Bikes or Death – Details, episodes & analysis

For the past five years, the Texas Showdown Series has been slowly, inevitably, drifting west. We started in the dense, pine-soaked forests of East Texas, moved through the rugged limestone of the Hill Country, but the destination was always clear: Big Bend.

Few landscapes in the world capture the heart and soul the way West Texas does. For those willing to push themselves to the edge, something different waits out there—something ancient, indifferent, and extraordinary. In the world of ultra-cycling, that "something" takes the shape of the West Texas Showdown.

The WTS doesn't just test riders. It strips them down. It pushes them to their limits and then, without apology or sympathy, asks for more. Out there, the desert becomes your only companion—its silence broken only by your groans, your breathing, and the steady reminder that you are very far from comfort.

And the numbers tell the story: only 32% of the field finished the course.
In the Showdown category, the desert claimed all but three riders. Fifteen started. Three rolled into Terlingua.

Despite the brutality of the route, the racing was electric and equally unrelenting. A small but mighty group battled back and forth across the miles, creating genuine, edge-of-your-seat dot-watching. It wasn't clear who would take the win until the final stretch, and by then everyone—riders, spectators, and the desert itself—had given everything they had.

When the dust settled, here's who was left standing:

1st — Kyle Gilbert — 2d 5h 44m
2nd — Hannah Simon — 2d 16h 17m
3rd (DFL) — Robert Shine — 2d 19h 33m

These three deserve every ounce of praise and recognition—not just for surviving the desert, but for putting on one hell of a race. Everyone who was out there knows how hard they had to fight, and they earned the respect of the entire field.

On today's episode, I sat down with Kyle and Hannah in the back of DogSpeed Cycling in Austin, TX to talk all things WTS. At this point, they are the leading experts on the event, and we went deep: strategy, equipment, tire choice, water management, drop bags, preparation—you name it. Whether you're thinking about tackling WTS or you just want to hear two incredible humans break down an unforgettable ride, this episode is for you.

On a personal note, hosting both Kyle and Hannah at their very first ultra-cycling race back at ETS 2021 was one of the highlights of my time in this community. Seeing them return nearly five years later—stronger, wiser, and standing atop the WTS podium—was a full-circle moment that I'll never forget. I couldn't be prouder of these two, and I have no doubt they'll keep pushing boundaries and inspiring others along the way.

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The party starts again at the 6th Edition of East Texas Showdown at the Bullet Grill in Point Blank, TX. Need to know:
- March 27th-29th, 2026
- Registration Open now
- Showdown (395 miles), Slowdown (275 miles), Lowdown (160 miles)
- NEW FOR 2026 we're introducing a Gravél option. Please say "hi" to the 69 miles Gravél Throwdown. This is a unique race format that introduces another opportunity for others to get in on the action over the weekend, but it also presents a new challenge for the ultra-cylists - anyone who finishes the Showdown or Slowdown before Sunday at 7am can enter the Throwdown for free. Should make for a really dynamic race...a battle between gravel racers and ultra-cyclists - its the Gravél Throwdown y'all!
- more info can be found at TexasShowdownSeries.com

Thanks to our newest Patrons!!!

Dustin Mareth

Indiana Shulz

Manuel Busse

Dave Milam 

Borja G

Join them won't you?! - Patreon.com/bikesordeath

We're 60 days out from the 3rd annual Central Texas Showdown grand depart, so let's talk about it!

To talk about CTS I brought in a couple experts.  Andrea Roelofs has participated in the Central Texas Lowdown the first 2 years.  And Javian Quinones has participated in the East Texas Slowdown and came in 5th place this last year at the Central Texas Showdown.

I'm stoked to have both of them in the studio to share their experiences and expertise.  It was great to get both perspectives from the competitive and non-competitive fields as both are an important component to the CTS experience. 

Listen to today's episode.  Get stoked.  And join us in 60 days for the 3rd Central Texas Showdown in the Texas Hill Country.

"The Hills are Calling" 

EPISODE LINKS

TxORA: https://www.txora.org/

TxORA Hill Country Relief Fund: https://www.txora.org/floodresponse

RYDB Fest: https://www.ozarkgravelcyclists.com/rydb-fest

Central Texas Showdown: https://texasshowdownseries.com/central-texas-showdown/

NEW PATRONS

Chuck Willox 

Join them won't you?  www.patreon.com/bikesordeath 

For the past 8 years Indiana aka "Drive by Dildo" has been focused on bikepack racing. He's got a laundry list of accomplishments to his name. Including being a Triple Crown Challenge finisher. He's one of only 23 people in the world to have accomplished this feat. I met him in 2018 when we were both participating in the GranGravel 500 and he was the first (and only to-date) to Yo-Yo the East Texas Showdown in 2022.

Since the age of 6 he's dreamed of traveling the world. Once he discovered bikepacking he soon decided he wanted to fulfill the dreams of his 6 y/o self by cycling around the world.

Over the past 8 years he's been dreaming, scheming, planning, and selling everything he wouldn't need to take on his bike. In May of 2024 Indy's planning and preparing was done, now it was time to ride his damn bike around the world.

He set out on this adventure starting in Deadhorse, Alaska on the Dalton Highway. Now, almost a year later I catch up with him in La Paz, Mexico on a rest day. Indy is living a dream of mine, to one day live on my bike and see the world.

It was so great to see my old friend again and get to hear more about the journey that I've been living vicariously through him online. Tune in to today's episode to hear about how and why Indy choose to live on his bike and travel the world and how his trip has been going so far!

Old Man Mountain - This week we are highlighting their Tour Divide rack. Use code "mountainsordeath" at checkout to receive 10% off your order!

New Patrons 
None this week, but we'd like to thank the 356 patrons that support this show monthly 🫡

Join them won't you at www.Patreon.com/BikesorDeath

Almost two years ago to the day Emma Flukes came on the podcast for the first time. You may remember that we were at the very beginning of a global pandemic that you change our lives more than we could have imagined at the time. She is a Tasmanian native and the founder of Tassie's Gift. When she's not pedaling her bikes or petting wombats she's busy monitoring the decline of our habitable world as a Marine Scientist. I took this opportunity to ask her "How fucked are we?". After detailing the decline of our species we cheerfully switch gears to bikes, bikepacking, murder shanties, and wombats.

Visit www.bikesordeath.com for a gallery of images from Emma's rides in Tasmania!

Episode Sponsors

Kuat – On today's episode Patrick shares why you should always use the integrated cable lock included in your Kuat rack!

Mulberry Gap – Not only a great Adventure Base Camp, they can also host your Wedding, Birthday, Reunion, Corporate Retreat, or just about any gathering! Learn more at MulberryGap.com 👰

🎉 New Patrons 🎉
Eric Weninger
Justin Keene
Korey Deese

Join them won't you?

This week's episode tackles the important topic of mental health and the outdoors told by this years Adventure Media Course. Long time listeners will be very familiar with Adventure Media by now, but for the uninitiated it is a course at Texas Tech University. Each year as part of their class project the professors scheme up a bikepacking trip and a media objective for the students to complete. This year the students did the Billy the Kid and Smokey Bear Route and their assignment was to vlog about their personal experience, with a focus on mental health and the outdoors.

Read the full article and check out a gallery of images from the trip at www.BikesorDeath.com

Episode Sponsors

Kuat – We all know that Kuat makes bomb-ass bike racks, but they've got a lot more options for other sports like snow, ski, and water! Check out their whole lineup of awesome adventure products at www.kuat.com

Ruby Coffee - Now offering certified Organic coffee with 4 options to choose from! Use code BIKESORDEATH during checkout for 15% off any one time purchase or 20% off the first shipment of any subscription.

🎉 New Patrons 🎉
Kurt Pitts
Eddie O'Dea
Martin Saur
David Lieble

Join them won't you?

For our birthdays the past couple of years Connor Thomas and I have gone to Big Bend to celebrate the only way we know how. This year Connor put together a bikerafting trip that would be the inverse to the Big Bend ~ Rio Revival that we did the year before. Last year we did a bikepacking trip that included a 6 mile hike up to the top of Mariscal Canyon with views of the Rio Grande 1800' below. This year we brought our new packrafts and floated through Mariscal Canyon with our bikes in tow.

A lot more information is available at www.BikesorDeath.com.  You'll find this years bikerafting route, last years bikepacking route, tons of pictures, and a historical companion that Connor produced to compliment these trips.  

Episode Sponsors

Rockgeist – This week Greg Hardy joins me to talk about my new favorite piece of gear, the Mr. Fusion seat pack. *Patrons of this podcast get free shipping and a free patch with their order!

Quad Lock ~ Bikepacking and exploring on your bike isn't new, but smartphones are and it's important to protect these expensive devices. The Quad Lock Bike Kit is the best way to secure your phone and keep it safe on your rides!

🎉 New Patrons 🎉
David Valle
Andrew Pledger
Alfred Lau
Harrison Shotzbarger

Join them won't you?

This week we are talking all things East Texas Showdown & Slowdown.  We asked this years participants to send in their questions and we brought in 5 previous racers to answer them!  

Even if you aren't doing the race this year, this episode is chalk full of bikepack racing goodness!

Our panelist are:

Alex Maldonado
Katya Morzhueva
Davis Sims
Lisa Cervantes
Dave Easley 

Thanks to support from our race sponsors:

Wren Sports
Ruby Coffee
Kuat
Quad Lock
Bullet Grill
Rockgeist

Recently the Bikes or Death instagram account hit 10k followers. I figured that's as good of a reason as any to do my first AMA (Ask Me Anything). We put out the call to listeners, instagram followers, and Patrons to submit your questions and we got a Bunch!

Today's episode is hosted by Bronco Tryhard (previously known as Matt Mason). He did a great job hosting the episode, asking your questions, and throwing in a few of his own. This episode is a nice mix of serious and silly, which we hope is a nice balance.

Episode Sponsors

Ruby Coffee – We know Ruby makes great coffee, but what makes Ruby a great company? Jesse comes on to share his thoughts. Use Code BIKESORDEATH during checkout for 15% off any one time purchase or 20% off the first shipment of any subscription.

Kuat ~ There is a lot of hype around the new Piston Pro X, with good reason, but Kuat makes a bunch of great bike racks and Tom comes on to tells about some of them.

🎉 New Patrons 🎉

Harry Mahler

Join them him won't you?

Ben Playter and Ezra Ward-Packard are currently on their bikes riding across American. Today is actually the final day of their trip which ends in Florida. I caught up with them in Austin thanks to Stephanie Hall who turned me onto them and gave us a spot to record. So today's episode is kind of a two for one.

First I chat with Ben and Ezra about their trip which was highly entertaining. These two friends have much different approaches and it resulted in an interesting dynamic they had to work through. Hint, one of them is touring and the other is training for a run at Tour Divide this year.

Then Stephanie joins Ezra to discuss riding with Type 1 Diabetes. Both of them have accomplished some cool things on the bike and learning to manage their diabetes is a critical part. They share some of their experiences and tips to help other people with diabetes get out on their damn bikes. Ezra was actually on Team Nova Nordisk, a professional road cycling team made up entirely of racers with Type 1 diabetes. How cool is that?

Episode Sponsors

Mulberry Gap – This week we chat about the Cohutta Cat bikepacking route that is right out the front door of Mulberry Gap!

Wren Sports ~ Cameron shares about a new pilot program they are rolling out to help support women owned bike shops, email cameron@wrensports.com to start a conversation!

🎉 New Patrons 🎉

Bradley Cordaro
Nick Marzano
Gavin Bailey
Nemo Sandoval

Join them won't you?

A couple weeks ago Nickel Potter and a 100 or so other cyclists were participating in the Rule of Three in NW Arkansas. They had just turned onto a remote gravel road in the Ozarks when a lady in a Dodge Ram came up behind them and when the cyclist got over to the side of the road she gunned it around them, losing control, and ultimately rolling her truck. After checking to make sure she was okay Nickel did the next logical thing which was to take a picture and post it on instagram.

When I saw the image originally I laughed and shared it to my stories and spent the next couple of days seeing it re-shared within the cycling community. Then I was on Reddit and his image was posted on several different subs with thousands of likes and comments and there were link to news articles as well. Thats when I realized the true impact of this picture. It broke out of the cycling community and found itself floating all over the internet which stirred up a long of conversations, most that I read were mostly positive towards the cyclist which was a nice surprise.

So today, we talk to the guy who took that iconic picture, hear his side, and chat about our rolls as cyclist when we are out on the roads and representing the community as a whole.

Visit www.bikesordeath.com for a full writeup and links to Reddit and News articles related to this event.  

Episode Sponsors

Rockgiest – This week Greg Hardy comes on to tell me all about their new 52Hz Welded Waterproof Framebags available now! Remember Patrons of this show get a code for Free Shipping and a Patch with your order.

Quad Lock ~ Everyone knows that Quad Lock make the best bike mount + phone case system, but did you know they make all kinds of mounts? Patrick shares some of his experiences with Quad Lock over his 10 years of use.

🎉 New Patrons 🎉

Tobias Wessendorf
Daniel Young

Join them won't you?