- Welcome along to Ask GCN Anything, #torqueback
on various forms of social media.
If you would like to ask a question
that could potentially get answered
in one of these episodes.
The first question this week
comes in from Groove Worshipper.
He asks, or she, "How can I train for hills
"if there are none?
"Training for 375 mile road race
"with three 1500 metre climbs."
Well that is going to be an epic ride, 375 miles, wow.
Anyway, it is possible, thankfully,
to train for climbs even if you don't live near any.
And this is a very common question that we get asked,
because of course a lot of people enter hilly
or mountainous sportives or Gran Fondos,
but don't live near any mountains.
The key to this then is to find roads local to you
which have very few junctions,
not much traffic and basically allow you
to keep the power going through the pedals
consistently for 15 minutes plus.
This is gonna help mimic what you would experience
on a climb, where of course there is no place to hide
and if you stop pedalling you come to a stop
and start going backwards.
And actually this, again, is a great reason,
or a reason why indoor trainers are such an effective tool
from this point of view, because they allow you to put
the power through the pedals as long as you want,
whether that's a 15-minute interval or a one-hour interval.
Although training for 375 miles on an indoor trainer
might be quite hard.
Anyway, as you might expect, we have got a video
on this very subject.
Many moons ago, myself and Tom Last did a video entitled
How To Train For Mountains When You Don't Live Near Any,
and it's right here.
♫ So easily
- When you start doing your sweet spot intervals
try and find roads with little or no interruptions,
and by that I mean traffic or junctions.
Our next question came in from Rob Smallman,
"I see that your brakes are routed 'Moto' style.
"I route mine that way as well,
"is that rare in the pro peloton?"
Well yes, here it is very rare in the pro peloton
but here at GCN I think all the presenters
have right brake front, which is the same of course,
as you mentioned, on motorbikes.
Reason being that all bikes here in the UK
are sold to the general public
with the brakes that way around
and I presume every other country in the world
where they drive and ride on the left-hand side of the road
it's exactly the same.
However, I have noticed that even the British pros,
in the pro peloton seem to ride with left brake front.
So recently, at the Dubai Tour, I took a look
at Alex Dowsett's bike and Adam Blythe's bike,
they both had left brake front
and I remember in 2016 having a look
at Bradley Wiggins' team Pinarello
and he also had left brake fronts.
Yes, it is quite rare.
It can be a pain though sometimes
if you have it the other way around
and then you rent a bike, should I say, abroad,
because it can be extremely dangerous
if you grab a handful of the wrong brake.
However, it is possible to swap of 'em over
if you're prepared to put a little bit of time into it.
And in this next video Si Richardson
shows you exactly how to do that.
- To start with, we need to remove
both the front and back inner cables.
So to do that it's simply a case of undoing
the cable singe bolt down at the caliper
and removing the cable end cap if need be.
- It is time for the rapid fire round,
we'll get kicked off with this one with Liam Sangaku,
"Could we ever see one piece Bar, stem and hoods?
"And do you guys think it's a good idea?"
I personally think it's probably some way off
because of course the hoods are generally integral
to the shifters and brake levers,
which are different across SRAM, Campagnolo and Shimano.
I guess we have electronic gears becoming more popular,
it could be more possible to just put the gears
on the side of the integrated hoods,
but you'd then need brake levers
and of course with hydraulic disc brakes coming in
that's going to be extra complicated.
Perez writes in saying, "In case of a strong tailwind,
"should I assume an un-aero position
"to take advantage of it?"
That is a very good question,
one I have pondered myself in the past,
but don't know the answer to.
So I'm gonna throw it back out there to the viewers
and, hopefully, someone will be able to give us the answer.
Is there a point at which the tailwind
is so strong you're better off being upright
than you are being aero?
Looking forward to the answers on that one.
Jan-Harm van der Merwe, apologies for the pronunciation,
"What is GCN's take on Tandems and Time Trial bikes
"taking Strava KOMs?"
Time Trial bikes, I have no problem with,
you're still completely human-powered
although very aerodynamic.
Tandems?
It's two humans powering it and I think
that's a bit unfair against individuals
so I'd go against that.
Bryan Lustria, "Is it necessary or better
"to get a bike fit first before upgrading
"some parts of the bike such as stem, saddle, handlebar?"
Well, I think it is very important to be fitted well
onto your bike, but that doesn't necessarily mean
spending a whole load of money on a professional bike fit.
There's loads of information out there on the Internet
and we've got plenty of videos for you as well,
which should help you get into quite an optimal position
on your bike, at which point you can then start
to upgrade things if you see fit.
Next up, Pete Weal,
"Where can I get the infamous pink GCN t-shirt?
"Seriously!
"I've got good antiperspirant and don't fear the pits.
"Really want one."
Well, we don't have any in stock at the moment on the shop
but stay tuned because coming up towards
the Giro d'Italia there will no doubt
be some pink themed shirts.
Although I think that Si might prevent us
putting a fully pink T-shirt back on the shop, ever.
Unfortunately.
Stuart Toomey, "Why do pros have 600 mill bottles,
"yet in general we have 750 or 500?
"Surely it would seem sensible
"that the pros have 750 mill bottles?"
A lot of pros, I think, have 500 mill bottles as well
and they, of course, have domestiques and team cars behind
to get them new bottles,
so they don't need to carry like a total
of 1,500 milliliters of liquid at any one time,
'cause that is quite a bit of weight.
So often you will find that the team leaders
only have one full bottle at any one time,
because they want to save a bit of extra weight
and they know that someone's gonna bring
them another one soon.
Kosmit asks, "Why don't pro cyclist jerseys
"have the rider's name on them?
"Would help with rider recognition
"since some kits are very similar."
Some teams do and other teams have in the past,
I remember Sky used to have the rider's surnames
down the side here, which did make them
very easy to pick out.
It is a good and I do think more teams should have that.
And Tom Kyte asks, "Sunglasses over or under helmet straps?
"I think it's over for safety should a crash occur.
"Discuss."
Well I won't discuss it at length,
'cause this is the rapid fire round,
but over is the way to go
and it's the fashion police, really,
that will tell you that.
Our final question this week comes in from Glipto,
"Is there a best or a coolest way
"for the position of the tension lever of a quick release?"
Well since I'm not very cool,
I'm probably not the best person to ask this question,
but yes, I do have my own personal preferences,
I've been told never to position the front quick release
so that it's facing forward,
because if you do crash into or clip another rider
or maybe ride close some undergrowth
there is the risk that the quick release skewer
might get pulled open, which of course you do not want
to happen when you are out riding.
So I tend to have it facing the rear of the bike,
I like the way it looks that way
and it might be slightly more aerodynamic,
although it probably makes little to no difference.
I don't like having it up against the fork leg
'cause I sometimes find then
that if you do it uptight it could be hard
to get your fingers in to actually open the thing.
And at the rear I have it positioned between the seat
and the chainstay, for no particular reason I can think of,
it must be something I saw a mechanic do
when I was much younger.
Anyway, this next video goes in some detail
about how to use and adjust quick release levers.
We got some stick for this at the time
from more experienced cyclists,
but we all had to start somewhere
and we all had to learn the basics at some point.
So hopefully this one will help some of you out there today.
What I find is that if I can just about do it with my thumb
on its own that that's just about right,
and it's not gonna rattle loose whilst I'm riding.
Well, I'm afraid that's it for this week,
don't forget to leave your questions
for next week in the comment section down below
or, if you would prefer social media,
you can find us @GCN tweet on Twitter,
use the #torqueback, remember,
or just search for Global Cycling Network on Facebook.
Make sure you subscribe to the channel
by clicking on the globe
and I've got two more fairly relevant videos
coming up for you now.
The first question was about a 375 mile road race
so if you're someone that's looking to train
for ultra endurance rides you can find our recent video
on that in the top corner just up there
or if you want some more information
on aerodynamics with framed and wheels, et cetera,
Si Richardson looks at the benefits
of aero wheels in the bottom corner there.