- Welcome to Ask GC Anything.
- Coming up this week.
How you can improve your time trialing.
How high-intensity intervals will improve your performance,
and I know that only too well myself.
- Yes you do. - With recent experiences.
And also, the best upgrade to make your bike lighter.
- Yes, and if you wanna get involved on next week's show,
then remember to use the hashtag torqueback
and put them in the comment section below.
And if you wanna win three months of free subscription
from our mates over at Zwift,
then to use the hashtag askGCNtraining
for all your training-specific questions.
- Right, let's crack on with the first question
from this week which comes in from 247MS1.
"Hi guys, inspired by today's awesome Rad Race video."
And that was a cracking video I have to admit.
"And looking at the different bikes used on GCN Tech.
"I've been looking to get a fixed wheel bike.
"However, I was wondering what makes one fixed wheel bike
"better than another and where should I put my money?"
- Well the beauty of fixed gear bikes
is there's really not much to them.
So looking at your frame and putting money there
is probably your best bet.
If you're really serious then you can go for a carbon frame
but alloy is also just fine
and I race the alloy, the Schindelhauer, in the Rad Race
and it did me, well, pretty good.
- Yeah, I think you enjoyed riding both.
- I did yeah.
- As Hank points out, the beauty of them is their simplicity
and therefore you really don't need to spend much money
to get a decent fixed wheel bike.
The main things to look out for then are the fit,
make sure you're in the right position,
and also the gearing, I mean you can select different gears
and have them back at your garage to put on
for whatever event you want.
Only beyond that when you're getting more serious
might you want to start thinking about upgrading
to aero wheels or aero frames
but they're really not necessary.
- And if others of you out there
who are looking at fixed gear bikes,
then why don't you check out the tech video
I did at the Rad Race and you can see a wide variety
of different bikes out there.
I managed to get my hands on
one of the Canyon Rad Pack team bikes.
This is actually the test bike of the V-Rad.
And he's got some mountain bike bars, they're 700 width.
He's got a Shimano SPD mountain bike pedals.
165 cranks, a 48 gear,
Vittoria 25 width tires on DT Swiss rims.
And it's aluminum.
- Looking at the video briefly again, Hank,
I think possibly the biggest upgrade
you could make to a fixed gear bike
is spending some money on an amazing paint job.
Those are the coolest things, are they?
- Ah, mate, you have never seen so many custom paint jobs
than on a fixed gear race.
- It's all about being cool, isn't it, fixed gear stuff,
which is probably why I've never done very much of it.
All right, what's next?
- Next up, we've got a question from The Gaming Entity.
"Is 14:30 a good time for a 10 kilometer time trial?
"I'm 16 and the other times are usually
"from 13 minutes to 20 minutes
"and I--"
- Is. - "And is--"
- There is a gap between the I and the S there.
- "And is there a way I could improve my TT?"
Well there is, but that is a great time
and remember, you are only 16,
you've got a long way to go to improve on your fitness
and on loads of other things that Dan's gonna explain now.
- Well, I mean, the biggest thing about time training
is of course aerodynamics,
and that doesn't need to be anything about equipment
because the biggest different the aerodynamics
is your own position on the bike.
So you could seek advice from local riders
or your local bike shop on how to make that better.
I always say to people of your age,
you shouldn't be worrying too much
about what those around you are doing
because, at 16 especially,
there's all sorts of different levels of development
and other people might be towards their ceiling
and you might only just be getting started.
So concentrate just on your own performance
and you'll get better of the years, I'm sure.
Also, hard to say whether 14:30 is a good time
for a 10 K time trial
when we don't know whether it was flat,
how windy it is, et cetera. - Loads of variables.
Yeah, I think as you get older
you do start to change your position
as you change your body shape so, yeah.
You will keep getting better so just, yeah,
keep in there, hang in there.
- And pacing, make sure that you're doing
even power as much as possible throughout.
- I was terrible at the pacing.
- Are you ready to find out who's won
three free months subscription to Zwift?
- Yes, he winner is Ash Thomas so well done to you.
You've got a three months free subscription
winging its way right to you for this question.
- Yes, the questions is,
"I am looking for some training advice.
"There's a climb that is 1.2 miles long
"with an average gradient of 10.9% locally to me
"and I would like to get up it faster.
"Any tips?"
- Well it sounds like an effort we just did.
- It does, yeah!
We had a 2.2 K KOM challenge, which is just the 1.4 miles.
Unfortunately, I started a minute in front of Hank
and then finished about 30 seconds behind him.
Um, anyway.
- But you are getting stronger, mate, so hang in there.
Actually, this session would help you.
- Fake praise that is, isn't it?
I might have caught you and dropped you
but you're getting better, mate,
keep it going, you'll get there one day.
- But what you would wanna do is repeat effort
of around four to eight minutes long.
And you're looking for a workload of around 20 to 25 minutes
and this will really help you target that VO2 session,
which is the component of training
that you're trying to improve.
- Yeah, make sure you have an equal amount of rest
between each of those intervals
so that you're reasonable rested
for the start of the next one.
You could try doing that once per week for a few weeks
and you'll see some improvements there.
Also, within each of those weeks
you could have an even more intense session
where you're doing 30 second flat out intervals
but, again, a longer recovery between them
of around five minutes
because they're going to take it out of you.
It's a really interesting one, this,
because you need to push your ceiling up to get better
at an effort that's about five or six minutes long
but at the same time you can also try
pushing it up from the bottom.
As in, if you can raise your FTP from the point it is now
to the point where the power you've got at five minutes
is now what you for an hour,
then of course what you do for five minutes
is also going to go up so it's a catch 22
but if you've not got loads of time,
work on the top end and you should see
those times getting better.
- Yes, and as always we send this question off the Zwift
and they come back with a session that will help you
so check out this session on screen now.
(cheerful music)
Question in from Jaamn.
"I know you're often recommending interval training."
Well yes, that's very true, we are.
"As most efficient way to get stronger and fitter.
"However, I most like to do longer rides,
"three hours plus with a bit of everything,
"mountains, flats, and without paying particular attention
"regarding what would be the most beneficial training-wise.
"I just enjoy that type of riding.
"My question is, what am I missing out on?"
- Well, in terms of what intervals can do for you,
that is sat right here, really.
I did 10 weeks of just four hours a week,
almost exclusively doing intervals with Suffer Fest,
I ended up getting a lot stronger.
Some people said that was down to the fact
that it's muscle memory because I was stronger before,
when I was a full-time athlete.
But lot's of the people doing Plow With Dan
also experienced gains of 10 to 20%
over the course of that 10 weeks.
So there's absolutely no doubt that even doing short rides
with intervals in is going to make you
fitter, stronger and faster.
That said, the thing I'm gonna focus on your questions
is I mostly do three hour rides or longer,
I just enjoy that type of riding.
So, in doing intervals, you might end up missing out
on what you most enjoy about riding a bikes at the moment,
and also the fact that you currently do
mountains, flats, and other terrain
might mean you're kind of doing intervals
without even realizing it out on your rides.
So, unless you really, really want to get fitter,
I wouldn't worry too much.
Next up, we have this from Benjamin Aspin.
"I'm just starting to ramp up my training
"for the start of the race season"
and compute, commute, should I said, by bike everyday.
"However, every time I ride my bike,
"my commuter or road bike,
"I get cramp in my lower inside quad just above the knee,
"but definitely not the knee.
"It also gets worse when I climb out the saddle.
"Is there a bike issue or a muscular imbalance
"or is it both?
"Any help much appreciated."
- Great question.
And I think we get loads in on knee problems
because they are quite a common problem
when you're on a bike.
I personally have had a knee issue
and it's all stemmed from where my cleat position,
my stack under my pedal,
so it can be a whole load of different things.
It sounds like it's your vastus lateralis,
do you like my pronunciation on that?
But yeah, so it sounds like that's the muscle
that is gonna cause you pain.
And that's actually the muscle
that is holding your kneecap in place
so it's basically stabilizing your knee
and it also helps for the extension of your knee, also.
So, something like stretching
and looking at all the different components
like your shoe, from your cleat,
and your body position on the bike should really help.
- Stretching and the strengthening
in all areas of your body really,
because even though you might have the pain in your knee
or somebody else in the achilles
or somebody else in their back,
it might not necessarily stem
from exactly where you're experiencing the pain,
it could be from somewhere completely different.
So it's hard for us to sit here as non-medics
and obviously not seeing you,
to say exactly what's going on there
so I'd firstly, before you go to a bike fitter,
recommend going to see a good physio or chiro
and try and find out where the issue's coming from
in the first place.
- Yes, and actually Dan did a video a couple of years back--
- Couple?!
Blimey, about five.
As you just pointed out, before we started filming this.
- On how to avoid knee pain.
So why don't you check out that video now?
- Hank says it's due an update
but you might still find some points in there.
Knee pain is something which you should
take very seriously indeed.
In fact, if you're experiencing a lot of pain,
then we recommend going to see somebody
for some professional help,
particularly if you're starting to feel it
off the bike as well as on it.
The first place you should start
is by looking at your saddle hight and position.
Now, get it too high or too low
and you'll be putting considerable
extra strain on your knees.
Now, talk to a fellow cyclist,
and with one look they should be able to tell you
if there are any glaring errors in your position.
But you can of course, do it yourself as well.
Next up, this one from Jorge Garcia Ibanez.
"I'm going to the Pyrenees next July
"to see the Tour de France with a friend
"and we're gonna take our bikes to climb some mountains.
"The thing is that my friend is quite strong
"because he trains for amateur races
"but I'm quite an average rider.
"Any tips on how to complete those climbs
"and not die in the attempt?"
- Right.
Pacing is your ultimate tool.
- Don't try to keep up with him to start with.
- Do not blow too early, so ride within yourself
and keep yourself at a constant pace
that you know you can sustain
for the longevity of that climb.
So yeah, not going into the red, basically.
- I know you said that you're taking your own bikes out
but the alternative is that,
if you want to ride with your better friend,
you could go and hire a e-bike
and I'm being serious here,
like that is what e-bikes are good for, in my opinion,
it allows you to ride with people
that are at a higher level than you
or if you're at a higher level,
someone else having an e-bike allows you to ride with them
even thought they're at a lower level than you.
- Is that why you ride with me when you're on an e-bike?
- All right, stop putting the knife in here.
Blimey, not gonna do another RT training thing.
Anyway, there's no harm in that.
But on the other side of things,
I'm sure you want to accomplish
and get to the top off your own impetus.
In which case, as Hank says,
it's just about pacing it on the way up,
not trying to stick with your friend from the gun at all,
and just getting to the top off your own back.
- It's actually what Opie was really good at.
When we were on training camps,
he used to stick to a certain power
that he knew he could sustain
and me, on the other hand, went full gas from the go
and he ended up passing me half way on the climb.
- Pacing is everything.
- We got a question in from AndreasCarlsson10.
"I'm trying to get down to my race weight,
"but I've noticed a significant drop in power
"over the last few weeks.
"Since January I've gone from 70 kilograms
to 63 kilograms," wow that is a lot.
"Now I want to lose another 2.4 kilograms of fat.
"My resting heart rate has also dropped
"from 58bpm to 48bpm and now I really struggle
"to even reach my threshold heart rate.
"Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
"I eat around 200 grams plus of protein a day
"and 60 grams of carbs on the two meals before my workout."
Wow - Seven kilograms
of bodyweight in the space of 10 weeks is a huge amount
and that kind of weight loss is just not sustainable.
So firstly I would say just be very careful
what you're doing,
especially given the symptoms that you've just said
about not being able to get your heart rate up
and losing power.
You want to do this slowly so that it stays off
and so that you don't reduce how much power
you're able to put out so go very careful on this one.
- Yeah, crash dieting can be quite dangerous
so I would, yeah, like Dan said,
just go careful with it and monitor with a doctor
or someone who actually knows--
- Definitely firstly concentrate on making sure
that you start to feel better
on the current weight that you've got to
before you start thinking about losing
another 2.4 kilos of fat.
Otherwise, things are going to go belly-up fairly quickly.
I mean, your resting heart rate though.
That can be a good indicator that you're getting fitter.
Generally my resting heart rate comes down
the fitter I've got as long as I'm measuring it
on a day that I'm not particularly fatigued.
But, again, it's different for different people.
And to reiterate, I'd just go very careful at the moment.
- Yeah and on the 60 to 80 grams of carbohydrates,
that is not a lot so maybe increasing that
and then increasing your workload, maybe balance that out.
But yeah, looking at how much food you eat
and the types of food you eat
is also gonna really be important.
- At the end of the day, power to weight is hugely important
at the very top end of the sport
but power is also always key, really, isn't it?
You don't want to lose that,
so you need to go back to the drawing board,
I would suggest, and get the power back that you had
even if it means putting a little bit of weight back on
before you start to steadily try to lose weight again.
Right, next up, this from...
That was definitely not a quick-fire round that one was it?
- No, sorry.
- Rurry Verial Harris.
"Hi GCN, sorry for my bad English.
"I like cycling very much
"and I am a complete newbie about cycling.
"Here's the issue.
"Can I use GCN cycling tips on my hard tail mountain bike
"because it's the only bike I have
"and I want to enjoy my cycling more around the city?"
Short answer, absolutely.
Here at GCN, we're all about having fun on the bike.
We do try not to be elitist
even though we're very privileged
to have an amazing kit sponsor, helmet,
shoes, glasses, bikes, et cetera.
I know we kind of look elitist sometimes
but we're all about getting people
out on bikes and having fun.
And we had a massive array of fitness levels
and experience levels over in Mallorca
but I think, and I hope, everybody enjoyed
riding their bike over there.
- Yeah, absolutely.
And second that, actually,
because you've all gotta start somewhere.
So, I mean, Dan and I,
we both started on old mountain bikes, hard tails,
and that's where you just go out and enjoy your bike
and when you get better, and hopefully,
if you earn a bit more money
and you can invest in a better bike and better kit.
But ultimately, our how-tos of what we do,
it does cross over for all levels
and all different types of cycling.
- All the training advice,
you can go and do the same intervals
and, as you said, you might want to upgrade to road.
But what I did, was got some slick ties for my mountain bike
when I wanted get out road riding more,
so yeah, don't worry about the bike that you've got.
Kathy Williams.
"Got a question for ask GNC training.
"I've been doing a nice variety of workouts
"on Zwift throughout the winter
"and every time I'm about to get started,
"I have to decide whether to do the work in ERG mode or not.
"I almost always do well hitting my targets
"regardless of whether I'm in ERG mode or not,
"but for some reason in that mode, it feels much harder.
"My question is does that?
"Why is that the case?"
- Right.
On ERG mode, it does feel a little strange
when you get on it,
but what you can do is anticipate the effort.
So maybe raising your cadence
and getting ready before the turbo kicks in,
that should help smooth the transition
from going at, say, 230 watts to 260 watts.
- Yeah, well we should probably explain what ERG mode is
to those of you that haven't got a smart--
- That's probably wise.
- If your training program from Zwift says to you
that you need to stick at 250 watts for five minutes,
whatever gear you're in when you start that interval,
it will ensure that you are doing 250 watts
no matter what your cadence.
So if you start at 70 and decide you want to be 90,
it will reduce the resistance so the power remains the same
even if the force that's going through
the pedals changes slightly.
So many people do find it easy,
because it kind of takes the thinking out of--
- You definitely don't need to think,
you just pedal, don't you?
- You do.
But on the other hand, if you're having a bad day,
it makes it very hard doesn't it?
Because on level mode, which is the alternative
where you choose the gear
and your cadence stays fairly level
and you just have to choose the gear
to get the right power,
you can drop things down if you're not on a good day
and still get a decent interval done.
But it can be depressing if the Turbo Trainer's
trying to make you do the power that you can't do
on a particular day.
It's our final question on Ask GC Anything.
- Sad times. - This week.
Comes in from Den I Am.
"I'd like to know why the pros
"don't ride aero-bikes in pro races.
"I ride a trek SL6 Pro and their bike
"looks similar in style to my bike."
- Right, good question,
but some pros do and some pros don't.
It's basically down to rider preference.
If the sponsor who's sponsoring the team
and the supplier of the bikes
has an aero-bike in their roster,
then they do have to option to use them.
But if they're kind of used to the more
traditional geometry style, then yeah,
it's basically what the rider is comfortable with.
Like Valverde, for example,
he likes a traditional style bike
and that's why he rides the Ultimate
instead of the Canyon Aero.
- Well it's a traditional sport, isn't it?
And I know that lots of aerodynamics gurus and engineers
that work for the manufacturers that supply teams,
come up against a lot of resistance
when trying to persuade the older generation of riders
to use aerodynamic gear.
In general, in almost every situation,
it is better to be aero than lose a few grams.
But to give you a personal example,
Carl Sasjay, for example, back in the day,
I won't mention it.
He refused to use anything deeper than a 202
which is the shallowest rim from zip on a climbing stage,
and it wasn't because of the aero-side
or the lightweight-side,
he preferred the way it handled down descents,
it was a bit more nimble,
whereas on the 303s or 404s,
he would find it a little bit harder
to turn and not be quite so confident.
So that comes into it as well.
But I think what you will see as the generations progress
and as more knowledge would appear
from the internet, et cetera,
is that almost every rider will go for
the most aero component on every part of the bike.
- Yep, that's it.
And that's a great question to end on.
And I'm afraid, it is the end
of this week's Ask GC Anything.
If you would like to get involved on next week's show,
then to use the hashtag. - Torqueback.
- And if you would like to win
three months free subscription from Zwift,
what is the hashtag use?
- Ask GC Anything.
- Yeah and put them in the comments section below.
- Or, if you think of a question
whilst you're out and about,
then use the hashtag torqueback
on social media and we'll look through those too.
Right, I'm now going to hand back over
to Hank's video from the Rad Race
because if you haven't already seen it,
it is rad in more ways than one.
- I surprised myself.
- Oh, sorry, it's down here.
- Somewhere.