- Welcome to Ask GCN Anything.
This week I'm answering your questions
on how to train with limited time,
if GCN could make their perfect team bus,
what would it have inside?
And is cycling detrimental to your oral health?
Don't forget if you want to get involved
on next week's show then to use the hashtag #torqueback
and if you want to be in with the chance
of winning three months free subscription
from our mates over at Zwift
then to use the hashtag #askGCNtraining
with all your cycle related questions.
Get them in the comments section below.
First question from dutypaidrock,
I rode a three day event with a variety of other riders
and the one frustration he had was the amount of
dropping off and surging within the group.
I'd be following a wheel, the person would fall off
the wheel in front by a bike and a half and surge on
meaning I had to do the same over and over
and this for a hundred plus miles,
was, well, quite tiring.
He then goes on to say is there a good workout
to help his stamina and what does he need to do
when he steps on the wheel or steps on the pedal,
to catch the wheel?
So first part of your question
is talk about chain gangs or in a pace line.
Now this is something that is a bit of an art,
but the one tip I'd give you,
was that when you're coming off on the front,
flick your elbow and then freewheel for about five seconds.
This will help the rider coming to your right or left
come past you a lot easier without having to race you.
The last thing you want to do is create a race,
that will create gaps in the group
and it will make it less smooth.
You want to create it nice and smooth
so then everyone's not using more energy
than they really need to.
So try that and let me know how you get on.
But there is a perfect video for you,
coming up right now on how to ride in a pace line.
- [Instructor] The idea of a pace line is that
you spend a short time on the front of the group,
pushing into the wind and then move to the back,
seeking shelter whilst waiting for your turn again.
This means that when you are on the front
you can ride much much harder than you would on your own
because you know you have time to recover after.
And the more riders there are therefore,
the more recovery you will get.
- Question from Oliver Mosley.
I'm okay going up hills but struggle to put the power down
as I go over the top of them.
Are there any specific training sessions
I can do for this?
Now this is a great question
because I think we're all in the same boat here.
Where, when you're going up a climb,
you think that's the effort or that is the effort.
When you go over the top,
everything in your body wants to tell you
just to stop pedaling, relax, and enjoy the descent.
The effort's over.
But this is not the case.
Actually when you're in a race
and you're in a big peloton,
half the peloton's on the descent
and the other half is still climbing
and that's when you create gaps.
So actually the hardest bit of the effort
could be over the top.
And the way to combat this is if you're doing five minute
or even 20 minute effort, to add 10 seconds on to that.
So if I'm doing a five minute effort flat out
I'll go to five minute stops and then I'll count
to 10, 10, nine, eight, keep putting the power out
and then relax.
And this, in your mind, will get you thinking
that the effort's not over,
until you're right over to the bottom of the climb
or right over on to the descent.
And you can do this when you're out on the road, too
so when you're climbing, wait,
keep the effort going until you're right over the top,
until you've got the speed, until you're on the wheel
before you can relax and chill out.
So try that, let me know how you get on
in the comments section below
'cause I'll be really interested to know how you find it.
The winner of this week's Zwift question
is Jonathan Blazevic, so you've got three months
free subscription from Zwift coming right over to you
so make sure you get in contact on Facebook
to get that over to you.
Now, you've got a great question and this is it,
what is the best training to prepare
for track races if you're not near a velodrome?
I'm focusing on the individual pursuit and the omnium.
Well track events are very high intensity
so that's where you really want to focus on
and as always we send this question over to Zwift
and they come back with an answer.
So with the wide range of disciplines
involved in the omnium,
the rider really needs to be focusing
on the short high-powered effort,
right through to the longer steady-state aerobic ones.
The first key point though in training for track
is the number of high-intensity sessions
performed on each week.
So try, this is something quite difficult
but try and aim for two to three high intensity sessions
each week, the remaining time then,
is performed at very low intensity or aerobic level.
Avoid the medium intensity effort
such as the long temper or sweet spot work
which you would normally do if you were riding on the road.
And then for the specific training events,
pursuiting is an aerobic event.
So for this we want to target your VO2
and develop this in its full potential.
And this is achieved by the long volumes
of zone five intervals, so zone five
is the level, your threshold, so your threshold level.
Anywhere between 106% and,
120% of your threshold value.
And then complete these intervals three to eight minutes
in duration with the recovery period,
the same as the work period.
So if you're doing a three minute effort,
make sure you having a three minute recovery after.
As the name suggests though,
in training we need to implement intervals
that produce the large amounts of lactate
because that's where you'll be working in.
Each subsequent interval increases the level of lactate
because the body hasn't had time to process the lactate
from the previous efforts.
And there is where the popular sessions
of 40 to 20s and 30 to 15s are really effective.
Be sure to let me know how you get on
and put it in the comment section below.
I'll be very interested to know how you get on
in those sessions 'cause,
well, they don't sound easy.
The question from Benjamin Kettleborough,
I was just wondering what happened to bikes that you buy
for content like the cheap bike,
cheap bike to super bike et cetera et cetera,
do the crew get them, do we get them?
We don't get them the crew don't get them,
we actually keep them.
And I think they're for historical value so,
in a couple of years we can look back
and see that bike that we made a video about
all those five years ago.
So yeah, question is we keep them.
Next question comes in from
S Porschet, one commentator for the Geo claimed that
sitting on the top tube of a high end carbon frame bicycle
is detrimental to the frame.
I thought I've heard otherwise on this channel.
What gives?
Good question, I've actually been told
by bike manufacturers not to sit on the top tube as well.
But one thing is, when the pros are descending
they're sitting on the top tube.
It looks like they're just full sitting on the top tube.
This isn't actually the case,
it's merely resting on them so,
you're still on the pedals but you're just resting
on the top tube because it can get quite comfortable
if you're full sitting on them.
So you're not sitting on the top tube
with dead weight, as it were.
And remember those pros are like,
super light you know?
They don't weigh a lot so they're not going to,
jump and sit on it, it's more just kind of resting.
So that's why they do it and that's why
the bikes don't break or I've never heard of
a pro breaking a bike by sitting on their top tube.
Question in from James Turner,
if I reduce my crank length by two centimeters
do I increase my saddle height by the same two centimeters?
Yes you do, so what you want to do
is keep the same measurement between your bottom
of your pedal stroke to the saddle.
so if you increase your crank then you need to,
adapt your saddle height accordingly.
You want to keep the same measurement in between
all the time, unless you do want to increase
your saddle height for example.
We got a question from Paul Doughty,
how come the GCN presenters don't wear cycling gloves?
It's because we're hardcore!
No, it's not.
I think it's just because it's more comfortable.
I personally prefer riding with no gloves.
But if I'm racing I definitely would use cycling gloves
because there's more of a chance
of you falling off, basically.
Especially if I'm racing.
Queue the crashes.
(James yelling)
Yeah so,
if you want to save your hands, wear gloves.
If you're like the GCN presenters
and don't care about your hands don't wear gloves!
Now I was on GCN Instagram
and I asked you send in your questions,
and many of you did so here are a few.
Richie on Instagram, when does the Tour de France start?
The Tour de France starts at the beginning of July,
on the 6th of July to be precise.
And I can't wait, I've done three weeks the Giro,
absolutely loved it, looking forward
to seeing everyone at the Tour this year.
And it's going to be spicy, I cannot wait
and I bet you can't too.
So make sure you tune in on the 6th of July.
We've got a question in from Carrick Hewing,
do a velodrome video.
Watch this space.
Is that, am i giving away the secret?
(person shushing)
Sorry, yeah, watch this space.
We've got one in from Pranavept,
right, that's not how you say it
but I'm going to put it on screen now
so you can understand how hard it is to pronounce this name.
What routine should I follow for ultra-endurance?
I have no idea I've never done an ultra-endurance event
but this man does, cue the video of Marc Beaumont and sigh.
- It's one thing doing a mega day
it's another thing waking up after a few hours sleep
and then doing it again, again, again.
So whether it's a Lands End, John O'Groats
or it's a trans con or, you know,
something even bigger.
It's all about not just how good you are
in any given day but how quickly can you recover?
A question in from Gemma Adam,
who is your favorite pro cyclist of all time?
Tom Boonen, I mean the guy is unreal.
I just want to show you this picture
and this picture says it all,
him on Paris-Roubaix just looking cool, calm
and collected and putting out like 500 watts.
Who doesn't love that?
So I'm going to say Tom Boonen.
We've got a question in from doooooominic,
will be off the bike for two months,
what exercises should do in order to not lose fitness?
Run, walk, swim.
So do some cardiovascular exercises
to keep the weight off maybe?
And if you want to get in the gym do that.
Basically anything that raises your heart rate up.
I personally would say to do some pre breakfast runs
or something like that, that's what I do.
Try it, let me know how it goes.
We've got one in from Volkan Kilickaya,
I gave my best shot.
What is your favorite, aero bike or climb bike?
I'm glad you asked this question
because I actually asked the pros this question
and so I'm hoping that's going to be on the the channel
coming soon so watch out for that.
A lot of pros, I'm not going to tell you this,
I shouldn't actually tell you this
but a lot pros went for climbing,
just putting it out there.
I personally am going to go for aero,
who doesn't want to go fast all the time?
You know?
I mean,
faster's better, faster's cooler, yeah?
Yeah I'm guessing you agree with me there.
Question in from Dan 931
Does cycling negatively impact one's oral health?
Well the answer is, yes it could do.
You know, with sports nutrition gels et cetera,
there's a lot of sugar.
It's like sucking on syrup I guess.
And that is what's going to eat away at your teeth.
So when you do finish a ride make sure you grab a bottle
of water and just swirl it around in your mouth
and then either drink or spit it out.
But I would say do that at the end of a race
especially when you've had lots of gels.
I mean, when I was asking the pros there,
they were having six to eight gels during a stage race
and if you're having that for three weeks a day
that's not going to help your teeth at all
so make sure you take a swig of water
and try and swirl it around and then,
remember to brush your teeth.
I mean I shouldn't really be saying that
but twice a day please, thanks guys.
Right that's it for this week's Ask GC Anything.
I've really enjoyed it, I hope you have too.
Make sure you give it a big thumbs up.
And don't forget if you want to get involved
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and if you're hungry for a bit Zwift action
and you want three months free subscription
from our mates over at Zwift,
then to use the hashtag #askGCNtraining
but make sure they're training related questions
because, as always, we send those off to Zwift
and they give their professional advice.
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