Best cycling podcasts - 10 off-road podcasts you must follow in 2024
We list the best cycling podcasts to help get you through winter, the holiday drive or an indoor cycling session
[Words by Steve Thomas]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, podcasts thrived as a whole, but sadly, as the doors to the world re-opened many faded out into the airwaves of pod oblivion, including several off-road podcasts. That said, there are still many great and interesting offroad podcasts worth tuning into.
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The Adventure Stache
Quite possibly the best-known and most popular off-road adventure riding podcast is The Adventure Stache, which is presented by US professional offroad endurance racer Payson McElveen.
Episodes are generally around an hour in duration and are presented every 5-7 days or so, plus there are at times also short trail grams interspersed from his travels off-road, too.
Subject matter varies but is mostly based around gravel and mountain bike adventures and events, with coverage from the major US gravel races often included. Guests have included endurance aces such as Lael Wilcox and Lachlan Morton and Vuelta a Espana winner Sepp Kuss among others.
Downtime – The Mountain Bike Podcast
Downtime podcast logo.jpg, by Rachael Wight
If you’re interested in the gravity side of mountain biking then the Downtime should be among your first ports of call, in podcast listening terms that is.
Humbly launched to provide practical training technique information, the show soon blossomed into one of the most popular platforms for gravity-related audio interviews, insights and event coverage, and is presented by British mountain biker Chris Hall.
Expect to find interviews and chats with the biggest names from the gravity side of the sport, and a varied selection of behind-the-scenes peeps from the bike industry, too.
Episode frequency and duration vary, but you can expect 1 episode of around an hour long each week on average.
Listen to Downtime - The Mountain Bike Podcast
Just Ride (Red Bull)
If you’ve been missing the irrepressible Rob Warner’s voice from his long-standing Red Bull TV coverage of the UCI MTB World Cup then fear not, he is back and is working alongside US commentator Eliot Jackson on the recently launched Just Ride podcast by Red Bull.
The cycling show is not billed as exclusively off-road based, but you can be assured that there are and will be plenty of interesting interviews from both mountain biking and gravel figures, and given the mighty backing of Red Bull the guest list will surely be top drawer.
Shows appear to be coming out every two weeks or so and are just under an hour in duration. Guests so far have included Tom Pidcock, Bret Tippie and Evie Richards.
Always Another Adventure
The Always Another Adventure podcast is presented by Simon Willis, a long-time cyclist with a taste for offroad adventure, and with a background in media production and creation of a high level, so you can be sure this channel has a quality production level and a very mature aura about it.
Living in the Scottish countryside, Willis also produces regular YouTube videos (which are very informative, especially for older riders) along with podcasts, which appear around once a month.
Although not purely based around offroad cycling, there is a good amount of relevant content in there, with lots of interviews with northern cycling adventurers and racers such as Jenny Graham, Markus Stitz and Donnie Campbell, as well as tales of his adventures in between.
The Gravel Ride
The gravel ride podcast.jpg, by Rachael Wight
The Gravel Ride is a North American-based podcast which is presented by Craig Dalton, a long-time cyclist and gravel devotee.
Most of the content is US-orientated, and there are lots of features and interviews with bike industry figures, which are fascinating to listen to and tell of things we rarely hear about the inner workings of brands and products.
Show frequency varies, as do episode lengths, with a 45-minute weekly show being the norm.
Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast
Presented by the US-based singletracks.com website co-founder and editor Jeff Barber is the podcast of the same name.
This is one of the more established mountain bike podcasts out there and justly has a loyal following, with shows coming out every two weeks or so and averaging an hour in duration. Episode subjects vary, but there is a distinct technical insight angle to many of them, including lots of chats with designers and industry insiders about how products are made and why they use certain materials etc. It’s all very informative whilst also avoiding going to tech-nerdy with it.
- Head over to Spotify for the Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast
Singletrack Magazine Podcast
Nicely presented by our friends “up north” at Singletrack Magazine is their podcast of the same name.
The show comes out around three times a month and varies in duration from 45 minutes up to a lengthy two hours with a host of varied content included. From chats with downhill racers like Charlie Hatton and Luca Shaw to industry insights, debates and chat-style shows are all included.
It’s a varied and fun mix, proving that it isn’t grim up north after all, especially not if you have a mountain bike and earbuds.
- Click here for the Singletrack Magazine Podcast
B1KER Bar
Grab a pint or a cuppa and settle down for this slow-paced talk show come interview-like podcast which is US-based (also with content) and delves into lengthy and light conversational style chats with bike industry people and mountain bike content creators.
It's an entertaining show to listen to, and it gives some nice insights into the lives of these figures.
- Here's the B1KER Bar podcast
Ride The Rebellion
This North American-based podcast is presented by Ben Young and is a chat show-like presentation which is quite light-hearted and will appeal to many looking for a lifestyle-like show.
Give it a blast and decide for yourself, it could be just the light ear-toasting you need.
Overland Archive
Based in Australia and presented by 2018 Tour Divide winner and endurance racer Lewis Ciddor is the Overland Archive podcast.
After a long hiatus between episodes, the show is getting back up to speed now and episodes and hopefully coming out around once a month from now on, and they average an hour in duration.
The content is based around the endurance side of offroad (and road) cycling, with lots of interviews and chats with winners and competitors from some of the major bike packing events around the world, with French racer Thomas Boury and Lachlan Morton featured in the past. The show offers an interesting insight into the niche world of these long-haul racers.
- Listen to the Overland Archive
Of course, if you fancy a dram of the hard stuff, in terrain terms, then do tune into our sister podcast at road.cc. or Steve Thomas Live.
