Pro Cyclist Payson McElveen - The Hardest Ride Is the One You Don’t See - on Creativity, Pressure & What Comes Next
Release Date: 09/10/2025
Friends, Sweat, & Tears: the Shocking AYF Finale LIVE from Pace Ranch in Tucson
Choose the Hard Way
The dramatic JK Normatec addiction intervention, detonating Mt. Lemmon records, the Dan Swenson World Tour 2026 bid, traveling with SciCon bike bags, and the applied high performance practices of aging parents going big in the desert. — Spencer Martin of WeDu / Peacock / Beyond the Peloton + Jonathan Kaplan of Riding With join Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz to debrief on their Abandon Your Family LIVE! training camp in Tucson, AZ at Pace Ranch. — Special thanks to Pam Alexander and Tucson cycling community legends Paul and MaryAnn Wiederhold. — JOIN US: — Andrew...
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Abandon Your Family 30,000 Roundtable - Spencer Martin, Andrew Vontz, Jonathan Kaplan, Paul Redmayne
Choose the Hard Way
Tears, chamois cream, glory. Carb slurry was downed by the gallon and tears were shed in garages and at dinner tables around the world as the community collectively gave everything to secure midpack glory at select gravel major and minor races in mid 2026. — This episode is a conversation about the Abandon Your Family 30,000 experience with Choose the Hard Way & One Real Voice founder Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin of WeDu / Peacock / Beyond the Peloton, Jonathan Kaplan of the Riding With newsletter / pod & special guest Paul Redmayne in the UAE, a 4x outdoor Everester who drops the...
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Jens Voigt on East Germany, Parenting Six Kids, Crashing at 70 km/h and Life after 17 Tours de France
Choose the Hard Way
Jens Voigt raced the Tour de France 17 times, wore the yellow jersey, won stages in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, and set the Hour Record on the track at age 43. He joins Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz how crashing at 70 km/h changes you in ways the world doesn’t see and the long arc of a life in sport. — This episode explores Jens’ childhood and upbringing in the former East Germany, his path through a state-run sports academy, and what it was like to build a career inside professional cycling without ever being the protected rider. — This is a conversation about...
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Patrick J. Murphy - 1st Iraq War Veteran Elected to Congress - Former Under Secretary of the Army
Choose the Hard Way
Patrick J Murphy, First Iraq War Veteran Elected to Congress and Former Under Secretary of the Army — Patrick J Murphy was the first Iraq War veteran elected to the United States Congress and later served as Under Secretary of the Army. He joins Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz for a wide-ranging conversation on service, leadership and responsibility. — This episode explores what it means to engage seriously with people who hold different points of view and why stepping outside an echo chamber is a necessary discipline, not a political stance. — This is a conversation about...
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The 10 Pack is Next - AYF500 Day 8 - Andrew Vontz, Jonathan Kaplan, Spencer Martin
Choose the Hard Way
On day 8 of the Abandon Your Family 500, Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin of Beyond the Peloton, and Jonathan Kaplan of Riding With share stories of deep fatigue, angry families, and the kind of indoor training glory you can earn but can’t buy. — They explore the strain this challenge has placed on their friendship, and why they can’t wait to do it again, slightly differently, in two weeks when they kick off the Abandon Your Family 30,000. — But first comes the second installment in the Choose the Hard Way Abandon Your Family Triple Crown, the 10...
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Frosted Flakes & Point Break - Chase Wark x WUKAR Fit x Andrew Vontz x Jonathan Kaplan - #AYF500 Day 6
Choose the Hard Way
pounds Frosted Flakes & puts in 4.5 hours on a single bottle of water in his in-laws’ 15-degree garage to pass the 760 km mark -- and Kip Taylor -- on the Abandon Your Family 500 leaderboard on day 6. — Art O’Connor, aka , strength coach to pro cycling’s biggest names including Chase, World Champion Keegan Swenson and many more, reveals why Patrick Swayze is the secret to high performance on the trainer. — Jonathan Kaplan of reveals the indoor / outdoor hybrid approach that is taking D.C. and the Abandon Your Family 500 community by storm. — Spence logs off to continue...
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#AYF500 Day 4 - Mad Watts: Carb Fury - Andrew Vontz x Jonathan Kaplan Reflect on the Event of the Year
Choose the Hard Way
Abandon Your Family 500 2025 Day 4 with Jonathan Kaplan and Andrew Vontz. Reflections on bad sleep, big carbs, and the skirmish between Front Range legends Andy Leach and Kip Taylor to top out first and complete #AYF500 in an FKT of under four days. — Day 4 sees the Kingpin, Big Spence, continue his secret training during the Boulder blackout. When will he switch his rides from “private” to “everyone” and deliver the big surprise sure to put him in the headlines? — Heads up. We have a full-length interview with Jens Voigt coming soon, and you will hear him in a way you never have...
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#AYF500 Day 3 - Boulder Storm - Andrew Vontz x Jonathan Kaplan - Abandon Your Family 500 2025
Choose the Hard Way
Abandon Your Family 500 2025 Day 3 brings big drama when 100 mile-per-hour winds mean the power grid goes offline in Boulder and Big Spence has to skip the daily recording to keep banking secret miles to upload later at an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, Andy Leach powers over the top and dominates the leaderboard while Meg Volz enters the chat and shows her family what commitment looks like. Jonathan Kaplan of Riding With logs another signature indoor / outdoor Norwegian method dual threshold workout day and continues his love letter to High Fidelity with hopes of getting Nick Hornby into...
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#AYF500 Update 2 - Kip’s Stealth Century Knock Out - Andrew Vontz, Spencer Martin, Jonathan Kaplan, & Special Guest Kip Taylor - Abandon Your Family 500 2025
Choose the Hard Way
A deep dive on the big action and family fallout from day one of the Abandon Your Family 500 in a groundbreaking conversation with Andrew Vontz / Choose the Hard Way, Spencer Martin / Beyond the Peloton, Jonathan Kaplan / Riding With, and the front range legend Kip Taylor (of Kip’s Corner fame) making his highly anticipated Choose the Hard way debut. Andrew, Jonathan, & Spencer press Kip on his 11th-hour upload of a 105-mile ride on day one. Get a look inside the high-stakes world of #AYF500 strategy from one of the masters of the game in this discussion of the obstacles challenge...
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#AYF500 Special Update 1 - w Spencer Martin, Jonathan Kaplan, & Andrew Vontz - Abandon Your Family 500 2025
Choose the Hard Way
Nothing says I love you like abandoning your family to get in shape for your endurance sport. The Abandon Your Family 500 is a challenge to ride 500 km on planet earth or on a virtual cycling platform over the course of 10 days brought to you by Choose the Hard Way / Andrew Vontz, Beyond the Peloton / Spencer Martin, and Riding With / Jonathan Kaplan. During the #AYF500, Andrew, Jonathan, & Spencer will be doing minisodes to share their experience participating in one of life’s most rewarding experiences: having fun doing something hard with your friends. Follow along here and at...
info_outlineChoose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz (@hardwaypod) in conversation with pro cyclist Payson McElveen (@paysonmcelveen), Red Bull athlete and creator of the With Pace podcast & Riding with Pace YouTube channel.
In a sport filled with mustaches, Payson McElveen has the most famous mustache. Payson’s palmares includes a pair of wins at The Mid South, two marathon mountain bike national championship titles (2017, 2018) and his films and podcast are among the biggest in offroad cycling. His With Pace podcast is a great listen and one of the biggest in endurance sports.
His adventure films are hugely popular and cover his own go-fast exploits including a White Rim FKT and an FKT for crossing Iceland under human power, not the power of lightning-bolt throwing deities.
But the hardest ride is the one you don’t see.
There are hundreds of hours of Payson McElveen content out there and for an adventurer like Payson it seemed appropriate and more fun to go into new territory in this conversation. It was a fun one and I’m excited to share it with you.
You can find his podcast With Pace everywhere you listen and get more Payson at www.withpace.cc and @paysonmcelveen on Instagram and YouTube.
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