Velo Podcast

It's a new year, and Angus Morton and Bobby Julich are back at it with Put Your Socks On, a deep dive into the sport of professional cycling by two men whose experience spans the globe. This year, Bobby and Gus are expanding the range of the show, looking at both the micro level of happenings in the sport (who won which race and why) as well as the macro level, such as what are the environmental impacts - positive and negative - of cycling. Oh, and Gus goes camping on a frozen lake... It's time to Put Your Socks On. Here comes a new season.

The 2020 WorldTour season has roared to life with the Tour Down Under finishing up on Sunday. Richie Porte took the overall after again dropping his foes on Old Willunga Hill. The formulaic finish of this year's race begs the question: Should the Tour Down Under change its format? Every year the race seems to boil down to a battle for time bonuses on the flat stages, and then a three-minute slugfest up Old Willunga. Andrew Hood and Fred Dreier debate why (or why not) the race should try and shake things up. Hood was in Australia to interview UCI President David Lappartient, and Lappartient addressed two big storylines in pro cycling in 2020. The first is the return to pro cycling for Bjarne Riis. The second is the growth of gravel, and how the UCI hopes to get involved with the growing off-road racing format. Finally, we catch up with two North Americans who are starting their respective 2020 seasons off at the Tour Down Under. Canadian James Piccoli is making his WorldTour debut with Israel Start-Up Nation, and Larry Warbasse is again racing for French team AG2R-La Mondiale. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Pocast.

In episode 95 we talk in-depth about the humble tire. Often neglected, frequently misunderstood, the lowly tire is a much more complicated piece of equipment than many people know. With the help of two very talented technical gurus, Lennard Zinn and Nick Legan, we explain the complexities of the tire, tire pressure, and how those things lead to changes in comfort, grip, rolling resistance and much more. As always, we love your feedback. Email us at fasttalk@fastlabs.com or call 719-800-2112 and leave us a voicemail; if it is recorded clearly you may be featured on the show.

Evil Bikes created the Chamois Hagar to upend the gravel bike segment, and it may have done just that. Evil's COO Jason Moeschler joins VeloNews tech editor Dan Cavallari in Scottsdale, Arizona to chat about this unique beast of a bike, and what it means for the gravel category. Notably, the Chamois Hagar offers a completely unique gravel bike geometry that looks an awful lot like a mountain bike, and for good reason: Evil is, after all, a mountain bike company. But Moeschler makes the case that a super-slack (66.67 degree) head tube angle and unheard-of 93mm trail figure makes a ton of sense on a gravel bike, especially when you pair it with a sloping top tube and a dropper post. Cavallari spent three days riding the Chamois Hagar in the desert outside of Scottsdale and has some insights to offer on the bike's handling, especially with his background as a mountain bike rider.

On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we sit down with Dirty Kanza winner Colin Strickland at his local coffee shop in Austin, Texas. Strickland takes us into a deep dive into his background in cycling, and explains why he declined a spot with EF Pro Cycling for the 2020 season. Strickland also discusses his hopes for the gravel racing scene, and why it should steer clear of the various models and attitudes that have shaped competitive road cycling. First, however, we catch up with VeloNews reporter Andrew Hood who is on the ground at the Tour Down Under. Hood is chasing the big stories at the race. Ruth Winder won the women's race in thrilling fashion, and the top sprinters are already collecting big wins. Hood also discusses Rohan Dennis's debut in the colors of Team Ineos. Hood was at the Ineos team bus when Dennis spoke to reporters about his controversial decision to exit the 2019 Tour de France early. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast.

Take a guess, which one of our all-knowing hosts is an expert on Baby Yoda, and who hadn’t even heard of him until this recording? Or, more importantly, what is a palindrome? Welcome to our second bonus episode of Fast Talk where Chris and Coach Connor are once again tackling your important questions. First is a question about training while fasting, then some goal-setting analysis, and finally some more discussion on the polarized training approach. We’ve included both email and voicemail questions in this podcast. To submit your own question to the guys you can call 719-800-2112 or email fasttalk@fastlabs.com.

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk! I'm your host Chris Case. Today we have a great episode in store for you, with someone you’ve heard from many times before on Fast Talk. Today, we’re finally joined by Brent Bookwalter of the Mitchelton-Scott WorldTour team, a man of both wisdom and humility, for a full conversation on balancing life and sport. What do pros know about that balance, you ask? “They’re pampered!” you’re probably thinking. Well, not exactly true. The life of a pro cyclist is not as glamorous as you might think. We’ll discuss that misconception, but we’ll spend the majority of our conversation learning the many ways in which Brent has learned to balance training and racing with being a good husband, a soon-to-be-father, a son and friend, and a gran fondo promoter, among many other things. Through the years of racing both at the neo-pro level through to the WorldTour, Brent has dealt with limited time—sometimes well, sometimes not so well—which has forced him to prioritize his life in myriad ways. And it’s those tips that apply to all of us. The high level of physical and mental performance that is demanded of pro athletes while they also strive to maintain healthy relationships and interests outside of their career, means that they have been forced to master “life-balance.” While we don’t all deal with the issues related to pro cyclists’ in our own lives, there are common themes about self-care, spending time on relationships, knowing your personal limits, and working to keep your passions alive that we can all relate to. Today, along with Brent, we spoke to long-time pro and coach Katie Compton, as well as two of our favorite coaches and soon-to-be Fast Labs podcast hosts, Grant Holicky and Colby Pearce. If you didn't catch it yet, we released our first bonus podcast last week. That’s right, Fast Talk is now a weekly podcast. Coach Connor and I were able to answer a few of your questions, one related to overtraining and burn-out—not-interchangeable terms, thank you Dr. Seiler for the correction—and one related to physiological testing. If you have a question for us you can either write us at Fasttalk@fastlabs.com OR, as you may have heard by now, we have a number setup for you to call – it's 719-800-2112 . Leave a voicemail with your question. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show. Now, bust out your balance board, brush up on your communication skills, it’s time to compartmentalize. Let’s make you fast!

The VeloNews Podcast welcomes the newest staff editor to join the publication, Betsy Welch. On this week's episode of the podcast we speak with Betsy about the various topics she will be covering, from women's cycling to gravel and mountain bike racing. We recently held a focus group for female cyclists in Boulder, Colorado, and Betsy discusses what we learned from the 40 women who attended. What are the storylines driving interest amongst female riders? Then, Andrew Hood calls in to discuss what he learned from Deceuninck-Quick Step's training camp, where he interviewed Remco Evenepoel, Julian Alaphilippe, and Zdenek Stybar. Evenepoel is making his grand tour start at just 19; Alaphilippe is targeting the Olympics. Hood is off to the Tour Down Under, which kicks off the WorldTour schedule in just a few days. All that and more on this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast.

Helmets have come a long way since leather hairnets, or even more minimalist than that, the perfectly coiffed head of hair. While EPS foam has dominated helmet construction for decades now, a new crop of technologies have emerged in recent years to address the types of forces your brain is likely to encounter during a crash. Tech editor Dan Cavallari traveled to New York City in early 2019 to find out more about Bontrager's Wavecel technology. He sat down with Wavecel's inventor to find out what makes this green, wavy plastic different than other green, wavy plastics we've seen before. And Jens Voigt chimes in with some of his experiences with head injuries and the evolution of helmets in the pro peloton.

Hello and welcome to this bonus episode of Fast Talk. These new episodes, which we’ll publish every other week to supplement our flagship shows, will typically run a little shorter than our regular episodes, and they’ll also be more geared toward answering your questions, but all in all, they’ll contain the same great content you’ve come to expect from Fast Labs, and from Coach Connor and Chris Case. Our regular, full-length episodes with multiple guests addressing the current science in training and your requested topics will still continue on, of course. For this first bonus episode, we’re doing a bit of everything. For starters, during our episode a few weeks back with the Cycling Gym, we recorded an analysis of some recent physiological research. Trevor hadn’t done a nerd bomb in a while and was feeling the need. But it didn’t really fit with the episode. So, we’ll start with Trevor’s summary of a few studies and what they say about how to structure your training. We’ll also answer listener questions on overtraining, laboratory testing, and much more. If you have a question for us, give us a call at 719-800-2112 and leave us a voicemail. If we can hear you loud and clear in the message, we may include the recording in the show. As always, you can also email us at fasttalk@fastlabs.com. Now, let’s make you fast!