- I'm at the top of North
Twin Cone Peak in Colorado.
Welcome to The GCN Show.
- Welcome to The GCN Show,
brought to you by Wiggle.
- Coming up this week,
are ketones a magic bullet
influencing the Tour de France this year?
GCN investigates.
- We do indeed.
Also, the pro cycling transfer rumor mill
is now in full swing,
and we're going to announce
the very, very lucky winner
of a personalized Orbea Orca Aero.
(upbeat music)
This week in the world of cycling,
we learned that Marianne Vos
is back to being the boss.
- Yeah, she won La Course last week
with a devastating late attack.
In the process, she covered
a very tricky final kilometer
just two seconds slower
than Julian Alaphilippe did later that day
whilst riding a time trial bike to victory
and having only covered 27.5 kilometers.
- [Dan] Not only that, she
was also seven seconds faster
than Geraint Thomas
over that same distance.
- [Simon] Yeah.
- [Dan] We also learnt last week
that being at the back
of the Tour de France
can be just as hard as being at the front.
- Yeah, this is something you
probably knew already, Dan.
But anyway, we were reminded last week
as Jens Debusschere crossed
the finish line on the Col du Tourmalet
second from last, absolutely spent.
- [Dan] We also learned that
the stupid Tour de France rules
that we discussed on the show last week
are not, of course, confined
to the Tour de France.
This is a tweet from top
pro, Christine Majerus.
"UCI commissionaire
made me lower my socks"
"by one centimeter today.
"No wonder my prologue was (beeping)."
(laughing)
- Right, now, at the
Tour de France this year,
one story has been bubbling
away almost since the start,
and that is as to whether or not ketones,
a nutritional supplement,
are so effective,
they're actually shaping
the outcome of the race.
- Yes, and to find out,
we're going to head over
to our registered nutritional expert.
- Who is that, by the way?
- [Dan] Hank.
- Oh, I'm ready to go.
- [Sam] Really?
- [Dan] Of course not.
Going to go over to Dr. Oliver Bridgewood.
- Ah.
- Thanks, guys.
Well, firstly, we need
to define what they are,
so here is a quick science lesson.
Ketones, or to be specific, ketone bodies,
are produced naturally inside the body
and are a form of fuel
that the body can utilize.
They consist of three molecules,
acetone, acetoacetic acid,
and beta hydroxybutyrate,
although technically speaking,
only the first two are ketones.
The third is the conjugate base
of beta-hydroxybutyric acid.
It's technically a carboxylic acid.
But you don't need to worry about that.
(snoring)
These compounds are created by the body
by breaking down fatty acids in the liver,
and this occurs when you have
low levels of carbohydrate
or an absence of carbohydrate.
Examples of this situation would be
if you were bonking on the bike,
if you were engaging in a ketogenic diet,
which is low carb, high fat,
or if you were fasting or starving.
It's the body's natural coping mechanism
for when you don't have much carbohydrate,
which is its primary fuel source.
Got that?
(snoring)
So rather than waiting for
the body to start making
this alternative fuel,
these ketone bodies,
the idea behind ketone drinks
is to just give you the
ketones straight away.
It's called exogenous ketones,
in the same way that technically speaking,
when you take a gel or some carbohydrate
and eat that on a ride,
that's technically called
exogenous carbohydrates.
Consuming exogenous carbohydrate is key
to endurance exercise performance
but the amount that your body can take in
and process is limited
to roughly 1.8 grams per minute,
if the correct ratio of
sucrose and fructose is used,
and that is where is where
exogenous ketones come in.
The theory is that you can provide
an additional fuel source
to the body, in addition
to the carbohydrate.
Now, the difference is
that the body will burn
carbohydrate in the really intense
parts of the race,
so attacking, the final climb, sprinting,
things like that.
But, a typical stage of the Tour de France
is not always super
intense for the pro riders.
If they're on the flat
and they're sat in the bunch
or a quieter moment in the race,
they can often only
doing around 100 watts,
and at this intensity,
the body will happily
tick along on ketones,
meaning that when they
get to that crucial,
important moment of the race,
they've been able to save their carbs
or glycogen stores to use then.
Think of it like a hybrid car,
where you've got an electric motor
paired with a petrol motor,
gasoline, if you're American.
Now, if we take for
example, a Toyota Prius,
then you use the electric motor
when you want to make
the car more efficient
and at lower intensities, when
you're just ticking along.
But if you need to step on it,
and put the hammer down,
then the petrol motor kicks
in to help you accelerate.
Now, I have to stress that this is
a gross oversimplification
of what's actually
believed to be happening,
but hopefully, you get the idea.
Some scientists suggest that there
are potential recovery benefits
to taking ketones as well.
A study published in the
Journal of Medicine and Science
for Sports and Exercise,
showed that taking ketones
after exercise increased
muscle glycogen synthesis.
Now, what this means
in non-science speak is
the fuel stores inside your muscles
are getting replenished with carbohydrate,
now this is crucial to recovery,
and is especially important
in refilling those
fuel stores in the event
like the Tour de France,
where you've got a race
day after day after day.
But are ketones the magic
bullet that some people
are making them out to be?
Well, the current science would suggest,
although there is likely some benefit,
no, they're not.
A study by Cox et al
in the Journal of Cell Metabolism,
took 39 competitive cyclists
and looked at their
time trial performance.
They were given both
carbohydrates and ketones,
and the result was a modest,
2% percent improvement in
time trial performance.
Now to put this into context,
even if I took ketones,
I wouldn't be good enough
to be in the Tour de France.
And even in his prime, if Dan Lloyd,
when he was riding for the, what was it?
Sevello Test Team, took ketones,
then he still wouldn't have graduated
to the podium, he might've come a bit
higher than a 161st,
which is where he came.
- That's harsh.
- It's probably fair.
- Either way, it would've been dependent
on Lloydy actually being
able to drink this stuff,
and this is no exaggeration,
it's reported to taste
like nail polish remover,
and it may cause
gastro-intestinal distress.
(gags) Grandma's pants!
Another study, published
in Frontiers of Physiology,
reported that ketones
impaired the performance
of world tour professional cyclists
in a time trial.
The participants in the
study took, on average,
a minute longer to complete
a 31 kilometer time trial.
Now, the results of this
were put down to potentially
the aforementioned
gastro-intestinal issues,
but it should also be
noted, that in this study,
a different ketone supplement was used
than the one that was
used in the Cox study.
Although, going back to an earlier point,
ketones may not be the best
application in a max out,
time trial effort, they could
be better in those longer,
stage race scenarios,
where there are points
in the race where you are going easier,
and then able to save the carbohydrates
for when you really need them.
But, there just haven't
been enough studies
into exogenous ketone supplementation
to draw any, solid conclusions.
More research is required
and there haven't enough studies
into elite athletes
either, these highly tuned,
extremely talented individuals,
often respond differently.
This is not to say that exogenous ketones
are not being taken at the Tour de France,
a couple of teams have said that they are,
and it's also not to say
that they're not helping,
but we asked a couple
of top nutritionists,
who work with the teams, and
they both said the same thing,
"The effect is being greatly exaggerated."
Back to the studio.
- Food for though there.
Cheers Ollie.
- I see what you did there.
Right, next up, we've been sent a dispatch
by Mark Beaumont this week,
which focuses on his two main passions,
ultra endurance, and utterly bonkers.
- I thought I'd do a little bit
of impromptu reporting.
I've been at the National
Cross Country Mountain Bike
Champs all day today, which was amazing,
and the guy holding my
phone is Alex Glasgow.
He came 3rd in his age group.
But the reason that I've
stopped here in Knutsford
in East Cheshire is because
another buddy of mine,
Richard Thoday, should, if his tracker's
anything to believe,
come around that corner
in the next couple of minutes,
on a penny-farthing.
Now back in 1886, G.P
Mills, I think a teenager,
allegedly rode from Land's
End to John o'Groats,
in five days, one hour, and 45 minutes.
There was no tarmacked roads.
And while Land's End, John
o' Groats in five days
is insanely impressive by anyone,
doing it on one of these contraptions,
is pretty hard to get your head around.
Nobody has come close to
that in the last decade plus.
Six o'clock yesterday morning,
Richard left from Land's End
and on day one made 175 miles.
Well, we're coming up to 7
o'clock on his second day.
(claps)
Go on that, man!
You want to keep going?
- No, come on, I've just
come to say hello to you.
- Oh, what a hero, what an absolute hero.
- Come here, good man.
- How you doing buddy?
- I'm doing great, man, how are you?
- I'm great.
You look like you're having a good time.
- Yeah, I am actually.
You get little dips, don't you,
but generally, it's been fantastic, yeah.
- Superb, have you had
some good roadside support?
- Brilliant today, 'cause
it's kind of near home turf,
so there's been a lot of people out,
just saw a lot of people
just back at the road.
- [Mark] Day one smashed out, how far?
- Just under 200.
- Just under 200 miles yesterday?
- Schedule was for 170, I think.
- Right.
- But going well.
(speaking drowned out by car driving past)
- There in Cornwall.
- It's brutal.
- It's not a place to
ride a penny-farthing.
- It's not.
- It's a scary place to be.
- It's hard on any bicycle.
- But, there's nothing to interrupt you.
- Yeah.
- So you just keep going.
Well today, in theory, I
should've been faster today
because it's flatter, but
there are so many junctions
and traffic lights and
town centers and stuff,
it just slows you down.
- Were the any hills yesterday
you just had to walk the bike up?
- No, no, didn't walk.
The worst one is up to
Bristol Airport, A38,
it's a real beast of a climb up to that.
Blow right to the end before
you drop down to Bristol
where we were stopping.
That was a bit of a...
But I get a bit, I get a bit belligerent.
I should've really got off and walked
to save my legs, but I
would've been much slower.
- I've been watching closely
with all the social media updates,
and there's a massive amount of people
tuning into this and following
every update on the tracker,
so yeah, staggering stuff, I love it.
- [Richard] At the moment,
it's going to plan.
- [Mark] Well don't, don't give up
too much time for us.
Honestly, you've smashed it.
- (laughs) Okay.
- We recently launched a new collection
on the GCN shop, which is
going very well indeed,
but would you believe it,
we've got another one,
a super cool new design, haven't we Dan?
- [Dan] We have our new fan kit.
This is called the Strive
Collection, check those out.
So you can use that whilst
you getting the miles
under your belt, in the
nice warm summer sunshine,
and it also has the base layer too.
- Not only that, we've
got some casual clothing
to match it.
So this is what you can put on afterwards,
after you've had your
shower, when you're relaxing
after those hard miles,
sipping on a mineral water or two.
- That's right.
You don't want to know what else we got,
under this desk by the way,
that we're just about to
pull out and show you guys,
but anyway.
This cycling kit is available
in both men's and women's fit,
and it's all available on
the GCN shop right now.
- Yeah, there's a link to
that in the description below.
(upbeat music)
Next up, it is of course,
your weekly GCN inspiration,
which is your chance to submit photos,
and potentially win one of
three Wiggle voucher amounts.
If you get third place on the day,
you'll get 50 pounds of vouchers,
second place will get you
75, and the winner each week,
will pick up 100 pounds
of vouchers, to do with,
whatever they want on
the Wiggle online shop.
- Nice, now rounding out
our podium in third place,
we've got this sent in from David,
from Lyttelton, New Zealand.
He said, "Treated myself to a Cervelo R5
"before emigrating to New Zealand.
"Fast forward five months,
eagerly awaiting shipment
"from the UK, the bike
arrived for its first ride,
"and it didn't disappoint."
That's a cool photo as well, isn't it?
I love that whole first ride anticipation
of your super bike, plus a mint place.
- [Dan] You also treated yourself
to going to New Zealand really
not just the R5, that looks magnificent.
- [Simon] Sounds like a
double win, doesn't it?
- In second place, we had
this one in form Mack,
in Reno in Nevada.
One of my favorite local gravel roads
and the perfect early
summer day for a great ride.
- [Simon] It does look good, doesn't it?
- [Dan] It does look very good indeed.
Well done to you Mack,
£75 on its way to you.
But this is our winner.
- [Simon] That's right,
this was sent in by Natasha,
taken from, now Natasha has
written, Lake Minnewanks,
in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta.
We did Google this, didn't we Dan?
- [Dan] We did yeah, and it turns out
there was a slight spelling mistake,
but she wasn't trying to fool us,
because actually the place
is called Lake Minnewanka
over in the Canadian Rockies.
Regardless, that is a
fantastic photo isn't it?
- It is indeed, it looks amazing,
I definitely want to go there.
It's a nice view, I think
that looks like a nice place
to go as well being a great place
to take a picture in front a sign post.
- Yeah.
- Share one
for the Instagram profile, no doubt.
- Well done to all of you.
(upbeat trumpet music)
- It's now time for cycling shorts.
- Cycling shorts now, and seeing as we are
two thirds of the way through,
perhaps the most exciting
Tour de France in decades, we
are dedicating this segment
almost exclusively to that.
A quick heads up, if you
want even more snippets
from there, then make sure
you check out Lloydy's
racing news show from yesterday.
- Yeah, please do.
First up is news that
fans are still booing
Team Ineos, and more specifically
than that, Geraint Thomas.
- Yeah, so this is a tweet
from the Jumbo-Visma rider,
George Bennett, and to paraphrase it,
he basically says, how
disappointing it is,
that so called fans of the sport
are still acting in this way.
- Yeah, it is disappointing,
although I can't help
but think and wonder,
whether President Emmanuel Macron
is also a guilty party in this.
- Really, how so?
- Well, I saw these photos
from the finish line.
Want to see them?
- Yeah.
- This is his face when
Thibaut Pinot crossed the line.
- [Sam] Yay.
- [Dan] And then this is
his face when Geraint Thomas
crossed the line.
- [Sam] Oh.
- [Dan] You want to see those again?
- Yeah.
- [Dan] Thibaut Pinot.
- [Sam] Yay.
- [Dan] Geraint Thomas.
(wind whistling)
- [Sam] Now, we jest, of
course, but it has to be said,
I was very much of the
Emmanuel Macron expression
as well when Thibaut Pinot won that stage,
I thought it was fantastic,
and it was also great
seeing Julian Alaphilippe
doing so well, albeit slightly
surprising, I must say.
- Well it would be
brilliant for the country
and for the entire sport
if either Alaphilippe
or Pinot manage to win it,
because let's not forget
the last French winner, was 34 years ago,
in 1985.
- Yeah, even we were young about then.
- We were.
- That is a long time ago.
- I was five, what were you, three or two?
- What was I in 1985, two.
- Good maths, mate.
- Thanks, only just, you
put me under pressure.
The team, Souda-Lotto, suffered a burglary
at the Tour de France, losing 50,000 euros
worth of equipment.
- [Dan] I keep forgetting
Souda-Lotto for the tour,
rather than Lotto-Souda.
- [Simon] Yeah.
- Anyway,
fortunately for the team, it was nothing
to do with their bikes and components,
but rather 50,000 euros
of camera equipment.
So they are out, still
able to ride full gas
out there on the road, they're just unable
to document it all.
- Yeah, which is a shame,
because without that
camera equipment, we wouldn't have known
that they'd won two stages and currently
hold the lead in the King of
the Mountains competition,
so hopefully we can find out
through some other means.
There was, potentially
some very good news,
for women's racing last week,
as a rumor has been circulating,
that the women's calendar may
be getting a much needed boost
in the form of a new stage
race, that will potentially
be to women's cycling,
what the Tour de France
is to men's cycling.
- [Dan] This came from a ASO official,
who wished to remain anonymous,
but was talking to a Reuters journalist.
So fingers crossed it will come true,
even though there's been
no official communique
from ASO just yet.
One thing we're reasonably
sure about though
is it won't run concurrently
with the men's Tour de
France, for two reasons,
firstly logistical,
the Tour de France is a
huge beast these days,
it's grown over the last
10 years significantly.
But also, because of the demands
that would be placed on the media
covering the event or events.
I can speak first hand about this,
I was at the Tour de France last week
with Yuris Borne, also
speaking to other journalists.
They're reaching breaking mid way through,
just covering the men's.
And I feel that they would
put so much effort in
to covering both, that
they'd both an injustice.
- Yeah, that's a really important point
to mention, isn't it?
Right, now this time of year is getting on
for our favorite time of year,
not just because of the
racing that's going on,
but also 'cause it's time
for the transfer rumor mill
to really start grinding.
First up, it looks like Arkea Samsic
might've been investing, the rumor is,
that Nairo Quintana, Deya
Quintana, Diego Rosa,
Winner Anacona, and even Nacer Bouhanni,
will be, or already have
signed for the team.
- If true, it's quite an ecleclic
list of signings, really.
- Is it, isn't it?
- I don't want to be cruel
to the French second division team,
but I can't help but
wonder, whether if they
have signed Nairo Quintana,
they might just suck
out the last bit energy
that he seems to have at this point.
I just can't see him fitting into a team
with a French culture.
- No, it doesn't seem
like he's got much energy
at the minute.
It's certainly the situation
with his current team,
Movistar, looks a little bit
uncomfortable, doesn't it?
Anyway, the rumor mill
continues with Team CCC,
and it's not surprising
that they're looking
to boost their roster,
because they were very late
to the transfer party last year,
what with the late confirmation
of their title sponsor.
But anyway, another
ecleclic bit of signing
is Matteo Trentin, possibly
going over from Mitchelton-Scott
and also Katusha's GC rider,
Ilnur Zakarin as well.
- [Dan] Did I say ecleclic before?
- [Simon] You did, yeah.
- [Dan] Eclectic I meant, sorry.
Also rumors, are that EF Education First
are going to sign Magnus Cort
Nielsen form Team Astana.
That Kenny Elissonde will
going from Team Ineos
over to Trek-Segafredo,
and finally that Katusha are going to lose
Nils Politt to Deceuninck-Quick-Step
which would bolster their
already quite impressive
classics line up even more.
- [Sam] Wouldn't it just?
While all eyes might be
on bike racing in France
at the moment, we were tipped off
on another bike race,
that is apparently the highest
bike race in the world.
And no, it's one sponsored
by Floyd's of Leadville.
- No, this is the Tour de
Khunjerab over in Pakistan.
You think the Tour de France
is going to be hard this week,
going over to 2500 meter
sand above, think again,
because this is at 4700
meters above sea level.
I don't think we can even
complain about the altitude
at Qinghai Lake anymore.
- I don't think we can, no.
If we're going to do this,
we're going to need to send GCN's
very own resident daredevil.
- Who's that?
- Ollie.
(upbeat jazz music)
(upbeat electronic music)
- And now, it's the moment,
that thousands of you
have been waiting for.
We're about to announce
the one lucky winner.
- Sorry it's probably only five people .
- Oh yeah, they were shortlisted.
- Yeah, we had a semi final.
- Very true, Si.
Thousands of you have been voting
and I can't tell you how close it is.
In fact, I am going to
tell you how close it is.
The top two were separated
by a single vote,
this is of course, the chance to win
a personalized Orbea Orca Aero.
Those top two were, Gabriel's
gold champion Orbea,
or Hamish's Sunbeam.
We had over 4000 votes
between the two of them,
one separated it, but the winner is.
(drumming)
I thought you were going to
read it, you want me do it?
- Come on mate, don't leave me hanging.
- The winner is, Hamish, with his Sunbeam.
I'm so sorry Gabriel,
that was incredibly close.
- One vote!
- Incredibly close.
Now, if you just had
one more mate Gabriel,
you could've won
- Aww, don't say that.
- [Dan] It would've been a draw.
- [Dennis] What would we have
done in a case of a draw?
- Bet he's going to text
everyone now and be like,
"Seriously, did you vote?"
and someone will be like,
"No, I didn't Gabriel."
And what a bike that was.
Anyway, lets not commiserate with Gabriel.
Let's say, Hamish, woohoo, you
just got yourself a new bike.
- Yeah.
- How cool is that?
- Unbelievable stuff,
I'm so jealous of Hamish.
But, don't despair if you didn't win,
do despair Gabriel, but the
rest of you do not despair,
because we have another amazing
giveaway for you right now.
- We do indeed and it's a good job
we've got the laptop actually,
'cause there's so much
to win in this, okay.
So first of all, it's
for two riders to attend
the RBC GranFondo Whistler, okay.
So for the pair of you,
you will get flights
to Vancouver from anywhere in the world.
Then you get accommodation in Vancouver
from Wednesday to Friday.
And then in Whistler
on the Saturday night.
You get a reception invitation
to the St Regis Hotel on Thursday.
You get to go to the
pasta party on Friday,
you obviously get your
entries to the Gran Fondo.
And then, and this is possibly
the icing on the cake Dan,
you get a Helijet ride from
Whistler back to Vancouver
on the Sunday, in time to
get your flight home again.
How good is that?
- [Dan] Quite the VIP experience.
- [Simon] Oh yeah.
- [Dan] All taking place in September.
As Si mentioned, this giveaway is open
to everyone out there,
wherever you are located in the world,
they will fly you in.
Entries are going to close
on Monday the 29th of July
at 11 AM, British Summer Time.
All details on how to
enter this amazing giveaway
are as ever, in the description below.
- Yeah and we are going
to be there as well.
GCN, is going to be attending.
Oh yes.
- Are we?
- Mm-hmm
- I've not been told
about this.
Am I going?
- No, you unfortunately
don't get the VIP experience.
They said they wouldn't allow you
in the helicopter and things.
(upbeat music)
Tech of the week now, and it's a first
for GCN, wound dressing.
Yeah, clearly we are not
experts in this subject,
but a company called LQD got in touch
to tell us about something
called a bio-polymer dressing.
- Well you say we're not
experts in this subject,
I was an expert in getting wounds,
but not necessarily dressing them.
But any of you out there,
who are experts in crashing
and getting wounds, will
no doubt be leaning forward
with great interest, and rightly so,
because if the clinical
trials are anything to go by,
this is going to be very
interesting for you.
- That's right, now if at the
mention of wound dressing,
you're expecting us to pull
out, from underneath our desk
of treasures, some
massive wad of bandages,
then you'll be quite surprised,
because this is it.
And actually I'd say it looks
less like a wound dressing,
and more like one of your
very posh moisturizers.
- It doesn't look too dissimilar
from one of my posh moisturizers.
- No, there you go.
- No all you need to
do is spray this stuff
over your wound, and two minutes later,
hey presto, you have a thin,
transparent and elastic film
over your wound.
LQD then say that you can
either remove that film
when you wish as you
would do with any other
bandage or dressing, or
you just leave it on there,
because eventually it
will come off as part
of your natural skin renewal.
- Bonkers, isn't it.
Now apparently, the ingredient in there
is something called Chitosan FH02,
which is as we've already mentioned,
is a bio-polymer.
Now I don't know what that is,
but I do remember the name
of what it comes from,
which is chitin, and that
is a very common compound in nature.
And LQD say, and this is
backed up journal articles
to support it, that it
actually promotes clotting,
accelerates wound healing,
and also kills common
wound pathogens as well.
- Wow, that's amazing.
Imagine going to bed after you crash
and not sticking to the sheets.
- Amazing
- Stuff of dreams isn't it?
Literally the stuff of dreams,
you'd actually fall asleep, wouldn't you.
Now I'm personally
hoping not to ever crash
on my bike again and get any wounds,
but I'm going to take
piece of this home with me
just in case I do.
You could have done with
last week, couldn't you?
For your face.
- I could've done and
sprayed it on my face.
Well actually that's a good point,
they say one the things
is that you can spray it
on places where you couldn't put bandages.
They've even suggest it on saddle sores,
which sounds weird, but actually
when you think about it, bloody good idea.
- Layer of film over that bit.
(drill buzzing)
Hack, forward slash, bodge of the week.
Now don't forget to get involved,
you can either use the uploader,
there's a link to that
in the description below,
or you can use the hashtag,
#GCNhack, on social media.
The first one this week,
I'm already goin to say is a bodge,
this comes in from Martin Bentancur.
"I got my new bike
yesterday, and didn't realize
"the phone holder wouldn't
fit on the cockpit,
"so I used Velcro strap for my first ride.
"My wife says it's a massive
bodge, but I disagree."
Well I agree with your wife.
- [Simon] I agree with your wife as well,
that is a horrific bodge.
- [Dan] You can't get
a amazing new Canyon,
with a Aero cockpit, and
use some Velcro straps
to put your iPhone on top of the stem.
- [Simon] Well also, how well,
I mean iPhones are slippery
things, aren't they?
We all know that.
Brake suddenly, and whew, out it goes.
- [Dan] Or if I had a sprint,
that would be straight out the back.
- [Simon] Yeah, good point,
(laughs)
- Good point.
Right then, next we got
this from Max Bianchi.
I don't know whether this
is a hack or a bodge,
because I think it's a real thing,
it's a bike with a wooden
seat post slash seat tube.
- [Dan] But how would you
adjust the saddle height?
- [Simon] Well you just get
your hacksaw out, don't you?
- [Dan] How do you raise it?
- [Simon] That's always been the trouble
with integrated seat masts, Dan.
But there you go, I think
that's got to be a hack,
apparently the dampening
properties of wood
are fantastic.
- [Dan] So you think you
buy the bike like that?
- I do.
- Already made from the shop.
- [Dan] I've never seen
that bike out there.
- [Simon] Unless someone has,
sorry, taken the amazing steps
of reaming out a old steel tube
and replacing it with a broom handle.
- [Dan] Maybe they have, maybe they have.
Maybe you can help us out
at home in the comments.
All right this came in from
Woaksy, over on Twitter.
And he spotted this over in Vancouver.
It's like a DeLorean, that we featured
on the channel before, but
with even more going on.
- [Simon] It's looks
like a musical version
of a DeLorean isn't it?
- [Dan] It is a musical
version of a DeLorean, yeah.
There's a lot going on
in there, isn't there?
- [Simon] A one person carnival.
- [Dan] So much so, I don't
even know where to start,
so I'm going to stop.
- No.
Well, it's got a nice comfy seat,
how about that hack.
Right, (laughs).
Right, next up, we've got
this sent in from David,
from Oxford, here in the UK, he says,
"Not my bike, possibly owned by somebody
"with two meter legs, and
whose ass grew sideways."
And yeah, I can't see why that would exist
for any other reason, than
a very, very lanky person.
- [Dan] Unless it's some
kind of bicycle ejector seat
that's just gone off.
- [Simon] Well, that's a good point.
It's certainly a theft prevention device.
- [Dan] It's certainly
a bodge, in my opinion.
Next up, we have this from Trevor,
"I was watching the Gastown Grand Prix,
"when I spotted this, and
exciting as the race was,
"this took my full attention,
and several minutes
"in an attempt to figure out, why?"
"I didn't arrive at an
answer, maybe you can."
Well maybe we can't, Si.
- [Simon] Well, so to
help the viewers out,
firstly we're looking at a
bicycle with no break levers
on the handlebars. Then--
- [Dan] I think that's
a specialized bicycle
if I recognize it correctly.
- [Simon] I think you're
probably right, yeah.
But then check out those break levers
on a handlebar mounted
just behind the saddle.
I can only draw one
conclusion from this Dan,
that it's an ass brake.
Whoever's riding that
bike, is using their butt
to activate their brakes with.
- [Dan] Well, yeah, it's
like a literal arse saver.
- [Simon] Yeah, which I
don't know why, but I'm sure
there's a good reason,
because that's a proper,
there's a bit of time and
effort gone into that.
But the only problem with
it is if you brake suddenly,
the momentum would be forcing you forward,
thereby taking pressure
off your brake levers.
So the harder you brake,
the less you brake,
you see what I mean.
- [Dan] You could get like
skid marks too, couldn't you?
Right, that's all for
the hack forward slash
bodge section this week.
Don't forget to submit your
entries for this time next week.
- That didn't even make sense
- No it didn't, at least you laughed.
- Yeah I did, just mentioning skid marks.
(upbeat music)
- Caption competition
now, your weekly challenge
to win a GCN Camelbak water bottle.
Last week's caption photo was this one
from the Tour de France of
Vincenzo Nibali shaking hands
with Geraint Thomas.
The caption winner is this,
it's from Christopher Krustrup.
Caption: Vincenzo, did you know that Wales
are faster than sharks?
So I had to spend the
last 35 to 40 minutes
researching whether or not that's true.
- And the trouble is Dan, the results
from my research are
actually quite inconclusive.
I can't work out, I think it's a whale,
I think a fin whale is the fastest,
at 47 miles per hour, when it jumps.
Whereas the mako shark, it
clocks at 31.1 miles per hour,
but the results vary so dramatically
across the internet.
(laughs)
I don't know what's true.
- Across different websites.
- Yes.
- Regardless, Christopher,
you are a winner
of the GNC Camelbak water bottle.
Send us your address
as a Facebook message,
and well get that off to you.
- One thing I did discover,
the fastest thing in the ocean
is a sail fish, they go 68 miles per hour,
that's over 100 kilometers
per hour through water.
- And how fast does an octopus go, Si?
- 24 miles an hour, 24.9 miles an hour,
for an octopus.
- Blimey.
- How on earth does an
octopus go 25 miles an hour.
That's faster than you
on an Aero bike on land.
- The things you learn whilst filming
or watching the GCN show.
- Especially during the
- There you go.
caption competition.
- We should put that little
nugget right up front
shouldn't we?
This week in
- Coming up this week.
The world of cycling, I've
learnt that an octopus
goes 24.9 miles per hour.
- We investigate whether
ketones are having
a dramatic effect on the Tour de France
and what is the fastest fish?
All right, this weeks photo
we should get onto now,
is this one of Alejandro
Valverde on a mountain somewhere
at the Tour de France.
I should get you started.
My word, this new FaceApp
thing is going everywhere.
- [Simon] Oh ho!
Ouch, zing,
Alejandro.
- Yeah, right, give your best captions
in the comment section down below,
and please make them a bit simpler
so we don't have to do all this research,
well, at least Si doesn't.
- He's only just a little older than you,
but he does look like he's
doing better than you,
in that respect, doesn't he?
We're getting on to
comment of the week now.
Where we pick out some of our favorite
comments that you've been leaving
under our videos from the last seven days.
The beginning of which,
is Ask GCN Training.
So you submit your training questions
and we pick the best one out
and answer it with the
help of Zwift's coaches.
As an added bonus,
not only do you get
your question answered,
you also get three months
free subscription to Zwift.
- Yeah, the winner of
that prize this week is
Blake Harper, who wrote,
"To what extent is it
possible to train sprinting
"form indoors on a smart trainer?"
"For example, for cadence
I've noticed that I can easily
"hit 150 rpms on my Tacx,
but I struggle to get
"above 130 without bouncing
when I'm outdoors on my Colnago.
"Do you have any advice?"
- Yeah, its probably because
you're using the Colnago, isn't it?
I guess that's probably the difference.
No, in all seriousness,
there's two parts to this
aren't there really,
there's the discrepancy
in leg speed between indoors and outdoors,
and then actually the
ultimate power output
discrepancy between indoors and outdoors.
When you look at the first one, leg speed,
I think perhaps the main reason
that's so vastly different
is due to the lack of resistance
that you can get when
you're riding indoors.
So you can remove obviously
things like wind resistance,
you can remove rolling
resistance, and ultimately
what you just get is resistance
from the drive train.
So you can spin for your life.
- [Dan] There's the other factor as well,
that when you're in an indoor trainer,
that trainer is basically
propping your bike up
for you like a stand.
So everyone ounce of energy,
that you're putting into
your bike is going into
achieving the maximum
cadence, which is why you've
probably got a discrepancy.
- Yeah, I'd say that's probably
more important actually,
isn't it?
The good news about this though,
is that actually if
you're seeing improvements
in leg speed indoors, then
that pretty much definitely
translates to outdoors, doesn't it?
Certainly the Zwift
coaches would think that.
And I think I agree with it too.
- Yeah, and there's
another aspect of this,
which as you mentioned
is the peak power output,
and there's no doubt, as you've mentioned,
you probably find a
higher peak power output
outside versus indoors and that's
for the complete opposite reason.
The fact that you got it in a stand means
you can't maneuver the bike
and use your upper body to get
that extra power output out.
- [Simon] No, that's right,
whereas when you are outside,
even skinny little arms like
ours, can add a little bit
extra to the bike.
- [Dan] Three, maybe four watts.
Each arm.
- [Simon] Yes, exactly, despite this,
even with, as you've said,
the difference in leg speed
will have a benefit training
indoors versus outdoors.
And actually the same is true
of power output, isn't it?
If you boost your power output indoors,
either through resistance
training or max sprint,
it will definitely translate
onto the outside as well.
- Yeah, so in short, it's the bit the same
as doing threshold effort, isn't it?
Like this, it'll be lesser
indoors versus outdoors,
but still worth doing as
part of your weekly routine,
because it will transfer
out onto the real world,
or into the real world, shall I say.
- Yeah, I suppose it's a
bit like doing gym stuff,
doing weights, and that
can boost your peak power,
even though you're not peddling,
you're just lifting weights.
- Yeah, but in the end
you don't transfer it out
into the real world, do you?
What weights are you lifting?
Only when you move houses or something.
(laughing)
Anyway, wish you the best of luck with it.
- Right then, on to comments
left under other videos
from last week.
Underneath Egan Bernal's
Pinarello Dogma F12 X-Light.
Muchirigateri
said, "Dan's disdain for doing free-hub
"sound-checks is palpable."
Less palpable than when Jeremy
did a free-hub sound-check
but still, yeah.
- I don't mind doing them but
when I forget I get
slaughtered in the comments,
that's what I'm worried about.
Anyway, underneath, "Too
Tough for the Tour de France,"
we have this from rrobotman,
"Considering he was keeping
up with a legend on an ebike
"most of the way, Si
is seriously a beast."
- Yeah
- Did you put that comment in?
- [Simon] That I did mate,
I can't believe you rooted it out,
but thanks very much for that.
Yes, read did.
(laughing)
Then underneath Ollie's
great video which is,
"What Tour de France
Riders Eat for Lunch,"
Scot Meyers pointed out, that
Ollie's sort of caffeine gels
might've been a bit obvious.
"And there are caffeine
gels, which are gels
"with caffeine in them."
To which DC replied, "For caffeine,
"I just prefer a cup of coffee,
"which is a cup with coffee in it."
- [Dan] Very good.
Ollie does claim that
he did that deliberately
for humor, but we're not
sure if we believe him.
- Yes.
- Finally this week, we had
this from iam1ina1000000,
- One in a million.
- This, oh is that what it is.
- Yeah, I am one in a million.
- I am so silly.
"This story would be so
much more interesting
"if these guys were
naked, just sayin' folks."
That is weird.
Oh, somebody replied
saying, "That's weird."
- Well, I think it's probably a reference
to a comment that we got last week,
which said that we should start
doing maintenance videos, naked.
- Oh I see, right.
I didn't bother watching last week's show
'cause I wasn't in it.
- You were busy mate, yeah.
Right, anyway, what is coming
up on the channel this week?
- Well, on Wednesday we are
going to show you the secret
to better recovery
- Oh yes.
- Also in that same day
we're going to tell you how
Tour de France climbers go up those climbs
so blooming fast.
Thursday we're going to have a look
at what Strava Summit is,
is that something you've
been looking into?
- It is indeed, yeah.
- Then we're also going
to look at what could
be the most brutal stage of
this year's Tour de France,
the penultimate day of the
Val Thorens on stage 20.
- [Simon] No gravel this time.
- No.
- Significantly easier
than it was on Sunday.
- And then Friday, we've
got the latest edition
of, "Meet the Presenters,"
this time of course
with J Pow, Jeremy Powers.
- Now on Saturday, this is the one
you've all been waiting for.
This is where GCN's
resident daredevil, Hank,
teamed up with ultra-endurance
legend, Mark Beaumont,
to recreate stage one of the
first ever Tour de France.
It's utterly brutal, utterly inhumane,
but watch on Saturday
to find out they got on.
And then on Sunday, equally inhumane,
we tested to see if triathletes
can ride bikes, yeah.
Find out the answer that one.
- No, obviously.
- Well yeah, we did
need quite a few bottles
of this stuff, put it this way.
- Monday, we're back
with the Race News Show.
Tuesday back in the set for the GCN Show.
Don't forget you can also
catch daily highlights,
wherever you are in the world,
of the Tour de France,
over in our new channel,
GCN Racing.
(upbeat rock music)
- Well we're getting towards
the end of the GCN Show now,
but as ever we have
extreme corner for you.
And this week, it's less extreme,
but more just remarkable, isn't it?
- This week in the world of cycling,
we learnt that Ruby Issac
is way better on the rollers
and everything else than we are.
(wheels squealing)
(loud thudding)
- Woohoo.
- Whoa.
- Hashtag, skilled.
- Yeah, it is.
- How many takes do you reckon that?
Pretty first go.
- Probably first go,
but maybe she can let us know.
Anyway one more point of
business before we leave you
for this week, and that is
to say, that the GCN events
this summer, GCN Avoriaz,
we've been told there's
one more room available, just one more,
so one opportunity to
catch up with such delights
as Lloydy's pub quiz,
and the GCN Show live,
as well as the amazing riding on offer,
in that part of the French Alps.
But there are a couple
more at GCN Saalbach,
which is the end of August.
- Avoriaz is just over a
week away now, isn't it?
Looking forward to that.
- Crickey.
- Looking forward
- You're going to leave
to my pub quiz.
- your training to the
last minute this time, aren't you?
- I'm not doing any.
- No training at all?
- Just going into it cold.
- Tapering from GCN Mallorca in March.
- Yeah, mid March till now, anyway,
hopefully I'll be all
right, fingers crossed,
but we're with the slow
group, whoever's in that.
- Yeah, yeah.
- That's all for this week's GCN Show,
if you've enjoyed it,
please give it a thumbs up
just down below.
I've said it again,
- Awwww.
people are going to go mad
in the comments about that.
If you'd like some more content,
I was actually out at the
Tour de France last week,
so I'm not sure if I mentioned it,
but I visited Dimension Data and NTT,
one in the same company, to find out
how they're using data to bring fans
closer to the Tour de
France than ever before.
Just down here, somewhere.
- Just need a thumb up.
