(Electrical zapping)
- Welcome back to ask GCNything.
- Yes, and this week we've got a pint show.
We've got questions on how much kits the pros get
and do they get to keep their own bikes.
Also should you upgrade your training bike
and should you get a power meter or a smart trainer?
- Hm.
Tough choice that one.
Plenty of other questions as well.
To put your questions in for next week,
leave them in the comments section down below.
Use the hastag TORQUEBACK on social media.
Uh, or for your chance to win three months free subscription
to zwift, from our mates over at zwift,
use the hashtag ASKGCNTRAINING
and get your training related questions in.
- Now we've got a question from Andy Rodwell.
Why don't the pros have their names
printed on the backs of their jersey's
making identification that bit easier
for the viewing fans?
Oh, I'd have to agree with you,
That (mumbles) - Well because it's cycling
and we don't want to make life easy for anybody.
- No
- Even inside the sport do it.
Uh, some teams actually do have the names
on their jersey's, don't they?
Uh, but not all.
Would make things a lot easier,
as you rightly pointed out.
But, why not different colored helmet covers, for example.
Like, the Japanese Keiba racing
or horse racing.
- Yeah, I have said that
it would make life so much easier, that, wouldn't it?
And especially of the commentators point of view,
the viewers point of view.
On everyone really.
But, there have been some teams
that have had to play around.
And Sky of some point had their nicknames
or names down here,
and then they've had that on the sleeve.
Iam Cycling had it on their backs at some point.
- Two bigs isn't they?
They ended up having a bit of a wrangle
with the UCI over the size of the lettering
and had to take change it to something else.
Typical UCI isn't it?
- Yep, yep.
- Um, talking of Sky actually,
uh, it's going a little bit off track,
- Yeah, go for it.
- But, one of our uh, personnel
went over to the gyro,
and was having a word
with one of the physios from teams,
but came back here,
and says, apparently Chris Froomes got knee problems?
I was like, really?
I haven't heard that.
(laughs)
- Wha- who told you that?
And he said, Henry.
And I said, Never heard of him.
Yeah, Henry Lloyd is what it said on his jacket.
So, yeah anyway.
- So mixing up sponsor names
and rider names, ooo!
A little bit difficult, that.
- Yeah, what was his name? BMC, I don't know.
Uh, anyway, I went back to UCI
antiquated rules.
They have had some weird ones
over the years haven't they? - yeah, they have.
- And they always have their training.
- Yeah, we've got tennings armfuls
of some weird rules, coming up in this next video.
One of them, believe it or not,
is that you're not allowed to have a non-level saddle.
- No.
- Yeah, alright, check the rest of the video out.
- [Voiceover] According to UCI,
an excessively slopping saddle
can improve sporting performance of the rider,
to an unacceptable degree,
and has to be limited.
So, whip out those spirit levels over.
Inadvertently, UCI may have irradicated
an entire future generation of pros.
With the current riders suffering numb-nuts
every time they ride a time trial.
(electric zapping)
Benolt Gauthier, you are this weeks winner
of three months free subscription to Zwift.
Uh, he writes here and says
"Loving the show.
I'm slowly recovering from a hip fracture
and will end up using Zwift to build power back again."
Using it for free actually.
For the first three months, at least.
"What type of training progression do you recommend
over four to six months when coming back
from a major injury?"
- Right, that first off sound like a horrific injury.
- It does, yeah.
- So, sorry to hear about that.
And good luck with your recovery.
First thing you need to do is listen to your body
and your physician.
Patience is really key in recovering.
- Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, and you're doing the right thing
by starting out indoors.
That's the best thing for rehabilitation.
From a few pointers, really.
Uh, firstly, you don't have any of those distractions
that you get on the road.
So, the risk of crashing is minimal.
Although, some people still do seem to manage it,
while they're training, don't they?
Uh, secondly, it's much easier to get on and off the bike.
You're not going to over extend your hip
and cause any damage, from that point of view.
Uh, but also it means that you can end you session
as soon as you feel that theres any discomfort there.
Rather than being 20 minutes down the road
and having to plod back.
- Yeah, that would be a bit of a nightmare.
But it is really difficult to prescribe a session
because, well, we don't know where you are
on your injury, um.
But, we have got some, a few things in metrics
that you can do to help you do that really.
- And, the simplest metrics really, aren't they?
So, you've start with duration.
So, when you first get back on the bike,
what you want to do is time how long you can ride for
before you experience some discomfort,
at which point you, of course, stop.
Might be 15 minutes or so,
and note that down.
That can be your bench mark.
Uh, and you can then set a weekly goals after that.
Now, it might be that in week two
you're still only able to do 15 minutes at a time.
So, you can also look at the frequency of your riding.
Maybe in week one you do two or three rides.
And over the course of that first month,
you can build up to four or five rides per week.
Even if it's just 15 minutes at a time.
- Yeah, and when you're doing that training
make sure you're writing down a few things.
Like, your cadence.
Your cadence is really key when getting back from an injury.
So, note down what your cadence is when you start,
and then keep noting as you start to progress.
And, hopefully you're cadence will get better.
- Yeah, and when you are back up to doing
around about an hour or so
at close to the cadence that you had before your injury,
then you can start to do things
that are a little bit more specific.
You definitely though, don't want to be doing anything
that requires high torque.
Any sprints or power cadence work is a bit of a no-no.
Because you, again, might make your injury worse.
- Yeah, so, when you're starting to feel back to normal
then you can look at doing some specific stuff.
Make sure you keep that nice and short,
And then you can add some tempo.
- Yeah, and then tempo,
even when you've been doing that for as well,
you want to make sure that you can ride
for a good hour or so at tempo
without any discomfort.
Before you're then pretty much back to normal,
you can start doing very high intensity efforts,
and even sprints if you want to.
It is a long process, I'm afraid.
You do have to be patient, as we said at the start
and listen to your body.
- Yes, and also when you're not on the bike,
you can also help your recovery by doing stuff off the bike.
And, that is, some strength work and some balancing
or some stretching.
And that will really help your progression,
and your recovery.
- We've just been rehearsing this.
And it's a really really long, quick fire round.
- Really long.
- Isn't it?
Uh, first up this from James Griffiths.
Myself and a group from work are doing a charity ride
Lands End to John O-Groats in nine days,
and we're not season cyclists only do six or seven miles
to and from work and have never ridden road bikes
before signing up to this.
Uh, we have started upping the miles
but what is the best way to train
for the 110 miles a day on road and Zwift options.
- Well, first off, congrats on signing up.
That's the hardest bit actually,
is just pin-pointing - is not.
(laughs)
- Yeah, is pin-pointing a challenge and then doing it.
But, congrats on that.
And, then training, so what I would do
is I would look at your schedule,
and then, the key is to string some rides together.
So, I would personally look at the weekend
as your free spaces.
And try and get some four to five
to may, you know, four to five hour a days
and then string those together.
Even get on out on a group ride
or on a Saturday or Sunday.
And, uh, and yeah, do it that way.
And then make sure you taper down
going into the main event.
- It's the back to back rides
that are really essential, isn't it?
- And of course, the taper at the end.
You can always try extending that commute
six or seven miles, into, let's say
20 or 25 once or twice a week.
On your way home, for example.
Uh, next up
from Murst G0C.
Is there a significant benefit to having
a high end training bike?
I do understand that every gain counts while racing,
but would it make any difference to replace my heavier,
less aero training bike with a better,
thus more expensive one?
Uh, I'm sure you would love to get a better training bike.
We all would, wouldn't we?
But, is it gonna help you?
I don't think so, really.
It just kind of depends on what type of riding you do.
If you ride solo all the time,
you're still gonna get exactly the same training effect,
by doing the same power.
You'd just be going a little bit slower,
so it makes no difference to how much fitter you get.
On the other hand, if you do a lot of group riding,
the heavier training bike
is actually gonna make things harder for you to keep up.
Therefore, you're doing more power.
You might get a positive training effect from that
so it could be better for you.
- Yeah, could be.
Um, who doesn't love a winter hack bike?
That you can go out in any weather.
Wind, rain, snow.
Yeah, whatever weather
and you can just not worry about it.
Go out, smash it, put mud guards on it.
- Yeah, I mean, we're fortunate, aren't we?
We do get bikes lent to us.
We don't, we have to give them back.
(laughs)
- We get bikes lent to us
and so, well, we're in a fortunate position.
But, if I was buying bikes,
I would definitely have a winter hack.
I didn't care about as much.
- I would to.
I'm with you on that.
- I-I'd have like record on it,
instead of super record probably.
(laughs)
Anyway, next questions is from Noah Kepner.
How much kit and gear do pro cyclists get to keep
from their teams and sponsors?
I see customs paint jobs
for National Champions and World Champions.
Do they get to keep those bikes?
- Good question.
- Uh, Do they have to pay for them
if they want to keep them?
- Mmm, that's a really good question,
but the pros get
a lot of kits.
A lot of clothing, um, wha-
and a lot of, lots of different things, really.
But the one thing they don't get to keep
is their bike.
And that's rather annoying, yeah?
- It is really annoying, isn't it?
- I never got to keep mine.
- I always thought I was going to get to keep my bike.
The only ones I've ever got to keep
are the ones that the team forgot about, basically.
- Oh.
- Don't tell them.
- Yeah, which ones have you got?
- Uh, I'm not telling you either.
(laughs)
- Some of the bigger name riders,
apparently have it written into their contract,
that they do get to keep their bikes
at the end of the year.
Dan Martin, apparently, being an example of that.
Usually he's got quite the collection.
- Yes, when I saw him in Jerona,
He has a bike from every team he's ridden for.
So that, that's quite something really.
- I think you need to be a big name rider
to have something like that in your contract, don't ya?
But if we'd gone to them and said "I want to keep my bike,"
and yeah, stick that in my contract,
they would have said, "well, stick it where the
sun don't shine."
- And the funny thing is, also, before we crack on,
is that, Nigel Mansell actually had written in his contract
that he got to keep his cars.
So, there you have it.
Some of the top profiles, um uh, atheletes
do get to keep some big stuff.
- Name dropper.
- Uh, George Clarke.
"I'm looking to invest in an indoor trainer
and I'm unsure whether to get a smart trainer
or a standard turbo trainer
and then purchase a separate power meter.
I've heard that power meter readings
are more accurate with a crank base power meter
and I could then still be recording my data
when I'm outside on my bike."
- That's a really hard question to answer.
Um, I personally would have to go with a power meter.
Just because I enjoy being outside
and being able to
yeah, use my power indoors and outdoors.
But, nowadays, the erg mode
and the smart trainers,
do make Zwifting really come to life.
And I'm, well, I had a chance to race on it last night.
- You're a convert aren't you?
- Yeah, and it really was amazing
to to how realistic it was.
And how racing is and how the training
um uh, how the training sessions really work so.
- Smart trainers just make it a lot more interesting
when you're riding something like the Zwift.
And they increase the resistance when you're climbing
vice-versa when you're going down a hill.
And like James said, erg mode is a great training tool.
So that hasn't really helped him very much.
Sorry about that George. - Sorry George.
- If I had to say power meter or smart trainer,
like you, I'd say power meter.
- Yeah.
- Because, I spend a lot more time riding outdoors
than I do indoors.
And I like to collect the data everywhere.
- Yeah, I agree.
But, if you ask Olly Bridgewood,
he would tell you a smart trainer.
- Would he?
Well I think that our viewers should listen to us
on this occasion, not Olly.
(laughs)
- Okay, Neil Simpson.
"I got an adventure bike for commuting
but I want to have fun with it.
How can I figure out uh, routes where to go?
With the road bike, I can use road maps.
Thanks and keep up the good work."
- Yes, and there are loads of different tools
that you can use for this.
You could use, strava heat map.
Um, which is really popular.
And this basically, lights up the roads
that are really used by cyclists,
so, for example, a bike path would be really lit up.
So, if you, feeling adventurous,
then, go to where's not lit up and rather dull lights.
Um, uh.
- Make sure that's not lit up, because it's not a highway.
- Yeah.
- But, now that could be an adventurous way to do it.
- Yeah, a dull, and there's another w-ways, isn't there?
- Well, you could also use
uh, apps like Commute or ride with GPS
to create your own route.
Because, they will highlight, not just roads,
but bridle ways and bike paths, et cetera too.
But normally the best way to find the best road
is to ask local riders, isn't it?
So ask them at a local bike shop,
or a local cycling cafe.
And even better than that,
get to go out riding with them.
- Yeah. - And they'll show you.
- Make some new friends.
That's ideal isn't it?
- Yeah, right, finally on this slow fire round,
it's this from Lewis Waugh - ah, slow fire (laughs)
- Uh, "just got my first proper bike fit
for my road bike, which got me wondering when I need a fit
for my commuter.
I commute everyday on a commuter city bike.
Which has a more upright position.
I'm not having an pain while commuting,
but would it make me faster and more efficient?"
You would be fast and more efficient
on your other bike, wouldn't you?
What I would suggest is
that you just try to transfer the measurements
that you've got from your bike fit
over onto your commuter bike.
You might be able to get it exact.
But the most important part is your saddle position,
in terms of it's height and also the lay back as well.
So, you get that dialed in and actually,
you should be absolutely fine on your city bike.
- Yeah, and I would totally agree with Dan,
but it also depends on what your commutes like.
So, if you really do want to go fast,
you want to use it as training,
then just use your road bike.
But, if you do just want to chill out
and enjoy your commute
then go for the less.
- Exactly, yeah.
If you get a solo height position right
you're unlikely to get any kind of injuries.
- No, exactly.
Got another question from Robert Repka.
"Hey, I started riding in a group
and what I found was most problematic
is getting back to the end of the pace line
after doing your on the front.
What is the best way of doing it without getting dropped,
and also without constantly looking backwards to check
where the end of the train is.
- Hmm, uh, you're not on your own here Robert.
That is a horrific thing having to get back
onto the pace run when you've just done your turn.
Doesn't matter if you've just started cycling
or if you're a fully fledged pro, does it?
Uh, so the key here then is not to go too far into the red,
Whilst you're on the front.
You want to leave a little bit in reserve,
so that when you pull off
and you go back to the back of the pace line,
you got enough power left in the tank
to be able to accelerate and get back onto the group,
at which point you will have a bit longer to recover.
- Yes, and in terms of knowing
when the last person is coming up,
you basically want to have a good idea
of what size of the group it is.
Once you know that,
then when you're coming, when you peel off
after your ride and you're going to the back of the group,
you can then sense when that rider is coming past.
Then, have a quick look over your shoulder,
depending on what side the group is,
and then get back on the power
before you get behind that last rider,
and that will put you up the same speed as the group.
And then you can slot in, nicely.
And not lose too much of a gap,
and you will have to kick back on.
- Mm, that's the idea, isn't it?
That you just got back up to the same speed of the group.
Just as your front wheel is behind
the last rider's rear wheel. - Exactly.
- And then you would have to close the gap as James said.
Uh, we've got a lot of tips for you coming up, Robert,
in quite an old video.
That is youthful looking Dan Lloyd there.
Uh, it looks like 10 years ago.
Actually, only five or six, maybe.
Uh, anyway, a few tips that shows to be relevant now.
Although incidentally, James has recently shot a new one,
on this very subject over and out of Bedear.
So make sure we check that out very soon indeed.
- [James] 15 to 20 seconds is generally
a good amount of time to spend in the front
before you swing up.
However, if you're feeling strong go for longer.
Don't go harder, and vice-versa.
If you're not feeling too good on the bike,
swing off quite soon after you've done your turn.
- I'm afraid it's time
for the ceremonious closing of the laptop.
- It's the end of this weeks episode.
- Yes, and thank you for watching.
And if you have enjoyed it,
then, don't forget to give up a thumbs up.
And if you want your question to be answered on next week,
then use the hashtag torqueback.
And if you want the chance
of getting three months free subscription from Zwift,
then use the hashtag GCNtraining.
- Hmm, got an ask at the start there.
- [Both] Ask GCN training.
- I always forget that.
- Yeah, you do, don't you.
Well, I'm not doing this again.
Anyway, you will be well aware that
if you're watching this on the Friday,
the World Championship's coming up over the weekend.
The mens and womens elite road wells.
Uh, we've got a full preview and we look at the course
and the riders to watch.
And you can find that just down here.