Marginal Gains Cycling Podcast, Presented by Silca

Cécile Lejeune is a rising star in women's pro cycling, but this Frenchwoman (and now Arizonian) is no stranger to speed. With roots in Tri and a number of impressive running records in her native country, Cécile has been challenging herself since the age of 12. A RED-S survivor, Cécile brings an inspiring and candid story to this year's Life Time Grand Prix, where she currently sits in a top-10 ranking. This is even more impressive when you consider that last year she wasn't even accepted into the race. With a love of gravel, tips on where to get married in a hurry, and an outsized helping of wisdom, this conversation with Cécile is not one to miss.  

Fatty is obsessed with mini compressors and so jumps the line in this episode of Ask Josh Anything with several questions he has about Silca's new Elettrico series, Silca's innovative, just-released electric mini pump that is available everywhere (except the US) now. We also got some great feedback/pushback on part of Josh's recent FAQ episode, and a novel new product idea involving tap water from Indianapolis.  And, as always, so much more.

We are on the ground at Sea Otter chasing Marginal Gains. A top theme at this year's show is something we have been discussing in our episodes: the wider tire revolution. Older XC tires have found new life on gravel race bikes and tire makers are responding. We hear from two major players on the tire side of things. Plus Dylan Johnson weighs in on how widespread the wider tire movement has become at the pointy end of races. We also wadedinto some new terrirotry: bike rack and bag maker Tailfin talks about its go-fast approach to bike packing. And finally, we met up with a one-of-a-kind company that has brought Marginal Gains...to leg shaving. 

We've done plenty of interview episodes before, but this one's a little different. The twist here is we have pro cyclist Melisa Rollins joining as co-host in hopes of improving her chances at Levi Leipheimer's The Growler, a race that boasts the world's largest payout in a one-day race: a $156,000 purse, split evenly among men and women. 

We had a whole suite of super nerdy and fun questions ready to ask Josh...and we will still ask them, next time. But we also wanted to know Josh's thoughts about how the newly-announced tariffs might affect Silca,  the businesses it buys from and sells to, and its customers. The resulting unscripted conversation is a must-listen. 

2024 Unbound Champion Rosa Klöser's trajectory to the top step started with a stolen townie, and has kept surprising —and impressing — ever since. You're going to love this conversation with this analytical, detailed, smart, and fast fellow marginal gainer.   

This is a little different from most Ask-Josh-Anything episodes. Here, we ask Josh to answer the questions he gets most often. What we got was an insightful hour of experiences, career advice, and thoughts on the culture within pro cycling teams. This is seriously an episode you do NOT want to miss.

Jonathan Lee is Communications Director and one of the OG's at TrainerRoad, one of our favorite tools for marginal-gaining our bodies. TrainerRoad is all business (or at best, Type 2 fun) about making you the strongest, fastest version of yourself...or at least, it was that way until recently. Hottie and Fatty talk with Jonathan about TrainerRoad's why, how, and what's next. 

Short cranks are all the rage right now, and it just wouldn't be right to let this cycling trend go by without asking Josh to weigh in on its actual merits from aero, weight and engineering perspective. We've also got practical answers for your tire inserts and rolling resistance questions, measuring CRR, old-school cables and bar tape strategies, and an inquiry into the compromises tandem and benefits of tandems. 

We could have talked with Sofia Gomez Villafane for hours about nothing but her head-spinning palmares: Olympian, winner of Lifetime Grand Prix Series in 2023 and 2024, Leadville, twice at Unbound and Sea Otter, Belgian Waffle rides, and so much more. But the fact is, her wins are just the exclamation marks to the powerful voice Sofia is bringing to the sport. Do not miss this smart, instructive and fun interview with the top off-road woman in North American racing.  

The Marginal Gains crew thought we'd throw a real curveball this episode and make every single question about cycling...and relevant, even. Wacky, huh? We talk about how the Silca Endurance chip might affect your lube schedule, the challenges of riding with a waxed chain in very cold weather, strategies you can use to reduce / remove speed wobbles on your bike, how a racer in the Leadville 100 MTB might make his artificial knee more aero, and much more. Enjoy the show, and send us your own questions by texting or calling 317-343-4506.

Chase Wark shares his unique journey in the cycling world, from his unconventional bike setups to his passion for community-building through cycling events, Chase's story is one of creativity, resilience, and a deep love for the sport. Josh Poertner and Chase Wark discuss innovative bike setups, aerodynamics, and the importance of tinkering with equipment to gain performance advantages. Enjoy this distinctly midwestern conversation, equal parts innovation, iteration, and post-race hugs and hotdish.    

If the premise of these Q&A episodes is that you can Ask Josh Anything, and we continue asking questions forever, shouldn't we really change the name of this series to "Ask Josh Everything?" The answer to that question is, of course, "it depends."  In this installment, Josh addresses the surprisingly contentious oval chainring, speculates on why a squeaky wheel is squeaking, talks about the present and future of TPU tube recyling...but not before Fatty line-jumps with his current fascination: how, with an unlimited budget, you could build the perfect Everesting route and bike.  This is a fun — and as always, sneakily educational — episode. Enjoy!

Dylan Johnson is back with a follow up to the testing he and Josh did in the spring. The race season started with the two of them in the wind tunnel looking for Marginal Gains that could be used in the Lifetime Grand Prix and the other off-road races Dylan had on his calendar. Dylan reports back with his "on-course" experience and a look at how other racers are adopting some of the advantages he and Josh first discovered. Dylan also has questions for Josh on how some of the new "finds" and Silca products can be used at the pointy end of off-road racing. This is two Marginal Gainers sharing notes on another season of discovery and execution. 

Is it a coincidence that Fatty picked all the questions for this episode, and that all the questions in this episode are topics Fatty finds either interesting or personally relevant? Probably not! But if you're wondering if chain waxing makes sense for dusty trail conditions, are curious how much (if any) the outside temperature should affect your tire pressure, or are wondering how inflexible cyclists should set their bikes to be as aero as possible, you'll find Josh's answers as intriguing as Fatty did. Enjoy the show!

Zwift VP of Product Mark Cote joins the Marginal Gains crew, picking up where we left off in our last conversation: the wind tunnel. This time, his time in the tunnel is all about future-looking features for Zwift, and this peek at what's to come is not to be missed.  From there we talk about everything in the present and future state of Zwift and Marginal Gains, from the extremely practical (tips and warnings for your own Zwift setup) to the philosophical (is Zwift for racing, training, or fun?) with everything in between.  Whether you ride a smart trainer or not, you will not want to miss this episode!

Bryan Larsen tells us his only real talent is that he's too dumb to quit. We strongly disagree, but take his point: Bryan is no quitter. In this episode, Bryan talks us through how he took the constraints given to him through birth and accident, and used passion, perseverence, and a love of marginal gains to reinvent his racing career.

We're so excited to kick this 35th episode of our "Ask Josh Anything" series with a discussion of the announcement of Silca's partnership with Visma Lease-A-Bike. Fatty does his level best to pitch having Hottie in the team car, hot-waxing on the move. We move from there to the challenges of high pressure with hookless rims, and how it has put Josh in the position of being the PSI bartender and cutting pressure-thirsty riders off. And that's just for starters. We also get into group ride marginal gains, changing pressure prescriptions for worn tires, whether 3D-printed Ti quicklinks should be a thing, the likely aero effects of Tadej's six-figure watch, and more. Enjoy this packed episode of Marginal Gains!

Gravel Racing is moving face and Amy Charity is one of the movers. Amy is the founder of SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The race started on the back of a napkin in 2018 and has quickly become one of the premiere off-road events in the U.S. After a few short years of success, Amy expanded SBT to Europe and Australia. But before the dirt roads, Amy raced on tarmac. She was a pro roadie with a short but successful career. And before road racing, Amy was in high finance. Josh and Hottie talk to Amy about her days in the pro peloton, how her business education informs her work as a race promoter, and Josh and Amy have a college reunion of sorts.

At this point we've lost track on how many episodes we've dedicated to wind tunnels, but this is at least partially one of them. We've also got great questions about Fatty's new Firefly and the Ti-printed parts Silca created for it, a classic question on the best body position for riding in a strong tailwind, axle handle alignment, and a remarkably well-considered question on calculating tire pressure for full-suspension bikes. 

Gravel Racing has gone global, and governing bodies have gotten involved. The UCI is now in its third year of putting on its Gravel World Series. It has more than two dozen races on four continents. Instead of running the series itself, the UCI has turn to a sports group and the point person in that group is three-time Cyclocross World Champ Erwin Vervecken. It's an understatement to say he knows drop bars and dirt. He is. We talk to Erwin about how the series began, the lack of a major presence in the US, how to get into Worlds, UCI rules and Gravel, and we throw in some Cross questions.

Tony Karklins is the founder of Allied Cycle, is currently the founder of Time, and has deep knowledge of all aspects of the cycling industry, all the way back to when as a teenager he owned a bike shop. He's the perfect match for a conversation with Josh about bike business, manufacturing, racing and more. 

John Cobb may be best known for his bike saddles, but his experience and innovation go much deeper. John may be the first person to take a bike to the wind tunnel, and is likely the only person to crank up the tunnel to 70mph...with a rider in it. Enjoy this great episode with a cycling innovator

Life Time puts on what is arguably the biggest and most important pro bike racing series in the US: The Life Time Grand Prix. And one man is in chage of it all: Kimo Seymour. Fatty and Hottie talk with Kimo changes in the race, the "Call of a Life Time" series, aerobars, Keegan's Swenson's chances for dominating the event for a third year running, and much more. 

Our recent wind tunnel episodes have triggered a LOT of aero questions from our listeners, and Josh -- with hand hovering over the "It Depends" button -- takes them on. From IRL Burrito Powerups (IYKYK) to the StripChip and the Chain Waxing System to aero chainrings to leg hair stubble as a potential aero advantage to shoe aerodynamics, Josh will — apparently — answer anything. Enjoy!

Josh answers more of Fatty & Hottie's pressing questions about the surprises people are in for when visiting a wind tunnel for the first time, what happens when key learnings from a wind tunnel session are ignored, how often follow-up questions triggered by a wind tunnel session are actually followed up on, whether it's worth it to bring anyone but a top-pro into the wind tunnel, how bike companies twist wind tunnel results, and much more. If there's anything more Marginal-Gain-y than our fascination with wind tunnels, well...we'll do a trifecta of episodes on that, too. Enjoy the show!

An argument can be made that Mark Cote is the father of the Specialized Wind Tunnel. During his tenure at the Big S, he convinced the powers that be that the Big S needed its own wind tunnel — an amazing story Mark shares with Josh. Enjoy this deep dive into Mark's backstory and conversation between Mark and Josh as they swap stories on how they've found marginal gains with this one powerful tool

Josh's experiences in wind tunnels have come up in dozens of episodes of Marginal Gains, and we always find ourselves with more questions. In this episode, we're finally giving ourselves permission to ask them, from the essentials of using a wind tunnel to a day in the life before, during, and after testing in a windtunnel.  Look, we'll be honest here: we brought way more questions to this conversation than Josh had time to answer, and at some point during the recording, we realized we weren't recording "The Wind Tunnel Episode;" we were recording, "The Wind Tunnel Series, Part 1." Which means that if you've got quesstions about wind tunnels, now is the time to ask: call or text us at 317-343-4506.

When it comes to bikes, Josh is usually the smartest person in the room. But Josh will tell you, when the topic turns to mountain bikes and suspension, Josh turns to Darren Murphy of Push Industries. Josh and Darren talk about Darren's journey in the industry, as well as a dive into how advanced bike products are developed, tested and brought to market. 

With World Cup races being decided by tenths or even hundredths of a second, many racers and teams are now using sensors and data acquisition to dial their setups. Our guest this show is a leader in this area: Nick Lester and Josh get deep into how Nick and his Downamics team help the world's fastest downhillers get the most out of their suspension.

Would your motorcycle chain benefit from an afternoon in the chain wax spa? If you use a gel packet as an improvised tire boot, how much will it affect your bike's performance? When using the Rule of 105, should you be using the rim width at the brake track, or the widest point of the rim as your measurement? And for those of us carrying lunch, clothes, and a computer to the office as we commute by bike, how can we be more aero? Josh bravely answers all these questions...and for one of them, even does so definitively. Don't miss this astonishing episode of Ask Josh Anything!

Aerocoach's business is to help athletes improve their aerodynamic performance, through testing, coaching, and equipment. Josh and Xavier Disley get into a wide-ranging discussion of aerosensors, hype vs data, the need for wind tunnel standards, and so much more. This is an in-the-weeds episode you Marginal Gainer supernerds will not want to miss. NOTE: A prior version of this episode gets cut off partway through the episode. If it shows in your podcast feed, please skip it and listen to this version instead.

Russ Roca  - founder and host of the YouTube Channel The Path Less Pedaled - is our guest. The Path Less Pedaled has become a place to learn about the non-competitive side of the cycling world . Russ has produced hundreds of videos that focus on using bikes to carry stuff, explore, cruise, travel, ride comfortably and yes he has a couple on chain waxing and finding the right tire pressure. We talk with Russ on how he went from 2-packs a day to two wheels, the search for the right gearing, wheel size, the rebound of the road bike, Aluminum's comeback, his love of Marginal Gains and knowing when they apply to him.

Rob Britton is an accomplished pro road cyclist who has  turned  to the off-road scene in the second half of his career. He's been doing the Lifetime Grand Prix and other mass start events but he is also taking on ultra endurance challenges. This summer it was an event called Badlands:  Longer than Unbound XL, more climbing than an Everest Challenge and a landscape that blows the mind. Rob takes us through the unique challenges to body and bike this race presented. He talks about trying to scarf  down a jumbo size bag of chips, getting hit by birds, using Jensie's voice to push through the pain and how a fresh chamois is a marginal gain….   

Josh, Hottie, and Fatty take on your questions in this, our 101st episode of the Marginal Gains Podcast (we forgot to check that we hit 100 episodes -- and 1,000,000 listens -- last time). From contemplating the aerodynamic benefits of chain guards to analyzing terrifying moments of physics in action when riding a high speed descent, to raising our collective eyebrows at the new 750d wheel size, we continue to give credence that we will take on any cycling question and boldly answer, "it depends."

Industry legends Dave Koesel and Stephen Doll join Josh for a discussion about the Stromm track bike, a frame and fork aiming to take advantage of recent UCI tube shape restrictions being lifted. If you love wind tunnels, marginal gains, and engineers getting into the weeds with other engineers (and let's face it, we know you love all these things), this is the episode for you.

If you think the stories you've heard about the 2023 Unbound are crazy, wait 'til you hear Kristen Legan's story of her XL win. She focused on this race this year, and her preparation and dedication will resonate with any endurance Margingal Gainer. Kristen's joined in this episode by Nick Legan: author of the popular book Gravel Cycling, Unbound vet, top-tier mechanic, and Road Brand Manager with Shimano. Enjoy this is deep dive into bike setup, mental marginal gains and thick, sticky mud.

We take our mission of making a big deal about the little things very seriously in this episode, where we talk about whether there's any actual basis for the superstition behind where you rotate the wheel to before inflating a tire. We then move to the admittedly more pragmatic questions of how much of a draft an aero rider provides to the riders behind them, the low-hanging gains for DH racing, and the problems with racing a 1X setup on the road. And that's not even remotely close to all (even though we could have talked about each of these questions for a full hour).

For Silca's E-commerce manager, Travis  Verhoff, the 2023 edition of Unbound has been a bit of an ongoing science project. In this episode of Marginal Gains, we dig into Travis' expectations, last-minute changes, and key learnings from this experiment...and after all is said and done, what he would change and whether he'd ever race this monster again.

You've no doubt heard Josh mention Slowtwitch.com many times on this show.  It's one of the key places he goes to share ideas and get feedback. But Slowtwitch is more than just a place. It's a person too. The site was founded by Dan Empfield in 1999, and remains publisher to this day.  But before Slowtwitch even existed, Dan was a competitor. He did his first Triathlon in 1978 and competed in the first Ironman Kona in 1981. You may also know Dan as the man behind Quintana Roo. That stack and reach thing we all use now: that came from Dan's work. We get into all of that and more with our guest this episode:Tri Hall of Famer, Slowtwitch founder and Publisher Dan Empfield   

It's an Ask Josh Anything episode! We talk about The Rule of 105, the extent to which "bigger is better" is true for fairings, whether tire inserts need to be factored in when using air pressure calculators, why you might get conflicting recommendations from different air pressure calculators, how many watts a slow-turning old derailleur cog might cost you, the challenges a hot day might bring to your waxed chain, and more. So much more. Some people might say too much more, but we are not those people, and we're betting you are not either. Don't miss this episode, and keep your questions coming!

Silca's own Travis Verhoff has an unusual work assignment: plan, train for, and execute the most Marginal Gain-y Unbound possible. If you've been following the Silca YouTube channel, you've been tracking his progress. In this episode, we catch up with his bike setup, key learnings and surprises from time in the wind tunnel, using the Chung method on course to select tire pressure just days before the race, his nutrition, and a lot more. If you're a nerd about Marginal Gains (and we know you are), do not miss this episode about putting theory into practice.

Amanda Nauman has one of the most disarming nicknames in all of cycling: she is affectionately known as Panda. But make no mistake: behind the woman named after a docile creature is a fearless person, both on and off the bike. Amanda has taken on the toughest gravel events — and the toughest questions — that face our sport. She has won Unbound Gravel twice and taken 2nd in the 350 XL. She has won Mid South and BWR San Diego and is the 5X-champ at Rock Cobbler in Bakersfield, CA. Amanda is co-host of the Groadio Podcast and she sits on the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame Advisory Board. She is co-founder of the Mammoth Tuff Gravel Race, puts on gravel camps, competed in the first LIfe Time Grand Prix, and has a demanding day job. Somehow all of that is packed into one person. We guarantee you'll love this conversation with the fastest and fiercest Panda you will ever meet.

Josh and USAC CEO Brendan Quirk share a love of the history of cycling, as well as a deepseated desire to move it forward. In this wide-ranging conversation, Josh and Brendan talk about their love of bike racing, wind tunnels, and the complexities of cycling product development and retailing. Most importantly, they have a candid discussion of the difficult position USAC is in and Brendan's plan to move it forward.

With three Gravel World's Championships, an Unbound victory, an induction into the Gravel Hall of Fame, a bronze medal in UCI Worlds Road Championship TTT, a win in the Tour de San Luis, and more than a decade as a pro, Alison Tetrick has proved she's among the best in the world on pavement and dirt. As it turns out, she's also right at the top in analysis of the current women's pro peloton. In this episode, Ali (as her friends call her) details who to watch this year, talks about the overall health of women's racing, equity, parity, and — of course — marginal gains.

It's a no-topics-barred Ask-Josh-Anything episode of Marginal Gains, and (as usual) Hottie and Fatty get their own burning questions to the front of the line. Hottie desperately wants to talk about F1 porpoising and its connection to Hopf bifurcation. Josh accomodates. Fatty overheard a rocket scientist proclaim he wouldn't trust a repaired carbon fiber hardtail for technical mountain biking and now Fatty's scared about whether he's OK to ride. Josh reassures Fatty with the sage advice that "it depends." We then dig into actual listener questions about what kind of Ti alloy Silca uses when 3D printing, the pros and cons of 1X vs 2X drivetrain setups, and...how one might marginal gain a triple stroller in order to set a world record 10K pushing this pram. As always, this AJA episode's a great mix of thoughtful, serious, practical and silly. Don't miss it!

In the early and mid 2010s, Gwen had a winning streak that astonished both the Tri world and the sports world at large. She won an unmatched 13 races in a row, capped off with Olympic gold in Rio. She then stepped away to focus on running for a time, but is now back, again with a focus on the Olympics. We catch up with Gwen between training sessions and taking care of her kids to talk about what is driving her as she begins chapter two of her amazing career.

Alex Dowsett has been a Marginal Gainer since he started riding with his dad on the roads of his hometown in England. He quickly became a time trialist and then pro, riding for a handful of teams and racking up more than a dozen wins before finally hanging up his wheels after the 2022 season. But the fact that Alex became a sportsman at all is a major win. You will not want to miss this great conversation with an amazing Marginal Gainer!

You may know her by her nickname in Bicycling Magazine (The Fit Chick) or you may know her by others' names (she's ghost-written and co-written scores of books), but you almost certainly know her work in one way or another: Selene Yeager is as well-respected as she is prolific in the cycling world. And now she's the host of "Press Play Not Pause" -- a popular podcast that brings candor and wisdom to menopausal athletes. No matter what kind of athlete you are, you do not want to miss this episode of Marginal Gains!

Michael Marckx — the head of the Belgian Waffle Ride series — has guided clothing brands, sunglass companies and magazines on his way to making his dream classic. This is a great conversation about vision, instinct, survival, the future of american racing...and if you're looking to do a Belgian Waffle Ride, there are some tips in here for you too.

Anyone who's ever spent any time watching Dylan Johnson's popular Youtube channel could be forgiven for thinking it and the Marginal Gains show were separated at birth. In this episode, we get together with this incredibly smart, incredibly fast cyclist to talk about not just his achievements in racing, but the little things he does to beat the competitoin. Don't miss this episode!