The forty-fifth episode of the It’s Just A Hill Cycling Podcast is a roundtable round up episode. Adam, BSP, and Jon kick off the show by catching up a bit and discussing some current events in the bike world. The guys then share their opinions on some evergreen cycling topics like how they use chamois cream, what methods of cross training they use during certain parts of the year, and the age-old groups debate of Shimano versus SRAM.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the it’s just a hill cycling podcast I am John sing and in just a bit I will be joined by my fellow AA compatriots compatriots compatriots New England Patriots compatriots I will be joined by my fellow AA uh Brain Trust members if you
Will Adam Carol and Brian sterre to do a little round table Roundup talk about the things that have been on our minds lately in terms of bike stuff before I get to that I would like to talk about the inst a hill winter bike League ongoing six stage winter training ride
Series whatever the hell you want to call it there’s six of them we’ve done the first one as of this recording uh number two is right around the corner depending on when this comes out or it just happened I don’t know timing for these is you know I don’t need we don’t
Need to get into it hopefully it comes out beforehand but I’m not it’s not I’m not trying to like pressure Brian s Pierre and do doing the edit he’s listening to this now I hope he’s not that’s not what this is about but that being said stage one has happened as of
This time that I’m sitting stage two is right around the corner there are six of them and each ride uh allows uh Riders the opportunity to rack up points in the injusa hill winter bike League the first way to rack up points is just by showing
Up you get five points for every stage that you show up for and if you show up to all six you get an additional Five Points that’s 35 points right on the table just for showing up there are also uh attack segments a part of each stage there are three designated Strava
Segments that are noted in the event on the AA Strava Club page and what happens is if you get first place on that segment that’s going to get you three points if you get second place on the day on that segment that gets you two points and third place gets you one
Point there’s three segments on each ride so you know like 18 different segments throughout the course of the season and a lot of different ways to get points there and there are also other uh ways to get points and that is the Wild Card category that’s for what I
Say is the best ride snack sure you can bring like like a gel or or Cliff bar and those are great they work don’t get me wrong I use them both I’m not trying to shame people for using those but I want to see like half a Crunch Wrap in
Your bar bag I want to see like a McDonald’s egg egg McMuffin or something you know what I mean I want to see you pull that out of your frame bag middle of the ride and be like hey John look at this wow I’m going to be absolutely
Wowed by that stage one Don brought some like Guatemalan sweet bread he immediately buttered me up with it I took some on the ride it was great Don got five points for that yeah Don nice job next category to get you another five points is the road Captain category
That’s basically the most helpful person on the ride that’s someone that we really appreciate on our it’s just a hill rides is the most helpful person out there and so whether you’re like quick to fix a flat maybe you’re making sure people don’t get dropped you’re
Keeping an eye out um that’s just the type of Rider that we like and so we’re going to award you with Five Points that’s one person for per stage for the Wild Card category best snack and the road Captain category all these details can be found on the Strava page for it’s
Just a hill all of those links can always be found right at it’sjust a hill.com if you’re not a member of the Strava page or our WhatsApp chat or anything like that and yeah keep an eye out for winter bike League hope to see you out there I personally have been
Getting a little bit more fond of zift lately believe it or not but I still do love to ride outside any chance I get and getting to do that with other people in the winter uh is a lot of fun it’s sort of few and far between and so
That’s a big reason why I like to do winter bike league and why I hope everyone else likes to do it there’s also always a coffee stop at the end we’re going to be going to W roast coffee and Lincoln for stage two and uh
Yeah there’ll be a few other ones in the mix and now to my chat with Adam and Bsp hello and welcome to the podcast Adam Carol and bsp hello guys thank you for joining me on the podcast John good how are you guys doing great all right any any big bike news in anyone life lately anyone get new new cranks set new bike or
Anything um Adam has a fat bike now I think yeah yeah I got it the day it showed up when we were uh bike packing oh yeah wow okay yeah I order uh I got a new uh cross country mountain bike down country mountain bike I got a
Yeti SP 120 and uh yeah I’ve been riding that well haven’t R in a few weeks but that’s been great nice Brian what about yourself any big bike moves you’re riding inside now riding inside that’s about it no moves at all you using a platform to ride inside like a zift not
Yet but I will probably do it potentially tomorrow thinking tomorrow I wrote today just a little spin yep tomorrow want to do a little bit more what are you doing just like keeping track of it on your head unit is that do you keep track of it at
All do you care yeah yeah I run I run Apple workout on my watch also track it on my wahooo computer which then sinks over to straway gotcha cool yeah yeah I’ve been on the zift train for about two weeks two and a half hours today you’ve been putting in some
Big time on it been trying to because that’s what I feel like it’s the best for I haven’t really ever gotten into the races uh you know before I was on Swift I was really just like using um the trainer as like recovery but now
That I’m on Swift and I can do like Z2 Z3 like basically Z2 effort with like Z3 stuff like sprinkled in essentially with like a solid warmup and a solid cool down I don’t know man I know I I it sucks but uh it’s make I do feel
Stronger after having used it for two and a half weeks now and uh my hours on the bike are definitely up because the weather here has been so wet so wet and just like I trashed my bike I trashed my gravel bike riding it outside in the
Rain in December I had to replace some bearings and I’m like this is not cost efficient it’s just not it doesn’t make sense so at least at least one month of $15 for for zwift um yeah but yeah no I mean kudos to you for doing the time
Because like I can’t do that long usually like an hour to an hour and a half is my like mental longest but for me I don’t know what you’re doing if you’re free riding I find that workouts even if it’s something that you build and then you you follow your own plan
That’s the best for me because I like not thinking just be like oh it change you run it in ERG mode it Chang I’m only doing workouts I’m I’m making some and I’m choosing others but I’m not doing any free riding I’m really only even even just like the cafe ride workout or
Like the 35 minute mend on like my recovery days or whatever um yeah it does the structure to it does help split the time in a much more I don’t know approachable way I guess like it’s just slightly less mind-numbing than normal I don’t know I completely agree yeah yeah
But I mean it works so Brian see you on there I want to do never I’ve never personally hosted a zwift ride for it’s just a hill I know other it’s just a Hill members have but I would like to do that you know in the next month or so
And then uh hopefully not use it in the spring and summer and fall but yeah I mean it serves a purpose cool you can do um from what I understand some of the other platforms you get good discounts if you pay for a year at a time but at
Least with zft it’s it’s pretty consistent you can just cancel it and pick it back up so it makes it cost- effective if you’re only doing you know a few months a year yeah true um all right cool so let’s uh I like to talk about a couple of current events
Before we get to our Round Table discussion I sent this link to you guys uh you know Asos Asos I don’t know how do you pronounce it probably Asos right uh probably the ladder after what you’re about to say Asos uh rail I like to call
Them the brand of the people uh they just announced a $7,000 skin suit $77,000 7,000 and yeah it’s really much as my bike more it’s like custom fit it has like shoe but yeah that’s a lot of money that’s definitely more than at least one of my bikes and probably both of my
Bikes now that they’re used and I ride them a lot you know like definitely a lot of money for a skin suit now do either of you own any Asos gear no no no so I swear by their bib shorts I absolutely swear by them I have a couple
Different lines I’ve got the equip which is kind of like a premium line but I also have some melee GT which is like a very reasonably price I think 110 or 120 you can get them on sale a lot for like 80 bucks um and those are solid bibs
Like they work really well I’m sort I definitely am a bib snob I think certain things you should spend money on and certain things you don’t have to like a jersey Maybe not maybe don’t spend so much but bibs I don’t know point of contact on the bike yeah yeah it’s
Important maybe not $200 important don’t get me wrong this is a lot of money that I’m sort of I’m not just trying to throw around a lot of money but the Mele GT ones I have the thermal ones I’ve been wearing them all winter those are absolutely great but $7,000 for a skin
Suit like this is for the one this is a 1center [ __ ] it’s less than that I even feel like yeah it is it’s a it’s elite of the elite it’s not like everyday cyclist it’s like it seems wild to even like Market it you know what I
Mean it seemed like just put it on your website for those freaking track people who’s it for yeah I say who’s it for like what are teams using it what teams wear Asos um I don’t know what World Tour teams wear Asos I don’t think it’s as
Popular as it once was in the Pro Tour I also like 10 15 years ago Asos was like super like high premium you know what I mean I also think there are a lot of other companies that have just like come in and offered the same thing at you
Know sometimes higher prices even still the prices are just wild in the bike industry it’s absolutely it’s atrocious truly atrocious ious um but I think great time to buy a bicycle right now if you’re looking to buy an actual bicycle yeah true true and I think that will
Continue to be the case for the next year because there’s just back stock and there’s still new models coming out so you’re going to be able to get deals on bikes I think for quite some time and hopefully that means bike prices will come down I think prices on some stuff
Have have come down like yeah this year’s this year’s di2 altegra is last is cheaper than last year’s by like 150 bucks I think um so like that’s a you know at least a step in the right direction and not just inflation year after year after year uh wow and then
Yeah uh one other thing oh sorry do you have anything else to say about you’re gonna buy one no but from the mountain bike perspective like for reference you can get like a fox Factory Fork right now which is normally maybe 1,200 bucks for $450 new wow it’s it’s outrageous
Yeah new just like new with a warranty and all that Jensen’s website and just like literally go on there 450 brand new Fox Factory maybe a 22 or 23 model year I mean that’s a $1,200 Fork all day long yeah but because stuff didn’t sell right everyone everyone bought everything they
Wanted during the covid bike boom and then no one bought anything retailers yeah retailers kept buying stuff because inventory was down but then people didn’t keep buying stuff so so great time to buy yeah not so great time for bike shops I don’t think or even for or
Even for ret ters like like Jensen I’m sure you know like I don’t know I I don’t know the numbers obviously but it it can’t be good but maybe it is maybe it is good for us the consumers I guess I care more about us than I do about
Like some Big Brand company no offense Jensen sorry um uh also Strate bian the route came out today it’s the longest ever route there’s more gravel is this uh I know you know bsp you and I we talk about stuff like this on amateurs talking Pros a bit Adam I think you
Follow some Pro cycling did you watch stri bian last year have you watched it before yeah I did I did last year yeah I hadn’t watched it prior to that though pitcock won it last year this year is going to have 15 gravel sectors it’s 215
Kilomet long which is like 140 miles so uh no less than that little less than that but yeah uh you get the picture um and then it’s uh the women’s RAC is 137 km and 11 gravel roads um gravel’s The Way of the future you guys been watching
Lifetime Grand Prix oh yeah yeah no I’m finishing it uh probably after this tonight I’m like halfway through the last episode yeah what what were you g to ask so yeah what do the gravel sectors like uh as far as like gravel quality because it’s such a broad
Spectrum right um yeah so Str bian uh famously as if you couldn’t tell by the Italian word for white bian yeah uh there’s these are white dirt roads so they’re they’re not super chunky they’re white of last year’s similar quality they’re not adding anything more than
That yeah know there’s a there’s a bunch of these type of roads in this part of Italy and I think they just hit more of them essentially yeah um but yeah that’ll be fun that’s on March 2nd so uh yeah I’m sure we’ll be talking about it
Um yeah that’s all I got for current events you guys want to get get into a little bit more of a this is this is the real stuff that we really plan for potatoes yeah the real meat and potatoes exactly um so we started talked about
Like riding our bikes this time of year um now Adam I was just on straa I saw that you ran earlier today is that true yeah guilty guilty as charge yeah yeah he ran he did a little bit of a trail run we’re going to talk about cross
Training just a bit so Adam why don’t you tell us about like you know running do you run more this time of year or is it just a a thing you’re that you’re getting into because it seems to be there a little bit of a bug going around
It’s just a hill group chat and uh I’m going to come out and say that I don’t love it uh I’ll give a shout out to my friend love running no no I don’t I don’t at all I just went with my buddies daveid Adam who I told I was goingon to
Be on a podcast and they said they were gonna listen because they don’t cycle so hi to them but I I just for me it’s a social thing uh I you know they like running so it’s a way to keep up and stay in touch but yeah it’s fine I’m
Good for one to two a week tops I just it it hurts I ran cross country in high school and middle school and yeah I think my ship is sailed on running there so yeah wow Brian Brian what are your thoughts do you ever run that’s that to me is
What sounds fun cross country running is what sounds fun to me trail running sounds fun but then I get worried about slipping and rolling my ankle and not being able to ride my bike and I end up I was surprised that it was literally snow covered out at pagans it was just
All snow yeah Brian what are your thoughts on running you get ever get into it um I did have a small phase when I was running regular um very shortly like after I lost a good amount of weight I was running a little bit maybe doing like three to five miles
At a time yeah and aside from playing soccer when I was younger that’s definitely the most I ever ran in my life I was never a runner I it wasn’t part of my lifestyle my body wasn’t um capable of doing that so once I started getting a little more fit lost weight
And stuff I I was running and I was enjoying it at the time but then I got more into cycling and that definitely took over yeah I like how cycling is like cycling is like you know what I mean it’s like you’re like flying for me I think the cying too I
Like to Tinker and I mean this is probably pretty ignorant of me to say because I’m sure some Runners would say oh there’s a ton of gear and there’s a ton of things like I like sure like mechanical stuff like I don’t mind working on my car or my truck like I
Like like to Tinker with things so that’s why I like cycling a lot too because I get to mess with that where I feel like running I could get good shoes get good whatever and then that’s kind of feels like the end of the road for yeah messing around with
Stuff yeah know I mean it can be fun I I have experienced like you know the quote unquote Runners High a couple times before you know what I mean um and uh but like I like I you know I think it’s a very common thing this time of year
Especially it’s easier to sort of uh go up against the elements when you’re not doing 20 M an hour right you’re going a little bit slower maybe you’re hiding in the woods um but are as far as other TP types of cross training right running
Might not be my number one by any means I do do a lot of I do a lot of yoga I do yoga like every single day uh there any other stuff that that you do Brian like you you know you’re saying you don’t run
A lot do you do you do strength training this time of year you know you’re you do have a gym membership I think right I do okay I’ve there’s ‘s nothing wrong with that no no no I I think it’s great I I really like the gym and doing strength training
I just yeah have had a poor relationship with it in the past few months and I yeah have done very little um just some some weight stuff at home with what limited weights I do have and body weight stuff uh but in recent years for the you know quote unquote offseason in the
Winter typically I will do uh more strength training in the past three years I’ve been doing weight training and strength training you know with keeping it balanced with cycling and then in the winter kind of switch it a little bit balance it more spend a little more time
In the gym and I was definitely really enjoying that the past couple of years uh but this season I’ve just sort of I I mean I do yoga as well like you said really like like that I I walk my dog a lot um little bit of strength training and
Then just I’ve been doing a lot of trainer rides keeping is your strength training uh like mostly like focused or you doing like upper body stuff too or mix like what type of strength training are you doing yeah I was doing like three over the winter I would do like
Three to four days a week to balance that with the cycling and I was doing full body MH and over over the course of me doing stke training I was you know messing around with different splits and I would do maybe like two leg days two upper body days some weeks maybe three
Upper body days one lower and then it just started to feel like I wasn’t hitting wasn’t hitting the legs often enough so then I started to do full body every time I went almost every time I went or like two out of three I would do
Full body then maybe the other day I would do specific upper body things so that’s kind of the way I would balance it but I definitely noticed uh a difference in my cycling uh as far as strength as well as um sort of injury prevention where like
You know like when you’re going on Long rides you can you don’t necessarily get injured all the time but you can like feel what’s happening where you need to focus your stretching or yoga or rolling and I definitely had a lot less of those sort of things
Rearing their heads MH when I was really in it with um strength training and especially doing enough sort of core and lower body that really made a difference for me yeah one thing about running that I that we didn’t mention is like I guess people sort of talk about cyclist as
Having low bone density uh because it’s not like you know and I think running helps make up for that a lot it helps the sort of pych you know not that like we’re professional cyclists so we still spend a lot of time on our feet you know
What I mean like we spend plenty of time on our feet to like rack up that bone density as compared to like a pro that’s just like riding 30 30 hours a week and then just like has their legs up every other hour of the day getting massages
And stuff you know um but I do think that there’s a that’s another benefit to running or to strength training is like a building up muscles or parts of your body that you don’t normally focus on to help stabilize the parts of your body that you use so much when you’re cycling
So yeah that uh that’s a great Point Adam what about you any strength training stuff actually yes and if you’ll give me five seconds plug a book right here to leave right now oh a book did you got okay yeah so I actually just picked up this book The cyclist training
Bible wow interesting look at this cat-like helmet that this guy is wearing look at how aged that is look at that Jersey it’s not Arrow but anyways um no that’s that’s legitimately a catlike I love those that’s great so yeah I picked this up and it kind of goes with the
Strength training like uh um you know I’m no expert this is my first for a I guess you say into like specifically looking at training for cyclist mostly in PRI uh prior years I’ll just ride hard when I feel like I’ve taken a break and then ride easy when I feel like I’ve
Written hard with no Rhyme or Reason there’s definitely an emphasis in this book I’ve worked my way through most of it on especially early season in the build periods doing strength training uh like I’d be in what they would call a prep period right now where I’m going
Through more emotions and when I get into builds they stress going harder and heavier weights and you go less days to the middle of the Season then you get to a point where you’re just going one day a week to maintain strength and they give Alternatives as doing uh located
Drills to build muscular strength to if you don’t have gym access so there’s a lot of interesting things I mean it’s a pretty nerdy read but there’s a lot of cool information that uh I definitely have kind of changed how I look at training starting this year with with it
And are you just reading it front to back or are you like following the specific plan that’s laying out yeah you’re just reading yeah the first like five six chapters are just you read up to there and then seven eight n you can kind of read based on what type of plan
You want to make do yeah yeah and do you have a like a specific is there a specific date that you’re going for to get your strength to like Peak like is there an event that you’re looking forward to yeah I put Overland is mine um which is going to be hard because
We’re doing d2r to the weekend before and also I’ll be gone in Europe for most of July so I probably won’t be riding so that’s a big hindrance where I realize it it’ll probably throw this plan out of whack but I’m trying to maybe set the foundation for hopefully a good Overland
But then next year getting it to habits um trying to look at TSS which is something I never looked at but they stress how yeah you can go by hours and other metrics but TSS is a big emphasis in this book in uh a good way to track a
More accurate workout in the sense that hours are hours but it doesn’t measure intensity where TSS is power normalized power with time in zone so it’s a more accurate depiction of your workout is is TSS just a cycling number or can you get a strain score that’s a total strain
Score right that’s what those letters stand for get St score yeah when you’re working out like you could um like if you look at a training Peaks like I went running today and I got like a running TSS or if I do strength training get a heart rate TSS
But they don’t compare like my heart rate TSS numbers are normally higher than my power based ones there’s fluctuations there so like going by power is the best it seems but got heart rate could be a close second yeah yeah interesting oh cool um yeah I basically
Do I don’t I do the same like in terms of like terms of year the time of year that I’m focused on like strength training but I’m doing mostly body weight stuff like squats push-ups pull-ups on like the bar that I have hanging I definitely do way more of that
This time of year but like I feel like whenever I focus on that I’m trying to balance out my legs as well because like I do not care like I want to have like a fit upper body but like as someone that like likes to like climb like Hills a
Lot I’m not trying to carry any like extra muscle weight I that sounds so stupid to say out loud but like I don’t toned a little bit yeah yeah yeah sure I don’t want to be I don’t want to be like doughy you know what I mean like that’s
Like maybe one of my biggest fears in life to be perfectly honest but we’re not we’re we’re not going to go down that road um this isn’t a podcast this yeah this is yeah just if you want to go go listen to I’m just gonna plug the
Episode that I did with Todd a couple episodes ago where we talked about body weight stuff but like yeah you know what I mean like I definitely want to have like like strong Upp body you know it helps you when you’re standing up on the bike or helps you when you’re riding
Gravel you know and you like you want to be strong um but I sometimes am like I catch myself just like doing curls or doing like you know one of these with kettle bells like some sets and I’m like I don’t know about this dog this is you
Know but that’s so silly because I I obviously don’t do it enough you know I I definitely don’t do it enough I think you’re fighting like you’ll never be bulky with the amount that you ride yeah that’s exactly what I was gonna say yeah sure yeah you could do a lot of upper
Body and you might actually really enjoy the way you feel look because you’re not going to build a ton of muscle like the amount of cardio you’re doing each week is really G to keep a a ceiling on that for sure yeah no you’re probably right I probably
Would like look at myself even longer in the mirror you know um okay and uh any any other any any other like any other type of cross training you guys do I personally probably should do more cross training but like to me nothing is more fun than
Riding my bike you know what I mean and so like that’s really I I do it because I think it’s a lot of fun I try to walk like Brian walk I mean I Adam you have dogs too we all walk our dogs like I
Like to go on like more hikes uh this time of year like walks in the woods and stuff but uh yeah I probably could be better I’ve been trying to do more push-ups lately I did 50 push-ups today I’ve been trying to do 50 a day yeah so
That’s that’s like a just a dumb little thing I’ve been trying to do for me if I get the snow cross country skiing is what I would do but it’s few and far between man I want to do that that sounds great I want to do that
B I’ve been talking to Sam about it a bit former guest of the podcast it’s just a hill member Sam Sam’s been doing it a bunch of up in New Hampshire now and uh I think there might be an opportunity for us to link up with Sam
And go up there I’m sure he would help all of us out and uh yeah I would love to do it he’s doing a lot of back country stuff that looks cool I mean I got to go cross country skiing from my house when we got that snow a couple
Weeks ago ago what on the road or in your backyard with Thea I went down my road and then the trail at the end of my road um and then palaski Park up in Gloucester is usually pretty good I’ve read that palaski Park they used to have groomers there but apparently they don’t
Do yeah they they will do it like a few years ago when we had a lot but usually you don’t get it groomed but there’s a lot of people and they will track it like the people will kind of make their own tracks um and then you just sort of
Follow that right yeah lucky if you can go twice a year in Rhode Island yeah yeah yeah which I guess I’m not really complaining about I’m not the biggest fan of the snow yeah yeah so I would actually really like to know from other people like listeners um what they do for cross
Training too because I really would like to just hear more ideas in general yeah good point because I just want to start trying more stuff like so I I don’t know if I want to try CrossFit but like cross country seing sounds really cool maybe mountain climbing indoor mountain
Climbing yeah oh okay hear what people have to say what they do I don’t do it but like I know friends of mine who do and I mean swimming has got to be probably maybe one of the best workouts you can possibly do but it’s it’s sure it’s it’s
Inconvenient I mean especially there’s probably not a pool like a YMCA within a half an hour of where I live and I’m not going to stop on the way home I got the dogs and stuff but uh yeah I mean swimming would be a great one like if if
I if it was easy I would probably do it more if it was easy to get to yeah yeah am also specifically interested in things that aren’t super cardio based like that are more like physical and active which that’s crazy that’s what all exercise is physical yeah but what
Trampoline park I don’t know like I just want to hear what people do I want to hear some creative stuff like there maybe I maybe I should just get a really physical job where I’m moving boxes around somewhere I don’t know I love this someone just get 40 yeah I love
This this is a great call to action Brian thanks people in the comments let us know what you do for cross training I think that’s a great idea because yeah I mean for me like the way I think about I’m like well people like ride their mountain bikes more this time of year
That’s like cross training you know riding my riding my gravel bike with a with a circular chain ring is cross training compared to my road bike that has an oval chain ring that’s cross training right not to be confused with cross chaining not cross chaining not
Cross chaining that I do plenty of that too all year round all year round uh can’t do that on your one by mountain bike or you’re either doing it all the time depending how you look at it right right right right um all right yeah that
Was great uh let’s I want to talk about Shamy cream a bit um this is I think I think a lot of us use Shamy cream I’ve got some tubs of it right here by my side I’m curious if you guys have this Brian’s out of here he’s upset about the
Talk about hang on hang on he’s get a shopping cart I I forgot to grab one uh yeah so we have I think we all have some shammy cream here in front of us I’m curious uh before we get into like the brands that we use um Brian you just got
Up to grab something I’m assuming I’m assuming it’s shammy cream do you you do you use it and do you use it every ride uh Shamy cream I’m for it okay let me tell you let me tell you I’m a big fan um I went a very long time without
Using it and then I decided to try it because there was a good like daily deal or whatever the hell they call it on bik guars direct so I bought um enzzo’s um European style in a tub yep uh it was like it’s very minty I liked
That a lot love that uh Little Men what I just grabbed was one called squirrels Nut Butter oh my God and it is one that I it is one that I do not use okay why don’t I do not like the texture of it okay okay what’s up with the texture of
It it’s like too thick okay it’s like I don’t know it’s like let’s see what it what the base is it’s more of like a balm and then you have to yeah it’s a coconut oil and coconut butter so you have to like melt it you know and it’s just
Like yeah I don’t like the sound of that whatsoever what what you do you so you don’t use that but you do use it often do you use it on every ride even if you’re going out for just an hour uh if I remember to use it I will so
Most of the time that I don’t use it is because I simply forgot and currently right now not to spoil Adam’s uh situation but I had used these nuts all right let’s get into it so Adam currently you Ed Curr beautiful uh I used uh was it um oh my God what’s the
Brand is it uh shammy butter yeah shammy butter but yeah hear me butter yeah I I went through a two of that recently I just started D’s Nuts now yeah so Adam you also use D’s Nuts do you use it on every ride well so yeah this is my nice
And well-worn oh got the pro model um oh SK so there are different kinds of D nuts right yeah so they make a few different ones similar to what shammy butter has like they have a women specific one too uh so I use that I really have no gripes um actually I just
Got this recently I’m going back to this so I actually just I like this more um I actually reached out to them and just got an ambassador thing with them so but I did that because I actually wanted that not because they sought me out um
So I guess what I like about it is honestly quality-wise they’re both pretty similar um this is just more readily available and I kind of like that they do these for travel size I can’t really find any companies that do that and they’re super convenient for
Bike packing I was thinking about if I do end up bringing a bike to Europe with me like I can bring some of these in a carry on uh because they’re under the you know three o versus I can’t bring this um so yeah there’s a lot to like
And I like that they have the like the Euro style the coconut you know based one they’ve just got a lot flavors isn’t the right word for Shamy cream but they’ve got a lot of yeah I really love I love shammy butter too I have the Euro style uh
Quote European cooling anti-chafe cream it does have it’s got a bit of a menthol to it I will say this is by far my go-to brand I’m bit of a brand loyalist I have those little packets too I’ve got extras for when whenever we go bike packing
This year uh I say that I say that extremely hopefully to both of you to just just plant a little seed in both of your heads because I think I first weekend of June or whatever yeah um do you use it every ride I guess same question I didn’t answer your
Question but to ask it to you do you use it every ride on the trainer out yes I use it every single ride especially on the trainer if I’m going outside and I’m only going to ride light for like an hour like I know I’m just doing a
Recovery ride I might not wear it but like it’s very much part of my routine you know I like have it in a drawer next to the other draw you know what I so like I’m pretty good about it um I’ve been using this one for a while I
Previously used the Asos one which I also think is very good I also have this is a squirt barrier bomb this reminds me of what Brian was talking about with the squirrel one it’s very thick let’s just say it’s like waxy and like I don’t love that it’s waxy it
Also leaves like it leaves like a residue on my shammy on the inside of my bib shorts that like does it this is like is going to start to sound gross but it doesn’t like wash out the same way that like this one does it like this like leaves like a waxy film
On like a cardboard box waxy film you know the uh the shammy but seems so clean like it just seems very clean and I really like that squirt did like send this to me for free uh so like that was very nice of them and I used it
Quite a bit until I started to realize that like the more and more I used it it just like it just wasn’t working out for you yeah with lanoline and tea tree I mean it like worked well you know what I mean like I was yeah landolin like sheep’s will uh I
I like wasn’t you know I wasn’t having any issues down there I wasn’t getting any sleurs or anything I just didn’t like what it was doing to like the the pad on the inside of my bibs and I see feel like like that wasn’t know that
Wasn’t great maybe I was using too much I don’t know could have been user error I guess yeah I mean I I kind of along with what you said too uh I used to really when I’d go like when we go on group rides in the weekends you know I’d
Always wear it because I’m going to be out for several hours I used to not wear it on the trainer and I realized I almost need it on the trainer more for an hour than I do for three hours outside because there’s just I don’t have you kind of made your little
Contraption for giving a little freedom to your trainer mine’s rigid it’s on the ground there’s no like that’s the worst satle Source I’ve gotten have been from time on the trainer yeah so yeah I use it every ride now I guess then yeah I did buy four balance pods on
Amazon for about $16 this is what Adam is alluding to and I put the four balance pods underneath the four feet of my trainer and it works out quite well I have not had to add air to them I’ve been doing hard hard rides on them I did
A couple of like you know higher watt intervals on my ride today and it didn’t feel too crazy rocking side to side but it does give you a little bit of side to side movement kind of like a really uh cheap rocker plate sort of deal so yeah
Um yeah that’s a little I think that’s a great idea little balance pod hack I saw on Reddit and uh yeah I L I think I bought them I think they were1 16 or $24 for all four of them um yeah and they’re it’s like perfect for it uh also a quick
Shout out to Neil Neil sporin I think I think Neil like if you do maybe you’re getting a little bit of a saddlesore and like just put a little NE sporn on there and it really does wonders you know you know we’re getting really intimate right now we were talking about the female
Shammy butter which I think is great that they offer that with like a balanced pH and stuff like that so um yeah a little bit of neopor and bass Trace anointment you know little bit goes a long way if you see something flaring up down there you know don’t
Don’t let it get like the size of a golf ball and then uh then you’re off the bike for for months at a time I’ve heard some horror stories I’ve heard some horror stories yeah sorry Brian oh Brian’s doing the thing uh all right true it’s true though
And now we’re gonna have the most serious chat of the day uh you know I think this is something that has talked about a lot uh and you know this is something that I think has covered sort of AD no in in memes and and bad forums
But we’ve never really talked about it here and this is the Shram versus Shimano debate um like I said a lot of the time you just see like people arguing with each other as if uh both of them are like one is really good the
Other is bad I don’t neither of them are bad right neither of them are bad they’re both like industry leading group sets we’re not going to talk about campolo none of us can afford I can’t even sneeze in the same zip code I don’t I’m not that rich I’ve never been able
To afford it I’ve never I’ve never owned it I’ve never tried my bike right right um so yeah I you know I I will say I do enjoy myself some [ __ ] Shram memes I think Adam and I have probably said [ __ ] Shram to each other quite a bit um but
Yeah I also do think it it’s worth talking about so you know Adam I you and I I would I would consider I would consider myself a Shimano fanboy not that I hate Shram I have this look at this water bottle right here Dura Ace and altegra science of speed if you will
Iace hats yeah yes I I love the way that Shimano shifts it puts it at a top tier for me Brian I’m curious what your thoughts are have you run both um what what do your thoughts on the on the debate is even worth having a debate
About well whether it’s worth having a about uh probably why not Everyone’s entitled to their opinion everybody has their own experiences with them and um I think that’s what it’s like for me I have had experience with both of them but my my road setup is 11speed mechanical Shimano and my gravel bike
Is one by in the front 12-speed sham MH yeah so I feel like a lot of the sorry I what you say Wireless electronic Wireless the wireless electronic sorry yeah yeah yeah um so it’s not exactly a fair comparison because one’s mechanical one’s electronic one is one buy the
Other two buy and I know a lot of uh complaints about serum has been the front derailer and dropping the chain um but whenever I get on my gravel bike I freaking love it like I just feel like I’m on a new age machine you know yeah
Yeah and then I get on my bike my old bike my road bike and I’m just likeing the cables over oh my fingers are getting tired you know yeah but I yeah so I really I really like my Ram setup um the only issue that I’ve had with it
Is chain actually still even though I’m one by chains still popping off sometimes when I hit like a really bumpy section yeah which I could get a little guide thing that some of us have sure that holds it on I could do that but I yet
Yeah but other than that have I like it you have a wolf too chain guide on your one by Shimano setup though yep yep and you do do you is it am I correct in saying that you don’t own any bikes with SHRM uh yeah yeah but you were recently
Looking at yeah one of their mountain bike group sets which that’s what I have I have a gravel bike with a mountain bike derailer in the back and it is one by so it’s just a one derailer but man that’s a nice derail so yeah I guess like right off the bat like
I’m definitely biased to Shimano but I try to be objective when I’m looking at things and I think kind of Brian hit the nail on the head um I feel like the more you go towards off-road with mountain bike being the end game there the more
That stram makes sense to me and it’s not even a front derailer thing it’s if you’re going electronic actually if you aren’t going electronic either one I don’t like their I don’t like their one by uh shifters mechanical because I don’t like the single click and then
Double click on the same lever to go up and down I want different uh but when you only have to deal with one battery in a one buy system yeah like that’s fine that’s what I’m doing with di2 in my road bike when you have to deal with
Two different batteries and then that’s when it starts to get a little bit I don’t know if I want to deal with that on a road bike um I think they’re very Innovative more than Shimano I think Shimano plays it safe and that’s why I they just work they’re pretty much
Compatible with everything I think the one thing Shram can do is obsolete their own technology with new Innovations sure um but that new transmission group set they came out with is pretty good I thought about buying it I came really darn close actually to buying it for my
Yeti um it’s but it was one of those things where I mean shift’s great I rode Matt at nbx his bike he let me try his track uh outside and it felt amazing but you need the new crank set to work with it you can’t just use the new derailer
You know you need the new chain to work with it so you need to overhaul your entire bike to do it but shift’s amazing yeah the one paddle system too is so nice one paddle on either side left brings it this way in the cassette right brings it the other way in the
Cassette and then both flips if you’re if you’re running too by both just changes it from the Big Ring to the little ring that is so nice especially I ride my gravel bike a lot more this time of year even if it’s just on the road because the roads are salty and shitty
And my gravel bike is you know just can take a bit more of a beating than my road bike I don’t want to mess it up on the roads this time of year and I’m wearing thicker gloves it’s so much easier to shift those those two Shimano
Buttons uh I really don’t think that they’re tricky I think I think so like you know quite as easy it’s not quite as easy yes yeah when you’re not wearing most of the time I don’t wear gloves in the summer or even I’m just wearing fingerless gloves you could still feel
The difference in the two P you know the two different paddles okay um but like that is that is like a nice thing that they have like and like that the derailers are so easy to swap because they are truly Wireless right they’re both electronic but Shimano di2 is not
Wireless there’s an internal battery so you can’t call it Wireless the Shimano derailers you could like take a front derailer off of one bike and put it on the other in like 20 minutes half hour I’ve done it before it’s not that hard you know what I mean like because
Everything is Wireless if you do run into a battery problem and you’re out on the road if your buddy has a Shram derailer you can just pop the battery off put it on yours real quick shift into the gear that you want and then give them the battery back I have seen
People plug their di2 into another person’s di2 but then your rear derailers are like really close to each other and you’re like unplugging one thing you know it’s not it’s not as it’s it’s different because certain things I think are more user friendly than others in terms of Shimano versus Shram that’s
Not really a fair argument they’re both great group sets um I personally like the way di2 shifts a little bit more than my Shram uh 12-speed EAP but uh if you’re good with charging your di2 it’s like a Garmin thing the battery life is insan like if you just I literally have
A thing in my calendar that’s just like every two months just charge it I never need to every two months but it’s just like it’s like miles it’s a long time it’s a long time I could probably make it through half a year of Road riding that Mount that I ride without charging
It it’s crazy it’s it’s quite a long time the battery is significantly bigger yeah yeah almost to the point that you could forget uh you know I yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah forgetting sucks forgetting sucks no matter what even if you’re on campy yeah yeah the cool thing
About like with the Sham uh stuff too at least when you get into like the mountain bike end of it is I’m I prefer Shimano breaks over saram breaks just because if I’m doing my own work I’d rather work with mineral oil than with DOT fluid that’s always been thing for
Me just safer for my paint and stuff um but at least with like mountain bike stuff I could run I could run an eagle uh or GX uh axis derailer not the new transmission but the old electronic one and still use my Shimano brakes because it’s on like a road bike they’re not
Married where the brake lever is part of the shifter right so right in a situation like that I would probably entertain the thought of buying a setup like that for a mountain bike but when it comes to in gravel where I have to have a homogeneous group SE with the
Breaks personally I’ll probably stick it with SH but yeah yeah I mean I think it’s good that there are two companies that are sort of pushing or three I get they’re all pushing each other you know tampy sort of I think grows in a very different way and they’re all sort of
Moving too fast and they’re making their all group sets Obsolete and it is sort of you know it’s just that like consumerism [ __ ] that I’m still waiting for a uh 12-speed electronic uh Mountain bike group set from Shimano they’re slow on that I mean technically they have one but it’s pretty much kind
Of ebike only they don’t have any mainstream electronic mountain bike yeah which is interesting that they haven’t done that yeah so yeah that’s really interesting yeah um all right well we finally did it we had the actual you know we got at each other’s throats about Shram versus Shimano I just think
It’s important that like the whole I love the memes and stuff and I love to see people fight on the internet about things that don’t matter but I think ultimately like it doesn’t matter and as long as you’re having fun riding your bike yeah that’s a great point you
Really can’t go wrong and like if your bike shop only does one and that’s the one that you have because they support it then that’s great you know what I mean like go with that right like so yeah um all right that’s all I have for the round table you guys have anything
Else you want to talk about before we get out of here oh boy I don’t know man no you could both you both say was load for another one yeah well that was great yeah thank you guys very much um yeah appreciate you taking your time out of
Uh you know taking time out of your day is what I was trying to say I guess and uh yeah thank you guys very much we see you on the next podcast cool yeah thank you guys nice to see you bye you too bye Bye well that will just about to it for another episode of the S just a hill cycling podcast thanks again for listening and thank you to Brian and Adam for showing up and being part of it for showing up a little weird you know what I mean I mean it I’m being genuine
Uh double thanks to bsp for you know as we joked about in the last episode being my podcasting partner in crime doing all the audio editing and mixing for all for this episode and for all the other episodes of this podcast and like I mentioned earlier don’t forget it’s just
A hill winter bike League currently in progress head to our straa for all event details as of this recording one stages in the bag five more to go plenty of opportunities to rack up points you can join our WhatsApp chat for random bike discussion group ride info as well as
Random ride meetups the link is below in the YouTube description below here check out the best bike shop wow check out check out the best bike shop around it was a little Southern check out the best bike shop around nbx located in Nar Rhode Island with unbeatable service and
Prices nbx is my go-to shop and the go-to shop for it’s just a hill for so many reasons that being said just support any of your local bike shops I’m sure they could use it and it would be great everyone could use the help local
Bike shops let’s but if you do happen to make that trip to nbx which I think you should make sure to ask someone about the studio at nbx located right above the shop offering things like yoga bike fits and various stretching classes like we talked about previously in the
Episode uh cross training is very important and I like to do a lot of yoga like I said to stay fresh and flexible on and off the bike so my long rides really I think benefit from that and I suggest that you do the same head over
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