James Huang, Global Technical Editor of CyclingTips, is one of the most-trusted cycling journalists in the industry today — and for good reason. He brings a knowledge, experience, humor, and integrity to everything he covers. In this episode, Josh and James have a great, wide-ranging conversation — from their similar histories in getting into the cycling industry, to how the cycling world has changed, to the relationship of cycling journalism and product manufacturers, and much more.

We've got a great batch of questions from you for Josh to contemplate this episode:

• Does the placebo effect apply to cycling clothes and shoes as well as to equipment?
• Since many rims are different widths in different places, where should we measure when applying the rule of 105?
• How much — if any — does a patched tube affect a bike's CRR?
• Are third-party ceramic bearings and oversized pulley wheels still relevant?
• How marginal of a gain do you get with a really nice hub?
• Is it faster to run a deeper wheel in the front than the rear?

Josh will answer all of these — and more! — in this episode of Marginal Gains (Disclaimer: the answer almost always begins with "it depends.")

You know you've had this suspicion: the core of the cycling industry—much of what it's really selling you—is not tech, speed, or fitness. Nope, the truth is that one of the most powerful marginal gains you'll ever get is thanks to the placebo effect. Josh, Fatty, and Hottie talk about what it is and how potent a force it is in cycling.

In this Ask-Josh-Anything episode of Marginal Gains, we ask you to imagine Josh as your boy scout leader, and whether that would be the most awesome — or terrifying — thing in the world. (The jury's out on that question by the way). Then we settle in and talk about how Silca's new online Pressure Calculator works, why aero tires are no longer a thing, hysteresis issues of swerving under hard effort, whether being aero matters when you're in a big peloton, and a lot more. Gather round the fire!

We always planned on our Hour Record trilogy being three episodes long. But then Josh got to talking with Robert Chung — one of Josh's intellectual heroes — and we just had to share it.

If you think most episodes of the Marginal Gains Podcast are too lightweight and you've been jonesing for a show where Josh has an intellectual equal to talk with (mostly but definitely not exclusively about the Hour Reord), this is the episode for you.

We're back with more proof that we're willing to ask Josh practically anything bike-related...and that he's willing to take practically any question seriously. In Ask Josh Anything #008, we talk about what gas you should fill your tires with, the challenge of planning for endurance ride air pressure loss, marginal gains and Kipchoge's sub-2-hr marathon, which pedals are most aero and whether aero pedals matter (they do!), whether aero adjustments could make a difference in downhill MTB races (they could!) and —as always — much more. 

In this final (?) part of our Hour Record trilogy, we talk about the rules of the modern Hour Record, how marginal gains start really coming into play, the theoretical upper limit for the hour record and how close we are to it, and the future for the hour record. We give extra focus to Bradley Wiggins' hour record, in part because it comes as close to a perfect attempt — apart from uncontrollable factors — as we've ever seen, and in part because Josh has some fascinating inside knowledge of Sir Wiggins' incredible feat. 

We're back with a new set of questions for Josh, digging deep into the topics supernerd cyclists care deeply about. We talk about the products that intrigued Josh most at Eurobike, find out what size (diameter and width) he'd make road wheels be if he could start from scratch, speculate on whether the very aero-looking Ceepo Shadow-R is actually aero, consider marginal gains in gravel races, ask whether it's better to wrap cables together or keep them separate, ponder the age-old question of tubeless vs latex tubes, and...ponder marginal gains opportunities in inline skating. (Hey, rollerbladers need marginal gains love, too.)

In part 2 of our Hour Record series, Josh, Hottie and Fatty talk about why you can go faster at altitude, even with less oxygen in your lungs...up to a point.

We chat about the magnificently weird (but mostly magnificent) Merckx hour record, and how much further he might have gone if he knew then what we know now.

Finally, we discuss the cyclists (Moser, Obree, Boardman, Indurain, Rominger and more) and bikes that, a dozen years later, broke the Merckx record and launched an hour-record arms race.

The ongoing "Ask Josh Anything" series is back from Summer vacation and we've got a fun — and surprisingly informative — set of questions for Josh, including: 

• What marginal gains are made by following the TTT instructions in a pre-TdF video by Team EF?
• When you've got a tailwind, is it better to still make yourself as small as possible, or should you sit up and try to take advantage of the wind behind you?
• What's going on when the dish changes the first time a tire is mounted on a new wheel?
• Some riders claim their bike feels faster and lighter on climbs when they move their bottle to their jersey pocket. Is there any merit to this, or is the effect in fact the opposite? Or neither?
• FFWD claims to have made the fastest wheel ever. Is it possible to legitimately make this claim?

All this and an in-depth discussion of what happens to your aero-ness when you grow a beard (with a side discussion on types of beards), in the show that makes a big deal about the little things, and how those little things can be a big deal.