Velo Podcast

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk! I'm your host Chris Case. Today we have a great episode in store for you, with someone you’ve heard from many times before on Fast Talk. Today, we’re finally joined by Brent Bookwalter of the Mitchelton-Scott WorldTour team, a man of both wisdom and humility, for a full conversation on balancing life and sport.

What do pros know about that balance, you ask? “They’re pampered!” you’re probably thinking. Well, not exactly true. The life of a pro cyclist is not as glamorous as you might think. We’ll discuss that misconception, but we’ll spend the majority of our conversation learning the many ways in which Brent has learned to balance training and racing with being a good husband, a soon-to-be-father, a son and friend, and a gran fondo promoter, among many other things. Through the years of racing both at the neo-pro level through to the WorldTour, Brent has dealt with limited time—sometimes well, sometimes not so well—which has forced him to prioritize his life in myriad ways. And it’s those tips that apply to all of us.

The high level of physical and mental performance that is demanded of pro athletes while they also strive to maintain healthy relationships and interests outside of their career, means that they have been forced to master “life-balance.”

While we don’t all deal with the issues related to pro cyclists’ in our own lives, there are common themes about self-care, spending time on relationships, knowing your personal limits, and working to keep your passions alive that we can all relate to.

Today, along with Brent, we spoke to long-time pro and coach Katie Compton, as well as two of our favorite coaches and soon-to-be Fast Labs podcast hosts, Grant Holicky and Colby Pearce.

If you didn't catch it yet, we released our first bonus podcast last week. That’s right, Fast Talk is now a weekly podcast. Coach Connor and I were able to answer a few of your questions, one related to overtraining and burn-out—not-interchangeable terms, thank you Dr. Seiler for the correction—and one related to physiological testing.

If you have a question for us you can either write us at [email protected] OR, as you may have heard by now, we have a number setup for you to call – it's 719-800-2112 . Leave a voicemail with your question. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show.

Now, bust out your balance board, brush up on your communication skills, it’s time to compartmentalize. Let’s make you fast!

The VeloNews Podcast welcomes the newest staff editor to join the publication, Betsy Welch.

On this week's episode of the podcast we speak with Betsy about the various topics she will be covering, from women's cycling to gravel and mountain bike racing. We recently held a focus group for female cyclists in Boulder, Colorado, and Betsy discusses what we learned from the 40 women who attended. What are the storylines driving interest amongst female riders?

Then, Andrew Hood calls in to discuss what he learned from Deceuninck-Quick Step's training camp, where he interviewed Remco Evenepoel, Julian Alaphilippe, and Zdenek Stybar. Evenepoel is making his grand tour start at just 19; Alaphilippe is targeting the Olympics.

Hood is off to the Tour Down Under, which kicks off the WorldTour schedule in just a few days. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast.

Helmets have come a long way since leather hairnets, or even more minimalist than that, the perfectly coiffed head of hair. While EPS foam has dominated helmet construction for decades now, a new crop of technologies have emerged in recent years to address the types of forces your brain is likely to encounter during a crash.

Tech editor Dan Cavallari traveled to New York City in early 2019 to find out more about Bontrager's Wavecel technology. He sat down with Wavecel's inventor to find out what makes this green, wavy plastic different than other green, wavy plastics we've seen before.

And Jens Voigt chimes in with some of his experiences with head injuries and the evolution of helmets in the pro peloton.

Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of Fast Talk. These new episodes, which we’ll publish every other week to supplement our flagship shows, will typically run a little shorter than our regular episodes, and they’ll also be more geared toward answering your questions, but all in all, they’ll contain the same great content you’ve come to expect from Fast Labs, and from Coach Connor and Chris Case.

Our regular, full-length episodes with multiple guests addressing the current science in training and your requested topics will still continue on, of course. For this first bonus episode, we’re doing a bit of everything. For starters, during our episode a few weeks back with the Cycling Gym, we recorded an analysis of some recent physiological research. Trevor hadn’t done a nerd bomb in a while and was feeling the need. But it didn’t really fit with the episode. So, we’ll start with Trevor’s summary of a few studies and what they say about how to structure your training.

We’ll also answer listener questions on overtraining, laboratory testing, and much more.

If you have a question for us, give us a call at 719-800-2112 and leave us a voicemail. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show. As always, you can also email us at [email protected].

Now, let’s make you fast!

Welcome back from the holidays!

The VeloNews Podcast returns with the first episode of 2020, and there is plenty to discuss. Andrew Hood and Fred Dreier jump into three major storylines from these early days of the decade.

The dangerous wildfires in Australia have not yet threatened the Santos Tour Down Under, but major endurance events are often cancelled in the wake of tragedy and natural disasters. Fred and Andy discuss the upcoming race, and whether or not the fires will force organizers to cancel it.

The U.S. gravel cycling scene is already generating headlines, as more pro road riders jump into off-road cycling. As it turns out, these riders are changing the business model of pro cycling in America by attracting personal sponsors that may have otherwise gone to a pro team or race. How could this shift change the American cycling landscape?

Chris Froome is back in the news, as stories circulated that he left a Team Ineos training camp in early December. Were these stories accurate or overblown?

Then, we have an interview with domestic road pro TJ Eisenhart, who is leaving the road behind to launch his own gravel racing team. Eisenhart explains why he's heading to gravel racing and delves into his own personal setbacks in road cycling. Plus, he explains why his gravel team supports a new business model.

All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast.

Happy New Year’s, Fast Talk friends!

We are excited to be speeding into 2020 with our new company, Fast Labs, and continuing our partnership with VeloNews. For starters, and due to popular demand, Fast Talk will now be a weekly show. These new bi-monthly bonus episodes will be a bit shorter than the traditional Fast Talk episode, but in them you’ll find similar, detailed scientific physiology explanations, special interviews with your favorite pros, coaches, and experts, and we’ll also regularly answer your questions.

To that end, thank you to the listeners who called and left us a voicemail over the holidays. We’ll be recording a special listener questions episode in the next week, so make sure to get your questions in as soon as you can. The number to call is 719-800-2112. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show.

Now, episode 91. The focus of this episode can be summarized in a single, powerful sentiment: There is great value in keeping track of your numbers, at analyzing the data you’ve gathered with your power meter, heart rate strap, or other device, but if all you do is focus on the numbers, and make them the end-goal themselves, you are missing out on very critical aspects of your training.

So, the underlying message of episode 91 is simple: Think of the numbers not as the target or the goal, but as a tool. What we will emphasize today are the many critical aspects of training and coaching that don’t show up in the data.

Our primary guest is a very successful former professional cyclist turned coach Julie Young, whose road racing career stretched over a decade with teams including Saturn and Timex. She continues to race today at a very high level across multiple disciplines, and is currently part of the talented team behind the Kaiser Permanente Sports Medicine Endurance Lab in California.

We’re also joined by co-owner of The cycling Gym, Coach Steve Neal, as well as Trek-Segafredo's Ruth Winder, the reigning American national champion on the road.

Now, set your preferred analytics software aside for a minute. Let’s focus on you, your brain, and this moment. Let’s make you fast!

It's the final episode of The VeloNews Podcast of 2019, and we here at VeloNews want to wish all of you a Happy Holidays!

For our final show we have an interview with USPro road champion (and friend of the show) Alex Howes. Alex takes us inside his big win, and discusses the joy and pain of racing the Dirty Kanza 200, as well as his big racing plans for 2020.

We hope you have a great break and will see you all in 2020.

The decade is coming to a close, so VeloNews tech editor Dan Cavallari and editorial director Ben Delaney count down the most significant bicycle gear and tech developments to occur since 2010. Some of these advancements changed the way we ride (Indoors? On dirt? It all happened!) and some never gained a foothold.

What do you think of our list of the top 20 most important tech stories of the decade? Have questions or feedback? Think we missed a few? Be sure to tweet @browntiedan to let us know!

Base training has traditionally been all about long, slow rides. But that's tough if you live in the northern hemisphere and you hate the cold, or lack the necessary equipment to ride safely outdoors when road conditions might be perilous and light is limited.

Today, we’re discussing how best to deal with those challenges that plague the northern hemisphere this time of year. (Apologies to all of our friends in the southern hemisphere!) Does it kill your motivation to ride? Do you feel the fitness literally draining from your body? Don't let it!

The darkness, cold temperatures, and perilous road conditions of the winter months don’t have to be any sort of barrier. In fact, as you’ll learn in this episode, this time of year is the perfect time to find a host of new ways to stay motivated, add variety to your training methods, try something new, reinvigorate your work ethic, and, ultimately, set yourself up to improve performance when the racing begins later in the year.

Our primary guests today are Andrew Randell and Steve Neal, the owners of Toronto's The Cycling Gym, joined by one of their athletes, Jeremiah Groen, someone who we imagine is similar to a lot of our listeners: "I'm a very amateur cyclist, don't do many races; I mostly just want to be fit."

These three Canadians don’t care about the winter blues! Their advice? Get brave and get outside. Yes, even in the dark and even in the snow. But if you can’t or won’t go outside, they have plenty of sage advice on how best to hit the gym, the trainer, or the weight room to get the most, and the most balance, out of your training sessions.

We’ll also hear from pro roadie Erica Clevenger. She divulges some of her favorite methods of cross training. All that and much more, including some tech advice from Lennard Zinn.

By the end of this episode, you’ll understand that using the base season properly to prepare for the build to come and the all-important race season to follow can be a very enjoyable time of year.

Now, let's make you fast!

Gage Hecht rode away with the 2019 U.S. Cyclocross National Championships this past weekend in Lakewood, Washington. On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast, we go inside Hecht's dominating win at 'cross nats, including Hecht's thoughts on the crash that knocked rival Kerry Werner out of second place.

Also, Hecht has balanced his commitments on the road with his cyclocross ambitions. Which does he prefer the most? We find out, and discover why Hecht may have to choose cyclocross or road in the coming years.

All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast.