Presented by The Feed presented by Nathan’s hot dogs presented by San Luis Potosí tourism board presented by Campaign for Nick Blouin for Utah Presented by Crusher in the Tusher presented by

Today marks our first ever interview on the Holy Sprit of Gravel podcast. We are calling this series the Beyond Privateer Chronicles (until I think of something better).

We're joined by German pro elite hitter Paul Sandmann. You might know him for his 38th place result in Unbound 2025. He pulls back the curtain on life as a lesser-known gravel hitter, if the privateer model is worth it, and the differences between Euro gravel and American prestige gravel. Oh and he's Rosa Kloser's boyfriend.

We here at HSOG productions make an effort to highlight the lesser known hitters whose stories deserve to be told.

We get to hear unfiltered views from inside the men’s elite field, such as:

-Tim DeClerq policing the Unbound breakaway

-The future of steel/metal/magnesium bikes

-The best tire to rollover a water bottle in a rut

-What can sponsors truly add to a privateer

-Who gets to debrief first: Paul or Rosa?

-politics of Unbound Drafting

-is Chase Wark shadow banned in Europe?

-are Hambini and Peak Torque accurate from an engineer-privateer point of view?

-what it’s like being a member of Team RK (team Rosa Kloser)

-how to travel with your bike like a pro

And much more…

We hope you enjoy the first in what will be a continuing series in highlighting the best of our deranged sport.

The Holy Spirit talks about SBT GRVL for way too long. It ends up being a podcast about lap races in gravel, neutral feed zones and MAURTEN's nutrition. (Not to be confused with Morton's Steak House or Morton's salt). The Cooldown with Alexey Vermuelen and Keegan Swenson provided insight into a race weekend of narrow tires and champagne gravel from the perspective of the gravel elite.

Eventually, there is a vibe check on Oregon Trail Gravel Grind. We talk about the camping vs Airbnb wars among privateers and the future of the spirit of gravel. Does the Lifetime Grand Prix need a stage race? BWR Montana also happened and Chase Wark won a grassroots race. An overbooked weekend in Gravel means the privateers don't all get to hang out and post videos on Instagram together!

Overall, there's a normie vibe shift towards adventure biking so gravel dads can ride overnight/camp in a Lachlan Morton style windbreaker tent for a night. There's also a vibe shift towards SCOTT bikes in 2025. Holy Spirit continues to push the narrative that the women are more interesting than the men. And that there should be more nutrition-specific gravel races when races design their course + race experience narratives.

We talk about the biggest cycling brands like Pas Normal, MAAP, Colnago, Scott, and the ongoing vibe wars in gravel.

Riffs of today:

-Endurance Bro says the podcast is terrible

-The move from aero to adventure coding

-Is the aero movement ending?

-Gravel is ruining every cycling discipline theory

-The spirit of Randonneuring

-SBT GRVL's cultural significance on the gravel calendar

-The new format of SBT GRV

-Loop formats and Dozinky Doozie's triple loop format

-Brennan Wurtz and his stars and stripes x SCOTT bike

-Is SCOTT bikes winning the vibes war in gravel this year?

-The Cam Jones UNBOUND video drop

-Are Cam Jones and Brennan Wurtz the REAL Keegan and Matt Beers?

-Matt Beers is tall

-BWR Montana and Finsty

-Privateers who don't live in the Four Corners states have to go home eventually -- you can't just live in a van for months?

-Chase Wark won a race --new documentary dropping soon?

-Should more privateers go dominate grass roots races?

-We need more Deep South Gravel representation

-The Cooldown with Alexey and Keegan breakdown--Do we love Keegan Swenson hot takes?

-Nathan Haas rode road tires at SBT and wrote narrow-tire-core instagram captions

-Pas Normal Studios x Colnago road bike collab talk

-Is Pas Normal a roadie brand?

-The Pas Normal to Team UAE sponsorship Theory

-Neutralized feed zones--great for normies, bad for sponsored athletes

-Sarah Lange is bursting on to the scene

-The Cooldown Femmes with Lauren Stephens and Paige Onweiller -- Cecily Decker or -Lauren DeCrezenco? Sofia Gomez-Villafane?

-Are looped races just adventure dirt crits?

-BWR Montana results review - Stella Hobbs to podcast guest? Daxton Mock, Lance Haidet, Joe Goettel.

-Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder - Are stage races the next big vibe in gravel?

-Glamp style stage races

-Sophia Gomez-Villafane stayed at an AirBNB

-Cecile Lejune, Sarah Sturm, Morgan Aguirre, Dani Shrosbree

-Can Sarah Sturm digest Maurten's products?

-Cam Jones and his parents are gravel's top story of 2025?

-Iz King and her fourth trimester adventure experience

-Bike shop customers in Pas Normal and MAAP are the worst patrons

-Inside the Maurten's marketing team's reaction to post SBT buzz

-Going Narrow with 45s

-Facebook marketplace gravel dads looking to exploit cycling quitters

-A theory on Nike joining the gravel boom

-H&M bibs - is fast fashion aero?

-Los Angeles cycling bros - Mitch Boyer, Shreddy Pendergrass, Safa Brian and NOT Phil Gaimon

-That feeling when a fat tire bike passes you

-How to get NIKE into gravel - a roadMAAP

-Holy Spirit prepares to go to Gravel Mexico and get into the Gravel Earth longtail scrub standings (and connect with her heritage)

-The Paul Sandmann Documentary?

-Maurten's is SOYLENT coded

-How to get a bike shop to hate you