Spin Cycle

Welcome to a taste of the first episode of Performance Process, a podcast dedicated to making you a faster cyclist. 

To listen to the full episode, you'll need to be a member. You can sign up at Escapecollective.com/join. All members will receive an email with instructions for adding the private member feed to their podcast app of choice. 

This first episode focuses on optimizing for the hour record with guest Jonny Wale, delving into the processes behind the ten successful hour record attempts he's been involved with. That includes both Dan Bigham's former record and Filippo Ganna's current record. It's a fascinating chat and we hope you enjoy it. 

There has been a slew of wheel introductions recently, with some of the most interesting ones being from Zipp (lightweight carbon XC!), DT Swiss (“Aero for All”!), and Mavic (hookless aluminum gravel!). Wait, what? Yep, Mavic is now so progressive that its new aluminum gravel wheels feature a hookless profile, and we have some thoughts on the idea.

Timestamps:

1:37 – A close at DT Swiss’s new “Aero for All” aluminum wheels

Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Ronan Mc Laughlin join Caley Fretz to discuss the latest in the Jumbo-Visma Soudal-QuickStep potential merger saga, Alex Dowsett's new book, and more...

With no WWT racing since the last podcast, Gracie took charge of this episode. The crew spends most of the time discussing the best domestiques in the peloton, plus the different kinds of domestiques and who qualifies into which category.

Abby Mickey joins Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to discuss the highlights of this past weekend's racing, field questions from Escape Collective members, and look ahead at Il Lombardia.

Roughly a decade after problems first started surfacing with its bonded aluminum road crankarms, Shimano has finally issued an official recall for certain Ultegra and Dura-Ace models – and we have some thoughts on the matter. SRAM is also making its long-awaited entry into the e-MTB scene with its new Powertrain system, Specialized wants people to start thinking about e-bike performance a little differently, X marks the spot for Pinarello, and there’s some dodgy stuff going on out there when it comes to ultralight road wheels.

Timestamps:

5:16 – Shimano’s bill has finally come due

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.