SOIL Cycling: The Southern Illinois Cycling Podcast

Our new host, Matt Johnston came off the line hot in this episode. We do a Dirty South recap, talk about upcoming events like Assault on Williams Hill, and Ride to the Sky.

Dirty South 2026 preview episode

End of 2025 wrap up

The SOIL Cycling crew is back in the studio to go over the end of the year, talk about Dust Bowl, Edwardsville and Gateway Crits, and lots of other stuff. Skip ahead to 53:45 to see us try to figure out what six seven means.

We' re back, in this episode we cover Spokes for Strokes, Thursday Night Twilight Crits are back, Hanks experience at Momentum Indy and we talk about Dustbowl Prep.

The premiere Sothern Illinois / Western Kentucky cycling podcast is off the front with another classic episode. We've got special guest Jeff Caudle, otherwise known as 618 Gravel to discuss about how cycling gave him a literal heart attack, and probably saved his life as well. The STL Cat 5 champion, Super Rookie Nate Jones is with us, but with bad news. HE SENT IT. We've got another special guest, LOCAL CELEBRITY HIKING WITH SHAWN so I could ask him what it's like to be hated. Justin Pol is here to chase back any attacks that look a bit to dangerous. Finally the new returning champion "The Hell of the North," Southern Illinois premiere expert on all things MATT JOHNSTON is back.Now, sadly I want to take a moment to say farewell to a friend and one of the OGs of Southern Illinois cycling. Drew Blair had passed away recently. He was mountain biking's biggest promoter in the Shawnee National Forest and had a passion for spreading the love of outdoors. Some of my fondest memories are riding single track with Drew, Joe Ellis, Eli, and Salis all over the Shawnee. https://www.colonialterracefuneralhom...

In this episode we talk about the not new cycling team from Kentucky, Bikeworld Performance Racing, and we recap the Spring racing season along with the Soil GP.

We bring on special guest Matt Johnston with a report on the Americans at Paris Nice. We've got Dirty South Roubaix Recaps, a look at the Assault on Williams Hill, Ride to the Sky, Glenvegas, and Klaus, all races that will make up the highly prestigious SOIL GRAND PRIX. Special thanks to our new sponsor, Park's Plumbing, first step on the podium of plumbers in Southern Illinois.

Episode #16, we celebrated the end of the SOIL Zwift weekly race series by with special guest Big Dawg Awall as a guest. Jeff Maaks was on, along with series champion Austin, and Justin.

SOIL Cycling is back after a 3 month winter hiatus. Gabe, Hank, Justin, Nate, and Austin, are here to talk about their preparations for the season opening Dirty South Roubaix on March 1st. We have a very informative talk on tires, Hank announces he's gone "all in" by hiring a coach from ‪@ignitioncoachco.2180‬ a discussion of safety in gravel racing, and talk about the SOIL Zwift series that has been going strong this winter.

Soil Cycling's number one fan, Austin Hines made his first appearance on the show this week after winning the Sport Class at Spooky Catalyst, and Nate's back to talk about the race along with Gabe, Justin and Hank. Hank fills us in on qualifying for Nationals in next year's Senior games, and we never let Justin talk about Cross. We finish up the show by doing a very shallow dive into training. Hit us up in the mailbag for next week's episode, [email protected]

After being slandered in episode 9 Nate joins the pod to defend himself and discuss his recent DOMINATION of the Gateway Cup Cat 4/5 races having never raced a crit before. Cross is here with Justin who had just finished a weekend racing, and Hank fills us in on the Senior Games. The Spooky Catalyst is coming up in a month and with it the finalization of the coveted SOIL Grand Prix.

Soil Cycling gang is back to discuss Southern Illinois cycling events from the last month or two. Today's episode features coverage of Klaus Park Klash, Tour de Donut, Dustbowl 100, and upcoming events like Spooky Catalyst, Crit racing in Edwardsville, and the Illinois Senior Games

In my opinion June is peak season when it comes to cycling in the Great Mid East-West Southern Corridor that is Southern Illinois Region. This episode focuses on the upcoming cycling events that we are all excited about in June and July. Plus we have some race reports from Glen Vegas, Blue Sky, and Thursday Night Twilight. Afterwards we discuss Jeff's disappointment in Stages shutting down after he convinced everyone he knows to buy a Stages Bike. Finally we have a great discussion on staying motivated. EMAIL US at [email protected] with events you want us to cover next episode, stories, questions, or just to stay hi. Show Notes Soil Cycling #11 Upcoming events May 24th-26th, Horsey Hundred June 8th, Superman ride in Metropolis June 8th, Illinois Criterium Championships June 15th, St. Nick Brew Ride, DuQuoin 10:30 40-50 miles June 22nd, SOIL TransAM, Cave in Rock to Chester, 5:00AM 134 miles  Also Tour de Corn June 30 Klaus Park Clash, Cape Girardeau, 9:00AM  July 4th, Rend Lake Ride, Rend Lake July 13, Tour de Donut, Staunton, IL - 34 miles Race Recaps Ride to the Sky and Sunday Crit Glen Vegas Gambler Tuesday night Twilight on Thursday Gholson Rant Garden of the Gods AI images on facebook Maaks Rant Stages Cycling shut down – getting bought by Giant? Struggling to stay motivated to ride – How do you all do it?

Only in cycling would people be excited about doing an event called DOOM. In this episode we get local ripper Adam Scro in the shop to talk about his recent 400 mile mixed surface race in Arkansas DOOM. Gabe invites everyone to Glendale Sunday April 14th for a SMBA work day. We make our predictions for the upcoming Glen Vegas Race, talk about my sweet Ali Express aero socks, leg shaving and more. Hey help us out by emailing [email protected] we haven't received an email yet so I want to make sure the address works. First email we will receive will get a bonus point in the SOIL Grand Prix. I'm attaching the link where I bought my .49 cent aero socks, sadly the price is up to .99 cents, but I can report I got mine and they are sweet! https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805378497363.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.2a931802TSyxr9&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Our first episode of the 2024 Cycling Season, officially opened in Southern Illinois by the Dirty South Roubaix. We talk about our experiences in the race this, year, and announce the Soil Grand Prix, a season long series tying together several races into an informal Championship. We also got Gabe dropping a hot take about group rides, the obligatory segment making fun of TT helmets, plus we preview upcoming rides like the upcoming Thursday Night Twilight race, I mean group ride, at Agape Airway Race Couse.

The SOIL Cycling Podcast crew is back for another epic podcast session, and we brought Dirty South Roubaix and Southern Illinois Cycling OG, Shawn Moore in. Topics include, Zwift, Discord, What happens when a Bike Race organizer forgets to order Porta Potty, SMBA, and about an hour of talking trash about everyone who has ever beat us riding.

The Soil Cycling crew gathered in person at the Bike Surgeon to record our end of year wrap up episode. We were joined by special guest Shawn Gossman, otherwise known as Hiking with Shawn. Who is adding "race" coordinator to his list of accomplishments with his upcoming "Tour De Tunnel" bike ride in April. Topics included the St. NIck's Christmas Party, what we're up to on Zwift, Jeff's new shoes, what needs to happen for cycling to grow in Southern Illinois, and our end of year goals and mileage recap. Email us at [email protected] to with any feedback, sponsorship opportunities, product reviews, or just to let me know the email address works. Check out https://www.youtube.com/@UCkPCRdch1HDCKfayXJ6KiLw https://www.youtube.com/@UC-62gA__g5M0ZQ3p3OBIRLQ

The days are getting shorter and colder but there is still plenty of Southern Illinois Cycling to discuss. Show topics include a race report on the second Touch of Nature Catalyst mountain bike race, where Hank took the title of Southern Illinois fastest youtuber. We also talk about Rob's winter gravel rides, Jeff's first taste of cyclocross, my special horseback rider encounter, and Zwift racing. email us at [email protected] with anything you'd like to discuss, feedback, shout outs ect. I promise I'll check it out! Be sure to check out Hank's at https://www.youtube.com/@UCJrE_LOefaFTttlKRh4HRZA Southern Illinois Zwifters https://www.facebook.com/groups/826365789226251

The Soil Cycling Crew is back with special guest Jeff to tell us about his first time racing at the Springfield Senior Olympics. Justin complains about bike geometry, and we talk Zwift racing. While the cycling season maybe cooling off the indoor season is just getting started. Here are links to a number of the resources mentioned in the podcast: - ZwiftPower: https://zwiftpower.com - Zwift Events (on ZwiftHacks): https://zwifthacks.com/app/events/ - Zwift Insider: https://zwiftinsider.com/ - https://zwiftinsider.com/category/tips/racing/ - Zwift Community Live: https://www.youtube.com/@ZwiftCommunityLive - Si Bradeley: https://www.youtube.com/@SiBradeley - Sauce for Zwift: https://zwiftinsider.com/sauce-for-zwift/ - Zwifter Bikes: https://zwifterbikes.web.app/ - Facebook Groups - https://www.facebook.com/groups/wtrlzwiftracingleague - https://www.facebook.com/groups/zHerdRacing - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZwiftRacers

The Soil Cycling gang gathers around the mic to talk about last weekends first race of the Catalyst series and talk about Fall racing including the next Catalyst race on Oct 28, and the Gravel Standard Oct 29. We also talk some of the recent crit drama.

It's time we take a stand against riders who train hard and then go spend time at altitude and do events like Leadville so when they come back to sea level they destroy all of us who didn't work hard and train all year. We're back! Hank was out, but Justin joined the team this week to talk, Leadville 100, crits, the upcoming TON Catalyst race September 9th. Gholson gripes about his heart rate monitor problems, but gets fired up when Gabe gives him some brand new tires that someone swapped from their bike. We also threw out the idea of a Southern Illinois GP, a series connecting together races in Southern Illinois.

In our first episode recorded live at the Bike Surgeon in Carterville IL. Matt, Gabe, and Hank discuss,