Marginal Gains Cycling Podcast, Presented by Silca

Is it a coincidence that Fatty picked all the questions for this episode, and that all the questions in this episode are topics Fatty finds either interesting or personally relevant? Probably not! But if you're wondering if chain waxing makes sense for dusty trail conditions, are curious how much (if any) the outside temperature should affect your tire pressure, or are wondering how inflexible cyclists should set their bikes to be as aero as possible, you'll find Josh's answers as intriguing as Fatty did. Enjoy the show!

Zwift VP of Product Mark Cote joins the Marginal Gains crew, picking up where we left off in our last conversation: the wind tunnel. This time, his time in the tunnel is all about future-looking features for Zwift, and this peek at what's to come is not to be missed. 

From there we talk about everything in the present and future state of Zwift and Marginal Gains, from the extremely practical (tips and warnings for your own Zwift setup) to the philosophical (is Zwift for racing, training, or fun?) with everything in between. 

Whether you ride a smart trainer or not, you will not want to miss this episode!

Bryan Larsen tells us his only real talent is that he's too dumb to quit. We strongly disagree, but take his point: Bryan is no quitter. In this episode, Bryan talks us through how he took the constraints given to him through birth and accident, and used passion, perseverence, and a love of marginal gains to reinvent his racing career.

We're so excited to kick this 35th episode of our "Ask Josh Anything" series with a discussion of the announcement of Silca's partnership with Visma Lease-A-Bike. Fatty does his level best to pitch having Hottie in the team car, hot-waxing on the move. We move from there to the challenges of high pressure with hookless rims, and how it has put Josh in the position of being the PSI bartender and cutting pressure-thirsty riders off. And that's just for starters. We also get into group ride marginal gains, changing pressure prescriptions for worn tires, whether 3D-printed Ti quicklinks should be a thing, the likely aero effects of Tadej's six-figure watch, and more. Enjoy this packed episode of Marginal Gains!

Gravel Racing is moving face and Amy Charity is one of the movers. Amy is the founder of SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The race started on the back of a napkin in 2018 and has quickly become one of the premiere off-road events in the U.S. After a few short years of success, Amy expanded SBT to Europe and Australia. But before the dirt roads, Amy raced on tarmac. She was a pro roadie with a short but successful career. And before road racing, Amy was in high finance. Josh and Hottie talk to Amy about her days in the pro peloton, how her business education informs her work as a race promoter, and Josh and Amy have a college reunion of sorts.

At this point we've lost track on how many episodes we've dedicated to wind tunnels, but this is at least partially one of them. We've also got great questions about Fatty's new Firefly and the Ti-printed parts Silca created for it, a classic question on the best body position for riding in a strong tailwind, axle handle alignment, and a remarkably well-considered question on calculating tire pressure for full-suspension bikes. 

Gravel Racing has gone global, and governing bodies have gotten involved. The UCI is now in its third year of putting on its Gravel World Series. It has more than two dozen races on four continents. Instead of running the series itself, the UCI has turn to a sports group and the point person in that group is three-time Cyclocross World Champ Erwin Vervecken. It's an understatement to say he knows drop bars and dirt. He is. We talk to Erwin about how the series began, the lack of a major presence in the US, how to get into Worlds, UCI rules and Gravel, and we throw in some Cross questions.

Tony Karklins is the founder of Allied Cycle, is currently the founder of Time, and has deep knowledge of all aspects of the cycling industry, all the way back to when as a teenager he owned a bike shop. He's the perfect match for a conversation with Josh about bike business, manufacturing, racing and more. 

John Cobb may be best known for his bike saddles, but his experience and innovation go much deeper. John may be the first person to take a bike to the wind tunnel, and is likely the only person to crank up the tunnel to 70mph...with a rider in it. Enjoy this great episode with a cycling innovator

Life Time puts on what is arguably the biggest and most important pro bike racing series in the US: The Life Time Grand Prix. And one man is in chage of it all: Kimo Seymour. Fatty and Hottie talk with Kimo changes in the race, the "Call of a Life Time" series, aerobars, Keegan's Swenson's chances for dominating the event for a third year running, and much more.