Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure
Adam Baranski’s and Michael Sharp's friendship is built on a shared love of cycling. From tough trails to leisurely rides, their adventures are filled with stories, banter, and authentic connection. Their podcast blends entertaining anecdotes, heartfelt conversations, and cycling excitement—welcoming you into their community and the joy of the open road.
Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure
Tom Pidcock Jumps To Fourth And The Podium Fight Gets Real
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The longest day of the Tour de France just lit a fuse. We’re back with a fast, listener-friendly Stage 13 breakdown after a 205.8-kilometer grind along the Swiss border that turns into pure breakaway drama at the line. Mario Schmidt takes the win out of a massive move up the road, fights through cramps, and still has the calm to time a two-man sprint perfectly, right down to the final surge and the little front-wheel lift that says, “I survived.”
Then the race pivots to the bigger story: Tom Pidcock blows up the general classification picture. We walk through how a single day rockets him from 10th to 4th overall and suddenly puts the podium fight on a knife edge heading into the mountains. We also update where things sit for the yellow jersey battle, what the time gaps really mean, and which jerseys matter as the Tour gets sharper and less forgiving.
To keep it fun, we sprinkle in quick local finish-line flavor and some of the Tour’s best weird history: disqualifications, forged bike parts, riders gaming last place for cash, and even the legendary roadside beer stop. We close with a Stage 14 look-ahead plus a community note on an upcoming cycling meetup and how to handle brutal heat on long rides. If you like Tour de France recaps, cycling strategy, and stories that make the sport feel human, subscribe, share this with a riding buddy, and leave us a review. What was the wildest moment of Stage 13 for you?
Adam and Michael’s friendship has grown through years of shared miles, challenges, and laughter on the bike. Their passion for cycling has carried them through life’s twists and turns, creating a bond full of stories, jokes, and unforgettable rides. In their podcast, they bring that same spirit to the mic—sharing adventures, trading banter, and welcoming listeners into their cycling community. Whether tackling steep climbs or cruising open roads, their conversations capture the fun, friendship, and freedom that cycling brings. Tune in for stories that celebrate the ride and the camaraderie that makes it unforgettable.
and Remember,
It's a Great Day for a Bike Ride!
https://www.facebook.com/cyclingmenofleisure
https://cyclingmenofleisure.com/
https://www.cyclingmenofleisurepodcast.com
Welcome Back And Stage 13 Setup
SPEAKER_00All right. Welcome back.
Breakaway Finish And Schmidt’s Win
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Road Adventures of Cycling Men of Leisure. This is the Leisure Breakaway, our mini-series following the tour de France. Wow, today was one of the long well, actually, it was the longest stage of the race. It was 205.8 kilometers. A hilly's log uh eastward along the Swiss border. Wow, I mean, uh, it was exciting. I I was watching some of the highlights today when I got home from work. Um, Mario Schmidt, uh, he was able to um to to win it there right there at the end and kind of coolly lifted up his front wheel. Um kind of like as a as a young kid, I remember doing that, except I wasn't racing 205.8 kilometers. Um let's get into it. Let's get into it. Uh stage 13 breakdown. Uh first of all, let's state the obvious. Yesterday, uh, without Michael here, I had a technical snafu and I robbed you of the leisure breakaway song. Uh turns out a few of you uh reached out to me. Thank you so much. Uh, I apologize. Um, I have it on good authority that you are gonna get it here tonight. Once again, Mr. Sharp is unable to be with me. Um that's two nights in a row, but that's okay. We're gonna give him a break. He tried. Uh, I want to give him credit. He did try, he was uh heading back home and uh trying to find someplace with good Wi-Fi. Uh, I'm gonna advocate now that he has a job to get a Starlink. Just kidding. Um, but uh yes, he was uh trying to find someplace heading down the road with the camper uh with with good Wi-Fi, unfortunately. Uh pulled off once, uh, didn't work. We couldn't get a strong connection. So uh you got me two nights in a row, uh, but that's okay. Um I'm prepared. I've got some good facts and figures.
Pidcock’s Big GC Move Explained
SPEAKER_00Um today was really cool watching it. Um I'm turned on to this uh YouTube um highlights. I think it's actually put on by the tour themselves, um helping me pronounce some things, so that's pretty cool. Um Mario Schmidt, he did win a 50 rider breakaway uh fighting through cramps. Um uh he he did he did uh beat Mr. Harold in a two-man sprint. Uh if you were able to see that, um they were he kept looking back and looking back and looking back, and then of course, um Harold took his chance and and came out to the left. And then, of course, uh, you know, uh Mr. Schmidt said, Oh, I'm gonna give it everything I got. So it was pretty exciting. Um Mr. Tom Pitcock got third, and he
Start And Finish City Fun Facts
SPEAKER_00was the day's big story. He gained about seven and a half minutes on the on the group and rocketed from 10th to fourth overall, now just nine seconds off the podium, uh, which is pretty exciting. Uh the dole uh star town was dole, um, and it was a proud capital of the uh French uh Louis Armstrong, Louis uh the uh 14th conquered the region and moved into Parliament in 1676. What a year, 1676. Remember that it was a good year. Um so it's an old quarter, the uh canal laced old quarter, and uh there's a river nicknamed Little Venice there. So uh let's see here. We do have fun fact um from Belfr, the finish, uh the city symbol is a colossal red sandstone lion, um about 22 meters long, was carved. Um the Statue of Liberty sculpture uh also did it. Same same sandstone. Small replica sits in Paris at a place um uh Denfert Rachiro, if I'm saying that correctly. So um where do we sit now? Um the general classification is Pagaccha uh is still leading, still by three minutes and thirty-six seconds. So um uh Vindegaard is three minutes and thirty-six seconds behind. Evan Poole is four minutes and six seconds, but now uh the difference uh very, very important is Tom Pitcock is is four minutes and fifteen seconds. He jumped up. Um so pretty exciting there. Pretty good del Toro. We've mentioned him many times, he's moved to the eighth, uh, and currently five minutes and eight seconds behind. So the green jersey was Mads Peterson,
Jerseys And General Classification Update
SPEAKER_00uh Polka Dot is uh Pagaccha, and then the white, the young writer is I keep calling him Juan F. Soto, our good friend Juan, uh, but no Juan Isaio, he's uh uh the the white rider. Uh Visma won the opening team uh trial in Barcelona, uh, put Vanegaard in yellow. Pagaccia took its uh Los Angel uh Los Angeles stage three, lost it briefly to Lati Trek, uh, but then uh Reese took it for good so far. Um Pagaccia looks uh imperious. Um real fight now is for the podium with Pitcock suddenly right heading into the big mountain stage on Saturday. Um some fun facts from the history. We've got um as uh as we mentioned before, 1904, about everybody cheated. The top four finishers, including the winner, were all disqualified. We mentioned that before. Wine stops were normal. Um in 1913, the forge incident, we mentioned that before, but in case you didn't get to hear that, he uh he had to take his bike. Um uh Eugene Christoph to snapped his fork in the Pyrenees, and he uh carrying his bike to a village and forged and welded himself, and and then he was then penalized because the boy pumped the bells for him because you couldn't get help to do that.
Wild Tour History Stories
SPEAKER_00Assassins. When organizers added the high pyrenees in 1910, uh Octave, uh a writer, he screamed assassins at officials as he crested uh the turmoilet and uh while walking his bike. Um we mentioned in 1950 the nap in the wrong direction by Abdel Kadar, reportedly drank wine and headed the wrong direction. The Founder's Dream, tour founder Henny wanted a race so hard that only one rider would finish. He also made riders climb mountains on single gear bikes because derailers were for weaklings. Well, uh when my derailer has broken out in the middle of Iowa or Georgia or Michigan, I I guess I've been kind of a weakling too. So um 1978, we had a walking protest. Uh this is great for me to learn all this stuff. Riders went on strike mid-stage and walked across the finish line to uh to protest the brutal split stage scheduling. Um and then the coveted last place, the Latin Rouge or Last Place, became so lucrative. Last place riders uh got invited, well-paid post-tour exhibition races. The writers sometimes hid behind barns to lose time and secure it. So there you are, getting paid to be last. So I remember um twenty twenty twenty-two um the brag ride. Uh I didn't have to be paid to be last, I was last. That's right before I went on my my uh crusade of of health and losing weight and eating better. Uh I was really, really big boy at that time, and the first day almost killed me. I walked my bike probably more than two or three miles that day uphill. So um since then, obviously a little bit better, but and then uh the beer ambush in 1935 arranged for friends to set a table of cold beer by the roadside, the whole Peloton stopped for a drink, and he kept riding and won the stage by 15 minutes. So uh Julian, uh he's a man of my heart. So uh we got stage 14 tomorrow. Um, as we as we just mentioned that uh big big big day tomorrow. Uh we'll have to see what uh how everything lines up. But big mover is is is Tom Pitcock, which is that's really cool. Um so I'm learning a lot, learning a lot. So hopefully the pronunciations are a little bit better. Hopefully you get the song a couple times tonight. Um I know everyone's really enjoying that. It's funny because uh yesterday my my soundboard didn't do exactly what I was hoping because I kind of got thrown off my game. Mr. Sharp at the last second was unable to join. I know it's killing him, so I'm I we apologize, but hope he's back on maybe tomorrow, uh hopefully tomorrow. If not, I'll keep doing uh my good homework. Um and you for us here in this area, I'm not sure where you're from, listening from, but lots of smoke. Uh Canadian smoke fire has come this way. You know, usually we have uh Canadian bacon, and that's always good, but right now we've got all kinds of weird things going on in Michigan. We have uh excessive heat, excessive smoke, and um we have excessive diarrhea. And so, of course, uh there's lettuce from Taco Bell. Um Taylor Farms, unfortunately, we buy a bunch of their products from Costco. And so uh we're not taking a chance because people are having uncontrolled uh diarrhea. So no thanks. I will pass. Let's talk about something more exciting. Um let's talk about Keith Erickson and Melanie Erickson. They are having a social meetup.
Stage 14 Preview And What’s Next
SPEAKER_00This is the last time I really can mention it. Um, if you're listening to the show tonight or in the morning, uh two uh 2:30 tomorrow or three o'clock uh at the Awana Library. Um they'll be there uh having a little social meetup. So if you are doing Rag Barai 2026, A, I'm jealous. Um even with the heat index first couple days, uh, you know that's gonna be brutal. Uh you you have my my sympathy. A lot of churches, basements. Uh that's definitely uh my advice. Every five miles, find a church or every town you go into, uh find a good church in the basement. There's always wonderful, wonderful ladies and gentlemen down there volunteering and usually have the air conditioner on. So highly recommend that. Um we are gonna be following Keith and Melanie along the way through Ragbury. We hope that we can kind of get a little feedback from them. Um,
Local Air Quality And Food Recall Aside
SPEAKER_00if you didn't hear, uh, we're really, really excited. We hit 100,000 downloads, which is just just crazy. I mean, uh the video thing is just definitely taken off, and we didn't ever see that coming. So you just you never know in this little hobby of ours, but we're still enjoying it. We still hope to bring you some good content. Um that being said, um not here, not here is not a good day for a bike ride, but uh, I hope all of you in Iowa, it's a great day for a bike ride. And that being said, let me give you your favorite little tune.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the bike.
People on this episode
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
