Velo Podcast

Fresh off his record-breaking win at the 350-mile Unbound Gravel XL race, Rob Britton chats with Levy about his strategy, how he fuels for an ultra, and why an aero bar and suspension fork make so much sense. They also get into stopping for pee breaks, those low moments before being reborn with the sunrise, and how he mentally recovers from such a massive effort.

Unbound has become the epicenter for not just the latest gravel bike tech but also some of the most interesting equipment choices of the year. Alvin Holbrook spent the week in Emporia, Kansas, tracking the race and also tracking down prototype bikes from Orbea, Pinarello, and Specialized. He also found Lachlan Morton's Cannondale Topstone with its water-carrying Tailfin rack and custom front bag, some unreleased rubber from Pirelli, and what most of us would consider a reverse tire set-up that ended up winning the race. 

Today's show takes a deep dive into two new bikes at opposite ends of all the spectrums: State's no-fuss 4130 All-Road sells for under $1,000 USD, and Cannondale's Topstone Lefty Gravel bike that employs a single-sided suspension fork and 30mm of rear-wheel-travel via a clever system combining built-in frame flex with a single pivot. Alvin, Josh, and Levy also dissect Zwift's new outdoor ride-tracking feature that may (or may not) eventually challenge Strava as many people's go-to app, and Alvin reports back on how using shorter cranks for the last five months has propelled him to new heights and watts... or maybe not? 

This week's episode sees us go behind the scenes with Amy Charity, SBT GRVL co-founder and retired professional racer, to find out what it takes to organize one of North America's premier gravel races. Did you know that you can never have too many outhouses? Levy and Will take notes on how to find four hundred volunteers, and how to deal with permits, police, and politics while putting on an event that's both fun and safe. Additionally, we dig into the changes made to SBT, what the future of gravel racing looks like, and more Topics covered: Too Many Races, Too Few Weekends: Gravel Racing’s Crowded Calendar is Headed Toward Collision APPRVD! SBT GRVL Secures Green Light for 2025 Velo Podcast: $16K Cannondales, Thoughts From The Traka, and DT Swiss’s Not-So-Secret Weapon

New Tech Alert: A speedy all-road bike with all the tire clearance, an unreleased (and still embargoed) gravel bike, and a clever gravel suspension fork from DT Swiss make this a gear-focused show.  Senior Tech Editor Alvin Holbrook chats with Levy about riding Cannondale's completely redesigned Synapse that offers massive tire clearance, a best-in-class storage box, and integrated lighting that (might) finally make sense. Further, he explains how one battery powers all of it and the AXS derailleur. The price? $16,499.  He's also spent some time on a new gravel suspension fork from DT Swiss that features integrated brake hose routing and aero-ish shaping, and even got to use one while racing a very wet Traka 100 in Spain just a few days ago.  Topics covered: First Ride: The New Cannondale Synapse Road Bike Gets Gravel Tire Clearance and Integrated Lights Canyon’s Unreleased Gravel Suspension Fork Surfaces Again at The Traka The Bikes of the 2025 Traka Gravel Race

This week's show sees Alvin, Josh, and Levy step into a parallel timeline where they have the power to create the bike of their dreams without those pesky engineering limits we have to put up with here. Impossibly good tire clearance, ultra-light aero everything, more frame storage than a steamer trunk, and gravel bike geometry that's not trying to kill you is all too much to ask for in the real world, but it's entirely possible in today's podcast.  The crew also talks about riding Kona's MTB-influenced Ouroboros Carbon, the pros and cons of the new Coros Dura computer, and what should be done to the "fan" who rode alongside the race leaders at last weekend's Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes. 

Beware: this episode of Velo Podcast is a packed one. Amstel Gold has to be one of the best races of the year, and this year was no exception. While everyone thought Tadej Pogačar was gone, he sat up and started to soft pedal. And instead of blowing it all up at the last climb, Amstel Gold ended up being decided in a three-person sprint. The first two names–Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel–are to be expected. But Mattias Skjelmose? He seemed surprised to even be there, much less that he won. In this latest episode of the Velo Podcast, we talk about Skjelmose winning Amstel Gold, Mischa Bredewold taking the win at Women's Amstel Gold. They also preview Liège-Bastogne-Liège and discuss Remco's 100-percent win record at The Old Lady; two starts, two victories! Can he do it again against the likes of Pidcock, Pogi, and Van der Poel? Levy is a believer, whereas Hoody has his money on a certain Slovenian. And in the tech world, Levy and Tech Editor Alvin Holbrook talk about the newly-released Factor Monza aero bike, his latest gravel bike in for test, and Silca’s Tariff-Limited Electronic Pump. We told you it would be a packed one! Topics of discussion: ‘Terrible Cold’ at Flèche Wallonne Reminds Peloton That Mother Nature Is Racing’s Toughest Rival Pogačar and Vollering vs. the Pack: Can Anyone Stop Another Rout at Liège-Bastogne-Liège? Giant-Killer Mattias Skjelmose Stuns Pogačar and Evenepoel to Win Amstel Gold Race The Factor Monza Road Bike Promises Pro-Level Aero and Stiffness at a (More) Accessible Pricepoint This Week In Tech: Silca’s Tariff-Limited Electronic Pump, Strava’s Strike on Fake KOMs, and Smart Kids Bikes Cannondale Revives The SuperX Name for Its New Go-Fast Gravel Bike 5 Trends and Takeaways from the 2025 Sea Otter Classic

Josh, Alvin, and Levy unpack a massive week in tech that includes self-inflating tires winning Paris-Roubaix under a mountain biker, Pogačar's fresh V5RS, and an aero road bike that promises forward thrust in any wind conditions. The guys also dig into Allied's new Able that combines speed and tire clearance, the smart geometry of Norco's redesigned Search, and why (or why not) drop-bar mountain bikes make sense.

There isn't anything else like the Queen of the Classics and, if this season so far is anything to go by, we've got an exciting weekend of racing in front of us. The women's field will face the thirty cobbled sectors under the sun on Saturday, while there's a chance of rain and mud for the men on Sunday as Tadej Pogačar aims to be the first reigning Tour de France champion to win the Hell of the North in decades. Velo's Andrew Hood, Jim Cotton, and Mike Levy sat down to chat about how to ride the cobbles like a pro, Roubaix bike setup, favorites and wildcards, the chances of anyone beating Kopecky in the velodrome (slim), and how van Aert, Pedersen, Ganna, and Van der Poel could tag team Pogi.

This week's Velo Podcast brings Mike Levy and tech editor Alvin Holbrook together to talk about our favorite trade show: the Taipei Cycle Show.Velo had Jessie-May Morgan, Shoddy Dave Everett, Alvin, and a video team there to wander all four floors and never-ending aisles that are always packed full of everything from the interesting, exciting, exotic, and maybe even useful to the just plain questionable, and a bunch of stuff in between.This week, we're talking about some crazy carbon fiber wheels with Mother of Pearl finish on them, whether we should be considering aero crankarms for the gainz, or what about a different crankset that claims to add 50 percent more power to your pedal stroke?Also up for discussion included some wild new bikes that may or may not exist, and we need to know if the relatively inexpensive Wheeltop and L-Twoo wireless drivetrains from China have finally gotten good enough to consider buying.If you care about seeing what the future of the bike industry looks like–and what bikes, components, and accessories from Asia look like–you won't want to miss this one.Topics of discussion 5 Interesting Wheelsets from Taipei Cycle Show Wheeltop’s Budget Wireless Gravel Groupset Looks Ready to Challenge SRAM and Shimano Randoms, Part 1 Taipei Cycle Show on video, including those cranks claiming 50 percent increased power We Got Our Hands On the Chinese Bike That’s Sponsoring a WorldTour Team Overfast Brought a Wild New Aero Crankset and a Sub-1000-Gram Road Wheelset Forbidden Fruit: Tech Finds at Taipei Cycle Show That Could Rival the Industry’s Best Why This Carbon Fiber Kids’ Bike Signals the Future of Bike Tech