Velo Podcast

Caleb Ewan's Tour Down Under head-butt ... Was it too dangerous or just part of racing? We discuss, and also we hear from Luke Rowe who was racing in Australia. He talks about Geraint Thomas's Tour win and more.

Plus, we hear from Svein Tuft on his move to Rally-UHC and how he'll shepherd young riders through the European peloton.

This episode is sponsored by Strava, which has a new podcast, Athletes Unfiltered. Give it a listen for inspiring, in-depth stories: http://podcast.strava.com/

The 2019 WorldTour is officially underway this week at the Tour Down Under, and a few big names have made the trek to Australia to race in the summertime heat. We hear from one of those marquee riders — EF's Mike Woods — as he gets his season going at an event that should suit his skill set.

We also talk Giro vs. Tour start lists, McLaren's arrival as a cycling sponsor, and EF's new kit — it will certainly stand out in the peloton.

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

Those who take their training and racing seriously are always looking for something to give them an edge — that marginal gain — including nutritional supplements.

So much has been promised to us in pill form, it’s created a multi-billion-dollar industry. Those promises carry into enhanced endurance performance. And many athletes have resorted to the morning supplement cocktail believing it will make them better cyclists. But there’s a dark side. Those cocktails can actually hurt performance, certainly affect health, and lead to even darker, ethically-challenged places.

Today, we’re going to talk about supplements and our concerns with them, and then cover a few foods that actually do work.

We’ll discuss:

- We thought about bashing all the supplements that don'’t work, but then realized we only have an hour. So instead, Trevor will read a description of every supplement that does work. That list combined with a discussion of its sources will cover the first three minutes.

- We'll talk about supplements in general and why they can be a big concern.

- And with those concerns in context, we’ll start addressing things that have been proven to help, staring with pickle juice.

- Next on our list is beet root juice which can not only help performance, but has been shown to have health benefits as well.

- Believe it or not, we’re going to talk about chocolate — or more specifically the active ingredient, cocoa flavonoids, which also, surprisingly, have both performance and health benefits.

- That, of course, leads to something that frequently comes up in the sports nutrition literature — chocolate milk. It’s as effective as most recovery mixes. So, the key question is how effective are the mixes?

- Finally, we’ll revisit the ketogenic diet and specifically supplementing with ketone esters.

- Our primary guest today is Ryan Kohler, the manager of the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center who holds a masters degree in sports nutrition and exercise science. Ryan has helped Trevor and I with many previous articles and behind-the-scenes work with some of our experiments, shall we call them. We’re excited to finally get him in front of the mic, even if he is a little shy.

In addition, we'll talk with world-renowned coach Joe Friel, author of the definitive book on training, "The Cyclists Training Bible." We asked Joe his opinion about supplementation based on decades of coaching.

We'll also hear from endurance mountain biker Rebecca Rusch and Apex Coaching owner Neal Henderson, the personal coach of world time trial champion Rohan Dennis. They'll each give us their thoughts on supplements and a few things they've found that work.

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.