It's 2019 officially, we've been talking about it, thinking about it, dreaming of it - now we're here. What's on tap for you with cycling in 2019?

2019 is gonna be a big change in direction for me. I’ve been fortunate enough to have raced the national scene in the US for the past four years. This year I’ll be taking my talents to….Germany! I’m very excited to be racing for Team Dauner Akkon in 2019. It’s a pretty young team with some big talent. I have yet to meet my teammates as I’ll see them at team camp in February. The current team schedule has me foaming at the mouth with excitement. I’ve always loved a good boxing match in the European gutter so time to lace up!!!

What is your favorite ride? That is the question we posed to Keegan Swirbul. I think everyone’s got that special ride, where they just feel like it’s their road, a route that they could ride day after day. It may be an ever moving target - but it’s a really cool, special, connection in an era of wattages and intervals, where sometimes we miss what the surroundings actually look like. We wanted to check in with some of our athletes and see what their favorite ride is and what makes it so special. Hopefully we won’t ruin anyone’s ride by giving away their secret spot!

I recently lined up and raced on the Kokopelli Trail. The race started at midnight in Fruita Colorado and ended in Moab Utah. The race covers around 142 miles and around 14000 feet of elevation gain. Terrain wise the trail covers most of the different types of topography mountain biking has to offer. This, coupled with being forced to ride through the night guarantees AT LEAST 12 to 13 hours in the saddle. It is a unique challenge and took an extensive amount of preparation and mental fortitude. Nate kindly asked me to share my thoughts on the experience, and below is a basic run down of how I prepared and how the race itself went.

At the end of July, Sam Dolzani strung together some big rides split by two weeks. First up was the Laramie Enduro on July 28th, where he took the win. Second was the Steamboat Stinger on August 11th, where he took fourth. What we’ve got here is two days, in relatively close proximity (in the scope of the whole season), of similar effort and both strong performances. We thought it might be interesting to line up the data next to each other, see the similarities and differences, and talk a bit about how we bridged the gap between the two races to keep the engine running hot.

This week we're diving into a Q and A with one of our athletes, Keegan Swirbul. Keegan is hot off a 7th on GC at the Tour of Utah. A result we're proud of and worked for, but also maybe the tip of the iceberg. Read on for more...

Q: You were just 7th on GC at Utah, highlighted by a 5th place on the final day. Can you walk us through that ride a bit? How did you feel?

This week we’ve got a guest blog post from Catalyst athlete Aaron Mahoney. He’s made the transition from triathlon to road bike racing. Here he describes some of the lessons he’s learned along the way. Enjoy!

When I went to college, I took up triathlon, racing a handful of times during the summer. This culminated with racing Ironman Wisconsin last summer where I placed 19th in my age group. During my time training for triathlon, I always looked forward to the bike days. So, after finishing up my Ironman, I decided to try my hand at racing bikes. What follows is a list of the things I felt made up the bulk of my learning curve when adjusting from one sport to the other.

Five, four, three, two, one - GO! The 2018 Gila TT began, I pushed off, and a few out of the saddle pedals later I was down in the aero position holding myself back while adrenaline shot through my body.

When I crossed the line 37 minutes later the moto that had been following me came up to my side and said “Nice ride dude! I think you put at least 90 seconds into the guy closest to you.” It turns out I had put 5 minutes into him, finished in 3rd place, and beaten my best Gila TT time by 2 minutes.

Today kicks off a new feature for us, here on Catalyst Content, “A Day in the Life”. We’ll use this feature to give folks an inside look into a day in some of our athletes lives, whether it be at a race, training day, or maybe just a day they’re kicking it at the café. Today, we are graced by the smooth stylings of Tyler Williams, reporting from Down Under (Australia). Tyler is about to kick off his season, on Sunday, at the Cadel Evans’ Great Ocean Road Race. It is a one-day World Tour race.

Believe it or not, this marks our fifth post on Catalyst Content. We hope everyone has been enjoying it, as we certainly enjoyed having a spot to do some writing and ranting. If folks have not been enjoying, well we’ve still been enjoying writing it, so we’re still happy. Folks will remember our kick off post was a feature with the charming Matti Rowe, taking a look at one of his favorite workouts. Well, the spotlight turns today to Stephen Bassett, as we ask him the same question.