- Hello and welcome to Ask GCN Anything.
It's been a long time since I've been allowed
to do one of these, Ollie, so I'm a little bit rusty.
- Surprised they let you back.
- Well, exactly.
Best you fill me in on what the gist of this show is.
- You submit your questions using the hashtag TorqueBack
or AskGCNTraining, down in the comments section below
and then we try our best to answer them.
- Cool.
So it's the same as it always has been.
Brilliant, that's what I like to hear.
Right, first up then, who've we got?
Alvaro Blanco.
- Yeah he says in a coffee stop, which drink is best
to take if you're going to continue to the ride?
Coffee, Coca-Cola (or any other drink with lots of sugar)?
- Starting with an important question there.
- Or even beer.
- I would steer clear of alcohol, for obvious reasons.
But then, well there's two things, aren't there?
Firstly, whatever you like, which is a bonus.
And then, secondly, there are performance enhancing
capabilities of these various different drinks.
So for example, really sugary Coke
will give you a bit of a hit.
Then you got caffeine element of that
and then obviously caffeine in coffee.
The thing that I would watch out for
is the potential pitfalls post-drinks.
Obviously fizzy drinks, maybe make you feel a bit bloated.
But mainly, it's the caffeine.
If you have too much caffeine,
some people might find that they then need
to go to the toilet very quickly afterwards.
But annoyingly, past the cafe, where the toilet was.
So just be a little bit careful,
particularly with a milky coffee
and then a Coke combo, that's disastrous.
- Yeah, if you need some fuel
just get a sugary drink down ya,
that'll be good. - Yeah, yeah.
That wasn't talking from experience.
No, definitely wasn't.
- Next we got a question from Charlie Cushway.
- He is wondering how pros warm up
for a prologue or short time trial.
You often race in time trials, Ollie.
- I do enjoy a time trial, I do, right.
Standard warmup is going to be around 20 minutes long.
So it doesn't have to be longer than that,
but it could be 30 minutes.
And then within that, you break it down.
The first 15 minutes, you just start spinning really easy
and build up and increase the intensity every minute or so
until you get to your threshold
for the last couple of minutes.
It doesn't need to be more than that.
And then a lot of riders like to do spin-ups
to activate the muscles.
These are low-resistance, high-cadence drills
where you spin your legs for 10 seconds
really fast just to get the muscles going.
And typically do three of these as well.
And then just spin a bit more.
Make sure you finish your warmup though,
this is important, within 10 minutes of your start time,
otherwise you'll just cool down again.
- Yeah, that's really important, that one.
- It's the weekly Zwift question,
which is your opportunity to now only get your question
on training answered by one of Zwift's coaches,
but also get your hands on three months free subscription
to Zwift, which sounds like a bonus to me.
So what is this week's question?
- This week's winning question
comes from Steve_Schilling_NorCal,
who says that he loves the show.
- We can't take any credit for that, mate, can we?
Cause we haven't been on this for a while.
- And he says that he's been getting back into cycling
after an absence and he's loving it.
And he's been using his Turbo.
And when he's riding on his Turbo,
he often uses Erg mode, alright?
And when he's doing that, he finds that his cadence
is naturally around 95 to 100 RPM.
- Speedy.
- But when he goes out riding in his local area,
there's a lot of hills, which means it's hard for him
with the gearing that he's got
to do that kind of cadence when he's putting the power out.
And he's typically grinding on the hills
at kind of 50 to 60 RPM.
So he's wondering should he be trying to attempt
to do this kind of low-cadence work on the trainer as well.
And if so, what kind of workout should he be doing
to do that cadence training. - Well, in a word,
yes, absolutely.
The Zwift coaches say too, fortunately,
that actually, yeah, that's super beneficial,
not only for the situations that you described,
that when you're out on the road
and your gears mean that you can't peddle any faster,
but also, actually, even just building it
into normal workouts could well give you that
training stimulus that you need
to boost your FTP and get fitter and stronger anyway.
So Zwift coaches point out that actually all the climbs
that are all over various different Zwift worlds
are a great way of actually replicating climbing,
and I would agree with that.
So you can drop your cadence there
and do those big, high resistance drills.
Or also, they point out, that when you're actually
doing structural workouts, there's an optimal cadence,
like a target, when you're doing each interval.
And so rather than just riding in what's comfortable,
so 95 to 100 like you suggest,
you can actually target those cadences specifically
and you'll find there are some workouts in there
that will actually be around low cadence work
and there's high resistance.
So yeah, I'd definitely, definitely do that.
- Yeah, and within Zwift, there's loads
of scope to do this as well.
So if you just go on a free ride in Zwift,
there's an abundance of climbs in Zwift.
So you can take your pick from those
and do those low-cadence intervals
on those climbs as well, which is pretty cool.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Right so, that hopefully answers your question.
If you would like to submit a question
for the Ask GCN Training section,
then please do using the hashtag that's on screen now.
- Time now for the quick fire round.
- Woo-hoo! - And we've got
the first question for Darren Horrocks
who says I have a regular road bike with clip-on tri bars.
How comparable is that to a proper TT bike?
What sort of percentage loss would I expect the two,
give then same similar position on both, alright?
This is one of those how long
is a piece of string questions.
It's quite hard to answer it.
But you are undoubtedly at a disadvantage
on a road bike with clip-ons.
Typically, around 25 to 30 watts would be
a conservative estimate at 40 kilometres an hour
in terms of aero drag just between the framesets.
But also, you can often struggle
to get as an aerodynamic, sustainable position
on a road bike compared to a TT bike
because the geometry's different.
- Yeah, it's not all bad news though, is it?
Because actually, your body position
is the most important component
and the best thing you can do
to make yourself more aero is to stick a pair
of clip-on tri bars on your bike, isn't it?
On the one hand it's pretty bad news,
but on the other hand, it's not that bad.
Right then, what about this one from GP?
Occasionally, I wear a cycling cap
under my helmet and if feels less secure.
Is it less safe to wear a casquette
under my helmet when I ride?
Well, I tell you what, I wear a casquette under my helmet
all the time if the temperature's anything less
than about 50 degrees. - And you're still with us.
- Well yeah.
I've never asked the question that is it less safe,
but I suspect that given no one's ever said
that it's less safe, that we're probably okay to do so.
But if your helmet doesn't feel as secure,
I'd check the fit on it, because mine still feels
absolutely mega, even with a hat underneath it.
- Yeah, I agree with that.
- Cool, right, next one then.
- Well here, I'll let you read the name of this.
- Okay, Tianxing Shang, thanks mate.
- Nailed it.
- Yeah, hopefully, I'm sorry.
Hi guys, I'm planning to do a 300k ride this summer.
I've never done such a long one before.
The longest I've done is about 180.
And I'm also gonna do this alone
so how should I prepare for the ride?
What should I bring with me?
And what should I do or not do during this ride.
Well, as someone who's less than fresh
off the back of a pretty monster weekend of some long rides,
I would say firstly, that you shouldn't try
and train for a 300 kilometre ride.
Just get really fit doing your normal riding.
I think mental component is the big thing, isn't it?
If you know that you're gonna be out there for a long day,
that's one of the key things.
Pace yourself, so don't set off at your normal riding tempo.
You want to make sure you pull back a bit on the climbs
and maybe freewheel a bit on the descent.
And the the other thing I'd say
is make sure you take loads of food with you.
And normal food as well as sports nutrition
because 300k's, you're kind of gels and energy drinks
is probably not exactly what your body's craving.
So maybe some real food, like some sandwiches and stuff.
- Yeah, Shang also is doing it alone,
so I'd say make sure you've got
all the spares you're gonna need.
And probably lights as well.
300k can take a long time, especially if you end up having a
mechanical or some misfortune.
- Yeah, and a little battery pack as well
cause if you're trying to record it
and your head unit battery dies
cause you've been out there for 20 hours,
then that would be really annoying.
So yeah anyway, there we go.
That was a quick answer to a question,
wasn't it? - Yeah, quick fire round.
We're good at this. - Oh yeah.
They'll invite us back, Ollie.
- Mr Ramsbod says in all my time cycling
I've always had an average cadence around 88 RPM.
However, after my first winter
of structured indoor training using various apps,
I suddenly find my cadence out on the road
is higher, around 100, 105 RPM.
Is this normal?
Should I be concerned?
- Wow.
Well there's a thought, isn't it?
- Yeah.
- I mean, I don't think you should be concerned.
The only concern would be if you start going slower.
A high cadence is good and if you're pedalling
comfortably, then I'd say that's a good side effect, really.
- I think it's fairly common that
beginner cyclists have quite low cadences
and then their cadence increase as they get more experience.
You see it quite often.
- Well yeah, and also your cadence often
speeds up, the more power you put out as well.
So it might be that you're just getting a lot fitter
and therefore your cadence has sped up.
I certainly wouldn't worry about it
unless suddenly lost 5k an hour off your average speed,
in which case you might want to ask questions.
But no, I think that's probably
a good side effect from training indoors,
if indeed that is a side effect at all.
- Next question here is from David Gibbs.
And he says he's curious about how the pros
deal with bike sensors when they have a mechanical
and they have to swap bikes.
Obviously that head unit is easy enough
to take on and off the bike.
But when they put it on another bike,
what happens to the sensor on the old bike?
Do they lose their ride data and their power data
and that sort of thing.
- Well so, your ride data will stay
with your head unit, won't it?
And then, generally speaking, you'd make sure
that your head unit's connected
to both your race bike and your spare bike, wouldn't you?
So that if you do have to swap,
then it will automatically connect up.
But in a race, it's probably not
the end of the world if you lose your power data.
You'd be more concerned about getting back in the peloton
and making sure that you're in the race.
As we saw at Paris Roubaix with Wout van Aert.
- What's pretty fun is that Wout van Aert
actually took his teammates bike at Paris Roubaix.
And it had his teammates computer on it
and he actually 10 minute power PB
when the ride uploaded his training peaks
on his teammate's account.
Cause Wout van Aert's more powerful than his teammate.
- Yeah his teammate had to flag his own ride
because he lent his bike to Wout van Aert.
- So yeah, there you go. - Yeah, so bringing it.
- It's one of those things actually,
in the heat of the moment when you are taking a spare bike,
you'll see pros that are levelheaded and cool
will remember to do things like take their bottle,
put it on the new bike, take the hedging off.
Where if somebody's have a bit of a flap and a panny
will probably forget to do those important things.
- Probably what I would do.
Mike Davies says---
- I can imagine you doing the bike throw.
(grunts) - Yeah.
Mike Davies says if you already your indoor FTP
from another platform and you're using the same equipment,
so the same trainer or power metre,
do you then have to go and do an FTP test in Zwift
if you then switch on to Zwift?
I think that's fairly easy to
answer. - Yeah no,
your FTP is your FTP.
Your right to say there's an indoor and an outdoor one,
because often people find they've got a lower FTP indoors.
But if you're using the same equipment indoors, then yeah.
- Yeah, should make difference.
- No, absolutely.
- Yeah, and the last question this week,
do you want to read it?
- Okay, this is from Nicolas van der Meer.
My mates have laid down a hill climb challenge
in around eight weeks time.
It's 2.2k's at an average of 8%.
I did the climb last week in a little over 11 minutes.
I'm wondering what training would be best
and how I structure my effort on the day.
Okay, alright.
Oh he also said, if I can do any session
on my 20k commute, that would be awesome.
I feel your pain there.
Cause my 20k commute is basically my training ground.
- You do alright off it, though.
- Well that's it, use it wisely.
- I think Nicolas can as well.
I think if you can replicate a 10 minute,
uninterrupted effort on your commute,
then that's going to be really beneficial.
Ideally on a climb, but if you don't have a climb,
just uninterrupted on the flat is also gonna be really good.
Cause that's the length of your target
that you're trying to do.
But also, you should factor in
that for this kind of length effort,
you're gonna want to be doing it
above your lactate threshold.
It's gonna be a hard effort.
So if you can also do any sort of VO2 max intervals
for around five minutes to 10 minutes long,
they're also gonna be beneficial
to improving your fitness for that target.
- Yeah, that's right, so you do those intervals
and then you back off and you recover for a little bit.
I'd also add in there, if your commute's anything like mine,
you'll have short sections of road rather than
nice clear ones where you can do 10-minute efforts,
so overgeared standing start efforts from traffic lights
are a nice little cheeky one to throw in there.
And also one-minute maxes, which are utterly brutal.
But maybe six one-minute maxes in your 20k commute.
They're not gonna do anything specifically
for that hill climb, but they will help you get mega fit
and they will help you deal with all that lactate
cause 10-minute hill climbs should really,
really hurt, shouldn't it, basically?
- Should hurt a lot.
- Yeah, and then on the day, it's just pacing, isn't it?
- Yeah, it's a hard skill to learn.
You just have to practise.
I can't say anything more than that.
You have to practise what it feels like
to do a 10-minute effort.
- Yeah.
If you're feeling like you're massively out of breath
and completely gassed after two minutes
of your 10-minute effort, you've done it wrong.
I mean, it's gonna hurt the whole way through,
but it shouldn't really, really start to hurt
until, I'd say, at least five minutes from the end.
- If you're sick at the end, you've done it right.
(both laugh) - Well, there we go.
Let us know how you get on and whether you vomit
at the end of your effort.
No, I hope you do absolutely nail it.
And certainly put some of these things into practise
on your commute and you'll be absolutely fine.
Actually, I've never vomited after a bike ride,
touch wood, to this day.
Maybe I've never paced it right, I dunno.
- But you pooed yourself.
- I mean, I didn't actually poo myself.
I stopped at a cafe.
Yeah.
We'd probably best leave it there, hadn't we?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, on that note, that is the end
of Ask GCN Anything for this week.
Hopefully they'll invite us back
at some point to do another one.
I've certainly enjoyed answering your questions.
And hopefully, we've answered them satisfactorily.
- Yeah, and if you'd like to ask your questions
and get them answered, then use the hashtags
TorqueBack or AskGCNTraining.
Also for a for a change to with the Zwift...
(mumbles) - Subscription?
Yeah, that one.
Right, also if you want to watch another video right now,
then do make sure you check out
Chris Opie's awesome Alpe D'Huez verus Alpe Du Zwift.
Cause that, coming back to some of the questions
we've answered already in this video, very timely.