PIR Is Back and Paris-Roubaix Mayhem

Dialed Podcast 383 Recap

PIR Is Back and the Local Scene Is Buzzing

The guys are loose and the season is on. Ian makes his usual grand entrance, the table works in a Spaceballs bit before anyone says anything useful, and the whole episode carries that first-few-races-of-the-year energy. If you ride or race anywhere around Portland and Vancouver, this one feels like sitting in on a conversation between friends who know the local scene cold.

---

The Backpedal: A Last-Lap Lesson and a Muddy Weekend

Every episode kicks off with the Backpedal, where the guys recap what they have been up to. Ian led with a story every racer will wince at. Portland International Raceway is back for the season with a new RFID chip timing system, dedicated rider numbers, and a color-coded lap board, and Ian put it to good use by miscounting the laps. He tailgunned the whole race, moved up perfectly with what he thought was one to go, sprinted his heart out off the front, and then realized there was still a full lap left. He finished dead last after burning every match. Lesson logged: never throw your arms up until you are absolutely sure.

The weekend before, Ian had a much better day at the Banana Belt Road Race, winning his age group on a fast, tactical course while Lance rode shotgun and tried to lead him out. Lance also took on the Mud Slinger mountain bike race down south, a true climber's course made treacherous by a week of rain, and went over the bars twice into the bushes. He walked away with nothing more than scratches and a tenth-place finish in the Cat 1 field, and he did it on his new Scott Spark RC with SRAM Flight Attendant suspension. Three months in and still loving the loud purple paint that the kids keep complimenting, he managed to keep the bike clean through both crashes, which is more than most of us could claim. If you are babying a new frame through a muddy season, a clear Spark frame protection kit is cheap insurance.

---

The Hot Seat: What Should Bike Racing Cost?

The biggest conversation of the episode grew out of Ian's day job as a promoter. He puts on the Barton Park Road Race mostly to keep road racing alive around here, charges 50 dollars a head, and needs about 100 riders just to break even. That set off a genuinely good argument about the economics of grassroots racing.

Matt made the case for charging more and pouring it back into a better event, pointing at sold-out gravel races that command 185 to 300 dollars because riders clearly think they are worth it. Jake pushed back from the rider's seat: keep entry fees low, find the money elsewhere, and keep the sport reachable for the person who is deciding between a race entry and a tank of gas.

This is one we have real skin in. We put on a timed event ourselves, and people would be floored by what professional chip timing costs once you add up the gear, the crew, and the day. Jake spent time on the OBRA board pushing for exactly the kind of timing system PIR is now running, so the tradeoffs here are not theoretical to us. The honest reality is that road events have a ceiling on what you can charge before people just stay home, while a marquee gravel race can charge triple and sell out in a weekend. Ian landed somewhere very human: he is not in this to build an empire, he does it for the community, and after a solid three-year run he is at peace handing it off to whoever wants it next. That is the part the entry-fee math never captures.

---

Leadout News: Paris-Roubaix Mayhem and a Wout van Aert Moment

If you only listen to one segment, make it this one. Paris-Roubaix delivered one of the best editions in years. The race averaged over 30 miles per hour across 165 miles of cobbles, and the carnage was everywhere. Among just the three podium finishers there were seven flat tires.

The flats were the story, and the cause was a tech one we talk about at the lab all the time. Riders are running tubeless at the lowest pressure they can get away with, and at those speeds over the cobbles the tires were literally burping air out of the sidewalls. Mathieu van der Poel got the worst of it, losing two and a half minutes after a flat in the Arenberg Forest where no team car can even reach him, then flatting again on his charge back. Even Tadej Pogacar needed multiple bike changes. Here is the part worth hearing the guys out on: the teams are now gluing tubeless tires onto the rim and in some cases running no sealant and no inserts, which is the exact opposite of what works for the rest of us. At the pressures and speeds you and I ride, sealant and a smart insert choice are what keep a cobble or a sharp rock from ending your day. What the pros are doing at Roubaix is a problem to solve at 30 miles per hour on pave, not a setup to copy on your Saturday gravel loop.

The finish was the emotional payoff. Wout van Aert and Pogacar got away together, and on the velodrome Wout came around the world champion in a two-up sprint to finally win one of the monuments he has chased his whole career. Lance admitted he teared up watching it. Jake, who had called the upset the week before, took a well-earned victory lap.

---

Classics, the Lifetime Grand Prix, and a Dialed Rider on the Big Stage

The Leadout continued with a quick tour of the spring classics, including Remco Evenepoel taking Amstel Gold, and a look ahead to Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Then the focus turned to the season opener of the Lifetime Grand Prix at Sea Otter, a 90-mile gravel race that drew nearly every major gravel racer in the country.

The men's race came down to a two-up sprint, with Camas-raised Braden Lang using a slick last-corner move to out-sprint Keegan Swenson. The women's race went to Sofia Gomez Villafane over Lauren Stephens, who rode with us at the Dialed Cycling training camp in Tucson this year. But the result we cared about most was Dialed Cycling's own Kylee Hanel lining up in the elite women's field as a U23, in a Dialed kit, finishing 20th overall, and now leading the Lifetime Grand Prix U23 standings. Watching one of our own go toe to toe with that field is exactly why we do the team thing. We could not be prouder of her.

---

EPO Chain Mail: Listener Feedback and the Overtraining Question

The EPO Chain Mail segment is where the guys read listener mail. First came a note from Connecticut celebrating the Wout van Aert win, and then a sharp one from Joplin, Missouri pointing out that Lance probably overtrains and races more than he should. The table agreed, and Ian used it as a teachable moment on a founding principle of training: your body makes its adaptations during rest, not during the work. For a rider like Lance who races almost every weekend, that balance is genuinely hard to strike, and he is essentially on maintenance fitness all year. Point taken, even if Lance is unlikely to change his ways.

---

The Big Topic: Bucket-List Rides and Events

The main topic was a fun one. With the season underway, the guys went around the table on the ambitions they still have left, the places they want to ride, and the experiences they would recommend to anyone.

Lance has Leadville on his list, plus dream destinations in the French Alps, Tuscany, and even Hurricane Ridge right here in the Olympic Peninsula. Ian wants to knock off the iconic French climbs like Mont Ventoux and Galibier, and he made a heartfelt pitch for trying road racing at least once because nothing else is quite so engaging. Jake's goals were the most grounded: get healthy, get back to race weight, and string together a few good years of riding and racing with the team again. He floated a self-supported Portland-to-San-Diego adventure he has already mapped out. Matt leaned toward doing big events the relaxed way, cruising an Ironman or STP just to soak it in, plus a first try at bikepacking.

Lance closed with a rapid-fire list of rides worth building a trip around, from Mallorca and the White Rim Trail to Highway 12 in Utah, the Colorado National Monument, Mount Lemmon, and riding around Crater Lake on a car-free day. If you are looking to add to your own list, this segment is a goldmine.

---

One Last Thing

Each host closes with a final note. Matt previewed an upcoming video on the COROS PACE 4 Black Crystal Edition. Ian made his pitch one more time for the Barton Park Road Race on May 9th and put out a call for volunteer drivers. Lance pointed everyone to his YouTube channel, where he has filmed videos for his recent gravel, mountain, and road races, and looked ahead to Gorge Gravel and Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego. And Jake wished his oldest daughter a happy 20th birthday, with the usual reminder that life, like a roll of toilet paper, goes faster the closer you get to the end.

---

Listen to the Full Episode

This recap only scratches the surface. The full episode is packed with the kind of unfiltered banter, race breakdowns, and hard-earned wisdom that only comes from four guys who genuinely love this sport. Hit play on the player above, or find Episode 383 of the Dialed Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

And if the Paris-Roubaix tire talk had you thinking about your own setup, from tubeless sealant to tires and tire inserts, we stock it all at the lab. Better yet, bring your wheels by and we will set the system up right and send you out with fresh sealant. We are always happy to help you get dialed.