Fast Talk

Forget what you thought you knew about sports nutrition. We speak with Dr. John Hawley, one of the top experts in the world about the cutting edge trends in sports nutrition. Hawley also debunks myths about Ketogenic diets and explains the difference between race and training nutrition. Plus, we talk to Cannondale-Drapac’s Toms Skujins and national champion Joey Rosskopf about how they use nutrition in the real world.

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Have you ever turned on a Tour de France stage and found yourself wondering what the heck is going on? Why are these riders off the front? Shouldn’t that team be chasing? In this special Fast Talk episode, we are joined by Cannondale-Drapac pro rider Toms Skujins to discuss the intricacies of racing strategy. Plus, we’ll give you a few ways you can translate Tour de France tactics into your local races.

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Is the heat of summer getting you down? Fast Talk is here to help. Coach Trevor Connor and Caley Fretz are joined once again by Rob Pickels, a physiologist who is currently studying ways to make clothing work better in hot weather. The panel discusses the mechanisms that cause your performance to drop when your body gets too hot, how to trick these mechanisms, and why you don’t want to. Finally, Fast Talk digs into the best ways to stay cool and safe when the mercury rises.

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You need to sprint faster. Everyone does, except maybe Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish. Though sprinting ability is largely a function of genetics, there are still tons of ways to get more out of your finishing kick, from positioning to neuromuscular training to simply showing up at the finish line fresher. We discuss the ins and outs of sprint technique and training, and are joined by two-time national criterium champion Eric Young for some pro tips.

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What numbers do you use to describe your rides? Some cyclists keep it simple with mileage and time. Others delve into TSS, FTP, or kJ to quantify a day of training. We talk to Dirk Friel of TrainingPeaks to explain how cyclists can use the data to make your workouts more effective and productive.

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Your body is ready to race, but is your bike ready? We are joined by VeloNews’s tech team of Dan Cavallari and Kristen Legan to dig into the tech side of proper race preparation. What should you do to your bike to make it race-ready? Where can you find the biggest gains for the least cash? What do you need to have in your race bag? The panel tackles these questions and many more.

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The breakaway. It is perhaps the noblest form of victory, and the most difficult. Joining and then winning from breakaways is as much art as science, as much tactical awareness as strength. In this episode, we are joined by Cannondale-Drapac’s escape ace Toms Skuijns, winner of two breakaway stages of the Amgen Tour of California, as well as VeloNews managing editor Chris Case, to discuss the tips, tricks, and tactics needed to make a breakaway move stick.

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Everyone has a warm-up routine, which is sometimes simple, and sometimes very complex. But what are we actually achieving with a pre-race routine? Is it helping us or actually hurting our potential to perform? We go in-depth on the science behind warm-ups and provide tips on how to get the most out of your next race by tailoring your routine to the event and your own needs.

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Should you eat gummy bears like Peter Sagan? Maybe. In this episode, we are joined by Dan Cavallari and Stacy Sims, founder of Osmo who now works with Nuun, to discuss the difference between food and fuel — what you should be eating on the bike, and off. We cover everything from the basics of sugars to osmotic gut pressure to the benefits (or lack thereof) of red algae. Some of the conclusions just might surprise you.

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Which is better, sweet spot training or polarized training? To find out, we invited in proponents of each type of training — FasCat’s Frank Overton on the sweet spot side, and Boulder Center for Sports Medicine’s Ryan Kohler to advocate for a polarized model — and let them have at it. Don’t know what Sweet Spot or polarized training are? Don’t worry, that’s covered first.

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