Velo Podcast

What numbers do you use to describe your rides? Some cyclists keep it simple with mileage and time. Others delve into TSS, FTP, or kJ to quantify a day of training. We talk to Dirk Friel of TrainingPeaks to explain how cyclists can use the data to make your workouts more effective and productive.

Should Movistar have waited when a motorcycle took out GC contenders at the Giro? Will Cannondale-Drapac exist in 2018? Did Boels-Dolmans race dirty? The VeloNews Podcast comes to you from Italy and California this week and tackles the controversies of the weekend head on. First Caley Fretz and Fred Dreier report from an attack-filled second stage of the Amgen tour, including interviews with Ian Boswell, Brent Bookwalter, and Andrew Talansky. Then Andrew Hood and Rupert Guinness bring the hottest of takes on the Giro's latest motorcycle controversy. Finally, Dreier sits down with Cannondale-Drapac boss Jonathan Vaughters to discuss the future of the green team.

Just one second separates the top two places with one stage left in the Amgen Tour of California women's race. Fred Dreier, Caley Fretz, and Kristen Legan discuss the thrilling race, which has seen American teams like UnitedHealthcare take the fight to international juggernauts like Boels-Dolmans. Plus, a chat with Megan Guarnier about her return from a serious concussion, and a check-in with mountain bike legend Katerina Nash, who is racing TOC for Team Illuminate. Yes, she's doing so on mountain bike pedals.

The Giro d'Italia's first mountain stage is behind us, so what did we learn? This episode begins with a dispatch from our man on the ground, Andrew Hood. Then, Fred Dreier, Caley Fretz and Spencer Powlison dig into the Etna stage, find out Who Was Wronger, Ask a Cat 3, adopt a GC contender, and look ahead to the week of racing coming up. Plus, an interview with Tour of California favorite, and Tour de France hopeful, Andrew Talansky.

Your body is ready to race, but is your bike ready? Caley Fretz and Coach Trevor Connor are joined by VeloNews' tech team of Dan Cavallari and Kristen Legan to dig into the tech side of proper race preparation. What should you do to your bike to make it race-ready? Where can you find the biggest gains for the least cash? What do you need to have in your race bag? The panel tackles these questions and many more.

The Giro d'Italia is here! This race always surprises, and this year is no exception. Fred Dreier, Caley Fretz, and Spencer Powlison discuss a controversial new downhill racing competition, the tricky first week, and make their picks for the overall. Then, Spencer catches up with famous chef Chris Cosentino to chat about his No Kid Hungry charity and Chefs Cycle ride, plus ask him what he'd cook for famous cyclists, given the chance.

The breakaway. It is perhaps the noblest form of victory, and the most difficult. Joining and then winning from breakaways is as much art as science, as much tactical awareness as strength. In this episode, Trevor Connor and Caley Fretz are joined by Cannondale-Drapac's escape ace Toms Skuijns, winner of two breakaway stages of the Tour of California, as well as VeloNews managing editor Chris Case, to discuss the tips, tricks, and tactics needed to make a breakaway move stick. Fast Talk is presented by Quarq.

The classics are over. Sad trombone. But Fred Dreier, Caley Fretz, and Spencer Powlison still have plenty to say about the Ardennes courses, Alejandro Valverde, Boels-Dolmans, and much more. Plus, a look at a late stage of the 1988 Giro d'Italia that might have been even more crucial to Andy Hampsten's victory than the fabled Gavia stage, which includes a chat with Hampsten himself.

The Little 500. It's just a bunch of college kids on singlespeeds, but it's so much more. Caley Fretz heads to Bloomington, Indiana for the annual event, which captivates a 40,000 student campus and an entire state, and embeds himself with the winning team, the Black Key Bulls.