There isn't anything else like the Queen of the Classics and, if this season so far is anything to go by, we've got an exciting weekend of racing in front of us. The women's field will face the thirty cobbled sectors under the sun on Saturday, while there's a chance of rain and mud for the men on Sunday as Tadej Pogačar aims to be the first reigning Tour de France champion to win the Hell of the North in decades.

Velo's Andrew Hood, Jim Cotton, and Mike Levy sat down to chat about how to ride the cobbles like a pro, Roubaix bike setup, favorites and wildcards, the chances of anyone beating Kopecky in the velodrome (slim), and how van Aert, Pedersen, Ganna, and Van der Poel could tag team Pogi.

This week's Velo Podcast brings Mike Levy and tech editor Alvin Holbrook together to talk about our favorite trade show: the Taipei Cycle Show.

Velo had Jessie-May Morgan, Shoddy Dave Everett, Alvin, and a video team there to wander all four floors and never-ending aisles that are always packed full of everything from the interesting, exciting, exotic, and maybe even useful to the just plain questionable, and a bunch of stuff in between.

This week, we're talking about some crazy carbon fiber wheels with Mother of Pearl finish on them, whether we should be considering aero crankarms for the gainz, or what about a different crankset that claims to add 50 percent more power to your pedal stroke?

Also up for discussion included some wild new bikes that may or may not exist, and we need to know if the relatively inexpensive Wheeltop and L-Twoo wireless drivetrains from China have finally gotten good enough to consider buying.

If you care about seeing what the future of the bike industry looks like–and what bikes, components, and accessories from Asia look like–you won't want to miss this one.

Can a $600 pair of shoes really be worth the price? Surely not... but also maybe, depending on who you ask.

Today's show sees tech editor Josh Ross and Mike Levy talk about Specialized's new S-Works Ares 2 shoe, as well as how to test expensive bikes and gear, and how relevant that pricey equipment may — or may not — be for many riders who have different priorities. 

Here's a burning question we've had for quite some time: should your bike complement your strengths or shore up your weaknesses?

Wait, hear us out! We thought about the best bikes we've ridden, and there's always something in common: they make us feel superhuman. But what about that that bike makes you feel that way? Is it how it makes up for your weaknesses on the descents, or is it how it only amplifies what you're the best at?

We have a bit of an argument here, with some of us believing a bike needs to focus on rider weaknesses, while others would rather their bikes help them feel better about what they're doing.

Along the way, we talk about Litespeed's new titanium road bike, which they claim is the lightest titanium frame yet. Then, we get nostalgic about old Cannondales as we talk about the latest Topstone Carbon ahead of its launch

Ah, and as we should, we talk about a big crash that happened while filming our first-ever Velo Field Test. Don't tell us we don't make sacrifices for this job!

Listen to the latest episode of the Velo Podcast below.

Bike racing is back! With the UAE Tour and Volta in the rearview mirror, it's time to jump feet first into what looks to be an epic Classics season that kicked off with Omloop and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Then, it was off to the rolling white roads of Italy's Chianti region for the Strade Bianche, where the women's race climaxed with a duel between Demi Vollering and Anna van der Breggen up the steep final wall better known as Via Santa Caterina. And if you were watching the men's race and waiting to see if Tadej Pogačar could best last year's 80km solo breakaway for victory, he did exactly that but in a very different way, overcoming what looked like a serious crash to notch up his third Strade victory. 

Today's podcast sees Mike Levy chat with Andrew Hood and Jim Cotton about what makes the Classics so special, how Pogačar could win Milano-Sanremo, and why more people need to think like Tom Pidcock.

Some of the Velo team is in the midst of gearing up for a field test, where we're testing all-road bikes and comparing them against a traditional racey road bike and a gravel bike. Between all the testing and riding we're doing, it's got us wondering what the heck is an all-road bike, anyway?

Yeah, yeah, all-road bikes are supposed to bridge the gap between the race road bikes and the performance gravel bikes. They tend to offer more upright body positioning, handling that skews toward safe rather than agile, and often include some sort of feature that promises to dampen road vibrations.

But where did the all-road name even come from? How did we lose the phrase 'endurance road bike' along the way? And perhaps most importantly, is a gravel bike the right bike if you're looking for an all-road bike?

Along the way, we chat about Jim Cotton's excellent story on how breathing sensors are poised to blow up bike racing and why a breathing sensor is a much more reliable indicator of effort and output. We also dig into why Lidl-Trek raced on a SRAM gravel groupset at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.

We dug in on this latest episode of the Velo Podcast, and we hope you enjoy digging in, too.

See the latest in cycling on Velo: velo.outsideonline.com

Today's bikes are really, really good. That doesn't mean we don't have major pet peeves, however. Proprietary seat posts and stems, are an easy one, as are companies cheaping out on bolts and bearings. But we went further, talking about the bike industry's propensity to push bikes on us that don't help riders address their weaknesses, and perhaps most importantly, how we wish the bike industry solved these issues. 

Look, we said the bikes are good. We didn't say they were perfect!

In the news, we talk about Devinci's latest Hatchet Pro gravel bike that is a whole lot more racey than we'd expect. Is Hope Tech's new carbon gravel crank with a foam core going to be any good? And we talk about why Josh isn't going to stop waxing his chain any time soon.

All that and more in the latest Velo Podcast. See more: velo.outsideonline.com/featured

If you grew up or currently live and ride bikes in a town with any sort of population, we bet there’s either a group ride of some sort that just happened or will be happening in a few days.

Maybe it starts from the local bike shop, or maybe it starts from the go-to coffee shop. Some rides are a chill Sunday spin that's gone on uninterrupted for the past two decades, while others are the three-hour World Championship ride with 50 of the local meatheads.

We do our best to define these group tries, describe what motivates these rides, and how to find your ideal group ride, even if that means starting one yourself.

Of course, we also dig into the news. That means talking about how the UCI handed out a last-minute ban on a Kask helmet visor that the Ineos Grenadiers have used for years, and talking to the team to find out what happened.

Then came the sealant conversation. Silca is so certain of its sealant working headache-free that the brand has promised to pay a $500 Bad Day Bonus to its sponsored athletes who get punctures that don’t seal. We dove into why it is so confident in its new Ultimate Sealant.

All of that and more in the latest podcast!

See more from Velo: https://velo.outsideonline.com/featured

Host Mike Levy has a hot take — or is it Senior Tech Editor Josh Ross who has the hot take? Find out this week as we debate the merits of aero road bikes.

And first, we take a closer look at Classified's patent on a self charging shifting system that could make the burgeoning alternative drivetrain maker's offering a whole lot simpler to live with.

Mike Levy sits down with Dan Sommer, owner of Jack's Cycle, to talk about the realities of running a bike shop.