Podcasts about Gran Fondo

Friday 4/18 Shakeout Ride at 11am with Pas Normal Studios at ⁠Levi's Gran Fondo!⁠*Please leave a 5 Star Review on Apple and/or SpotifyStart strength training today with a 7 day free trial!Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dialedhealth.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

April is Bike Show season, so we discuss the latest and greatest from the Taipei and Sea Otter shows. MVDP dominates Roubaix and is a Gran Fondo's now cooler than a race.

Connect with Gemma through her website: https://www.gemmasampson.comFollow Gemma on Instagram:@drgemmasampsonSea Otter ScheduleFriday:7Am: PAS Coffee Caravan Ride10am: PAS Base Camp Sauna Session12pm: Dialed Fam Meet & Greet At ENVE Booth3pm: Garmin GiveawaySaturday:7Am: PAS Coffee Caravan Ride10am: Gravel Ride With Alexey & Willie1pm: Garmin GiveawayFriday Shakeout ride at 10am with Pas Normal Studios at Levi's Gran Fondo!Gravel Kings PodcastStart strength training today with a 7 day free trial!Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dialedhealth.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Join host Craig Dalton and Trek Travel's Rich Snodsmith as they take you on an exhilarating journey through the heart of gravel cycling in Italy. In this episode of The Gravel Ride podcast, they share their recent experience at the Strade Bianche Gran Fondo trip organized by Trek Travel. With over three decades of friendship, these two avid cyclists reminisce about their chance meeting at the Lugano Cycling World Championships in 1996 and their shared passion for the sport. Throughout the episode, Rich and Craig discuss their incredible adventures, from vintage bikes at L'Eroica and witnessing the Strade Bianche professional bike race, to participating in the challenging 140-kilometer Gran Fondo alongside 7,000 other riders. They also share their encounters with pro cyclists and the camaraderie of the Trek Travel group. If you're looking for an immersive and unforgettable gravel cycling experience, this episode will inspire you to find dirt under your wheels and explore the breathtaking landscapes of Italy. Topics discussed: Introducing the Strade Bianche Gran Fondo trip with Trek Travel  Riding an international Gran Fondo  Experiencing the energy and spectacle of professional bike races  Meeting pro cyclists and gaining insights into the sport  Challenges and rewards of gravel riding in Italy  Stunning scenery, castles, and brick towns on the route  The supportive and well-organized nature of Trek Travel trips  Exciting plans for future cycling adventures Full Transcript: Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:00:03 to 00:00:33 Hello and welcome to the Gravelride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes who are pioneering the sport. I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner to unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show, we welcome Rich Snodsmith from Trek Travel. Rich is one of my oldest cycling friends. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:00:33 to 00:01:00 We met over 30 years ago, actually, in Italy. As you'll hear from our story, Rich and I were recently in Siena in Italy for the Strada Bianchi Gran Fondo trip. With track travel, we were able to watch both the professional bike race as well as participate in a 140 kilometer mass start. Gran Fondo across the white roads, the white gravel roads of Siena. Fantastic trip. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:01:00 to 00:01:10 I can't wait for you to hear more of the details. With that said, let's jump right into the show. Hey, Rich, welcome to the show. Hey, Craig, good to see you. Thanks for having me on. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:01:10 to 00:01:36 Yeah, absolutely. You and I just shared a magical experience on the roads and trails of Italy, which is the purpose of you joining this call. But you, you and I have a rich history, no pun intended, of cycling experiences in Italy. That's right. We met randomly in 1996 at the Lugano Cycling World Championships and have stayed friends ever since. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:01:36 to 00:01:51 Yeah, fortunately I. I eventually moved to San Francisco a few years later. So we were able to ride together, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we were able to ride together for. Gosh, it's hard to believe it's three decades at this point, which is crazy to think about. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:01:51 to 00:02:14 My end of our Lugano story was I was working in Italy and my colleague, who we both know, Jeff Sanchez, said to me, going to go to the World Championships and oh, by the way, we have to go pick up Rich. He's going to be at the Duomo in Milan on the way. Pre cell phones, be there at 5:00. Don't be late. Yeah, exactly. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:02:14 to 00:02:34 So super fun to finally go back to Italy together. Obviously, we've been riding on the roads and trails of Marin county for a long time, but to finally have the stars align on this trip was fantastic. Yeah, it was great to get out there and do that again. We also saw another World Championships together in Richmond, Virginia. That's right, yeah. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:02:34 to 00:02:40 The thing for the World Championships, you've. Seen a few and we've got a future one. I Think in our plans, right? Oh, yeah. Montreal 2026. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:02:40 to 00:02:55 Let's go. There we go. See you there. So this, you put the idea of this trip in my mind probably December of last year. And the trip, to be specific, because I don't think we've mentioned it, although I probably mentioned it in the intro. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:02:55 to 00:03:09 Is the Strada Bianchi professional bike race trip with Trek Travel. Was it me that put it in your mind? I was asking you where you were going to go. I thought you. I thought you convinced me, but I was down as soon as you suggested it. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:03:11 to 00:03:52 It's interesting. Obviously, we're on a gravel cycling podcast and this is sort of a. A hybrid trip almost because we're road riding, but we're riding on the Strada Bianca, the white roads of Tuscany outside Siena. And for those listeners who are fans of both professional road racing and gravel cycling, I think Strada Bianchi is the race that gets us most excited because we see the coverage, we see the professional road riders riding on gravel, and the visuals are just awesome. And they're kind of like what we experience as gravel racers and riders routinely. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:03:52 to 00:04:19 But so cool to see all the pro bike teams go through and participate in the event. So I was super stoked, obviously. I'd been on a Trek Travel gravel tour in Girona a couple years prior, so I'd had that experience with Trek, but this is the first kind of pro bike race enabled tour that I'd ever been on. Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting to blend those things together. I mean, you being more of a gravel rider, me being more of a road rider. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:04:20 to 00:04:59 But the last few trips I've taken with Trek Travel have been gravel trips. You know, getting out there and trying new things, trying the Vermont trip, trying the Dolomites last year, this was just a really cool experience to put like my fandom of the road cycling and racing world along with this, like, almost instant classic. The race has only been around for 20 years and it's like, become a real fan favorite. Yeah, I was, I was looking up some of the history of the race and I didn't realize that it started out with Laroica, which is a. An event that many people have heard about where you ride vintage bikes on this course. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:04:59 to 00:05:18 And the professional bike race emerged. So the loraca started in 1997. In 2007 is when the professional bike race emerged. So it's interesting. And obviously being in that region and riding in that region, we saw signs of Loraka all over the place, right? Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:05:18 to 00:05:38 Yeah, we Even ate at the Laroica Cafe. That was incredible. Yeah, exactly. And I came home with a Loracha sweatshirt as well. And then the, the, the cool thing, and we probably failed to mention it at this point is there's the Gran Fondo the day after, after Strada Bianchi, which was awesome. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:05:38 to 00:05:59 So we actually get to go on a 140 kilometer rides. A ride on the similar roads as the professionals. Yeah, it's not the full men's road course, but it's pretty close to the women's road course and we cover all the last, you know, climbs, you know, that the. Both the men's and the women's race covered. That was really cool. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:05:59 to 00:06:21 Especially after seeing them finish the day before and then going out and riding those roads, seeing where Poga crashed and then, you know, doing that last 20k of climbs is just bananas, beautiful and hard. It was pretty rewarding that ride. I can't wait to get into that details a little bit more of the event later. I did. I'm. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:06:21 to 00:06:46 As I'm speaking, I misspoke because I have been to Europe once before around the Tour of Flanders and did the Tour of Flanders grandson do, which I noted. And in speaking to the Trek travel guides, you've got a series of awesome trips that month in Flanders of a similar vein. Right. You do have Perry Roubaix and. Or a Flanders trip. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:06:46 to 00:06:57 Yeah. You can choose the whole Holy Week, you could do both Flanders and Roubaix or you can break it into chunks and do one or the other. So it's. Yeah. If you're a pro race fan, that's a nice companion to Strat Bianca. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:06:57 to 00:07:10 The. The Flanders Roubaix ultimate weekend or ultimate week there. And then one of the highlights of the year, presumably for Trek travel is your Tour de France tours. For sure. We take over a couple hundred people there every year. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:07:11 to 00:07:19 We do usually do five or six trips through the Alps and the Pyrenees. It's. That's a pretty exciting one too, if you've never been to the Tour. For sure. Yeah. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:07:19 to 00:07:45 Well, let's talk through the trip a little bit that we participated in because I think it'll give people a flavor. I've talked about my, my experience with track in Girona and my general love of gravel travel. But more extensively, I love traveling by bike and having these experiences because it's just, it's just so much fun. So we start off the trip, it's a pretty quick trip relative to some others because in a five day timeline. Right. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:07:45 to 00:08:01 So we flew over. You'd Already been in Europe, but I flew over to Florence and met you the night before. And day one, we basically just get picked up by our guides and head on over to Siena, which is about an hour and a half away. Yep. And then the bikes. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:08:01 to 00:08:21 Yeah, straight onto the bikes. And the beauty of. The beauty of this trip and all the truck travel trips is they've got bikes already set up for you, so you send your measurements and if you want to ride your own saddles or pedals, you can, you're welcome to bring those, but they'll basically get it dialed. And that. That first day, I think we went for maybe an hour and a half shakeout ride just to see how the bike. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:08:21 to 00:08:31 30 miles. Yeah, yeah. And how many people were in our group. We had 19 with us and then three guides. Okay, so is that pretty typical on these pro bike? Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:08:31 to 00:08:46 Sort of. They tend to sell out. They're pretty popular. And guests will go back and forth between the Strada Bianca or. I think quite a few of the guests or folks that were on our trip had done the ultimate Holy Week trip before with Flanders and Roubaix and some had done the tour as well. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:08:46 to 00:09:03 Yeah. It was pretty fascinating talking to some of the men and women on our trip to learn just how many trips they had done with you guys. Yeah, it was neat to like show up and kind of already have the camaraderie of. A lot of the guests on that trip had been with Nick or Viba or Gio on previous trips. So they were. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:09:03 to 00:09:21 There was already sort of a built in fan base there. Yeah. And I suppose it's. I suppose it's the nature of this type of trip, but I felt like everybody in the crew was quite competent on the bike and there were some people who were faster than us, some people slower than us, but everybody was mostly faster. Yeah. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:09:21 to 00:09:25 There's an impressive riders on this trip. It was pretty, pretty great. Yeah. Yeah. And the. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:09:26 to 00:09:45 And the guides were equally impressive both, you know, across the week. Just getting to know them personally, seeing their fitness. A, but B. And more importantly, they're just understanding of all the sectors and the roads that we'd be riding and their, their love of Strada Bianchi. Yeah, the knowledge and passion for the race was definitely evident. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:09:45 to 00:09:57 It was pretty cool. Yeah. So we got a shakeout ride on the Monday or, sorry, on the first day of the trip. Yeah. And then the second day we went a bit longer and kind of got our first real look at some of the. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:09:57 to 00:10:19 The white roads. Yeah, we think it was a 50. It was a nice lead up to the Fondo because it was like a 30 mile day one, a 50 mile on day two, which was pretty challenging. It was, but not like back breaking. And then we went to the race to view the race viewing day, which was like a gentle 30 miles before the Fonda, which was kind of a nice way to structure the week. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:10:19 to 00:10:42 Yeah. When I think when I first looked at that mileage, I'm like, gosh, I'm going all the way to Italy. I just want to ride my ass off. But as, as it came down to it between like travel fatigue, it being earlier in the year, and the punchiness of those climbs we were experiencing on day two, like that was enough in sort of those first couple days. And I felt totally satisfied. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:10:42 to 00:10:56 Yeah, you can put in if you're doing the big options every day. You get 200 miles in, in four days, plus the race viewing. So it's, it's, I think it's a really well designed trip. It's, it is compact. But it's surprising how tired you can be after doing those four days. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:10:56 to 00:11:10 Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. The elevation is pretty. Every day has a nice chunk of elevation gain. Yeah. And I think for, for us, like we don't have a ton of rolling hills around where we live, they said they tend to be more sustained. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:11:10 to 00:11:28 So it definitely felt different to me. I was feeling a little underprepared that, that 50 mile day, thinking, Gosh, we've got to do 90 plus in the Gran Fondo. It's going to be a long day out there. I'm not gonna lie. I don't think I said it during the trip, but I was a little worried after the first two days. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:11:28 to 00:11:39 I was grateful for the race watching like cool down day before the Fondo. It all worked out. But yeah, yeah, yeah. So we should, I mean, we should talk through a little bit. We'll get into race day next. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:11:39 to 00:12:05 But you know, basically every day after the ride, you just leave your bike and the team cleans it, takes care of it, puts it away. You've got really nothing to do but show up and eat and enjoy yourself in Siena. Yeah, take a nap, whatever you need. We, we stayed at a great hotel, the Hotel Athena, just right outside, like in Siena, but just outside the wall. So it was easy to walk like 10 minutes into town. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:12:06 to 00:12:24 Really, really great location. I mean, one of the best things about the Fondo day was waking up to a completely clean, like just power wash, power dried, chain lubed. It was like a brand new bike getting Ready to ride out to the start. It was pretty great. Clean bike is a fast bike, so I appreciate that. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:12:24 to 00:12:40 And shammy time's training time. That's right. But yeah, those guys work their butts off to keep those bikes in great shape every morning when you show up. Yeah, no doubt about that one. Sort of topography. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:12:40 to 00:12:50 Topography note. Siena is up on a hill. Yeah. And you know, that was like warm down. There's no warm down and there's no sort of. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:12:50 to 00:13:08 In the, in the early mornings when we were rolling out, we're going downhill for 5, 10 minutes no matter what. So it was quite cool on the road out in the rollout in March, for sure. We lucked out. We, the guides every day were saying, it's not usually like this. Like it was. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:13:08 to 00:13:18 We had like mid-60s during the day, every day. And it was. Fortunately we saw almost zero rain, which was great. Would have been tough to ride those roads in the mud. A hundred percent. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:13:18 to 00:13:38 And I think it just would have taken away from how much fun we had out on the course on the third day, which is. So we, we did ride maybe 15, 20K out to, I think sector number two on the women's and men's road course. Got to see the women come through, which is a lot of fun. Right, right on one of the. Those gravel roads. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:13:38 to 00:13:49 Cheer them on. We had ridden that road the day before and then we went to a cafe. Totally overwhelmed. This local cafe with 23 people needing locusts. Yeah. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:13:49 to 00:14:07 Yeah. I think ebay went in there and basically said, I will buy your entire rack of baked goods. And he just walked him outside and he's like, get the cappuccino machine going and keep them going until we say stop. Yeah, that was great. It was a nice break between the women's and the men's race. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:14:07 to 00:14:26 It was incredible to see, like the riders go through, but then you just see the apparatus of like all the, the sort of security cars, then all the team cars. And at a certain point, both of our videos, all you can see is dust. When you're on the gravel, when everybody's raging by in the team cars, it's like, there they go. And here come. Here comes the caravan, the follow caravan. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:14:26 to 00:14:40 It's pretty cool when the safety motorcycles come by and sort of just casually brush people a little bit further to the side of the road. Get, get closer to the curb, will you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was interesting. I mean, we didn't. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:14:40 to 00:14:53 We couldn't see much of the run up of the women's race, but there was Seemingly a fracture. Even at the point in which we started watching, I think there might have been a crash before the women's race. Pretty broken up outside of the main pack. Yeah, yeah. So it was cool. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:14:53 to 00:15:21 Yeah, they were going slow enough that you could kind of really see your, your favorite athletes cruise by, which is a lot of fun. And to your point, it is always cool seeing all the support the professional athletes get in the team cars. Yeah, it was interesting to see the breakaway. You know, in the men's race you had like a two or three minute breakaway. To see them go by first and then their car, their follow cars and then seeing the, the whole peloton and like UAE on the front clearly just ready to rip it. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:15:21 to 00:15:43 It was pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we should mention that the, the night before with this trip, we had the opportunity, right, to meet the Lidl track team and we got to go on the, the, the tour bus, as I would call it, the, you know, the big bus that the riders hang out in before and after the race. No photos. Yeah, I was really excited to do some photos. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:15:43 to 00:15:53 Yeah. And they said no photos, no photos. And, and then we saw the, you know, the, the mechanics van with all the bikes. Mobile service course. That was incredible. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:15:53 to 00:16:01 Like. Yeah. How many bikes, wheels, chain, chain sets, tires. It's just like a. Incredible organization to get that all set up. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:16:01 to 00:16:09 Yeah. And then it was cool meeting. We got to meet the women's team and some of the men's team members. Do you remember who we got to talk to? We talked to the whole women's team. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:16:09 to 00:16:28 They all kind of came out. We sort of had dinner that night with them in the hotel. So we got to talk to mostly Ena Tutenberg, the director, Retta Hansen, great domestique. And then Lizzie Danan was pretty, they were pretty engaging, pretty, pretty fun to see them all chatting up and answering questions from our group. And we got to met. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:16:28 to 00:16:39 It was a little bit different with the men. They kind of came and went. But we got to meet the previous year's second place finisher Tom Scoins. That was really interesting to talk to him about his race. I think you talked a bit to Quinn Simmons. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:16:40 to 00:16:53 So we got to meet like a little bit of the whole team there, which was really cool. Yeah, it was cool. And probably not giving away any secrets. Say they, they had a buffet that was separate from our meal. They had scales to weigh their food. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:16:53 to 00:17:10 They were quite a bit more disciplined than our 19 person group. Yeah, that was, I was surprised to see that as well. I was with my back to them. So they're weighing their food, really, as I'm. As I'm shoveling my pescatarian options in. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:17:12 to 00:17:39 Um, so then we going back to race day, we see the men in the same location, then we ride ourselves back to Siena that day. Um, and I think we were able to go back to that. Well, I know we were able to go back to the hotel and then make it into the piazza for the time that the women were going to be finishing, which was awesome. We couldn't have timed it better. Yeah, it was great to get back to the hotel, drop off the bikes, grab a quick shower, and then head over there. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:17:39 to 00:18:06 To watch the last, like, 20k and see him come into the finish line was super, super exciting. It's just such a beautiful, scenic place to finish a bike race. We'll get into. I mentioned that it's up at the top of a hill, so we'll talk about what it's like finishing there, but just you've got this square that's not that big, a great, beautiful clock tower. And the imagery is just stunning. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:18:06 to 00:18:24 When they come around the final corner, there's people up in their apartments cheering them on from around the corner. And then you see a rider emerge or a sprint emerge to a slight downhill to the finish line. It's just an incredible scene. Yeah, it's pretty iconic. Like, if you think about, like, that finish line, compared to. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:18:24 to 00:18:44 You could compare it to, like, the finish in Roubaix on the velodrome or the finish on the Champs Elysees in France. It's a super, super different way to finish a bike race up that steep, the Santa Catarina steep climb into the compos. Just really unique. And we were able to get, I mean, super close to the. To the women's finish. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:18:44 to 00:18:51 Yeah, it was. That was sort of shocking how few people were there. It's sort of a bummer. We were there for the women's race. We're just going to say that now. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:18:51 to 00:19:16 So we were excited to be so close and to see the podium ceremony afterwards. But you got some great shots of Demi Vollering winning. And then we were standing right where they all finish, and they're all kind of, like, bottlenecked into this little corner and their whole team is surrounding them and people are congratulating them, and they all just look destroyed, and you're just like, wow, how can you get this close to such amazing athletes? But it was. It was really, really cool. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:19:16 to 00:19:36 Yeah, super cool. And then so we watched the celebration as they got their trophy and sprayed the champagne. We're almost close enough to get hit with champagne. I feel like that was cool. And then the track team had secured a lunch spot right on the piazza in one of the restaurants with the massive flat screen tv. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:19:36 to 00:20:02 So we were able to roll over there, joined lunch that was already in progress and watch the men's race on TV for a few hours. Yeah, that was like a really cool setup to see the women's finish go stuff our faces and, and keep track of the race while we did it and then be able to run right back outside to see the men finish in the same way. I mean it was pretty remarkable. I think we like getting kind of itchy with about 15, 20k to go. We're like, you ready? Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:20:02 to 00:20:35 Let's get out there, stake out our spot along the finish line. It was awesome. You know, being in North American, we don't always get to watch these events live as they're unfolding. So just sort of feel the energy and watch on the TV obviously that the Tom Pickock Pagachar breakaway was happening and we were all, I think all eyes were on the television at the point where they've got this great shot of Tade ripping around this corner and just hitting the deck. And I didn't think he was going to get up. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:20:35 to 00:20:47 I don't know about you. It looked, and the first time I saw it, it looked like he really wailed his head and he rolled far into the grass. Got catapulted into the grass. Yeah, yeah. I was absolutely shocked he was able to get up. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:20:47 to 00:21:22 And then it was nice to see Tom Pickock do the gentlemanly thing and you know, he, yeah, kind of shook his head after the crash but you know, clearly just soft pedaled until today came back to him. It was, it's incredible when you're either in the restaurant or like on the square with the Jumbotrons and something like that happens and you hear the whole crowd gasp, you know, like that, that like collective gasp of a few thousand people right next to you is like pretty like wow, that just happened. Exactly. A shocking mid race events for sure. Yeah, totally. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:21:22 to 00:21:50 And then once it was back on, like you said, I think with, with, you know, 15k today attacked maybe with 18k to go. And by 15 or 10k we were like, we gotta get out there and get on the streets and get right by the finish line again to see this. Yeah, it was incredible to see him come over the line first all battered and bloodied and he had, was so full of Adrenaline. He didn't say much until he got into the interviewing room. It's like right before he was going to go get his trophy that it kind of hurts now. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:21:50 to 00:22:15 It's like he had so much adrenaline to attack and finish the race, but as soon as the race is done, he's like, oh, I'm really scratched up. Yeah, he was totally tore up. And then the other interesting thing for me at the finish line was that, you know, not a lot of people actually finish the race, which is. I mean, as a professional, I get it. Like, you do your job, and then you and I will talk about how hard it is to get to the finish and. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:22:15 to 00:22:25 And why, if. If you weren't required to get there, maybe you don't get there. So I think maybe only, like, 20, 25 riders finished. Does that feel right to you? That sounds about right. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:22:25 to 00:22:39 Once. Once you're out of contention, there's not a whole lot of reason to struggle through. It was. It was incredible to stand there and watch the finishes that come through that just covered in dust, sometimes dust and blood and just looking shattered. Uh, and, yeah, was a little scary. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:22:39 to 00:22:53 Thinking about what we were going to do the next morning didn't help the nerves. No. Real quick shout out to Tade. I thought it was so classy. When he was being interviewed after the finish, they're like, hey, you're the first world champion to. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:22:53 to 00:23:00 To win Strada Bianche. And he's like, no, Lada Kapeki won last year. She was the champion. I love. I love that. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:23:00 to 00:23:08 It was so great. It's just, like, such a classy guy and sort of respect for the sport and his fellow athletes. Pretty cool. Yeah. 100%. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:23:09 to 00:23:26 Well giddy with our. Our race day experience, we then kind of went off to dinner and back to the hotel and needed to get our heads around what 140km on that course was going to look like for us in the gran fondo with 7,000 of our closest friends. Yeah. I'm not gonna lie. I was a little nervous about that start. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:23:26 to 00:23:33 Just not. Not about the. Well, okay. Maybe a little bit about the distance and the elevation, but just. Yeah. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:23:33 to 00:23:48 Do you want to talk about what that was like? Yeah. Like a starting bell go off and 7,000 people take off. I know you've done, like, SBT and Unbound, so it's probably not that different, but the scale was pretty large. Yeah. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:23:48 to 00:24:02 Yeah. I think, you know, the guides did a really good job of one, previewing us some of the terrain we were going to be on. Yeah. They gave us a lot of confidence that the Trek van was going to be there. So we, we had multiple drop bag locations. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:24:02 to 00:24:31 We knew they were going to be there for us, that we didn't have to go to the mass, you know, rest stop areas, which was a super luxury. So we're on the Trek Checkpoint SLR bikes with 45C gravel tires on them. So, you know, pretty robust bicycle for this kind of event. When you compare to what a lot of people were riding. I think the professionals were still on 28 or 30s and full slicks. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:24:31 to 00:24:46 So interesting from an equipment perspective. And that'll come up, I think, in our conversation. But we get up at 6am we go down to breakfast. You and I are roommates. We go down to breakfast at like 6:01 and every single table is occupied. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:24:46 to 00:25:02 We're sort of fighting for space. This is clearly everybody's fueling up. There's, you know, dozens and dozens and dozens of people in the hotel who are going to go on the same journey we are. I think our rollout time from the hotel was 7:00am does that sound right? That sounds right. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:25:02 to 00:25:12 Yeah. Yeah. So we, we had to go down a hill. This detail wasn't clear in my mind morning of. But we had to ride somewhere to start the event. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:25:12 to 00:25:29 And of course, being in Siena, we had to ride downhill. And then right back then we, and then we rode back up to another part of town. And there were multiple different staging areas based on a color on your number plate. So we kind of fumbled around. Maybe there was five or five different colors out there. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:25:29 to 00:25:41 I think we were in the, the green sector and there's. There had to have been 1500 people in our sector alone. Yeah, it was. I think it was based on distance you were doing and maybe the speed you were going to ride. I'm not sure. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:25:41 to 00:26:10 Yeah, yeah, there could be something like if you're demonstrably a fast person, you're going to go in a different color than us. But, you know, we've been, we be in particular had mentioned, like, it's crazy town to begin with in this event. And I think in addition to 7,000 people being around you, we started with a massive downhill. Yeah, there were a lot of people going really fast. It was good advice. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:26:10 to 00:26:30 He was saying, you know, kind of keep your space and kind of stay to the right because people are going to want to pass on the left. And they were certainly doing that. So, yeah, I think we stayed together or within close proximity just to, you know, for the first. Like you said, the first Hour or so to navigate some of that. But once we hit that first section of dirt, I saw the. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:26:30 to 00:26:46 I saw the robot eyes go on, and you were gone. You're like, dirt. My comfort zone. I wasn't so comfortable with all these people flying around me. I remember at one point you and I were sort of casually riding maybe like three feet apart. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:26:46 to 00:27:07 Yeah. And someone just splits the middle. And I was like, okay, I guess we gotta ride closer if we're gonna discourage these people from dive bombing. And they were dive bombing left, right, and center, no matter what we did. Yeah, there was a lot of passing on the right, passing in weird places, and a lot of people just sinistra passing on the left. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:27:07 to 00:27:13 I'm on your left. I'm going hard. It was like. And. And my problem is I never internalized which one was right or left. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:27:13 to 00:27:22 So I would just kind of keep it a straight line whenever possible. Hold still. Yeah. So, yeah, there's. I mean, I think blissfully in terms of the amount of mileage we needed to cover. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:27:22 to 00:27:57 It was nice that there was, I don't know, call it 20k of riding on pavement to break things up a little bit before we hit the first dirt section. First dirt section was 2.1km long. Still pretty packed in terms of people being around, but definitely, like, I felt more personally in my comfort zone at that point. I knew that from an equipment perspective, with the 45C tires, I had a lot more control than a lot of the. My Italian compatriots who were riding 25s and 28s on their full arrow road bikes. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:27:57 to 00:28:16 There were a lot of flat tires in that first couple hours. Yeah, yeah, no doubt there was. There was some parallels with the unbound experience where it's just crazy and flat tires are happening all the time. That was the nice thing about the checkpoint. Like, the tires are, you know, a little bit bigger, but no, no one on the ride got a flat. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:28:16 to 00:28:30 And that's just really comfortable. Like in a ride like that where it's. It can be pretty challenging, both from a elevation perspective, but also just a terrain perspective, just getting bounced around a bit. It was, if I felt pretty. Pretty good at the end, surprisingly. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:28:30 to 00:28:48 Yeah. I think for. I think for. For people who haven't done a ton of gravel riding, it was a confidence inspiring choice to set them up that way because you could go in as someone who's ridden on the road a ton and ride that gravel and not feel like the bike was all over the place. Yeah. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:28:48 to 00:29:06 Totally sketchy. I mean, it's Totally stable under you. Yeah, I witnessed some sketchy, sketchy stuff out there with people and not nothing to do with their bikes handling talents. It was just equipment choice. They like literally could not stay on their line because of their tires being. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:29:06 to 00:29:29 So much smaller and rim brakes on some of those things. The descents, I mean there's. We talk about the climbs but like even some of the descents were, you know, somewhat challenging to navigate, especially with a group. It really kind of opened up once you made the turn to the, the longer part of the event. The, the full fondo and then it kind of really opened up for us like where there was riders but not nearly. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:29:30 to 00:29:51 Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. And I think it's a good, it's a good point. On the descending it definitely was. You could definitely see the people who had either just confidence warranted or unwarranted or the right bike for the situation. Yeah, because I was, you know, there were definitely stutter bumps from all the riders out there. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:29:51 to 00:30:11 So you definitely got into situations where you were, you were getting a lot of feedback from the trail. Yeah, it's amazing to have ridden some of those roads in the first couple of days. I think they actually go through and they grade it before the race. Like they try to kind of smooth it out a little bit. But after, you know, two races go through with all the cars and all the riders, the conditions have changed in one day pretty significantly. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:30:11 to 00:30:23 It was pretty interesting. Yeah. Yeah. In total there's 10 different gravel sectors in this event over the 140km. I think there's 50km of gravel riding. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:30:23 to 00:30:43 So it was a nice mix of. Felt like more in a good way. Yeah, for me, for me I was just like, I was way more comfortable on the. Not way more comfortable, but I was having way more fun. Yeah, I think you alluded to like after the, after the two, first two gravel sections I would just hit one and be like, okay, it's on. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:30:43 to 00:31:07 And I was having, I was just having a blast. And yeah, some of these climbs, I mean they were 15, 18% grade, both up and down and a lot of. Them are in the last 20k. Yeah, that's for sure. I remember one, one sector I was just kind of talking to myself and having fun because most everybody speaks Italian and I didn't. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:31:07 to 00:31:35 So I remember at one point a writer just closed the door on the left hand side to another rider and I, I sort of jokingly said, but fairly loud, I guess that door is closed. And it turned out the guy was from the UK and He was just dying laughing because I think he was having the same experience with me. Like, nothing I said really landed with anybody. So it's hard to kind of. You just sort of make noise to make yourself aware and obviously ride as safely as possible. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:31:35 to 00:31:55 Yeah, it was, it was a super, like, challenging experience, but it was like. I don't know if you felt the same as super rewarding, especially like getting through that last 20k and hitting, you know, the Toll Fe climb, getting up the Santa Catarina, like, those are. Those are steep climbs. I don't talk about that experience that you had coming up. A couple of those. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:31:55 to 00:32:19 Yeah, for sure. I mean, those were later in the day. And we're talking 10 kilometer long sectors at this point, which was cool because the earlier ones were shorter, you know, as I mentioned, like 4k, 5k. So to get on the longer ones and then some of the. You were just looking at these beautiful gravel roads going through the Tuscan hillsides. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:32:19 to 00:32:34 Yeah, it was super cool. And we, we sort of hadn't mentioned in the previous days we'd seen castles and old brick towns and, like, we definitely had this. It was, it was a beautiful ride. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even when you're suffering, at least you got something to look at. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:32:35 to 00:32:45 That's pretty. Exactly. And I didn't know enough about the route. Like, I didn't agonize over it. Like, you know, I might have done unbound to try to figure out, like, how am I going to survive this thing? Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:32:45 to 00:33:06 It was kind of more by the seat of our pants. And that, that one long climb up. I think it's the Tofe pass where we met Gio in the van. Like, that was more than I had expected because it was like, just felt like a long gravel grind. And it was interesting just experiencing that and seeing the fans on the side of the road encouraging you. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:33:06 to 00:33:21 And then you, you kind of crest out on the ridge line back onto the pavement. Yeah. And the van's there and you're just. Like, oh, great, thank goodness, just where you're supposed to be. And you could look back watching everybody coming up the hill. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:33:21 to 00:33:33 And it was so funny. So you, you hadn't arrived yet. We had gotten separated for a bit, and an Irish rider comes up with two friends. And he. And he's like, hey, do you guys have any tape? Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:33:33 to 00:33:44 Oh, yeah, yeah. Maybe you were there. Gio's like, well, what do you need tape for? And he's like, my, my look pedal. The entire back end of the pedal has fallen off. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:33:44 to 00:33:54 So basically he's got Zero purchase. Yeah. And he's like, my friends are tired of pushing me up these hills. Do you have any tape? And Gio's like, don't be ridiculous. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:33:54 to 00:34:06 Like, tape's not gonna do anything. How about breaking away? Yeah. How about we give you a set of pedals, a set of cleats, you just return them. Back in Siena, we're all going to the same place. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:34:06 to 00:34:12 Yeah. Yeah. Such a nice gesture. The guy sat there, put his cleats on, then ended up finishing the race. That was cool. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:34:12 to 00:34:34 Or the ride. Yeah. That's super cool. Gio also mentioned that Quinn Simmons, the professional rider from Lidl Trek, he had flatted out of the race the day before. And it turns out he showed up at the Trek van because he was riding the Gran Fondo with his mom and dad, and he had yet another flat, and Geo gave him a tube to kick him down the road. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:34:35 to 00:34:51 Mobile bike shop. Yeah. Gotta love it. And that. Once we got on that ridgeline, it was awesome because we did have a substantial amount of road riding ahead of us for a while, which I'm sure I could speak for both of us was a bit of a relief to just be able to cruise. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:34:51 to 00:35:00 It was a lot of downhilling at that point. We got into some good groups, and we were just. Just kind of motoring and putting some kilometers under our belt. And you can start to see the city. So you. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:35:00 to 00:35:12 You got your sight line for your finish. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And then I think we were in good spirits. We rolled up with a couple of our. Our trip mates along the way, which was fun to kind of ride with those guys. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:35:12 to 00:35:17 Roll up. Patrick and Perry. Exactly. Good guys. Very strong. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:35:17 to 00:35:23 Yeah. Roll up to that van. And we're like. They're like, great. You know, great you guys are here. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:35:23 to 00:35:34 Let's get you situated. What do you need? Let's get you some more food, et cetera. And then it kind of dawned on, I think, both of us that we knew how much elevation we were needing to have done. I think It's. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:35:34 to 00:35:45 Was it 7,000ft over the course of the day? Yeah. And we hadn't yet hit 5.5,000ft of. Climbing, and there wasn't much longer to go. Yeah, I'm like, there's a. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:35:45 to 00:36:07 There's a big disconnect here. I got a big problem because it seems like we don't have a lot of mileage, and we've got a lot of vertical feet to cover. So that was a little bit of a heady moment, but it was nice to like, have sort of had a reset, get some food, get a little more warm clothes on if we needed it, and then head off on those last sectors. It's like, yeah. That's why I knew I could make it. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:36:07 to 00:36:15 I knew it was going to be hard, but I was like, okay, I'm just going to kind of strap in. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah, we had that. I think both of us misunderstood. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:36:16 to 00:36:41 We had asked about this steep climb we had ridden two days before and how far up it was, and I think they were thinking about the dirt sector, and we were talking about this vicious road, and it was right after the rest stop. Yeah, it's right after the rest stop. Like, oh, there it is. It's right here. And this was like the type of climb, even fresh, you sort of think about doing the paper boy weave back and forth on the course. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:36:41 to 00:36:50 When you. You can see it from a half mile away, you're like, oh, no. Is that where we're going? Yeah. And then a couple more tough gravel climbs after that point. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:36:50 to 00:36:55 Yeah. Then we got into. Really. Yeah, it was. It was. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:36:55 to 00:37:05 Yeah. And it's funny, I mean, that very much felt like, to me, like the. The end of a big gravel event. Where, you know, you're like almost single tracky. Like, when you get up to the ridge, there was kind of. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:37:05 to 00:37:24 Yeah. Switch back, little single track, kind of super cool. I got some good pictures of you and Perry coming up there, and. And then we kind of. We get into some small towns and starts feeling like we're getting close to Siena because we'd ridden back into Siena a few times, cruising, riding with Patrick and a few other guys. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:37:24 to 00:37:42 And then we hit the climb into Siena, and. Holy God. I mean, this thing is, I don't know, maybe 16, 17% at the end. You kind of climb up the pavement just to soften your legs up a little bit. You go through one of the gates of Siena, one of the. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:37:42 to 00:38:13 From the wall of Siena, and then you. These big cobbles, and you're riding up this chute that you just see probably a quarter mile up ahead of you, and there's fans on the side of the road, there's riders struggling to get up. And it's just this epic scene that you have seen now from watching the pro bike race. You'd seen the riders go up it. And I just remember feeling like just very part of the cycling community and cycling world in Siena at that moment. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:38:13 to 00:38:26 Yeah, it was fun. There are a lot of friends and family for tons of those riders out there. So they Were still cheering people on late in the day. So it kind of felt like you were like wrapping up your own personal strada bianchi race. A lot of people shouting at you to keep, keep pushing. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:38:26 to 00:38:41 It was really fun to kind of come into the city like that. I had a little bit of a break in my story because I kind of crusted that climb. And then we came to an intersection and there was riders going both ways. And I took a left and I'm. And then I. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:38:41 to 00:38:48 I'm riding and like, this doesn't feel right. And I. I asked some riders, I'm like, is this the way to the finish? And they're. They were. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:38:48 to 00:38:57 It was English as a second language. They're like, no, this is the pasta party. I didn't hear, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. I went the wrong way. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:38:57 to 00:39:17 So I turned around and then rolled around the corner. And then you roll into the piazza. You got this, you know, the big clock tower. You go across the same finish line as the pros that we watched before. Just super cool conclusion to an amazing day out there. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:39:18 to 00:39:25 And you get your metal, your finisher metal. Got my meter. Yeah, exactly. The 10 years of the Gran Fondo. Yeah, that was pretty. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:39:25 to 00:39:33 That was a pretty nicely designed metal. I didn't realize it was the 10th anniversary. That was pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I think everybody. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:39:33 to 00:39:47 Everybody on the team finished. Yeah, on our crew, we had some doing the. The medium length one, some doing the long one, which we did. I think everybody, at minimum has some great stories to tell their friends when they went home. Yeah, it was. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:39:47 to 00:40:08 It was a big day, but it was definitely worth it. I think everybody. I think no one really said anything the night before, but I think a few people were a little bit nervous about it, but everybody was, like, super just stoked to arrive in the compo after the ride and just be like, that was amazing. Especially after watching the race the day before. Yeah, a hundred percent. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:40:08 to 00:40:19 Yeah. In hindsight, like, it was. It was a week that was packed with. Packed with things to do. There was a nice progression of the mileage. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:40:19 to 00:40:34 We didn't overcook my grits prior to the event, so I gave myself the best chance of having a good day out there. Yeah, it was hard and intimidating, which I loved. Right. But totally doable and. And certainly well supported along the way. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:40:34 to 00:40:49 Whether it was from the. The Gran Fondo organizers or Trek's additional support level. Like, it just felt like a great accomplishment and felt it couldn't be more satisfied with my trip to Italy. Yeah, I'm Glad to hear it. It was great to have you there. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:40:49 to 00:41:06 It was 30 years in the making, so, yeah, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun without you there, so. Exactly. Well, it was fun reminiscing a bit, as I'm sure we'll continue to do over the years. It's such a monumental trip we had. And thanks for coming on. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:41:06 to 00:41:42 Thanks for everything you guys do at Trek Travel, for sure. I think you're the third Trek travel person we've had over here. I've appreciated, as I've advocated to the audience, like, Trek's put a lot of energy into gravel tourism and gravel travel, and it's a great way to go see some of these communities you've read about. And particularly in the. For me, the European trips, just to experience the culture and have the guides with local knowledge has always been this, like, additional bit of je ne sais quoi about what that European experience is like. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:41:42 to 00:41:52 Yeah, there's a lot of great gravel over there. Yeah. Check us out, travel.com a good pitch. Lots of good trips in the States and in Europe, so. Yeah, exactly. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:41:52 to 00:42:03 And if you're interested in Strada Bianca, it is a trip that sells out. It's obviously in March every year. I think you can already sort of reserve a spot on Trek Travels website. It's getting close. Yeah. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:42:03 to 00:42:12 You can sort of put yourself on a wait list. Yeah. And there's still. I don't know if there's still room in the Holy Week trips to Flanders and Roubaix. Okay. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:42:12 to 00:42:19 That one goes fast. Like, we're pretty close to sold out for that one. You got to get in early. And same with the Tour. It's pretty well booked. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:42:19 to 00:42:42 Even the Tour de Familes, the Women's Tour de France, is nearly sold out for this year, which is really exciting. Amazing. And I can't wait for you to have some gravel race trips in the future as well. I think it would be a fun way of doing some of these events. People who aren't necessarily racing but want to go to somewhere like SBT or to Unbound or. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:42:42 to 00:42:53 I know you already have a trip to Bentonville, but it is kind of an interesting idea. I think you guys should play around with, connect the two. Yeah. Yeah. What would it be like to bring a group of people who just want to experience that. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:42:53 to 00:43:04 That area in a deeper way and have a little bit of extra support in some of these milestone gravel events? Yeah, for sure. I think Unbound would be an interesting one, for sure. Yeah. Cool. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:43:04 to 00:43:15 All right, well, I will let you go. Hopefully I even see you this weekend and we can do some riding and reminisce some more. Yeah. See you up in up in Marin. Sounds good. Rich Snodsmith (Guest) | 00:43:15 to 00:43:31 Take care, Craig. Good to see you. That's going to do it for this week's edition of the Gravel Ride Podcast. Big thanks to Rich for coming on the show. And a big thanks to Trek Travel for all the great gravel cycling experiences they offer around the world. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:43:31 to 00:44:13 Top notch organization that's dedicating a lot of time and energy into the gravel world. So if you're a fan of professional bike racing and want to have an experience like I did at Stradabianca, go check them out@trektravel.com obviously they've got the other spring classics and the Tour de France, both men and women, as options for you, but also a bunch of fantastic gravel trips to Bentonville, to Switzerland, to Vermont, to Girona, all over the world. So again, go hit them up@trektravel.com and let them know that the Gravel Ride podcast sent you. Until next time, here's to finding some dirt under your wheels. Craig Dalton (Host) | 00:44:27 to 00:44:27 SA.  

TrainingPeaks.comFollow TrainingPeaks on Instagram: @trainingpeaksCoffee Caravan ride at 7am (Friday and Saturday) with ⁠⁠Pas Normal Studios⁠⁠ at Sea Otter! Meets at the Portola Hotel in Monterey and goes to the expo. Van will carry your gear. Coffee and Pastry awaits at the basecamp (expo). Check the schedule on Instagram here.Friday Shakeout ride at 10am with Pas Normal Studios at Levi's Gran Fondo!Start strength training today with a 7 day free trial!Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dialedhealth.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Levi's Gran Fondo, specifically, The Growler 138-mile elite road race, marks the first time since the USA Pro Cycling Challenge that U.S. road racing has been broadcast live. On April 19, the Growler, both men's and women's fields, will be streamed, for free, on the Levi's Gran Fondo website https://www.levisgranfondo.com/ beginning at 11:00 am Pacific Daylight Time. In this episode we talk with Grand Tour veteran and Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer about the gran fondo that bears his name, the importance of live streaming events in the U.S. and a bit about his career and some of the many memories of riding at the top of the sport. Watch The Growler unfold live at https://www.levisgranfondo.com/Saturday April 19, 2025. 11:00 am PDLWe would love it if you would consider supporting Bike Talk with Dave by rating, reviewing and sharing on your favorite podcast platform. We'd invite you to support the show financially at www.buymeacoffee.com or on Venmo @David-Mable.Follow Bike Talk with Dave on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/biketalkwithdave/ and Facebook so you don't miss any of the fun, and you can now find every episode on your computer at www.biketalk.bike. And now available on YouTube on the Bike Talk with Dave YouTube channel!BIKEIOWA is your home for all things bike related: News, Events, Trails, Gear and more! Make it your homepage at www.bikeiowa.com.And if you need any digital media work: photography, videography and editing, podcast production and editing, look no further than Mable Media. Connect at www.mablemedia.net to help grow your brand and connect with your audience!

Hope to see you at Levi's Gran Fondo on April 19th!https://www.levisgranfondo.comFollow Levi on Instagram: @levileipheimerCheck out my new bikes from ENVE on ⁠Instagram ⁠ or ⁠Strava⁠ !Coffee Caravan ride at 7am (Friday and Saturday) with ⁠Pas Normal Studios⁠ at Sea Otter! Meets at the Portola Hotel in Monterey and goes to the expo. Van will carry your gear. Coffee and Pastry awaits at the basecamp (expo). Friday Shakeout ride with Pas Normal Studios at Levi's Gran Fondo!Start strength training today with a 7 day free trial!Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://dialedhealth.com/⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠ 

New Bike Partner Announcement is going live on Instagram and Strava today!Stay tuned for specific activations at Sea Otter and Levi's Gran Fondo with Pas Normal StudiosStart strength training today with a 7 day free trial!Website: ⁠⁠https://dialedhealth.com/⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠@dialedhealth⁠⁠Youtube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@dialedhealth⁠⁠ 

In questo episodio di Triciclo ospitiamo Emiliano Borgna, Presidente di ACSI Ciclismo, per un viaggio approfondito nel mondo del ciclismo amatoriale. Analizziamo l'evoluzione delle Gran Fondo e scopriamo come sta cambiando la filosofia degli eventi: sempre meno orientati alla pura competizione e sempre più verso un'esperienza coinvolgente, capace di attrarre anche le famiglie. Discutiamo inoltre dei numeri del movimento amatoriale, esplorando il suo impatto e le prospettive future. Un episodio imperdibile per chi vuole comprendere meglio questa dimensione del ciclismo che continua a crescere e innovarsi.

Send us a textOn this week's episode we're delving into the past, present, and future of American cycling, with none other than former Tour de France podium finisher and current gran fondo organiser, Levi Leipheimer.A former teammate of Lance Armstrong's at US Postal, Astana, and RadioShack, Leipheimer was one of the leading American pros during an era when the United States was planted firmly at the summit of the sport. The stage racer and TT specialist finished third, behind teammate Alberto Contador, at one of the closest ever editions of the Tour de France in 2007, came second at the Vuelta, and won the Tour de Suisse and Dauphiné Libéré, as well as three consecutive editions of the Tour of California.However, Leipheimer's career came to an abrupt halt in 2012, after he confessed to doping for much of his career as part of the United States Anti-Doping Agency's case against Armstrong, which ultimately led to the Texan's lifetime ban.Since then, Leipheimer has spent his time helping young riders in California, as well as organising Levi's Gran Fondo, a mass participation event in Sonoma County which he started in 2009, raising over $3.2 million for at-risk youth, and announced this month that he plans to grow the event into the “richest” professional one-day race in the world. During a reflective, candid conversation, Leipheimer discusses the current state of America's domestic road racing landscape, how he hopes to breathe new life into it, the impact of his generation's widespread doping on the reputation of cycling in the States and the current racing malaise, his perspective on his own career, and how cycling in general deals with its past.

ÚLTIMOS 3 DÍAS PARA INSCRIBIRTE AL BCLB (no te quedes fuera)https://bicilab.es/bclb/Abrimos semana comentando las noticias frescas de la semana Pidcock abandona el inneos y se va a otro equipo lo que puede alterar las participaciones en Giro y Tour, Evenepoel se accidenta y veremos como condiciona su temporada y en España, tenemos que el ciclismo es noticia en los medios generalistas, lo cual es sinónimo de dos cosas, o doping, o culebrones, que son los únicos momentos en los que periódicos , radios y prensa general hablan de ciclismo y esta semana ha saltado la noticia a los medios de la polémica que hay en la RFEC con la elección del nuevo seleccionador, el lío entre Valverde, Freire, Vicioso.Total, que hay lío, y nosotros, sin comerlo ni beberlo, teníamos agendada hoy una entrevista que resulta cae en plena actualidad ciclista: viene a hablar al podcast Pascual Momparler, el que ha sido seleccionador nacional los últimos 6 años. Además de charlar con él sobre esta última polémica, nos cuenta cosas muy chulas de dos eventos con los que se abre el año: el ciclocross de Benidorm y la Gran Fondo de Jaén, dos eventos a los que sí o sí, vamos a ir para paladear una FIESTA!Entradas cio Benidorm: https://benidormcx.esInscripciones Gran Fondo de Jaén: https://clasicajaen.com/galeria/

Tenemos el honor de entrevistar a José Ángel Canales, campeón de España de ultra trail (UT) y cuarto en el mundial. Nos sumergimos en su vida como atleta de élite, explorando los momentos que lo impulsaron a convertirse en uno de los mejores corredores de montaña del mundo. Desde sus entrenamientos diarios hasta la mentalidad necesaria para competir al más alto nivel, José Ángel nos ofrece una mirada íntima a lo que significa vivir para el deporte y superarse en cada carrera. Acompáñanos mientras hablamos sobre su evolución como deportista, la importancia de entrenar en la naturaleza, y cómo gestiona la presión y los sacrificios que conlleva ser un atleta de élite. Si eres un apasionado del trail running o simplemente quieres entender lo que se necesita para alcanzar la cima, este episodio está hecho para ti. Link al Ultra Trail Sierra de Segura: https://ultrasierrasegura.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ Si eres ciclista y quieres venir a la Gran Fondo de carretera: Gran Fondo Sierra de Segura 2025 (7 de JUNIO de 2025) https://time2run.es/gran-fondo-sierra-de-segura/

Resumen informativo con las noticias más destacadas de Colombia del Domingo 17 de noviembre 9:00am

El secretario de Gobierno de Bogotá, Gustavo Quintero explicó en 6AM cuáles serán los cierres viales el 17 de noviembre, para facilitar el tránsito de los participantes y minimizar el impacto en la movilidad.

Durante toda la mañana algunas vías estarán cerradas por esta carrera en la que competirán 5.000 personas. La localidad más afectadas será la de Chapinero.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Las noticias que fueron noticia en Colombia y el mundo en Mañanas Blu, con Néstor Morales, de este viernes, 15 de noviembre de 2024: El gobernador de La Guajira, Jairo Aguilar, habló en Mañanas Blu sobre la difícil situación que vive el departamento de La Guajira tras las inundaciones. El departamento en este momento se encuentra en alerta roja por el desbordamiento del embalse El Cercado, que colinda con tres municipios. El comandante de la Fuerza Naval del Caribe, almirante Camilo Segovia, se refirió a la presencia de la Fuerza Naval en La Guajira, ya que se encuentra realizando entregas de alimentos y elementos de primera necesidad a los damnificados de esta región. El director del IDRD, Daniel García, explicó cómo será el trazado de la carrera del Gran Fondo de Ciclismo de Bogotá x Egan Bernal, la cual se llevará a cabo el día 17 de noviembre. Se indicó las rutas de salida, de llegada y los cierres viales que conllevarán esta actividad. El concejal de Bogotá Daniel Briceño habló sobre la denuncia que tiene contra el presidente Gustavo Petro por la financiación de su campaña a la Presidencia, en 2022. Escuche el programa completo aquí:See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello everyone. Welcome to the latest episode of The Matchbox Podcast powered by Ignition Coach Co. I'm your host, Adam Saban, and on this week's episode we're talking about Gran Fondo style training and how to incorporate fun rides into your program.   Today's show is also brought to you by Flow Formulas. Head over to flowformulas.com today to check out their full suite of endurance nutrition offerings and make sure to use the discount code “Matchbox” when checking out.   As always, if you like what you hear please share this with your friends and leave us a five star review and if you have any questions for the show drop us an email at matchboxpod@gmail.com with email title The Matchbox Podcast or head over to ignitioncoachco.com and fill out The Matchbox Podcast listener question form. Alight let's get into it!   For more social media content, follow along @ignitioncoachco @adamsaban6 @dizzle_dillman @dylanjawnson @kait.maddox   https://www.youtube.com/c/DylanJohnsonCycling https://www.ignitioncoachco.com  https://www.youtube.com/@DrewDillmanChannel   Intro/ Outro music by AlexGrohl - song "King Around Here" - https://pixabay.com/music/id-15045/    The following was generated using Riverside.fm AI technologies   Keywords Gran Fondo, training plan, reverse periodization, fun rides, cycling training, endurance, heat training, mountain biking, intensity, athlete coaching   Summary In this conversation, the hosts discuss how to effectively structure a six-month training plan for a Gran Fondo, emphasizing the importance of specificity in training and the benefits of reverse periodization. They also explore the role of fun rides in a training schedule, highlighting the need for balance between intensity and enjoyment in cycling. The discussion includes practical tips for incorporating heat training and descending practice into the training regimen.   Takeaways Training for a Gran Fondo requires a structured plan. Specificity in training is crucial for performance. Reverse periodization can be beneficial during winter months. Comfort with descending is important for race day. Fun rides are essential for maintaining motivation. Not all fun rides will fit neatly into a training plan. Coaches should allow flexibility for fun rides. Intensity can be balanced with enjoyment in cycling. Heat training can be incorporated easily into workouts. The importance of intrinsic motivation in cycling.   Titles Mastering Gran Fondo Training How to Prepare for a Gran Fondo   Sound Bites "How would you structure a six month training plan?" "Your training should always be specific to the demands." "Reverse periodization makes sense for winter training."   Chapters 00:00 Structuring a Gran Fondo Training Plan 11:04 Reverse Periodization and Training Specificity 20:59 Incorporating Fun Rides into Training 28:03 Balancing Intensity and Enjoyment in Cycling

Randy and Dean Warren talk about the latest bicycle racing news and events.  Randy rode the annual Hincapie Gran Fondo and recaps the event.  Neilson Powless (EF Education-Easy Post) wins in Japan, and Alexey Vermeulen wins Big Sugar.  The Esports World championships take place in Abu Dhabi and the track World Championships just wrapped up.  

Today's Episode is supported by Peaks Challenge Falls Creek Australia's Most Iconic One Day Cycling EventEnter Now for 2025: https://bicyclenetwork.com.auThe Enve Melee remains one of the more unique bikes on the market, Jesse has had the opportunity to ride one and we go into detail about where this bike sits in the market. Gran Fondo chaos in Australia with the last minute cancellation of the Bowral Classic, we ask one of the riders on the ground for an eye witness report on what happened. Strength Training has become the buzz word in cycling YouTube, we answer some subscriber questions on the subject and Chris discusses his own personal experience. Strength Training Video: https://youtu.be/jed4Bg1dyEIUCI Gran Fondo Video: https://youtu.be/IX-Hkn27orIChapters00:00 intro00:30 Enve Melee Ride Review04:20 Melee: What Is It?05:22 Melee: Negatives08:56 Melee: Aerodynamics15:29 Melee: Positives20:40 Groupset Thoughts30:26 Melee Marketing 37:06 Melee: Who Is It For?47:48 Fake UCI Race Bikes51:30 Gran Fondo Chaos1:05:36 Sub Q : Strength Training 1:22:14 Kit Brand Drop Rides1:32:30 Best Sporting NationPresented By:Peaks Challenge 2024Additional Footage From @felixoates @ItsMaxMann @thewattlife Grab a Nero Kit: https://nero-club.myshopify.comSUBSCRIBE On Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1tThe Nero Show is available on your favourite Podcast platformSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0UEODvANsVqrvSZV5TAqBvAmazon:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28558e66-2a6b-4ff5-a6bf-709f05b1ffe9Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nero-cycling-show-|-unfiltered-cycling-podcast/id1659229051-----------------------------------------------------------------------------INSTAGRAM: @chrismiller27 @nerocontinentalTWITTER: @chrismiller @nerocontinentalSTRAVA: https://www.strava.com/athletes/186450Check Out Jesse's Coaching: https://www.nero.club/coaching Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast! As winter approaches, it's the perfect time to talk about indoor riding. When the weather gets rough, we take our rides indoors on the bike trainer. It's a great way to stay in shape and improve your outdoor riding. This week on the PurplePatch Podcast, we want to share some tips to help you maximize your training on the bike trainer. Instead of focusing on the usual technical aspects of bike training like FTPs and critical power, IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon shares practical skills to make you faster, smarter, and a true craftsman on the bike. Matt takes us through the benefits and limitations of indoor riding to gain a better understanding of what indoor training offers and what elements of training can only be gained outdoors. Matt covers the different smart trainers available on the market, the three P's of indoor training: posture, pedaling, and power, terrain management, and the importance of end of range work and neurological conditioning. Our goal is to help you get faster and have a great time doing it. If you have any questions or want to continue the conversation, feel free to reach out to us at info@purplepatchfitness.com. If you'd like personalized coaching on the bike trainer, we offer complimentary sessions where I can coach you through a workout. It's a two-way video platform, so I can see your metrics and provide feedback. Just reach out to info@purplepatchfitness.com to set up a session. It's absolutely free, and there are no strings attached. Episode Timestamps 00:00 - 04:52 - Welcome and Episode Introduction 04:52 - 39:35 - The Meat and Potatoes: Weaponize Your Bike Trainer This Winter Matt Dixon  00:00  I'm Matt Dixon. Welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere integrate sports into their lives.   Matt Dixon  00:32 And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast, as ever, your host, Matt Dixon. And yes, it is getting that way. Winter looms, and therefore, we thought it was a good time to revisit indoor riding. Yes, it is the time of the year when we don't brave the elements and instead get inside, sit on the trainer for hours on end, daring and dreaming about when the sun comes out again. Look at the indoor bike trainer. It's a great workout, but it is important as it represents a great opportunity for you as a bicycle rider to uplevel your outside riding. If you do it right. There is no short-term success in improving your bike riding. But what I go through today is about as close as you can get to amplifying how you ride your bike outside by sitting inside, no matter how strong you are, no matter how tough you are. This is an opportunity for me to educate you today on how to weaponize the use of your bike trainer so that you can get more speed out of that toughness, that strength, and that fitness. Let me repeat that. What I want to try and do today is open up a guide where no matter how tough you are, how fit you are, or how strong you are, you get more speed out of it. That's our mission. That's why we talk about weaponizing the bike trainer. I'm not going to bore you today with the old, sterile stuff that you read in the media. I'm not going to talk about FTPS and critical powers and all of that. I want to give you some actionable skills that are accessible and that will yield a speed return greater than any fitness development you can gain. If you put the lessons into practice, you will get faster. You will also get smarter. You'll become a craftsman on the bike. And by the way, that's really fun because when you go out and train with your buddies, they're going to be very annoyed, and they're equally going to be amused at your newfound speed. What's he taking? Don't worry about that. Just get better at building your craft. Let's do it just before we get going, as now is the norm; we bring you today's show for free and promotion free. And so if while you're listening and you're thinking, Hmm, I'd like to maybe have a little bit of a taste of that, I want to continue the conversation, or maybe you have some follow-up questions. If you want to ask anything else related to today's topic, feel free to reach out. You can have a complimentary consultation where we'll chat with you about any of your questions. All you need to do is reach out to info@purplepatchfitness.com. That's the email address. Info@purplepatchfitness.com and all of our programming can be found at purplepatchfitness.com. That's the website I will say today because we are talking about the bike trainer; I would like to extend a personal invitation to you if you'd like me to coach you through a session. Our video platform is pretty special. It's pretty unique. But the nice thing about it, unlike Peloton, which is just that one too many with rah rah rah, and hey, I'm happy to do a bit of rah rah rah occasionally, but this is two-way video. So, in other words, you can see me as I'm coaching you through executing a workout, much of which we're going to talk about today. But also scarily, perhaps, I can see you and your trainer, if you have a smart trainer, is connected to the platform, so therefore I can see your metrics. I can see your Cadence and your heart rate. If you've got a heart rate, monitor your power production, and I can control the grades and give you feedback. So that's the opportunity for me, no matter where you're at in the world, to actually coach you. If you would like to have a complimentary session where I coach you, feel free to do so. All you need to do is reach out to info@purplepatchfitness.com, and we will set you up with a session. You can come and join the crew. You get a flavor of both the coaching and a little bit of the fun, and even some people say stupidity because why not? We'd like to have a little bit of fun while we are taking your performance very, very seriously, and we can sort you out. So feel free to reach out to us. It is absolutely free, no strings attached. And if you don't like it, go on your merry way and continue on in your mediocrity. All right. Barry, the producer, thank you very much. Let's do this. We are going to get on with it. It is, ladies and gentlemen, the meat and potatoes.   Matt Dixon  05:01 All right, today we're talking about the bike trainer. So, let's set this up a little bit. Most triathletes, most people who ride their bikes when winter looms, go inside and sit on the trainer, and that's normal, but unfortunately, the vast majority of riders out there absolutely underutilize the opportunity. They tend to look at training with an indoor trainer as just a time-efficient workout. So it's time on the saddle where they're driving to boost their metrics, their FTP, or the elements that make up critical power, and they do intervals that are really hard, and typically, they execute it while they're either watching some gamification type platform or they've got a Netflix show or something like that, and they're just chasing avatars or watching crime dramas or something like that. But the truth is that they're missing a huge opportunity. If you know how to take advantage of the indoor trainer, you can get so much more out of it than just priming your physiology. So, the goal of the show today is to help you turbocharge your indoor riding in a way that actually delivers real-world performance benefits. So, using the indoor trainer so that you get better with your outdoor riding is a critically important component. Another message that is going to be woven into this is that no matter what your riding environment, the truth is that simply focusing on physiological metrics, such as your functional threshold or just your straight power meters, is a surefire pathway for underperformance on your bike. And so if you want to get faster, if you want to actually get more of a yield from your strength and fitness, and then we want you to go beyond the power, which is just a measure of output, how much work you're putting in and what you're able to generate. And so you need to go beyond the what's if you want to do that. And we want to think about becoming more efficient and more strategic about how you use your energy to ultimately give you what we're going for, which is more wheel speed. And so, yes, indoor trainers are highly valuable tools. They can improve your riding performance. They also bring improvements in safety and other components like that. But approaching your indoor trainer as a tool to upgrade your outside riding changes your whole mindset. I don't want your indoor trainer to just be a convenience tool. I want it to be something that actually helps you become a better bike rider. And so before we get in, I think that we should take a step back and say, well, that all sounds very romantic. That sounds like a wonderful investment. I should just do all my riding indoors if it helps me get better outdoors. But let's first highlight some of the limitations of riding your trainer indoors because it's not a solve-all situation here. Alrighty, we have a lot of people that only ride their bikes indoors, and then they go outside, and they race outside, and that is going to be a limiting prospect. And I understand and appreciate why it's tempting to always ride your bike in dots. There's no impact on traffic. It's very, very convenient. It's a time-efficient tool for training. And so I am all in on the bike trainer. But if you ride your bike trainer only, you are going to severely limit your riding potential as well. So, I'm speaking out of two sides of my mouth here. Use the bike trainer to improve your outdoor riding, but if you only ride it indoors, you're going to limit your riding potential at the same time. And we need to acknowledge that there are things that you just simply can't really develop and improve on a bike train. And so let's go through some of those first because I think it's important. The first is the bike trainer fosters an environment where you don't need to have situational awareness, so you don't need to have 360-degree understanding. There is a reason as you become a better bike rider, and the actual action is stabilizing and balancing the bike, shifting gears, and managing terrain. A lot of the stuff that we work on today slides into the unconscious or the subconscious, and then you have more capacity to understand the environment around you. The challenge is, if you never ride in the environment, you're never going to improve that component, and that can become actually more dangerous. There is a reason that the less experienced outdoor riders are the folks that tend to ride through the glass, that tend to hit the sticks and the potholes and tend to actually have more interactions with traffic, and that's because more seasoned riders have great situational awareness. So if you never. Get to that environment; you're never going to improve that component. So there is a safety component to actually riding outside a little bit, and you should consider that there are also many interactions with the machine itself, with the actual handling skills of a bicycle, that you just simply cannot Foster and improve on the bike trainer. And so how and when you're braking, balancing on the bike, managing different environmental factors, such as riding in the wind, even riding around corners, standing out of the saddle, really effectively. These are things that you can't really develop. Inside the bike trainer, you can apply some of the theoretical concepts. You can work on standing form, but to become a better bike handler, you have to ride your bike outside. And then a third component that I think is really important is that you don't get riding on an indoor trainer; at least, most of the bike trainer setups are many of the stabilizing muscles that actually come into play with outdoor riding. When somebody is on a static indoor trainer only utilizing the main muscle groups, they're not getting the stabilizing effect that occurs because the bike is always moving outside, and you are interacting with the different gravitational forces, the lateral forces of cut, of cornering, even keeping the bike stable in the wind, etc. And your core and stabilizing muscles are always engaging. And if you never use those outside, when you actually go outside, particularly if you're doing something like a half Ironman or an Ironman or a big Gran Fondo, you're going to get very, very stiff and tight. And that's going to have an interaction on how you're performing on the back end of the bike ride, or particularly if you're running off the bike. And so, don't undervalue the importance of doing some mileage outside of all of these factors. So ultimately, your best solution here for riding performance is to have a combination, or a mix, of some indoor riding and some outdoor riding because there are also, equally, some things that only indoor riding can truly provide. So, if we've talked about the negatives, why don't we shift gears and say, okay, the whole theme of today's podcast is weaponizing your indoor bike trainer? That's great. So what are the benefits? Well, I've already mentioned one of them. It is, of course, much, much safer, and that's really great. However, when you lack the requirement of situational awareness, that means that you can amplify the specificity because 100% of your focus can be dedicated to the action of the training. So rather than you thinking about traffic or random stops and starts with stoplights and things like that, inconvenient terrain changes when you don't want them, maybe some inclement weather, you have a highly effective environment to place all of your focus and willpower into the specific intervals that you might be doing, and that's a thumbs up. So, you get to have an increased specificity. You also have a safer environment. It's also a highly effective venue for structured workouts, particularly intervals because you can have a dose and response at a very specific timing that isn't necessarily influenced by terrain, wind, and other factors. So that's great. And you can also, interestingly, really isolate and dig into some very specific skills that are critical. The indoor bike trainer with awareness, with focus, with prioritization, is a great venue where you can actually foster and improve things like your posture, how you're actually sitting on the bike, whether that's in your time trial position or your road position, or how you're actually pedaling the bicycle. Yes, there is an art and a science to how you should be pedaling, and it's also a great place where you can learn the tools of the toolbox of how to become a better bike rider, particularly utilizing variance in Cadence, that's your leg speed and your gear selection. And so there are some critical skill developments that you can do inside that then transfer to outside, and that's great. And then, finally, the bike trainer is, of course, highly specific and particularly valuable for the time-starved athlete. Now, I'm not a massive fan of saying one hour on the train area equals two hours outside. I don't believe that one hour on the trainer is one hour on the trainer and two hours of riding outside is two hours of riding outside, but it is a particularly potent tool that you can use to get a great ROI on, whether you're thinking about skill development, interval training or anything else. And so when you weigh up when you have the combination of some indoor riding to really work on these environments where you can play. All of your energy and your focus on skill development in specific intervals are powerful. But then you want to take the mindset and the skills and the improved posture outside and apply it in the real world, where then you also integrate your situational awareness and your actual application onto the ribbony roads that you're going to go and ride outside. So that's your potency as you go from there. Now, if we go back to indoor trainers, they used to be what you would call dumb trainers. In other words, you would typically take the wheel off the trainer and you would lock it on either side of the axle. It would have a resistance against it, and you would shift gears and just simulate riding your bike. And, of course, what you get there is a different form of tension on the bike. You just do loads of intervals, and it's great. And so that's why you have the origins of things like pain cave because it's not very fun. It's not very variable, and it doesn't really apply to real-world bike riding. But over the last few years, everything has changed, and not everyone in the riding community is up to some of the things that you can do, so we still have, as an opportunity, a wonderful venue to do all sorts of intensity. We can do long and relatively boring endurance work outside. We can do very high-intensity, short intervals. We can do medium intervals, whatever it might be. So, with all of the specificity of classic interval training or endurance writing, you can do it inside. And that all exists, but now, with the advent of the smart trainer and some of the new platforms that are in play, you can actually apply real outdoor riding skills and Terrain Management that can be practiced on the smart trainer, and it's going to improve your power delivery, and thus speed through the variance of terrain, and that becomes the greatest yield. No matter how fit you are, no matter what your genetic gifts are, all of us are given a certain amount of visit of gifts, size of our engine, muscular strength, endurance, and resilience, no matter what our genetic gifts are and how much we work to develop over the course of time, our fitness, our power output, etc, the biggest yield that you can get for speed is becoming a master of the craft of how to actually take all of your genetic gifts and your hard work and your efforts. Therefore, your level of fitness has actually developed. How do you apply that to grades that are going uphill, where gravity is not your friend, cress, where gravity is becoming your friend, and downhill grades, then, when the wind is in your face, the wind is at your back, etc., how do you apply that fitness to give huge speed return, and these new platforms actually enable that, and that is incredibly exciting because that's where the biggest return of investment is. Whenever we see people become craftsmen on their bicycles, they leverage their fitness and power to the best of their ability. That's where they go from good to great, from mediocre to good. In other words, they uplevel, and that's a really powerful thing. And so it becomes a great opportunity. And it's only been for the last couple of years that this is really a reality, and we're sitting here right now, sitting in front of us with this opportunity to grow, to improve, and to learn on the indoor bike trainer, and it's passing many people by, that's the truth of it because we're stuck in an old school mentality of thinking about the bike trainer as just a venue to do intervals. And that's a shame because you can get a lot faster from just becoming a better craftsman, and then, of course, you layer the intervals on top, and you get really fast, and that's where the fun lies. So, let's talk about the benefits of indoor training. Well, just as I talked about, it teaches you how to maximize speed relative to your input, and that's a really good component. It also offers controlled conditions for riding, posture, pedal stroke, Cadence, and gear management. That's a good thing. It provides safe, repeatable feedback to enhance your outdoor skills, so you actually can get a yield of Am I doing it right or wrong repeatedly over a pattern, and it can actually help match your inner animals. I like to call it your intuitive sense of effort relative to a specific output or power. And that's a really good thing. And so it is a highly ideal venue to have any sort of specific interval, but also layer on outdoor riding, great. So, with that background, what are the Golden Rules for you this winter? If you're planning to spend a lot of time on the trainer, what are the golden rules for indoor training?   Matt Dixon  20:07 What should you focus on to make sure that you do weaponize it? Well, the first thing I'd say is to think beyond your power, your FTP, your watts per kilogram, and all of the output side; all that is is a measurement, okay, that's not the yield. So your success over the course of the winter is not just about more power, more power, more power, because that's a really challenging and incremental gain. Once you get up to a certain level of fitness at the purple patch, we focus on what we call the three P's, and that is your great posture on bike number one. So, in other words, oh, okay, how am I sitting on the bike making sure that you're not carrying unnecessary tension in your shoulders, in your neck, and you're sitting quietly, subtly on the bike with just a strong core where you're actually sitting there, no matter what level of fatigue, you look like a ballerina, poetic and so great posture. Number one. Number two, we think about great pedaling, the different forms of pedal stroke, and how you actually really think about maintaining a lovely phrase that I like to talk about, constant tension on the chain, not allowing any micro decelerations flowing through, and introducing variance into how you're pedaling depending on whether you're doing high force, to whether you're doing lower force, whether you're doing high Cadence or low Cadence, etc. So pedaling is the second one. And then finally, output, it's power. So you have posture, pedaling, and power. These are the components that we think about. And as we go through the key here, let's just go through each of them. The key is always riding great with great upper body posture. So, let's talk about posture. First. We think about this that starts with your upper body, always ensuring that your upper body and your elbows are subtle. You see so many people sit on a bike trainer with locked elbows, and they sit there with very stiff so from shoulder down to wrist, it is a straight pillar, and those become stiff, and that is a habit that many people integrate on the trainer. They're sitting outside. They just choke back, they lock the elbows up, and they're sort of resting on their elbows in many ways. The challenge with doing that is it's a little akin to riding, driving in a car, and removing all of the shocks, and you're bouncing up and down the road, so when you have locked elbows and your shoulders moving up towards the ears, it's very stiff. Firstly, not only are you reducing economy, it's actually costing you more miles per gallon in terms of energy, but it's also an inhibitor of number one riding safety because now you're bouncing up and down the road, and if you do hit a pothole or a stick, it's much higher, higher likelihood that you bounce off the bike, and that's not a good thing. But also, with that negative posture, it's impossible for you to do the following: go around the corner, stand out of the saddle, control the bike in the wind, and many other factors. So you are, by definition, just with that simple habit, poor posture, you are a worse bike rider. And so if the bike is static, the only way to ingrain that as a habit is every time you're riding your bike, inside, hold yourself accountable and build the habit of great posture. The upper body is very quiet and relaxed. Shoulders supple if you're in the time trial position, allowing the tension on your neck to drop down, allowing your ears to drop between your shoulders, so that you're more aerodynamic, and you get comfortable sitting in positions for a long time, and when fatigue starts to strike, you're able to retain really good posture. So that, in itself, is not only going to make your outdoor riding better and safer, it's going to help you navigate when you do go and apply those outdoor skills, standing, cornering, braking, riding in different wind, etc. And that becomes really important. The second P is pedal stroke, and we think about riding for the most part, you see a lot of more junior riders, less experienced riders, stamping on the pedals, making it very quad heavy the muscles at the front of the pedal stroke, but a better way to think about your pedaling. And, of course, this is on a podcast where most of you are listening to me and not watching me, so it is challenging to apply this education. And over the airways, as you want to call it that. But I'm going to do my best tip. The majority of your power in the pedal stroke comes from the upper muscles of the leg. So, in other words, your glutes, your quads, your hamstrings, etc., so everything from the hip to the knee and so, for the most part, the fulcrum of your pedal stroke starts at the hip and then your femur, that big upper that big bone, it's the upper part of the leg, all of the muscles surrounding that. That's your engine room. That's where the origin of your pedal stroke is. Most scenarios dictate that anything under the knee can just be a response from the fulcrum, which is at the hip. So, in other words, think about it like a garden hose outside when you whip it 10 yards down, which it just whips at the end there. That's what your ankle is doing. It's just tracing the origin of the pedal stroke. And so with the pedal stroke that you're applying when you're riding your bicycle. You can use that and employ and improve it so that you're getting, yes, you're always going to get most of your power from the front of the pedal stroke. That's where you're biomechanically most efficient. And there is going to be the pressure, but you want to even it out so that you can get constant application of the chain and so you're not just stamping up and down like pistons. In fact, your pedal stroke is more elliptical in nature, almost sliding back and forth where you're still getting most of the power from the front, but the retreating leg, the one that is opposing, also gives a little bit of an unweighting of that rear leg as it comes up the back so that you can maintain constant tension of the chain. One of the things you can do over the course of this winter is to become an artist of your pedal stroke. A great way to do that while you're riding is just to close your eyes and feel it under the arch of your foot. And you should feel this constant tension. There shouldn't be a chunk, chunk, chunk of your pedal stroke. It's more of a   Matt Dixon  27:07 and it's doing that. And the nice thing is you can get feedback on this just during the warm-up as you go through it. Don't worry about single-leg drills or anything like that. Just focus on one leg, then think about the other leg, keeping the opposing foot clipped in, and feel and think about this phrase: constant tension on the chain. It's going to help you. So if you can achieve those two things, which is upper body, really quiet, really supple, and then your pedal stroke, constant tension on the chain that's going to radically improve your efficiency, and that becomes really powerful. So just those two things, the two, first of the three, P's, posture, and pedal stroke are going to help your miles per gallon. It's going to help you get more output relative to whatever fitness you gain, but then the third, and remember, it's power. The third is really where the magic occurs, and it's built on the shoulders of great posture and great pedal stroke. Now, this is power, but it's not like what you might think because I'm not talking about just getting more power and being able to generate higher output, more what's on the screen; it's more the distribution of your power to give you speed return, and this is where you can add to your toolbox of yourself as a bike rider. So, let's talk about this now. As I discuss this, let me set the level here a little bit. In order for this to really be effective, you're going to want to have access to a platform that can simulate variability in terrain. The very best platform out there, by the way, is Velocity; that's its name. That is the platform that we use at Purple Patch Pro. Twenty of your training sessions are built in Velocity with videos so that we can coach you through these sessions. But the platform itself is Velocity; that's its name, okay? And it is, by far, I say this: I don't have any vested financial interest in Velocity, but I will tell you this: of all of the platforms out there, this is the only platform, and it is head and shoulders from an educational standpoint and skill development standpoint. There is nothing else like it. I don't have any vessel interested in them succeeding or not. It is powerful. It's the reason that we've integrated it, and I'm going to try and explain a little bit why on this so Terrain Management, the way that the platform works, and it's very, very smart. They have great algorithms here to simulate your rolling resistance as you're riding. And what I can do as a coach is I can shift grades, so 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, so the degrees of the grade go up, and then we can have cresting and having descents as well. But it's not a light switch. It doesn't go from 0% to 1% because what the algorithms do is they understand the speed that you are riding simulated on the bike. And so if I go from a 0% grade to a 4% grade, if you think about what happens outside, if you're going from flat road to a hill, you're carrying speed, let's just say, 18 miles an hour riding along a flat road, and as the grade comes up incrementally, you feel the grip of gravity as it starts to work against you, and that tension on your chain increases As you're losing speed, and the hill has its way, and on the platform, it works like that, a little bit like a roller coaster going through and starting to feel the grade coming up. Conversely, if you're riding up a grade of 4% and you're going to transfer to a negative one or 2% grade, the same applies. You feel the tension releasing. Doesn't just release like this, releasing, and gradually gravity becomes your friend. So what does that mean? Why is that important? Well, no matter what output you're doing, just like you're riding outside, we get to help you learn how to use variants of Cadence, the proper utilization of changing gears, and the combination, of course, blending together gears and Cadence for you to actually navigate riding up a hill, cresting over the top of The Hill, riding through the dip of a roller managing to vary different grades so that you get a better speed return for whatever power you're riding at. And this absolutely smashes the myth, if you're thinking when you ride your bike outside, that you just want to stick to a single cadence, or you want to, as they talk about, flatten the course. In other words, no matter what happens with the grade going up downhill, you hold one power. It's a myth. That's a sure way to blow yourself to pieces or go very, very slowly. This is a way for you to distribute your power to the third P in a smart way to yield the best speed return. And so when you have simulated terrain like that, not only does it make it really fun, it's incredibly empowering. So, as I'm recording this show today, I just finished coaching a class where we had, in person, about 20 athletes because that's how many people sit in our studio in San Francisco. And then I had another 50 athletes or so globally, all over the place, two-way video. And we went through a moderate output, what we call zone three. So somewhere around a six out of 10, and their whole game was they had to keep the same power. But what I did was constantly vary the terrain, 0%, 2%, 4%, 5% negative, and 1%, rolling through that multiple times over the course of 13 or 14 minutes. And what we did there is that I want your output to be exactly the same, but you're not going to change gears, as what I was teaching them there is how they can manage their output by just using Cadence. Now, next week, what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring them back, and we're going to do the same workout, but I'm going to have them fix 85 rpm, and now the goal is the same zone three output, but this time, they're going to have to only change gears the whole time, so they're getting to moderate and manage their speed return through gears, holding the power exactly output. And then, of course, the third week, we combine it together. Now, I want you to try to get the best speed return and distribution of the work over this variable terrain to see if you can go faster using shifting power. When you're going downhill, probably slightly less power going uphill, a little bit more power, fat, pretty even power. Using gears and Cadence and what starts to occur as you go through this process and you repeat that educational process is why we call it bike school. You get faster because you start to learn, ah, I've got feedback loops here, and that is it. That's a really, really powerful tool. So, Terrain Management, I've gone on for five or 10 minutes now, just on this piece, but that's the third piece. So, the three primary tools that you have are to improve your posture. Improve your pedaling and distribution of power. Those are the three P's, and if you think about that, and nothing else when you go and sit on the trainer, you're going to get faster. So, let's just think about one other opportunity that you have on the bike trainer, and we call this the purple patch special source. But you can utilize it. You don't need to be a purple patch athlete, there is a great understanding of utilizing variants of Cadence when you're riding your bike outside. Most of the time, when you ride your bicycle, you're going to spend 90 95% of your time in a relatively narrow range, somewhere around 70 RPMs or revolutions per minute, up to maybe 95, and even in there, most of the time when you ride along the flat road, you can be somewhere between 80 and 90 rpm. That's pretty typical. Great. But there is a powerful training tool that you can do, best done on a trainer, where you work on what we call end-of-range work. And what I mean by the end of the range is, if your low end of that normal range is 60-65 to 70 RPM, upper range, 95 to 100 rpm, doing specific intervals at the low end of that range and the high end of that range. So, at the low end, we call it strength endurance. It is a powerful bridge between the strength training you do and the spike-specific intervals that you want to do, where you do consistent work at a very, very low Cadence. How low? Well, it starts from 60 to 65, goes down to 50 to 55, and even goes down to 40 revolutions per minute. It has very strong, high torque intervals and is the absolute catalyst for improving your riding performance, which is hugely important. Everyone should do low cadence work on the flip end, have neurological efficiency, and improve their pedal stroke by doing relatively low power and high cadence work. We call it neurological conditioning, which is really good for smoothing out the pedal stroke and is very effective. We   Matt Dixon  37:05 just do a little bit of that. It also becomes a tool. If you're ever finding yourself in a place where you've got a strong tailwind, then keeping relatively low power at high speed and being able to sit comfortably at 100, 105, or 110 revolutions per minute without your heart rate blowing up. You want to train it so you become better. So that's a real outdoor application, but the real catalyst that has low Cadence, strength endurance, and is powerful. So that's a lot of information, and you might listen today and think, goodness me, I haven't even thought about any of this stuff. It's really hard. If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out to us, and we'll try and help you a little bit. But do you know the best way to really improve this experiential learning? So I talked about this at the top of the show, but this is a genuine invite if you want me to teach you this and then just hop in for a free session. Reach out to us. We'll set you up. We'll make sure that your train is set up. And if you have a smart trainer, particularly at your house, it's so fun and rewarding, but you're going to get faster, and if you can carry that away, then it's going to help you. And so much like in our webinar, where we offer everyone a free consult, and many, many people took us up. That's good for us because if we get to help people have a great off-season, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, that's super for the sport. Helps people. And if we can help you understand how to weaponize your trainer, purple patch or otherwise, that's good for the sport. And so feel free to join me. It's a lot of fun, and it's a personal invite, two-way video; I don't think you'll regret it. Okay, just remember this as a final message: improving your fitness is not enough for this if you want to gain outsized performance gains, and then I encourage you to focus on mastering bike handling, your posture and pedaling, and Terrain Management and use it to enhance your outdoor riding. Become a Better bike rider. It's so much more fun than just trying to chase power. And if you want breakthroughs, this is it. We have a strong reputation with all of our pro athletes. We always used to get asked how you generate such great bike riders. This is what I'm talking about here. This is it. Because we weren't fitter and we weren't stronger than anyone, we just helped our bike riders distribute that power across the terrain, and that's the speed game. So, if you want to beat your buddies up the hills, this is what we're talking about. Upgrade your skills and get smarter, and it can give you a better speed of return. I hope that helps. I feel very excited to help you in the live bike class. We'll see you soon. Remember, reach out. Info@purplepatchfitness.com, take care. Guys, thanks so much for joining, and thank you for Listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the Purple Patch channel on YouTube, and you will find it there. And you could subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you if you will subscribe. Also, share it with your friends. It's really helpful if you leave a nice, positive review in the comments. Now, if you have any questions, feel free to add a comment, and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. In fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in improving us. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show on the purple patch page, and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset, as we like to call it, so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, Let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience, and we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community with that. I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, do whatever you do, and take care.  

Today's episode is presented by PILLAR PERFORMANCECheck out pillarperformance.shop and use code NERO at checkout for 15% off We rode Amy's Gran Fondo this weekend, qualify for the UCI Gran Fondo world championships. But we wanted to deep dive into gran fondos in 2024. They are most popular road cycling events we have, but are we doing them right? Plenty of gear chat from what we saw as well as an adhoc Tavelo vs Cervelo debate. Finally 5 tips to make your road bike descending even better. Chapters00:30 Qualifying For UCI Gran Fondo World Champs12:51 What's Happening To GF Courses?21:01 Has The UCI Stuffed Up Gran Fondos?24:35 What Did Other Riders Think?33:58 How Much Did It Cost?37:51 Was It Worth It?46:21 Gear Chat From The Weekend55:53 Tavelo vs Cervelo1:10:01 New S5 Expectations1:15:33 YouTube Round Up1:19:18 5 Tips To Better Descending Footage courtesy of @FreshCrits @TheCyclingTattooist @JordanWatkinsRacing @AmysGranFondo2024 Grab a Nero Kit: https://nero-club.myshopify.comSUBSCRIBE On Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1tThe Nero Show is available on your favourite Podcast platformSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0UEODvANsVqrvSZV5TAqBvAmazon:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28558e66-2a6b-4ff5-a6bf-709f05b1ffe9Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nero-cycling-show-|-unfiltered-cycling-podcast/id1659229051-----------------------------------------------------------------------------INSTAGRAM: @chrismiller27 @nerocontinentalTWITTER: @chrismiller @nerocontinentalSTRAVA: https://www.strava.com/athletes/186450Check Out Jesse's Coaching: https://www.nero.club/coaching Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cicloturista Larra Larrau Gran Fondo Isaba con Julen Garjón

Cicloturista Larra Larrau Gran Fondo Isaba con Julen Garjón

¡Estamos de celebración! Recién salido del horno, nuestro capítulo 30 viene con sorpresas. Y es que Egan Bernal acaba de presentar su gran fondo de ciudad, de Bogotá, donde se han unido esfuerzos entre Cycla y la Alcaldía Mayor para regalarnos una experiencia única a todos los que montamos en bicicleta.¡Vamos a adentrarnos en un capítulo para empeliculados! y conocer un poco más el detalle y la minucia de la carrera que se realizará el 17 de noviembre del presente año. ¿Poco o mucho tiempo para entrenar ? Cada uno de los y las cyclasters, dentro de poco lo sabrán.Nos vemos pronto para darnos leña.

Listen in on the chat with the legendary George Hincapie, one of the most recognizable cyclists in the world. Hincapie has taken part in four Olympic Games, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008, in Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, and Beijing, and was a participant in 10 Tour de France races. Why is George on our podcast? Because the Hincapie Gran Fondo will be rolling into town on September 7 and 8. Discover the unique appeal of Gran Fondos, learn about the exciting junior races, and get pumped for a weekend filled with top-tier cycling, community, and family fun. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a beginner rider, this is an event you won't want to miss. Tune in to hear all the details from George himself and get ready to experience the cycling culture that makes Bentonville a premier destination. Stay in the loop by following Hincapie Sports on Instagram and checking out their website—you won't want to miss any updates on this landmark event!You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict. Find us at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.

Meet Carrie Robinson - recent triathlete, musician, and Copywriter & AI Specialist at ZGM Modern Marketing Partners.Carrie's journey into triathlons began with a 60k bike ride at Gran Fondo, an experience that ignited her passion for race training. Embracing the physical and mental benefits of this challenge, she decided to dive into the world of triathlons and challenge her belief that this wasn't something she could do.Beyond her athletic pursuits, Carrie is also a talented writer and musician, performing with her band, Uncle Susan. As a versatile creative, Carrie explores various artistic avenues, including painting and experimenting with AI. Her passion for writing shines through both her personal and professional work, driving her to constantly push her creative boundaries.Join us as we chat with Carrie about her diverse passions, the future of AI, and how embracing challenges can transform your mindset.Follow Carrie:  LinkedIn Follow ZGM: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Website Follow Explore84:  Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | LinkedIn | Website 

Meet Carrie Robinson - recent triathlete, musician, and Copywriter & AI Specialist at ZGM Modern Marketing Partners.Carrie's journey into triathlons began with a 60k bike ride at Gran Fondo, an experience that ignited her passion for race training. Embracing the physical and mental benefits of this challenge, she decided to dive into the world of triathlons and challenge her belief that this wasn't something she could do.Beyond her athletic pursuits, Carrie is also a talented writer and musician, performing with her band, Uncle Susan. As a versatile creative, Carrie explores various artistic avenues, including painting and experimenting with AI. Her passion for writing shines through both her personal and professional work, driving her to constantly push her creative boundaries.Join us as we chat with Carrie about her diverse passions, the future of AI, and how embracing challenges can transform your mindset.Follow Carrie:  LinkedIn Follow ZGM: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Website Follow Explore84:  Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | LinkedIn | Website 

Dobar Dan!Today Uncle Mike and Tony D work on some exercise vocabulary, to be clear its just the vocabulary and not the actual exercises themselves.DJ MOE and the Super Slatko Report will talk about the great Zadar Gran Fondo, a bike race that shows off a ton of what Zadar has to offer that can be seen on 2 wheels!Can't wait, see you there!Visit our website: https://www.letslearncroatian.com/We have a YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/c/LetsLearnCroatianLLC Merch Store: https://www.letslearncroatian.com/llc-storeKeep the content flowing, donate to the LLC: https://www.letslearncroatian.com/llc-supporters-pageBuy the LLC a Cup of Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoKX Collaborate with LLC: https://www.letslearncroatian.com/become-a-sponsorDo you FaceBook, we do: https://www.facebook.com/llcpod/?__tn__=-UC*FWe even do Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/llcpod/?hl=enTeeDee's Soapshttps://www.teedeessoaps.comHello LLC Prieteljie!We launched a Buy Me a Coffee supporters page. Here's your opportunity to become an LLC Members. Lots of incentives, including: an LLC Members Only Magnet, automatic entrance to any LLC Member Only raffles & prizes and access to the LLC Members Only page on our website, where we upload new content monthly.Click on the link below.https://www.buymeacoffee.com/infoKXHvala, Bog!Support the Show.

Levi Leipheimer is a former professional cyclist and the organizer of Levi's Gran Fondo, an event in Sonoma County, CA, with an added competitive edge that's designed to bring excitement back to the American road racing scene. In this episode, Levi and Ian talk about the changing landscape of American bike racing and the opportunities to provide more aspiring cyclists with chances to race.

Chris wins a bike race but Jesse isn't so sure it should be a race. We chat about HUGE carb loading and riding a 1x at a climbing event. POC release a new aero helmet that is set to change the helmet landscape and we discuss the importance of 'feel' in a bike review. Chapters00:00 intro00:51 Carb Loading Details08:08 1x For A Climbing Race10:22 Grand Fondo vs A "RACE"26:38 New POC Helmet39:24 Industry Insiders44:12 Bike Reviews By Feel53:33 Decathlon Winning59:15 The Moment for Women's TourSupported By Pillar PerformanceUse Code "PILLAR" for 15% OffFootage Courtesy of @bikeradar @davidarthur @fede1275 Grab a Nero Kit: https://nero-club.myshopify.comSUBSCRIBE On Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1tBecome a Nero Show supporter on Patreon: http://tinyurl.com/5fyfcbzbThe Nero Show is available on your favourite Podcast platformSpotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0UEODvANsVqrvSZV5TAqBvAmazon:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28558e66-2a6b-4ff5-a6bf-709f05b1ffe9Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nero-cycling-show-|-unfiltered-cycling-podcast/id1659229051 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode Murph sits down with Pasha and Laura to talk about the Tour of the Battenkill, a one day event in rural upstate New York. The annual “Queen of the Classics” will take place in Washington County on May 18, 2024. It is a challenging but an incredibly fun, all-inclusive, single-day cycling event and party. You have three events to choose from: The legendary 77-mile Gran Fondo, a 40-mile Medio Fondo, and the 24-mile Piccolo Fondo. Pasha and Laura tell us all we need to know about the event. Registration is still open! www.tourofthebattenkill.com Luke Hoffman episode: https://soundcloud.com/justgobike/episode-273-iowa-bicycle-coalitions-new-executive-director-luke-hoffman Have a topic for a future episode? Message us at justgobikepodcast@gmail.com. www.ragbrai.com www.murphologypodcast.com RAGBRAI LI Registration: ragbrai.com/ragbrai-li-registration/

The multi-disciplined Tobin Ortenblad joins us on the podcast today. The former u23 national champion in cyclocross, the recently tattooed SSCXWC victor, the often bearded and fun loving Tobin Ortenblad, that is! We talk all facets of cycling from his early days right up through the present at Levi's Gran Fondo. The state of road cycling, his favorite genre of cyclocross, gravel, and everything in between. Join us for this riveting conversation. Follow along on @mctubbbin's via his instagram here.

We're excited to bring this episode to you live and in person here in California. We're on the eve of Levi's Gran Fondo, which has turned into a formidable race for 2024. We talk logistics of juggling many events, Stu's super cool FKT/OKT overnight adventure, and tackle your questions. LGF preview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9usDIA6n8c Send your questions to us at gravelkingspodcast@gmail.com

Tsja, we kunnen hier wel een heel verhaal gaan typen over wat er allemaal in deze aflevering zit, maar het komt er eigenlijk op neer dat deze aflevering eigenlijk alleen maar over onze fantastische trip naar de Strade Bianche gaat. Vier dagen waren we samen met vijf vrienden op trip naar Toscane, naar deze geweldige streek in Italië. We hadden plezier, we waren op roadtrip, we fietsten over prachtige wegen, tussen duizenden Italianen en andere wielerfans, we aten, we dronken, we lachten en we genoten volop.ShownotesEuropean Divide Trail, een gravelroute van Finland naar Portugal (!)De website van de Giro Nello en dan doen we de Insta-pagina er ook meteen maar bijDe van de Giro NelloFiets als een koning in Andorra bij Ride The Elevation, onder leiding van Steven de Jongh Er zijn nog kaarten voor Let's Gravel, op 23 maart in en rond VeenendaalSegmenten van de ShowTT Loosdrecht, het nieuwe rondje-van-een-uurtje van Herman.Camping, van Martijn. Een segment in Oostenrijk waar-ie niet overheen fietste, maar wel in de buurt van was.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/tweewielers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As active, athletic women, we know ourselves better than anyone. We know our pace, our power, and our mindset for training and competing. Perimenopause can make all of that change out of the blue. It can rob us of our confidence and knock us off our game, just when we feel like we're really hitting our stride. Elite cyclist and coach Jill Patterson, 42, lived that reality for months, wondering if she had just “aged out” of her sport before discovering that the muscle and power loss, low motivation, mood swings, fatigue, and sudden aches and pains were in fact perimenopause. This week, we talk about her experience going into the menopause transition and how she got her power, mojo, and competitive edge back.After graduating college, Jill Patterson moved to Japan to teach English. She ended up staying 10 years, picked up road cycling, and was recruited to race on a Japanese women's road racing team. After returning to the US 8 years ago, she continued to explore cycling in all forms, including Gran Fondo, criteriums, gravel, mountain bike, and cyclocross. Today she is a full time cycling coach for athletes from all over the world. Jill continues to race and has achieved many notable wins including the 2018 GFNY World Championship, the 2021 Wedu Segment Challenge, and the 2022 and 2023 USA Cycling Gran Fondo National Championship titles. You can learn more about her at @jillpattersoncycling on Instagram and at jillpattersoncycling.com.Register for the Navigate Your Menopause Course (thru 1/31/24): https://www.feistymenopause.com/navigate-menopause Follow Us on Instagram:Feisty Menopause: @feistymenopause Feisty Media: @feisty_media Selene: @fitchick3 Subscribe to the weekly Feisty Menopause blog: https://www.feistymenopause.com/feistyinbox Hit Play Not Pause Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/807943973376099 Join Level Up - Our Community for Active Women Navigating the Menopause Transition:Join: https://www.feistymenopause.com/monthly-membership-1 Leave your questions for Selene:https://www.speakpipe.com/hitplay Get the Free Feisty Women's Guide to Lifting Heavy Sh*t:https://www.feistymenopause.com/liftheavy Support our Partners:Previnex: Get 15% off your first order with code HITPLAY at https://www.previnex.com/

Erwin Verveken, former professional cyclocross rider and organizer of the UCI World Gravel Championships, discusses the history and growth of the UCI Gravel Series. He explains how the series was created to provide a more diverse and competitive experience for riders, and how it has quickly gained popularity and attracted top riders from around the world. Erwin also shares insights into the qualification process, the different types of gravel courses, and the future of gravel racing. Episode sponsor: Dynamic Cyclist (TheGravelRide for 15% off) Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Key Takeaways: The UCI Gravel Series was created to provide a more diverse and competitive experience for riders, with a variety of courses and race formats. The series has quickly grown in popularity, attracting top riders from around the world and expanding to include more events each year. Gravel racing is a unique blend of road racing and off-road riding, with courses that can vary in technicality and terrain. The UCI Gravel World Championships allows both elite riders and amateurs to compete together, creating a unique and inclusive racing experience. The series is constantly evolving, with new events being added each year and plans to expand to more countries in the future. [TRANSCRIPT] [00:00:00] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Erwin, welcome to the show. [00:00:02] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Thank you. Thank you. It's a pleasure of being here. [00:00:06] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): I'm excited to talk to you and learn more about the UCI World Gravel Championships and a little bit of the history there. But as always, I'd just love to start out with learning a little bit about you. I know you've got a, a strong history in the sport of cycling. So just a quick overview of how you got involved in the sport. **** - (): And then let's talk about how you got involved in. Kind of the event organizing side of the sport with UCI. [00:00:29] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah. So I, I've been a pro rather mainly in cyclocross, uh, from 1995 till 2010. So a 16 year career in cyclocross, uh, uh, from the age of 22 to 38. And then when I retired from cycling in 2010, I started to work as a cyclocross and also a bit of model by coordinator at a lot. So lots of is a Belgian sports marketing company. **** - (): Um, uh, at that time we were, I wouldn't say small, but yeah, it's, it's, it's grown a lot in, in the last, uh, 15 years. Um, and so initially I was only doing. Cyclocross, uh, in winter and mountain bike in summer. And then gradually, uh, I got other projects and in 2011, we started to talk to the, to the UCI to, uh, well, to reform a bit, the, the masters road world championships. **** - (): So, um, yeah, everybody knows Ironman, Ironman, uh, and triathlon. You have to. Qualify somewhere in an arm and worldwide, uh, to get your ticket for the World Championships and, uh, well, the, the, the road Masters World Championships, uh, at the UCI, they were always organized in the same city in, in the same period for, for 20 years in Austria, uh, and there were some complaints of course, because the, the, yeah, always the same course, uh, the same type of riders, um, yeah, World Championships should move, uh, uh, you know, One day it should be a flat and fast race and then a race for climbers or for classical riders. **** - (): So we came with a proposal to reform it like in Ironman with the qualifier series, uh, which, which started in 2011 with seven qualifier events and then a world championships. And well, it moved from seven the next year to 20. And yeah, now for next year, it's. events. It's the biggest series we've ever had. **** - (): 2024. I mean, [00:02:26] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): curious, Erwin, when, when you expanded the qualification, the number of qualification races, did you end up expanding the number of athletes that could actually compete in the world championships for the masters? [00:02:38] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah. Uh, so it has always been 25 percent per age group will qualify for the world championships. And so the results are major made up per age group. Um, and, and, uh, yeah. So from that, uh, point, uh, Uh, yeah. First year I think we had 700 drivers at the world championships. Uh, and then it grew to over a thousand thousands, 500, 2000. **** - (): And in the last few years, we are in between two and a half and 3000, which is still okay. Uh, one year we decided to lower the percentage of qualified rider from 25 to 20 because of safety. Uh, we, we got 3000 riders at the start of, uh. Of one single event on a day, uh, so the Grand Fonda World Championships, but then it was, uh, yeah, 2020, the COVID year, so, and, and, and afterwards, uh, yeah, it took some time for riders to start traveling again. **** - (): So we, we went back to 25%. And in that idea in 2019 at the end of the season in a debriefing with UCI, we proposed also to make up a similar series of gravel events. Gravel is big in the States. I think the first real gravel events date from 2005, 2006 or so. Um, and they, yeah, we saw in Europe and other continents, but mainly Europe, um, gravel has always been Uh, a bit more recreational, um, never competitive. **** - (): Um, and it's only, let's say the last five years that there's really competitive parallel events. Um, so, so yeah, and at the end of 2019, we proposed. A similar setup with the qualifier series, uh, leading up to a yearly world championships. Uh, which then, well, got postponed in 2020, 2021 because of COVID. Uh, so the, the, the first season was 2022 with 11 qualifier events. **** - (): Uh, and this year already 18. And next year 25. So yeah, it's growing very fast and especially the number of participants is growing very very fast. So um And and the big difference is in gravel in the gravel world cheers and also the gravel world championships also elite riders can participate. So Where the, the ground from the world series is mainly for masters and amateurs. **** - (): Uh, the gravel world series and the gravel world championships is, is for everybody. Uh, but still in the same concept where. In front there is a real battle amongst the best elite riders but in the back you as a recreational rider, you can also participate and if you're really fit and Keen and and also for the masters at a later age You can still qualify for the world championships and also right there together with well this year what for not more each? **** - (): Following they were all at the start So yeah, I can imagine if you if you start in the back end and you're just five minutes behind these riders Uh, at the start, uh, that it's an amazing feeling to, to be in the same race with all those top stars. [00:05:47] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah, yeah, that's I remember speaking to Bruce from the Highland Gravel Classic in Arkansas, who's the the one US gravel race that's part of the UCI series this year and the coming year in 2024. And I remember walking away from that conversation with that same feeling that Despite what some people in the United States may think about, you know, high performance gravel racing, and as it may detour from their vision of a community style gravel race as people who are around the sport and like other aspects of the sport, just being able to line up at a, at a UCI event with the names you just mentioned would be a thrill of a lifetime. [00:06:27] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah. I think so. Um, of course, gravel in the States, uh, is, is, is much older and has much more tradition and, uh, your biggest events are, are still bigger than, than the UCI events. Uh, our biggest event this year was 1700 and probably next year we will go over 2000, but yeah, if you speak about the real classics, uh, unbound and, and, and, and, well, you have several of them. **** - (): They are more than double than our biggest race at the moment, but I think we still have potential to grow. Um, I see that, um, what, what really excites me is that after all these events and especially after the world championships, you all, you hear all these top stars telling, Hey, this was fun, huh? Wout van Aert had big trouble, a flat tire, a crash at the world championships, but he still continued because he liked it so much. **** - (): And he yeah. Enjoyed. Riding a gravel race. So yeah, he is, by the way, my neighbor because he's living in the same city as me even. Well, if you count in miles like you do in the States, it's a bit more than a mile from where I live. And he called me and told, Hey, I want to do a UCI gravel race because I want to do the world championships this year. **** - (): So all of a sudden he was there at the Belgian qualifier event in August and then six weeks later at the world championships and he really enjoyed it. So And that's the good thing. They are pure ambassadors, not only for cycling sports in general, but also for gravel because, uh, they have a lot of fun. **** - (): Um, Valverde was there, Moritz, he said, well, it's my first gravel race I ever did, world championships. I always liked. Going off road, uh, mountain bike, but in gravel there's much more speed, it's much more fun. And, and yeah, I want to do this more next year, especially because of course he's wearing the nice rainbow jersey. [00:08:26] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): That's right. Yeah. I think it's going to be interesting to see how within the European Peloton, if it follows the U S. You know, in, in the early days of gravel as professional athletes started moving over like Ted King, for example, would dabble in it. And then I think he told some of his ex pro tour friends that, Hey, this is fun. **** - (): Plus you started to see them being able to make a career out of it. And obviously the likes of Wout van Aert is not going to leave the pro tour anytime soon, but it is interesting to think about. Riders who are later in their career, who still have power in their legs and enthusiasm in their heart to start seeing European gravel racing as a way to extend their career in a way that maybe gives them a little bit more joy than they had racing in the pro peloton after all those [00:09:16] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah. No, for sure. Um, I think there are two types of writers. You have the real top stars, like Rod van Aert, like Moritz and Demi Vollering. And I'm sure they will probably do one or two events a year when it fits in their program. But their focus will never be on gravel, uh, during the season, but well, the position of the gravel world championships at the end of the road season, uh, is ideal for them to end their season. **** - (): And I'm sure that, uh, one day, uh, probably also, uh, Pogacar will be there. He was already there at the first world championships last year. but wasn't allowed from his team to take part, but he was in the, in the VIP area at the finish line. The day after he won the Tour of Lombardia, so the last classic of the season, it was on Saturday and the gravel world championships were, well, nearby. **** - (): It's only a hundred kilometer away. So, and he really enjoyed it and he said, well, I want to do this race. But, yeah, it's still, um, there's still like the feeling of, okay, this is a dangerous sport, uh, uh, you can crash, you can, yeah, whatever, and it can jeopardize your next season, but as it's at the end of the season, I don't see really a point, uh, you see some, some crashes and, and, um, Yeah, that's, that's probably part of gravel, but it's not like a major crash. **** - (): It's always in small groups. Uh, gravel is, is, is not to be compared with, with mountain bike or cyclocross. It's a, it's, it's an off road discipline, but the type of event is much more road race. Um, and that's what we also also see in the last two years. I'm having my background in cyclocross and cyclocross is very big in Belgium, but the real gravel, I know the real cyclocross specialists, like the ones who do the full season of cyclocross. **** - (): Uh, and not focus on the road. Yeah. They usually, by the end of the race, the last hour, they, they, they lose contact with the, with, with, with the, the road is, um, uh, gravel is much more a road race than it will ever be, a cyclocross or a mountain bike. It's not technical at all. Um, and, and yeah, in my opinion, it's, it's, it's for the pure. **** - (): Road specialists from the, from the spring classic said that the ones who like, uh, party rebel, we're like tour of Flanders, uh, those type of guys. They are the ones who are the real gravel specialists. [00:11:41] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. I think that makes sense. I think one thing that we've learned in racing gravel over these years is that anything can happen and it's your ability as a rider to deal with unpredictable situations. And to your point as a cyclocross racer. Every lap, there's an unpredictable situation that you have to deal with and you have to deal with nursing your bike and not being too hard on the equipment. **** - (): And there's certainly no, you know, there's no team car following you very quickly. Although in cyclocross, you can swap [00:12:09] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah. You can switch bikes two times a lap. Um, and, and you can have it cleaned and everything. So, um, no, that's, that's, I think it makes. It's part of the story why it's, it's so popular because, uh, he lost 10 minutes at the world championships, but he still continued. And it's more like the epic, right? **** - (): Like you see in, uh, in Paris, uh, it's, it's kind of a survival race. Um, even though you have a lot of bad luck in the beginning, the race is never over. You can still continue. You can still make up and, and, and, uh, close gaps. And so. That feeling of, of, of, of like a real epic race in, in epic circumstances. At this moment, we, we had to ice the world championships in dry, in dry circumstances, but yeah, one day we'll also have them in, uh, in very wet circumstances, like you had, uh, I think unbound was this year in very muddy conditions. **** - (): So, and that will make it very epic. Uh, but to me it's, it's yeah, if you compare it with European. Cycling it's, it's, it's, it's, it's much more a copy of, uh, what Paris Roubaix is every year. [00:13:24] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah, yeah, I was going to ask you to the extent in which you, you were there and understand the run up when that first world championships event happened in the qualifiers. How are you thinking about the criteria for the course and course construction? Were there some constraints that the UCI put on the event to make it in the mold of what they were expecting? [00:13:47] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Well, the first year, first of all, um, because of COVID and, and, and yeah. Let's say COVID ended, but, uh, yeah, everybody was still afraid to set up a new event and even the World Championships, uh, beginning of 2022. We had a few candidates, uh, to run the World Championships, but, uh, one after another, they decided, okay, maybe it's too early. **** - (): Let's skip 2022, but we'll focus on 2023 or 2024. Um, So we found an organizer rather late in Italy, so Filippo Pozzato, the ex pro rider. He did a good job because it was like on a short period. He had to prepare the World Championships, but the World Championships were not the typical gravel race. I know from from this doing this series for sure. **** - (): Not the typical gravel race you have in the States. It was like a 50 50 road gravel race and even the gravel was like, yeah, it was flat. It was Um, yeah, to me a bit too much of a road race. Um, um, um, but yeah, it was all last minute. I think that the, uh, the organizer was awarded two months prior to the race. **** - (): Uh, then yeah, the full process of having courses approved, having them checked and then getting the necessary approvals from the different towns. Yeah, it took some time and there was not really. to, to, to, to make an update, um, um, which was done this year, this year. Uh, we had to switch organizer and it was also, uh, only, only two months before the world championships, but the course, which was presented was much better than the first edition, uh, in percentage was more off road, more gravel, but also much more exciting, uh, flats, uh, yeah. **** - (): Paved sections in between, but also a lot of elevation, um, and a very beautiful course, I think very different from what you have in the States. Um, if, if I see the images and the, and the videos from, from Unbound and the American races, yeah, they are. Even more road racing, uh, on gravel roads, um, yeah, in percentage, much more gravel roads, but it's less technical than what we see as gravel events in mainly Europe, which are, um, I wouldn't say they are not more towards mountain bike for sure or not, but they are, um, not wide open big boulevards where you can ride the truck. **** - (): Uh, it's always a smaller, uh, Uh, yeah, forest roads, farm roads. Um, it's, it's more technical. [00:16:38] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a wide diversity of gravel racing in the United States. Obviously, to your point, the Unbound may be on sort of dirt roads [00:16:48] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah. And that's maybe the image we have from, from American gravel racing. [00:16:51] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah, yeah, no, it's very interesting to hear you say that because if I'm thinking about like what you might see from an unbound or an SVT gravel, that would very much be the takeaway. **** - (): I would have as well that these are, you know, sort of road racing style open, you know, wide roads that give a lot of opportunity for moving around. Um, but if you dig into the gravel cycling world, there are a lot of events that really push The capabilities of the bikes and really create sections that have a huge impact on the race based on one's technical abilities. **** - (): So, you know, they might go into single track, they might go into mud, they might have river crossings, all the types of things that would really push both the rider's skill levels and equipment. [00:17:37] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Well, for, for the UCI, uh, two things, of course, when, when we started up the, the UCI Gravel Series and the Gravel World Championships. Um, one of the first things we decided is, uh, you have a few of, of, of, uh, of very long, uh, endurance races, uh, a month is, uh, 300 kilometers or even more than 200 miles. Um, [00:18:00] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. 200 miles. Yeah, [00:18:01] - ():  Erwin Verveken: we decided to, with the UCI gravel world series to have like the typical, um, duration of a road race. **** - (): So five, six hours. Um, racing, not, not like unmount this, I guess, 10, 11 hours of racing. Uh, and that's what we are. We're not aiming for that. That's, that's like, yeah, a very big endurance race. Uh, our goal is to keep it in between 150 and 200 kilometers. Um, depending a bit on the elevation and on what is available. **** - (): Um, and then, uh, a second thing is so like single track. It is possible when there's no alternative, so to connect two sections, uh, with a small single track, uh, towards the end of the race. Yeah, it's not preferred, but if there's no other solution, then we allow it. But the big majority should be on wide open gravel roads where we can also ride a car. **** - (): That's the goal of the UCI Gravel World Series. [00:19:10] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. I certainly noticed in the, in the race coverage this past year, and certainly commentary from both the men and women on the U S team that the narrowness of the roads. And you hear this refrain, even when road cyclists go over to Europe, it's just another world when you're trying to pack 200 people into these, through these narrow villages. **** - (): And certainly the other big thing that stood out in some of the video I saw was, Some of the, um, the 180 degree switchbacks on the roads and trails that the riders had to navigate and the, the chaos that ensued around that and how that impact the race. [00:19:47] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah, well, I'm not sure about the 180 degree turns. Uh, you mean now in the last world championships? [00:19:55] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. There was one scene that I saw the riders cutting across the, the earliest part of the corner to get around and join the group. [00:20:04] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Yeah, there were some. Uh, well, it's, it's a famous YouTube video from, from the law at the first half an hour of the, of the gravel world championships in the elite category. Yeah. I don't know. I think it's from an American rider who filmed it with his scope. [00:20:18] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): yeah. I think it's from Payson McKelvin. [00:20:21] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Um, yeah, it gives a good idea of the hectic in the start. **** - (): Uh, and of course, well, our, our, our courses are not fence. They are just marked with science and everybody has a GPS device on his bike. Um, so that's, yeah. I presume it's also the same in the States, so you don't have, uh, uh, tape, uh, to, to, to, to prevent riders from cutting corners. So, um, I think that's, that's the spirit of gravel. **** - (): So, um, yeah, it's only in the, in the first. 10, 15 k in, uh, uh, in the course. Uh, but next year, because then we are ourselves, the organized, so the company I'm working for Goot, so is, uh, organizing the, the next world championships in Belgium. Um, yeah, it will hardly be impossible to, to cut corners there, uh, in the, in the first. **** - (): Part of the race and where it's possible. Yeah, we'll probably also try to prevent it Without making too much Yeah It's, it's, it's never the goal to make like a fenced cyclocross or mountain bike course. Um, that's, that's not our goal, but yeah, different type of racing. Uh, I've done, yeah, because I'm, I'm managing the, these, these races. **** - (): And, um, of course also ex pro rider. So I take my bike to a lot of these events and try to ride them. To get a good impression on the different type of events, uh, if I compare our events, um, uh, which are in the series, there's indeed a lot of different events. Uh, next year we will also, uh, organize the, the Belgian Gravel Championships, uh, which are. **** - (): Uh, very typical American style and Bond style, uh, gravel racing, which is very uncommon in Belgium. But yeah, in the north, there's like a section where, where we can have those kind of races. Uh, so. There's a bit of a difference, but, but yeah, uh, the good thing about gravel is that, uh, you can have very technical races, um, uh, but, but the majority are on wide open roads, fast, uh, uh, you don't need to be too technical. **** - (): If you see, um, more rich winning the world championships. Although I think he's very technical as a rider, as a roadie. Uh, but also Jasper Stavun winning the first European Championships. Um, I don't think he's very technical as a roadie. So, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's something which, which can suit any, any, uh, any road specialist. [00:23:00] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Gotcha. And when you think about the courses in the men's courses and the women's courses, as I understand it, they differed in distance. Can you talk a little bit about the logic behind that? [00:23:11] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Well, I know that in, in, in, in the States and also let's say in, in, in general in English speaking countries, it's also the same in Britain and in Australia. There's a, there's a big movement to have women and men having the same distance. If you see it cycling, uh, in history, and then I mean, from 50 years back, and even now, all disciplines, uh, being cyclocross, mountain bike, road, uh, women and men have different distances for the World Championships and World Cups. **** - (): Uh, you can be, it's worth a discussion. I know that, uh, in, in. The English speaking countries, there's more, uh, a vote to have them equal, but I don't think there's, well, gender equality doesn't mean that they have to have the, the same distance. I think the media attention should be the same and, and the price money should be the same, but, uh, the, the distance, uh, if you have, uh, the women racing over 260, 270 kilometers, the road world championships. **** - (): It would give a totally different dynamic and it would mean a much more individual race by the end of the race because then it's pure endurance. Well, for the man. Uh, yeah, it's it's another type of race, so I'm not really convinced if they should have, uh, the same distance for men and women. Um, [00:24:42] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Are you thinking about it in terms of time? Are you shooting for a similar amount of time out there on the bike for [00:24:48] - ():  Erwin Verveken: no, not even time. Um, we did many surveys amongst the participants after the World Championships, uh, both in Gran Fondo and Gravel. And if you ask, uh, women if they prefer to have the same distance as men, probably Americans and, yeah, Australians, they would go for it. Yeah, the same distance, but it depends also a bit on what riders prefer. **** - (): Uh, everybody is, is, if you're somebody who has a great endurance, uh, you will pick the same distance as the man. If you're more explosive and you're more a tactic, uh, uh, yeah, a strong sprinter type of rider. You prefer a shorter course. So, but in general, we see that, uh, if we ask men, women directly, our participants, that the majority still prefers a shorter distance for, uh, for women. **** - (): Um, [00:25:41] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. I mean, I think it's an interesting debate and I'm certainly not one to opine too strongly one way or the other, but I do imagine that you have more dynamic racing in the shorter distances [00:25:53] - ():  Erwin Verveken: that's what I'm. [00:25:54] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): people complaining with me about this. [00:25:56] - ():  Erwin Verveken: So I, I don't know, women on the road, for instance, the, uh, the road, World Championships now in Glasgow for women. I don't know, but I think there were 150, 160 and men were 260. In general, they're around that distance. But if you have the women also on the 260, well, it will be a pure endurance race. **** - (): And by the end, they will be, there's a big chance that there will be one. One by one. So, um, and then on the meet, I'm floating can start racing again because she's she's a super strong rider who survives everybody by the end of the race when it's a very hard race. Um, so, yeah, um, it's worth the discussion. **** - (): But if you ask the riders, I think the majority will still prefer to have a shorter distance for women because it's indeed another dynamic. [00:26:51] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. When you think about, uh, and I do want to get into the master's element of this cause I think that's fascinating. And for our listeners who are non professional athletes, I think it's a great and interesting opportunity. But one final question at the elite level, how do you determine how many riders an individual country can bring to the event? [00:27:10] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Well, so the basic goal is that everybody should qualify. But, uh, in order to promote the first editions of the World Championships and, uh, yeah, to also have national teams and the federations involved, in 2022 and also this year, the UCI decided to grant 20 wildcards to every national federation. For riders, um, um, so in the past two years, now 2022, 2023, they could be used by any rider. **** - (): Uh, so also the Masters and, and, and, and the Age Group riders. Uh, for 2024, it will only be limited for the Elite category. And gradually, it's our goal to limit the number of wildcards. So riders should be really be encouraged to qualify. But on the other hand, first year we had Peter Sagan, we had Mathieu we had, uh, Greg van Auermaat all participating. **** - (): And without those wildcards, they wouldn't have been there. Uh, Pauline Ferrand Bréveau. This year Vollering, uh, Wout van Aert, uh, well, Wout qualified, but, uh, the other riders, Mohoritch, um, we were really happy with them at the start. So we want to keep a certain amount of, uh, of, of wildcards for the, for the top level riders. **** - (): And yeah, we'll see from year to year, uh, evaluate after every edition of the World Championships, if we have to stick to, uh, I don't know, maybe 10 wildcards, uh, maximum per country, or more wildcards for the bigger countries, uh, less wildcards for the smaller countries. But this year we also had riders from Guinea Bissau and from Barbados and, uh, yeah, like very exotic countries at the start. **** - (): Uh, and they wouldn't have been there without these wildcards, so, um. Yeah, I'm still in favor of having them, but maybe limit them a bit more. So the drivers really are encouraged to have to go to a qualifier. Yeah, [00:29:04] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): And you mentioned that that qualification, it sounds like it's standard across the board. If you finish at a UCI gravel world cup qualifier event in the top 25%, you've punched your tickets to go to the world championships. [00:29:17] - ():  Erwin Verveken: The only change next year is that, um. And the first two years, qualification was always per age group, but then we saw this year Verde. Yeah. He saw, uh, in the meantime, 42 years old. So he, he then had to qualify in the 40 to 44 age category and Okay. The, the two races he did were, were not the biggest one. **** - (): I think the, the one in, uh, the two in Spain, he won, were like five, 600 drivers at the start. So then it's still okay to to, to have him in the front. But well, as these events grow bigger and bigger, uh, we decided to also have the elite category as part of the qualifier series. So before every race, you have to choose, okay, I want to go and qualify for the world championships elite or for my age group. **** - (): Uh, so like a rider being 19 to 34 years old, if he chooses to sign up for the elite category, Of course, with an elite license, then he can only qualify for the elite category at the world championships. If he chooses to qualify or to sign up for the age groups, he can only qualify for his age group. Um, and that's what we decided this year to change. **** - (): Um, so that the elite category can also have older riders, uh, in their 30s, 35, 40 years old, like Valverde, like, uh, yeah, many of them will retire from road racing and like, uh, Jan Baklans, Nicky Terpstra, uh, yeah, probably also a lot of Americans who are over 35, but still want to race elite at a high level. **** - (): So, yeah. they didn't get the opportunity to race elite. [00:30:58] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): you'd, you'd may have mentioned this earlier, but just so I understand on race day are the amateur men lining up behind the elite men and starting kind of alongside them. [00:31:10] - ():  Erwin Verveken: at the qualifier events, uh, well, they're different options and we give a lot of freedom to the different organizers to set up or the setup of the start can either be man elite in front, followed by women elite. And then with a small interval, the age groups, uh, or we can have many leads followed by men age groups. **** - (): Let's say until the age of 50 and then the women elite with all with a small interval, but it depends a bit on the size of the field. And yeah, I think next year our biggest event will be over 2000. So then you have to make some. Rules to, to, to make a fair start and a fair reason. Uh, but we still give the opportunity, um, to riders without a license to qualify for the world championships in their age groups. **** - (): So it's only for the elite category that you need a license. If you want to race, uh, in the age groups, uh, you're 42 years old and you still want to do world championships. So you can go to a qualifier, take part, um, and then qualify for the world championships. And it's only. to sign up for the world championships that you need a year license, so not to qualify. [00:32:20] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Super exciting. Let's talk about the 2024 Trek UCI gravel world series calendar. You've expanded now to a total, is it a 26 events [00:32:31] - ():  Erwin Verveken: well there's uh in the 25 Qualifying for the 2024 World Championships and one was in October, uh, past the World Championships for the 2025 World Championships. So, uh, but yeah, we have been expanding with, uh, a lot of extra races. So if I look at the list, one extra in Austria, one extra in Italy. Um, I'm running off the list here now on my computer. **** - (): Uh, there's a new race in Kenya. There's a new race, a second year race in Germany, Switzerland, one in Wales in the UK. Um, and then by the end of the season, also a second new one in Spain. Um, and there will most likely be two. Uh, extra ones being added later, uh, which still are struggling with approvals. Uh, so yeah, there's, uh, there's, it's no secret that there's one candidate in Rwanda where the world championships on the road take place next now in 2025. **** - (): Um, and, and a second one in Switzerland, uh, they will most likely be added, uh, yeah, in the next few weeks. [00:33:48] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): when you, what does it take for an event to become part of the series and are these events typically events that have run in the past and then embrace the UCI series and come to you and say, yeah, I'd like to be part of it or are they events that happened from the ground up? With the sole intention of being a UCI qualifier. [00:34:07] - ():  Erwin Verveken: It's it's a mix. Um, we have existing events will have been run as a competitive event before we have, uh, fun events like, uh, leisure events like non competitive events with been switched to a competitive event. We have big organizers who have run professional road racing or Gran Fondo racing, like the race in Switzerland is run by the same team who has the UCI Gran Fondo for many years. **** - (): Um, yeah, so. New events will have all of a sudden started up, um, the second race in, in, uh, Germany, for instance, has run the motorbike marathon world championships five years ago or six years ago, 2017. Uh, so it's a mix. Yeah. Um, [00:34:59] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): And then, you know, obviously there's presumably an application process for the event to become part of the series. Do the events then need to take on that same kind of, uh, men will race by themselves. Women will race by themselves. The distance will be in it within certain parameters. Is that what the, how they have to adopt to the UCI landscape? [00:35:20] - ():  Erwin Verveken: yeah. Well, but as I told, we're not too difficult in these first years. We don't want to, the big criticism we had, uh, especially from, from, uh, from, from the States, uh, in the beginning is, well, you see, I will make it, uh, too much regulations and things like that. Um, well, we decided not to make, uh, any regulation. **** - (): So the bike is free, of course, no e bike, but, uh, If you want to raise a mountain bike, or a gravel bike, or a road bike, whatever bike you like, the perfect bike that fits best for that course is, is, is, is, is free to use. Uh, distance, well, there's a rule now, I think the minimum distance is 75k and the maximum 200. **** - (): Um, but for the rest, uh, there's no Regulation on tire width, uh, starting procedure is also quite flexible. Uh, we discuss it with every organizer, but, uh, yeah, we are pretty flexible in, in allowing things. [00:36:23] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Gotcha. What are the things that, that struck me when I looked at the 2024 calendar? Was we still only have one event here in the United States? Is that intentional? Is it just [00:36:35] - ():  Erwin Verveken: no, no. Because [00:36:36] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): for events? And [00:36:39] - ():  Erwin Verveken: let's say that we would like to have, um, in the, the, the big traditional cycling countries in Europe, two events, like we have now. Two in Belgium, two in Holland, two in Germany, two in Switzerland, two in Italy, two in Spain, uh, only one in France, two in the uk. And then for the big countries like the, the States, Canada or Australia, uh, we can go up to three events. **** - (): And I've been in very good context with, with potential, uh, uh, yeah. Interested organizers who have started the process of, yeah. Um, yeah, uh, having different online meetings with me, but also of course. On their side, getting the approvals, um, and speaking to their sponsors. And we have been very close with one organizer, um, yeah, to finally become the second qualifier. **** - (): And I'm sure that in 2025, we will have at least two, probably even three events. Uh, and also in Canada, I'm in touch with a second Canadian event, uh, which is likely to sign. And which I had expected to sign already for 2024. But yeah, the, uh, it's also the same in, in, uh, in Grand Fonda racing. Um, It's, it's, it's more challenging for me to convince, uh, an American organizer to, to join, uh, the series. **** - (): Um, a part of it is because, well, they, um, there is like, um, let's say, uh, uh, a general criticism in everything which is related to regulations and to federations within the states. That's what I learned from my different contexts. Uh, people don't like to be. To regulate it, although I think we are quite flexible. **** - (): Um, uh, and, uh, another big thing is in Europe, there is, uh, yeah, for organizing and we're speaking about the financial part of the, of, of, of, of organizing an event is in, in, uh, in the States, there's not such a system of, of government funding. So in Europe, but also in Africa, we have three African events to in Australia, uh, people organizers apply for fundings with the city, the region or an entity from the government, which puts in money to promote events of a high level, but also because they generate a lot of tourism. **** - (): If I see that this year, the European Championships, we organized ourselves, uh, uh, on the 1st of October. Well, we had 1, 700 riders coming from, I don't know exactly 30 or 35 different countries, but they all stay in the hotel for a few nights because they want to do a record right a few days before they stay after they go and have dinner, they buy a souvenir, they rent a car. **** - (): So there's a lot of economic return for the region. And that system doesn't really exist in the, in the States, as far as I know, from, from my country. [00:39:45] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. You know, it's true. I've talked about this on a number of occasions with different event organizers and it's, it is super interesting. Like there are some rural regions that are trying to reinvent themselves where you do get some of that interplay with the local city government and great deal of enthusiasm to bring riders in because having them. **** - (): Yeah. A thousand people and their families over a weekend is a great economic boom for those cities. And then in other cases, you have the exact opposite mentality, which is we don't want any more people coming here. We don't need athletes to come into our town. You know, particularly I live in the San Francisco Bay area [00:40:23] - ():  Erwin Verveken: which is really a pity. Um, I think. [00:40:27] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): very much [00:40:27] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Sports, sports in general, especially while I'm living in Belgium, which is probably the cycling country together with Italy and France, we have, uh, every little town has his own club and has at least a competitive rider and this, uh, yeah, uh, you have to drive maximum one hour to do a race on Saturday and Sunday, uh, in every discipline. **** - (): So that's, that's the good thing about, uh, well. living in a traditional cycling country, but also for organizers. Uh, excuse me. Um, so yeah, the, the, the fundings we have are necessary to set up big events and they are live on television. It's part of our culture. They generate, as I told you, a lot of. **** - (): Economic return, but not only economic return, it's also, yeah, promotion for the region if you have like a very nice, um, yeah, uh, area with, with a beautiful nature. It's a good promotion for, for, for the region to, to generate also other type of tourism. The race we now organized on the 1st of October, which will also fit us as a first, no, the next world championships next year in Belgium. **** - (): Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a national park. It's a big forest area. It's being promoted now through these kinds of events and the weeks before, but especially the weeks after. The European Championships we organized there. It was full of people, yeah, uh, hiking, uh, um, riding their bikes. And they also come and then, yeah, uh, it generates tourism and tourism means money for the region. **** - (): And, um, yeah, that's, that's the good thing about, uh, yeah, cycling in, in, in, in Belgium, for instance. [00:42:24] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah, yeah, if I was to sort of read the tea leaves, so to speak about the U. S. gravel cycling scene sentiment around the U. C. I. gravel world championships and the qualifier events, I would say, I. I'm reading a market change this year after the event, we sent some of our best athletes over there, there was good exposure. **** - (): Obviously we wish that the, the women's race was able to be televised, but I understand what happened there, but seeing the scene and seeing the camaraderie of the U S team, I believe has translated to a sort of a general uplifting of the UCI brand within gravel. And this idea that, you know, the racing is different. **** - (): It's, it's, it's different and unique in its own way. And the experience is quite powerful, you know, to go to a world level event where you're representing your country, whether it's at an elite level or at the master's level, it's just super exciting. And it's a feeling that compares differently to what it feels like to be at Unbound or SBT Gravel. **** - (): It's its own unique and special thing that I think more US riders are now aspiring to. [00:43:38] - ():  Erwin Verveken: No, I'm sure. So I'm not this. Well, uh, the biggest travel event worldwide and a long tradition and it's, it's, but it's still, uh, I guess a 90 or 95 percent based American event. Participants, uh, they come from many different countries, but The big majority is still American. If you're at the World Championships, you're, first of all, dressed in your national kit, which is fairly prestigious, it's very, yeah. **** - (): Riders are proud, and especially Americans are proud to wear their national colors. Uh, they ride in a team, they travel towards an event, uh, and then you're next shoulder to shoulder at the start grid, next to a British rider, an Italian, a Slovenian, a Belgian, uh, which creates a special atmosphere. Um, and yeah, the first year there was a lot of criticism on the course. **** - (): Um, I agree for a part of it. I was, I wasn't the best course. I was not also, also not a hundred percent convinced on the course this year. It was pure promotion for gravel. Uh, and, and The fact that, uh, yeah, also your best gravel rider, Keegan Swanson, was there. Yeah, it was also a good promotion for our world championships. **** - (): But, yeah, in the end, I'm sure that let him develop a bit longer in an international gravel scene. He'll probably, yeah, he can win the world championships for sure. And then he would be a great ambassador, uh, wearing the, the, the, the, the, the, the rainbow jersey also in the state. So, and our biggest goal is to still, because we have been in talks with USA Cycling to bring the, the World Championships, uh, to, to the States. **** - (): And there were some very interested, uh, organizers, uh, we were very close to a deal, uh, in the first year, but unfortunately, well, then, uh, they were a bit hesitating and, and decided to skip. For the next few years, but then given the very big explosion of gravel racing in Europe, all of a sudden, yeah, it was awarded until now, uh, 20, 28. **** - (): Uh, so it's, uh, uh, yeah, they missed an opportunity. Um, Yeah. [00:45:51] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Have you, so we know that 2024 will be in Belgium. Have you announced where the roadmap goes in the subsequent years? [00:45:59] - ():  Erwin Verveken: 2025 is France, Nice. So the South of France, uh, 2026 is, is, uh, the seven event in Western Australia. Uh, which is now already part of the, of the, of the UCR gravel. We'll see is 2027 is again, the combined world championships of the UCR, which now took place in Glasgow this past August, and they will then also have gravel. **** - (): Which is again in France, so the Haut Savoie region, which is the Alps. It's, uh, if you see the mountain stages of the Tour de France, so that area, there will be a lot of climbing. Um, that's 2027, and then 2028 is Alula in Saudi Arabia. Uh, which is a big sports city, and they have a big and huge budget, uh, to promote cycling, and especially gravel is one of their key. **** - (): So, um, and then 2029, I know there's a lot of interest. Um, um, and, uh, yeah, hopefully one day I'm sure that if we have a very good candidate in the States, uh, the UCI would be very happy to, to, to have the world championships awarded to, to the States, uh, uh, because, well, in the end, the history of gravel racing is, is, is in, in the U S Midwestern. [00:47:18] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Erwin, thank you so much for the time. I appreciate learning more about UCI's approach and everything you're doing to promote the sport. Very much appreciate it. [00:47:28] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Well, it's a pleasure. It's, uh, also it was nice talking to an American audience. Uh, uh, so, uh, yeah, happy to, to explain what we are doing and what our plans are for the future years. [00:47:42] - ():  Craig Dalton (host): Amazing. Thanks again. [00:47:44] - ():  Erwin Verveken: Thank you.    

I put this on YouTube a couple years ago, but it translates nicely to podcast so I'm putting it here as wellOften when I post a photo from a bike ride, someone will correct me for something weird, quoting a “Rule #.” I've had people make fun of a riders' hairy legs in a picture I posted, and I think back to when I started, how intimidating it was to figure out all the details. Years later, I literally was a pro, but I still had people explaining to me how to look “pro.”The truth is that everyone crashes the first time they try clipless pedals and we've all gotten a big grease stain on our calf and walked around with it all day like a piece of spinach in our teeth. I don't think these “rules” were meant to exclude. I think they were fun, tongue-in-cheek, maybe a reference, but they have been misapplied. I decided that it's time for an update or an alternative. It can evolve if you have suggestions, but I offer this to start:The New Rules of Cycling: AKA PhiluminatiRule #1: Everyone riding a bike and being safe and having fun is doing it right.Rule #2: Wear whatever the hell you want.Rule #3: Nothing on your bike has to match. Cycling is already expensive, complicated, elitist, and often sexist and racist. Don't make it harder because someone's tires aren't the same brand.Rule #4: A Gran Fondo is as competitive as you want it to be, but the group ride is a workout, not a race. You should have no feelings about winning, not winning, who crossed the imaginary line first for no prize or how they did it.Rule #5: In traffic, we take the space we need, obey the laws that make sense for us, and try to be courteous. Pedestrians have right of way. If you want cars to respect cyclists, cyclists have to respect people on foot.Rule #6: We all wave to each other. This includes triathletes, commuters, e-bikes, homeless people, and scooters. We're in this together. The enemy is car culture.Rule #7: If you're not into helmets that's your decision, but do respect the policies of who you're riding with. We don't helmet shame (adult) strangers we see without them, but don't show up on the group ride like that if that's not how everyone else does it.Rule #8: Strava is a social media platform, not a race. Follow Strava's policies, express yourself with your cool bike rides and your pictures and fitness. If you lose a KOM, you remember that a KOM means nothing. You give Kudos and get inspired to improve and try to take it back.Rule #9: For fucks sake don't litter. I can't believe I have to say that.Rule #10: Suffering is a choice–not a rule. You're no more of a cyclist than someone else because you go faster or they stay home when it's raining.Rule #11 (This is broad to cover anything I'm missing): Don't be a dick.

Hoy hablaremos de cómo se debe preparar un gran fondo. Se viene el gran fondo de Boyacá y la Ruta Pantano en el Valle del Cauca, reto Movistar el 22 de octubre en Cundinamarca, el giro de Rigo el 12 de noviembre en girardot, a finales de noviembre el Gran fondo de Nairo en Santander. Con este minicalendario de competencias amateur siempre surgen las mismas preguntas… cómo me preparo? Cuántos km debo hacer para competir bien? Cómo me alimento? Cómo preparo mi estrategia de carrera? Cómo hago el alistamiento a la bicicleta? Cómo deben ser las cargas previas al evento? Etc… muchas preguntas, casi siempre las mismas porque siempre habrá gente nueva participando en estos retos.. para resolver éstas y otras dudas disponemos este capítulo. No olvides dejarnos tus comentarios, sugerencias, etc en la descripción del programa. También nos puedes encontrar en @germanaponte15 y en @jenarosport

Esta será la tercera edición del Gran Fondo de la Policía Nacional. Todos los apasionados por el ciclismo pueden participar e inscribirse hasta el 25 de septiembre.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cycling figured it out with the Gran Fondo. A gathering with no pressure and a celebration of the activity and the community.So why don't we have the equivalent of the Gran Fondo for every other outdoor adventure sport? Running in particular relies on races for the runners to gather even if only a small percentage of racers can actually win any given race.Today on THE ROCK FIGHT Colin talks about the how the running community (and every other segment of those who go outside) could benefit from adopting the Gran Fondo from our bike riding friends.Click here to hear Colin break up with running.Please follow THE ROCK FIGHT and give us a 5 star review wherever you get your podcasts.Have a question or comment for a future mailbag episode? Send it to myrockfight@gmail.com or send a message on Instagram or Threads.Subscribe to Adventure Journal to get more Justin Housman in your life.Support our sponsors!Head over to Gear Trade to turn your unused gear and apparel into cash money or to pick up that piece of gear you need for your next adventure! Check out Long Weekend Coffee for the best cup of coffee for your next adventure. Be sure to enter promo code 'rock10' at checkout to receive 10% off of your first order. Long Weekend Coffee...more weekend, please. Thanks for listening! THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

BikeRadio: A Dive into Macros, Taking into account Fatigue from off the bike, Why you should upgrade to Cat 3 to make you faster, and some takeaways from my races that might benefit you! Please use the chapters to guide this video! Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:42 Go hard enough for long enough to make meaningful change 6:03 Macro tracking 10:28 Fatigue or TSS from OFF the bike situations 14:10 Energy conservation in HARD group rides 18:06 Upgrade to Cat 3 ASAP 21:54 Deception in Average Watts 23:17 Winston-Salem Master's Crit 27:18 Boone Gran Fondo 32:35 Wrap up

George Scott and Jack Evans are joined by James Witts, author of Riding With The Rocketmen: One Man's Journey on the Shoulders of Cycling Giants, to find out what it takes to ride the Etape du Tour (or any other mountainous gran fondo). From training to tech, pacing to nutrition, George, Jack and James share their experiences of riding major events and how you can prepare for a gran fondo of your own. Read about Jack's bike for the Haute Route: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/routes-and-rides/horse-for-the-course-the-ultimate-climbing-bike-for-the-three-day-haute-route-davos/ Find out more about James' latest book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/riding-with-the-rocketmen-9781399403504/   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bobby and Jens catch up with Levi Leipheimer from his snowy Lake Tahoe home. He reveals how he perfected his time trial position on the bike, his philosophy on training and what he thinks it'd be like to compete against the current generation of pros. Plus, he explains why his Gran Fondo survived the pandemic and what he thinks about the state of US cycling's gravel scene.... oh and Bobby reveals what happened to Jens when they both visited Lake Tahoe in 2004.... Bobby and Jens is a Velonews production. It was produced by Mark Payne and edited by Tim Mossa.

Time Stamps  Intro - 0:00  Nutrition For Cyclists With Alex Larson - 3:37 Car Collision, Sea Otter, & Levi's Gran Fondo - 55:05 Alex Larson Web: ⁠alexlarsonnutrition.com Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@alexlarsonnutrition Strength Training For Cyclists ⁠⁠⁠https://dialedhealth.com⁠⁠⁠ Dialed Health Social  ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@dialedhealth⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/dialedhealth/⁠

The Nero show is an unfiltered cycling podcasts discussing the topics you are chatting about in your bunches and at the coffee stop. An event focused week this week, after a great weekend at the Snowy Classic here in Australia. We have some fun discuss what we saw at the Fondo; aero socks, no saddle bag, missing frame numbers and not stopping at rest stops. The big question though is are we taking Fondo's too seriously. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:21 Fondo Do's & Dont's 01:47 Fondo Kit lingering 03:47 Fondo Frame Number 05:06 Fondo Saddle Bag 07:23 Fondo Aero Socks 09:00 Fondo External Support 10:54 Are we taking it too seriously? 17:10 Is Cycling Hurting Your Relationship? 24:00 Big Money UAE 28:55 Do You Pig Root? 32:26 Wearing Pro Team Kits 40:26 Motivation To Ride SUBSCRIBE on Youtube: http://bit.ly/2gMWc1t Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you missed it last year, this year is your chance-- the Gran Fondo Hincapie returns to the Lehigh Valley on June 3rd! This week Andrew sits down with Joe Coddington, the technical director of the Hincapie Group. The guys discuss what a fondo is, the flare that Hincapie brings, Joe's background in cycling and his passions, and much more like his favorite movie and the grossest mid-ride snack he's seen someone eat. Be sure to listen to get the scoop on all of the upcoming Hincapie Gran Fondos!

This week we sit down with Carlos Perez, founder of Bike Monkey to discuss the upcoming 2023 Truckee Tahoe Gravel event. We dig into why Truckee Tahoe is such an amazing area for gravel riding and Carlos' definition of influencers. Truckee Tahoe Gravel Episode Sponsor: Dynamic Cyclist (Code: TheGravelRide 15% off) Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show, I'm thrilled to have Carlos Perez talking about Truckee Tahoe, gravel. Carlos is the founder of bike monkey. If you live in California or maybe in the surrounding area, undoubtedly, you've done a bike monkey event. Carlos and his team have produced Levi's Gran Fondo bogs fish rock hammer road, rally. Wente the list goes on and on of the events that Carlos has had a hand in producing. I've had a number of friends that have done the Truckee Tahoe gravel event in the past and had a great time. So I'm finally got around to pinning Carlos down and getting him on the podcast to talk about this year's event. They've made a couple changes to the event, which I wanted to have an opportunity for him to highlight, but all in all, it's just one of those events here in Northern California, that is well-regarded from an athlete's perspective. It's certainly taking place in a beautiful area. We'll get into why Tahoe is so special for cyclists and why it's a region that you can bring the whole family to. On that point, we did also dig into when Carlos and his team create events. They think about influencers, but not influencers. In terms of someone on Tik, TOK or Instagram, they think about influencers from the perspective of the family that might be joining you, whether it's your husband or your wife, joining you while you go out and ride, it's always great to have a location where the whole family can enjoy the event and have an event organizer. Who's thinking about that broader community. Versus just simply the athletes themselves. So I'm excited for you to hear about the Truckee Tahoe gravel event. But before we jump in, I want to thank this week sponsor. Dynamic cyclist. If you scroll back your feed to episode 1 54, you can hear my interview with Sarah from dynamic cyclist. Dynamic cyclist is a video based mobility, strength and injury prevention program designed specifically for cyclists. I am probably about 30, 35 episodes into my stretching routine and my low back injury prevention routine. My low back has been a big issue for me the last couple years, and probably the most gating feature of my body in terms of how long and how hard I can ride. So this winter, I was definitely determined to do the thing we all should be doing, which is stretching. I've struggled, even though I've known the stretches that I need to do. I frankly, struggled to fit it in and having dynamic cyclist in my life and the 15 to 20 minute long routines available for me each night. Has gotten me focused on something easy. That I can do. And I found it really easy to follow, and I've been impressed in terms of the different tweaks and orientations that they've encouraged me to do throughout the routines to get to different parts of my muscles. And I'm very excited about this being part of my daily routine, because I think we all know that stretching. Is the number one way in which we can prevent injuries and make sure we're taking care of our bodies. But anyway, I encourage you to check out dynamic cyclists. They have a seven day free trial. If it looks like a fit for you, use the code, the gravel ride, and you're going to get 15% off the already affordable rates. To check it out, just head on over to dynamics, cyclists.com. With that said, let's jump right into my interview with Carlos. [00:04:10] Craig Dalton: Carlos, welcome to the show. [00:04:12] Carlos Perez: Thanks, Craig. Happy to [00:04:13] Craig Dalton: Good. Yeah, good to see you. It took us a little while to get this scheduled, but I'm stoked to finally have you and, and get you on to talk about the Truckee Tahoe Gravel event. [00:04:22] Carlos Perez: Yeah, it can be a little hard to pin me down sometimes, so I'm glad that we made it work. [00:04:27] Craig Dalton: It sounds like it's especially hard to pin you down in the spring and summer months cuz with Bike Monkey you're producing events all over California and also outside of the. [00:04:38] Carlos Perez: Yeah. Yeah, our spring's very busy. [00:04:41] Craig Dalton: Let's take a step back before we kind of jump into Bike Monkey and into the gravel event up in Tahoe. How did you get into cycling originally? And then let's talk about how you got into event production. [00:04:54] Carlos Perez: Uh, well, it can be, I'll, I'll keep it as short as I can. . Um, we, I was working for a, a medical manufacturer company as a software developer. And, um, my boss at the time, Russell Briggs actually, uh, was like, yo, dude, let's go mountain biking. And I didn't really have a mountain bike at the time, so I went and I bought a mountain bike and he took me into Adel State Park and I was like 20 at the. And I was like, what the heck is this is amazing. Like, I want to do this and that. That was where I got the bug for, for riding bikes. And did that for several years. Uh, and then ultimately one day, uh, some friends of mine were around, you know, trying to do some fundraising for a cause that was important to us. And I kind of raised my hand and said, Hey, you know, like I'd like to actually organize a bike race. And so that's where it started. And we organized a small. Mountain bike race with, you know, like one truck full of supplies for about 80 people. And um, that's kind of where the spirit of Bike Monkey was born. And I, I got the bug. [00:06:04] Craig Dalton: And to set the stage a little bit for people. So you're, you're based in Northern California, right? [00:06:09] Carlos Perez: Yeah. We're based in Santa Rosa, which is in the middle. It's the biggest city in Sonoma County, uh, which actually has. roads more paved and gravel roads per capita than I think almost anywhere in the state. [00:06:26] Craig Dalton: Absolutely. And then that that first event was called Bogs, and where was that located? [00:06:32] Carlos Perez: uh, it was actually wasn't in Sonoma County, it was just outside of Sonoma County in little town of Cobb. In this demonstration state Forest called Boggs. and we'd gone mountain biking up there a bunch in the past, and so it's about an hour and 15 minutes outside of Santa Rosa. [00:06:51] Craig Dalton: It's such a great spot. I mean, you talk about a riding in Annadale, getting, getting you hooked. If you have the opportunity to ride in bogs, you'll also get hooked on mountain biking. It's just so good up there and I had the pleasure of doing that event. God, it was must have been eight or 10 years ago, I feel like. [00:07:08] Carlos Perez: Yeah, bogs. There's a, a lot of history with us and bogs, you know, we, uh, resurrected mountain bike racing there. When we first produced our eight hour event, there had been a multi-year hiatus of mountain bike racing in that space before we came along. And then that event ran for 10 or 11 years before the valley fire blew through that area and just decimated the entire forest. And so it was off limits. Probably three years, four years at least before we were able to actually go back and host the event again, which it returned last year for the first time in, in a long while. Actually, I take that back, I think it was closer to seven years that nobody had been riding or racing in bogs. So that was a big milestone for us to be able to go back and get back to our. [00:07:58] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I remember the word spreading amongst my local bike community that it was back and people were super stoked cuz I think everybody has great memories from racing at bogs. It's such a fun place to ride and doing an eight hour event, whether it's solo or where the teammate is. Always just something that's special. [00:08:15] Carlos Perez: Yeah, it really is. It's, there's so much camaraderie and hanging out and you know, taking it casually or taking it seriously. It is such a good mix of racing and fun. Um, there really, for me, there's no event that's more fun than our eight hour mountain bike races. [00:08:38] Craig Dalton: Yeah, there's just like, you know, it's, there's an interesting dynamic when you're doing one of these events with a partner. Because you can decide, you know, the laps are typically 45 minutes or an hour in length. You can decide to do two laps, one lap. If you're tired and your partner wants to keep going, you can do that. There's all kinds of strategy that just makes it fun. And there's rules around obviously, like how and when you cross the finish line within that eight hours that come into play. And so you have to have a little strategy in in your mind as you start to figure out your lap times. [00:09:10] Carlos Perez: Yeah, there's tons of strategy around it. It's really cool you see people coming through going, trying to ask us like, should they go back out for another lap? And we're trying to figure it out and you know, we've got it down to a science where like, you do need to go cuz somebody's like nipping at your heels and if you don't and they do, it's game over. You go from first to third pretty quick. [00:09:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah, exactly. So that's amazing. So from that or original sort of beginnings of like, Hey, I'm willing to throw my hands up because I think I can produce an event. I'm willing to do this as a fundraiser. What was the path towards you doing it again and, and then expanding to other events? [00:09:47] Carlos Perez: Well, I, I, after that first event, I definitely had to do some soul searching because, you know, I had a full-time job as a software developer and it paid. L. Um, but I was still young and I just, um, I saw an opportunity to do something that I was really passionate about and I had some close friends really pushing me to try and. achieve that, and they're like, basically, we're gonna disown you if you don't take a stab at this. And so I took a big risk and I kind of threw all my chips at race production because I just loved it. I loved what it did for the community. I loved that we were able to raise money for a good cause. It just had, uh, all the good stuff around it. it didn't feel like work. So it was that second year, after that second year that I decided, you know, I need to really take this seriously because if I don't, that opportunity's gonna pass me up. And so I took a risk. Uh, I quit my job, cold Turkey, and, you know, kind of lived, uh, hand to mouth for a while, uh, figuring it out. And then we just, it just grew, you know, what we were doing made a lot of sense. I brought on my first. . And then my second, and then, uh, Levi Leipheimer lived in the area. We were a super small production company at that time, and we were only doing some small mountain bike races and cross races, and he wanted to, he had this idea of putting on a Fondo because him and a friend of his, uh, you know, were on a ride and his friend being Italian was telling him about these amazing events that they have in Italy. And he's like, you know, Levi, you should do that. Uh, through, again, a mutual friend through Yuri. Uh, somehow Levi came to us, uh, and, um, we said, yeah, we're, we can do this. Nobody had ever done that in the United States actually before. We were the first big grand Fondo on US soil. And, uh, well, I guess technically the second. There was one in San Diego that had happened a year prior and no one really knew about it. It was, it was relatively. [00:12:06] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I feel like it, it's impossible not to know about the Levi's Grand Fondo if you ride a road ride road in California, but I imagine that statement probably holds for almost the entire US at this point. It's such a popular road, grand Fondo. [00:12:21] Carlos Perez: yeah, yeah. And it exploded. You know, we went the very first year we had 3,500 people, and it was in the heyday of Levi having, uh, he was heading into winning his third tour of California. So he was huge in California. and a very popular cyclist at the time. So it was the right timing. So there was, there was kind of that golden moment for us where we had to work really hard to do something really big and really outside of the box. And we grew really fast, uh, like from a production standpoint. It forced us to grow up really quick. [00:12:56] Craig Dalton: Yeah, what is, what does that look like? Just to explain to the listener and frankly myself as well, for event production, what type of organiz, what are, what are you doing at the event, and what type of equipment do you need to own in order to provide these services to something like Levi's Grand Fondo? [00:13:13] Carlos Perez: well, you've got some event organizers that maybe are purely volunteer based and they're kind of scrapping to pull together as much rental equipment as they can and outsourcing a lot of it to produce. And then you've got other nonprofits like the Santa Rosa Cycling Club, which own a ton of equipment that they've just amassed or built over the years. and multiple trailers that they'll use to move things out to produce stuff. every race organizer. And I, I always, I find this topic really interesting because as race organizers we do talk to each other and we share ideas, uh, on things like simple stuff like how are you calculating how much water you need to have at an aid station and what mechanism we're using to transport that water out there? Cuz it's heavy, right? And it takes time to fill up a lot of jugs versus it doesn't take as much time to fill up one big jug. You know, how are you getting it out? That kind of stuff. The, the logistics behind the scenes, I think people, they don't have enough information to really appreciate what goes into producing an event and setting up an aid station and marking a course. Um, but we have, I mean, we're, I'm in my office right now, which is adjacent to a, a warehouse full of equip. Ranging from course stakes to snow fencing, to stage material, to water jugs, to weight down tents, the tents, the tables, the chairs, the timing equipment, um, the arch to make stuff look fancy, and the list goes on. We've got a lot of equipment too that we use, electronic equipment that we use for radio communications and for R F I D timing tags. and it's just a lot of weird stuff too. It's not the kind of stuff that you would see in like a typical business. [00:15:06] Craig Dalton: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think it's important to note, I mean, everybody, when you go, it's easy to think of like, oh, I'm just putting it together, a group ride. And when you're doing that for 20 people, there's, there's next to no infrastructure that's involved in that. But anybody who's been to one of these events, you start to look around and you see like, oh, the aid station has a table there. And oh, there's this massive container of water that somehow got it out into the wilderness. Someone needs to do that and someone needs to provide the equipment. Uh, it's a really fascinating space and I think more and more as I interview event organizers, I'm uncovering that there are entities like bike, bike monkey in other states and other places that are carrying the load for lots of these events in the background. [00:15:49] Carlos Perez: Yeah. A lot of people will get in touch with us and say, you know, we, we wanna produce a bike race, but we really don't know where to start. Um, and, and a lot of times it starts with the vision of what it is that you wanna produce, but a lot of times people don't, they underestimate how far into the weeds you really need to get simple things. you know, putting a label on a, on an envelope and putting the rider's information inside of that label and then putting the stuff in the packet so that you can streamline packet pickup or the process of capturing their information in a way that, uh, makes that whole experience smooth. Because it starts when you show up. If you have to wait two hours to get your packet because the line's too long, well, something's not right already. Little, little tons of, little, little details that you really. , uh, there's no school for this kind of stuff. That's the, I think the thing that probably is one of the most unique characteristics that all event organizers probably share is we all learn, learn through experience and through trial and error, working events and seeing what does and doesn't work. And that's, that's one of the crucial components. You have to be the type of person that's willing to just continu. Bumble and fail and try to make corrections, and you have to stay committed to that. Cause if you're not, then you're, you're just not gonna make it. It's, it's too much learning that has to happen on the job. [00:17:25] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. It's a big lift to put on any of these events. So you were talking about how Levi's, grand Fondo kind of was a big break in terms. Pushing you guys to create more infrastructure, more discipline, understand how to manage a 3,500 plus person event. When did gravel start to become part of the pitcher for bike monkey? [00:17:47] Carlos Perez: Well, interestingly, we started doing gravel. In 2012, so before it really exploded, right? And it was because of Levi's Grand Fondo, Rebecca Rush came to that event as a guest and at the end of it just came up to us and said, Hey, this was amazing, and I wanna do something like this in my hometown of Keem, Idaho, but I want you guys to help me do it. I want to do it on gravel, on dirt roads. And we're like, that sounds amazing. Yeah, let's do it. And so we actually started Rebecca's Private Idaho with her, and we ran it for two years. At the time, we weren't really a consulting company, we were in the pattern of just building our own events from scratch and putting them on. And so we weren't structured the right. To continue to run that event. So we stepped away and let her run with it on her own. And she did that for about seven years and then came back to us last year and was like, can you guys please, please, please come back and run this event for me? Because it's really hard to do and we just need a solid team. While over that nearly decade that passed, we did become a consulting. and, uh, we came back and, and produced it last year and we're producing it again this year. And it, it's amazing and it, it feels right at home with us and for her. And so we're super excited about it. But that was where we started our first gravel event. And then gravel kind of exploded everywhere. And the next one that we did, um, officially was, uh, you know, Sagan Fondo, Truckee Gravel. , which takes place on June 10th of this year. [00:19:48] Craig Dalton: Interesting. So let, yeah, let's go back to that origin story cuz I think it's so interesting. You had mentioned to me offline that obviously like being in this region, the idea of putting on an event out of Truckee had been in your head for a while. Let's talk through like. What, what transpired prior to Sagan's team contacting you, and then what was that like to get that call? [00:20:11] Carlos Perez: Yeah, it, it's funny, I mean, I always find myself looking back and going, wow, how did the stars align for this? Like, what was it that caused us to go up and start looking around in Truckee for gravel roads to, you know, to go and ride? And it was just, uh, some rides that I had seen people. , just a couple people do. They were like, wow, check this cool stuff out north of Truckee. And then, um, you know, that's when the gravel scene was starting to pick up a little bit. But in Sonoma County, we don't have a whole lot of gravel. There's, there's gravel roads, but it's not like you have in other parts of the state. But we also knew through experience that in order for an event to have teeth, we needed to have a place that appealed to. the family component. So we started looking at different towns and we love Truckee and you know, we've been up there so much and it's just, uh, it's got so much going for it. It's got such a cool vibe and culture. The ski scene is amazing, but the Artisan Craft brewing at 50 50 Brewing company and some of the others like alibi and the um, the food scene and the bakery scene and the coffee scene and like the. Stuff and the outdoor stuff, it was all just, it's just bumping all the time. So it was like, you know, we really should start exploring trucking. And so we spent some time looking around up there. And then we got the call from uh, Peter Sagan's team of people. It was actually through Osmo. Ben Caprin over Osmo reached out to us and we've been associates for quite some time, and he said, Hey, Peter's looking to, Peter and his team are looking to do an event in the US and I recommended that it be you guys because of what you're able to do around here. And so we started talking and decided to choose Truckee. Uh, we actually persuaded them to move their off-road event to Truckee that they wanted to create and change it from mountain biking to. And that's where it actually was born. Uh, and then we teamed up with, uh, Kurt Gen Shaer, who formerly angry single speeder and now a Trail whisperer. He's a big in the mountain bike scene in that region and big with Sierra Trail Stewardship. Uh, he was really familiar with that area and lives in Verdi. and so him and I started exploring. He drove me all over these roads. They're basically his backyard. He's also built a lot of trail up there, and we came up with the gnarliest gravel event that I think anybody had ever really ridden at that point. We kind of nicknamed it Segundo you, you. Left Truckee and you went up into Tahoe National Forest and you went past, uh, a handful of pretty large reservoirs and you went up over Sarine Peak. This huge summit dropped down, uh, towards Loyalton. So you're getting way north now. And then we turned and we came up this trail, this Jeep Road, uh, called Badden off Canyon Road, and it was just, Freaking junkyard of people trying to ride these baby head rocks all the way back. So we definitely, like, I think, overshot in some aspects that first year. But again, everything's a learning experience and we were exploring, but anybody who did that first Saigon Fondo event definitely earned, earned their keep [00:23:54] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I. [00:23:54] Carlos Perez: someone capable of riding a gravel. [00:23:58] Craig Dalton: I know, I love it. I, I have a neighbor who is constantly scratching his head about gravel bikes and is like, why don't I just ride my hard tail? And he always chooses his hard tail. And he happened to do that event on his hard tail, and he came back and he was like, this thing, this event was amazing, but I don't know how anybody wrote it on a gravel bike, [00:24:18] Carlos Perez: a lot of people did not ride that section on their gravel bike. And it was long. It wasn't like this, you know, moderate quarter mile long section of, you know, tough to ride stuff. It was probably two miles of climbing on just really technical, uh, stuff, but beautiful country and, you know, I, I'm always intrigued by what our events do to like the Strava heat maps, because prior to us having that, Nobody was riding out there like probably old crusty dudes that, you know, don't use Strava. You had ridden out there for, you know, eons. Right. But nobody, uh, was going out there and riding with any frequency and now that place is just full of gravel bikes since that event. [00:25:07] Craig Dalton: So the, the original event was called, was it the Sagan Dirt Fondo? Am I recalling that correctly? And so that happened for, was it two editions under his branding? [00:25:18] Carlos Perez: Yeah, [00:25:19] Craig Dalton: Yes. and then it transitioned to the current Truckee Tahoe gravel. [00:25:24] Carlos Perez: yeah, yeah. Then it transitioned into Trucky, uh, well, it was Trucky Dirt Fondo, and then we rebranded Trucky Tahoe Gravel. But our short name and like the, the operative name is Trucky Gravel. Tahoe is, is part of our name because, um, There's the marketing tactic in there. A lot of people from outside of the state or even further outside of the country maybe aren't as familiar with Truckee. So it's important that we capture the region and our partners at Visit Truckee Tahoe, uh, are also influential in the naming of it. So we have a strong partnership with Visit Truckee Tahoe. . And so, uh, last year we rebranded the event Truckee Gravel and the long form name is Trucky Tahoe Gravel. [00:26:15] Craig Dalton: as you're talking about the event to rider from around the world, how would you talk about Tahoe as a destination? Let's set aside like the gravel experience, which I definitely wanna get into, but there may be people out there who just don't understand what Tahoe is. [00:26:32] Carlos Perez: Yeah. Well, I mean, the lake is the first thing that comes to mind. I mean, you have this ancient crystal clear lake. that has been there for millennia and it, it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet Earth. And it's surrounded by, you know, the lake sits at over 6,000 feet. Uh, and around that basin are the Sierra Nevada mountains. And, you know, they go up to, you know, 11,000 feet in some areas, and you've got ski resorts in every direct. and you've got mountain bike trails and hiking trails and off-road trails and climbing and hiking and you know, all the stuff that comes with being able to do something on the lake. And then you go almost any direction from Lake Tahoe and you have these other communities like Meyers and um, you know, Carson City and Reno and Truckee. Um, you've got. more of that in these towns that live up in this area. And so the entire region as a whole has an incredible mix of every type of outdoor activity that you could imagine. And it's just, if you appreciate the outdoors, it's all there. Everything, it's all there. And it's, you know, it's, it's a populated area because of. It's about as populated as it can get right now, especially during the pandemic. Like everyone went up there. We kind of missed our window cuz we were interested in, in getting a place up there. But that ship kind of sailed during the pandemic [00:28:17] Craig Dalton: Yeah, no, you're, I mean, you're a hundred percent spot on. It's such a magical part of the country that if you're interested in, if you enjoy being in the mountains, if you enjoy being around lakes, it's just stunning. , and to your point, like 360 degrees around that lake is mountains and ski resorts, and there's so much beautiful terrain regardless of whether you're on a bike or on foot that you can explore out there. One of the things you alluded to, and you certainly mentioned it to me offline very strongly, was as you think about producing events, you're not just thinking about the riders, you're thinking about their families and what the experie. They are gonna be having at these events. Can you just talk a little bit about that and why that's important to you? [00:29:02] Carlos Perez: Yeah. Well, so there, there are a lot of different types of events. There are events that are designed for the The Racer that's chasing points, right. And they're just like, there's an event every single weekend. And. Sometimes they're just like in the event promoter's backyard, because it's easy to do that. You are gonna use the, the local park and you're gonna put on a cross race or a mountain bike race or a road crit. And those are great for the sport of cycling as a competitive sport. Um, we always have, um, strived to produce events that are a little bigger. Chasing points. We we're always, we've always had this mantra of putting on events that are appealing to what we call the influencers and not influencers like on social media, you know, influencers on Instagram or Facebook, but the influencers are my family members, so my kids, my. They might not race their bikes, they might not be able to participate in this event that I wanna go and do, but there's something in it for them. When you do it in a place like Truckee, or you do it in a place like the Wente Scout reservation, or you do it in a place like Carson City or um, you know, you name it someplace, that has a lot more going on for it. So I can be out racing my bike for four hours. and they might wait for me. They might go out to an aid station or they might just go shopping, or they might go get on the lake and wait for me, or they'll see, we'll see you at the brewery. Uh, we'll see you at the climbing gym. Uh, but then there's the before and after as well. So we stay there for multiple days and most people do. It becomes a destination for the whole family. as opposed to just another race that I have to somehow finagle time away to go and do that. And it's, I drive up, I do it, I turn around and I go back home. [00:31:06] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I feel like that's such an important component for so many of us gravel athletes that are, you know, not super concerned about the pointy end of the race. We're really looking to have a good. Had a hard day out there on the bike, but also wanna share time with our families and not make cycling. Always something that takes us away from home. [00:31:23] Carlos Perez: Yeah. And I think that that mentality has shifted as a whole too. It's not just, it's not just, uh, that we are focused on those events, but I think the appeal has shifted over the last few years, a little bit away from racing and a little bit more towards that whole experience that you get from going and having races, and you see that. You know, the conversations that a lot of pro-athletes are now having about, you know, I raced my bike for a while and that was important and it got me here, but I also wanna ride with my friends. Like, I started riding a bike as a kid because it was fun and I enjoyed it. And then I got serious. And being serious is exhausting, you know, it's like, it is like you can't, almost cannot have fun when you have to be so serious about bike racing and when you can let go of that a little bit at our events and not take it so seriously. There's a lot more room to enjoy yourself. There's a lot more room to be okay not standing on the podium and riding with your friends and just being there in the moment and, and experiencing what everyone else. [00:32:38] Craig Dalton: Yeah, a hundred percent. I took us on a little bit of a detour. You had started talking about how in that first year the course was maybe a little bit more technical than, uh, it is today. Can we talk about what the course will look like for 2023? [00:32:54] Carlos Perez: Yeah, totally. So, um, it's changed a little bit over the years, you know, not necessarily because. It had to, um, well, I guess in some, in some ways it, it did have to, there were some years where the snow was so deep that we just, we couldn't go over Sarine peak. Right. And so the elevation ended up having to be a little bit lower that year because the snow pack was too high. Ultimately, we pushed the event from. To a later date in June. And so we're in a pretty good spot now where unless it's like crazy snowy in March, we should be able to get over Sardine Peak. That's one of the signature high points on the courses that we design up there that um, you know, it makes sense to go up Sardine Peak. [00:33:45] Craig Dalton: And when you're, when you're, when you're getting up there, uh, Carlos, like what kind of terrain is that climb and is it like, you know, one of these long sustained efforts? [00:33:56] Carlos Perez: It is. Um, so once you get to the base of starting peak, you're at about 6,000 feet and it tops out just over 8,000 feet. And it, it starts off at like, you know, four or five, 6% grades. And then as you get near the top, you're pushing, you know, 11, 10, 11% pretty consistently. , you, you don't have to stay seated for this stuff, but it, you definitely are putting out some watts to carry yourself to the top of this climb. And then as soon as you get over the top, it is just a ripping, white knuckle descent all the way down. Um, about to the same elevation in the past. This year, there's a change. We're actually extending the course, so last year we were about 64 miles in length for that. this year we're gonna be 75, and so it's, or maybe it was 67. We've, we've increased it by several miles and we're going a lot further north towards Loyalton, and so that dissent off of Sardine Peak goes from 8,000 feet all the way down to 5,300 feet over the course. Probably 10 miles. So you just have this constant descent. It's such a reward to get that after finally making it to the top of Sardine Peak. And then once you get to that part just south of Loyalton, you turn and you climb a gradual, really well graded and maintained gravel road. And so your return isn't like, arduous, painful journey back. You can really get into a rhythm and warm yourself up and, and keep the pace going. Pretty good. [00:35:45] Craig Dalton: As we're coming down off Sardine Peak, is that, is it a fire road and is it, is it kind of loose? Are we, are we sort of white-knuckling scared, or [00:35:53] Carlos Perez: it [00:35:54] Craig Dalton: it pretty, pretty flowing? [00:35:55] Carlos Perez: can be rutted. And so it changes a little bit every year. And what happens is we go out there right before the race, like a couple days before the race and we're cutting down trees that have fallen. We're cutting down branches where, you know, maybe there's a spot where it's really bad, there's like a lot of rocks that we're exposed. We actually go out there and try to fix some of that stuff up where it might be deemed. Unsafe. Uh, and then we mark the crap out of it. So we've got a signed guy, this guy Cole Rasmussen, who goes out there. Um, this actually this past year, it was, um, it was an associate of his, went out there and, uh, marked the course over, over two or three days. And we take these big, you know, it's like, it's a big deal. We're not just putting. Uh, flags in the ground or hanging ribbon in the tree. We're driving a stake in the ground and then we're putting a big two foot sign on it with an arrow for each of the route colors telling you where to go, or that it says hazard or, you know, sharp turn or, you know, cattle guard things that are important. Um, for riders to not only be able to race safely, but also to make sure that no one gets lost, cuz it's hard to find 'em once they do. Um, and so anyway, I, I got a little off track with what we're doing out there. The course. On that diss descent off of Sardine Peak. Uh, it varies each year, but it can be a little bit hairy. And so we do advise people like really pay attention, try to control their speed because you can come around some areas where all of a sudden there are ruts, you know, and how, how that feels. How you pucker when you're like riding next to a rut that's like a train track and you're trying to stay out of it. [00:37:40] Craig Dalton: Sometimes you do exactly the wrong thing when you see those [00:37:43] Carlos Perez: you look at it, that's the problem. [00:37:46] Craig Dalton: Yep. Exactly. Yeah, I was looking at the course profile and I see that big prominent sardine peak, and then to your point, you actually looks like you descend to a lower elevation than kind of the baseline to begin with, and then you've got that one gradual bump and a few bumps, but largely kind of progressively downhill on the way back to the start finish. [00:38:10] Carlos Perez: Yeah. Yeah. And there is. , there's one descent. Uh, after you get back up to your next peak at about 7,000 feet. That next descent, uh, is a little harrowing. Also, it has some baby head sticking out of it and some ruts and things and roots and stuff. So it's definitely like an o hv road, not, not like a gravel road, but totally doable on a gravel. You just have to pay attention to where your line is. And like I said, we go out there every year with my beat up Nissan Titan, and we carry tools and we clean it up and get it as prepped as we can For the [00:38:48] Craig Dalton: I imagine for people listening, there's a couple camps. There's one people like me who are like, that sounds awesome. And there are others that are like, maybe I won't really like that part of this event. [00:39:00] Carlos Perez: we do not produce events that are easy. , we just don't, uh, there's, there's a sense of accomplishment. Having completed any one of bike monkeys races, whether it be a mountain bike race or a mixed gravel and road event like fish rock or hammer road rally, or a road event like Levi's, grand Fondo, or a gravel event like Truckee or Rebecca's private Idaho. There is always an element of pretty extreme challenge. We have shorter routes, right? We're talking about the big route right now. We have shorter options for people that do forego having to take on some of those tougher challenges. and that option's there. And there's even time cuts too. So if you don't make it, you know, to the base of starting peak by a certain time, you're not gonna be allowed to go back over that. Uh, we can't restrain you. You could climb over it if you wanted to, but your support is not guaranteed at that point. [00:40:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. And it's nice that you have the easy, moderate, and hard courses. Available for people. If you, when you think about kind of advising riders, and I know this is like a horribly tricky thing to do, but when you think about ad advising riders as to what sort of tires they should be thinking about running, what are you putting out there in the world about the the Trucky Gravel event? [00:40:26] Carlos Perez: Well, I mean, tire technology has changed a lot over the years, right? Like it's really improved. We used to, everybody used to think that, um, [00:40:36] Craig Dalton: I. [00:40:36] Carlos Perez: a big tire. Was gonna slow you down. Um, that's really not the case. And, and even just the science behind it really. Um, we, we advise you guys as big as, as you want, really. I mean, it's, uh, as long as you feel like it's fast rolling enough for you, the challenges that you're gonna see and running a small. on any of these events is that when you do get to the rough sections, you risk, uh, you take on more risk in losing control in an area, um, or pinch flattening. Uh, so, you know, and a bigger type volume tire allows you to run tubeless easier and that improves the quality of the race or the ride. So, you know, 40 C plus, uh, you know, easily, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go smaller than that. . Um, but some people do, you know, it really does come down to preference, but generally bigger riders are gonna want bigger tires and smaller riders might be able to get away with something that might be a little bit faster rolling on some of the flat stuff. But at the end of the day, I think the tire technology that we're dealing with today has improved so much that. you know, a good volume gravel tire is gonna be the perfect choice for this event. And we see people come out there on mountain bikes and do pretty good. Actually, you know, one of the, one of the, um, photos of the lead group on our homepage is you're scrolling down. Actually has a dude like with that lead pack, like on a mountain bike, just going for it. [00:42:11] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I, I mean to each their own, right. There's a lot of fast, hard tail mountain bikers out there that can keep up with the best gravel racers, I'm sure. when you think about, [00:42:21] Carlos Perez: is like one of the most common questions that we get is like, what tire do I pick? And honestly, like the, the, it's really up to the racer. Uh, the best we can do is explain the course profile and then you have to make your own choice. [00:42:37] Craig Dalton: Yeah. And look, I mean, I think at the end of the day, a lot of people. Just don't bother changing their tires and run what you brung, right? Run, run what you're comfortable with. There's no, no need to kind of spend money to kind of get somewhere you don't need in your home terrain. That said, I'm, I'm with you. Like I enjoy the bigger tires and certainly on those descents with baby heads, like it's just nice to have that volume to be able to slam through things even if it's not purposeful. [00:43:03] Carlos Perez: I think at the point where people start asking and trying to make critical decisions around tire. You're almost splitting hairs at that point. You're really getting into the, to the nitty gritty of like, how am I gonna get that little extra edge what it comes down to. I mean, unless you're on, like, you're talking about running 30 c you know, slicks on your bike, on road bike, then you know, maybe that's a little extreme, but, uh, you know, we're talking like mountain bike size tire versus like a, a bigger gravel size. [00:43:39] Craig Dalton: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm always like, for me, that performance edge is just around comfort and control, and I'll error that wave over speed any day of the week, even though I totally agree with you. Like the modern high volume tire is not any slower than some of these smaller tires at all. [00:43:56] Carlos Perez: Yeah. [00:43:58] Craig Dalton: Yeah. When we talk about sort of the racing element of this event, like is that something you're leaning into? Is that something that you're kind of craving as an event promoter to get the fastest men, men and women around to the table and, and see them throw down? Or is that a, a secondary consideration for the event? [00:44:16] Carlos Perez: For me, that's secondary. Uh, I've never been one of the camp to really invest in. Making sure that the professional road racer with a ton of followers is showing up at our events. I wanna make the events appealing enough that they, they want to be there. Um, and so, and there is a competitive component to these events and they often do end up standing on the podium, but I really want to cater to the families. because that's just how my business is built. It's really built around family experience and. Yeah. So we're not like the, we're not like the lifetime events where it's just hyper-competitive, you know, super like you're, we're . You don't really read about us in Bellow news that often cuz we're not catering to that professional market. We want professionals to come to our event and because they wanna be there and enjoy themselves, and many of them do. And we make sure they have a good time just like everybody else. And we try to put on a good event for them, but that's not our. that's not by design for us. We really are designing events that are, uh, meant for people to come and have an amazing time with their friends, with their family, and hopefully not take it too seriously. Um, but we do a professional scoring operation and we give away amazing awards. I mean, behind me and you know, I mean people are mostly gonna see this on nut or listen. On an audio podcast, but we work with graphic designers to make these posters for each of our events, and every one of 'em is fully custom. And this is kind of the touch that we put on giving awards away. Last year, Forte's Painter, I actually made, uh, We, we handmade, or I hand cast silver ingots because it's in the silver state and we gave away bars of silver that I made myself. That's the kind of stuff that people get to walk away with from our events. We don't do like cash prizes or, you know, stupid metals. Like everybody's got a drawer full of metals. It's useless, and I hate giving that stuff away. So we don't do it. You know, we give you something that's like either a work of. A real keepsake. Uh, occasionally we might do like a bottle opener, but we just, you know, people have enough junk. So we try to give people something useful for their efforts that they really feel good about, that we've put our heart into. [00:46:56] Craig Dalton: I love it. I noted one thing that I thought was interesting. It, it, it looked like on the site that the sort of the race, quote unquote, ends at the, before the last aid station. [00:47:07] Carlos Perez: Yeah. [00:47:07] Craig Dalton: Is that sort of purposeful because it's unsafe to race the last eight miles, or was there other intention there? [00:47:13] Carlos Perez: There's two reasons for it. Uh, one, uh, safety is important and you're in a very remote area when you finish. So you're finishing next to Boca Reservoir. next to a dam. Uh, part two is there. It's beautiful there. And we want people to be able to stop and maybe regroup with somebody that they were racing with before and do the high five and they get actually like a nice, uh, return back to the Riverview Sports Park where we have our festival. and they don't have to race it. It's on a shared use bike path, and it's important that we don't have racers going the opposite direction of a mom with a stroller and her kids or a dog walker. And so there's the safety component is number one, but number two, we get the added benefit of people being able to do a pretty decent cool down ride after they just throttled themselves for 50, 60 miles. [00:48:13] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I thought that was a fun concept as I was thinking about. It is nice to your point, to just be able to kind of reconnect with people you might have dropped or been dropped by a few miles back, and then just chill as you have a cool down and then get to the, to the sort of the end point. Just be ready to transition into enjoying the community. [00:48:33] Carlos Perez: Yeah, and Truckee Gravel is one of the few events that we have where there is a long sustained racing portion of the event. A lot of the events that we're producing now actually have segments. that you add up over time because it's actually really fun to, it's almost like how we ride with our friends in a group nowadays is we ride and then it's like we go hit a segment and then we regroup. and we ride together and we're bringing that element to a lot of our events and legitimizing it by accumulating segments. And what it means is that you race for a little while, but then you ride with your friends and then you race for a little while and you ride with your friends and it makes the whole experience so enjoyable because you still race, but you don't have to race the entire time and destroy yourself. But with Truckee Dirt Fonda, we do have more of a traditional longer duration race, and I think that's important. You know, each event we evaluate for what the best experience is gonna be, and Truckee's one of those where we want people to really go out there and work hard. [00:49:34] Craig Dalton: Fun. And final question, Carlos, around the post-race experience there, I think you mentioned it was Riverside Park. What, what is it like, what's the, what should the, uh, the riders expect at the end there? [00:49:46] Carlos Perez: Riverview Sports Park is right next to the Truckee River. And so people that are, you know, at that park can actually walk down to the river, which is super cool, you know, and there's a path that takes you down there and it's a really beautiful area. But the park itself, uh, is a pretty neat facility. There's lots of trees and shade and grass and. It's next to this awesome bike park that the Truckee Bike Park organization has been building over the years. Uh, Brooks Millon, uh, has, has, and, uh, a partner of his have been building this thing and it's amazing and you can. Take your mountain bike or your cross bike or your gravel bike and ride on, uh, the pump track or these features and just, it's a real cool skill building thing. And they have events there. There's a little pump track for kids. So, uh, it's really is like a, a cycling maker. Mountain bikers make a. It's a really neat place to finish the race at and we're actually partnering up with them this year and we're gonna do some really cool stuff. Activations with that bike park that's part of Riverview Sports Park. [00:50:58] Craig Dalton: Fun. And then is, is there, are there food and beverages available at the end there? [00:51:02] Carlos Perez: Oh yeah, absolutely. We, uh, we always have a beer partner that, um, you know, both NA and traditional beer. So we've been working with Best Day Brewing Company, uh, and Truckee. We've worked with 50 50 Brewing Company and, you know, they're right there. Obviously, uh, that changes up every year. So we might have another partner this year. and then we bring in some really cool food trucks to make sure everybody's fed well afterwards. I think we had three different options for folks last year. Uh, we usually have some music going and it's just a really cool atmosphere to hang out and, and kind of recap the day. [00:51:41] Craig Dalton: That's awesome, Carlos. Thanks so much for giving us this overview of everything that Bike Monkey's about. I know we only touched on probably like a quarter of the events you have your hand in, so I definitely encourage people to go check out the Bike Monkey site. I'll link to it in the show notes. I also very much appreciate the intention that you've put into all these events and how you make. Really a community experience in the way that, you know, I certainly look for in events. So thanks for all your hard work over the years. [00:52:11] Carlos Perez: Yeah, of course. Craig, thanks for talking to me about it and letting us kind of tell a little bit about our story [00:52:17] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Awesome. And thanks for getting everybody stoked on, uh, trucky Tahoe Gravel 23 [00:52:22] Carlos Perez: Is the place to be on June 10th. [00:52:25] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Thank you for joining us and big, thanks to Carlos for a putting on all these great events over the years and B for working so hard to make the Truckee Tahoe gravel event. So amazing. Another. Thank you. Goes out to dynamic cyclists for supporting the show. I remember you can use the code, the gravel ride@dynamiccyclists.com to get 15% off your order. They have monthly and annual subscriptions available. If you're looking to connect with me, please join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. That's a free online cycling community for gravel cyclists. If you're able to support the show, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated and helpful in our discovery. Until next time. Here's to finding some dirt under your wheels.