Emma Bateup is no stranger to the deep end. Whether it's tossing her bike across a flooded river or screaming into the Scottish mountains during a low moment, she’s all in. Just a couple of years into ultra racing, Emma already has a resume that includes wins in the women's race at Tour te Waipounamu, a fourth overall at the Great Southern Brevet, and now a breakout performance at the 2024 Highland Trail 550—where she won the women’s race and placed 7th overall.

In this episode, Emma shares the story behind that ride, from chasing records to losing her multi-tool in a creek and navigating Scotland’s notorious river crossings. We talk about fuelling mistakes (pro tip: never skip a resupply), what happened when her chafing hit code red, and how close competition can unlock your best performance, even if your rival’s rain jacket is way too easy to spot.

We also get into her journey into bikepacking, how ultra racing compares to enduro and XC racing, and why she thinks crying is a superpower. Emma’s energy is contagious, and this conversation is full of laughs, honest reflections, and the kind of type-two stories that make you want to grab your bike and go.

Topics include:

• Emma’s 2024 Highland Trail 550 win (and the chaos along the way)
• Racing head-to-head with Kerry MacPhee
• River crossings, hail storms, and a tragic lost multi-tool
• Her first ultra at Tour Te Waipounamu and what she’s learned since
• The trade-offs of ambition, joy, and full-time racing
• Coaching kids, racing XC, and what’s next

Follow Emma's adventures on Instagram: @em_b8up

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling

Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling

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I've been getting loads of questions as this year's Tour Divide is underway – who is Nathalie Baillon? After leading for the first 4 days of the race, she suffered a major mechanical just after Fleecer Ridge, forcing her to return to Butte and get a new wheel. Back on the road, she's chasing hard to catch Lael Wilcox. Both women are ahead of Lael's record pace, and gunning to be the first woman to reach Antelope Wells.

Originally released in March 2024, in this episode Nathalie shares about her entry into the world of ultra-racing and offers a deep dive on her mindset as a racer. She has quite an impressive resume, including joint first woman at Silk Road Mountain Race in August 2023, the fastest woman to ride across Europe, second woman at Atlas Mountain Race 2024 and more.

I hope you'll join me in cheering her (and the rest of the Tour Divide racers) on. Watch the dots here

Follow Nathalie's on Instagram: @nathalie_baillon

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling

Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each year, on the second Friday in June, hundreds of riders gather outside the YMCA in Banff, Alberta, to begin what’s widely considered bikepacking’s most iconic ultra-endurance race: the Tour Divide. Riders follow the Continental Divide across 4,400 kilometers, tackling rugged dirt roads, remote wilderness, high mountain passes, and variable weather on their way to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

While more women take to the start year after year, they still only make up ~10% of participants. In 2025, 29 of the 238 riders registered on Trackleaders are women. This episode of Detours is dedicated to those women.

In an effort to celebrate the women of this year’s Tour Divide, and to inspire more to line up in the future, I collected voice notes from riders across the globe—sharing who they are, why they’re racing, and what brought them to this start line. Inevitably, I wasn't able to capture everyone's voices despite my best efforts and internet sleuthing.

You’ll hear from first-timers, returning riders, dot-watching converts, and those chasing the Tour Divide women’s record. Their stories speak to why representation matters, why adventure is worth the risk, and why more women belong at the start line.

I hope you'll join me in cheering them on and watching their dots as they make their way from Banff to Antelope Wells.

Follow the dots here

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm out in the field reporting from the Hellenic Mountain Race and dropping daily episodes through June 1st! If you're after your bikepacking, ultracycling, and adventure fix, head over to the Mountain Races podcast and subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

Detours will be back with regularly scheduled programming the first week of June!

Listen to the Mountain Races Podcast on Spotify, Apple and wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow @hellenicmountainrace on Instagram for daily visual updates throughout the race.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most people in the bikepacking world know Nelson Trees as the mind behind the Silk Road Mountain Race—a race that has become legendary for its beauty, difficulty, and unpredictability. But before he was designing some of the most talked-about routes in ultra cycling, Nelson was a mountaineer, a Deliveroo rider, and someone who once rode a homemade carbon tandem from Shanghai to Paris.

In this episode, he shares about his path to founding The Mountain Races: a series of fixed-route, unsupported events that now span Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Greece, and soon, Türkiye. He shares about his first experiences with bikepack racing at the Transcontinental Race and how that event inspired the Silk Road Mountain Race, what it actually takes to build a good race route, and the power of experiences where the outcome isn’t guaranteed. Nelson shares stories from the early editions of SRMR—including a bull trampling a rider’s bike—and offers a sneak peek at the newest addition to the series: Taurus Mountain Race, coming in 2026.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Silk Road Mountain Race
• Atlas Mountain Race
• Hellenic Mountain Race
• Taurus Mountain Race (coming 2026)
• Transcontinental Race
• Highland Trail 550
• Mike Hall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s wild how something as simple as walking into a bike shop can make you feel like you don’t belong. It's a feeling many folks, especially marginalized identities, have encountered, and one that Alyssa Gonzalez has made her goal to change. She wears so many hats. She is a designer advocate, cyclist runner, community organizer, model, content creator, and she owns a bike shop. And at the heart of everything she does, is the goal of elevating marginalized communities and creating welcoming spaces for folks in the outdoors.

Her bike shop, which she co-founded, Treehouse Cyclery, is a community-first space, redefining what it means to be a bike shop. She also leads the Colorado chapter of Radical Adventure Riders, organizing events, rides, and camps that help women, trans, and non-binary folks find belonging in adventure cycling.

In this conversation, Alyssa shares how she got into the outdoors later in life, what happened when she signed up for a 600-mile bikepacking race after just one year of riding, and how she’s learned to tune out the pressure to perform and lean into joy. Whether she’s leading a group ride, fixing bikes, or talking to new riders about their first gear purchase, Alyssa is helping reshape cycling culture, and always bringing the vibes.

Check out Alyssa's bikeshop Treehouse Cyclery in Boulder, Colorado

Follow Alyssa's adventures on Instagram: @__alyssagonzalez

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling

Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we talk about barriers to entry and bike packing, so many things come to mind. For many, it's gear. For others, it's about confidence. For many folks, especially women and marginalized genders, it can be about not knowing where to start, not seeing people like you doing the thing and feeling like maybe this world wasn't built with you and mine.

On Detours we talk a lot about getting more women into bike packing, but how do we actually do that? What does it take? What does it really take to make someone feel like they belong? Roll Models is one answer.

It's a mentorship program started by Athlyn and her co-creator, Cordelia in Bristol UK that pairs women in marginalized genders with more experienced riders. The idea is simple: a mentor and mentee relationship. So folks have someone to ride with, ask questions to, and learn from someone in your corner, which can make all the difference when you're finding your footing in the world of bike packing.

In this episode we talk about:

• How Athlyn’s own road into bikepacking: starting on a single-speed bike with a yoga mat strapped to the back rack
• The inspiration she found in a mentorship program in British Columbia
• How Roll Models was built and how it works
• The surprising barriers mentors face, not just mentees
• How we can truly create a welcoming environment in the world of bikepacking
• And her big goal for the year: taking on the Highland Trail 550, her first bikepacking race

As always, thanks to Albion Cycling for supporting the podcast this year.

Follow Athlyn on Instagram: @athlynck

Follow Roll Models on Instagram: @__rollmodels

Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb

Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourspodcast

Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's just me, Mel, on the mic, and I'm finally sharing a long overdue catchup. Today I share some behind-the-scenes moments from Morocco and the Atlas Mountain Race, and how a lot of recent experiences have had me rethinking my relationship to bikes, racing, and movement in general.

As always, a huge thank you to Albion for supporting Detours this year.

• Follow Detours on Instagram: @detourscycling
• Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebb
• Follow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cycling

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.