Velo Podcast

New year, new ... USA Cycling CEO? That's right the American governing body just announced its new boss, Rob DeMartini, who comes from an unconventional background. We discuss the move.

Also, Fred Dreier talks to Ben Wolfe about the rocky off-season that domestic pro riders had to endure. With four major teams either closing down or changing significantly it was a time of stress and unrest.

Plus, we discuss the 90-year-old (yep, that isn't a typo) rider who was recently sanctioned by USADA and the upcoming Santos Tour Down Under.

This episode of the VeloNews podcast is sponsored by Strava. Want to try Strava Summit and its wealth of analysis, training, and safety features? Go to www.strava.com/summit and use this promo code for a free month of Strava Summit: velonews

Don't be such a Dan! A Dan?! That's right, our tech podcast host Dan Cavallari is a bit timid about riding in foul weather. Not to worry because today he is talking with Rob Pickels, physiologist in advanced development at Pearl Izumi.

They discuss how breathability works (and why that is a misnomer), how waterproof your cycling kit really needs to be, and why zippers actually don't work that well if you need to cool off. Pickels has plenty of insight on how different fabrics work in different conditions and advice to help you layer more effectively this winter.

In episode 64, we ask the question: What does it take to stand on the podium at the world championships? It’s a simple question without a simple answer. Strength buys you a seat at the table, but playing a winning hand takes effective training, teamwork, near-perfect strategy, and an incredible mindset.

In today's episode we take a deep dive into all of the elements that are needed for a podium placing at worlds with two of the members of the Canadian team — Mike Woods and Rob Britton. The two of them, along with their team of coaches, asked that simple question over a year before the 2018 world championships. Canada doesn't have the biggest reputation, nor the best-funded team, but they found the answers and earned Mike the bronze medal.

So, how did they do it? Today we'll cover:

- How the race played out to put Mike in a position to fight for the podium

- Rob Britton's all-day breakaway that helped put Mike in that position

- The final “hell climb” as Rob calls it, how it was central to Mike’s strategy, the sort of numbers he put out on the climb, and why those numbers don’t tell the full story

- The finale, and why in a split second the excitement of a podium momentarily turned into a disappointment

- A comparison of Mike’s and Rob’s very different preparations for worlds. Mike used the Tour of Utah and the Vuelta to get his legs ready. Rob, on the other hand, loaded his bike up with fifty pounds of gear and did a very low-tech ride across half of Canada. Yet, both riders arrived with great legs… and, perhaps more importantly, great mindsets.

- How Rob and Mike balanced their training — including the balance of long slow volume rides, threshold work, and VO2max training, and how training for a seven hour event like worlds may differ from the local two-hour race

- Our primary guests for this podcast were the Canadian superstars themselves: Mike Woods of the EF Education First team and Rob Britton of Rally Cycling. Mike, who comes from a running background, exploded onto the scene five years ago and since then has raced multiple grand tours, which has included a recent stage win at the Vuelta. Rob has dominated the domestic scene with multiple wins, including the GC victory at races like Tour of the Gila.

In addition to Rob and Mike, we'll talk with Mike’s coach Paulo Saldahna. Despite his remarkable coaching success, Paulo points out that coaching is only one of the many hats he wears. He’s the owner of the successful indoor training company PowerWatts and is an endurance sport physiologist by trade where he builds support structures for athletes worldwide and runs a high performance facility in Montreal.

Finally, we'll talk briefly with Dr. Ciaran O'Grady, a coach and sports scientist at Team Dimension Data. As a WorldTour coach, we'll ask him what's different about training for a seven hour race.

We talk with cyclocross veteran Helen Wyman (Xypex) about some of the storylines shaping international women’s cyclocross in 2018. Why are some races still too short? What impact will the junior women’s division have on elite racing? And which riders are the favorites to win the world title?

Carbon fiber bike frames are light years ahead of their predecessors in the early days of the technology. How do bike companies milk so much performance out of such lightweight frames in 2019?

To learn about the technology, we speak with Jeff Soucek, director of research and development at Felt Bicycles. He explains mysterious terms like modulus, resins, additives, and layups. All of this results in better bicycles for all types of riding or racing.

The future is uncertain for Team Sky. Its title sponsor rocked the cycling world with news that it will end its support after 2019. What comes next? Can David Brailsford find a new sponsor? What happens to Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, and all the others if the team tanks? We talk to our man in Europe Andrew Hood to learn more.

Then we recap a muddy, wild U.S. cyclocross nationals including interviews with winners Stephen Hyde and Katie Compton.

This episode of the VeloNews podcast is sponsored by Strava. Want to try Strava Summit and its wealth of analysis, training, and safety features? Go to www.strava.com/summit and use this promo code for a free month of Strava Summit: velonews

It's the holidays and if you're like us, right about now, you're scrambling for gift ideas. So we're trying something new on Fast Talk and doing a gift episode. Of course, there's a ton of great gifts you can give that cyclist in your life, so we can't cover them all. Instead, we're going to focus on a few cool training gadgets. Some of which you're very familiar with and some you may never have even heard of.We'll talk about what they are, how they're used and whether we think they're worth putting under the tree or not. Of course, a few of these ideas may be a little too expensive for stocking stuffers, so it may be better to see this episode as our review of several cool, interesting and potentially valuable training tools.

Today we'll talk about:

1. The Whoop Recovery strap - what is it, why it may be a valuable tool for tracking your recovery and our personal experience - good and bad - with the tool.

2. The Normatec Recovery System. Do they work and some thoughts on how to use them. If you listened to our recent episode on recovery, you already know our opinion, but we certainly couldn't leave them out of an episode on cool training gear.

3. Power Meters. Alright, that's nothing new or unique, but we'll give our hot takes on which are good and what to be careful about.

4. The Leomo Type-R. A truly unique device offering on-the-road biomechanical analysis that wasn't previously available. It's a fascinating tool, but as we'll discuss, it may be so new, we still haven't figured out how to use it.

5. And finally, we'll finish up with a foam rollers. They may not be as sexy as some of our other gift ideas, but they're cheap and they work.

Our guests today are hour-record holder and coach extraordinaire Colby Pearce along with FastCat owner and likewise coach extraodrinaire Frank Overton. At this point do either of them really need an introduction on Fast Talk? We always love having them on the show and hearing their insights.

In addition, we'll talk with professional cyclist Rebecca Rusch and Apex Coaching owner Neal Henderson. Both have been at the top of the cycling world for years, so we'd definitely love to hear what gifts they'd like to get. Their answers were a little less tangible than you might expect.

U.S. cyclocross national championships are coming up this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. Can Katie Compton and Stephen Hyde salvage their seasons?

They have each struggled with setbacks so far this season. Compton first dealt with allergies and then a virus. Hyde had two major crashes resulting in injuries and weeks of rehab. We examine their chances of defending their national titles and rate their key rivals.

Then, Dane catches up with Tejay van Garderen who is turning over a new leaf in 2019 with his new team, EF Education First. Hear about how he expects things to change, and what his ambitions look like.

This episode of the VeloNews podcast is sponsored by Health IQ. To get a free quote and save money on life insurance, go to www.HealthIQ.com/velonews

We've been getting a ton of questions from listeners, and many of them have had similar themes. (We appreciate the feedback, look forward to your questions, and generate many future podcast topics from them, so please keep them coming.)

While you're waiting for future episodes with deeper answers, we'd like to give you some short answers now to tide you over. Today we'll answer questions about diet, the value of short easy rides, sub-threshold work in a polarized training model, and inflammation.

Power meters are everywhere, but do we actually understand how they work or what they actually do for us as cyclists?

For this episode of the tech podcast, we talk with Pat Warner of Stages Cycling. He helps us understand the basics of how power meters work, from the strain gauges to what bike component houses the power meters.

He also delves into questions about watts per kilo, how to effectively train with a power meter, and the hot-hot question of whether power meters are ruining the Tour de France!