Spin Cycle

Jonny Long hosts the final Placeholders episode of the year, a quiz showdown with Iain Treloar, Kit Nicholson, and Ronan Mc Laughlin. Who will emerge as the end-of-year champion? Listen to find out ...

For our final episode of the year, Gracie, Loren and I chat the recent Giro d’Italia Women route announcement, development pathways from Australia for women, the UCI’s weird wildcard decision, and more. Plus we answer a handful of your questions.

Stay tuned for an exclusive members only episode with the three of us coming next week.

This week's Performance Process is the latest in our series delving into how and why World Tour racing is getting so much faster. The first of our deep dive episodes on the specifics of how racing is getting faster, Dr Tim Podlogar is our guest to discuss all things "high-carb."

The jokingly self-professed Mr Carbohydrate, Podlogar is an exercise physiologist at Birmingham University focusing on sports nutrition, exercise metabolism, environmental physiology and endurance performance. He is a former rower turned 5.5 w/KG cyclist and head nutritionist at Bora-Hansgrohe World Tour team.

Podlogar has tested low-carb diets in the past and is now a high-carb advocate. In this episode we discuss the benefits of a high-carb approach, why the simple carbohydrate is having its day all over again, how to fuel your own rides, and why we still need to consider supply and demand. Podlogar even gives us a grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight for various breakfast timing options.

The Performance Process is a members-only podcast from Escape Collective. If you're not a member, you'll need to become one (insider or supporter level both apply – monthly or annual both apply) to listen to the full show.

Timestamps:

08:00 – Changing from low carb to high carb
16:00 – Advancements in nutrition products 
17:40 - Doing your homework
25:00 – Pros v amateurs
26:32 – Post ride window
27:51 – Fuel the activity 
32:30 - All about the balance
35:10 – How many crabs and when
38:04 – Why you are always hungry post ride
47:10 – How to fuel for early morning rides and races

We’re skipping the usual news this week because it’s once again time for our annual tech awards! 2023 was certainly a memorable year for a multitude of reasons, but what were the cycling tech-related things that stuck in our minds of our resident geeks, James, Dave, and Ronan? What were the biggest trends? What were our favorite products? Who was doing things right? What was the biggest flop? What was the best thing we bought this year?

We’ve got all of that – and much, much more – in this don’t-miss episode of Geek Warning.

Timestamps:

2:05 – Biggest tech trend
7:59 – Biggest surprise
12:13 – The “It’s about time” award
16:42 – The “most wanted” award
20:00 – Our favorite bike-related purchases of the year
25:46 – The “What the hell were they thinking?” award
32:10 – The “problem solver” award
36:20 – The “more of this, please, bike industry” award
38:49 – The “meh” award
43:36 – The “I am so here for this” award
45:59 – The “Oops, I put my foot in my mouth” award
48:04 – The most exciting new tool of the year
53:57 – What products are we anticipating most in 2024?

On this week's Placeholders, Abby Mickey, Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Iain Treloar cover the uncertainty surrounding where up-and-comer Cian Uijtdebroeks will be riding next year as well as comparing Classics and discussing Belgian cycling awards.

On this week's Members Only Escape Collective Wheel Talk Podcast (phew), Abby chats with Floorje Mackaij about moving from DSM to Movistar after 10 years with the same team, alongside her close friend Liane Lippert, and riding for Annemiek van Vleuten, plus Bella, her adorable dog who has become a honorary member of her Spanish team.

Hoo boy, it’s been a big week in tech, and our resident geeks had a lot to talk about.

It was just a matter of time before Cervelo jumped into the e-bike market, and that day has finally come with the new Rouvida. The same frame is used for two road and two gravel models, but Cervelo has incorporated flip chips in the front and rear dropouts to adjust the geometry accordingly. Despite the sizable battery hidden away inside the down tube, the carbon fiber frame looks pretty good, too – not entirely unlike Cervelo’s original Soloist Carbon, in fact. All versions are powered by Fazua’s Ride60 mid-drive motor for smooth and quiet running, and James has just received a gravel test sample so stay tuned for a proper review in the weeks ahead.

Looking for some marginal gains on your SRAM Transmission-equipped mountain bike? CeramicSpeed has released a new version of its OSPW oversized pulley cage assembly with 14T upper and 20T lower pulleys, smooth-running hybrid ceramic bearings, and a novel self-cleaning design. But while the eye-watering price is getting all the attention, what you might really want to think about is the lifetime warranty.

Fulcrum’s new Red Zone Carbon+ mountain bike wheels tick a lot of boxes: low weight, an inventive rim design that supposedly produces perfectly even spoke tensions, a solid outer rim wall for easy and reliable tubeless setup, and low-friction adjustable angular contact hybrid ceramic bearings. The pawl-type rear hub engagement is on the slower side, though. Does that matter? Maybe – or maybe not. It depends.

Gravel bikes have unquestionably been the hot segment of the bicycle market for the past several years, and the progression in the product has been astronomical. But with such a narrow gap between road/all-road bikes and XC mountain bikes to fill, how much space is there really for innovation? Not that it’s at all a bad thing to reach this level of maturity this quickly, but have we already hit peak gravel?

The geeks are rarely in agreement over everything, but in our Pick One! segment this week, there’s surprisingly little debate among us when it comes to our favorite mountain bike pedals.

James just received a bike he’s especially excited to test, and it’s also one of the least-expensive ones he’s tested, too: Trek’s entry-level Marlin 7 aluminum hardtail. It might not be fancy, but it’s arguably far more important than any bike that costs ten times as much.

And finally, Wiggle has dramatically contracted its business, the MADE handmade bicycle show has also announced its dates for the 2024 event, Strava has launched a new direct messaging function, Campagnolo is out of the World Tour, Ag2r moves to Van Rysel bikes, TotalEnergies is now on Enve, and Bora is supposedly switching to SRAM components.

Timestamps:

3:24 – Cervelo’s new Rouvida e-bike looks pretty good
9:40 – CeramicSpeed is coming for your Transmission rear derailleurs
18:03 – Are Fulcrum’s new Red Zone Carbon+ XC mountain bike wheels fast (engaging) enough?
23:09 – Has the bike industry reached peak gravel in terms of product development?
31:55 – Pick One!
38:12 – Cheap bikes are good
42:40 – Wiggle’s mighty fall from grace
44:22 – MADE is coming back for 2024!
45:27 – Strava is sliding into you DMs
46:33 – Pro team sponsor musical chairs

It's time to treat our members to another bonus episode of the Geek Warning podcast. This week, Brad Copeland – former World Cup pro mechanic and now service director at Hush Money Bikes – joins James and Dave to geek out on all things related to building a dream home workshop.

In this episode, you'll learn about how to build out a tool kit, our thoughts on tool organisation, what to do if you don't have a dedicated workspace, and a whole lot more.

While the weekly Geek Warning podcast remains unchanged and open to all, we’re now providing additional bonus episodes each fortnight. These bonus episodes are a mix of Ask a Wrench, deep-dives, or interviews with the people behind popular products. The Geek Warning bonus episodes are exclusively available to Escape Collective members, though select segments of certain episodes will find their way into our free feed. 

Ronan Mc Laughlin, Kit Nicholson, Dane Cash, and Joe Lindsey all join Caley Fretz on this week's Placeholders to talk Campagnolo, the media landscape, swords, milk, and more.

With 2024 just around the corner Abby chatted with EF Education-Cannondale’s new General Manager Esra Tromp about the process of building a team from scratch, the hurdles the team might come against in the new year, and more.