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

We had to reupload this episode due to the audio being horribly corrupted on the previous one (it made it seem like we were high on uppers interrupting each other constantly but in reality the audio was desynced). We are sorry and we strive to DO BETTER. We are not perfect but we will learn from this experience. Sorry again to everyone, now on to the show. If you were late and this is your first time listening just disregard the last few sentences.

The A24 coded / Criterion Collection era of gravel videos is in full swing this gravel season with Lachlan Morton's Unbound XL video. Will the world's most artistic directors begin making spon con for gravel brands? Will EF put MUCK OFF in their TDF team's tires.

This is basically a pod about Cinéma vérité, not gravel. But only in that gravel is real life, and real life is every thing, and thereby gravel is everything. American directors mentioned include Gus Van Sandt, Ben Affleck, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Greta Gerwig, the Coen brothers and Ben Affleck.

Don't you want to see spon con directed by Greta Gerwig about Paige Onweiller's former career as a physician's Assistant?

Elsewhere, the Holy Spirit does her worldwide grassroots recap on Migration Gravel and Big Horn Gravel. Let's just say PAS RACING (Cecily Decker, Karo Migon, and Emily Newsom] dominated the podium and picked up some physically HUGE checks.

-Introducing an a.i. generated farmer

-Local bike shops not knowing you are cool contemporary gravel coded

-Brady Corbet from child actor to director to gravel spon con collaborator

-The farmers are winning the War on Gravel

-Is Lachlan the most popular privateer amongst gravel dads?

-Pas Normal x JJJJound tastemaker collab

-Paul Sandmann to HSOG pod?

-GCN cringe core

-Rural Murals

-Will Keegan and Sofia launch a couples reality show?

-The Ben Delaney Ventum embargo

-Joe Goettl, a BWR Utah Specialist

-Dylan Johnson's heat training video

-Valterri Bottas's cringe gravel-coded IG privateer social media presence

-Matt Stephens is trying to Great British Bakeoff-code cycling

-Building out the Emporia State University Gravel Studies Program

-Natural Wine x gravel x Girona

-Can you do drugs and eat caffeine gels?

-SBT Gravel preview (not actually a preview)

-What happens if a bike shop hates you for thinking you are a cool gravel guy? (You probably deserve it)

The audio file episode that used to be here was horribly corrupted (that fact that no one seemed to notice is a testament to how insane we are maybe). Instead enjoy this Easter Egg from a Flint Hills local.

Father's day is done and dusted but The Pod Squad goes deeper on Gravel Dad theory and categorization. Understanding that Gravel Dads can range from ages 22-100 with different skills and vibes. Also--should sherpas stop escorting rich people up Mount Everest and help wealthy/pathetic gravel dads up climbs? Of course there is lingering Unbound banter.

Other topics include:

-The Cam Jones Media Tour

-The Karo Mignon Winning Everything Tour

-ICE going after Euro Privateers in America on Temporary Work Visas?

-Has there been Unbound Gravel 2025 content?

-UCI Gravel is not a real thing

-Paul Sandmann and Nathalie Eklund to Holy Spirit of Gravel POD?

-How many Vermuelens are there?

-Rosa Kloser in the Tour De Suisse

-Friends and Family throwing your Pas Normal / MAAP bibs in the dryer

-GCN: they are really agonizing over the whole gravel versus road bike thing, huh?

-Daxton Mock, Lance Haidet and Taylor Lideen updates

-Safari Gravel, Canadian National Gravel Championship, and Lost & Found also happened

-zone2speak

"Is American crit racing WASHED?" -some one way too into gravel

The Holy Spirit touches grass after getting TOO activated at UNBOUND. She documents going on a ride without her Wahoo. Then she starts reading about Gravel Earth's Festivus Gravel, attended by Lifetime Grand Prix hitter Simon Pellaud.

The PD SQD (pod squad privateer team) accidentally starts talking about crit racing in America because Tulsa Tough happened. They are incredibly uninformed, but talk about Le6ion, The Golden State Blazers fka the Miami Blazers. Does it need a dirt crit or a Midsouth gravel crossover event? Holy Spirit says that we can unite American cycling if Justin Williams and Corey Williams did the Unbound 50 distance.

Eventually, Holy goes over the MAAP privateer collection and proceeds to describe every single jersey in detail for our visually impaired listeners. Will Pas Racing x Pas Normal Studios ever sell Pas Racing clothing to the general public?

The team begins to research grassroots races in America and becomes fixated on the Dozinky Doozy in Nebraska.

As always, JUSTICE FOR THE RAD in Trinidad Colorado.

RIFFS INCLUDE:

-Simon Pellaud's post-unbound schedule
-Politics of t-shirt rides-Post-Unbound race calendar having to be FUN-CODED due to activation exhaustion
-Festivus Gravel in Canada -- why is there a Christmas event in June?
-Gravelooza in Quebec: Canada is poppin off with grassroots events and even BWR British Columbia
-How to RESET after an intensive Unbound Block and race
-Garmin and WAHOO need a mental health UNPLUGGED setting for gravel dads
-Crit racers are mentally ill hot take
-Life before the gravel boom-- crit bros were once on top.
-The Miami Blazers moved to GOLDEN STATE?
-The most uninformed discussion on the failed American crit league of all time
-Holy Spirit to become gravel national champion of Vatican City to wear papal-coded kit
-Tulsa Tough x Bobby Wintel dirt crit at Tulsa Tough
-Planning to chase an FKT as a normie
-Corey Williams and Justin Williams to the Unbound 50
-Mass start at the Unbound Dirt crit: gravel normies vs. crit bros
-Tulsa Tough and gravel both happen in Flyover Country: FLYOVER THIS!
-Establishing The Unaffiliated Calendar
-The guy in the Le6ion jersey in your city is a maniac
-Stop sign etiquette: You can never win
-MAAP privateer jersey lineup
-Chad Haga traded from Pas Racing to MAAP privateer
-Pas Normal Studios won't manufacture bib sets for Large and XL riders-Freddy Ovett: His name is around
-Peyson McElveen is injured in his MAAP privateer kit photo shoot
-Paige Onweiller and mid-level provider awareness
-Was Finsty wearing SHOCKS headphones during Unbound 200? (Russell Finsterwald)
-Should privateers wear headphones during races?
-HSOG shares her Unbound playlist
-Does the PAS team talk about team tactics in English?
-Do we need a Triple Crown or Quad of Gravel?
-Why do women privateers have real jobs but the men are "just" cyclists?
-Gravel Studies Major at Grand Canyon University Online
-Aero Studies, Course Construction, Activation Maximization modules on UDEMY/Coursera
-Sea Otter Europe Girona is a real thing
-Dozinky Doozy in Prague, Nebraska
-Gravel Worlds moved from Nebraska to Minnesota
-No coverage of the Chase Wark Documentary
-Doss Gravel will be hitter coded
-Grass routes descriptions sound better than Unbound
-Starting our own grass roots race and making it purposely shitty. Self-timing without infrastructure
-Our first guest will be some one who rode in the Dozinky Doozy
-Project Echelon apologists and fake gravel teams
-The Dylan Johnson youtube views vacuum at UNBOUND
-Discussing the Red Hook to gravel privateer pipeline
-Getting Dylan Johnson's doctor on the pod (and first responders and truck drivers)
-We need a BWR Specialist in the privateer field
-Lifetime dropped The RAD in Trinidad, Colorado
-Should more people want to be in the Cat 5 master's livestream?

Holy Spirit ventured to Emporia, Kansas to get ACTIVATED. The 200 mile pro field race was full of ruts, dangerous riding by non-elite riders, and clogged with normies on the course. Is it time to redefine the spirit of gravel? (aka the discussion that happens after every race)

More importantly, did the Holy Spirit almost end the race of an unnamed privateer (named John Borstelmann).

Lifetime Grand Prix is actually good this year because of Pas Racing, Cecily Decker, and Simon Pellaud. Also, Cam Jones might not be able to accept his prize money due to Visa issues. Was the real winner of Unbound Peyson McElveen's gravel commentating career? We define "the Double" which was achieved by Karo Mignon. And clear up the difference between Cecily Decker and Cecile LeJeune.

We talk about Rosa Kloser, PhD candidate, stopping by the E.F. tent, ketone cults, calling yourself a future Gravel Hall of Famer, equality for multiple distances, Holy Spirits parental support crew, denim jackets, and Holy Spirit's visit to the Pas House.