The subject is all the rage these days, but we’ve been here for a while – riding our thick mountain bike tires on rigid drop bar bikes for years. Nevertheless, we are intrigued by a lot of what is coming to the discourse, especially some of the quantitative testing we are seeing from certain corners of the internet. Most notably, John Karrasch, a.k.a @flexfitbyjohn on Instagram.
When Dave Pryor started UnPAved of the Susquehanna in 2018, gravel cycling was crystallizing into a discipline in cycling. It was reserved for the real hipsters, early movers, and the dreamers. Since then, gravel has changed, as has UnPAved. Now, the race is part of Pryor’s full-time job, an institution in Pennsylvania cycling, and also unique in the landscape of gravel cycling.
In our most recent mini-episode on our Rodeo riders, we spoke to Pryor to learn more about a few things. Mostly, we chatted about the power of Pennsylvania’s vast gravel goods, the strange place gravel racing holds on the East Coast, and what gravel means to him and his Flaanimal.
The Rodeo Labs Podcast is back in a big way with a new season of the podcast this fall. We are three episodes in, with three very different types of conversations, to explore a wide range of topics. It’s all been taking place in a very exciting time in the cycling world and for Rodeo. You can tell in these conversations that things are changing, and deciphering what all this means for the everyday cyclist has become a passion point for the podcast.
We’ve linked all of the podcasts below, starting from the most recent episode on suspension on gravel, Rodeo travel, and then our summer news round-up. Thanks for listening, expect more to come, and let us know what you want us to examine in the future.
If there is one thing that you should know about Rodeo, it is that you get to make it your way. Nick from Wove took that to heart and cooked up a bike that really pushed the limits of what is possible. The build was launched and was written up on Escape Collective with contributions from Nick, Steve the Intern and the rest of the bike companies that contributed to the build.
Nevertheless, this particular bike was worth much more than a few thousand words, so we took the discussion to the podcast! Between Logan, Stephen, and Nick, all the big questions were asked, answered, and deliberated. You won’t want to miss it!
The Classified Powershift Hub, with its internal gearing that makes a 1x chainring work like a 2x, has always been a point of curiosity around the Lab. However, without a full groupset to give the shifting a proper home, there has always been hesitation. That is, until Logan got his hands on the brand new collaboration between the Belgian company and the brake specialists at TRP for a full review of the Vistar group at Cycling Weekly. From that testing, it was clear we needed to delve into it here. In this episode, Logan ceded the hosting chair to Stephen Fitzgerald, our Intern/CEO, and we brought Drew Van Kampen, our resident Always Trying New Things Guy, to pepper Logan with questions around the new groupset and explore a few tangents along the way.
Right before taking on (and winning) the Pinyons and Pines bikepacking race in Arizona last month, our founder Stephen Fitzgerald had the opportunity to sit down with organizers Dylan and Dana on the Endurance Studio Podcast. They talked about Rodeo’s origins, the bike industry and how it operates, the status of Show Pony and Project Denver, and many many more things. Have a listen here via Youtube, or check links below to find the episode on other podcasting platforms.
Sponsorship in cycling is a moving target. In all aspects of the sport, sponsorship is a crucial marketing tool, but it is often economically inefficient. What’s more, those two outcomes are difficult to track, adding to the complexity of the topic.
While the importance of sponsorship is integral to a wide range of elements of the cycling business, it is so difficult to discuss because everyone has their perspectives and interests shaping how they interact with it. Even journalists cannot be entirely unbiased as relationships and support are unavoidable. Conflict of interest, to some degree, is unavoidable.
Yet, here at Rodeo Adventure Labs, we are unphased. Sponsorship is a constant topic of conversation here, so we felt we needed to bring that conversion out into the open. To do that and to avoid one that was restricted to the Rodeo perspective, we called up Hailey Moore from The Radavist to add to our collective understanding of sponsorship in terms of marketing, storytelling, and athletics.
We are back with another Rodeo rider episode! This time we sat down with Jeff Chapman. Jeff is from Kansas City, Missouri, and is new to Rodeo Labs this year as he has waded further into the gravel thicket.
Jeff started his journey into cycling around the pandemic and is now a two-time participant of Unbound. The race in Kansas has taken on extra meaning for Jeff whose day job is spent out on those same Flint Hills gravel roads. Nevertheless, as is common practice for Rodeo riders, the urge to explore has brought Jeff to expand his racing exploits and explores bigger challenges, most recently taking on a race in Germany.
Jeff’s story is different from our previous guests, but for me, it was very similar to the countless chats I’ve had with rodeo owners all across the country at races. Only this time did we turn on the microphones first!
This week, we are back in the Lab to consider the new SRAM RED XPLR AXS (so many capital letters!) and its use of the UDH (moar capital letters! moar!). While we jest at the branding, the tech is serious business. The new 1×13 groupset leans into the SRAM Transmission style rear derailleur and brings it to drop bar bikes, with the UDH hanger instead of the previous convention of specific hangers for specific frames. This change is a big deal for Rodeo because the design is at odds with the pre-existing design of the Trail Donkey as the frame is not UDH compatible.
We delve into some of the specifics, but the majority of the conversation is about how these big standard shifts in the bike industry affect small-frame brands. Along the way, we also find a few tangents to discuss some of the nuances of groupsets in this day and age of cycling. In this conversation, Stephen and Logan talk shop at first, before the Intern passes the baton to Drew van Kampen and Cameron “Coco” Lindberg to get into the weeds. Then, it’s back to Stephen and Logan to bring it all around.
Host: Logan Jones-Wilkins
Guests: Stephen Fitzgerald, Drew van Kampen, and Cameron “Coco” Lindberg
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