was DS-ing the early season Australian races. He takes us a bit deeper into the world of the DS and talks about some of the tactical detail of the recent races, as well as getting our thoughts on the why recently retired riders do so well in the team car. It was really great to get things going again making this pod. We all love the racing, whether we are doing it ourselves, talking about it, or even just watching and reading about it. Getting back together and getting into talking about the races was really exciting after the short break. Let’s hope it’s the start of a big year to come. Sit back, relax and have a listen to The Communiqué. Cheers! Mitch

Talking Luft! With Pat Drapac

Talking Luft! With Pat Drapac

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP We’re right in the middle of the Aussie cycling summer so - keeping with the local theme - for Talking Luft I caught up with my riding buddy Pat Drapac, down in Adelaide’s central market during the Tour Down Under. If you’ve not had a listen to the podcast about the adventure that Pat and I had riding across from Melbourne to Adelaide, then go and give it a listen! Pat’s a great talker with a huge range of interests, and he’s also one of Melbourne’s most well-known cycling figures. He’s been a rider, a team owner, a team sponsor and as well as many other things, he’s the son of Michael Drapac, whose team I began racing for in 2006, and who went all the way to the podium of the Tour de France as a sponsor of the Cannondale Drapac team. Like me, Pat is a child of the nineties and like me, he’s big into his food, so he’s just about the perfect guest for Talking Luft! What I loved about Pat’s interview was hearing just how much he goes against the grain of a lot of current riders. He’s also a former chef, so he has the booze questions pretty well covered too! It’s a refreshing listen, and an interesting take on the sport and the surrounding culture. So, check it out, and enjoy. Cheers! Mitch

MAAP to RAAD with Pat Drapac

MAAP to RAAD with Pat Drapac

Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP 2024 is here and I wanted to kick off my new adventure with MAAP with another adventure of my own. I’ve really enjoyed getting into adventure riding in the past few years since I retired from professional racing, so I thought what better way to head over to Australia’s biggest race, the Tour Down Under? The route was a tough one, my goal this year was to make a bee-line from Melbourne to Adelaide. It’s a 900k trip (at best) so I drew a straight line across, and accepted that we’d take whatever terrain the journey threw at us! It was a mixed bag, with the only real goal being to avoid main roads and to make sure the stops had some decent pubs. One of the things that I really enjoy about spending so much time in the saddle is really getting to know the people that you are riding with. When you are side by side for twelve hours a day, suffering in the dust, or a stinking headwind, your conversations can drift off and you get to know your riding partners on a new level. For this reason, I chose to invite an old friend and cycling buddy, Pat Drapac along for the ride. Pat is well known to anyone who has raced in Melbourne in the past twenty years. He’s been a rider, a team sponsor, and a team owner, and is a real part of the Melbourne scene. It had been quite a few years since I’d been able to spend time with Pat, so I wanted to use this journey to reconnect with him and learn about his cycling experiences, whilst we both got to do what we love – riding our bikes. The three-day trip was challenging and rewarding. Packed with all the things that make adventure riding so great. Pat made for great company, and we talked for hours about a huge range of topics, from his roots in cycling, his love of cooking and his sense of adventure with anything from pickling vegetables to moving to Copenhagen. I’ve put all the best parts of this trip into this pod for you guys to enjoy. Finding out new things about an old mate is a great feeling, and these trips are ideal for that. I hope you all get a sense of the adventure that we shared and enjoy the pod! Cheers! Mitch

Talking Luft! with Luke Plapp

Talking Luft! with Luke Plapp

It has been a big year here at Life in the Peloton, and we’re going out with a bang for this last episode of the 2023 season. I’ve got one of the greats of the young new generation in Australian cycling on the pod today – I’m Talking Luft with Luke Plapp. We’re both long-time Brunswick Cycling Club members, and I always love getting the chance to record the pod in person, so it was a special moment to sit down at the iconic Brunswick Velodrome to record this episode with Plappy. He’s home from Europe and he’s gearing up for a huge summer of cycling in Australia, where he’s lining up for the triple - looking to take his third National Road Race Championship at Buninyong in January. We talk a bit about this goal and head further back into the Luke Plapp story to get some of the history, and of course, I put him through the full Talking Luft treatment. I hope you enjoy this last listen of 2023! Thanks for all the support and encouragement throughout the season, we’ll be back in the new year with heaps of exciting new content. Cheers, Mitch

Talking Luft with Daryl Impey

Talking Luft with Daryl Impey

Daryl Impey, a house hold name when it comes to a long standing and well respected pro in the world tour. Daz is a close friend of mine as we had the pleasure of crossing paths, racing side by side and living around the corner from each other and our families throughout my time in Europe. He is closing out a monstrous 16 year career this season! But it hasn’t been without some major set backs and challenges along the way. He has had life threatening crashes, false allegations and teams folding right under his nose. But on the other side we have seen him pull that yellow jersey on at the TDF, become multiple national champion and transform himself from a Domestique to champion leader. Back in 2019 I sat down with Daryl to chat about the ups and downs of his career to that point and learn more about what makes him so bloody resilient! This is a must listen if you haven’t heard it before, and if you have I strongly urge you go back and listen again. Daryl shows me that when you are a pro for 16 years it’s never going to be smooth sailing. That’s what makes a successful pro, someone who can fight back and become even stronger. But now, this week we have Daryl for Talking Luft! I wanted to pay homage to his brilliant career. We chat all the usual stuff but i have spliced a few extra questions in to wrap up his amazing career and to hear about what the future holds. Cheers, Mitch

Cyclo-Cross with the G.O.A.T - Sven Nys

Cyclo-Cross with the G.O.A.T - Sven Nys

We’re getting to the end of the Life in the Peloton season, and I’ve saved a special episode for this week. Just as the long road season winds down, the winter cyclo-cross season is firing up for the year. And you might be asking – what exactly is cyclo-cross racing? To learn a little bit about the sport and its history, I’ve found someone who can talk me through it. But it’s not just any old person, I’ve gone and found the best in the business, the undisputed G.O.A.T – Sven Nys. Sven has an incredible ability to teach and talk about cyclo-cross to literally anyone – from kids right up to pros, and he does it in such a humble and entertaining way. He’s so good at it because he is an absolute champion and a true giant of the sport, the best to have ever thrown a leg over a cyclo-cross bike – or I should probably say to have thrown a cyclo-cross bike over his shoulder. An incredibly dominant rider throughout his career, Sven won literally everything of importance – earning him the nicknames The Cannibal, and the Eddie Merckx of cyclo-cross. At his peak in the 2004 – 2005 season, he did something that no other cyclo-cross rider has ever done, when he took out the National and World Championships, won the Superprestige, and the Gazet van Antwerpen, and finished the season ranked number one in the UCI rankings and the World Cup. He is the only cyclo-cross rider to have achieved this even once, and he went close to repeating the incredible feat in the following season – only just falling short when he crashed in the final lap of the World Championships. It's an absolute privilege to have Sven join me on Life in the Peloton today, I hope you enjoy the listen! Cheers, Mitch

Talking Luft! With Niki Terpstra

Talking Luft! With Niki Terpstra

This week, I’m Talking Luft with the great Dutchman himself, Niki Terpstra. He’s one of the most successful classics riders of our time and a proper one-day racing legend - he’s won just about everything there is to win up north, from E3 Harelbeke to Dwars door Vlaanderen (twice), and of course his epic solo victories at Paris-Roubaix in 2014, and Tour of Flanders in 2018, where he became the first Dutchman to win the great race since Adri van der Poel in 1986. He’s a two-time Olympian, a 6-day champ, a World Championship silver medallist on the track, and he rode for some of Europe’s biggest teams from Milram to QuickStep and Direct Energie. He retired at the end of the 2022 season, but when you were racing Niki Terpstra, you always had to be on your game. You never knew what he would pull out of his hat, and if he went away up the road, chances are you wouldn’t see him again. But today, he’s getting the full Talking Luft treatment – the usuals like casquette style, World Champ rainbow style, and favourite cheat meals (tiramisu – nice). We talk all things retirement and the inevitable question – do you miss it? It’s something I’m hearing more and more from us recently retired pros, but the level of racing has jumped up so much in recent years that very few people seem to miss being out there, taking risks, suffering, amongst the carnage – and Niki is no exception. It was a pleasure to sit down and chat with Niki Terpstra, and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode of Talking Luft! Cheers, Mitch