- Welcome to Ask GCN Anything.
This week we are answering your questions.
- Welcome, so our first question is from Ronan Murphy.
It says he's "been reading about post-ride rituals
"with regard to getting rid of lactic acid,
""i.e. getting your legs up on the wall for five minutes,
"wearing compression socks, or passing out on the sofa.
"I'm wondering what your thoughts are on these,
"as well as any of your own rituals
"once you get off the bike at home."
- Well, I think post-ride rituals
are all well and good Ronan, but I wouldn't necessarily
go for those as my chosen ones.
I'd try and get some food, have a shower,
maybe clean my bike, just go for the bigger tasks first.
What about you, Emma?
- Yeah, I have to say I do like cleaning my bike
when I'm still covered in road filth
if it's been a dirty ride.
But scientifically speaking, if you want to recover faster,
the priority is rehydrate, refuel, and rest.
But I would add a shower in there somewhere,
probably before the refuelling.
So I tend to get home, rinse the bike down,
have a shower myself whilst drinking those
of either water or re-hydration mix,
and then eat, and then rest.
- Cool, so you got a pretty set routine then.
- Yeah, yeah, and getting out of the cycling kit
and getting showered is fairly high priority.
But yeah, so you asked about compression socks
and legs up against the wall.
I think compression socks and raising legs
can help with circulation.
It doesn't do much about lactic acid actually,
or lactate, which is the result of a highly intense effort.
That lactate will actually clear from your body
within an hour of you producing it, naturally.
So some gentle movement, i.e. warm-down helps,
But often you'll have got home from your ride,
by the time you get back, the lactate will have gone,
and the soreness you feel the day after
is actually nothing to do with lactate.
Delayed onset muscle soreness is caused
by micro traumas in the muscle, which leads to inflammation.
And lactate has really, they've shown,
has got nothing to do with it.
So there's a coincidence that the same kind of training
or racing will produce muscle soreness and lactate,
then the two aren't related.
The best thing you can do to try and relieve muscle soreness
well, there isn't much,
but hot and cold temperature changes, massage.
But mostly re-hydrate, refuel, and rest.
- And muscle soreness is the precursor,
to you eventually getting faster,
if you do all of the recovery correctly.
- Exactly.
- And nutrition is a great way to enhance your recovery.
- It is. Yep. - We've got a video
playing behind us, that's gonna play for you now which is,
how to improve your post-ride recovery through nutrition.
- [Narrator] Recovery is arguably
the most important part of training.
You can train as hard as you want,
but if you don't recover properly, then you won't improve.
In fact, you could actually get worse.
- [Si] Yeah, of course, recovery without training
isn't gonna get you very far either.
But the key is to find a balance between the two,
so the faster you recover, the harder you can train.
And then, theoretically at least,
the better the cyclist you become.
- So next up we've got a question from Brayden Whatcott,
who says, "Hey GCN I am a cross-country mountain bike racer.
"My question is what sort of workouts on your channel
"would be the best for me to do since GMBN don't have any?"
Don't have any yet, if you don't want some,
let the GMBN guys know, and they'll see what they can do.
Emma's already nominated me for this answer, Brayden,
so I'm afraid that it might be
a little less scientific than the one before.
- No, but he knows what he's talking about
when it comes to mountain biking,
and I have no clue, so listen to Tom.
(laughs)
- Cross-country is similar in many respects to cyclocross.
It's actually increasingly similar now,
because the courses are getting shorter,
the races are slightly shorter
than they were, say 5, 10 years ago.
And it's all about those repeated, explosive efforts.
And we've got some cyclocross videos,
so I'm going to throw you straight to Si's video
on four cyclocross training drills.
- Coming up are four training sessions
that will get you fitter and faster on your cross bike.
The first three are all designed to be done off-road.
Oh yeah. Winner.
They are pretty intense though,
so do make sure you're nicely warmed up
before you start any of the intervals.
(rock music)
Session three is another one that's gonna get us fitter
and work on a key cyclocross skill, clipping in.
Actually, who are we kidding,
that's not just a cyclocross skill, that is a life skill.
Anyway, you want to find a nice, simple section
of trail or gravel road that's not in any way technical.
You then need to come, after a good warm-up,
to a complete stop, take a deep breath,
and get ready for interval one.
- Now the next question is from Darren Horrocks,
and I think it's to me, do you think ...
- Yeah, I think I should read this one out actually, Emma.
It says, "How did it feel joining GCN
"after smashing Si and Matt at the KOM challenge?"
- Well, I'll be honest, I didn't really go
to the KOM challenge to smash them.
I went as a, I was a professional athlete last year,
and it was my job, and they invited me to the race,
and I really wanted to win it.
So I didn't really see Si and Matt in the race,
because I started in the front,
and I was trying to stay in front of the race.
And I think they had a slightly different reason to be there
in that they were basically producing
a really informative and inspiring video on the race,
and I was just sweating my guts out at the front.
I don't I'd have made a pretty video.
So yeah, it was very different last year,
because I was training full time, and they weren't, so.
- When you say that you started at the front,
so you didn't see them, do you feel that basically,
there's a byproduct of smashing Si and Matt?
You know, you weren't even aware that they were there,
because you smashed them that badly.
- Yeah, I don't think I saw them in the race,
although I did actually get to the back at one point
in the neutral, because I had to stop for a pee.
And then I had to go all around the peloton again.
But I didn't see them, I was in a bit of a hurry.
But again, I was very much race-face at that face,
and you've gotta remember that,
yeah, it was the focus of my autumn.
And for them, it was very much,
you know, they had to talk to you guys
whilst riding up that big mountain.
It's very different.
And they were on strange bikes, strange bars.
- They were on light bikes, they had every advantage,
and you still didn't even realise they were in the race
- I was on my bike, that helps.
- Because they were that far behind.
- Anyway, yeah.
- Another year, we'll give them some training time
next time, and we'll see how it goes.
- Let's just say they're excellent colleagues,
so I'm very grateful that they put up with me,
despite me banging on about the Taiwan KOM all the time.
(Tom laughs)
- Em does talk about it all the time as well.
Thanks for the question, Darren.
Next up is Mark Evasion who first of all asks,
"Why has Ask GCN disappeared?"
The answer, Mark, is it didn't entirely disappear.
We've got an Ask GCN Tech video on GCN Tech,
and we're back to Ask GCN here,
so keep the questions coming in.
He's also said, "I'm moving to warmer climes
"after four months through a hard winter.
"Should I ease back into the warmer weather,
"or just go for it?"
What do you reckon, Emma?
- Well, it does take a little bit of time
to adapt to temperature changes,
so recent studies have shown it's about 10 days
to adapt to heat, where that's going
from a temperate climate to a hot climate,
or going from very cold to just temperate.
So give yourself some time, don't expect to feel great
for the first ten days, and give your body time to adapt.
So the adaptations you'll expect are,
you'll get an increased blood volume when you train
in high temperatures, and increased sweat rate,
and that's obviously to help you cool down.
If you want to pre-train that,
you can actually do very effective heat adaptation
in very little time by every day,
having 10 to 20 to 30 minutes in either a sauna,
or if you don't have a sauna or access to a sauna,
sitting in a hot bath in a steamy bathroom.
It's pretty unpleasant, but it's very effective.
So I know that's how we trained with the national team.
Before the Beijing Olympics,
we had these horrible heat training chambers.
It was basically a tent with a heater and a humidifier,
and a load of turbo trainers, and we all sat there,
turboing away for about an hour and a half.
Well, yeah maybe it was only an hour,
but it felt like forever and it was so sweaty.
So we'd measure how much water we'd drunk
and measure our weight before and water,
and that way you could work out your sweat rate,
and you could actually see, it was over two weeks,
you could see sweat rate increasing,
which is an adaptation to the heat.
I would have to, my cycling shoes were ruined.
They were so disgustingly smelly after that,
but it worked, so you could try that.
Put your turbo trainer in your bathroom,
run a hot bath.
- Turn the heating up - Sweat it out for ten days.
Or even, you don't have to do it all day every day.
Just 10 to 20 minutes a day will do the trick.
- I'm not sure Si mentions that in this video,
so it's good information, however Si behind us,
has got a video on how to train
for hot and humid conditions.
- It's that time of year when many of us
in the northern hemisphere are contending
with really hot temperatures and possibly humidity as well.
They make for some tough riding conditions,
and so here are some tips on how to cope with it.
(light, energetic techno music)
Let's start with clothing, shall we?
It's your first port of call even before setting out.
So you want to have a light-weight jersey,
definitely with a full-length zip,
and then pair it with shorts that have got
really minimal bib strapping on there.
So that means that in combination,
you can get loads of air circulating, even at lower speeds.
- Okay Emma, this is one for you.
It's from Clinton McDermott who's asking,
"Has Emma ever done any bike packing?
"If so, where?"
- Well, luckily, otherwise we would be boring under,
I had my first attempt at bike packing last year,
in October straight after the Taiwan KOM, actually.
Stayed in Taiwan for eight days and carried on,
cycling around the southern end of the island,
with my race back with a giant saddle bag,
with three people who I barely knew.
It was fantastic.
Taiwan is beautiful, people are friendly,
roads are amazing, lots of mountains, good food.
I really enjoyed it.
And I think just genuinely is an experience.
I'll definitely be going bike packing again.
It was really good, very minimalist luggage,
not much to worry about, sort of not really training,
but out enjoying the fresh air, loved it.
And meeting cultures, yeah.
- How many kilometres were you doing a day
on your bike packing trip?
- Well, I got told off on day two
for asking that question, "How far are we gonna go?"
I didn't plan the route,
and the person who had planned the route,
when I said, "How far are we going, I need to train."
He said, "Emma, we count smiles, not miles."
And that told me, so I just shut up and carried on pedalling,
but that's what I most enjoyed about it, was that
by the end of the week, I wasn't thinking about training,
I was just thinking about getting somewhere by bike,
and it was really relaxing.
And after years of training, that was actually
quite good for me I think.
- So measure your bike packing in smiles?
- In smiles, yeah.
- Wild.
Can really say I've never been bike packing,
but since I know that your question wasn't directed at me.
- You should try it, it's great.
- Yeah, I hope to try it one day (laughs).
Next up, we've got Vikpanos Tzio,
I hope I've said your name correctly,
who asks, "Favourite training place?"
Again, okay, I'll take it.
To be honest, I've been lucky enough, especially with GCN,
to go to a lot of really cool places to ride my bike.
And some particularly warm places,
so we've ridden in Abu Dhabi, which was amazing,
so vastly different to anything
that I'd cycled here in Europe.
We've cycled in America,
Mallorca, which is a cycler's paradise,
Alta Badia in the Dolomites, so our location partner,
some stunning roads, climbs, and descents there.
But I think now, for me, probably my favourite place to train
is almost, is home, and it's just 'cause those are the roads
I used to ride as a kid, and just brings back memories,
and I just really like riding there.
So that's the Peak District in Derbyshire,
where there's some very steep hills.
- Beautiful place, yeah.
- How about you, Emma?
- I have loads of places I love training.
I think really two stand out,
so I've lived in Switzerland for quite a few years now,
and my little back roads there,
my secret climbs, I really love those.
(laughs)
And I also spent a good time training in Perth,
where I've got family, and I love Perth,
because the group ride scene is fantastic,
and I really love knowing that,
like there's a hard group ride I can join,
so you don't need to worry about doing intervals that day,
because you just have to get out of bed on time,
find your cycling kit, roll out at six in the morning.
And it's hard training without the mental effort,
so I really love training in Perth as well.
- That's cool, yeah.
And I think your point on group rides is spot on,
because if you can find a good group ride,
it does, saves you all the thinking that goes with training.
- Yeah, and it's fun.
Training with other people is often,
I find it much more fun than training alone,
because my company's really tedious,
so other people always improve it,
and then there's someone to stop for coffee with afterwards.
- Well, I'm sure that's not true,
but we want to know your favourite place to train as well,
so do tell us down in the comments,
and let us know if there's somewhere
that we should go and check out as GCN.
- Yeah, do.
- Okay, I think we are heading
towards one of our final questions.
This one is from Ivailo Dobrev.
"Hello guys, first up, keep up the great shows!
Thanks.
"For beginning cyclists like me, they are a Bible."
Thanks again.
"And second, I have a question I cannot find info
"about on the world wide web.
"How often should we change when drafting?
"Would it be measured by distance or time?"
- That's a big question.
It's a bit like asking how long is a piece of string,
in that taking turns on the front,
it very much depends on the ride, how many people are there.
I would always say measure it on time,
because that's what, your timer
and effort level is the relevant question.
And it depends what you're doing.
If it's just two of you doing a two-up time trial,
then shorter efforts are normally good,
if you want to go as fast as possible.
If it's about getting on with the rest of the group,
then I'd say if you're on a big group ride,
then stay on the front for 5 or 10 or even 20 minutes,
because on group rides, what tends to happen is
you have two lines of riders,
if that's allowed in the country you live in,
and you chat to the person next to you,
and after your 10 minutes, you peel off the front
and go to the back and keep chatting.
If you're changing constantly, it ruins the conversation.
- Yeah, and I think, Ivailo, you've said
that you're just starting out,
but I think once you've been cycling
even for a couple months or a few months, something,
you'll have quite a good gauge on
when you personally are beginning
to suffer a bit on the front or
when your friends are beginning to slow up a bit.
So if you set a marker of time first up,
so you know, like Emma said with a couple of you,
that's probably shorter terms,
so one, two, maybe three minutes.
But if you notice that say, at two minutes,
someone else is starting to slow down a bit,
just give them a bit of a tap,
let them know that you're coming through,
and make sure you keep the pace.
Because the moment you start to lose momentum,
that's when things actually start to get really difficult.
- Exactly, you can go on feel,
and I think what I found with riding
with different groups and different training rides,
is that almost every group has a different rule.
So you can make your own rule, go riding with your friends
and make it 13 minutes and three seconds if you want.
You know, up to you, but you can base it very much on feel.
- Yeah, I think start with time then work on feel.
Well, Emma, that was our last question for today,
but we do need your questions,
so let us know down in the comments, or if you'd like
to submit them on any form of social media really,
the hashtag you can use is #torqueback.
The spelling's a little bit funny,
and it's on the screen at the moment.
- You could even send us a letter, but that's not as common.
- That'd be quite cool, though, an Ask GCN by post.
- Anyway, yes, if you like this,
you might like to check out some of our other videos.
For example, there's one I made about
how to improve your confidence on descents with Matt,
something I care about very deeply,
having had a problem with it myself.
- That's a very important video and a very good video.
You should definitely check it out.
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