Outspoken Cyclist – 8/14/2021

If you’re like me, the thought of racing a mountain bike for 100 miles, starting at 10,000 feet and climbing 12,500 feet in a day is utterly terrifying!  And yet, my first guest has done it 23 times – finishing it 22… and is about to go again – today actually – August 14th.

Elden Nelson is, by all rights, the Leadville 100 Guru – he even has a great podcast dedicated to the event. 

But last year, COVID put the kibosh on the race and a series of small snafus have resulted in too many participants for this year.  Yet still… the race will go on and I wanted to catch up with Elden to get the low-down on this year’s event.

Then, we FINALLY get to speak with Strong Towns’ Chuck Marohn about his upcoming book, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer.

Whenever I have a conversation with Strong Towns’ Chuck Marohn, I have the best of intentions to follow the train of thought I had planned out ….  Instead, I get a fascinating conversation that just flows from one topic to the next and, frankly I’m happy with that!

Chuck’s perspectives on planning and what will keep towns and cities solvent – even prosperous – have come up against an establishment that is both defensive and unyielding to new ways of thinking about roads, bridges, and how we live today.  That establishment still relies on 50+ year ideas and technology in a world where new options abound.