- Here we are again.
We've the show where we answer because you have asked.
It is Ask GCN Anything, and the first
of those questions this week
comes in on Twitter from Edwin.
"I never use a saddle bag.
"So, is there any alternate, compact,
"and effective solution to carry your saddle bag stuff?
"#torqueback"
Remember that one for asking your questions on Twitter.
- Now, I never used to use a saddlebag,
but of late, I have, because it means
I don't have to have my pockets
absolutely rammed full of stuff,
which can be really uncomfortable,
and actually, it does rather stretch the limits
of your rather expensive cycling jersey, as well,
and then, because your pockets are so full,
it's actually very difficult to get anything
out in the first place, so saddlebags are pretty good,
but there are other alternatives.
- Yeah, there are.
Of course, they have developed over the years,
haven't they, from looking like basically
a leather briefcase underneath your saddle
to what they are now, which is, in my mind,
quite neat and compact, and I have always
used saddlebags, ever since I first started cycling,
to carry my spares.
Like you said, your jersey can get so weighed down,
it's almost pulls below the saddle anyways.
You might as well have a saddlebag.
There are, though, other alternatives.
We did a questionnaire not too long ago,
most pros use saddlebags.
Some of them use a cut-off water bottle,
as Matt is displaying now,
and we go through some ways of carrying your spares
in this next video. - Check it out.
May involve karate.
- Yep, the half water bottle, neatly packed,
and then stored inside one of your water bottle cages,
which admittedly means that you will take
one less water bottle with you,
but probably then just good for short rides.
- Well, next up, we have this question
in the comments section from Stephen Heyworth, who asks,
"How do I avoid potentially lethal moments
in gusty crosswinds on deep,
but not that deep, profile wheels?
At high speed down the Horseshoe Pass
when a sharp and strong gust steered the front wheel,
resulting in a terrifying shimmy."
- I've seen you do a few terrifying shimmies in my time,
not even on the bike.
- I am actually quite a good dancer, you know.
Just leave my shimmies out of this.
Anyway, that is a really good question
and I do know the Horseshoe Pass very well.
A beautiful part of the world over in North Wales.
A long climb, this gradual sweeping bend on it,
very easy to get caught out in crosswinds.
Now, I think, we should say first up,
it is a cracking question,
but you should never go out
with deep-section rims on, really,
when it's particularly windy.
And of course, the wind generally does catch
the front wheel, so if in doubt,
and you like having these deep-sections on,
no harm having a deep-section at the back
and a box section at the front.
That's the first off, isn't it?
- Yeah, definitely.
And also, you want to think about
looking ahead on the road, see where the wind
might be affecting you most, so for example,
if you're in a tree-lined area
or going through hedges, and out front
you can suddenly see a part where they disappear
and it's particularly exposed,
that is the point at which you want to really expect
an extra gust of wind from the side,
which can catch you out if you're not expecting it.
Also, grip the bars slightly firmer
than you would do normally, so that you're able
to really react in terms of your steering,
and it also helps to get slightly lower at the front end.
More weight on the front should mean that
the wind has less of an effect on the steering.
From that point of view, actually,
heavier riders do tend to experience this slightly less
than featherweight climbers.
Up next, though, we have got a lot of tips for you
in a video entitled, How to Deal with Crosswinds.
- When you're riding in a group,
the rider that's about to come to the front
needs to be protected from the wind
until the very last moment,
so if the wind is coming from the left,
for example, then the group needs to
rotate counter-clockwise.
Or here, where the wind's coming from the right,
you're gonna need to rotate clockwise.
- Next up, it's time for the rapid-fire round,
but before we start, I think I might rename it
the steady-fire round after your performance last week.
- Just keep it slow. - It was high in quality,
but slow in pace, that's what I'm saying.
It certainly wasn't rapid-fire.
- Sorry about that.
Oh, we'd better crack on, then.
Paul Lafford asks, "Hi guys.
"Please tell me what's more beneficial,
"a complete rest day, doing nothing,
"or a recovery spin on a so-called rest day?"
Very good question.
We've actually just shot a video on this very subject,
so keep your eyes peeled on the channel
for that coming up very soon.
There isn't much scientific evidence
to say that there is a benefit to recovery rides,
but there is a little bit.
I think what most people advise
is to do what feels best for you,
so if you come off the back of
a complete rest day feeling better
than doing a recovery ride, do that, and vice versa.
- Well, I always found that having
one complete day off the bike in a week
is always good.
I think, from a psychological perspective,
you just feel really fresh.
And you can get stuck into training,
'cause bike riding's pretty hard work.
Take a day off.
Try it, and see how you feel.
Next up, we have this from B OS,
"It's ridiculous advice to say,
'listen to your body.'
I'd never get out of bed."
- I don't know what to say to that.
- Nor do I, really.
- I think we generally mean when
you're on the bike as much as anything
- Yes. - If you're feeling fatigued
and you can't do anything, it's time to take a day off.
Broody asks, "I'm a recreational mid-age cyclist training
"for a 100 km tour, next to running a company
"and a part-time job.
"What are good cool-downs and warm-ups
"before and after my training that are effective,
"keep me healthy, and are not time consuming.
"Keep it up!"
Well, it's an interesting one for cycling.
You do need to warm up a bit,
but it's not quite the same as doing something like squash,
or running, or football, where you're
really kind of extending yourself and jarring your muscles.
It's very important to warm them up
before you go into a full-blown game of any of those.
In cycling, it's more about just
warming your motor up gradually,
but I think you really only need ten minutes or so
with maybe a couple of thirty-second efforts
at very high cadence.
Not hard efforts, just really spinning the legs.
- Yeah, it's different if your going to be riding a
10 mile time trial or a short explosive effort
where you do need to do efforts that will replicate
the effort you're gonna be making in the time trial,
but if you're just going out on your bike,
do a bit of stretching as well, if you want,
if you find that beneficial, but again,
there's not a lot of scientific research
that suggests that is actually beneficial,
but it can feel good.
So just ease yourself into the ride,
a few sprints, off you go. - Yeah.
In terms of cool-down, then, well that's just
a case of spinning for five or ten minutes
on your way back home, in general.
I spoke to Chris Froome a couple years back,
and he says that, in his cool-down,
he actually does a couple of efforts within it.
He did tell me the scientific reasoning behind that,
but I've forgotten it.
- This really is the steady-fire round, isn't it?
- Sorry. - No, no worries.
All good stuff. - Alright,
let's go to Filippo Velli, then.
"I'm a student starting cycling on a limited budget.
"Is it better to buy a higher-end used road bike
"or a lower-end new one?"
That is always a difficult question.
- It's a cracker.
My view on this is to do some research,
invest a bit of time looking at what's out there,
but I would go for, maybe, a higher-end used one,
but you need to make sure that you're pretty happy
with the integrity of the bike and the frame, etc,
but you might get a lot more value for the money.
Or look towards the end of the bike season.
You get a new bike that's last year's model.
You can get a good deal that way, as well.
- Yeah. - But, yeah,
just do your research.
Do your homework, really.
- Yeah, I think if you're going to go for the former ,
a good secondhand bike, you need to have a bit of patience,
don't you, to wait for the right one
at the right price to come along,
but some people out there just like getting their hands on
something brand new, and that's fair enough,
so each to their own, really.
Finally, Luke Wight says, "After races, I am frequently
"being told I am a smooth rider,
"and have been told this by a number of people I race with.
"Is being called smooth a bad thing?"
- No! - No,
I wouldn't have thought so.
- If you're being called a smooth rider,
it's generally because you got a good style on the bike,
or you've got particularly well-shaved legs.
- Yeah, my ethos was always that,
since I wasn't very good, I'd try to look at least smooth.
- Yeah, and that's it.
Looking smooth--
Doesn't matter about the power.
If you look smooth, job done.
- Yeah.
Next up, a question that comes in from David Roeder.
"Slightly embarrassing, but I'm a new rider
"with a low FTP of 155 after doing the Zwift test.
"I'm trying to do zone and sweet spot training,
"but I live in a particularly hilly area.
"Just getting up a hill, I'm putting myself
"into the red fast.
"Have you got any suggestions?"
- Well, thanks for getting in touch, David,
but first off, don't be embarrassed about
having a relatively modest FTP at all,
because we all have to start somewhere.
And first up, you're clearly--
You've got ambition.
You're going out on your bike
and you're trying to improve yourself,
and that's a winner in my book.
And as long as you're enjoying it, that's fair enough.
But, I do sympathise with trying to do sweet spot training
in a particularly hilly area,
because I live in an area with lots of steep climbs,
and my ride to work is brutal,
and I must admit I like to ride at an even rhythm,
so, yeah, it is quite tough, but there are ways
you can address that.
- Yeah, definitely.
And you've already mentioned the fact
that you've done a test on the Zwift,
so presumably you've got access
to the online virtual world, and that could be
a great way of doing your initial training,
because you've also mentioned you're a new cyclist,
so it might well be that your fitness
increases quite quickly.
You may lose some weight.
Don't know exactly what size you are.
In which case, say for example, you get to an FTP
of over 200 watts in a couple of months,
lose a bit of weight, you may well then find
that you're going up these climbs
at a much easier rate than you were.
Likewise, you also need to think about your gearing,
also not embarrassing to have a triple chainset at the front
or a huge cassette at the rear,
and that will help you, again, to get up the climbs
at a slower pace with a decent cadence,
at a lower power, as well, which should
help you to keep inside that zone.
You can also make sure that you tackle the climbs correctly.
How to find your rhythm is the video
that's coming up next in the very hot and humid
Abu Dhabi, Jabel Hafeet.
Finding your rhythm on the climb
and tackling it in the correct way
could help you with your cause, as well.
- 46 degrees Celsius.
- When you're thinking about climbing rhythm,
be sure to start thinking about
any point where you can pick up some extra speed.
So, are there some points in the climb
where the gradient slackens off slightly?
If there are, what you should do
is just keep the same cadence and rhythm
by clicking down through the gears
and picking up some speed.
- Finally, on this week's Ask GCN Anything,
we have this question from somebody called Endz Lim.
What a cracking name for the final question
of this weeks show. - True.
- Endz has asked, quite simply,
"Going back to basics.
"How does a bike work?
"And the evolution of cycling."
Well, Endz, that really is going back to basics,
which can, on occasions, be particularly interesting,
especially when it come to the evolution
of the humble bicycle, well over a century ago.
- In fact, we have got a video about this fact
and a whole host of other cool facts,
about facts you didn't know about cycling
in a video entitled,
Top Ten Facts You Didn't Know About Cycling.
- Yeah, so it's not actually a fact,
because it's more of a rumor, but
apparently the first ever sketch of a bicycle
was made all the way back in 1493
by a student of Leonardo DaVinci,
and his name was Gian Giancomo Caprotti,
and it was from that sketch
that this replica bike was made in the late 1960s.
- Well, that's the end of this week's Ask GCN Anything.
Thanks to those of you who asked questions.
Don't forget to keep sending them in
using the comments section below this video
or, indeed, the hashtag #torqueback on social media.
- Indeed.
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- Meanwhile, down here is a video
with content provided entirely by our viewers.
Thanks very much to all of you.
It's entitled, Top Nine Steepest Climbs in the World.
- And boy, they are steep.