Podcasts about fsa

What's on your holiday wish list this year? Are you planning on running out on Black Friday to snag some deals? Lucky for you, we are making your holiday shopping a little easier. Regina Conway is back to share insights and deals for this Black Friday. She shares all the hottest deals and biggest discounts she is seeing to help narrow down your list. Do you have an FSA account? Here's your reminder to spend those funds before the December 31st deadline (but that could be changing for some). Shawna Hausman from FSAstore.com helps us during our headline segment by breaking down the changes coming to FSA accounts and give tips to help spend those funds wisely. Enjoy!

Listen to Marianne Purushotham, FSA, MAAA, Mortality & Longevity Steering Committee Chairperson and Corporate Vice President at LIMRA discuss current events, including volunteer opportunities in the Mortality and Longevity Strategic Research Program with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org

Academy award winner Matthew McConaughey [Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective, Interstellar, Contact] and Anna talk with a listener who wonders whether or not to reach out to her high school crush after not talking with him for five years. Matthew also tells Anna about his prom experience, the talent he'd most like to have, where he goes to get away, the advice he'd give to his younger self, what romance means to him, how to make a relationship work, and more.If you're in need of unqualified relationship advice, please write to us at bit.ly/ASKANNAState Farm Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call or go to StateFarm.com for a quote today.McDonald's Wherever your local McDonald's is, there's nothing better than that wonderful feeling of community… well, maybe that great feeling is tied with eating a Big Mac. McDonald's. I'm lovin' it.OSEA This holiday season, stock up and share your new favorite clean skincare and bodycare with your friends and family. We even have a special discount just for our listeners.  Get 10% off your first order with promo code ANNA at OSEAmalibu.com. You'll get free samples with every order and orders over $50 get free shipping. Gifting is always easier if you start earlyWarby Parker Don't let your FSA or HSA dollars go to waste. Put 'em to good use on Warby Parker prescription glasses, prescription sunglasses, contact lenses, and eye exams. Try Warby Parker's free Home Try-On program: Order 5 pairs of glasses to try at home for free for 5 days – there's no obligation to buy! Ships free and includes a pre-paid return shipping label.  Try 5 pairs of glasses at home for free at warbyparker.com/unqualified.Zocdoc NOW is the time to prioritize your health. Go to Zocdoc.com/UNQUALIFIED and download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE and book a top-rated doctor. Many are available as soon as today.Peacock presents Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip  See this exclusive crossover event now, and watch new episodes every Thursday. Plus, stream more of your reality favorites on Peacock — including all past seasons of The Real Housewives — hit movies and shows, exclusive Originals, live sports, news, and more. Go to PeacockTV.com to sign up.Please subscribe to Anna Faris is Unqualified on Apple Podcasts and follow us on social media:Instagram @UnqualifiedTwitter @UnqualifiedFacebook @Anna Faris is UnqualifiedMusic by: Mondo Cozmo @mondocozmoProducers: Michael Barrett, Rob Holysz, Jeph Porter, Kasper SelvigResearcher: Margot BarrettProduction Services: Rabbit Grin Productions rabbitgrinproductions.comDistributed by: Simplecast

Lynsey Hooper and Kait Borsay are joined by former Arsenal, Chelsea and England legend Katie Chapman to chat about all the WSL action as the league returns. What did Marc Skinner's hair have to do with Manchester United's result? How close are Brighton and Spurs to that third Champions League spot? And when will Leicester get their first WSL point? We also caught up with Manchester United's goal scorer Alessia Russo! Plus, if you're after more on the Arsenal vs West Ham game, do check out our bonus episode. RUNNING ORDER PART 1 - Moments of the WSL with NOW! (3.30) PART 2a - Tottenham 1 -1 Manchester United (8.00) PART 2b - Alessia Russo interview (15.15) PART 3 - Everton 0 - 1 Brighton (20.15) PART 4a - Leicester City 1 - 4 Manchester City (24.15) PART 4b - Aston Villa 0 - 1 Chelsea (29.45) PART 4c - Birmingham City 0 - 3 Reading (31.00) PART 5 - Other news, FSA survey on female fan experience and where are the women on Arsenal's new board? (34.30) PART 6 - Coming up ... it's Women's Football Weekend! (42.30)

On this week's episode, we're joined by Tony Reeves, European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) board member, and CBD Consultant, working with regulators, the UK government and a variety of brands.We investigate changing consumer behaviours towards CBD, the latest drug delivery innovations within the sector, and the adoption of CBD within consumer packaged goods.About Tony ReevesTony is a board director & UK representative of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA); the only pan-European hemp trades association (https://eiha.org/). Since 2016 he has been representing the industry to regulators (MHRA, Home Office, FSA, HPRA, FSAI) and contributing to presentations at the European level on various matters including novel food regulations, CBD and THC levels in food, food supplements, beverages and cosmetics. He is closely engaged with numerous stakeholders in the cannabis industry across multiple geographies encompassing manufactures, brand owners, retailers and investors. He is a member of the UKAS-led ‘CBD Food Product Approval Expert Group,' the Food & Drink Federation's (FDF) ‘CBD Working Group and a consultant to major organisations in North America and Europe including THG.Tony was European Managing Director of what became Aurora Hemp and former Marketing Director of Leatherhead Food Research Association; providing consulting services to the global food & beverage sectors. In a later role, he led the development and launch of a new vegetarian product range securing substantial listings within both health food and general store chains. Initially, he worked within the UK Government's scientific services before leaving to establish his own specialist analytical laboratory business; achieving key supplier status with most of the UK's major multiples. Tony holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.Quotables‘The more I learned, the more I was trapped in this black hole called hemp because it's amazing stuff' 03:36‘This industry just keeps on giving' 19:43ResourcesJoin Tony on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyreeves1/?originalSubdomain=ukVisit The European Industrial Hemp Organisation's Website: https://eiha.org/Read Tony's recent article for The Grocer titled ‘The UK has the potential to become a leading player in the CBD sector': https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/food-safety/the-uk-has-the-potential-to-become-a-leading-player-in-the-cbd-sector/655292.article  

My First Million Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Steph Smith and Shaan Puri discuss the multitude of opportunities there are through innovative marketing strategies and product white spaces if you simply look at the world around you“Look for a sea of sameness, that's your opportunity”– Shaan PuriLook at your local pharmacy, the band-aid aisle will look ironically similar across brandsWelly changes this, giving a uniqueD2C (direct to consumer) experience on a boring product brandWhy do companies invest in their marketing products (swag, if you will) that nobody uses (water bottles, T-Shirts)?SwagUp changes this, branding products that are unique and generate conversation amongst the target marketThe Return on Investment (ROI) of swag can be much greater by investing in high-end products for your top consumers through limited-edition drops rather than worthless products for everyoneThese are just two examples, the sea of sameness is vast. Shaan and Steph discuss a few more in this episodeThere are people within a business who set the strategy, people who deploy the strategy, but there isn't a person that evaluates the effectiveness of the strategy – this is the Chief Automation OfficerIdentifies and evaluates the effectiveness of ‘that's how I was thought to do it' process pitfallsShadowing is more effective than it gets credit for, you truly understand the nuance of the workplace and employees' environment. We are often more compliant with process issues than we should be.Doing Time Right – a course designed by Steph SmithEliminate, Automate, and Delegate is the sequential framework the course is built on that you can apply to your everyday lifeRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgIn this episode Shaan (@ShaanVP) is joined by Steph Smith (@stephsmithio) for an idea packed episode. They start off talking about opportunities around spending your FSA dollars and on swag packs. They transition to talk about the role of automation at companies and Steph shares how she would go about automating repetitive parts of her role. The end the episode talking about Steph's new course, approaches to building a company, and Fidelity allowing trading accounts for teenagers. --------- * Want Steph's course? You can find it at https://doingtimeright.com * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: https://refer.fm/million * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. --------- Show notes: * (1:06) Intro * (2:20) Ideas around spending your FSA dollars * (15:58) Ideas around giving out awesome swag * (21:52) The role of chief automation officer * (27:37) Building a company around automation * (35:03) Giving away free alcohol as marketing * (41:22) How Steph invests her time & money * (43:50) Steph's new course - doingtimeright.com * (47:44) Approaches to building a company * (51:39) Fidelity allowing teenagers on the platform * (56:52) How to find Steph online

There's an article in U.S. Bank that outlined some of the things you might want to meet with your advisor about before December 31st. Let's go through it.Review your financial plan. Did your spending match your goals? Any big life events?Double check employee benefits. Did you max out company 401(k) or IRAs? Did your employer match contributions? Rebalance the plan? Max out HSA contributions or use remaining FSA funds?Look at your tax picture. Any major losses that could reduce tax liability? Expect to make less, more or the same income?Review investment strategy. Snapshot should include tax diversification (what does that mean?) Consider other tax impacts.Make charitable contributions. Are you maximizing donations of cash and/or assets? Maybe make Qualified Charitable Distribution if you're 70½ (explain what that is.) Take inventory of credit/debt. Are you paying down debts? How's your credit score? Update estate planning. Need to revisit wills/trusts? What about beneficiaries?Review insurance. Do policies need updated? Is coverage enough or too much? Are there any policies you can let go?

HSA stands for Health Saving Account and FSA stands for Flexible Spending Account. There is a big difference between the two and every insurance company is different. FSA and HSA plans are like personal savings accounts. However, the funds in the accounts can only be used for qualifying medical expenses. To learn more, watch our podcast on how to best use your HSA or FSA at Sports Performance. The Sports Performance Podcast is dedicated to all aspects of fitness, sports rehab, and enhancing athletic performance. Featured on the podcast are strength and conditioning coaches, sports physical therapists and industry professionals in the field of helping keeping people stay healthy and active. The Sports Performance Podcast delivers the latest information on preventing injury, relieving pain and enhancing performance. Hosted by Dr. Chris Garcia, PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS, USAW and the performance team at Sports Performance Physical Therapy in San Diego, CA. If you want to feel better, stay healthy and continue to be active without injury, visit www.SportsPerformancePT.com. CLAIM YOUR FREE REPORTS HERE www.sportsperformancept.com/free-reports/ STAY HEALTHY WITH OUR ONLINE PROGRAMS www.sportsperformancept.com/online-programs/ LINKS: www.Instagram.com/SportsPerformancePT www.Facebook.com/SportsPerformancePT www.YouTube.com/SportsPerformancePT ***DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational & informational use only and & does not constitute medical advice. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or medical recommendations, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult with a qualified medical professional for proper evaluation & treatment, or beginning any exercises or activity in this content. Sports Performance Physical Therapy, Inc. and The Sports Performance Podcast are not responsible for any harm caused by the use of this content.***

Sally Tuttle on the show for Native American Indian Month. MHA calls about their event and Angie from FSA gives STAND DOWN info for Vets!

Listen to Patrick Nolan, FSA, MAAA, SOA Research Institute Senior Experience Studies Actuary and Marty Hill, FSA, MAAA of PwC and SOA Retirement Plan Experience Committee (RPEC) member discuss Mortality Improvement Scale MP-2021 with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Today's topics with Alison Reiff-Martin (ReiffMartin CPA): More end of year tax tips Why you may want to give appreciated stock instead of cash Deep dive into donor advised funds HSA and FSA benefits ...and more! Powered by Stone Hill Wealth Management

This week on "Off The Cuff," Justin is joined by Michael Stratford, an education reporter at Politico, to discuss all things student loans and federal financial aid. The two break down key differences between the Biden and Obama administrations' higher education agendas before covering how the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) is being run under Richard Cordray — and how FSA is handling student loan servicers. Michael then details his reporting on the Department of Education's plan to restart student loan payments after what will be a nearly two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Scott and James discuss if you should invest in Whole Life insurance after maxing out your 401(k). Listener Question I was recently advised to get a life insurance retirement plan by my adviser. I currently max out my IRA contribution, FSA, 401k to ~56k and have extra money left over. I'm single and don't have kids to warrant a life insurance plan per se but it sounded intriguing with the extra cash i have leftover. I comfortably have an extra 3-4 k every month leftover. I'm a bit skeptical of the adviser since he contacted me supposedly from a coworker who gave him my name. Planning Points Discussed Retirement Planning Utilizing Time Efficiently Capital Appreciation Purchasing Power Other issues (IRAs, Inflation, Financial Goals, etc.) Episodes Mentioned What Tax-Efficient Investment Strategies Exist After I Max My 401(k)? Timestamps: 1:30 - Submit Your Questions! 3:05 - Selling v. Advising 7:25 - How Are Insurance Salesman Compensated? 10:28 - Understand Your Goals First 13:43 - Self-Insured 15:37 - Opportunity Cost 16:47 - Tax-Free Loans 17:15 - After-Tax Benefits 19:32- Understanding Incentives 21:02- Aligning Your Financial Goals   LET'S CONNECT! James Facebook LinkedIn Website Scott Facebook Twitter Website ENJOY THE SHOW? Don't miss an episode, subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play. Leave us a review on iTunes. Have a money question you want us to answer? Submit one here

Just another day here at the newsroom: NASFAA released it's 2020-2021 annual report. Sunday is NASFAA's deadline for session submissions for their 2022 conference in Austin, TX. Registration opened for the virtual 2021 FSA conference. FSA reminder to review and confirm your school's TG numbers. FSA created a Federal Student Aid Estimator. NASFAA's new entries on their AskRegs page and Pop Quiz page. NPR article on how "free community college" won't make it into the Biden Administration's final spending plan. Community College Daily article on gains in dual enrollment in California.   Find out more about CCCSFAAA at cccsfaaa.org.  Have feedback for Dennis and Dana?  Got a topic you want us to discuss?  Email us at wbcccsfaaa@gmail.com.   "What's Brewing, CCCSFAAA?" is a Studio 1051 production.  Studio 1051 is a creative collaboration of Dennis Schroeder and Dana Yarbrough.

As part of the ongoing pharmacy series, Jackie Lee talks with Tony Pistilli, FSA at Santa Barbara Actuaries, as he breaks down his article series on pharmaceutical patents and abuses. With pharmaceutical costs continuing to accelerate the growth of overall healthcare cost, pharmaceutical patents have come under increased scrutiny by a wide range of stakeholders, including Congress. He explains how the patent system works, the effects of historical reforms, potential modern-day abuses of the system and the path forward, and how actuaries can help.

Get the latest agriculture news in today's Farm City Newsday, hosted by Brian German. Today's show features an interview with the Director of the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program, Victoria Hornbaker, as well as reports on nitrogen management in carrots, and FSA's new soil carbon monitoring initiative. Tune in to the show for these news stories, interviews, features, and more.

Listen to Max Rudolph, FSA,MAAA,CERA of Rudolph Financial Consulting LLC and Anna M. Rappaport, FSA, MAAA discuss climate change and other impacts on retirement with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux explains three partner-driven projects within FSA's new soil carbon monitoring initiative. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The open enrollment period for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) is approaching. During the enrollment period, employees can enroll in or amend their contributions for the future year for FSAs and HSAs, which they can use to pay for their healthcare-related expenses. We dedicated today's episode to taking a deep dive into several vital facts related to FSA, Dependent care FSA, HSA, and the numerous ways to maximize your workplace benefits under each of them. [04:37] Flexible Spending Account (FSA) - Grant explains what FSA means, how it works, and who can contribute. [07:55] Plan the Health Expenses – Why it is essential to forecast the health expenses to pay them on a tax-deferred basis through FSA versus paying out of pocket. [09:18] Spend the Fund at Pharmacy – Beneficial features of FSAs, such as the ability to spend the funds at a pharmacy, and why having this option is significant. [10:10] Dependent Care FSA – Grant explains the purpose of a Dependent Care FSA, its benefits, and several facts to keep in mind if you are considering using one. [15:30] HSA – How to contribute to and HSA and the fantastic tax benefits and investment opportunities that come along with it [19:12] Eligibility for HSA – Grant explains the eligibility requirements for HSAs, including having a High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). [26:00] Connection to the employer - Grant discusses the connection between your HSA and your employer, and why employees can take their balance with them when they're switching employers.   Resources: What Is a Flexible Spending Account (FSA)? investopedia.com/terms/f/flexiblespendingaccount.asp What Is a Health Savings Account (HSA)? investopedia.com/terms/h/hsa.asp

Part two of our first Q and A episode. Randall and Craig tackle questions submitted via The Ridership community. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership Episode Sponsor: Athletic Greens Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos): 00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello and welcome to in the dirt from the gravel ride podcast. I'm your host. Craig dalton i'll be joined shortly by my co-host randall jacobs. [00:00:12] Today's episode is part two of our Q and a episode series. Go back in your feed, a couple episodes to find part one. You can certainly jump right into this episode as we're going question by question. And they don't necessarily. Have relation to one another but if you're interested in part one either after the fact or before you listened to this episode go ahead and jump back and listen to that episode. [00:00:36] Today's episode is brought to you by our friends at athletic greens. The health and wellness company that makes comprehensive daily nutrition really really simple. [00:00:44] A G one by athletic greens is a category leading superfood product, bringing comprehensive and convenient daily nutrition to everyone. Keeping up with the research and knowing what to do and taking a bunch of pills and capsules is hard on the stomach and hard to keep up with  [00:00:59] To help each one of us be at our best. They simplify the path to better nutrition by giving you the one thing with all the best things.  [00:01:06] One tasty scoop of ag. One contained 75 vitamins minerals and whole food sourced ingredients including a multivitamin multimineral probiotic green superfood blend  [00:01:17] And more in one convenient daily serving. The special blend of high quality bioavailable ingredients and a scoop of ag. work together to fill the nutritional gaps near diet. Support energy and focus. Aiden got health and digestion and support a healthy immune system. Effectively replacing multiple products or pills in one healthy delicious drink. [00:01:38] I think by now, you've probably heard my personal jam. I like to take athletic greens. First thing in the morning is to get a jumpstart on my hydration. As well as my nutritional needs. And i'm big ride days if i'm feeling super depleted i'll come home and have a second glass so on a saturday or sunday i might double up my servings  [00:01:58] If you're open to giving athletics greens, a try, simply visit athletic greens.com/the gravel ride.  [00:02:05] Athletic greens has agreed to give a free one year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs to any gravel ride podcast listener. So be sure to visit athletic greens.com/the gravel ride. To give it a try today. With that said let's jump into part two of the q and a episode with randall [00:02:26] Craig: Next question was on optimizing the adjustment and float intention on SPD pedals. I don't think there's much we can add there cause it's a little bit of trial and error. In my opinion. I don't know about the float. I don't even know if mine has like float adjustment. For me it seems like it's just the tension. So I, how hard or easy it is to get in and out. And that's been something maybe I've amped up over time as I become more confident, but certainly starting them out with them. Fairly easy to disengage is perfectly acceptable if you're not comfortable with Clifton riding.  [00:02:57] Randall: Yeah. In terms of tension, I would definitely start with a looser engagement and then tighten it down as you get more confident, Especially when you're first starting out. And what else? Patrick and I actually talked about this in the bike fit episode. Hey recommending shifting the cleats back. So if you're running mountain style shoes, which the gravel bike probably should be if you can run them in the back, the bolts to the back then sliding the cleat. Pretty much all the way to the back. Now if that doesn't feel right, you can always move it forward a little bit, but whereas this new real problem with going too far back there can be issues with going too far forward in terms of biomechanics and so on. And in terms of the float, you want to be in the middle of the float and you never want to be in a position where the you're you're not able to peddle in a natural motion where you're using the cleat positioning to restrict your motion. That is a a good way to end up with an injury. So definitely don't do that. I generally will start with the cleats. In a position where it's restricting my inward motion so that my heel can't hit the crank arm. And then I'll peddle from there and see am I in the middle, middle of the float? Am I in my restricted any part of the pedal stroke? And if not, then that's a good starting point. But to really get this right again it is hard to do this on your own. It's hard to see knee tracking. In souls or thing you want to invest in, in order to help align the full stack from hip to knee through the ankle. And this is where listen to the bike, fit 1 0 1 episode and consider working with a bike fitter.  [00:04:30] Craig: I was just going to say the same thing. It's like one of those things like, oh, bike fit, you don't necessarily go to clique adjustment, but so often when I've observed it, cleat adjustment happens in a bike fit.  [00:04:41] Randall: And it doesn't happen first, right? Everything else has to be right first. So if your saddle's too low and your arches are collapsing and things like that, you're already starting with things out of alignment and are going to have some trouble, but at least the advice that, that I just gave will prevent the worst issues. But again, go get a bike fit.  [00:05:01] Craig: Yep. [00:05:02] The next [00:05:02] question. Yeah, The next question. [00:05:05] was about what's the best technique for using a dropper post? How does this help with the physics of the ride?  [00:05:14] Randall: I'll let you go first. I certainly have an opinion on this one.  [00:05:17] Craig: This is a dangerous one for us. The listener, the avid listener knows we can go into a deep dropper post where I'm whole, but let's try to offer some quick advice. One of the things I like to remind people about with respect to drop her posts is that it's not just a, all the way up or all the way down product. You've got the full spectrum of range, which means you should use it frequently. Obviously when you're in heavy tactical descents with steep, dicentric, you're going to slam it.  [00:05:45] But I quite frequently lower it just a centimeter to just give myself a little bit more room on terrain. Maybe it's a road descent or something that I'm super confident on, but it gives me a little bit more margin for error. And as I'm feeling maybe more nervous about the speed. I'll go down even further just to give myself again a bigger range of just a bigger margin of error. So practice, and no, there's no right or wrong, use it frequently and you'll figure out what feels best for you.  [00:06:15] Randall: You've seen my technique with the dropper. I'm a bit more extreme. So for me, I use the dropper all the time. I have it down all the way on a high-speed road descent, and I use it to allow me to, move my mass around on the bike in a way where, if I want the front end to be more planted, I can put more mass on the bars, but then I can shift my weight down and back over the rear axle to lighten up the front end for say, traversing, really rough terrain. Provides that distance between the bike and the body where your arms and legs can act as suspension. Your front wheel is rolling in sailing. Your rear is doing more of your speed control. And in this way, it really radically. Improves the capability of the bike, not just off-road, but I would argue on road as well. I descend much faster because I know I can grab a handful of both brakes and not be pitching over the handlebars. So for me, even on the road, I'm dropping it all the way in a lot of situations.  [00:07:08] Just because I like to go that much faster and it gives me that margin of safety.  [00:07:12] Craig: All makes sense. Next off, we're going to an area work. Gosh, Randall I almost think we need an entirely new category in the ridership forum just about tires. What do you think?  [00:07:25] Randall: We've been asked for this for a while. By the time this episode airs, if we don't have a channel in there, somebody yell at us in the forum, we'll get that up.  [00:07:35] Craig: The first question comes again from Tom boss, from orange county unicorn tires, lightweight, puncture resistance, fast rolling with lots of grip. What comes closest for you?  [00:07:45] Randall: I'm not getting in the weeds on this one. I defer to the hive-mind and the ridership on this. I can tell you what I ride. But I'm gonna make no claims about it being the optimal.  [00:07:56] Craig: Yeah, do. What are you writing in these days?  [00:07:58] Randall: so currently I'm writing just a WTB Sendero upfront and a venture in the rear. And these aren't especially fancy casings. They're not the most efficient tire. But they're pretty robust and they have great grip and I like the mullet setup. I'm a big fan of going with something NABI or upfront and like a file tread or even a semi slick, depending on your terrain in the back.  [00:08:20] And yeah, that's the way that I go. We actually just brought in some maxes, Ramblers and receptors. So we go a rambler small knob front and a receptor in the back. And I like the six 50 by 47 size. There are situations where I wish I could have a little bit more volume, other situations where I wish I had a little bit more efficiency, which tells me that I'm right in the middle of the range for most of the writing that I do.  [00:08:40] Craig: Yeah. For me. And first off, full disclosure to everybody, I'm a Panorai sir, brand ambassador. So I want to put that out there. The gravel king S K was a tire that I got on my first proper gravel bike. And I just fell in love with it. Then I left for many years and went on to more of a setup that you had rocking the Sandero up front.  [00:09:01] Thinking I was, riding more challenging terrain and could appreciate the knobs, which I did.  [00:09:06] But recently I've gone back to the gravel king as Kay. And I do find it to be a wonderful all around tire because I feel super fast on the road and it does everything that I needed to do in most of the situations that I get into.  [00:09:21] Randall: Yeah, sounds about right. And then there's always, if you're, if you had a really long ride out to the trail you could always, bring the pressure up a smidge on the way out there and then give it a little at the the Trailhead.  [00:09:34] Craig: Yeah. [00:09:34] And again, it obviously comes down to where you are and one thing I'll just note really quickly, and we've talked about it before is Riding fully select tires at a fat with has been remarkable to me how performance they can be. Off-road you think you need knobs, then all of a sudden you realize where you do need them, but actually if you change your riding style a little bit if you've got a fat rubber tire on there, you can go and do a lot of things. [00:09:59] Randall: Yeah, the dropper helps a lot with that. In terms of just being able to be more nuanced with your body English as you going over stuff. But yeah, I run 700 by 30 tubeless tires and I'll go out on hard road drives and then I'll pass it on to see a trail and be like, oh, what's over there, I must find out now and then to see. Go and do a little bit of adventuring. And you gotta pick, you gotta pick your lines. You gotta be careful not to hit anything, square, a square edge. That's gonna, bang up against your rim. But if you're if your pressure is high enough and you're gentle enough with your writing, you can do a remarkable amount. Most of the stuff that we've written in Marine together up written on slicks.  [00:10:36] At one point. Yeah. [00:10:38] not saying it's a good idea, but it's doable.  [00:10:41] Craig: True. And you enjoyed other parts of the ride and leaned into other parts of the ride, presumably more because that's, what the bike was oriented around on that particular day. And maybe you needed to nurse your way down Blazedale Ridge or something, but you got through it.  [00:10:55] Randall: Yeah, and it's definitely more of an uphill thing than a downhill thing.  [00:11:00] Craig: Yeah. [00:11:00] Randall: go uphill on dirt and then downhill on, on road, but okay. The, we went on a proper tangent there.  [00:11:07] Craig: Yeah, sorry. next?  [00:11:08] one. Next question is from Josh, from east Texas. It's around suppleness. Suppleness in tires is desired by riders. So how do I choose a simple tire without having to buy it and write it with no published measure of scale of suppleness on a given tire from the manufacturer we are left with only this tire field strop sample is TPI and indication.  [00:11:30] Why don't manufacturers provide consumers with this information?  [00:11:33] Randall: So I'm going to volunteer Ben Z and Marcus G in the forum as to people who seem to have written. Every tire I've ever heard of. And some that I haven't. And there are others in there that have as well. But yeah, I think this is a matter of finding out what other people like and kindly asking their opinion and experiences with it.  [00:11:52] Craig: Exactly. I think that's a good recommendation.  [00:11:55] Next question is from Tom Henkel and it's around tire pressure. He acknowledges that he tends to ride harder pressures than a lot of people seem to recommend, but he's also dented REMS and had to wrangle the, straighten them out enough to complete a ride. So he's nervous about bottoming out. How do you know how low is too low? Given the weight of the rider and width of the tire? Also, how does this vary by terrain type?  [00:12:17] Randall: The indication of how low is too low is really. He's denting his rims. And pinch flatting as well you can have two riders of the same weight on the same tires at the same pressure on the same terrain, one we'll be a little bit better at picking lines or at shifting weight around. And we'll be able to push the limits a little bit more. But if you're ponderous and steamrolling through things, then you might need to run higher pressures in order not to bang the rims. Now, if you're not already running the highest volume tires that will fit in your frame, start there for sure. And if you are, and you don't want to have to replace your bike, tire inserts, which is something that we haven't really talked about much. And is in its early days in gravel, but it's increasingly popular in mountain bike. And I'll be getting a set of these to try out. Isaac S in the forum loves his and he rides hard. He used to ride his gravel bike like a full-on mountain bike, and even cracked a rim once, and after he put in inserts he never had any trouble and he was actually pushing his pressures even lower. So those would be the recommendations. I have go biggest volume. You can and get some tire inserts.  [00:13:25] Craig: Yeah, that makes sense. [00:13:26] It's all trial and error and I am eager as, as well as the listener, I imagined to hear what you think of tire inserts. Cause I do think It's yet another interesting part of the equation that some riders may be able to play around with successfully.  [00:13:40] Randall: Yeah, it has the same effect as adding a little bit of suspension. If you can drop the pressure that much lower and have a two tiered suspension effect where you have the travel of the lower pressure tire, and then right before it bottoms out on the rim, you have this protective layer. So yeah, I think it makes a ton of sense, conceptually. So I'm excited to try it.  [00:13:58] Craig: Yeah, interesting stuff.  [00:14:00] Next question is another one from Kim brown. How do you go around choosing the right tire for the ride?  [00:14:05] I guess I make more like quarterly or seasonal decisions around this and live with it. I certainly have brought my beef feed set up bike two places in the middle of the country that didn't require such an aggressive setup. But it is what it is like I, I'm not super concerned but I imagine if you have the wherewithal and interest you can dig in and find the right tire for every single outing.  [00:14:32] Randall: Yeah. And you definitely again see people who seem to do that. And that's great. For me. I have a bicycle company and I have two wheel sets and I leave the same tires on until they burn out. I'll even take the Sendero Nabil upfront and when it starts to wear a little bit too much, I'll just move it to the back and put on another Nabil upfront.  [00:14:49] I mostly rabid I got, and I got the two we'll set. So I have 700 by 32 blitz and a six 50 by 47 mullet set up. And it's really more of a choice of which wheel package I'm going to go with then. Swapping around tires and things like that, which is a more seasonal or annual decision.  [00:15:05] Craig: Yeah. [00:15:06] Yeah. Yeah. Same. [00:15:07] Next one is probably I could've sat in the maintenance section of this conversation, but how do I deal with a pinch flat or puncture or some other common issue in a tubeless tire?  [00:15:16] Randall: Punctures. Dynaplugs, bacon strips. Make sure you have a good amount of sealant in there. And have a spare tube as a backup, if all that fails. If you've got a pinch flat in a tubeless tire if it's on the sidewall, then you know, you do what you can to get home. Sometimes a plug will work, but if it's in the sidewall, you're probably going to want to replace that tire versus in the meat of the tread where the rubber is a lot thicker, a plug can last for the remaining life of the tire. And last thing would be, if you really have a problem and you have a tear in the sidewall, a boot or even just jam putting a dollar bill or something in there so it doesn't continue to spread, just so you can get home, and maybe running lower pressure so it doesn't blow out the sidewall.  [00:16:00] Craig: Yeah.  [00:16:02] If we assume the question came from someone who knows how to change a two-bed tire and has been through that experience, just a couple of other things I would highlight that may not be known unless you've had to go through it. If you are replacing a tubeless tire with an inner tube, you do need to remove the valve core.  [00:16:19] First. And you can expect that if you have ample sealant remaining in said tire. It's going to be a messy situation.  [00:16:27] Randall: Yeah. [00:16:28] Craig: I don't know what the right thing to do is if you leave the sealant in there, but it's going to be all over you. It's going to be all over the place. It's just something you have to deal with as you get that tire and get your tube in there and find your way home.  [00:16:41] Randall: Yeah, all the more reason to get plugs and just have plugs with you because oftentimes you can get by with those.  [00:16:48] Craig: Yeah. A hundred percent. The first time you plug a tire, it's like a Eureka moment and you just top off the tire and continue on your way. And when it goes beyond that, then you're a very sad. And you will have to deal with quite a mess.  [00:17:02] Randall: There's a picture that think Isaac in the forum shared where he had a hole plugged with eight different plugs in the sidewall and he kept riding it for a while apparently. So Bravo maybe change that casing a little bit sooner. So though.  [00:17:18] Craig: Related to tires, we're going to move into a section on wheels. And matthew Wakeman ask, what kind of situations would be worth considering three wheel sets versus just two for do most of it? Bikes.  [00:17:32] Randall: So my thinking is the first wheel set is probably a wide 700 that can take everything from road to gravel tires and then a even wider six 50, that's more focused on gravel and adventure riding. And then an even wider two Niner that would be your mountain bike setup now, then. Then, that's getting into two bikes. So you have two bikes, three wheel sets between them. If you're just with one bike for everything, then if you're racing or if you're constantly switching between very focused road experience to a fast, hard packed gravel experience to a rugged. Bike packing adventure sort of experience, then it would make sense to maybe have two, seven hundreds and 1 6 50 B. It really would be another 700 slotting in the middle. There.  [00:18:22] Craig: Yeah, for me, it's really around. Tire selection on those wheel sets and yes, it would be a luxury and a full disclosure. I do have three wheel sets in the garage and I'm splitting hairs literally. It's because I'm too lazy to change the tire. And I have the luxury of having the third wheel so that so I've got my sort of NABI. Fairly narrow 700 C off-road sat that will only take me a limited amount of places from where I live. I've got my one that I spend most of my time on which presently is six 50 by 43. And then I've got a 700 with a 30 road tire on it. [00:18:59] And it's more like Totally when I only had two wheel sets, it was all good. Just choose between road and mountain and don't worry too much about it.  [00:19:07] Randall: I don't even have three wheels. That's Craig. Bravo.  [00:19:10] Craig: Next question comes from Craig. Oh I'm curious on the difference between six 50 B and 700 C and confused about boosts standards, wheels, hubs, rotors and whether it's worth the investment to pursue or just stick with my current wheels. Ideally, I was interested in putting faster, thinner type tires on my 700 C wheels that came with the bike.  [00:19:29] For all their road rides and a second set of six 50 B fatter grippier types for off-road fun. I think we've talked a lot about six 50 B versus 700 C on other podcasts and also on this podcast today. But I was interested in this question around standards, as someone who has a mountain bike, I was aware of boosts standards.  [00:19:50] What is going on with that with respect to gravel bikes and do we see a path towards a boost standard for gravel bikes or are there specific design considerations that make that not likely. [00:20:03] Randall: So we have one it's called road boost and it seems to have been driven by the emergence of e-bikes as a major category. And what boost does is it increases the spacing upfront 10 millimeters in the back. I believe by six. And it allows the flanges and the hub to be space more widely apart, so that you have more of a bracing angle and more lateral strength. So the same amount of spokes gives you greater lateral stiffness and strength. So that's the benefit now, does it matter for, gravel bikes of, running up to say like a 2.2 tire or even a 2.4 without suspension. It's pretty minor gains.  [00:20:46] I do think that we're going to see a transition towards road boost, which is a one 12 by one 10 upfront and a 12 by 1 48 in the rear. There's, trade-offs one of them being a well for pure road bikes. It's going to be trivially, less Aero, there's always the arrow marketing story . And then two in the back to you end up potentially having to increase the Q factor. Of the cranks. So most people actually benefit from more Q factor than the super narrow ones that used to be common on road bikes so it's not really a problem for most riders, but it's just like another design constraint. There's trade-offs is, are you have to fit a lot of things in a tight package and that's the issue, but it's out there, you see a couple bikes with it. Especially E road bikes and gravel bikes. And I think over time, you'll see that transition, but don't consider it an upgrade that you need to swap your bike to get. It's not mean it's not a meaningful thing in that regard, and you can get most of the benefits by just doing asymmetric rims, which, that's why we and others do asymmetric rims to downs the spoke tensions and angles. [00:21:49] Craig: Gotcha. I'm going to slip a personal question in that I'd put in the forum. How often should I grease the threads of my through axles if I change wheels frequently?  [00:21:58] Randall: Often enough so that there's always grease on them and no dirt. And if you have any where on the threads you should be doing it more often and use a FIC. FIC Greece. But if you get any dirt in there, like if you drop your through axle or something like that, now you have basically a grinding compound. In the threads. So you want to clean that up. But yeah, that, as with any interface, it will wear over time. So Greece is your way of allowing that interface to last longer than the bike.  [00:22:26] Craig: Yeah, great. We've got a question from Alex, from Tifton, Georgia. What's happening in the gravel scene to involve youth.  [00:22:33] Randall: You seem to be taking out junior. Fairly often on whatever kids bike with whatever tires it's got on there. I think that counts. [00:22:41] Craig: Yeah, I just want to expose my son to riding off road. And so he's still on a 20 inch wheel bike, but I've put some monster, like two, one tires that I found on it's like a monster truck for him, which I think he enjoys. I think it's the key to bring the youth through mountain biking and discover gravel versus prematurely introducing drop our bikes.  [00:23:06] Randall: Yeah. I'm of the same mind. I've a niece that I take riding in the same way and it's just like she has a 20 inch wheels kid's bike. And I just take her out on the dirt and get her comfortable riding on those surfaces and pushing her comfort zone to try new things. But then also just instilling this deep love of the adventure experience, which for me what we're calling gravel is really all about. It's like going and exploring the area where you live from an entirely different angle than you would get in a car or on foot.  [00:23:36] Craig: Yeah. Agreed.  [00:23:37] Randall: And then of course NICA. We have some coaches in the listenership. Then the new England youth cycling association, actually Patrick in Lee likes bikes are doing a skills clinic with them in October.  [00:23:48] So you have that. And then urban off-road bike parks. Lotta our kids in the city don't have access to trails. And so just providing that access, I think is critical. And there's an example of a McLaren bike park in San Francisco. It's in a part of the city that is pretty far from the bridge and pretty far from the Santa Cruz mountains. And so this would be it, and there is plans potentially to expand that. And building more urban bike parks I think is a big part of that as well.  [00:24:20] Craig: Yeah, for sure. And you bring a huge skill gain to gravel if you come from the mountain bike side. [00:24:27] Randall: Yeah. Yeah. And starting with a hard tail or even a rigid flat bar bike is a great way to go.  [00:24:33] Craig: A hundred percent. Next question comes from Alex in Columbia, Missouri. And it's a question about frame design. With the growing market of gravel. Where, when does the Aero slash race versus endurance market become two separate markets? Also how far do you think it'll go narrower tubing, et cetera. There seems to be a split already forming with Aero features being added to gravel bikes.  [00:24:57] Randall: I have strong opinions here, so I'm going to let you go first.  [00:25:00] Craig: Yeah. I think the brands are already splitting hairs with these categories as it is. And part of it is positioning vis-a-vis other competitive brands. Part of it is just the designer's vision for what this bike is intended to do. And those lines are blurry and murky and are going to come down to individual brand managers to execute on. So I think it's already a total disaster.  [00:25:27] Randall: I think most Aero claims, especially in gravel are entirely bunk. And it's marketing. And I'll give you an example. So on a road bike, a designer can control almost all of the parameters except for the rider, which ironically is the biggest one more than 80% of the aerodynamic profile, the tire with being a big one, right? So you can have your rim with, and your rim depth matched to the width of the tire. You can have the down tube optimized for that tire to end up really close to the front leading edge of that down tube and the down tube, it can be really narrow. So you have a smooth transition between, rim to tire, to frame in a way that minimizes turbulence. So with a road bike, it's more of a controlled system. And even then the gains are very marginal. And if you look at the. What marketers are usually claiming. If you add up all the Watts that you saved, you'd be traveling at a hundred miles an hour on all the different components you can buy. On gravel, it's worse because you, you have really wide tires. And so you'll have a deep section rim. With a big old tire on it and the tire is much wider than the rim. You're already having detachment of airflow as soon as it comes off that tire. There's a rule which folks can look up the rule of a hundred, 5%, which says that as long as the rim is a hundred, 5%, the width of the tire, then you can generally get good attach flow over the rim, regardless of that rims shape with certain shapes being marginally better. But that one oh 5% rule being more important. But if you have a big old tire on an arrow rim, all that at error rim is doing is adding weights and potentially increasing turbulence, especially in a crosswind where it's going to make it harder to steer. So that's my take on wheels. And then obviously handlebars and all that other stuff very marginal gains, especially given that it's not being designed as a system around the tires and so on.  [00:27:14] Aero helmet and rider position, rider positions the biggest thing that you can do, if you want to improve your. Arrow.  [00:27:20] Craig: Yeah. And I was looking at the question more, less, so about like aerodynamics and more just marketing and bikes in general. And seeing that. There's just a spectrum of bikes that are marketed in different ways. From endurance road bikes, to Aira road bikes, to arrow gravel bikes. I totally agree and understand your comments, and my comments are more just related to the market in general and how there's a plethora of things being directed at consumers and it's ever more confusing to figure it out.  [00:27:50] Fortunately with most quality gravel bikes, you do get this one bike that can do a ton of things. And bikes that you can configure in the way that you ride them. [00:28:02] Randall: Yeah, I think you'll see the incorporation of some functional arrow. There's no reason not to do a tapered head tube or certain other things, but it's such marginal gains. And really, it's hard to build an Aero bike if you're not controlling for the tire volume and given the divergence in tire sizes that these bikes use that's not a really a controllable variable in design.  [00:28:24] Craig: Yeah. So the final question comes from our friend Marcus in Woodside, California. What are your guesses about the big bike tech quantum leap forward coming next, similar in magnitude to.  [00:28:39] to e-bikes and olive green bib shorts.  [00:28:42] Randall: Marcus is a good friend. And I was definitely on trend with the big shorts there. Really, how do you top that? How does the industry come up with the next thing after olive green shorts?  [00:28:51] Craig: Nothing can make a rider faster or look better than all of Deb's shorts.  [00:28:57] Randall: So that's it. Marcus? I think that's the end of innovation in the bike industry. Yeah, this is a space that you know, that I've put a little bit, a bit of thought into. I'm going to let you go first here as well.  [00:29:07] Craig: I think that makes sense, because I agree this is a tailor made Randall question. I do think the continued use of electronic componentry and other electronics that we all use, has to lead to more integration in bicycles, whether it's like battery packs that are embedded in the bikes that can power both my components, my GPS computer, my headlamp, all these things. I feel like it's a natural point, just like we're seeing in every other element of our lives, where battery and power is required. These things start to appear in more innovative ways. So I think that's interesting.  [00:29:46] I think on the e-bike market, we're starting to see more and more of these bikes that not only is the battery removed, but also the engine, the sort of the motor part of the componentry comes out. So you start to get this bike that has assemblance of ability to ride without the component of it and it's not going to match a pure performance bike, but it may, for some people While still having that opportunity to use the e-bike functionality. So I think those are things that trends that we're definitely going to continue to see. And. And some more forward thinking thoughts.  [00:30:21] Randall: Yeah, I agree with that, and I have a little bit more nuance to add but I want to start with the big, low lying fruit, and we started doing this, Basic things like proportional, crank length. I find it nuts that the industry up until recently didn't really make anything smaller than a 1 65 crank and continues to not offer shorter cranks for shorter riders.  [00:30:41] This is one thing that we did, and then you now see FSA has done a good job of having offerings down to, I think 1 45. To accommodate smaller riders and so proportional, crank length. Proportional wheel sizes, I think is a big opportunity. There's no reason why, it's really small riders. Shouldn't have their wheels scaling to some degree. We already have a 26 inch size, so maybe for the biggest higher volume on an extra small bike, you'd run a 26 by 2.2 or something like that. You do need more tire options, but otherwise it would help to make that bike perform more like the bigger ones with a bigger rider on them. So those are two that I would really like to see.  [00:31:18] I'd like to see continued innovation on integrated quick on and off storage solution. So I think lightweight bags and so on are really slick. And I think that we'll continue to see innovation there. You mentioned electronics. I agree. And it's getting ridiculous with the number of batteries you can have on the bike.  [00:31:34] If you have a wireless shifting system, you can have a battery in each hood battery in each front and rear derailleur. You can have sensors on the bike each with separate batteries, a heart rate monitor, or the separate battery two lights with separate batteries, computer. It's silly and it adds a lot of cost and weight and complexity the system. So I think there should be a single battery on the bike and that there should be a universal standard that all components use. I don't think this is going to happen because everyone everyone wants to trap you into their particular walled garden, but that's a conversation for another day.  [00:32:04] But yeah, those are the big ones. And then lastly, self-contained bike systems that leave nearly nothing behind, maybe some sort of lightweight regenerative braking for this one battery. I would like to see. But first things first and then subtler suspension designs, which I think we're already starting to see with more compliance, like flexible components, you.  [00:32:24] Bar handlebar is built with a little bit of flex or a suspension stem versus going whole hog with a full on suspension fork, just to get 30 or 40 millimeters of travel.  [00:32:33] Did I answer your question? Marcus, let us know in the forum. Hope, hope you're satisfied with the answer. And what is the next color of big short. Greg, what do you think.  [00:32:41] Craig: That's putting me on the spot. Maybe like a tan might do something that makes you a little bit nude.  [00:32:47] Randall: Ooh. Yeah, that would be that everybody would be really comfortable seeing that. Yeah, I'm with  [00:32:53] Craig: dangerous territory.  [00:32:54] Randall: we will have various options to match everyone's skin tone. So we all look like we're riding in the nude.  [00:33:02] Trend leader, Craig Dalton.  [00:33:05] Craig: This was a heck of a lot of fun. [00:33:07] And it would not have happened without the community. So big shout out to the ridership community and to everybody who submitted questions. I'd love to see us do this again. So we'll probably set up a channel down the line and put the question out there again and see what's gets generated because it was a lot of fun chatting with you about these questions.  [00:33:25] Randall: Yeah, it's what we do on our rides only we've recorded at this time.  [00:33:29] Craig: Yeah, exactly. That's going to do it for us this week on behalf of Randall and myself, have a great week. And until next time here's to finding some dirt onto your wheels. [00:33:42] 

 The Federal Benefits Open Season starts November 8 this year and goes through December 13. This is the opportunity for our federal employees out there to re-look your benefit choices and explore your options for 2022. During the annual open season, you can enroll in a Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program and the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) plan. You can also change plans, change plan options, you can change enrollment type between self, self plus one, or family coverage, or cancel your enrollment. Do nothing and your current coverage will automatically continue.   You also have choices to make with the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program (FSAFEDS). https://www.fsafeds.com With an HCFSA, you use pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified out-of-pocket health care expenses. The maximum amount you can allot to an HCFSA is $2,750 (per individual) a year and the minimum is $100. You declare your savings amount and set up the allotment during open season and the total amount you elect to save will be available on day one of 2022. Your fund contributions are withdrawn automatically from each paycheck and deposited into your FSA before taxes are deducted. You can only carry over $550 of a the Health Care FSA from one year to the next.With the Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA). You can contribute up to $5,000 a year  to pay for care for your child under age 13.  It also covers care for your spouse or a relative who is incapable of self-care and lives in your home. Dependent Care FSA savings cannot be carried over to the next year at all.  If you do nothing during open season your FSA election will NOT automatically continue. You must reenroll.  A High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)  combines a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), medical coverage and a tax-advantaged way to save for future medical expense.  With an HDHP, you must meet the entire annual deductible before plan benefits are paid for services other than in-network preventive care. Once you hit the  catastrophic limit, the plan pays 100% of the allowable amount. Th insurer will set up an HSA for you and put a set amount of money in it. You can also put contribute to the account with pre tax dollars. Funds deposited in your HSA are not taxed, interest on the HSA grows tax free, and you can withdraw it tax free to pay qualified medical expenses. There are more rules, so be sure to read more on this before making a decision. I'll put a link to a good OPM fact sheet on HSAs in the show notes.  https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/fastfacts/high-deductible-health-plans.pdfDon't assume your plan is staying the same. Review your plan documents every Open Season for changes to  and what new options may be available. Is there are newer plan choices that is a better buy. Read the plan brochures. Some FEHB plans offer basic dental and vision benefits or discount programs. You might be better off in a FEHB plan with some dental benefits than paying a separate FEDVIP premium.If you require extensive medical treatment in the 2022 it may be worth paying higher premiums for a plan that covers more of your claims. If everyone is healthy, consider paying less for a plan with less coverage and putting the extra cash in savings, like an FSA or HSA. OPM has a great online tool you can use to compare the various plans available and their costs for 2022. You can search for the plan options using your location or employee type, and you can review any changes to the plan you already have. https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/compare-plans/

In this episode of “Keen On”, Andrew is joined by Mary Beard, the author of "Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern", to discuss how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, the representation of power for more than 2,000 years. Dame Winifred Mary Beard, DBE, FSA, FBA, FRSL is an English scholar of Ancient Roman civilization. She is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Newnham College, and Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature. She is the classics editor of The Times Literary Supplement, where she also writes a regular blog, "A Don's Life". Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist". Visit our website: https://lithub.com/story-type/keen-on/ Email Andrew: a.keen@me.com Watch the show live on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajkeen Watch the show live on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankeen/ Watch the show live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lithub Watch the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LiteraryHub/videos Subscribe to Andrew's newsletter: https://andrew2ec.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sous quelles conditions un locataire peut-il faire une demande de baisse de loyer et comment doit-il procéder? La réponse de Sarah Perrier, avocate spécialiste FSA en droit du bail, interrogée par Quentin Bohlen.

Tim Baker, YFP Co-founder and YFP Planning Director of Financial Planning, joins Tim Ulbrich to talk about open enrollment and evaluating employer benefits. Tim and Tim dig into: Considerations for choosing a health insurance plan How to determine whether or not your employer-provided life and disability insurance is sufficient (one of the most common questions we get) Understanding the differences between an FSA, Dependent Care FSA, and HSA What to be looking for when putting money into your employer-sponsored retirement plan.  Mentioned on the Show YFP Planning: Financial Planning for Pharmacists Book a free Discovery Call with YFP Planning GoodRx: Get the Exclusive Report on the Current State of the Pharmacy Profession YFP 044: How to Determine Your Life Insurance Needs YFP 045: How to Determine Your Disability Insurance Needs Your Financial Pharmacist YFP 165: The Power of a Health Savings Account Why I'm Not Using My Health Savings Account to Pay for Medical Expenses Ask a YFP CFP© #84: What can I do about the fees on my HSA account? YFP 074: Evaluating Your 401k Plan YFP 208: Why Minimizing Fees On Your Investments Is So Important Your Financial Pharmacist Disclaimer and Disclosures

FSA office staffing amid the president's vaccine mandate and new vaccines against African Swine Fever were among other issues raised at last week's House Ag livestock hearing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A quoi s'expose le locataire qui ne paie plus son loyer? La réponse de Sarah Perrier, avocate spécialiste FSA en droit du bail, interrogée par Quentin Bohlen.

Host Anders Larson, FSA, MAAA, is joined by Shea Parkes FSA, MAAA, to discuss deploying predictive models into production via web APIs. The use of web APIs for delivering predictive models has grown a lot over the last decade. In the fourth episode of this series, we discuss what a web API is, why they are useful, and provide some insurance related examples.

Listen to Victoria Zhang, FSA,FCIA talk about Discussion of Efficient Computational Structure of Nested Stochastic Modeling with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Grain Market Update USDA Program Updates Kansas Agricultural Weather   00:01:00 – Grain Market Update: K-State grain market economist Dan O'Brien reports on the latest local grain bids around Kansas, and the incentive to sell vs. store new crop grain...and he talks about the dramatic surge in fertilizer prices amid concerns about supply availability, and how that may influence planting decisions next spring...during his weekly segment on the grain price trends   00:12:00 – USDA Program Updates: The acting state director of the Farm Service Agency, Chuck Pettijohn, covers several USDA program items, including the ARC-PLC payments on 2020 crop production that are now being distributed to producers...and he talks about how recent federal decisions on pandemic protocols are impacting local FSA offices and the services they provide to producers   00:23:00 – Kansas Agricultural Weather: From the Weather Data Library at Kansas State University, meteorologist Chip Redmond reports on Kansas agricultural weather   Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to ksrenews@ksu.edu. Agriculture Today is a daily program featuring Kansas State University agricultural specialists and other experts examining ag issues facing Kansas and the nation. It is hosted by Eric Atkinson and distributed to radio stations throughout Kansas and as a daily podcast.   K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan.

[2:06] Guest introduction.[3:49] FSA lending.[6:03] Client experience.[9:34] Ag diversification.[12:09] Diversification opportunity.[19:09] Westwind Alliance.[21:27] Transition.[32:15] Success stories.[45:00] Biggest challenges.[48:24] Future plans. Jeff T. Kanger Phone: (402) 858-1253Mail: jkanger@1fsb.comWebsite: www.1fsb.bankWebsite:  www.westwindalliance.com  

Bob Wigley spent his banking career with Morgan Grenfell and Merrill Lynch and was EMEA Chairman of Merrill Lynch between 2003 and 2009. Between 2006 and 2009 he was a member of the Court of the Bank of England. He is a past member of the Takeover Panel, the FSA's Senior Practitioners Panel and was the FSA's nominated representative on the Council of European Securities Regulators Market Consultation Panel. He led a group of industry Chairman and Chief Executives to author a report on the competitiveness of London as a global financial centre “London, Winning in the Decade Ahead” and chaired the Green Investment Bank Commission. Since leaving banking, he has chaired and invested in a number of Fintech companies. Bob was instrumental in the creation of TheCityUK and has been on its advisory board since its formation.

Scott and James discuss how to make sure you aren't leaving free money on the table during open enrollment. Planning Points Discussed Retirement Planning Utilizing Time Efficiently Capital Appreciation Purchasing Power Other issues (IRAs, Inflation, Financial Goals, etc.) Timestamps: 1:30 - Introduction 2:57 - Health Insurance Considerations 6:15 - HSA v. FSA 7:25 - Life Insurance 10:06 - Disability Insurance 11:48 - 401(k) Considerations 14:53 - RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) 16:35 - Tax Strategy 17:15 - Deferred Compensation 18:25 - Estate Planning 22:02- Aligning Your Financial Goals   LET'S CONNECT! James Facebook LinkedIn Website Scott Facebook Twitter Website ENJOY THE SHOW? Don't miss an episode, subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play. Leave us a review on iTunes. Have a money question you want us to answer? Submit one here

Scott and James discuss how to make sure you aren't leaving free money on the table during open enrollment. Planning Points Discussed Retirement Planning Utilizing Time Efficiently Capital Appreciation Purchasing Power Other issues (IRAs, Inflation, Financial Goals, etc.) Timestamps: 1:30 - Introduction 2:57 - Health Insurance Considerations 6:15 - HSA v. FSA 7:25 - Life Insurance 10:06 - Disability Insurance 11:48 - 401(k) Considerations 14:53 - RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) 16:35 - Tax Strategy 17:15 - Deferred Compensation 18:25 - Estate Planning 22:02- Aligning Your Financial Goals   LET'S CONNECT! James Facebook LinkedIn Website Scott Facebook Twitter Website ENJOY THE SHOW? Don't miss an episode, subscribe via iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play. Leave us a review on iTunes. Have a money question you want us to answer? Submit one here

Listen to Sara Goldberg, FSA, MAAA and Didier Serre, FSA from the  Catastrophe & Climate Program steering committee discuss the program launch with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. We welcome your questions or comments at  researchinsights@soa.org

Just some quick takes on the news as Dennis needed to find a few minutes between back-to-back-to-back meetings today.   NASFAA released their 2022-2023 Tax Transcript Decoder. NASFAA article about some FSA updates. NASFAA put out the call for those who want to join them on the Off The Cuff podcast. FSA update on extended deadlines for R2T4 indicator posting. FSA releasing info on official loan cohort default rates. Money magazine article on the October 1st launch of the 2022-2023 FAFSA. CASFAA's training calendar for the month of October. Find out more about CCCSFAAA at cccsfaaa.org.  Have feedback for Dennis and Dana?  Got a topic you want us to discuss?  Email us at wbcccsfaaa@gmail.com.   "What's Brewing, CCCSFAAA?" is a Studio 1051 production.  Studio 1051 is a creative collaboration of Dennis Schroeder and Dana Yarbrough.

La régie a-t-elle le droit d'augmenter le loyer lors d'un changement de locataire? La réponse de Sarah Perrier, avocate spécialiste FSA en droit du bail, interrogée par Quentin Bohlen.

table td.shrink { white-space:nowrap } New hosts Welcome to our new hosts: CoGo, BlacKernel. Last Month's Shows Id Day Date Title Host 3413 Wed 2021-09-01 Bash snippet - using coproc with SQLite Dave Morriss 3414 Thu 2021-09-02 Critical Thinking may make You Critical of the Covid Crisis CoGo 3415 Fri 2021-09-03 Hacking Stories with Reacted: part 3 operat0r 3416 Mon 2021-09-06 HPR Community News for August 2021 HPR Volunteers 3417 Tue 2021-09-07 Ceph cluster hardware Daniel Persson 3418 Wed 2021-09-08 My gEeeky Experiment - Part 2 Claudio Miranda 3419 Thu 2021-09-09 Linux Inlaws S01E38: Tiny kernels monochromec 3420 Fri 2021-09-10 Normal Layer Modes: Erase, Merge, and Split Ahuka 3421 Mon 2021-09-13 BlacKernel's Journey Into Technology: Episode 1 BlacKernel 3422 Tue 2021-09-14 Update about Phones and Devices JWP 3423 Wed 2021-09-15 "upg.sh" my "dump.txt" to "note.md" Some Guy On The Internet 3424 Thu 2021-09-16 Infosec Podcasts Part 6 - Infosec Leadership Trey 3425 Fri 2021-09-17 Hacking Stories with Reacted: part 4 operat0r 3426 Mon 2021-09-20 Rust 101: Episode 0 - What in Tarnishing? BlacKernel 3427 Tue 2021-09-21 Ranger for the Win! b-yeezi 3428 Wed 2021-09-22 Bad disk rescue Andrew Conway 3429 Thu 2021-09-23 Linux Inlaws S01E39: Ubuntu and the Community monochromec 3430 Fri 2021-09-24 Booting Ahuka 3431 Mon 2021-09-27 Living in the Terminal BlacKernel 3432 Tue 2021-09-28 Reading a license: Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International clacke 3433 Wed 2021-09-29 A Squirrels thoughts about RMS Zen_Floater2 3434 Thu 2021-09-30 From 0 to K8s in 30 minutes klaatu Comments this month These are comments which have been made during the past month, either to shows released during the month or to past shows. There are 27 comments in total. Past shows There are 2 comments on 2 previous shows: hpr3297 (2021-03-23) "Nextcloud Application Updating" by ToeJet. Comment 2: Ken Fallon on 2021-09-21: "+1" hpr3377 (2021-07-13) "Chromebook support and more" by Zen_Floater2. Comment 3: FSA on 2021-09-30: "Sound Quality Trolling?" This month's shows There are 25 comments on 13 of this month's shows: hpr3413 (2021-09-01) "Bash snippet - using coproc with SQLite" by Dave Morriss. Comment 1: b-yeezi on 2021-09-01: "New tool for my toolbox"Comment 2: Trey on 2021-09-02: "Excellent detail!"Comment 3: Dave Morriss on 2021-09-02: "Re: New tool for my toolbox"Comment 4: Dave Morriss on 2021-09-02: "Re: Excellent detail!" hpr3414 (2021-09-02) "Critical Thinking may make You Critical of the Covid Crisis" by CoGo. Comment 1: Trey on 2021-09-02: "Controversial topic... Love it!"Comment 2: drad on 2021-09-03: "Great Episode!"Comment 3: Barbara Ann Walko on 2021-09-09: "hpr3414"Comment 4: Joel on 2021-09-09: "Excellent analysis!" hpr3415 (2021-09-03) "Hacking Stories with Reacted: part 3" by operat0r. Comment 1: Willingness on 2021-09-04: "Awesome" hpr3416 (2021-09-06) "HPR Community News for August 2021" by HPR Volunteers. Comment 1: Kevin O'Brien on 2021-09-07: "My former profession" hpr3417 (2021-09-07) "Ceph cluster hardware" by Daniel Persson. Comment 1: Michael on 2021-09-08: "Why Ceph?" hpr3420 (2021-09-10) "Normal Layer Modes: Erase, Merge, and Split" by Ahuka. Comment 1: mu.rupeshkumar@gmail,com on 2021-09-12: "can't hear in Mobile"Comment 2: Ken Fallon on 2021-09-13: "Fixed" hpr3421 (2021-09-13) "BlacKernel's Journey Into Technology: Episode 1" by BlacKernel. Comment 1: Trey on 2021-09-13: "Welcome & thanks for sharing!" hpr3423 (2021-09-15) ""upg.sh" my "dump.txt" to "note.md"" by Some Guy On The Internet. Comment 1: Trey on 2021-09-15: "Great work" hpr3426 (2021-09-20) "Rust 101: Episode 0 - What in Tarnishing?" by BlacKernel. Comment 1: Trey on 2021-09-20: "Thank you."Comment 2: Hipstre on 2021-09-20: "Rust 101, Episode 0" hpr3427 (2021-09-21) "Ranger for the Win!" by b-yeezi. Comment 1: jrullo on 2021-09-22: "Vim lover" hpr3429 (2021-09-23) "Linux Inlaws S01E39: Ubuntu and the Community" by monochromec. Comment 1: Clinton Roy on 2021-09-23: "Just the usual complaint" hpr3430 (2021-09-24) "Booting" by Ahuka. Comment 1: Trey on 2021-09-24: "Trip down memory lane..."Comment 2: Kevin O'Brien on 2021-09-24: "You are most welcome" hpr3431 (2021-09-27) "Living in the Terminal" by BlacKernel. Comment 1: Operat0r on 2021-09-27: "Kids these days!"Comment 2: b-yeezi on 2021-09-28: "+1 for cnus"Comment 3: sesamemucho on 2021-09-29: "The text"Comment 4: Dave Morriss on 2021-09-29: "Very enjoyable" Mailing List discussions Policy decisions surrounding HPR are taken by the community as a whole. This discussion takes place on the Mail List which is open to all HPR listeners and contributors. The discussions are open and available on the HPR server under Mailman. The threaded discussions this month can be found here: http://hackerpublicradio.org/pipermail/hpr_hackerpublicradio.org/2021-September/thread.html Events Calendar With the kind permission of LWN.net we are linking to The LWN.net Community Calendar. Quoting the site: This is the LWN.net community event calendar, where we track events of interest to people using and developing Linux and free software. Clicking on individual events will take you to the appropriate web page. Any other business Older HPR shows on archive.org This month 5 additional shows in the range 1-870 have been uploaded. Since we don't want to upload shows without summaries or tags the old shows and tag and summary projects are now tied together. So we will be all the more welcoming of tag and summary updates submitted as described on the summary page. Tags and Summaries Thanks to the following contributors for sending in updates in the past month: Archer72, Rho`n Over the period tags and/or summaries have been added to 76 shows which were without them. There are currently 38 shows which need a summary and/or tags. If you would like to contribute to the tag/summary project visit the summary page at https://hackerpublicradio.org/report_missing_tags.php and follow the instructions there.

September 30, 2021 ~ The Michigan Medicine Internal Medicine Doctor talks to Paul about HSA and FSA accounts and he says now is the time to set one up for next year because they provide tax savings.

Solo show by Dennis, with a lot of news:   Two Ops Memos from CSAC (#31, #32). SB 169 passed! LA Times article on student debt relief fraud. NASFAA article on FSA being understaffed. FSA posted Volume 6 of the 2021-2022 Handbook. NASFAA article on outcome-based funding for community colleges. Inside Higher Ed article on the costs of "free community colleges" for the states. Inside Higher Ed article on podcasting for academe.   Find out more about CCCSFAAA at cccsfaaa.org.  Have feedback for Dennis and Dana?  Got a topic you want us to discuss?  Email us at wbcccsfaaa@gmail.com.   "What's Brewing, CCCSFAAA?" is a Studio 1051 production.  Studio 1051 is a creative collaboration of Dennis Schroeder and Dana Yarbrough.

Listen to Gregory G. Fann, FSA, FCA, MAAA, Consulting Actuary at Axene Health Partners, LLC discuss “Uninsured Rate” Measurements and Health Policy Considerations with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Dennis did a solo news show today during his lunchtime covering: NASFAA's updated Data Sharing Decision Tree. NASFAA article about how enrollment management algorithms could worsen the higher ed crises. FSA electronic announcement regarding supplemental Campus-Based awards. CASFAA announces their fall virtual Mini-Conference on October 14th. NASFAA webinar on SAP and R2T4. NASFAA article on higher education's financial challenges. LAist article on going to college in California.   Find out more about CCCSFAAA at cccsfaaa.org.  Have feedback for Dennis and Dana?  Got a topic you want us to discuss?  Email us at wbcccsfaaa@gmail.com.   "What's Brewing, CCCSFAAA?" is a Studio 1051 production.  Studio 1051 is a creative collaboration of Dennis Schroeder and Dana Yarbrough.

Listen to Steve Siegel, ASA, MAAA, SOA Research Institute Senior Practice Research Actuary discuss the Aging and Retirement Issues for People of Different Races and Ethnicities – Essay Collection  with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Research Institute Managing Director. The Society of Actuaries' Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program in collaboration with the International Association of Black Actuaries (IABA) and the Organization of Latino Actuaries (OLA)  released this collection of essays in response to a call for essays aimed to explore how differences in wealth and retirement outcomes are experienced by people of different races and ethnicities and to promote a better understanding of the underlying issues surrounding the differences. We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Orlando Sentinel Now afternoon update for Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. Florida to end high-stakes FSA exams, replace with progress monitoring, DeSantis says (:38) Dr. Phillips Center to require negative COVID-19 tests or vaccination proof (3:54) Frivolous lawsuit? To this Florida court, that might depend on your politics | Editorial (7:52)

This week on the podcast we tackle Gravel Bike Fit 101. Randall interviews Coach and Fitter Patrick Carey about the fundamentals of fit with key takeaways for every rider.  Patrick / Speed Science Coaching Website  The Ridership Support the podcast Automated Transcription (please excuse the typos): BikeFit 101 with Coach Patrick Carey [00:00:00] Randall: Hello and welcome to the gravel ride podcast. I'm Randall Jacobs, and today I'm joined by Patrick Carey. Patrick was on the pod with us in February of 2021. Craig and him had a conversation about the five skills every gravel cyclist needs to master.  [00:00:17] Patrick wears a few different hats. He is the founder of speed science coaching. He does full-time training for cyclists and endurance athletes. He's a skills coach with Lee Likes Bikes and Ride Logic, and he travels all over the country, teaching bike skills. He is an SICI. I train bike fitter and their approach is very much integrating some of the thinking from the medical and physical therapy fields into bike fitting. And in a previous lifetime, he was a mechanical engineer, so he really understands how mechanical systems work, including, biomechanics. [00:00:45] Before we get started. I'd like to remind you that if you'd like to support the podcast, there are a few different ways you can do so. Firstly, you can go to buymeacoffee.com/thegravelride and make a donation or become a recurring supporter. [00:00:58] All proceeds, go directly to Craig and offset his costs in producing the pod. Secondly, you can join The Ridership and contribute to the conversations that are happening there.  [00:01:06] And lastly, if you'd like to support the work that I do, thesis currently has a limited number of build kits for complete bikes for delivery this fall. If you're a friend you're interested now, it'd be a great time to schedule a consult so we can work together to create the perfect spec for your unique fit, fitness and terrain.  [00:01:21] And with that, Patrick, welcome back to the podcast.  [00:01:24] Patrick: Hey, thank you. I'm so happy to be back. This is going to be a lot of fun. [00:01:27] Randall: Yeah, this is a conversation I've been wanting to have with you for quite some time. So let's just dive right in. How do we even define a good bike fit?  [00:01:34] Patrick: I think that's a great place to start. My take is that every good bike fit starts with the bike fitting the rider, not the other way around. And unfortunately, oftentimes what happens is people are shoehorned onto their bikes and that's really the opposite of what we want to happen.  [00:01:50] We want to set every bike up for each rider so that the rider just naturally falls into position on the bike. There's no pain points. You're not running into impingements and you're also not contorting yourself in any way you're not overreaching. You're not bending your wrist some awkward way, and in that same idea, if something hurts when you ride your bike, it's not right. Don't ever let someone tell you "oh, that's just how riding a bike is. It's supposed to be a little uncomfortable". No, it's supposed to be joyful and it's supposed to be wonderful. And when you get your bike set up correctly for you, it can be that.  [00:02:25] Randall: This is very much aligned with what I often talk about. We're not creating a bicycle. We're creating a cyborg. And the interface between the animal and the machine is how you achieve that. Let's dive in even further. So different approaches to fit.  [00:02:37] Patrick: Probably what most people have been used to it's the throw a leg over it approach.  [00:02:41] You literally stand over the bike. If you can clear the top tube, that's probably a good place. And then, when you throw the word fit in there usually what ends up happening is, you eyeball the saddle height, the stem maybe, gets flipped. It probably does not get changed. And then also, a lot of that is relying on fit charts, right? So bike companies put out the fit charts that says if you're five, seven, you should be on this size bike. If you're five, 10, you should be on the size bike. And I personally believe that very often, unfortunately, results in people being on the wrong sized bike. Typically a bike that's too big.  [00:03:17] Which means that they are overreaching on that bike and you ended up chasing the front end of the bike. So the front end become somewhat fixed in space and you can always shorten the stem so much. So then that rider ends up being shoved way, way forward on the bike. And yeah, bikes are meant to create enjoyment. This takes away from it. [00:03:35] Randall: And when you go with too short of a stem. It does take some of the mass off the front axle. So for say high-speed canyon carving that front end is not gonna feel as planted. Works fine. Say for gravel. But in a road application, it can really make the bike feel vague upfront. So it's this handling issue as well.  [00:03:53] Patrick: It can work okay for gravel, I think one of the beauties of gravel bikes is their versatility. [00:03:58] For me personally, I have a couple of dedicated cyclocross race bikes, mostly because they're the ones that I blast with a pressure washer after every race. But my gravel bike has become my only other drop bar bike. I have wheel sets that I switch around so that I have a set of road tires a set of gravel tires.  [00:04:14] But that bike has amazing versatility. And so what you don't want to do is compromise the handling to a point where, okay, it feels good when you're sitting up going slow on a dirt road, but then boy, it feels nervous at speed, down that same dirt road or on pavement.  [00:04:28] Randall: Yeah. Let's keep going with this. So we have the throw the leg over it approach. What would be a better approach? Let's go soup throw nuts starting with a new machine. [00:04:36] Patrick: Okay. So if we call the throw leg over the approach the worst case scenario, the best case scenario as a coach and fitter would be to work with someone before they ever buy a bike. So work with the athlete and figure out first what they want to do with the bike. What their ideal setup would be, but then look at their body completely separate to the bike.  [00:04:55] First thing we would do is a functional movement screening. And this is something I do for any bike fit, where I'm actually looking at people's ranges of motion. I'm looking at any impingements they have. We're looking at their specific body proportions. [00:05:09] There's a great book called Bike Fit by a guy named Phil Burt, and he worked for many years with Team Great Britain, which is a pretty dominant force in the cycling world, and he starts the book off right away by saying that if you look at just average proportions and you define things off of average proportions, you're only catching about one third of the population you're catching the middle of the bell curve. So you're right away missing two thirds of the population. Okay. If you take that then into bike fit, if you just look at, say someone's height, that doesn't take into account their arm length that doesn't take into account their inseam versus their torso length.  [00:05:47] So that's really important to factor in any kind of bike fit and the beauty. When we're talking about this approach is that we can really factor that in because the next thing I would do after that functional movement screening is I would put someone on a fit cycle, which barely looks like a bike. Other than that, it has crank seat and handlebars, but it allows you to move those points in space in the X- Y axis, and that way you can adjust and find someone's ideal position, right? The position where they just fall right onto it. They're able to comfortably generate power. They're able to ride in that position for a really long time. And then we take that position. And we can now compare those points in space against actual bikes and come up with a list of bikes that fit them. So someone might come to me and say, I'm looking at these three different bikes, right?  [00:06:37] Either, they tick the boxes. I like the idea of them or they're available right in this day and age. And so then we can say, okay, this is the size for that particular bike. This is the size for that particular bike. And it's quite often they're not the same size, right? Because that sizing, as we will talk about a minute, that sizing is oftentimes misleading, meaningless, right? Doesn't refer to real measurements. So we're able to go by actual, stack, reach measurements like that. And then, depending on what someone wants to do, we can come up with a complete custom build all the way to their custom crank length bar with, everything, or they can buy a bike off the shelf and, we can say, okay, this is going to get us the closest possible, and then we're going to change the stem and that's going to get us there. Or maybe, for some particular proportion that you have, you really do need to change the bars or something like that. But that really would be best case scenario because now you're totally eliminating the risk of someone ending up on the wrong size bike from the start.  [00:07:41] Randall: Yeah. And fit cycles the most advanced ones, have quite a few degrees of freedom in terms of what you can adjust. Everything from crank length and Q factor and stance. And you can adjust all these variables in real time, as you're seeing the rider pedal and that ability to calibrate the machine to the rider and see the rider in motion is vastly superior to just having, static measurements and trying to graph them onto the bike. It's a good starting point, for sure, especially if you're trying to just select a bike and know if a bike is going to work at all, you could start that way, but going and getting this functional analysis, this analysis in motion is just next level. I can only go so far. For example, when I'm doing a bike consult for one of our bikes and I can get everyone, somebody the right frame size, crank length. Handlebar with and those types of parameters through asking some questions and having them take some measurements, but stem length I can't get for sure, because that's an output of all these other variables that need to be locked in first, the crank length, saddle height, saddle for- aft and so on. And then also I'm not able to see, what you had mentioned about their flexibility and looking at their physiology and then seeing them in motion.  [00:08:50] There really is no substitute for this sort of analysis with somebody with a scientific mindset and a lot of experience seeing lots of riders on bikes.  [00:08:59] Patrick: Absolutely. And this is probably some of the best money you could possibly spend. If you're going to make the investment in a bike. We're talking in the range of two to $300 probably is what a complete, pre- purchase fit like this would cost, and that's going to a professional fitter that has a fit cycle. That's going to spend.  [00:09:19] Upwards of a couple hours with you laying all this out. And then it's also going to be available to you to walk through the process of buying your bike. Because maybe you come up with some ideal setup and then. Ugh that bike's not available. So now you have to go back to the drawing board. That person will help you through that process.  [00:09:34] That is the best money you can spend because even if that represents a significant percentage of what you're going to spend in the total in the end, right? Like maybe you're going to, maybe you're going to spend. $1,500 or $2,000 on a bike. Spend $300 upfront and that bike will fit you better. You will enjoy it more. You will have it forever.  [00:09:54] As opposed to you don't spend that money, make a mistake on something and now it's never what it could have been.,  [00:10:02] And the other extreme of this is the person who spends a lot of money on their gear, gets the Aero wheels, the Aero helmet, and, carbon rail saddle, and all of these things that are really marginal gains at best. [00:10:13] A bike fit, it's not something that you can show off to your friends. It's not something where you can hand the bike off and have people pick it up and be like, Ooh, it's so light. It's so fancy. But it is this animal machine interface and having that just be as dialed as possible unlocks performance in a way that no components can. [00:10:32] Track 2: Absolutely. And I see all the time, I'm always at events, I travel around the country coaching and it's just so often it's actually rare for me to see a person who's bike is totally dialed for them. [00:10:42] I hate to say it, but it is rare. And I oftentimes see people are like, wow, like they would enjoy riding so much more, riding would be so much easier for them. Even if it's as simple as cut that stem length in half. You oftentimes see it, people have their seats slammed as far back in the rails as possible. And it's surprising. Sometimes it just ends up that way and they don't know any better or it came that way from the shop and they didn't know they could change it. And oftentimes you're talking about close to free as far as some of these changes. [00:11:13] Randall: Yeah. And if you have to spend a few bucks to swap a stem or something to get that dialed fit again, some of the best money you can spend.  [00:11:20] So we've talked about two extremes. One is how most people end up on the wrong size bike with the throw the leg over it approach the other is this really ground up clean slate sort of approach. But what if you already have a bike, how do we make that bike fit better?  [00:11:33] Track 2: Yes. And to be fair, this is probably 80 to 90% of the people that I work with as a fitter. And and this is also probably 90 plus percent of people out riding in the world. We're talking about, if you have a bike that is close to the right size for you, right? Maybe you could have split hairs and said that you should have a slightly smaller, slightly bigger bike, but this is how I work on a regular basis with riders as they come to me for this. We would confirm that bike is a close starting point. And I always use reach as that cornerstone. And reach in the sense of the stack and reach those two measurements to define where the top of your head tube is. That's the thing on a bike you can change the least, reach then affects where your front end is. And yes, you can absolutely can and should change stem length and amount of spacers above or below, or flip the stem, but. Compared to say saddle height, where you can telescope that seat post up and down a tremendous amount, reach actually is the least adjustable thing on the bike, your front end. So we would always start there.  [00:12:37] Randall: And how's reach measured. We should probably talk about that.  [00:12:39] Track 2: Oh, yeah. Thank you. So reach, if you were to take your bottom bracket, which is the spindle that your crank spin on, and if you draw a line vertically up from that, It would be a measurement from that line horizontally to the center of your top tube. And usually that oftentimes includes the headset cap as well. And then stack is if you measure up, it's where those meet. So it's how high the front end of your bike is above the bottom bracket. So that gives you X, Y coordinates for where your head tube is. That's your starting point.  [00:13:14] Randall: yeah. Center of the crank spindle vertically to the line that intersects with the height of the center of the headset bearing. And there's some other measurements out there that people will talk about virtual head tube. Seat tube. We've already debunked the idea of sizing being universal, but let's talk about that a little bit.  [00:13:30] Track 2: Oh, yes. I'm glad you brought that up.  [00:13:32] Used to be, years ago when we were talking about road and cyclocross right before what we now think of as gravel bikes, road bikes generally speaking had the exact same head angle and the exact same seat angle almost across the board. And you could use quote unquote standard sizing and before that bikes were also what they were called square, meaning the length of the seat tube and the length of the top tube were the same. Some were along the way in the last 20 years that has moved away. A lot of it is that there's no need to have the top tube cranked all the way up. We can get better stand over that way.  [00:14:10] But then bike companies have also been shifting around the angle of the seat tube. And so The horizontal top tube measurement can become a seriously misleading thing. If your seat tube is pressed way forward. It's going to create a shorter, horizontal top to measurement. If it's pushed way back, it'll make it longer.  [00:14:32] To make it even more confusing for riders, unfortunately, companies have clung to putting number sizing on their bikes, right? So they call a bike, a 54.  [00:14:43] Or a 56. And if you look at the actual measurement chart for that bike, or if you take a tape measure to that bike, it's not uncommon that nothing on that bike measures that dimension anymore. They call it virtual sizing. And unfortunately, I'll use myself for example, I'm five, 10, somewhere along the way. Someone told me that someone who's five, 10 belongs on a 56 centimeter bike. So for years and years, I was riding 56.  [00:15:11] And I could not understand why, no matter what I did with adjustments, I had all kinds of neck and shoulder discomfort. I'm talking tingling hands, right? All kinds of tension. And somewhere along the way I went, dammit like all this fit stuff, it's not actually correct. Some of this stuff is definitely outdated. And I got a 54 and lo and behold, it was super easy to get that bike to fit me well,  [00:15:35] So that's an important point for riders too. If someone told you in the past that you're a particular size, don't let that guide your future decisions.  [00:15:45] Randall: And I want to take a second to hit this from a different angle, and then I can cue you up. One of the things I also want to make clear to listeners that a lot of companies still use number sizing. They'll quote things like virtual top tube, or top tube length or seat tube length, all of these parameters can change without changing the reach, or the stack. And the reason why we use reach primarily, and then stack secondarily, is because these variables don't change. Even when you change the seat tube angles such that the seat tube angle is more slacked back, you could always run the saddle further up on the rails or flip the saddle clamp to allow a more forward saddle position and your points in space would be identical. So this is an important point that people really need to understand. All these numbers that are quoted, most of them are entirely irrelevant. reach most important stack is number two and then stand over just to make sure you have enough clearance. And that's really it. And the rest of it is really getting into how the bike will feel and perform and handle given how your points in space are grafted onto it.  [00:16:50] Does that resonate with you?  [00:16:51] Track 2: Absolutely. It does. Absolutely. It does. And one more thing that I see, we're finally moving away from it, but there was a period of time companies were making quote unquote women's geometry bikes. Because again, they were looking and saying if you look at the typical woman's proportions. Long legs, short torso. Longer arms. Okay. But if you look at the cross-section of the population, there are so many people that don't line up into that. And there's plenty of guys that line up into that.  [00:17:20] I think it's very important to not let labels cloud that don't say I'm a female, I must need a women's bike or I'm a guy I must. Luckily companies are actually abandoning a lot of that whole shrink it and pink it idea which I think a lot of people were really misserved by.  [00:17:38] I think that's super important. You are a human being. You are not a man, a woman, a six foot tall person. You're a human being and you have unique proportions that we can address by finding those right points in space. [00:17:50] Randall: Yeah, women's specific was much more of a marketing ploy than anything else.  [00:17:55] Track 2: Yes, that's all it was. And I'd like to say too. Most of it was defined by a bunch of six foot tall dudes, right? I always love when those people absolutely are convinced that they know the experience of a five foot two woman.  [00:18:09] Randall: Hmm.  [00:18:09] Track 2: Okay. Yeah.  [00:18:11] Randall: Yeah, I may have seen some of that behind the scenes.  [00:18:14] Let's continue on. What's next.  [00:18:17] Track 2: Okay. So if we said, okay, we've got the right size bike, we're in the ballpark. Now let's actually come up with a bit of an actionable list of steps. And this first one is probably gonna seem very counterintuitive because it doesn't have a lot to do with the bike. And that would be that your bike fit actually starts with your foot.  [00:18:34] If you think about it, you have five total touch points on the bike, right? Two hands, one, but two feet. Your feet are responsible for all your power transmission. Every time you stand up on the bike, they're bearing all your weight. So if we don't have proper support in the form of the correct shoes, and also support in the shoes, you may have issues that will never be addressed by any other part of the fit process. And on that, if you ever go to a bike fit and they don't look at your feet, they don't look at your shoes, they don't leave your cleat position, they just put you on the bike and start adjusting things, they missed a lot. And that's a question you can ask before you even go to a fit. What's your process. And if they don't talk about this, that should be a red flag.  [00:19:17] So first and foremost, if you were going to buy shoes, go to a shop, go to a brick and mortar shop. Ideally have your feet measured. If you remember the old Brannock device that we all used to get our feet measured as kids with. I still use one as a bike fitter. They make a Euro sizing Brannock devices.  [00:19:36] And that tells you the length of each foot and it tells you the width of each foot. So go to a shop and get the right size shoes. It's so common for me as a fitter to have people come and they've got shoes that are one, two sizes too big. And then they're crushing those shoes down to try and take slop away. It's putting the cleats in the wrong position. And then when I say, how did you arrive at these shoes? They say I bought them online, I tried to match my street shoe size. I bought them online.  [00:20:03] Don't do that. Go to a shop. Buy the shoes from that shop, pay them the money because they had the inventory there. They're providing you that service. [00:20:11] Randall: Yeah. you really need to try on the actual shoe and see if it is a good fit for your foot. The measurements may even work out, but it just doesn't feel right. And that is enough reason not to buy a shoe.  [00:20:22] Track 2: Absolutely. And some brands are higher or lower volume, a wider or narrower lasts. Yes. You want your foot to slide in. And the closure system is there to just do the final snugging. It's not there to. To crush the shoe around your foot.  [00:20:37] Randall: Great.  [00:20:38] Track 2: Yeah. And then just by carbon soles if you're going to ride clipless pedals where carbon soles it's only the lightest riders that can get away with either a carbon plate or a thermoplastic sole. You're talking about putting a lot of power transmission and a lot of force through a pretty small area with that pedal.  [00:20:57] It's just worth it. And they'll last longer. Sometimes the thermoplastic, so we'll be stiff enough to begin with. And then they will start to gain flex over time and over time, it'll feel like you're standing on golf balls. Because we're talking gravel. Some riders like using flat pedals and shoes.  [00:21:12] That works great. Everything we're going to talk about still applies. Use good pedals that have grippy pins. Metal pins and then aware of bike specific shoe, like a five 10 or something like that, because that shoe is actually going to be built in the same idea of transmitting power and supporting your weight. Not to mention, it's going to stick to the pedal. Now you've got these great shoes, right? You've spent real money on them. Don't cheap out here, spend if necessary, spend another, whatever it is, $40, something like that on proper insoles that support your whole foot. If you look at how our feet are made to move, our feet are built not for bike shoes. Feet are built for running, walking. Where you would, your foot would naturally pronate. And I think of that as you would land on the outside of your heel and your foot is going to roll across and your arch is going to flatten as you leave off your big toe.  [00:22:04] That's just normal pronation. That's how our feet are built to move. The problem is on a bike you're in a constrained plane of motion and if your arch collapses, what ends up happening is now your ankle collapses to the inside your knee, collapses to the inside. Sometimes that can translate all the way up to your hips, and a tremendous amount of discomfort that people have is just simply because maybe they have higher arches and they don't have high arch insoles.  [00:22:30] Randall: And just as a sidebar here this is often the source of a lot of pain and repeated stress injuries. So to the meniscus or to the IT bands or what have you. So this is a an issue that I used to have, and I tried everything I could, but there are other parameters of the bike. And finally, I got some custom insoles made and everything aligned. [00:22:50] Track 2: And I bet you've had those insoles forever, too. [00:22:52] Randall: Coming up on 13 years.  [00:22:54] Track 2: There you go. So they probably an expensive investment to begin with, but man, they've changed riding for you over the  [00:22:59] Randall: Yeah, I even run within souls and it makes a world of difference.  [00:23:02] Track 2: Same here. And so just to put a bow on, that if you pull a rider's insoles out and marks individual marks from their toes that means that they're calling inside the shoe to try and create stability. That can be solved with proper insoles. Sometimes people have a verus twist to their forefoot. I think I forget what the percentage is. It's approaching half the population has this. I certainly do. And so I put a very thin angled shim under my forefoot. Inside the shoe between the shoe and the insole. And the goal here between all of that is to create so much support for your foot, that you pushed down through the entire sole of your foot. And there's no arch movement.  [00:23:41] Everything can just move smoothly. You don't want any kind of tension in the foot, the ankle, the knee to try and stabilize that motion.  [00:23:50] Randall: So we've talked about shoes. We've talked about insoles. What's next.  [00:23:53] Track 2: And now the last part of that is how does that connect to the bike. So cleats and pedals. If I had to put money on what I'm going to see when someone comes to me for a fit, it almost always includes that their cleats are slid too far forward. We're typically talking about mountain bike shoes for people riding on gravel, so if you look at the underside of your shoes, there's two sets of threaded holes for whatever reason most people put their cleats in the front set of holes and then they might even be slid forward from there because there is some sliding adjustment. If you want a catch all for the easiest thing to do, put them in the rear set of holes and slide them all the way back.  [00:24:29] They're very few shoes that actually have adjustment ranges that will allow you to put it back further than is comfortable. And you'll know that you're feel like you're peddling behind the ball of your foot. But even in that case, there's no downside to pedaling from a midfoot position.  [00:24:44] But there are a lot of downsides to pedaling with the cleat towards your toes. If you think about it, you don't walk upstairs by putting the tips of your toes on the stairs. Cause that would add all kinds of tension to your calf, just to be able to walk up the stairs. So why do we want to pedal from the front of our foot where we're going to have to tense our calf and our ankle with every single pedal stroke.  [00:25:07] It's amazing oftentimes just by moving someone's cleats you'll they'll have a history of calf cramps. Just go away.  [00:25:15] Randall: Or tendonitis in the Achilles, which was an issue that I had until I made that adjustment all those years ago.  [00:25:21] Track 2: Yup. Absolutely.  [00:25:23] Randall: I'd add in addition, this is really why getting the right size shoe is so critical because if you have a shoe that's too big, you're not going to have sufficient rearward adjustability in that clique in order to get this optimal position.  [00:25:34] Track 2: Absolutely the longer your shoe is the further forward those cleats go and you can't get them back far enough. And then the last part is the pedals themselves. this is this pretty simple, I always recommend people onto an SPD style nothing wrong with the others that are out there. But the reason that I do, if you look at either the Shimano XT or the XTR pedals, and I have no affiliation with them  [00:25:57] They have these two small machined areas on either side of the mechanism on the pedal itself. Those are for the tread of your shoe to sit on. So you actually get a massive amount of contact area. I don't even ride road pedals anymore. Again, I said my gravel bike is my only drop bar bike, but I'll go on 200 kilometer rides with my SPD pedals. Because you're getting such a big bearing surface. It's like you have a big road clean. You're essentially getting the best of both worlds. [00:26:27] Randall: Yeah, I definitely second that the SPD style with a bigger platform to interface with the tread of the shoe is really the way to go. I could see some opportunities to improve on that, but maybe that's something that I explore in the future.  [00:26:40] Track 2: I would love to see that. Okay. So those things aren't going to feel like they're super connected, but if you miss that, you're going to have potentially knees wobbling all over the place. You're going to have all kinds of little problems that you may never be able to chase out otherwise. So let's come up with an actionable list as far as what would that process look like? This is something you can do at home.  [00:27:03] The very first thing to do would be get your rough satellite correct. In my fit studio, I use motion capture software. I use angle measurement device. I do all kinds of things. All of those line up with the heel method where you need to be balanced against a wall or even better on fixed trainer, but the idea is. Be in the saddle and unclip from your pedal. And now push the pedal all the way till it's at its furthest point away from you at the bottom of the stroke and with a totally straight leg, your heel should just be making contact with the pedal. If you're making firm contact your seat's too low, if you can't touch the pedal, your seat's too high.  [00:27:45] And when you get it in that range, what happens is when you bring your foot back to the ball of your foot's on the pedal, you end up with a pretty nice knee bend. So that's a really good starting point. And depending on your flexibility, you can adjust up and down from there, but it's pretty darn easy for anybody to get their saddle correct that way.  [00:28:04] Randall: Yeah. I'd like to add to this that it can be good to say backpedal and make sure one, you don't have any leg length discrepancies, but also that you're not rocking your hips or otherwise reaching While you're doing that one legged check. So backpedaling we'll help you to ensure that you really got that dialed as well as possible given the method being used. There's another way that this can be done that I often use in virtual fits, which would be the 92% of barefoot inseam. Again, this isn't gospel. This is just a starting point for getting the appropriate saddle height.  [00:28:35] But in this case, barefoot against a wall jam, a hardcover book between your legs firmly so it bumps right up against the bottom of your pelvis, make sure it's square and then take that measurement. and 92% of that would be a rough approximate saddle height.  [00:28:48] Track 2: Where would you measure that satellite from, and to when you translated that to the bike? [00:28:52] Randall: So center of the crank spindle, along the seat tube to the top of the saddle. Now as you can see depending on whether the fat saddles more four or more AFT, it's going to change the effective distance to the sit bones, right? So it's not a perfect method. It's no substitute for actually going to a fitter, but it gets us in the ballpark in the same way that the bare foot inseam does and combining these two methods, one can have a nice checking effect on the other.  [00:29:20] Track 2: I totally agree. And then we're going to talk about some things too, that should hopefully help you tune in from that standpoint? As far as okay. If I'm experiencing this, what do I do?  [00:29:29] So the next step, once we've got the rough satellite, we would want to set rough draft. And if you're doing to the measurement that Randall mentioned, you probably want to do this first. So that, that way you're setting to the same point. Years ago. I'm thinking late nineties, early two thousands timeframe, essentially all the leading minds and fitting. Had this idea that we wanted our saddles as far backwards as we could get them so that we would be able to bear all of our weight on the saddle. And this is a case of where they were thinking in terms of physics, not biomechanics.  [00:30:03] That really is outdated. What ends up happening is you're pulling your hips back and you're closing up the angle between your thigh and your torso. Most people don't have phenomenal hip flexibility. And what ends up happening is if you're pushing yourself into the back seat like that, you're closing that angle up and you run out of your active range of motion.  [00:30:26] And you end up now starting to stretch your hips with every pedal stroke. And if you've been behind a rider and maybe you've experienced this yourself, but it's easier to see it on someone else. If you're riding behind someone down the road and you watch their knee come out to the side with every pedal stroke.  [00:30:43] That's their hip angle being too closed up. Now it could either be that their saddles too low, or what I see very often is that their saddle is too far back. [00:30:52] So if we want a good starting point. Start in the middle of the rails. But be mindful too, of how much setback your seat post has. If you have a seat post with, say 15 to 20 millimeters or setback, you may have to set your starting point pushed forward. I'm finding more and more.  [00:31:09] That that most riders are best served with a zero setback seatpost, and when you have that, now the saddle generally falls right in the middle of the rails. Okay, so next step, as you're doing this, don't stress out over your knee- over pedal spindle. One it's pretty darn hard to measure yourself, but two, if you use that as a guiding principle, it will oftentimes push you back too far. And you'll, again, end up with those hip impingement issues. I measure knee over pedal spindle at the end of a bike fit, but I don't drive the fit around it. Whereas years ago you would set everything using that.  [00:31:45] Randall: And using and doing it in a way that actually ended up putting more strain on the front of the knee. Used to be you would take a plumb Bob from the front of that bony protuberance just below the knee cap and wanted that to go directly through the center of the pedal spindle. that puts more strain on the front of the knee. The newer thinking on this, which is something I've adopted long ago. And I use in my remote fits is a slightly higher and more forward saddle position opens up the hip, and that ends up putting more of the center of the joint over the center of the spindle. Not that it has to be perfectly there, but that more forward position ends up seeming biomechanically more sound, more comfortable or efficient.  [00:32:26] Track 2: Absolutely. And it's, and you're just, you're running into these impingements so much less, so it's much easier to get the pedal over the top of the stroke. It's much easier to get into the downstroke, the power stroke. And we want no dead spots in the peddling. And we don't want to be creating them with some of these artifacts of fit.  [00:32:43] And then as far as where your knees are tracking, I mentioned before knees flicking out to the side, that's usually a saddle that's too low or too far back. If your knees are diving to the inside, that's usually Back to support inside your shoes. But don't chase those things with side, decide adjustments on the bike.  [00:33:04] Certainly never use adjustments in your cleats to try and constrain your body into a certain path of motion. And on that same idea. We all have a natural stance. Some people their toes are pointed out when they're just standing. Some people, their toes are pointed in. There's no good, bad, right wrong there.  [00:33:24] Unless you're trying to force yourself out of that natural stance. So don't say okay, I'm naturally a little bit of a pigeon toed, so I'm going to try and crank my cleats or my adjustment to try and straighten that out on the bike. That's the worst thing you can do, because that is how your body was built.  [00:33:41] That's okay. And don't let people say, oh, your heels need to track behind your toes. No, your body needs to track how it naturally does. [00:33:49] Randall: Yeah. And forcing it is really where injuries come into play.  [00:33:53] And so having your cleats dials right into the center of the float for that cleat pedal system is ideal. There should be no restrictions whatsoever in your natural motion is essentially what you're getting at there.  [00:34:06] Track 2: Okay. We've got the saddle in the right spot. So we'll move on to the front end. And this will set the rough handlebar position. And this is the thing it's. It's very difficult to do by feel yourself. It's much easier if you say film it or have someone take pictures or help you eyeball these things.  [00:34:25] What you on the bike? Them standing there. In the terms of our goal for upper body position. No matter how high or low your front end is, we want to get about a 90 degree angle between your upper arm and your torso. Within a gentle bend at the elbows. When you do that, you end up naturally bearing your weight so that your shoulders are being pushed back, your shoulder blades are being pushed together.  [00:34:52] This carries your weight really comfortably. You don't have to have tension. You don't have to to engage muscles, to hold yourself there. One of the most common ways I see people go wrong here. Is that if you're feeling, say discomfort in your hands or your shoulders or your neck, They will shorten up their reach and they will sit themselves up higher. And the idea is we're going to get more weight on the saddle. We're going to get weight off our hands.  [00:35:19] The problem is not weight in your hands. The problem is how you're carrying that weight. And when you close up that angle between the upper arm and the torso, right? When you take that from 90 degrees and you start shrinking that angle. Now if you picture your arms down more close to your sides, when you push up, push your elbow up.  [00:35:39] It's now hunching your shoulders. That's not a comfortable place to be. So what you end up doing is you tense your shoulders and your neck to hold your arms back down. And now try holding that for a couple hours at a time, through bumps and while you're always trying to stabilize a pedal.  [00:35:56] And so it becomes this losing battle. Oh, I still have a sore neck and shoulder, so I'm going to shorten it even more. And then it never goes away. In this case, don't be afraid to go a little longer and certainly don't be afraid to go lower. I very commonly lower riders front ends, especially if they've been playing this game, as far as trying to get away from that pressure. What ends up happening is when you move yourself into that position of carrying your arms, your upper arms at 90 degrees. From the torso, all your weight almost feels like it disappears. And if you were to do the physics free body diagram of it, there's more weight in your hands. There's more weight pushing through your arms, but biomechanically you're carrying it in the way your body was designed to carry it.  [00:36:42] Randall: And that in turn has an impact also on handling.  [00:36:46] Because one, if you're not comfortable, it's hard to handle the bike over a long duration ride. That's one thing. But then too, in terms of the planted ness of the front end, if you're constantly going. More and more upright taking mass off the front end. That can work in a straight line dirt descent, but if you're trying to plant the front end on a high-speed road turn, for example it's exactly the opposite effect that you want. So having your body balanced on the bike, so the bike can dance under you in a way that maintains optimal control is also something that comes into this fit component too.  [00:37:15] Track 2: Absolutely. And if I put on my bike skills, coach hat for a moment one thing that I see very often when riders sit too far upright, or they push themselves into the back seat, they extend their arms completely. And what ends up happening is when your arms are totally straight, you can't really lean the bike very well.  [00:37:33] You end up having to steer instead, and bikes really are not built to be steered. They're built to be leaned. And then the geometry of the bike takes over and does the appropriate amount of steering itself? So by getting a little bit lower and by getting a nice, comfortable, say, 15 degree bend in your arms, and also, then when it's now cornering time, get that little bit lower.  [00:37:57] You now have room to reach and lean the bike, which makes a massive difference in how confident the bike feels. And it will essentially, the way it would manifest itself is if your front wheel is constantly washing out on you, you're steering, not leaning.  [00:38:10] Randall: That's a great pointer. Let's continue here. So what else? What's next from here? [00:38:14] Track 2: Okay. So now when we're still on the bars There is an ideal angle for your handlebars, and there's an ideal angle for your hoods. And there are two independent things, meaning just because your bike came, with the hood set at a certain place, the hoods, meaning the shifter brake levers. Just because they came in a certain place and they're all taped up and beautiful and neatly packaged does not mean that someone was thinking about you when they set that up. Most of the time, those hoods are too far down, they're tip too far forward, and what ends up happening then is you have to cock your wrist downward. So it almost be like you're pointing your thumb downward and you're creating this pressure in your wrist.  [00:38:57] That is not something you want to be doing for hours on end. And when you're on gravel and you're handling bumps like that, man, that is not fun. It can result in a lot of discomfort.  [00:39:07] Randall: Or injury. There's a on the carpal bones at the base of the wrist.  [00:39:10] I've definitely made that mistake and had to rotate things back to, to alleviate it.  [00:39:15] Track 2: Yeah. So the, if you truly don't feel comfortable on taping your bars, you can roll the bars themselves back, but I'm here to tell you don't be scared of bar tape. It's it's very easy. You actually only have to untape as far as the hoses themselves. And then the hoods just have a simple band clamp that holds them in place.  [00:39:34] Bring them up to a point where you can put your hand just naturally falls right onto it.  [00:39:40] Don't want to have to cock it up down. What you'll also find too. It because it's now coming up a little bit more. You will have a far more secure grip on it. All of my drop our bikes, just by coincidence, have the SRAM hydraulic levers. They have a big horn on top, that can feel pretty secure. Most of the time. It feels like a joystick. When you have them tipped up like I'm talking about.  [00:40:02] But on say a Shimano lever that's got a much more subtle horn. When you're going down bumpy stuff, if you feel like your hands are slipping off the front of the hoods, this will make that go away because you'll bring it up to a place where you're actually catching the web of your hand in that.  [00:40:18] Randall: Yeah. And one thing I want to throw out for folks too, is that if you have an existing bike, If you're reaching in order to get your hands into that natural position on the hoods, if you're having to stretch and you find your hands sliding back when you are going in a straight line and relaxing that means your front end is probably too long.  [00:40:35] And so that would be one way to get some anecdotal indication that your stem length is off or some other fit parameter is off.  [00:40:43] Track 2: Yeah. I would absolutely agree with that. And I see that, like I mentioned, most people come to me on bikes that are on the big side for them. And then their hands, their happy place where they're hands naturally fall, was somewhere between 10 and 30 millimeters behind the hoods.  [00:40:59] So you want to adjust where your front end is using the stem. That way the web of your hand every time naturally falls right into the bend of the hood, where you're just naturally locked in there and you're not having to grab the hell out of the bars to have a good purchase on the bike. [00:41:15] Randall: Yeah. And you're not constantly moving your hands back on the bars to, to, get comfortable because the natural position is on those hoods. Cause they're positioned properly. Now. There are some other things that, that people can do to get a more dial fit. And I think especially for smaller riders, one of these things is crank length.  [00:41:32] Track 2: Yes. Yes, absolutely. Our traditional crank lengths. I'll just go out and say, if they're too long for most riders And the only reason that this stuff sticks around is because we have not as a community been asking the industry consistently enough for shorter stuff. that's really what it comes down to. And so people don't know that they should be on shorter cranks. I'll give a personal example. I just went down a three week rabbit hole, trying to find a set of 1 65 millimeter cranks for my mountain bike. Partly, I was trying to gain a little bit of clearance off the ground with it because it has a low bottom bracket, but mostly I was trying to smooth out my pedal stroke. And I'm someone, I'm five, 10. I literally am a professional writer. That's what I do for my living. I ride bikes and and yet I was finding that one 70 fives, even with decent flexibility, they were just too long for me.  [00:42:26] So I finally found one set and bought them. And man, it is like an instant difference. Pedal strokes, moved out, comfort increased. I can spin up faster. It's mind blowing.  [00:42:39] Randall: And I'm going to jump on this this soapbox with you for a moment and just say that. from my perspective crank length is the foundation of fit. Meaning you start with crank length in that circle, you get the foot position dialed, then you get your saddle position, dial and then you get your hands in the right position and that determines frame size and so on. But really that circle that you're spinning in is a key driver and should scale proportionally. Saddle height is a good proxy. So the ratio that we use is a 22%. Ratio of crank length to a properly set saddle height. And that works for the vast majority of people.  [00:43:14] Now some people will be concerned about, oh, I'm losing torque.  [00:43:16] Every five millimeters at that scale is only a 3% difference in torque, but at the same foot speed, your cadence is 3% higher. So you're not really losing power. Torque is not power. Torque is torque. It's a component of power.  [00:43:29] So really this is one of those areas that for riders of our scale, I'm writing one seventies, I think you're writing one 60 fives. It has some benefit. Are you on five 11? You're five, 10.  [00:43:40] But for smaller riders, especially a lot of component brands don't even offer anything below 1 65. So just finding something that is proportional scale, I do find it an entirely different vendor and then push them hard to create a whole new tool, to create a 1 55 length crank so that we could accommodate smaller riders properly. And that's really unfortunate because there's a pretty large market for riders who are, five foot. To five six that are not being taken care of currently by the market.  [00:44:08] Track 2: No. And unfortunately too, if you don't know any better, you just assume that the bike must come with the appropriate size. So in my coaching, I work with a lot of women and I work with a lot of women who happened to be on the petite side, in the five foot to five, four range. And we've had this conversation and they are very frustrated that their bike, an extra small bike is coming with 170 millimeter cranks. And actually, I was just working with one of my athletes this weekend and she was getting low back pain. And she notices that when she rides the pike with one seventies, she gets a low back pain when she rides pike with one sixties. And I'm sorry, not even one 60 fives. So tiny difference note and we have the Fitz dial. It's really just the matter of that, that longer crank really does push out beyond the natural range of motion. [00:44:57] Randall: Yeah. And this plays into gearing. If you're using a one by drive train, and you're concerned about the jumps if you're using a proportional crank, then you're able to spin at a wider range of cadences more comfortably. And so the concerns with jumps go away.  [00:45:09] Also when you're pulling your leg up to go over the top of the pedal stroke you're working against your glutes. And so if your crank links are too long, your glutes are pulling even more against you trying to get your foot over and thus impacting your power over time. So there's a lot of benefits that come from going with proportional and for the vast majority of people. Shorter cranks that I guess I'll step out, step off the soap box. At this point, we can move on to the next  [00:45:34] Track 2: No. What I appreciate though, there is like you put your money where your mouth is there on that. In that you actually did go out and develop short cranks, right? You were not satisfied with what was available. You spent considerable time and effort to go out and develop short cranks. Actually, when I was going down that rabbit hole, I was like, God, I should just put thesis cranks on my mountain bike. And the only reason I didn't was because the spindle would not be long enough to fit a boost mountain bike.  [00:45:58] Randall: Yeah, I believe FSA does a good job here that they recently released some shorter length crank. So if anyone's looking that might be a good place to start. And now hopefully other brands come around on this as well, because it's a place where a significant gains can be had. So what else would we like to wrap up with here in terms of fit considerations?  [00:46:14] Track 2: Yeah. Let's see. It. Even though it does not necessarily determine the geometry of your fit. I think a dropper post actually is a contributor to good fit. Reason being, if you're talking about a gravel bike that you want to be able to handle comfortably, in chunky terrain then.  [00:46:31] You don't want to run a lower saddle height all the time with a fixed post, just to have more comfortable handling. It's much better to have a dropper post that you can then push down to an even better position. But then the rest of the time, spin on an optical satellite.  [00:46:48] Randall: Yeah. I'll often tell folks who are concerned about the weight that you're adding say three quarter of a pound. to be less than half a percent. and you're gaining by having the appropriate saddle height. You're probably gaining more than that half a percent in terms of efficiency and comfort and the sustainability of being in a given position for a long period of time.  [00:47:07] And so it's one of those ways along with certain other, other things, wider rims and so on. Bigger tires were adding weight to your bike can actually improve your speed and your performance.  [00:47:18] Track 2: Unquestionably. Yup. I absolutely agree.  [00:47:21] Randall: How about saddles?  [00:47:22] Track 2: Yeah. Saddle shouldn't hurt, man. And I really mean this to female riders as well, because I think that oftentimes, some dude at a bike shop tells them yeah, it's just how it is. Your saddle hurts. No.  [00:47:36] Unquestionably no. And this is from also a medical standpoint too, and an injury standpoint. If you have discomfort that you are enduring for hours on end, that can lead to tissue damage, that can lead to blood vessel damage. No, to not do that.  [00:47:52] You don't have to spend a fortune on saddles. What you need to do is find one that works for you. And this is again, another place where your local bike shop can really come in handy.  [00:48:03] Saddle right. have demo fleets of saddles where say a company will send them one of every kind of saddle in every width, and you can take that saddle home and ride it for a few days and say, oh, okay. I like this, except it's not wide enough. I like this, except it's not padded enough or whatever those things are. And they can help you tune in so that you're not spending money only to find out that you don't like that.  [00:48:30] Randall: Yeah.  [00:48:30] Track 2: And just, oh my gosh, the seats that come on, a lot of bikes are oftentimes downright horrible. And do not assume that just because your bike came with a certain seat means that seat should be comfortable for you. This is a case of spend a few bucks and you will change your experience drastically. [00:48:48] Randall: Yes. And the other end here is that if you have a saddle that's not comfortable while it may not be the saddle, there's some adjustments. Some tilt adjustment in particular that may need to happen in order feed a, find your sweet spot on that saddle and the right angle and the like.  [00:49:03] Track 2: And those adjustments are really minor.  [00:49:05] When I'm doing fits, I actually use a digital level because you oftentimes can't see how fine the adjustments are required to make a change. I'm usually making about a half a degree change at a time. You cannot see a half a degree. If you're making adjustments by eye, you're probably oftentimes overshooting.  [00:49:23] Randall: Wide nose saddles. The specialized power was one of the first ones there. back  [00:49:42] There's a bunch of different ones out there that are using the same philosophy ours included. And these generally can work for a wide range of riders. And they got their start in the triathlon world where you're in that extreme position for a really long period of time. So comfort is that much more important there, but now you're seeing them adopted, in road, in, in cross and gravel and even in the mountain bike spheres.  [00:50:03] Track 2: Yeah. And to that point, I actually ride the exact same saddle on every one of my bikes. Once I found the right one that really works for me, I then put it on every single bike. And that includes mountain bike cyclocross. Gravel bike. Find the right one for you because it's out there. [00:50:19] Randall: What about someone's considering getting a new handlebar for whatever reason, maybe it's comfort or maybe they want to try a new flare so on how do they determine bar with.  [00:50:26] Track 2: Okay, so this is super common in the gravel world. I think the easiest way to think of it is you want to match your bars to your shoulder width. You can go wider, I would say up to about 20 millimeters. And that would be the measurement at the hoods, that would be your center to center measurement at the hoods. if you want to measure that, what you would do.  [00:50:46] Is put your hand on the outside of your shoulder and you'll feel like you're in soft tissue. And then work your way up, just creep your hand up until you come over and you'll feel all of a sudden, a bony protrusion, you'll feel where your arm goes in. And your shoulder bone comes out. Find that on either side. And have someone else measure that on you. you can't take this measurement by yourself. You want your bars to match that and they can be up to about 20 millimeters wider. [00:51:15] Now I'm sure you've seen all the fashion trends in gravel bars lately.  [00:51:21] But what's your take on that? [00:51:22] Randall: wider bars. Um, but But if you're looking for my philosophy with these bikes is I want a bike that is going to perform well on road.  [00:51:35] And on dirt. And I don't find that I have any handling deficits, even on the most technical dirt that I can tackle with my six 50 by 47 tires and dropper posts, which is some pretty rough terrain. And. What you gain from going wider is that you have more leverage. But if you are shifting your weight down and back over the rear axle and lightening up the front end while you're reducing the torque loads that are being applied through your steering column by the terrain as you're traversing it.  [00:52:05] And so really a dropper posts negates the need to go super wide there. But there were other considerations. Some people just prefer it. That's fine. Wider is better than too narrow is a problem. And then also if you're a bike packing and you want to have a huge bar bag up there that can be another consideration as well.  [00:52:20] Track 2: are coming in with really flared bars.  [00:52:27] I find that oftentimes those lead to more compromises than they than they help. And I'm talking about bars that are 15 to 25 degrees of flare what ends up happening with that? Or in the drops.  [00:52:46] But it's very difficult. And it requires a tremendous amount of iteration to try and get all of the positions on the bars, comfortable with those. And then it also, oftentimes even if you can get it there you're crushing your hands with the brake levers when you squeeze the breaks in the drops.  [00:53:02] My personal take, I'm riding bars that are 10 degree flared which is not insignificant. But I think that's about the the widest flare, you can go to have really natural use of all the positions on your bars. [00:53:14] Randall: Yeah. I'm with you there. All right in closing, anything that we didn't cover today that you want to bring up.  [00:53:19] Track 2: No, I think we went pretty deep. I hope this spurs a lot of thought and some questions in the community. And then, what I'd like to do is keep the conversation going. Let's all get better at this. together. And what's that's a big part of what's so cool about gravel is that, that growth in the community. Do what I say and you'll be happy. This is let's all learn together.  [00:53:45] Randall: Excellent. Can you take a moment, just tell folks where they can find you. [00:53:48] Track 2: I made it super simple recently. It's just coach patrick.bike. And so from there you can find all the different things that I do and and all the social links and you can interact with these super easily through that. [00:54:00] Randall: Yeah, this is the bike fitting. This is the coaching. This is the skills camps. And so on.  [00:54:05] Track 2: Absolutely. [00:54:05] Randall: Also Patrick is a member of the ridership, so if you have questions, you can definitely jump in there and we will have the episode posted in some conversation around that as well. So if you have questions or feedback on some of the things that we covered today would love to have you join us in that conversation. [00:54:18] Patrick, thank you very much for joining me today. It's been a pleasure chatting with you and catching up, and I look forward to seeing you this summer and hopefully revising my personal bike fit using your expertise.  [00:54:30] Track 2: Yeah. I think we're gonna be able to be together in a month or so. I'm really looking forward to that. [00:54:33] All right. My friend. Be well. [00:54:35] Track 2: you very much. Thank you. Thank you. 

There are hundreds of expenses that are eligible for your HSA and FSA funds. And what is eligible may surprise you! We quiz our guests to educate them and educate you on some of the surprise eligible expenses for an HSA and FSA. Check out our complete eligible expense list for HSAs, FSAs, and more.

Priscilla recently wrote in to Ask The Egg Whisperer a question. She had her AMH and FSH levels tested, and she is wondering if they are incorrect. Here's what she had to say, "Back in August, I did a test and my AMH came back at 0.9. My FSH was 15. I'm 34 years old. I have super regular cycles. Is there a chance the test is wrong? And do I have a chance of conceiving naturally?" My short answer is this: There is a chance that the there's some lab variation. I'm not going to necessarily say that it's "wrong," but to know if it was truly accurate for you, I would recommend that you repeat it. I encourage people to track and trend their levels because one test gives you a snapshot of what is happening at just one time.  So don't just rely on one snapshot. I think that's the mistake people make by not understanding their full diagnosis. Without checking your labs more than once, just one FSA, AMH, and Estradiol does not tell you the whole story. Sometimes, people rely one set of results, when the reality is if you checked your hormone levels one more time, you might have picked something up that you would not have picked up if you just relied on that first level. Be sure and check out my TUSHY Method for more info on how to get a diagnosis. To hear the rest of my answer, and the answer to other listener questions, tune in to today's episode. Follow on Apple Podcasts Follow on Spotify   Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more fertility tips! Join Egg Whisperer School Checkout the podcast Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates   Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh is one of America's most well known fertility doctors. Her success rate at baby-making is what gives future parents hope when all hope is lost. She pioneered the TUSHY Method and BALLS Method to decrease your time to pregnancy. Learn more about the TUSHY Method and find a wealth of fertility resources at www.draimee.org.

We dedicate this podcast to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and their families. Listen to host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, Managing Director of the SOA Research Institute discuss perspectives on the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with the following colleagues: Mike Boot, FSA, MAAA, Managing Director, Society of Actuaries   Tonya B. Manning, FSA, MAAA, EA, FCA, US Wealth Practice Leader and Chief Actuary, Buck               Andrew Peterson, FSA, EA, MAAA, FCA, Senior Director of International, Society of Actuaries Ronald Klein, FSA, MAAA, Founder, Obtutus Advisory GmbH We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Listen to the SOA strategic research program managers discuss the SOA 2021 ImpACT Conference with host, R. Dale Hall, FSA, CERA, MAAA, CFA, SOA Managing Director of Research. SOA strategic research program managers featured are as follows: Rob Montgomery, ASA, MAAA, FLMI, Consultant - Research Project Manager, Manager of the Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program Achilles Natsis, FSA, MAAA, FLMI, Health Research Actuary, Manager of the Health Care Cost Trends Strategic Research Program David Schraub, FSA,MAAA,CERA, Senior Practice Research Actuary, Manager of the Actuarial Innovation and Technology Strategic Research Program Steve Siegel, ASA, MAAA, Senior Practice Research Actuary, Manager of the Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program Ronora Stryker, ASA, MAAA, Senior Practice Research Actuary, Manager of the Mortality and Longevity Strategic Research Program We welcome your questions or comments at researchinsights@soa.org.

Ask any American about our health system and they will tell you the same thing. 'It's broken.' The system seems to be rigged against the consumer only to benefit the insurance companies and health care systems.Steve Neeleman has spent years working in this system as a doctor and seen how the system treats people. But his story is much more personal on how the health care system even failed him. In today's episode, Dr. Neeleman gives us a look into how his company 'Health Equity' is helping individuals, families, and businesses to truly invest into their health through HSA, FSA, HRA programs. These programs help every day people to invest into their long term health.Beyond talking about health, we also discuss his family and their entrepreneurial endeavors, building startups, how personal experience sparks ideas, the impacts of health and finance, and much more.Linkshttps://healthequity.comAbout SteveStephen Neeleman is the CEO and founder of HealthEquity (www.healthequity.com), a personal healthcare financial service and health savings account company based in Draper, UT. Dr. Neeleman founded HealthEquity to repair the fractured relationship between patients and their physicians and to help more people obtain quality health insurance by re-introducing consumerism into healthcare.As a board-certified physician, Dr. Neeleman brings to HealthEquity passion and firsthand knowledge for the practice of medicine.Prior to his medical training, Dr. Neeleman worked as general manager for Morris Air (later acquired by Southwest Airlines), in Utah.Dr. Neeleman combined efficiency, technology and excellent customer service to succeed in a rocky industry. This innovative business model allowed Morris Air to rise above financially struggling competitors. Dr. Neeleman's goal is to use this model to help save another struggling industry: American healthcare.In addition to his duties as CEO of HealthEquity, Dr. Neeleman is currently a practicing general and trauma surgeon for Intermountain Healthcare at American Fork Hospital and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Utah. Dr. Neeleman was appointed by Governor Gary Herbert to serve as a board member of HIP Utah, Utah's high-risk insurance pool. He also serves on the Council for Affordable Health Insurance HSA Working Group and on America's Health Insurance Plans' HSA Leadership Council. Dr. Neeleman is a former assistant professor of surgery at the University of Arizona and the co-author of The Complete HSA Guidebook—How to make health savings accounts work for you!Dr. Neeleman completed his undergraduate degree and played football at Utah State University. He attended medical school at the University of Utah and completed his surgical training at the University of Arizona.

In this episode Shaan (@ShaanVP) is joined by Steph Smith (@stephsmithio) for an idea packed episode. They start off talking about opportunities around spending your FSA dollars and on swag packs. They transition to talk about the role of automation at companies and Steph shares how she would go about automating repetitive parts of her role. The end the episode talking about Steph's new course, approaches to building a company, and Fidelity allowing trading accounts for teenagers. --------- * Want Steph's course? You can find it at https://doingtimeright.com * Want to be featured in a future episode? Drop your question/comment/criticism/love here: https://www.mfmpod.com/p/hotline/ * Support the pod by spreading the word, become a referrer here: https://refer.fm/million * Have you joined our private Facebook group yet? Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion and join thousands of other entrepreneurs and founders scheming up ideas. --------- Show notes: * (1:06) Intro * (2:20) Ideas around spending your FSA dollars * (15:58) Ideas around giving out awesome swag * (21:52) The role of chief automation officer * (27:37) Building a company around automation * (35:03) Giving away free alcohol as marketing * (41:22) How Steph invests her time & money * (43:50) Steph's new course - doingtimeright.com * (47:44) Approaches to building a company * (51:39) Fidelity allowing teenagers on the platform * (56:52) How to find Steph online