The Packfiller: Cycling Culture & Comedy · Patrick Bulger | Cycling Host & Creator

Pogačar’s 900W Alien Attack & The Keyboard Directeur Problem

March 25, 2026·1 hr 23 min·8 clips

Sam can't push past 200 watts without 'lighting matches'—what happened after Hawaii?

Spokane is quiet. The host is alone with grease, a stubborn bottom bracket, a sleeping house, and a bike problem with no respect for bedtime. Coffee turns into survival gear. The bit keeps building until it reaches the 24 Hours of Riverside, where registration seems to buy a crooked number plate, a fading battery, and a waiver that promises misery. Then the race talk hits. The group sounds caught in that live-watch aftershock, still wired from a race that had them yelling at the screen. Tadej crashes, and nobody sounds calm, but the room also knows modern racing well enough to expect him to get back without making the whole table go solemn. Brandon McNulty gets called out in the good way. The praise is direct because the team response after the crash looked like exactly the kind of rescue that earns a bonus. Del Toro becomes the joker, the card the team can play anywhere, and then the rider who helps blow the race open once Tadej returns. Pidcock gets real respect. The group reads it as probably his best road ride, mostly because he stays close deep into the Poggio while looking right on the edge. His limit is what makes the ride interesting. Another 20 or 30 seconds might have broken him, and that makes the effort feel bigger, not smaller. Wout belongs in the heat too. His move to close the gap keeps the race unstable and fast, the kind of race worth shouting about instead of a neat procession. The talk keeps its racer brain on: team response, control at the front, and how long a body can hold violent pace before it starts to show cracks. Then the show swerves into music. The closing race-song round goes from Drowning Pool to Foo Fighters, with Monkey Wrench picked more for tempo than meaning. Even that turns tactical. The host says it might make him go too early, then lands on saving that spark for the finish. Sam gets the last prod: race to win, or just hang on. For this crew, the answer has to point at the podium.

As heard by us

Greasy 2 a.m. bike-shop chaos that gives way to a loose, sharp Riverside race breakdown.

The episode opens in greasy 2 a.m. bike-repair chaos, and that sets the tone right away. It moves from the 24 Hours of Riverside signup pitch into a race discussion that stays loose without losing the thread: McNulty gets the praise, Del Toro comes off as the joker or wild card,…

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Why you'd press play

For when you want pro-race talk with a grease-stained, 2 a.m. bike-shop opening.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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