(funky music)
- We're going to start this week's Ask GCN Anything
with a couple of questions that we asked you lot
this time last week.
Namely, define chipper and chopper.
We had quite a few answers, but we're gonna go for one
definition for each, and let us know if you agree
or disagree in the comment section down below.
First up, Gryffes defines chipper.
It says, it refers to a race where the standard is so low,
the prize is a fish and chip dinner.
Calling someone a chipper implies that's the
level of rider that they are.
And James Ashcroft defines chopper.
He says in the youth category, they define it as someone
who can't ride their bike properly and who is liable
to cause a crash.
Very interesting indeed.
Okay, onto the first question that we are going to answer
here today, from Nate Nelson.
Are there any differences between a male and a female bike,
besides the colours?
Well, yes there are other differences
and it's mainly down to sizing and geometry.
So, a few bike companies have done some research
and also looked into a database called
The Global Body Dimension Database,
which apparently shows that, in general,
women have got a slightly shorter torso and reach,
in comparison to their leg length, than men.
And so a lot of women-specific bikes have a shorter
top tube and also a shorter stem, to take that into account.
However, as with everything in life, not everybody
is the same, so even if you are a woman, you might
not be best built for a women-specific bike.
So always try before you buy.
And if you want a lot more detail on this,
you should watch this next video, in which Lucy Martin
asks, do you need a women-specific bike?
- So, back to the initial question.
Do you really need a women-specific bike?
Well, the honest answer is, it actually depends.
I raced almost every season on a men's bike,
but I can see how some women
would really benefit from having a women's specific bike.
Let's face it.
Everybody's different shapes, different sizes,
regardless of gender, so
you need a bike that basically just fits.
And that may be a women-specific bike.
- Okay, next up is a question
from Rajan Chitrao,
apologies again for the pronunciation.
What should I buy as my first bike?
A road bike, a Cyclocross bike, or a mountain bike?
Well, that is a very difficult question to answer
without knowing exactly what type
of riding you are hoping to be doing.
And I'm guessing from the fact that you haven't written
it down, you'd actually know, yourself, exactly what
you want to be doing.
So I would suggest going for that middle ground
of the Cyclocross bike, or indeed, a gravel bike,
because they're very versatile machines.
They're pretty fast on the road, albeit not quite as fast
as road bikes, but they're also more than capable
of handling some off-road conditions.
Maybe not the gnarliest descents in the world,
but certainly gravel, fire roads,
and also some single track as well.
And if you really start to get the feeling that it's slowing
you down slightly on the road, and you want some more
performance, you can always buy a second set of wheels,
with some slick tyres, or just purchase the slick tyres
on their own and put them on the bike when they're needed.
Now, we did a day's filming a couple of years ago
in Wales, where we explored the differences between
a gravel bike and a road bike.
It really was great fun indeed and it's coming up
in this next video.
- You can punch it in, Dan.
- [Dan] Sod off.
(mystical music)
(rock music)
(rock music) (Matt, laughing)
- We should start the quickfire round off with a question
from Andrew Lord, who says, when using a maintenance stand
on a carbon bike with a carbon seatpost, where's the best
place to clamp it?
Well that is a very good question, indeed.
You should always avoid clamping any of the tubes
on a carbon frame set because they're not designed
to withstand that force from the side, only to be strong
in the direction they need to be when you're riding.
The seat post one is a difficult one, though,
because some people say
it is designed to withstand that force.
Because, after all, there's a seat collar and clamp
to prevent it slipping down.
Other people say that if it is a very light-weight carbon,
you do risk damaging it.
So there are a couple of solutions, the cheapest of which
is to buy a very cheap steel or alloy seat post,
which you simply put in when you want to put your bike
on the maintenance stand, or the slightly more expensive
option is to get one of those stands that the pro mechanics
use, where the fork dropouts are secured at front
and the rest of the bike's weight is propped
up at the bottom bracket and you can spin it round.
So I recommend one of those if you have the money.
Next up, Gingercoastie says why
are tubs faster than clinchers?
Tubs being tubular tyres, of course, that are stuck
onto the rim as opposed to clinchers, which you mount
on and have a separate inner tube.
I'm not exactly sure, Ginger,
that they are necessarily faster.
They might be in some cases, but during my time as a pro
I did a lot of research, online, into what were the fastest
rolling resistance tyres and actually, some very fast
clinchers, combined with latex inner tubes were faster
than the fastest tubular tyres.
Now, I know a lot of people out there feel like tubeless
are faster, but don't necessarily have any evidence
to back that up.
The reason a lot of pros still run with tubular tyres,
is because of safety.
If you puncture on one of them, you can actually roll
for quite a long time, and of course on a mountainous
descent with multiple hairpins, you want to still be able
to ride quite safely without coming off, and clinchers
aren't so good for that.
Next up, from Jorge Eduardo, an aerodynamic position is
useful on a climb, question mark.
I saw Jan Ulrich use it on the two,
2004 Tour de France in the Individual Time Trial
on Alpe d'Huez, where he had some clip-on bars.
Well that depends on how fast you're riding up the climb.
Jan Ulrich was probably climbing incredibly fast
up Alpe d'Huez, and once you get over about 18
or 20 kilometres per hour,
aerodynamics still has quite a major part to play,
as well as gravity and rolling resistance.
So it just depends on how fast you're going up the climbs.
Pier Juhng Hish,
can super glue be used
to fix tyre punctures?
I tried it once and worked,
but I'm not sure how long it can hold.
At least it allowed me to ride back home.
Amazing that you had super glue with you,
but not a spare inner tube to go in your tyre.
I guess it does work, as you've proven yourself.
It's not something that I've ever tried, personally,
although I think I might give it a go,
just to try it out at some point.
I know I have seen pro mechanics that use super glue
for the little nicks that you sometimes get in tyres,
to stop extra bits of thorn, etc., getting in
and puncturing the inner tube, but now I will try
that myself at some point.
And finally, Douglass McCuiston says, hello, do I need
to change my front derailleur if I'm changing my
chainrings, using the same size but different brand?
And the answer to that is no.
As long as the chainrings are the same size, and they're
also round as opposed to some of the
oval chainrings that you get these days,
then you shouldn't need to do anything until it's
your front derailleur or, indeed, the rest of your gears.
Here's a question which has been
nagging Stephen Tovell for some time.
What do soigneurs wrap food in for the riders?
Foil, parchment, or what?
Well, actually, you're pretty close to the mark there.
I did look it up a little bit earlier
and we have featured this stuff in some of our
truck tours in GCN over the past few years.
They don't use normal aluminium tin foil
that you would use in cooking.
I've tried that myself in the past
when I've had nothing else at home.
It does tend to get stuck to home-made energy bars
and to rice cakes, etc., and it's quite difficult
to unwrap, as well, in one piece, which is not what
you want when you're in the middle of the race.
So, they get these packets of eight-by-eight-inch
parchment-lined aluminium foil boxes.
You would've seen them, as I said,
on GCN videos in the past.
It's just much easier to unwrap, which is exactly
what you want in a race.
Now a soigneurs' job is very interesting.
They've got lots of tips and tricks along these lines,
which you might not normally think about.
And many years ago, all the way back in 2013,
we followed Sophie from Garmin Sharp, as the team
was known at the time, to see what goes into the life
of a soigneur on a daily basis.
- So we put two bottles,
one of an energy drink, one of water.
We have two bars in there, Clif bars,
and then, one
Blok.
And then two gels,
of our sponsor, Clif, and we add,
a baby Coke.
It's kinda good today, good weather.
And a
fresh panini, we made this morning.
The best part is
right now at the feed zone
(laughs)
and massage, it's good part,
and the job in general, is pretty good too.
But the suitcases, I'm gonna say is the worst one.
- Our last question for this week is from Rex 11.
How do I find out if I'm a climber or a sprinter?
Somebody already answered it for us, if you don't know,
then you're a domestique,
which is quite funny because domestiques are generally
people that are quite good at everything, but don't have
one very specific strength.
And it is quite easy to find out what you are good at
and not so good at, simply by riding with groups
or even doing races.
You'll quickly going to find where your strengths lie.
But you can also do some testing in a laboratory
or out on the open road with the use of a powermeter.
Four quick tests, which include a maximum sprint test,
a one-minute flat-out test, five minutes, and indeed,
20-minutes, are going to enable you to create
a power profile.
So when you compare those test results to your weight,
you'll get a power-to-weight ratio for each one,
and then you can go onto a site such as TrainingPeaks
and you'll be able to compare yourself
to the very best at those particular durations
and find out where your strengths lie.
But it's not all about numbers.
Take Mark Cavendish as an example.
He never performed particularly well in a laboratory,
and there are loads of people who've got way
better sprint power than he has, but he's the best
sprinter of a generation, an arguably, the best
sprinter of all time.
Anyway, if you do want to find out where your strengths lie
and you have the use of a powermeter, this next video
is for you, because it goes through exactly how to do
all of those four tests.
(funky music)
- I feel I can safely say
that I got everything out for myself
and you only get that one right the first time.
That's not something you want to repeat
twice in the same ride.
Okay now we're ready to start the five minute test.
Now like the one-minute one, if you've got a climb
of five minutes in duration on a steady grade
then that would be absolutely perfect, but
if you haven't, do it on a straight, flat road
without any junctions, and not too much traffic.
- That's it for this week's Ask GCN Anything.
Don't forget if you've got any questions
which you would like us to answer, you can leave them
in the comment section below this video
or on social media using the hashtag #TorqueBack.
Make sure you subscribe to the Global Cycling Network
if you haven't done so already.
You can click on the globe, which is
somewhere on the screen right now.
And then, you might want to watch
one of the following two videos.
In the left corner,
my left, your right, just down here, you can find a tour
of the Katusha Team Truck from the
2016 Tour de France, where you can see what the soigneurs
and the mechanics have on board,
and in the other corner you can see Si and Matt
trying to determine what the best bike to use over cobbles:
Cyclocross, road, or mountain bike.