Today we speak to Caley Fretz who is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Escape Collective, the member-funded independent cycling media company he launched in March 2023 alongside Wade Wallace. A journalist with over a decade in cycling media, he previously served as a senior editor at VeloNews and editor-in-chief at CyclingTips, where he built a distinctive, writer-driven voice. He's covered fifteen Tours de France, hosts the Spin Cycle podcast, and has raced everything from road to downhill.

The People For Bikes 2026 City Ratings are out. We spoke to Martina Haggerty and Grace Stonecipher from the organization to understand how they measure bike infrastructure and which cities are on the way up. You may be surprised by some of the cities that are at the top of the list.

We speak with Roy Knickman, who's leading a new North American junior cycling team. He shares his own background as a decorated pro and Olympic medalist, along with his thoughtful approach to getting young people excited about bike racing.

In this episode we hear directly from two insiders from the Chinese bike industry. Joe Whittingham, founder of China-based Panda Podium, sells Chinese made bikes to the Western market. And Raymond Cheng, a Hong Kong-based distributor, sells Western brands into the Chinese market. They both get into detail with Mark about how the bike industry is doing in China.

We get a field report directly from Shanghai: Where does China fit into the global bike industry, and how are the Chinese brands doing? There were 7,500 bike brands at the show, and Mark gives us the inside story.

Erik is the largest independent bicycle dealer in the United States, with 35 locations around the country. He shares with us his own experience and where he thinks bike shops are going in the future.