August 20, 2026
Host
Welcome back. Today we’re talking about something that genuinely gives me goosebumps. It’s not a horror movie or a true‑crime podcast — it’s a bike race. The Cadence Collective Classic, a fourteen‑hundred‑kilometer, women‑only ultra endu… endu… I can barely say it. Eight hundred seventy miles, one hundred five hours, unsupported. That’s September 23rd through the 27th and it is, in my opinion, the scariest thing in sports right now.
Guest
It really is. And not scary in a bad way. Scary like, when you look at what these women are about to do, it rewires your brain about what’s humanly possible. Fourteen hundred K with a brevet time limit that most people wouldn’t finish if they were driving a car? It’s absurd.
Host
And it’s not just a long ride on flat farm roads. This is Southern California. Four brutal loops back to a central hub at Bonelli Bluffs — that means they go into San Bernardino National Forest, the high desert, mountains, and the coast. They’re climbing insane amounts and still averaging, what, over a dozen miles an hour for four and a half days straight?
Guest
Exactly. The route uses a cloverleaf format. So you have four distinct loops, each one terrifying in its own way, and you keep returning to the RV campground by the lake. There’s a village there with provisions, meals, snacks, a place to sleep if you dare. But every time you roll out again, it’s into something new and cruel.
Host
That structure might actually be the genius of it, you know? It’s not point‑to‑point where if you break down mentally, you’re alone in the desert. There’s this hub, this community pulling you back in, and then pushing you out. But the real story here isn’t just the format. It’s who is showing up.
Guest
This is an international summit of the most terrifyingly strong women on two wheels. Meagan Killinen from the USA — Tour Divide record holder. Jana Kesselhaur from Switzerland, fresh off winning the 24‑hour world time trial and the Transcontinental Race this year. Fiona Kolberg from Germany, past Transcontinental winner. Rinko Soma from Japan. It’s a who’s who of ultra racing.
Host
And then there are the riding crews from France, Germany, Spain, South Korea. Local randonneuses from Southern California, riders who just finished their twelve‑hundred‑K qualifiers and thought, ‘Why not 1400?’ Hundreds of women, pro and amateur, showing up to do this together.
Guest
Right. And that’s the thing. It’s not a pro‑peloton‑style event. No support cars, no mechanics, no physiotherapists handing you gels. These women are entirely unsupported for those loops. The rule is, once you’re out there, it’s you and your bike and whatever you’ve packed.
Host
Which blows my mind because the pro peloton revolves around three‑to‑six‑hour stages with all that infrastructure. So when people ask me who the greatest cyclists in the world are, I have to pause. The physiology required for this is almost a different sport.
Guest
It is a different sport. And here’s the data that makes me shiver: in cycling, as distance increases, the gender gap shrinks. And somewhere around the 36‑ to 48‑hour mark, the performance actually flips. Women are consistently faster over extreme durations.
Host
Wait, say that again. You’re telling me that in events lasting two days or more, women, as a population, are outperforming the men?
Guest
Yes. Repeated studies and race results show it. There’s something about metabolic efficiency, fatigue resistance, mental fortitude. The longer it goes, the more the so‑called ‘weaker sex’ narrative falls apart. And the Cadence Collective Classic is the ultimate stage for that proof.
Host
So this event isn’t just a race. It’s a living laboratory for ultra‑endurance science. But it’s also a cultural moment. The Cadence Collective started as an online community before the pandemic, connecting women 45 plus in Southern California. During lockdowns it exploded because suddenly fifty plus women were finding ride partners for really long rides.
Guest
And post‑pandemic, these women didn’t disappear back into their garages. They started dominating ultra races. The community grew into this global movement. Now it’s producing an event that makes people’s jaws drop.
Host
I want to highlight the mantra because it’s the most honest thing I’ve ever heard in endurance sport. The banner at the start reads, ‘Ride Slow, Bring Snacks, Take Naps.’ They have it in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean. I mean, what a beautiful, realistic philosophy.
Guest
'Roule doucement, apporte des snacks, fais la sieste.' It’s my favorite. Because it undercuts the macho, suffer‑fest nonsense that we often associate with ultra sports. This is about sustainable, intelligent strength. You can’t ride 870 miles on ego.
Host
And you definitely can’t do it without the right gear. But I have to mention the sponsors because the list is stacked. Compagnolo, Profile Aerobars, Pearl Izumi, Muc‑off, Parks Bicycle Tools, Continental tires. But the platinum sponsor is Lifetime TV. That’s huge.
Guest
Lifetime is doing a documentary. Picture this: you’re watching a rider spin through a forest as the sun rises on day three, and the voiceover is an emotional interview about how someone once told her it’s not safe to ride at night, or that she wasn’t tough enough. I’m telling you, this footage is going to be devastating.
Host
And it needs to be. Because the narratives around women in cycling are still stuck in the early 2000s. This event, and the film, could finally shift the conversation from ‘can women be tough?’ to ‘why would you ever doubt them?’
Guest
Which brings me to a point that I think we need to push back on. Even within cycling, there’s a tendency to see ultra racing as a sideshow compared to the WorldTour. A niche. I’ve heard people call it ‘slow racing.’
Host
Slow racing? Riding 870 miles with tens of thousands of feet of climbing on no sleep, no team car, no neutral service — and winning because you’re the fastest over 105 hours — that’s not slow. That’s the most demanding pace management in all of sports.
Guest
Exactly. The pro peloton does 3‑ to 6‑hour efforts with near‑perfect support. These women are problem‑solving mechanicals at 3 a.m. in the middle of a forest, rationing snacks, managing hallucinations, navigating solo. The skill set is deeper.
Host
And yet the prize purses and media coverage don’t reflect that. Do you think an event like the Cadence Collective Classic can start to change that?
Guest
I think it already is. When you have a global field, platinum media backing, and a women‑only format that highlights peak performance, you create a spectacle that even casual viewers can’t ignore. The finish celebration has a live band, for crying out loud. It’s designed to be celebratory, not somber.
Host
Speaking of celebration, the qualifications alone are insane. Every rider either completed a Super Randonneur series — that’s a 200K, 300K, 400K, and 600K in one season — or submitted a résumé of comparable ultra‑distance events. So nobody is accidentally showing up.
Guest
All of them have proven they can suffer intelligently. And now they’re adding another 200K to the hardest thing they’ve ever done. I’ve spoken to some local favorites who are stepping up from 1200K rides, and they’re terrified. But they’re also giddy.
Host
Terrified and giddy — that’s the perfect description. The race starts September twenty‑third. The time limit is five p.m. on the twenty‑seventh. That’s one hundred five hours. If you do the math, the minimum average speed is something like 8.3 miles per hour, including all stops.
Guest
Right, and that sounds easy until you factor in 30,000 feet of climbing, sleep deprivation, and the fact that you have to actually navigate, eat, and possibly repair your bike. Suddenly 8.3 miles an hour feels like sprinting.
Host
Let’s talk about the hub. Bonelli Bluffs is an RV campground. So it’s not a fancy hotel. Riders will roll in, maybe grab some hot food, swap stories, and try to close their eyes for ninety minutes. How does that community dynamic change the race?
Guest
It transforms it. Because when you come back between loops, you see other riders. Some are ahead, some behind. There’s no isolation. It becomes this collective suffering and encouragement. I think that’s why the name Cadence Collective fits so well — it’s about the shared rhythm.
Host
And the older women dominating this scene — that’s another story we don’t tell enough. The demographic is heavily skewed toward riders over forty, over fifty. The wisdom, the experience, and yes, the slower‑twitch endurance that comes with age. It flips every stereotype.
Guest
Women who were maybe told they weren’t athletic enough in their twenties are now showing up as grandmothers and smashing records. The Cadence Collective community was built on that — finding ride partners when the mainstream cycling world didn’t see you.
Host
And the international dimension is wild. The crews from South Korea, the individual stars from Europe. It’s a world championships without the UCI’s branding, but in some ways even more legitimate because it’s rider‑organized and rider‑focused.
Guest
Do you think that’s the future of endurance sport? Rider‑organized, community‑grown events like this, rather than top‑down corporate ones?
Host
Maybe. There’s an authenticity to it. The mantra is literally about snacking and napping. The sponsors align with the values — bike tools, tire makers, lube — not energy drinks promising to ‘unleash the beast.’ It’s real. And it’s terrifying.
Guest
The terror is part of the draw. I mean, fourteen hundred kilometers is a distance that scares even seasoned ultra cyclists. To do it in a cloverleaf, with that relentless loop pattern, it’s psychologically brutal. You finish one loop and know you have to go right back out.
Host
And the loops take them through some stunning but punishing geography. The San Bernardino National Forest has massive elevation changes, switchbacks, exposure, wildlife. Then the high desert with heat and wind. Then the coast with its own microclimate. It’s a full tour of Southern California’s extremes.
Guest
And all while being filmed by Lifetime. I can’t wait to see how the documentary captures the moment when a rider is deep in the pain cave at 4 a.m. and then the sun starts to come up and you see the relief on their face. That’s cinema.
Host
It’s also going to capture the tears. Because there will be tears. And the laughter. The absurdity of eating a burrito while descending a mountain. The friendships. This isn’t a race that ends with a handshake and an awkward podium; it ends with a live band and a party.
Guest
And that’s what I wish more people understood. Yes, it’s a race. Yes, people will compete fiercely. But the finish is a celebration of completion. The time limit is generous enough that many can finish, but just finishing is a victory. That’s rare in top‑level sport.
Host
Do you have any predictions? Obviously unpredictable things happen at this distance, but who are you watching?
Guest
I’d never bet against Jana Kesselhaur right now. She’s in phenomenal form. But Meagan Killinen’s experience on the Tour Divide — that’s pure self‑sufficiency. And Rinko Soma’s climbing prowess from Shizuoka up Fuji could be deadly in those mountain sections. Honestly, it’s wide open.
Host
And there will be riders nobody has heard of who suddenly find themselves at the front. That’s the beauty of a first‑time event like this. No playbook. No expectations. Just pure performance unfolding.
Guest
Exactly. I’m also excited about the local riders from Southern California. Some of them know those roads intimately. They’ll have an advantage in navigation and pacing that could surprise the international field.
Host
The women’s peloton is also seeing a surge in interest right now, especially after the Tour de France Femmes. But this race is a totally different beast. How do you think it fits into the broader conversation about women’s cycling?
Guest
It changes the question from ‘Can women race excitingly?’ to ‘What kind of racing can women do spectacularly well?’ And the answer is, apparently, any kind. But ultra endurance is where they are rewriting human performance science.
Host
So if someone is new to all of this and feeling daunted, what would you say to them about the Cadence Collective’s message? ‘Ride Slow, Bring Snacks, Take Naps’— is that truly a competitive mantra?
Guest
It is. Because going slow is still covering distance. Bringing snacks is fueling your body. Taking naps is recovery. That’s the formula for finishing these monstrous distances. And it’s a formula accessible to anyone, regardless of speed. That is deeply radical.
Host
Radical indeed. And the event is only a few weeks away now. Any final thoughts on what this means for the community?
Guest
I think it’s going to be a watershed moment. We’ll look back in a decade and say, ‘That was when the world started to take women’s ultra cycling seriously.’ I wish I could be out there, but I’ll be glued to the tracker, cheering every rider on.
Host
Same here. To everyone riding the Cadence Collective Classic September twenty‑third through twenty‑seventh: ride slow, bring all the snacks, take glorious naps, and know you are redefining what’s possible. We’ll be watching, terrified and in awe.
Guest
And remember, the finish line has a live band and a huge party. So keep turning those pedals. You’ve earned it. We can’t wait to see you come home.
Host
Well, that’s our show for today. Thanks for opening our eyes to what might be the scariest, most beautiful thing in sports. We’ll be back next time with another story that deserves to be told. Until then, stay curious and keep moving.