What's this? A new podcast? You bet. 

Performance Process is a new podcast from Escape Collective exclusively for Escape Collective members. Ronan Mc Laughlin and Caley Fretz, the podcast was born from a simple idea: the best performances don’t just happen, they are the result of a combination of processes.

Be that training, testing, coaching, or the latest science, we will be joined by a new guest each episode to delve into the processes that produce performances with the people who understand them best.

If you enjoy maximising your own performance, this is definitely a podcast for you. Likewise, if you want to make sense of the latest performance innovations or how the best riders keep getting better, Performance Process is the podcast with the answers.

The first episode will drop next week, and we'll publish a new episode every other week. 

If you're already a member, you'll receive an email with instructions for accessing episodes of Performance Process. If you're not a member yet, head to Escapecollective.com/join to fix that right up. 

Jonny Long, Ronan Mc Laughlin, and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz to talk about what Jonny calls the "British equivalent of crit beef," Mauro Schmid's travel plans, and, of course, the reports of a possible Jumbo-Visma Soudal-QuickStep merger.

Abby, Loren, and Gracie break down the European Championship road race and chat about gardening (plus maybe a little about the Kardashians, sorry).

Ruth Winder joins Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to discuss the entertaining road race action from the European Continental Championships as well as the 2023 Grand Tour season as a whole.

This week’s Geek Warning has James, Ronan, and Dave covering a broad range of topics from Fulcrum’s new road wheels, a new airless tyre, and a tyre that’s recalled for being unwantedly airless.

There’s also a surprising amount of chat about e-bikes, but perhaps not for the right reasons. There’s the new Moots entering the space, but not with its expected material. Rad Power promises safer batteries, which is great, but also feels late. And yet another recall has us asking whether cheap e-bikes are a responsible product.

Timestamps:

4:45 – Moots takes an Express train in an unexpected direction

Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Ronan Mc Laughlin join Caley Fretz to discuss their final impressions of the 2023 Vuelta a España and Jumbo-Visma's dominance, some chatter around Mark Cavendish racing on, and more. Plus, the crew dives into a Sepp Kuss-related Weekly Pain competition.

Abby, Loren and Gracie are back to chat about the Tour de Romandie, some transfers, and dolls.

Abby Mickey joins Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to discuss the dramatic final week of the Vuelta a España, the race in general, and the Human Fly, and also to take a closer look at the women's Tour de Romandie.

Jonny Long, Abby Mickey, and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz in the immediate aftermath of stage 18 of the Vuelta a España, where Jumbo-Visma seemed to decide to back Sepp Kuss in red after several days of drama.

Specialized announced its latest Roubaix and Giant launched its fifth-generation Defy Advanced this week, but while they’re both “endurance road bikes”, they could hardly be more different.

We’ve also got a new aero all-rounder from Ridley, fancy 3D-printed titanium derailleur hangers, new indoor developments from Wahoo and Zwift, a whole day of hour records, thoughts on the UCI’s minimum weight limit, and a word of caution to maybe not trust that little map on your GPS computer *too* much.

Timestamps:

6:55 - A Specialized Roubaix, but no Cable Cobbler (yet)