The episode title really says it all! Ezra and Andrew sit down for a very informal recap of the 2023 season, while also looking forward to 2024. Highs and lows are discussed, future plans are divulged, and incredible accomplishments are recognized. We know it's a longer one...but the end does get a bit spicy as some strong remarks are made about th…

"The current best American bikepack racer." That's the title Ezra gave Abe Kaufman after he smashed the FKT at the Arkansas High Country Race this October. Add in a 4th place finish at the 2022 Tour Divide plus FKTs at Trans North Georgia and Trans Virginia, and it's safe to say Abe is certainly a dangerous man when it comes to bikepack racing. In …

Making his second appearance on the podcast, Daniel Connell aka "Dirty Dan" is back to talk all things 2023 Tour Divide. This year was Dan's fourth consecutive Tour Divide finish! We take a deep dive into everything that went down as Dan fought through his fair share of obstacles to finish in his fastest time yet at 16 days 16 hours 4 minutes. This…

To start...sorry! We know it's been a minute...or 8 months...but we are trying to get this thing rolling again. In this "catch-up" episode Andrew and Ezra sit down and have a meandering conversation about a whole lot of bikepacking, bikepack racing, bike racing, and general life things. It was oh so good to sit down and catch up. We hope you enjoy …

Jeff Kerkove is truly a legend of bikepack racing. Jeff and his friends were racing bikes offroad in extreme and unique ways before the words "Gravel racing" and "Bikepacking" were commonplace in the cycling world. In this conversation, we dive into Jeff's start in the 12/24 hour mountain bike race scene, a 14 year battle with finishing the Colorad…

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 winnin…

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 t…

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'…

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 …

...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…

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 …

What does it take to win the Colorado Trail Race? For Will Bodewes, it might be a little...or a lot different than what you'd expect. Sleep banking for fourteen days before the start of the race, a majority of training being less than an hour, using olive oil as chain lube, and eating a block of cheese during the race. These are just some of the ma…

It's taken a minute (or a month), but in this episode we finally hear from Andrew on his incredible effort to win to his first bikepack race at North South Colorado Bikepacking Race. Andrew covers his time spent in Colorado before the race, pre-race mishaps, racing head to head with one of the greatest ultra endurance athletes ever, the lows you do…

Mateo Páez has stormed onto the ultra endurance/bikepack racing circuit in 2022. He started the year with a 3rd place finish at his debut bikepacking race: the Stagecoach 400, struggled with some gnarly weather at The Odyssey of the VOG, before bouncing back with another 3rd place finish at the inaugural Westfjords Way Challenge. In this episode, w…

We had big plans to cover both Andrew's first bikepack racing win at North South Colorado and Ezra's experience at the Tour Divide, but we ended up taking the deepest of deep dives into everything that went down for Ezra during his first run at the divide. It's a long one...and Ezra talks a lot...so if that doesn't interest you...feel free to skip …

The Tour Divide might have taken up most dot watchers attention during the month of June...but we did in fact have other races going on! I'll be honest, outside of the United States we have a knowledge gap when it comes to international races and the players in those races. We'll continue to stick with what we know...but when the opportunity presen…

...and we are back! It's been a busy few weeks in the bikepack racing world, and we've got some catching up to do! We'll start where we left off...with the 2022 Tour Divide. Our guest this week is Andy Leveto. In 2018, Andy completed a northbound attempt of the Tour Divide in 23 days 2 hours and 9 minutes. In 2022 Andy was back for more! This time …

The time has come. The 2022 Tour Divide is upon us. Making it's long awaited return after having been canceled and modified the past two years, the 2022 Tour Divide is going to be one for the ages. It will also be host Ezra's first run at the Divide. In this episode, Ezra and Andrew sit down for an informal chat about all things Divide. Ezra runs t…

For our 13th episode (totally on purpose!), we return to Friday the 13th of May where our guest: Zeno Molteni went down to Oark, AR and absolutely destroyed DOOM. Andrew (Ezra was busy doing Divide prep things) sits down with Zeno for a conversation that covers Zeno's late entry into the sport of cycling, returning to his family's home to race the …

Road cycling has the Tour de France...bikepack racing has the Tour Divide...and the 2022 Grand Depart is nearly upon us! Episode 12 is part Tour Divide preview show and part general conversation about the state of bikepack racing. Our guest this episode is Tim Tait. A man of many talents in the bikepack racing world. Tim is the race director of The…

The title pretty much says it all! Ezra leads the episode off by giving his full recap of a rather unsuccessful and frustrating debut race of the 2022 season at Pinyons and Pines Bikepacking Race in Flagstaff, Arizona. And then at timestamp 1:10:00, we head east to Oark, Arkansas were Andrew breaks down everything that happened at DOOM from his per…

We are once again staying in Arizona for this one!...but rewinding the the clock back to the beginning of the month for a recap of Ride Across Arizona (RAAZ) with (Spoiler Alert!) the overall winner of the event: Dexter Kopas. Ezra (Andrew was busy riding/recovering from DOOM) and Dexter sit down and discuss the many facets of Dexter's life. Includ…

I'm incredibly biased...but Episode 9 is our best episode yet. For starters, it's our first in person episode! But mostly it's because our guest is a total badass person and bikepack racer. Lauren Brownlee took the bikepack racing world by storm last year, when she won The Great Divide Classic aka Tour Divide Mini in not just in her first bikepacki…

...and we are back! Sorry for the lack of content folks. As you'll hear in this episode, Andrew and Ezra have been a bit busy these past few weeks. But it's time to go racing!...at least for Ezra. Ezra will be lining up for the Pinyons and Pines Bikepacking Race on Thursday morning in Flagstaff, AZ...and it's safe to say HE IS FIRED UP. Then on Fri…

Episode 7 is our first true zoom/bikepacking/podcast party. In this episode, Ezra and Andrew are joined by two badass bikepack racing women: Hannah Simon and Stephanie Hall. We start with a bit of background information, including Hannah's extremely unique introduction into cycling, before diving into Hannah and Stephanie's experience at the 2022 E…

Episode 6 is the first of what will most likely become a staple of this podcast. Yes...we'd love to have a new and different bikepacking GOAT on every episode, but that's just never going to happen. Sometimes you're just going to be stuck with Andrew and Ezra as they discuss a wide variety of bikepack racing topics! On this episode topics include: …

Did The Bikepack Racing Podcast just peak on only its fifth episode? It certainly looks that way! In the world of bikepacking, Jay Petervary doesn't need an introduction...but I'm going to give a short one anyway. Legendary bikepacking racer, advocate of the sport, and race organizer, "Jay P" is one of the greatest to ever do it. He's won more race…

In episode 4, Ezra (Andrew was busy riding his bike) talks with elite level road cyclist and Stagecoach 400 participant: David Greif. The conversation begins with how David got into cycling, his rise through the collegiate ranks at the University of Arizona, and his current life racing for Project Echelon Racing. Which is one of the best domestic r…

The tables have turned for Part 2 of "Meet the Hosts" as Ezra grills Andrew with the hard hitting questions the people want to know. Topics of discussion include, but not limited to: an early love of basketball, years spent soul searching in the mountains out west and in Alaska, how Andrew went from riding less than 1000 miles a year to over 12,000…

In Part 1 of "Meet the Hosts", Andrew is asking the questions as Ezra tries to string together some coherent answers. The topics range from living and dating in a van, potentially being the highest paid Cat 3 "semi" professional cyclist ever, the transition from road racing to gravel and bikepack racing, and Ezra's ambitions for the Tour Divide.…

Welcome to the Bikepack Racing Podcast! In this first episode, Ezra Ward-Packard and Andrew Onermaa sit down for a brief conversation about what this podcast is actually going to be about. It's short and it's a bit clunky at times, but it does what it needs to do. Just like in bikepack racing...sometimes the hardest part is getting started!…