- Welcome to ask GC anything and this week we have
questions on how to choose your perfect saddle,
how to get back to fitness after injury,
and what to do before race day.
- Don't forget if you want to have
your questions answered in the
comments below use the hashtag TORQUEBACK
for all of your cycling related questions.
But to be in the chance of winning
a free three month subscription to Zwift,
use the hashtag ASKGCNTRAINING.
- Yeah and that, yeah would come in useful.
- Yeah, it was like ice skating.
- Yeah, through this snowy wintry weather.
Right, let's get into it mate.
First question is from Darren Horrocks.
If you know your FTP which is the maximum
you can do for one hour, how do you work out?
What is sustainable for two hours
or three hours or even longer than that?
- Well, Darren, it's a brilliant question,
but there really is no one size fits all answer.
It depends very much on the type of rider you are.
So for example, I was a sprinter.
And my one hour power was significantly
different to my three hour power.
And it also depends on your training history quite a lot.
So if you never work on training really hard for three hours
and trying to boost your muscular endurance,
then you're not gonna have high numbers.
- [Hank] Yeah so for example, Chris, you're on one
side of the spectrum with quite a considerable drop.
And then-
(laugh)
And then someone like Brightly Wiggins
or Fabian Cansaro or Tony Martin or a TT specialist
or even a climber for that matter,
they're not gonna see such a drop.
But out of interest mate, what was your kind of peak.
- I'm glad you asked.
- 20 minutes, go on let's see it.
- So, for the 20 minutes, we had 426 watts.
- And go on for an hour.
- For an hour, 398 so that's quite a difference already.
- Yep.
- And then, once you get past an hour, so 90 minutes
354, that's quite a steep drop I think.
And then when you get down to three hours,
it was only 320 watts.
- Yeah, so as you can see there is a quite
a considerable drop but that's still good numbers babe.
- Well, I survived (laugh)
(electronic music)
- And the winner of this weeks Zwift question is
Jelmer Benjamins, and he comes in
with this question: Hi GCN, I'm a 20 year old
road cyclist from the Netherlands who competes
at local races. I train about 11 hours a week
on my road bike. Since I'm currently in my gap year,
I decided to start delivering mail two times a week.
It's about three hours of cycling each delivery day,
so around six hours in total per week.
Does this count as training as well
or should I do some additional training
when I'm done delivering mail?
I hope you can help me with this question.
Well, we hope we can help you.
Chris.
- Yeah.
- Have you got any ideas on this one?
- Well I do James, that's why I'm here.
So despite those rides obviously taking up
quite a bit of your time and you will be pedaling,
they don't really count toward your weekly total of training
because they're not specific sessions and you're
stopping you know, however many yards to pop
post at a house. Um, instead, on those days,
you should view them as a long walk,
for starters, so imagine you're taking a dog for a walk
for like three hours, or whatever it is,
and then you're much closer towards the effect
that it's actually having on your body
even if you do make it the occasional effort.
Instead what you should do on those days is focus
on doing some short, intense efforts because obviously
if you're delivering mail all morning
it's going to take a lot of time, then do a short
intense session in the afternoon. So something with
five minute efforts, so either sprints or anaerobic
efforts, that sort of thing, and you get a really
good training effect because of course you've got 11 hours,
- That's plenty of time there.
- Yeah.
- If you're doing 11 hours a week there's plenty
of time to build enough fitness to do the races
you'll be doing over in that part of the world
and Holland's got some amazing roads for training
specifically as well so you're not going to be lost.
- Yeah and now you've got three months free subscription
from Zwift, what don't you use some of the workouts
that Zwift allows you to use and it also will make
the winter go a little bit easier.
- Yup.
- And you can, yeah, and there's also some really
good work outs in there that will really help you
implement those tools.
- Enjoy.
Next up is Richard Isaacson, any tips on choosing
a new saddle? My current one feels wooden and has
got to go but the choices and prices seem to be
never ending. Will more comfortable saddles cost
more or are those two factors generally independent?
Fit, comfort and not giving my wife a financially
triggered heart attack take priority
over weight and savings.
- Right, interesting question, and as we all know
saddles are an incredibly personal item and they're
like you said before, there's no one size fits all.
Everyone is different, everyone has different size
sit bones and that's ultimately what you're sitting on.
So first off is, I would go and get yourself measured
so you can sit on this, kind of like, sand platform
things so you can work out your distance your seat bones
and then find a saddle that fits because ultimately
the fitting is the best
you want to take fitting over price, cost et cetera.
- Yeah, definitely.
- And most uh, saddle manufacturers will offer a range
so they'll offer the same style, same shape
in a few ranges going from carbon rails and
super ultra light to more alloy or even steel
which will be a lot less on cost. But first 100 percent
work out one that fits and that is comfortable
so that's going to a bike shop and trying one
and then work out what your price range is but uh,
I wouldn't go for the carbon one if it's
uncomfortable, I'd go for an alloy one if it is comfortable.
- [Chris] But I would add that actually generally
most manufacturers offer you a money back
guarantee so you can take the saddle
back and exchange it for another or you can just
get your money back, and also over the last few years
I used to buy my saddles because I didn't like
the ones we were sponsored with and I used to buy
sale items. I think this Physique saddle that
I bought last year was actually 45 quid.
So 45 pounds whatever that is in dollars.
- Yeah so it's not too bad for a really nice
comfortable back side, which you won't regret
spending the money on, trust me.
- Next question comes in from Lon Zoomer, I hope
I pronounced your name right.
I will be doing a sportif but at the start there's
an hour waiting in a designated area, is it useful
to warm up before that or do I just
do some stretches whilst waiting?
- I think it's definitely still beneficial to
warm up for a little bit even though you've got
that long cooling off period.
- It did feel though when you, before a race we
were often did a good warm up and then we're sat
on the start line for ages, you know, waiting for
this that and the other -
- Yeah.
- To, to, but it was worth it, wasn't it?
- Yeah definitely, I don't think you can
undo a good warm up even -
- [Hank] No.
- [Chris] if you have a long break between the actual
finish of the warm up and the start of the event.
One thing that is crucial though in that interim
period you want to say well hydrated, well fueled,
and you actually want to stay warm.
So if you can take, like, thin layers with you
bits of plastic actually work really well
you can then tuck in your pocket for later.
- Yeah, or if you do have a friend or family member
or someone who is there on the sidelines watching
then you can always put a cape on or
a big thermal layer and then give it
to them before the start, that always works well for us.
- Yeah definitely.
- So yeah, good luck with that and good luck
with your sportif.
- Next up then is Matt Parsons.
- Is it better to focus on one training session
and do it three to four times a week
or change it up and have a sprint session, FTP,
Vo2 max every week et cetera?
- Uh, personally depends on what you're kind of
going for and what you're goal is but
I personally would split up and mix up as well.
I would get put in some Vo2 sessions, put in some
FTP sessions, and yeah, really keep it, you know
like, diversify all the sessions, cause I think it's better,
and I think your body likes it, prefers it more.
- Yup, also the key times in the year
so you don't want to be throwing all your energy
at trying to stretch yourself to thinly -
- No.
- Certain times of the year are great for
building certain aspects of your fitness
but on the whole, mix it up.
- Yup. Next up Alfonso Ferguson. I've just finished
an FTP booster and have 2 weeks before I go
on a trip for 3 weeks so I won't be able to train.
What kind of training should I be doing before
the trip to keep me motivated and fit
and what is best when I get back?
- Well you know what Alfonso, it's going to
be hard for those three weeks, isn't it?
So whilst you're away, we'll start with that,
you want to do as much as you possibly can
movement wise so that will keep your heart and lungs
going at least, if you can run up the stairs
instead of walking up the stairs -
- Yeah.
- It's a great place to start.
- Yeah or if you don't have a bike do go out
on a run just to keep that cardiovascular fitness up.
- Yeah that'll make it easier when you get back,
but before then you want to really, really push
the ceiling of your fitness. So you really want
to go out and set some PV's as it were.
Just absolutely push yourself as hard as you can
for the next couple of weeks because you're not
going to dig yourself too big a hole before
you go away, but the fitter you are before
you come back before you go away, the quicker and
easier it will be to regain your fitness.
- [Hank] Yeah exactly, and if you do work really hard
remember you've got those three weeks rest
so you can drive yourself kind of really quite low,
- Yeah.
- Or go really high because you have got that
three weeks rest period or recovery period.
- You might find that you actually get pretty
good when you get back.
- Yeah exactly.
- Sonic Jazz is up next with how often
should I check my tires PSI?
- Good question and I personally I ride Clinton
tires at the moment so I would check them around
once or twice a week depending on the weather
and the temperature, but if you're riding
tubular tires then I would check it more
kind of like once a day really.
- Yeah.
- If you are -
- Yeah latex tubes allow -
- Yes they do -
- Pressure to seek out a little bit.
- Seek out, so yeah try that.
Next question is from Ed Markey, on the topic of
losing grip and coming off your bike, this may
seem like an odd question but what's the right way
to fall off? I've read we should keep our hands
on the bars pull elbows in and take the blow
with bigger body parts, any advice?
- Well I'm not sure about that you could
fracture a rib, couldn't you?
- Yeah, I would say I'm quite good at falling off.
- I'd say you are as well.
- Because I haven't actually, touch wood,
uh broken any bones but,
- Apart from when you thought you broke your kneecap.
- Oh yeah.
(laughs)
- I thought you were going to skip over that one.
- Nope.
- But uh, but yeah, I personally would try and,
if you're going over the handle bars, try and land
on the back side of your shoulder,
so if are feeling like you're going kind of roll up
and then don't land on your head or your neck.
Try and protect those areas, so like tuck in
and more go into a forward roll.
- To be honest I just aim for something soft.
(laughs)
Always, always look for something soft to crash into.
- Yeah, that's a good point.
- Lars Borgman comes in with Hi I have a question
about training. How much training do I need to do
over the winter to not lose any of my fitness
because I don't have any motivation to go out
in the cold and dark. I'm 15 years old, greetings
from the snowy Germany.
- I can completely understand not wanting
to go out in the cold and the dark.
- It's snowy and cold here as well.
- Yeah, so like four to six hours of some sort
of exercise, I'd, if you want to keep your
cycling fitness, then you want to do cycling
but at your age it's still great to do loads
of other sports, so uh, skating maybe over there?
Running, um hockey, any sorts of interesting sports.
- [Hank] Yeah anything that raises your heart rate really.
- [Chris] Yeah.
- [Hank] But yeah exactly, if you do want to just work
on your cycling specific then trying to get a couple
hours in on the indoor train or something like that,
- [Chris] Yeah.
- [Hank] Would be really useful.
- Or if you got a cross bike at the weekends you can go out
- [Hank] Oh that'd be fun
- [Chris] In the snow.
- [Hank] Or a mountain bike, fat bike, yeah.
- Yeah.
- But of everything.
- Then we have Logan Duffy, what's the best session
to do the day before a race?
- Right, good question and uh, I personally used
to do some openers, so the day before the race,
we would normally travel on the Friday
if we were racing the Sunday and on that Saturday
we would do a ride, like a pre-race ride and that would,
- No, I'll tell you what happened we would do
a pre-race ride, and Hank would sit on the rollers.
- Yeah they would do a pre-race ride and I would
sit on the rollers because that's kind of what
I like to do, but yeah I used to do a good
15 minute warm up, and then do some kind of ramp ups
and rev outs and that would normally kind of like
get that travel out my legs, get the blood going
and I would actually, yeah, do better in the race
if the better pre-race ride I had, if that makes it easy.
- Yeah and I can vouch for this, we'd come back
and Hank would be absolutely dripping in sweat
but sure enough come the race day I can rarely
think of day when you were actually going badly.
- Aw thanks man, yeah I was um, yeah.
- Whereas the rest of us we'd go out and
have a bit of a ride but we wouldn't do as
quite specifically sometimes.
- Yeah I did like, I always got quite nervous too
before big races so I used to really focus on
that pre-race ride being a really important part
of the whole race situation. So yeah getting a good
pre-race ride in is important, so try that.
Try getting on the rotors or the turbo and
implement some hard efforts and that should help.
So now we're done with the quick fire round,
we actually did our meet the presenters video
well you did yours a week ago and I did mine
the week before that and we got loads
of questions from all of you lovely people
and we thought it'd be a good time to answer them here.
So Chris, here's a question for you.
That was quite a ride, what an interesting peek
into your background and character, you made
a comment at some point about how you didn't
enjoy races at the end of your career,
paraphrasing heavily sorry, near the part
you talked about your grumpy, anguished race
face could you explain any, a bit more about that really.
- Yeah well I just felt like I was missing out
on other bits of life, you know family life
and just other stuff I hadn't yet done.
- Mm hmm.
- And that was huge, huge factor in deciding
to stop to be honest.
- Yeah because you started racing super
early didn't you and that's kind of what you just
cracked on with.
- Yeah.
- And it is a full time job, when you are
racing pro it is totally full time,
it takes your entire focus.
- Yeah 24/7 and if you don't live your life like
that then your performance just suffers.
- Mm hmm.
- And that was another factor really.
- Ah cool.
- Right you've got one now.
- I have.
- From rob23wheeler, nice to hear of a fellow
Gloucestershire lad doing well, what motorbikes
do you own?
- If you're not from the U.K. and you don't know
where Gloucestershire is, it's in the Cotswolds
which is in a like, down the south of England
which is in the country side and yes I own
a few motorbikes I own a Triumph Thruxton
which is an air cooled vintage looking motorbike.
I've got a BMW GS 1200 and I've also got
a K1000 which is kind of a cafe racer.
I think actually my motorbike garage is bigger
than my bicycle garage (laughs).
Right, question for you Chris.
I really enjoyed this vide may I offer something
to try? Have you ever gone dairy free for a month
as I see you've got asthma, what about whole food
plant based for a few weeks? It might help
with your asthma some.
- Well Andrew when I was racing
I was dairy free from like I think 1999 onwards
and it did help, I was lactose intolerant
it's just one of those factors.
Plant based yeah, I think it was a big sell
when I was a kid actually,
- Do you?
- I did decide that I'm a vegetarian but I think
that was more about losing weight than it was
actually about being a vegetarian and I didn't
notice any difference in that.
- But you coped quite well at the last minute don't you?
- Uh, eventually yeah. I had to have loads of
different inhalers, like trial periods,
- Yeah.
- Until I actually got one that worked for me.
- Oh wow. Well it worked out for him, so if you
have got asthma out there, you can still become a pro.
- Next up question for Hank, James A. McGuire says
I knew that was Nigel Mansell at 4:33 he was
my childhood hero when it came to F1.
What I couldn't figure out though was why on earth
he'd be standing in the middle of a pro cycling team,
how did Nigel have the relevant skills to mentor you?
- Good question, and I would say Nigel had
the relevance to coach us because he was at
the top end of the sport. He was a Formula 1
world champion , so, and he was actually,
- Income.
- Yeah, one year, one year the biggest paid
sportsmen of all time, so yeah he was able to
coach us through the relevance of being,
how to be a professional, how to be an ambassador,
how to hold ourselves and how to cope
through nerves and pressure.
- And actually the best thing about him was that
he only dealt in facts and figures.
If you couldn't quantify something, he didn't care
so how you felt or anything wasn't relevant
unless you could actually put it into
facts and figures for him.
- Yeah he's a great man.
- We've come to the end of this weeks Ask GC anything
- We have. If you want your questions answered
next week don't forget to use the hashtag TORQUEBACK
for all your cycling related questions and to be
in with the chance of winning the free three month
subscription to Zwift, use the hashtag ASKGCNTRAINING.
- Yeah and don't forget if you did enjoy
this video then give it a big thumbs up,
and if you would like to see our meet the presenter
videos then click down there.