- From the top of North
Twin Cone Peak in Colorado.
Welcome to the GCN Show.
- Welcome to the GCN Show
brought to you by Wiggle.
- This week, what on Earth
is Peter Sagan wearing?
We will tell you why
you might not spot him
at this year's Tour de France.
- We're also going to bring
you an ultra endurance update
with the results from the Tour Divide
and we've got some huge news of our own,
we're launching a brand new channel.
(upbeat music)
This week in the world of cycling,
we learned that all you need
to make some sweet music
as a cyclist is your trusty track pump.
(Si laughs)
- Sorry, that was a genuine
laugh, I'm laughing.
(light music)
Tell you what, we got Jeremy's
theme tune sorted now, haven't we?
Look at that.
- Oh, definitely.
We'll use it every time he
comes on the channel, shall we?
Absolutely love that,
and there's loads more over on
the Bike Pump Music YouTube channel.
Enough to create an entire music playlist
if you want to have a
party with your mates.
- I'm now a proud subscriber, Dan.
We can't confirm, though,
that actually that will
be the live entertainment
at the forthcoming GCN Events this summer.
Now, we also, well we didn't
technically learn this week,
but we were certainly reminded
that when riding in a group,
overlapping wheels, not a good idea.
(wind blowing)
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- My word.
That was self-proclaimed cycling noob,
Giedrius, from Lithuania.
Find out later what happened next.
- Well, I don't think
we need to see, do we?
That was a full gone conclusion.
- They'll want to see.
- Oh, God.
- Finally, this week, we
learnt we're setting up
a brand new channel.
- What?
Yes, that's right, another
channel, another one?
On top of GCN Japan dropped,
what, a fortnight ago?
- Exactly that, yes.
Most of you will have noticed
that over the last year or so
we've had loads of cool
highlights and live racing
on our Facebook page but
we're very pleased to now say
it's going to be on YouTube as well.
- That's right, but,
rather than put all of
that cool racing content
on the GCN you already know
and hopefully quite like,
we thought it'd be a
good idea if we put it
in its own dedicated
special YouTube channel.
- We will shortly be making listings
so that you know exactly
what type of racing to expect
but just to give you a heads
up, starting this Friday,
we're going to have daily
highlights of the Giro Rosa,
the biggest race in the women's calendar,
and on Saturday, for three weeks,
we're going to have daily
highlights of the Tour de France.
- That's right, now, to
wet your appetite for that,
we've got a little montage for you.
♪ Welcome to the fun life ♪
♪ Welcome to the good life ♪
♪ Oh treat me now ♪
♪ Welcome to the fun life ♪
♪ Oh where do you go, where do you go ♪
♪ The good life ♪
♪ Welcome to the good life ♪
♪ Go on and treat now ♪
♪ Welcome to the good life ♪
♪ Help yourself to whatever you see ♪
♪ Welcome to the good life ♪
(dramatic music)
- I tell you what,
there's nothing quite like
an epic montage
- There isn't.
- To get you excited
about the Tour de France.
- I love it, mate.
- Although, we should pre-warn our viewers
before the race starts
this Saturday in Brussels,
that there is one very high profile rider
that you might not even be able to spot.
- No, Chris Frome, sadly, of course.
- Apart from Chris Frome, in the hospital.
- Tom Dumoulin?
- No, the joke here is the fact that
he is going to be in the race.
- Oh, you mean Sagan!
Yeah, yes, no, he is not
going to be recognizable,
in fact, he's pretty much going
to be in camouflage isn't he?
- Well not by the fact that
he's in any sort of special kit.
Pete Sagan will start the
Tour de France on Saturday in,
are you ready for this?
It's unbelievable.
Normal Bora-Hansgrohe trade team kit!
- OMG, that's right, normal cycling kit.
Now, this is a result
of, I think we can say,
he failed to win his National
Championship at the weekend,
that accolade has gone
to his brother, Juraj,
and of course he failed to win
a fourth consecutive
World Title in the autumn,
so Alejandro Valverde has
got Sagan's rainbow stripes,
and so the poor guy has got no choice
but to actually line up
wearing exactly the same
cycling clothing as his team mates.
- Yeah, we joke of course,
but we have been over on ProCyclingStats
crunching some numbers and
it really is quite remarkable
how little he has raced in
a normal trade team kit.
Apparently, the last time
he started any road race
in a normal trade team kit
was at the 2011 Tour de Swiss.
And even then, he was
only in it for three days
before he claimed the green jersey.
- Yeah, however Dan, we
need to clear something up.
Some people are saying that Peter Sagan
hasn't ever ridden a single
stage of the Tour de France
wearing normal trade team kit.
But, cyclist statistician
extraordinaire Cillian Kelly
was on hand to clear this up.
Sagan has actually ridden a
stage of the Tour de France
and that was a time trial in 2012.
Which is remarkable
in itself, isn't it?
- Seven years ago.
- Yeah.
- Also,
I have been doing some calculations
and by my reckoning
- Take this with
a pinch of salt everyone.
- (laughs) Oh yeah, very true that.
But by my calculations, Sagan
has spent a total of 106 days
in the Tour de France green jersey.
Remarkable on it's own,
but actually he's only done
130 stages of the race,
and when you consider also,
the fact that you can't
be in a leaders jersey
on the very first day of the race
that's a kind of level of
dominance akin to Eddy Merckx.
- Yeah, isn't it just.
Well, technically it's a level dominance
on a par with Erik Zabel, who Sagan
kind of shares the record
of six green jerseys apiece.
But, given that Peter
Sagan is odds on favorite
to claim the green jersey this
year, by the end of the tour,
could he have that record all to himself?
- Well, you'd have
thought so, wouldn't you?
- You would.
- The other question is,
how long is he going to be
in his Bora-Hansgrohe jersey
before he trades it in for a
jersey of a different color?
Because on that first stage
that starts and finishes in Brussels,
there are a couple of cobble climbs
which could dent the speed
of the pure sprinters,
and the final couple of hundred meters
are slightly uphill too.
So, it could well be that
he takes the stage win
and the green jersey,
and the yellow jersey
on the very first day of the race.
- Yeah, I wouldn't bet against that.
I certainly wouldn't bet against it being
a really dangerous finale,
not when there's that much
at stake on the finish line.
I mean, just remember 2014 in Harrogate,
poor old Mark Cavendish
bouncing down the tarmac.
Now if there are, what am I saying?
Of course, all of you
riders that are actually
going to start the Tour
de France on Saturday,
here is a little reminder,
going back to our mate Giedrius,
not to overlap wheels when
you're riding in a peloton.
- Are we going to watch the end of it?
- I think we should.
- Go on.
(wind blowing)
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Whew!
- Is your heart in your mouth?
- Yes.
- Blimey, wow.
I mean, I do think that that
save was much more down to luck
than judgment, but still,
fair play Giedrius, fair play.
- That's right, yeah.
Okay, now most eyes are probably
going to be on the roads
of France and Italy this
July, but 'tis also the season
for ultra endurance riding,
so to give you a quick update,
we told you last week
about how the Tour Divide,
which is an off-road bike packing race
from Canada right down to Mexico,
is this year one of the
toughest editions ever
due to the horrendous weather
that competitors have been facing.
But it does now have a winner!
Oh yes, Chris Seistrup,
congratulations to you.
He crossed the line in 15
days, 11 hours and 24 minutes,
of which, according to his tracker,
well over 11 days was spent moving.
Which is pretty remarkable.
- I don't even want to think about that.
- Yep.
- These pictures are
courtesy of Lael Wilcox,
the ultra endurance legend,
I think it's fair to say.
She actually pulled out
from the competitive element
of the event after so many
holdups through the snow
meant that she wasn't going to be able
to break her own record,
however she's still going
to complete the rest
of the journey, just
for the sheer fun of it.
- When you're good you're good!
Our mate Josh Ibbett
has also just finished
in a mightily impressive
sixth place in his debut year.
He sent us a quick update.
- Morning everyone,
hope you're doing good.
This is Josh on the Tour Divide.
Just on the last morning.
Look at that for a view.
And yeah, last few climbs
for this Gila Wilderness,
I've got about, well just
under 200 miles to go.
So hopefully my next update
will be from the finish line.
See you later!
- Interestingly, in an event like this
where the stopwatch never stops running
you really get to see how
different strategies arise,
in terms of their rest and recovery,
influences the final result.
Because Josh actually completed the course
with less riding time than the winner,
but because he was sleeping
a bit more towards the start
he then got caught out in that snowstorm
which meant that eventually,
he finished two days down.
- Yeah, I think it's also fair to say Dan,
that this probably slowed
him down quite a bit as well.
I mean look at that.
- It looks nice.
- Actually what he really
- It does.
- [Dan] needed though I think was this.
- Yes, a 24 hour sausage vending machine!
Fuel for Dr. Ian Walker,
now he is a psychologist
that you will probably remember
made an appearance
right here in the GCN HQ
for a GCN Show not so long ago.
Now he is currently mid-way through
his record attempt at
the length of Europe.
So that's 6,300 kilometers,
the record to which
is currently 19 days and 11 hours.
It's a record that's not
been set for very long,
Rob Gardener got it just
a couple of weeks ago.
But Ian, apparently two
days up on schedule.
However, it is a competitive one,
and he's not going to be the only person
to attempt it this summer.
- Do you think he was fueled by sausages
or did he miss out on them?
- Well, yeah, I've been
wondering that "Oh, Germany"
bit in his tweet, do you think that's like
"Oh, Germany, 24 hour sausages"
or do you think it was like
"24 hour sausages, oh, Germany!"
- Oh, Ger, I'd go with the latter.
I think that's a banger of an idea.
- Hey!
Bad-dum-tish.
That's a joke that's
going to sizzle isn't it?
(intense music)
- Next up, it's your
weekly GCN inspiration,
your chance there at
home to win one of three
Wiggle voucher amounts.
50 pounds for third place, 75 for second,
100 pounds for first place
to spend on anything you want
over on the online shop at Wiggle.
Two ways to enter, you
can use the uploader,
a link to which is in
the description below,
or you can use the
#gcninspiration over on Instagram.
I dunno if it's time of year, Si,
or the fact that this is gaining momentum,
but there have been so many
great shots sent in over
the past couple of weeks,
it's really been quite
hard to whittle them down
to just three.
- It has, I haven't even
made the top five today.
I tried my best in Idaho,
nothing, not a whiff.
- Habit of a lifetime, Si.
- Not a sausage, in fact!
Yeah (laughs) good point.
- Give 'em more sausage jokes.
- Hey!
- All right then,
with no further ado, in
third place we have Huw.
This is from Sonoret
- Huw!
- [Dan] In Lapland in Sweden
on the way home after a late evening ride,
had to stop and take this photo
of the sun going down on me.
- [Si] In Lapland, that really is late.
That's probably midnight, isn't it?
(Dan laughs)
For this time of year?
- [Dan] That's probably about
two in the morning, surely.
- [Si] Yeah!
That is a nice shot though.
Nothing I like better
than a midnight bike ride
as the sun's setting.
- How calm does it look there?
- And rising at the same time.
- Just not a ripple
in the water there, is there?
- That does look pretty good, don't it?
Right, in second place we've got this
sent in by Brandon from
South Jordan in Utah,
he said "This is the third ride
on my new Trek Gravel bike."
Tell you what, that's a very
pleasing image isn't it?
I don't want to damn it with
fake praise, 'cause it's great,
but do you know what I mean?
There's something incredibly
cool about that shot.
- There is, I like--
- Taken from a giant pipe
in the ground
- I love the fact that
there's not even a bike in it,
but you still are inspired
to go out and ride your bike
when you look at that photo.
- Yeah, very nice shot there.
- Well done to you Brandon.
- Well done Brandon.
- 75 pounds on its way to you.
Finally, the winner, this week is Robbie.
This is from Trentino in Italy.
- Whoa!
- Taken on a self-supported
cycling tour of the Italian Dolomites
with four friends in late June 2019,
this was shot on a cycle
way through a vineyard
on the lake between
Trento and Ponta di Legno
via the Passo del Tonale.
If only we had bike paths like that
between here and Bristol, Si,
you'd be a happy man, wouldn't you?
- To be fair, if we
had mountains like that
between our HQ in Bath
and my home in Bristol
I would be a happy man.
- A view of mountains and wine nearby.
Doesn't get any better in my book.
(playful music)
- It's now time for Cycling Shorts.
- Cycling Shorts now, and
if you have ever wondered
why pro cyclists are so fast in races,
it might actually not be down to the fact
that they're so flipping powerful.
- No, might be down to motos.
Not hidden motors, but motos,
the motorbikes and cars that drive ahead
of the breakaway of the
bunch in professional races.
And this is actually
something that pro riders
and team mangers are
regularly complaining about,
the fact that they make
so much of an influence
on the outcome of certain races.
The most recent example, in fact,
was Matteo Trentin who tweeted this
just after the tour of Slovenia recently.
- Now though, they've got
some science to back them up,
because research conducted
at Eindhoven University
shows just how much of an
effect those motos can have.
I don't think you'll believe this.
A single motorbike 50 meters,
so 50 meters in front of a rider
can reduce the power output
needed by that rider by 7%,
that's how much of an effect it has.
- That really is an astonishing statistic.
- Bonkers, innit, 50 meters back
and you get a 7% free ride.
- And of course that advantage increases
as the motorbike gets closer,
so at 30 meters that goes up to 12%,
at 10 meters, which is still
quite a big distance really.
- [Si] Yeah, if you start
looking out in races,
10 meters looks like a big gap.
- [Dan] Does, yeah, but still,
you have a 23% advantage in
terms of your power output.
If you're lucky enough
to sneak up behind one
at 2 1/2 meters behind
it you could be saving
up to 48% of your power output.
- Yeah, now luckily this
tallies up with research,
yes, research that we've
actually done here at GCN.
Now, technically the
results from Eindhoven
are a little bit bigger
than what you found, Dan,
but still within the realms
of statistical significance.
I mean, maybe the wind conditions
on the day that you
tested it were different
or maybe it was just the fact
that it was GCN doing science.
- Or maybe we should just
believe Eindhoven, not our test.
- Well, yeah, fair enough.
- Regardless, the solution
to this problem is,
well, nobody's actually
got one, have they?
- No.
- But, it does appear
that the UCI should probably
be spending less time
measuring riders sock height
and more time looking into
things that are influencing
the outcome of bike races.
- I don't know mate, don't underestimate
the importance of good socks
in outcomes of bike races.
Eindhoven have got some research brewing
where they're going to show exactly that.
- Yeah, 48% difference with that sock?
- Yeah, that bit might not have been true.
It's not just road racing,
it's not just ultra endurance racing,
it's also Zwift who are taking things
up a notch this summer,
they've just announced a new
super high profile race series
for both professional Zwift teams
and also the rest of us to
compete together as well.
- They have, and they've
called it Zwift Classics.
Competitors will take part in
three events for the women,
and also three events for the men.
And Zwift have basically said
that they're looking
to build on the success
of this year's Zwift KISS Super League
and take it up to the next level.
- Yeah, I tell you what mate.
I am keen!
- I thought you might be.
- For some of that, absolutely!
Second bit of Zwift news this week,
they're also opening enrollment
for this year's Zwift Academy.
- They are.
It's actually in its fourth year already,
- Wow!
- The Zwift academy,
and it is a chance for the winners,
if they're talented enough,
to get a place in the Canyon SRAM
or Team Dimension Data Continental squad.
- Yeah, it is however,
way, way more than that.
Zwift are hoping that 100,000 people
are going to enroll this
year for a special program
of events and also workouts where
graduation being the ultimate goal.
To do that, you need to
complete eight workouts
and take part in either four
group rides and/or races,
but new for this year you can actually
tailor your academy
experience depending on
your own preferences and
goals at the end of it.
- Right then, back to the real world now,
by that I mean non-racing and non-Zwift.
Recent transport stats here in the UK
have shown that there
are three times as many
male regular bike riders
as there are female.
Something which Cycling
UK are understandably
trying to change, they've just
launched their new campaign
to try and get more women into cycling.
- Part of that campaign
is to try to persuade
current female cyclists to
encourage a friend of theirs
to actually take up the sport as well.
We kind of wonder though whether
that needs to be limited
to just female cyclists
and whether actually male cyclists
shouldn't have a go at encouraging.
- Well, yeah, why not?
If every single cyclist tries to persuade
a female cyclist to get into
our sport, which is amazing,
you'd imagine that there'd
be a snowball effect.
- Yeah, you would.
In fact, just more cyclists generally
would be good, wouldn't it?
- Yeah.
- Why have we never
thought of this before?
Asking people to ride bikes.
- Well, we've tried to
encourage it, haven't we?
- Yeah, good point.
Anyway, genius plan.
Right, we will finish with
one very exciting bit of news
for us here at GCN.
And that is that in addition
to the amazing bikes
from Orbea and Canyon that
we're lucky enough to ride
on a daily basis, we're also
super pleased to announce
that Pinarello are coming on board as well
as a partner and supporter of GCN.
So, check it out, new F12 coming up!
- That's cool yeah.
- Woohoo!
- I'm going to get that e-bike back.
(upbeat music)
We are now going to announce
the two very lucky winners
from last week's giveaway
here on the GCN Show.
It was of course, the opportunity to ride
part of the final stage
of this year's Tour de France.
- Wow!
- Courtesy of Continental
and we of Les Cadets.
Two winners are, Liam Hair!
- Oh!
- And Bram Swinkles
(cheering)
of the Netherlands.
A very well done to both of you,
you two are going to have
the time of your lives.
- Except if you bump into Lloydy
who is also going to be
there in Paris as well.
- Oh, I will be there, yeah.
- In which case.
- If you do see me, come and
say hello if you want to.
- Yeah, yeah.
(drill whirring)
Hack forward slash bodge of the week now,
we've got some crackers this week, Si.
- We do indeed, starting with this one,
this is like a, why did no
one think of this before?
(Dan laughs)
It's a mudguard
with a built in spoiler.
- Yeah.
- [Si] Look at that.
- [Both] Sent in by Mark.
- [Dan] Yeah, from the
streets of Vancouver.
(Si laughs)
To be honest Si,
it's been some time, if ever,
that I have gone fast enough
where I've needed a spoiler
to keep traction at the rear
wheel, but nevertheless,
it looks slightly funkier
than your standard
ass-saver, doesn't it?
- [Si] It does, and check
out those furry dice as well,
(Dan laughs)
hanging from the saddle there.
That is one pimped out ride.
- Well, I mean,
if your bum doesn't get wet the furry dice
most certainly are going to, aren't they?
- They'll be sodden.
- By the rest of the,
by the end of a wet ride.
- Good point actually, good point.
- This, slightly deceiving trick,
not sure if it's a hack or
a bodge, came in from Harry.
"Trying out new saddles,
"manufacturer only accepts
return if the rails are unmarked
"and tags are intact, but
I wanted to test ride it,
"so I put electrical tape on the rails,
"labels in a zip locked bag
against the seat post, ta-da."
- [Si] Well, there's no
arguing with that, I suppose.
But, equally,
I dunno, don't know
what I think about that.
- [Dan] What you don't know
doesn't hurt you, does it?
So you think you're
getting a brand new saddle,
if he decides that's not the
one for him and sends it back.
- Is it like buying pants and
then, as in like underwear,
and then sending it back, you know?
Like it's just one of
those things where you.
- You found those too baggy again?
- Yeah.
(both laugh)
- Right, next up we've got this from Tom
over in Longmont, Colorado.
"I completely tore both
quadriceps tendons"
- [Si] Oh, how'd you do that?
- [Dan] I dunno, looks
nasty though, doesn't it?
- Yeah!
- And sounds very nasty too.
"I couldn't wait to get back on the bike
"so I removed the pedals
and lowered the seat
"making it a strider.
"It's almost like riding
and better than walking
"with crutches."
- That's amazing!
An adult balance bike.
- [Dan] It is amazing how
you're never more determined
to get on a bike than
when somebody or something
says that you can't.
- Yeah, very true, that.
Yeah, is there anything more
frustrating than being injured?
I applaud that very much, that's great.
Right, now we've got this
one sent in by Mindaugas?
- Yeah, (laughs) I left you this name, Si.
- Yeah, Mindaugas, well yes.
Anyway, apologies for that.
This, he said, or she,
in fact, I've got no idea
(Dan laughs)
was sent in from
the mean streets of Krakow.
That is a cool looking bike!
Check it out, the skeleton bike.
I don't know how they've done that, mate.
Is that like, just a load
of extra fiberglass put on?
- [Dan] Looks like it, doesn't it?
But they've done blooming good job--
- They have!
- By the looks of it.
I bet it lights up at night as well.
- [Si] What animal was that?
Is it night and it's not lit up?
- [Dan] I don't know if we've deemed
any of the previous ones
hacks or bodges yet have we?
So we better do it with
that, that's a hack.
- That's definitely a hack.
Yeah, the skull bike,
that's one for Jon Cannings
to have a go at maybe in the
winter, in those dark days.
- Right, this next one comes
in from Kevin over in Toronto,
"saw bike and rack while
walking to Starbucks
"and couldn't help but laugh.
"Custom bike rack glued
to the roof of the car."
- [Si] Bodge!
- [Dan] "Undignified of
the bikes undercarriage
"as it's mounted upside down
(Si laughs)
"to the custom rack, held to the rack
"by a cotton rainbow belt at the seat
"and what looked like two
inner tubes on the shifters."
Do you know what, you
know how tight I am, Si?
- Yeah.
- If I could save
a few hundred quid by
making my own bike rack,
which as you know I'm
not capable of doing,
but I probably would do if I could.
- [Si] Yeah I think you're so tight
that you would never glue
anything to the roof of your car
because you wouldn't want
to hinder the resell value.
- (laughs) Well that
is true, that is true.
All right, bodge then.
- Yeah, that's definitely a bodge.
Right, this one, dunno about this one,
this was sent in by Scott,
he said "taking my wife on
a cycling vacation meant
"buying a tandem which was way too long
"for our old bike rack so
we added an aluminum beam
"and quick release fork mount
"for a super secure bike carrier!"
Which is great, except for the fact that
your tandem's too long for your bike rack,
I wonder whether it's maybe
too wide for your pickup truck?
- [Dan] Well yeah, it does
look like that rear wheel
is poking out ever so slightly,
maybe you need a chainstay
mount as well at the rear there
because at the moment I think
you could bring a new meaning
to the term half wheeling.
- Well that's right.
- Parked too close
to a cyclist on the road.
- Well not only that, you
get to your destination
and find out you've got about 40 mailboxes
attached to the back of your truck.
So, yeah, be very careful there, Scott.
- I'd say we're in the middle
for that one at the moment.
- Hodge.
- Get words out in a second.
Yeah it's a hodge.
That's the first ever Hodge.
(upbeat music)
- It's time now for caption competition,
now point in the show where
you get to try and win
a GCN Camelbak water bottle.
All you got to do is caption a photo,
make it funny, and we pick
out the best ones each week.
To give you an example,
here is this week's winner.
And it's Tim Bishop captioning
this photo of Wout Poels
on the podium: "No need for an umbrella,
"he's used to spending time in the drops."
That's the kind of standard
we're working towards.
- (laughs) That is exactly
the sort of standard.
- Yes!
- I mean we actually
both chuckled out loud when we read that.
- We did, yeah.
- All right, this week's
photo is of Hodge and Jacobsen
of team Deceuninck-QuickStep,
I will get you started.
Oof, legs feel good today.
- [Si] (laughs) that's really good.
- I didn't really have
much time this week, mate,
I normally spend a
couple of hours on that,
I only had half an hour.
- To be fair, that's pretty impressive.
Also, impressive, can we just say,
how are they managing to cycle along
in such close proximity to one another?
Do you think they've got
their handlebars tangled up?
I mean they can't, yeah!
- Who knows!
Anyway, get involved in
the comments section below
with your captions and
we'll pick out a winner
this time next week.
(dramatic music)
We will soon be telling
you what's coming up
on the channel over the next seven days,
before that we'll be going through
a few of our favorite comments,
but first time for the
new GCN Show segment,
your opportunity to win yourself
three months free subscription to Zwift.
All you've got to do is
use the #askgcntraining,
send in your training related question
and one of the Zwift coaches
will help you answer it.
This week's winner and winner
of that three month subscription is
The Assassin.
- Wow!
- "I'm a 17 year old and
is there any way to improve
"my time trial for a 10 mile
16 kilometer time trial.
"At the moment it's 30 minutes."
- Well, I tell you what, that's
a great question isn't it?
And also, fantastic name there on YouTube.
Right, I think I'd split
this into two, wouldn't you?
So, firstly, you want to look at improving
what's commonly known as
your lactate threshold,
which is probably a little bit easier
than your current 10 mile time trial pace.
It's kind of what you
could sustain for an hour
as opposed to 30 minutes.
And so for me, the first part of that
would be doing intervals that are just,
ever so slightly easier than
your current 10 mile pace.
But, doing more of them.
So maybe do two 20 minute
intervals in a single ride
as opposed to one 30
minute all out effort.
And then, maybe do some even
slightly easier than that
but for a longer duration still,
so maybe two 30 minute
efforts in one ride,
we'd call that sweet spot training.
- Yeah, any of those efforts
that are just slightly below
the pace that you can sustain
at your maximum for an
hour are really potent
in pushing your FTP upwards.
That said though, unfortunately,
you can't always sustain
a completely stable power
output for an entire time trial,
so in some ways,
you want to get yourself
used to small spikes.
And as such, a tool that I
personally use quite a lot
was micro-intervals in training.
So this is where you
go a reasonable amount
above your threshold power for 20 seconds,
recover for 10 and repeat
for around six minutes.
Within a session that's an
hour to an hour and a half long
you can get three or four
of these intervals done,
and again, I used to find
that very potent indeed.
Also make sure that you're
doing both those sessions
on the bike that you're
using for your time trial,
so that you get used to
putting out that power
in that position.
- Very good point, and
also, do that kind of,
not every single day,
you want to recover in between don't you?
So have a few key sessions every week,
and then have plenty of
easier days in between.
- It might have been
because I was lazy, Si,
but even as a full time cyclist
I only got five good days
of training in per week.
I really needed the other
two days of rest every week.
- Five's a lot mate!
- I mean, I was training
really hard.
- Yeah, absolutely!
Right then, let's go on
with some other comments
that we've had under GCM videos.
Including tips for riding in the rain,
which dropped at an interesting time
given that much of Europe
is currently experiencing
a brutal heatwave.
- [Dan] Yeah, we've had this comment from
Reiner mit ei, bidde,
"35 degrees in Germany,
"GCN: hacks for riding in the rain."
Yeah, that didn't go too
well the timing of that one.
Although to be fair to us,
it had been tipping it down
with rain in most of Europe
all the way up to the
release of that video.
- It had yeah, and it was
kind of just for everyone
that was currently baking in the sun,
it was supposed to be a bit of relief,
just like ah, imagine riding
in the rain right now.
- We also had some
interesting comments last week
under the show in terms
of what you've seen
whilst you've been out on bike rides.
Neil Donahue, not the GMBN man,
"During the Fred Whitton this year
"a chicken did actually cross the road
"in front of a large group of us.
"Someone yelled 'Why,' and
I had to yell the truth
""to get to the other side".
(Si exclaims)
"True story!"
- We'd have loved that,
that would have been great.
- (laughs) Yeah!
- Rolling on the floor.
- We'd have been gutted
if someone had got to
that joke before us, wouldn't we?
- (laughs) And they probably
would have done as well.
Right, Luke Wass said
"I was taking my bike on
a train and a cat got on,
"sat there for a few minutes
"and then got off at the next station."
Apparently it's a regular,
which, does that technically
count as a bike ride?
That's more like a commuter story,
but anyway, a bit weird.
- He said that he
took his bike on the train.
Meanwhile, Josh Pearson said
"Came across the annual
naked bike ride in Cambridge
"two weeks ago, I've never
seen so many saddle bags."
Well storage can be an
issue can't it, when you're
- That's right.
- Not wearing anything.
- Yes, but at least they
weren't wearing bumbags
like I was in Idaho.
- Well actually,
a bumbag might have been
preferential on a naked bike ride,
cover a little bit up.
- That's a good point actually.
- Full of good points, I am.
- I'd need quite a good,
big bumbag for that one, anyway.
Also under that Idaho
video, MRGRUMPY53, he said
"I'm going to wait until
someone comes out with
"a 15 speed cassette
so that I can have that
"12 to 26 straight through block."
Undoubtedly, MRGRUMPY,
if someone does come out
with a 15 speed cassette
they will definitely give you
your straight through 12-26
which you might be the only
person in the world to want one!
But anyway, I kind of know
where you're coming from.
- [Dan] And also under that
very same video from Idaho,
Adam Coatham put "those
drops are so flared
"that John Travolta wants them back."
- (laughs) Yeah, they
were quite large, Dan.
Not terribly aerodynamic.
(Dan chuckles)
But still, good for gnarly descents.
Right, we also have this
one under 24 hours in hell,
I wanted this in, Michael
McDermott said that
"Dan should try this
round a greyhound track
"chasing a beer."
(both laughing)
Yeah, you'd probably be able
to break the hour record.
- Well the thing is, I
would sprint so hard, Si,
I'd probably get to it.
- Good point actually.
- Within a couple of minutes.
- Yeah, you could do a kilo
like that, couldn't you?
- And also Simons Bikepacking Adventures
"'Don't try this at home,' yeah,
"because my living room
is slightly smaller
"than the velodrome so
don't worry, I won't."
All right then, on the
channel this coming week
as mentioned earlier in the show,
on Wednesday we've got our big
Tour de France preview show.
- Yes, we say big,
(Dan laughs)
Marty, for some reason,
the camera trickery meant
that he doesn't look that big
in this preview show, which is unfair.
- We promise we didn't do
this deliberately to him,
it wasn't like a builder
on their first day at work
where you get them to hold a
bag of sand above their head
and see how strong they are
and they just cut in and cement
will go all over their head.
Anyway, moving on to Thursday,
we're going to show you 10
ways that you can become
a more environmentally friendly cyclist.
On Friday we've got another
how to on gravel with J Pow,
Which I think is a chance to put that
bike pump music back in.
(Simon trumpeting)
- That's right, Saturday we
have Cyclist Versus Footballer,
who is the fittest.
We actually, well basically
managed to rope in
an exceedingly high profile
professional footballer
from here in the UK.
So that was mega exciting.
And then on Sunday we've got
Secrets of Speed, oh yes.
A closer look at some of
the amazing time trial tech
at the Tour de France,
and let's not forget
here, the Tour de France
and the Giro Rosa have already kicked off,
so there's going to be loads
of other amazing videos coming,
not to mention the highlights
over on our new GCN channel.
- Yep, 'cause I'm actually
going to be on the ground
in Brussels on,
well, about now, roughly.
As you're watching this when it comes out.
- Wow.
(upbeat music)
- We shall end, as ever,
with Extreme Corner.
We've got a belter for you this week.
- We have.
- Coming up now,
is our videographer Tom Grundy,
having the stack of all stacks
(Si exclaims)
On Martin Ashton's Random
Tandem with Danny MacAskill.
- [Man] There we go, we're
getting the hang of it.
(Si exclaims)
- That is hilarious.
- Shall we see that in slow-mo?
- Yes.
- [Man] There we go,
we're gettin' the hang.
- (exclaims) Shall we see
that from another angle?
- Yes.
(wind blowing)
- Have we got any more angles?
- No.
- Let's watch the first one again!
- [Man] There we go,
we're getting the hang.
- Oh!
(laughing)
- Well, the fact that he's
in the office means that
we are loving showing that to
you again and again and again,
I genuinely lol'd watching that too.
- I did, fair play for missing that tree.
There was one point where
(Dan laughs)
I thought there was going
to be a head on collision.
He also saved the camera
as well, good lad.
- He did, he did didn't he?
- He knows, he knows.
- Right, that's all for this week's show,
however we're going to
push you over to EMBN now,
because Chris Opie's been
doing a collab with them,
hasn't he?
- He has indeed, yeah.
Gravel bike versus e-mountain
bike, so make sure you--
- See who fails best.
- Check that one out.
That's right.
Also, make sure you
check out the GCN shop,
because as you'll see, me
and Dan are sporting some--
- French themed t-shirts and jumpers.
- Absolutely!
So yeah, they're live,
and also some GCN cycling
kit too that's got this
rather cool design.
- Yeah, I kind of like it,
go and check it out.
- I do.
- Shop.globalcyclingnetwork.com,
we've been wittering on,
but by now the video
should be just down there.
(dramatic music)
