(cinematic music)
(speaking foreign language)
- Mate, I'm gonna have to stop you.
It's an English show, come on.
- Sorry.
- Yeah.
- Welcome to Ask GC Anything.
- Yes, and this week, we've got a climbing special.
So I've been out of rope
and fellow GCN presenter and world class climber--
- Ex, ex.
- Ex-world class climber to answer your questions
all about climbing.
- In Spanish.
- In English.
- Okay, I'll try.
- So remember, if you wanna get your questions in
on next week's show, then use the hashtag
#GCNtraining.
And you can also be in with a chance
of winning three months' free subscription from Zwift.
So that'd be pretty cool
as it's getting into the winter.
And if you all got anymore burning questions
that you wanna get answered on the show
then use the hashtag #TorqueBack.
So last week, we had a winter special
and our first question was, why is there winter?
Which is a strangely straightforward question
with what we thought was a fairly straightforward answer
and to be honest, I think you found Chris out.
I don't think he's ready to graduate the GCN Does Science.
I think he should stick to John Travolta dancing.
(jazzy instrumental music)
Right, first question is from Steve DS
and he goes, is there anyway to train
to be able to suffer on long, hilly rides
over 150k, so around 100 miles,
without going on long, hilly rides?
Specifically from indoor training.
So basically, how can you replicate
those long endurance rides indoors?
- You can, but you have to be mentally strong
because there is not films long enough, you know?
- No, there's definitely not--
- You need to be motivate to do it
but I think you can do, like, short trainings
and like,
a specific trainings and it's same,
like replicate, you know, like,
doesn't need to do a long trainings
to be able to do long rides.
- Yeah, so basically, I think what Oscar's saying
is that you can put in those hour, two-hour rides,
but make them really hard
so you get the same out of those sessions
as you would in a full-on ride.
- Yeah, that's what I wanted to say.
- Well, I don't thin we'd advise you go and do
a five-hour ride on the turbo because,
well, I've never done it and I doubt this guy's done it,
so keep to them short sessions.
Just make them hard, all right?
- Yeah.
- All right, second question.
Second question is in from Philip Bosch.
Hey there GCN, I love training, climbing,
and so I've participated in a cycling event
with lots of climbing this summer.
I noticed that the other guys blew me out of the water
on the flat, but on the hilly stuff,
I felt like I could recover to hold the pace
and even attack.
Can you explain what happened
and what's your take to save energy?
So, you're a climber.
You're fairly lightweight.
- Yeah, I had the same problem as he--
- What's your,
when you're on the flat,
how do you hide from the wind?
How do you save energy?
- Yeah, I try to be as much air possible
and try to follow other riders
because for me, it was, when I was super skinny,
I had a problem because I didn't had
the power to keep the pace in the flat,
but then in the climbs, it was like a
playground. - Easy.
So basically, like,
'cause I have the same,
I'm not a massive build
and I had the same kinda issue
but I would tend to do is just look for the biggest
rider possible and just sit on their wheel
and then just kinda hide,
and then as soon as I got to the climb,
then I could kinda make my way through the bunch.
But try and sit in the middle of the peloton
so then you don't have to touch the wind.
- Yeah, I've also been on a group ride
and I wondered why everyone was taking it so easy
and then I got to the front and realized
it was a massive head wind.
- With that in mind, if you're feeling a little sneaky,
why not get your turn in with a tail wind.
That way, when you swing off into the head wind,
you're getting more recovery that everyone else.
(cinematic music)
- The winner of three months' free subscription
from Zwift is Jente Verherstraeten.
- Congratulations.
- I hope that's a good pronunciation.
- Yeah, perfect.
- Thanks, man.
- And Jente goes, what training should I do this winter
to have my form peak in May
when I'm climbing none other than the Mont Ventoux?
Have you climbed the Mont Ventoux?
- Never.
- Would you like to?
- Yes.
- I've never done it either
and I think it's one thing on my bucket list
that I would love to do.
- What you do this weekend?
- (scoffs) Mad man.
Mad man.
Well, Jente, there is a few things you could do.
Jente lives in Belgium,
so I'm guessing you're not gonna have Apline mountains
on your doorstep so, how would you train for it?
- You don't need to train climbs
to be able to long climbs
because I live in a flat place, too,
and what you can do is, like,
take a straight route with a head wind
and you can do the same workout
to be able to do long climbs and yeah,
well, it's always nice to have the car
and go to do some mountains
because the motivation and
everything-- - Beautiful scenery.
So yeah, really, you can train for a Mont Ventoux challenge
in Belgium and here's how.
Well, first off, you want to work out your base fitness
so where you are in this specific moment
and then you want to look at your time.
So we're talking about schedules
and planning your training
and so once you've done that,
then you can work backwards from the event
and work on your training.
So, start off with the two to four hour,
two to five hour rides throughout the winter.
Basically what we do as pros is
kinda have your time off and then start off slowly
and get gradually longer rides.
So start off with that and make sure it's low intensity
and then you can chuck in some intensity in there,
so looking at the VO2 style efforts.
So to work on your aerobic capacity during this phase,
it's okay to implement some intensity,
however, the key point here is that we don't
want to perform long VO2 max start intervals.
So, to do this, try performing sets of 30 seconds
at 120 to 150% of your FTP with 30 seconds recovery.
The 30 seconds effort isn't overly hard,
but it is enough to see your breathing rate increase
which shows you have increased your oxygen uptake.
Start with two sets of 80 times 30 30s
and work your way up to three sets of 20 times 30 30s.
These efforts are performed on the flat
and the rolling hills like we spoke about.
Your goal of climbing Mont Ventoux
involves those high torque sessions
so make sure you put them
in your training and your schedule.
These will hurt.
They're not easy.
And well, your legs will burn,
especially when you're sitting down to go to the toilet.
And lastly, you can get on Zwift
and try out those long climbs
that really will help
and they will help you tweak the fine details.
Is there anything I've missed, mate?
- Only one more thing.
The weight is important for climbing
and when your main goal is approaching
you can quit some,
if you like a glass of wine or a glass of beer.
- Now I know why you're the climber
and I'm the crack rider.
- Yeah, man.
- Keeping it lean, I like it, I like it.
Yeah so, quit the maybe more
calorie-- - When you're motivated,
it's easy to quit like a cake or whatever you like.
And you know, one kilo less, it helps
uphill. - Yeah.
Especially going up Mont Ventoux.
Yeah, so let us know how you get on
with the amazing challenge
and one day, Oscar and I will be running it, yeah?
- I hope so.
- Yeah, buddy.
Right, let's go on to the next question.
The next question is from TGE GamingOne.
I cycle a loop of 10 kilometers.
I do it five to seven times and there is a long climb,
and after, I feel absolutely exhausted.
Is there a way to not hurt so much when climbing?
- Climbing always hurts.
You have two options.
Go slower or train more.
- Yeah.
And then go faster.
(laughs)
So there you have it.
Well, go slow, and it won't hurt
and go fast, and well, it breaks the hurt.
And if you wanna actually see
one pro climber to another,
check out Emma's video on how to stay comfortable
while climbing, which I don't think is even possible.
- But it will hurt.
- If your bike doesn't fit you,
it will be very hard to get comfortable.
Whether that's uphill, downhill or on the flat.
I mean, yes, the human body is very adaptable
and you can get used to most things,
but if your saddle is in the wrong position
relative to your bottom bracket
and your handlebars, it will be very hard to get comfortable
and you will develop niggles
and those niggles will be magnified over a long climb
because you have to exert power for a long time.
- Right now it's time for the quick fire round
and while I thought last week was pretty quick with Chris,
I think it's gonna be quicker this week with Oscar Pujol.
So let's get straight into it with Nicholas Israel.
Love the show, great content.
Thanks, mate.
We'll keep it coming your way.
I live in a relatively flat area,
but it has a couple of very short 50 to 100 meter
very steep climbs, around 13 to 21% gradient.
Any tips on getting a decent climbing session
in with those short climbs?
Can you train those hard climbing sessions
with what he's got there?
- Yeah, of course.
You can try to do like a power training,
like change your cadence.
High cadence and then low cadence.
You know, like power training,
and then you will be able to climb faster.
- Well, there you have it.
Right, the next question is from Betty Fischer.
How can I train for long climbs on the flat?
I have some short, steep ones around here
but nothing more than 400 meters of altitude gain.
- Well, you can use that short climbs
to do some reps, you know?
- Up, down, up, down, up, down.
- And also, if you live in a flat section,
maybe they're windy and you can use the wind
to put some effort,
you know, like a long effort
like in a, with head wind and push.
- Go hard.
And you could also use a slow cadence.
So select a big gear.
So make it into a torque session
and maybe start about 10 minutes away from the climb
so that'll elongate the climb, then.
There's a trick for you.
Anyway, next question is from Governor Keagan.
Hi, GCN, I recently started cycling again.
This past month October, I did 160 kilometers.
Most of the area around me is somewhat flat,
with somewhat low gradients for short distances.
Should I cycle further out to find hills
or do sets on the small climbs closeby?
What do you reckon, mate?
- Yeah, if you have the option
to go like climbs, you know,
maybe the motivation for the weekends
to go that area,
but yeah.
- That's a good point, actually.
If you've got time on the weekends
to cycle out to those climbs, then well, do it,
But if you haven't got the time
and the effort to do it in the week,
then use those shorter times.
So make it time efficient, really.
The next question we have is from Rezoan Alom.
When I ride up undulating hills,
I find my speed is a lot lower than on steady hills,
even though the average gradient is the same.
What's the best way to ride undulating hills?
Should I ride a steady effort
or should I power up the steep bits
and recover on the parts where gradient is lower?
What do you reckon?
- Yeah, for the undulating,
the best way is to put a pace on the uphill
and full gas on the downhill
and finally, the average speed will be high
but you can use as a training,
and try to go full gas uphill, rest downhill.
You can use it as your training zone.
You need to know what's your main goal.
- Yeah, so what you want out the session.
So yeah, Oscar's 100% right.
If you want a fast average speed
then go fast up the uphills and fast on the downhills
but if you want to use it as an interval session,
then just use a climb as the hard session
and use the downhill as the recovery.
So have a go at those.
- MrDrumhead83.
- Yes.
- Yes?
Hello! (laughs)
Is it over to do an everesting on Zwift?
Thanks for a great show.
- Is it possible?
- Yes, it possible.
- Can you do it?
- Yeah. - Have you done it?
- No (laughs).
- Thought you were gonna say you've done a Zwift everesting.
I was gonna be like, wow, mate, you're amazing!
But you haven't done it.
Shame.
- But it's nice, you know,
because downhill, you don't have to do the downhills.
You can go all the way up--
- Faster, so technically,
you can do an everesting faster on Zwift
rather than going up, down, up, down like,
well, Ollie did in Alta Badia.
- Yeah.
He was crazy.
- He was mental.
So, will you do it on Zwift then?
- I will try, I will try.
- Should we do it this weekend?
- Yes.
Come on, I have nothing to do.
Nothing better.
- Oh, mate, I was saying that as a joke.
Ouch.
I reckon we're gonna have to do it, then.
Unfortunately, we have come to the end
of Ask GC Anything
and if you wanna get your questions in on next week's
then use the hashtag #GCNtraining
to actually be in with a chance of winning
three months' free subscription from Zwift.
And for any other questions,
then use the hashtag #TorqueBack.
It's been a long one, mate.
But we've enjoyed it.
- Good job, man.
What's that?
(laughs) It was a hard one.
- Well I think Oscar and I need some new T-Shirts
and if you do too, then,
well, there's actually 40% off this one.
So go there and get your hands on one of these
over at the GCN Shop.
And as a climbing-related video,
go check out the everesting that Ollie managed to do
which was pretty amazing,
so go check out that down here
and well, to subscribe to our channel
and get all our content for free,
then subscribe down there
in Oscar's arms.
He's cradling it.