- On this week's ask GCN anything,
we shall be discussing leg length discrepancy,
ceramic bearings, riding over cattle grids,
and a whole lot more.
First up though, a question in on Twitter from Tom Mason,
I currently ride 23 millimetre Conti tyres
but I'm heading over to Belgium for a few days.
Should I put 25s on for the cobblestones?
Yes, most definitely.
And in fact if your frame set will accommodate them,
I would suggest going even larger
than that to 28 millimetre tyres.
Your tyres are, of course, the first point of contact
with the ground, or the only point of contact in fact,
and they do the best job of anything on your bike
at absorbing the shock and vibration from the road surface.
And of course there is a lot of that
when you're riding over cobblestones.
The benefit of riding larger volume tyres
is that you can run them at a lower pressure
without an increased risk of pinch punctures.
And I can tell you firsthand that the difference
in comfort over the cobblestones is absolutely massive.
In fact, earlier on in 2017 Matt and Si did some tests,
three different types of bikes
over the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix.
Admittedly, it's slightly over the border in France
rather than Belgium, but the same things do apply.
And the results are quite interesting, take a look at this.
- We're going to put three types
of bike through their paces.
Here, on arguably one of the most infamous sectors of pave
in the world, the Carrefour de l'Arbre in France,
made famous, of course, in Paris-Roubaix.
- Yeah, we are each gonna ride a road bike,
a cyclocross bike, and a cross-country mountain bike
through this tough sector as fast as we possibly can,
to see which one is the quickest.
- Don't forget, if you'd like to ask us a question
you can leave it in the comment section below this video
or indeed on Twitter, using the hashtag #torqueback,
and that is where this next question came in,
again from Michael Samuel, as an 18 year-old aiming to race,
what sort of training should I be doing,
and is there any other advice that you can offer?
Well this is a question that we get asked quite a lot
in comments and on Facebook, et cetera.
Now, since you haven't raced before,
it can be quite a daunting prospect, but it needn't be,
because the only person that's going
to have any expectations on you, is you yourself.
So you should go to your first race
with the aim of getting some experience,
and most of all, having some fun.
And in terms of training, though, you should be specific
to the event that you want to enter,
to try to analyse the demands of that particular race.
Firstly, how long it's going to take you,
i.e. the duration of the race,
secondly, the type of terrain, is it hilly, is it flat?
And thirdly, how many corners are there?
Is it on a short circuit, almost like a criterium,
with loads of corners where you're going to be doing
lots of short, sharp sprints, or is it a longer road race,
maybe from A to B, or a long circuit,
where you're going to be required to put the power down
through the pedals for longer spells.
Once you've decided what the specific demands
of that race are, you will have a better idea
of what you need to work on.
And we've got loads of videos here at GCN
which should help you to prepare
and train for those specific demands.
In the meantime, though, this one is definitely
going to be of benefit to you,
it is GCN's How To Prepare For Your First Race,
which was shot in California a couple of years ago now.
- So, how do you go about training for your very first race?
Well, here's a few tips.
The first thing that you should do in your planning
is to break down the demands of the race,
if there've been previous editions,
take a look at how long it's roughly going to take you,
and also take a look at the type of course that it is.
Is it hilly, is it mountains, or is it completely flat.
- Rapid fire round now, although knowing me,
it will probably just be the fire round.
It will be hot, but I won't be very quick.
First up, Peter Cody. #torqueback #askmattstephens,
sorry if you're disappointed that it's me,
can I use 18 to 23 millimetre tubes
with 25 millimetre tyres?
Yes, yes you can, you only need to inflate the tube
outside the tyre to realise that it will go quite big,
much bigger than a 25 millimetre tyre so it will fill
that volume absolutely fine, don't need to worry about that.
There might be a very, very small discrepancy
in terms of the thickness of the inner tube
when it's pumped up inside a 25 millimetre tyre,
and therefore a minute increase in the risk of puncturing,
but it's so small in this case
as to not really be worth worrying about.
Kevin Miguel, also on Twitter, asks
are ceramic bearings and pulley wheels worth the upgrade?
Do they really make you go faster?
Well there's a whole lot of other things
that you need to be concerned with first.
First and foremost, the power that you're putting
through the pedals and your aerodynamics
and the weight of you and your bike.
If you've got all of these things sorted though
and you feel like you can't get any further,
then things like rolling resistance and the friction
of your bike will make small differences.
So the friction in the hub bearings
and in the drive train et cetera as well.
So if you've got everything else done,
and you've got some spare cash let's face it,
then they will make a small difference, yes.
Jake asks, this reminds me of a question I had recently.
Why don't pros ride with 56 by 39?
It would make attacking on downhills a lot easier.
Well the pros do like to tend to stay in the big ring
as much as they possibly can.
On a rolling terrain with a 56 on,
that would be quite difficult.
Some pros, especially sprinters, are known to go with a 54
when the finish is particularly quick,
and we did also hear a rumour that Chris Froome used a 54
at last year's Tour de France en route
to attacking on that descent and taking a stage victory,
although we have no confirmation of that.
And of course in time trials we regularly see
56 or even 58 teeth chain rings.
Next up, from Tobias Karow, what is the best way to account
for length difference in legs regarding shoes and saddle?
Not my area of expertise but I've been
trying to do some research online,
it seems that you could try a thicker inner sole,
that's not ideal though, 'cause it will affect the fit
of your shoe, or even different length cranks
on either side, again, not an ideal solution.
I think the best solution to your problem is probably to try
a cleat riser, so a small block that goes between the cleat
and the shoe on your shorter leg.
Not that easy to find online, I have to say,
but they are out there somewhere, so if you do some research
you should be able to buy some.
It might even be something that you can make yourself
if you are far more clever than I.
Next up, Iconic Xtreme, I have recently got back
into cycling after a long break from it,
one thing I've always had an issue with is cattle grids.
After a few scary moments I now get off and walk over them,
but wondered if there's a technique
to ride over them safely.
Well this is my area of expertise,
because I come from the New Forest,
and there are cattle grids all over the place.
And I have to say, I think I find it more dangerous
walking over them than riding over them.
So your technique is to approach them head on,
with a decent amount of speed,
enough that you don't have to pedal over them,
and make sure that you're not doing any turning
or any leaning whilst you're going over the cattle grid,
particularly when it's wet because they can be slippery.
And also pay attention to gaps that you sometimes get
down the middle of cattle grids as well,
they can be particularly dangerous.
But approach it like that and you should have
no problems at all in getting over them.
The other thing you can do is just raise yourself
out of the saddle ever so slightly and absorb those bumps
using your arms and your legs.
Next up, Lucy Hammonds writes in, and says,
I'm 14, I've been cycling for over a year now,
I love it and I've just somehow convinced my parents
to get me a Liv Envie Advanced 1.
Nice one.
I live in a quiet town in North Wales with lovely
roads around but my parents hate me going riding alone.
I'm only allowed on certain roads.
Well I think that's all the question
that we need to hear, really.
I understand your parents' concerns.
I've got a 14 year old lad myself,
and it can be particularly nerve-racking letting him go out
on the roads on his own, despite the fact that he is very
responsible, as I'm sure you are.
I would suggest firstly trying to find a nice quiet
local circuit, which your parents know,
which you can do in either direction with local terrain,
just riding that multiple times.
The second thing that you can do
is use some kind of app which shares your location.
You can do this now on Google Maps
or indeed you can do it on a Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT,
or other head units as well,
that way your parents will be able to see exactly
where you are at all times, and that should also
alleviate some of their concerns.
Or, you can find a slightly older and more experienced
riding partner that you both trust to go out riding with,
then you won't be on your own.
Next up, and finally actually on the rapid-fire round,
which has been particularly slow this week,
from James Lewis, I've mixed up my jockey wheels,
I wonder if you guys could help out and confirm
which is the new one, and which is the old one.
Tough one there, I think it's the one on the,
no, not sure, not sure.
If you can help James, please leave your answers
in the comment section down below.
Our penultimate question came in from Arne Seys,
I'm gonna paraphrase slightly, but he has gone
in the last four months from being a weekend warrior
to also adding in three commutes each week,
10 kilometres each way to work and back,
and he's starting to feel that his legs are empty
no matter what he has tried so he's asking for tips.
Or does he keep training and hope it gets better soon?
Well to me, Arne, it sounds like you need to rest.
You have ramped things up pretty quickly over the last
four months and it might just be that your body hasn't been
able to absorb all that workload, hence why you're feeling
tired and your legs are feeling empty.
You are going to lose little to no fitness at all
over the course of seven easy days,
so that would be my first suggestion.
It will likely allow your body to absorb all that work,
repair itself, and that is after all
something that we all neglect from time to time.
This next video might help you have that easy week,
some research that Si and I did
into the best way to do a recovery ride,
essentially how to take things easy,
which really is my area of expertise.
Check it out.
- Now before we start to explain exactly how to do a
recovery ride, what actually is one supposed to do then?
Well, it is a way of gently boosting blood flow around
the body through gentle exercise,
and then the theory is that it will help
deliver nutrients to your damaged muscles,
and also start to flush out some of the waste products
from them that will have accumulated through hard training.
- How, then, do you do a recovery ride?
Well, they really are quite simple.
All you need to do is ride at a very low intensity
for quite a short period of time.
So, 60 minutes at a maximum, at an effort level of between
one and two if you're going on feel.
You should basically be able
to breathe through your nose throughout.
Final question now, I'm afraid, don't forget to keep them
coming in the comment section down below,
comes in from Swanny, again on Twitter,
hi GCN, I'm moving to a much flatter area for university,
will I lose hill climbing ability
and what should I do to combat that?
Well, if you do only flat riding
and make no effort to simulate the types of efforts
that you would do on climbs, then yes,
there is the chance that your climbing
ability will wane ever so slightly.
But the good news is there are loads of things
that you can do to simulate the efforts
that you would do on longer climbs.
The first of those is to find a nice quiet road
with as few junctions as possible and do some longer,
20 to 30, maybe even 45 minute intervals on those.
You can also do some longer intervals on an indoor trainer,
they're very effective, or, you can do what we've seen
a lot of pros doing recently, which is use an air hub
which artificially increases the resistance of your wheels.
The opposite, in fact, to ceramic bearings,
but it gives you almost an extra 200 watts
of resistance so it is hard to push against.
The handy thing is, we've got all of our tips for training
for climbs when you live in a flat area in this next video.
So make sure you watch this.
- One thing I wish I'd done, though, is better utilise
some of the terrain next to my house.
Because local to me, there is an abundance of fire roads
and gravel roads like this one, which all link up.
And that's perfect, because there's no junctions,
and of course there's no traffic as well.
Plus, you've got the extra resistance off road,
which perfectly mimics the kind of resistance and power that
you're gonna have to put out when you're on a longer climb.
- Well I'm afraid that's it
for this week's ask GCN anything.
Keep your questions coming, we'll do our best
to answer them on next week's show.
If you've liked this video give it the thumbs up down below,
you can subscribe to the channel now
by clicking on the globe,
and then we have got two more videos for you.
Up there is my look at the latest lightweight in aero tech
from the recent Eurobike Show, and down here,
we've got someone much better answering your questions.
It's a recent ask GCN anything with Adam Hansen.