- I can't believe it's here yet again,
it's another edition of Ask GCN Anything,
where you ask us an incitely amount of questions
and we do our very best to answer them.
Now first up is this question Brenton Pobje,
apologies if I got surname pronunciation a bit wrong there,
who ask we have a great group ride once a week,
we don't drop anybody and we try and stay as a group,
but when it comes to hills and events,
fondo's and charity rides,
we break up and stay separate for the rest of the ride.
What is the secret to riding as a group uphills?
Well Hi Brenton, thanks very much for getting in contact.
As you well know,
as soon as the road starts to tilt upwards,
that's when physics really does come onto play
because the heavier riders have to produce more power
to ride the same speed as the lighter riders
and as the gradients gets even steeper,
basically the different fitness level from within the group
is severely highlighted.
What I would suggest and the only real solution
is to come to an agreement as a group of riders
that you will wait at the top of the climbs.
So it could literally be that at the top of the climb
you pull over to the side of the road
and wait for the last person to ever come across
before regrouping and riding off,
which is fine in the warm weather,
not so good when it's cold
because the last thing you want to do
is hang around at the top of a hill
or alternatively we could drift over the top of the climb
and then knock off the pace a little bit
as you go down the other side
and literally wait for the last person to catch up.
That's pretty easy to do and you also keep moving.
It's purely up to you but the main factor here is
you pre-agree before the ride or the sportif
what your going to do
and basically stick to it as a group of friends.
Now, It's well basically simple etiquette
and we look at etiquette
in sportif Angro and Fundos here, take a look.
- It's important and very advisable
that you don't overlap the wheel in front of you.
- People won't mind you sitting behind them
just as long as at least occasionally
you do come to the front and do your own work.
- Take for example the approach to a feed zone,
what you don't want to do
is suddenly veer across the road
without paying attention to whats behind you.
- Next up is this question from Brian Fitzgerald,
hi guys, what are the models of bike computers
that is used in the pro peloton?
It would be great to know the range.
Now Brian thanks very much firstly for getting in contact.
Garmin of course, one of most famous brands.
They've been around for a long time
and one of the first brands to actually
have a head unit that registered power
and all the other metrics.
There's a couple of other brands that are out there as well
that are growing in popularity.
Pioneer, they have a head unit
to go with their power metre as well,
as do Stages and of course there's one of the pioneers,
if you don't mind me saying in terms of power metres
and that was SRM, the German company.
So generally speaking if you've got an SRM head unit
you'll also have an SRM power metre as well.
Now all of these different brands
will show a variety of different metrics,
they'll have different functionality
and again are available to the general public
at different sorts of price points
but for me the most interesting thing in the pro peloton
is how the riders use their head units
and what kind of data they prefer to look at
on a day to day basis depending on the race.
Now I asked this very question
midway through last year's Giro d'Italia
and got some very interesting answers.
- Speed, distance, average power, and time.
- Coming into third wig
I don't even want to look at it at all
just because you know 370 watts an hour
just hurts like crazy.
- It's time now for the rapid-fire round,
count me in Patrick.
Here we go, first up is this from Louis Stevens.
I'm looking to buy a new bike
and really fancy a bike with a disc
but also with electronic gears.
I don't think my budget will stretch for both.
What would I'd best be doing, getting a bike with discs
and upgrading later to electronic gears.
Definitely get a bike with the discs first.
More and more bikes are coming
equipped with discs as standard
but just make sure that the frame
has an option to route the cables internally.
That's the key thing but definitely disc first
and then when you save a little bit of cash
get the electronics later.
Next up is this from Katie Reilly. Hi GCN,
I love the channel, I do a lot of track.
My local track is outdoors. We all sit on the grass
which can be very soft and muddy.
In between the track and grass is gravel,
both the mud and gravel get stuck in the cleats
which can be a nightmare getting them off.
Is there anything I can do to make changing cleats easier?
Katie, you've sent this in a couple of times
so that's why I put it in the show this week.
Best thing to do, nice and simple,
is carry a spare pair of trainers with you
and just swap around.
So don't walk around in your cycling shoes
especially in and off the track.
Get a pair of flip-flops, pair of trainers,
and Bob's your uncle
your cleats will then be free of grass and grit.
Next up is this from Thierry Draper,
with a cold snap starting can you please advise
on the best overlapping copped, cuff technique, sorry,
glove over sleeve or sleeve over glove.
Either way I would try, either way I try, sorry,
the wind still seems to get in.
That's a very good question
especially as we head into the winter month
as you point out Thierry.
I would always go
for the cuffs over the cuffs of your jackets
because that generally the way the wind comes.
If you have the cuffs the other way around
like over the glove, the winds going to go in that way
and that since the years dots basically
is the way I've always worn gloves in the winter.
Next up is this from John Vogel, hi GCN,
should you always replace your helmet
after hitting your head in a crash.
I got hit by a car
and landed squarely on the top of my head,
the exterior of the helmet looks fine
and interior is not obviously cracked, thanks.
John I would change it.
I would go,
I would stick with the advice of the helmet manufacturers,
if you have a heavy fall
I would replace the helmet
because you might not be able to see
the sort of cracks inside
that could be that the helmet is,
its integrity has been compromised
and many many helmet manufacturers
if you have a crash it will be warranted,
you can send it off and get a new one
just check in the booklet when you buy the helmet
but my advice would be definitely replace your helmet.
Next up is this from Gregorio Rivera.
I live in Florida and can ride all year round.
Very lucky Gregorio.
Can I benefit from having an indoor trainer.
My simple answer to that is one word,
yes,
and two other words,
you can,
two other words,
for sure.
Penultimately is this from Simon Lund.
It's another glove based question.
First, to glove or not to glove,
some pro seem to use gloves others not.
Is it personal preference or is there another reason.
As a reformed motorcyclist
I was taught that no gloves is not an option
unless you're nuts
since the nerves and tendons inside of the wrist
are where you're likely to land in a crash
risking major long-term issues.
This is a real personal preference question really.
A lot of pros,
most pros don't train with gloves
but most pros race with gloves
because potentially it's more of a risky situation
and in a crash one of the first things to hit the deck
when you crash when you fall over, sorry,
is your hands hit the deck
you risk taking off all this outter skin on your palms.
Also on the motorbike you're travelling at far higher speed,
the risks are greatest,
so obviously your always going to wear gloves
but you do see some pros, even in [Para Rube 00:06:55]
Tom Bonin doesn't wear gloves,
that's personal choice but for me train with no gloves
and I race with gloves is purely a matter of choice.
And finally before I lose my breath,
is this from Oliver Tonder, hey, does water damage my bike?
I need to train for the winter
and really want to get this precious kilometres in
however I'm scared of my bike getting damaged.
For the record they haven't started putting salt on the road
so water really is my biggest issue.
Water will damage your bike
but only if you don't look after your bike.
Of course you can wash your bike in water
but the main thing to do
is to keep your bike well-maintained.
When you've washed it
or when you've been out in the bad weather
especially in the winter, rinse it off
and then relube it, give it a dry, it should be fine.
So water can be your bike's enemy
if it's corrosive kind of water with salt in
but generally speaking it's fine
just make sure you rinse off and lube your bike as well.
Little bit exhausted after that rapid-fire round
so we'll slow things down
with this question from Barney Andrews,
who asks, I'm interested in the FTP thing.
FTP being functional threshold power.
I'm 97 kilogrammes and I've done my FTP twice
and my best has been 185 watts.
All the info I can find is that this result is lame,
how lame is it though?
If I weighed 77 kilogrammes
and did the same test with the same power
I have right now, would my FTP be much higher?
I get nailed on the climbs
but seem to find plenty of people behind me on the flat.
Well Barney thanks very much for getting in contact
but first up before I answer your question
let's get rid of the word lame here,
your FTP 185 watts isn't lame at all.
The most important thing, like the rest of us,
is that you ride a bike.
So that's it, so let's just put that lame thing to one side.
So don't worry about that but to answer your question
and if you were to drop 20 kilogrammes
and get down to 77 kilogrammes
and still produce the same power,
your functional threshold power
would remain exactly the same
because that to explain it
is amount of power that you can sustain for an hour
that is the measure of FTP.
So your weight, if your power stays the same,
it's kind of irrelevant
although you will get slightly more efficient.
The one thing that will change
is your power to weight ratio.
Now power to weight ratio is basically the watts
that you can produce per kilogramme of body weight,
so if you increase your power through training
regular training
and actually decrease your weight
as you can see you'll become far more efficient
especially when the road tilts upwards.
Now so fundamental there is a difference
between your power to weight ratio
and your functional threshold power
but ideally improving both
is basically the place that you need to head.
So stick at it, don't worry about your 185 watts
and given the weight you are
I have no doubt you've definitely see improvements
if you stick with it.
Now if you're wondering
how to calculate your function or threshold power,
how about watching this video.
- Being able to ride at your maximum
very much depends on how fresh you are.
So whether you are still tired from previous rides
or in fact just tired from normal life
because you'll find that a lack of freshness
means you just won't be able to sustain a maximum effort
so you're gonna artificially depress your FTP.
- Finally on this week's Ask GCN Anything
we have this question from John Waters who asks,
hi, I live in Polzeath in North Cornwall
and wondered if you have any tips or advice
for riding in crosswinds.
It's an exposed piece of coastline
and prone to crosswinds most of the year.
I've recently upgraded to a light carbon bike
with deep section wheels,
I'm now noting the wind more than ever.
I hope you can help. PS Si deserves ablated wattage bazooka
for his assault on the area's climbs last year.
Well I will mention that to Simon
but John thank you very much for getting in contact.
Cornwall though, absolutely stunning place
and it is a place that will have
always have a place in my heart .
It was where I spent a lot of holidays as a kid,
is where my dad's from and I've spent a long time there
on holidays and actually riding my bike as well.
The big issue here I think
is the fact that you've got deeper section rims.
Most of us right now on carbon frames right,
light aluminium frames
and that shouldn't cause you too much problem at all
but it is the deep section rims.
Quite simply because of the large surface area
in the crosswinds,
that large surface area would catch the wind
and dramatically dictate, the stronger the wind,
it would dramatically dictate
how you're able to control and therefore steer the bike
so my suggestion would be to invest in a relatively,
relatively cheap shallow section set of wheels
to make your riding in the exposed coastal areas
far more easier and actually to be honest with you,
far safer and then maybe save the deep section wheels
for days when it's relatively still,
although I understand they're few and far between
in that neck of the woods
or for when you're riding primarily inland.
To that I think will solve your problem.
Now for some more tips on riding in the dreaded crosswinds
how about checking out this video.
- Ride behind and slightly off to the left
or the right depending of the wind direction.
- What you can also do is gang up with your teammates
and launch a combined attack.
So four or five you could rotate through
but stick everyone else in the gutter
meaning that you may well be able to drop riders
far stronger than you and force a split.
- Well there you go,
that's it for yet another edition of Ask GCN anything,
please do keep your questions coming in
using the hashtag #TORQUEBACK in the comment section
and also across on social media as well
and if you haven't already subscribed
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Now talking of videos,
as we head into the winter months,
how about clicking just down here
for our top seven winter training mistakes
or click just down here
for our indoor training session for Team Sky.