Could This Device Change Cycling? + These Tips Will Make You A Better Rider – The Wild Ones Pod Ep42

Check out the audio version of the podcast here: https://podfollow.com/the-wild-ones/view

Here’s a breakdown of this week’s show:
00:00 Welcome continental racer & coach James!
02:18 96% of people can do this… can you?
04:50 Is this device the next big trend in cycling? We hope not…
21:17 Zipp weighs in on hookless wheels
27:27 These underrated tips will make you a better cyclist
44:55 Overrated/Underrated: Naked bike rides
49:18 Overrated/Underrated: Carbon spokes
50:50 Emily got caught by the police?! (FUOTW)
54:53 How to mentally prepare for multi-day events like the Transcontinental
56:48 Pain on the bike: a bike fit or a fitness issue?

Thanks to coach James for joining us this week. You can get in touch with him at www.upshiftvelo.co.uk

If you’d like us to send in a question, story, some good news, things you’d like us to discuss or anything else, email us at wildonespodcast@cademedia.co.uk
Thanks and see you next time.

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Welcome to another jam-packed episode of The Wild Ones podcast a show where we chat about bike stuff and this week I’m joined by producer Emily and James jobber James is a man of many talents he’s a professional mechanic he’s a bike racer who races for Continental team

Global 6 United Global six United it’s like it sounds like a football team yeah yeah something to get on board with what what is global six United uh it’s the name of the team not like a company or something like that no no I think that’s

A unique thing about us really it’s not that’s really interesting cuz that’s something we’ve talked about previously actually isn’t it is creating a team that’s got a a consistent identity it’s interesting though that’s difficult thing yeah World Tour teams obviously they they alternate sponsors as well so

You’ be sponsoring one team one year and all of a sudden that sponsor moves it’s like yeah where do you where do you follow him yeah uh he’s also a professional coach and the other half of upshift V the coaching company he runs with Pete who you might remember we had

On the show a while back uh one of the things that came off the conversation that we had with Pete I have actually been doing and I’m very uh am better as a result of it so I’ve finally got some consistency and I’m doing some training regularly and the bit that Pete was

Banging on about in that podcast was it’s better to train regularly smaller amounts than doing like a massive ride on a weekend so what I’m doing now is I’m doing lots of little bits throughout the week and I’m actually finding that my weekly volume as a result is

Significantly higher and all of it is like mega mega zone 2 Mega low volume or Mega low intensity and I’m actually starting to notice the benefit now so thanks to Pete Pete’s not here James is yep thanks for having me I was watching you on Euros sport the other day yeah

Started the season out in uh Taiwan so um well just recover from the chat lag I think if we were doing this podcast this time last week it would have been uh yeah significantly less uh less enjoyable um so that was five days five stage days racing the T the Taiwan yeah

Pretty tough race in the end there was uh yeah higher level than in previous years four four Pro Cony teams and yeah a bunch of other Continental teams that all went there absolutely flying so um yeah that was a good experience good place to Ry bike as well she I’d

Recommend it how are you Emily I’m good I um I actually found out an amazing fact this week I’m gonna ask you both a question do you think you could tell the difference between hot water and cold water being poured just from hearing it

I do I I feel like I can feel the difference in my head I was I was confident until you said here I yeah probably if it was been poured to me yeah but on you no not on you into a glass and you have to listen to it

Apparently the amazing fact that I found out this week is that apparently 96% of people can do this without realizing so I reckon have you have you recorded are you going to play a audio Yeah so yesterday I I poured some cold water and some hot water from the same

Kettle into the same cup for for science reasons to keep the test fair and I recorded it and I’m going to play it and you and the listeners at home can see whether you’re part of the 96% or part of the 4% before you play it can I

Predict what the difference is going to be if you’d like to yeah so I I think they’re going to produce different frequencies I think the hot water is going to be like a and the cold water is going to be a okay this guys thought it through I

Realized this is cycling content either but I don’t care it’s fun yeah exactly right okay this is the first one easy it’s cold you wait the hot one is going to have a a hit like a a lower frequency second one hot it’s so you can hear the steam

What do you think James I’m I’m with you I mean Jimmy Jimmy’s it’s difficult to give in opinion different to that because he has clearly thought this through so I’m I’m behind him the problem is when we do quizzes Jimmy and Francis get so excited that they give the listeners approximately 0.2 seconds

To answer before they give the answer yeah I mean you’d be you’d be a fo to go otherwise but you are correct yes the first one is called and the second one is hot easy it is actually quite easy isn’t it yeah yeah yeah surprisingly so yeah so

Um if you’re looking for a party trick for your next sare then you can you can say that that’s your party trick but also it’s 96% of other people trying how you’d set that up as a party trick yeah I know the kettle boiling around the

Kettle I’ve got a trick to show is that is that us done we’re moving on to the show now yes let’s Okay so let’s get into some news could Aeros senses be the next big Trend in performance cycling I hope not uh so this is a question that road

CC have been asking this week so at the start of the Year little track announced a partnership with a company called Aeros sensor and as the name suggests they make a sensor that attaches to the front of your bike connects to your Garmin and can apparently give you live

Aero data to help you improve your position it combines data from a speed sensor and power meter with altitude and wi conditions to calculate CDA body rocket is another company that just released an on-bike drag measuring system prototype for road bikes it’s Tech that has previously been used on

Planes and F1 cars so of course the pro pelaton has now picked it up the eror sensor has an RP of £ 1,215 and there are limitations you can’t use it in wet conditions and traffic seems to completely screw up the results I CDA is I just had a look and

CDA is an abbreviation for coefficient of aerodynamic drag so so when I was in the Wind Tunnel recently it was explained to me as or the wind tunnel works that if if you are less Arrow the wind pushes you more into the ground and they measure that so it’s it’ll be something

To do with how it it measures how much force you are pushing into something or other uh I know these have been around for a little while because I remember Chris Hall nearly bought one a number of years ago when he was like hard working on his TT position for the long distance

Stuff so they have been around for a little while they have been around for a while yeah I think the update is that little Trek of now got one and this body rocket have just released a the body rocket one like goes in the central part of your frame I guess

Where a bottle cage would would go and measures it from there and this the arrow one goes on the front of your bike my gut is it feels like a bit of a gimmick in the sense that these teams have presumably been doing aerot testing for like years and years and years they

Just haven’t been doing it live well also that they’re presumably being paid money to use it yeah so my understanding of Arrow is that if you’re in a bunch I actually think I think Pete talked about this when he was here if you’re in a bunch then it’s not important have you

Done aot testing James what where where do you stand on the AA space as a nearly professional bike racer yeah I mean I’d say my opinions evolved like I think if you’d ask me sort of a few years ago I’d have been kind of Fairly anti it and

Just kind of I felt like there was a real obsession over AOS socks initially and it was like you just turn up to every race and everyone had would have AOS socks on but they’d be halfway down there their ankles because they’ve slipped down and all of a sudden they’re

Saving x amount of wats because and the reality is particularly in yeah in in in that style of event yeah you spend a lot of time in the pelaton where you wouldn’t benefit from it um okay for well particularly in the v drone yeah it’s that is part of the game ultimately

The the goal is to be as fast as possible and that’s not necessarily just in terms of strength it’s to do with speed so obviously arrow is is a huge factor in that so yeah V 100% TTS yeah again you’re individual road racing and other events where it becomes more and

More uh negligible it’s still good to have that kind of innovation there I think um and for people to be looking to to push the boundaries performance or the rest of it but yeah if we’re talking okay maybe at the absolute Elite level it’s become important there was some

Someone I spoke to about in in Tai one of the directs of the team um Greg Henderson used to be an XPR himself and there was actually a day was big Breakaway that had gone it’s quite a long well big fight for the Breakaway early on 60k and then essentially the

Group established a gap um Pon gave it a bit of leash and he he mentioned how racing has evolved quite a bit because of the arrow so he said because of the the not just the size of the group but the speed of the group so it’s quite

Fast roads the second half of the stage slightly downhill so just the speed of the group in front and the Pelon were faster but he said it’s it’s more advantageous for the for the group out in front because I say because they’re traveling faster therefore the uh the

Power needed to catch them to catch them is there greater so they’re traveling faster the peleton traveling faster but obviously the the power needed goes up exponentially so it has affected things and I think definitely from a racing point of view it’s important to to consider that because

Yeah it’s easy to think that it’s all about power but I say the actual point is it’s about speed um but then again for most people is this priority you said a really interesting thing there is that if you asked a lot of people what’s important about pro cyclist they would say the

Amount of power that they can produce but actually that is completly not true it’s what you just said it’s how fast they’re able to go over a distance M and I think to be fair it’s a question I always I always ask myself like this

Actually came from a a book I read um there was a guy which I can’t remember top of my head but essentially the guy made the point he he was a guy who worked with the England rugby team back in 2003 I’m sure you remember that well

As a as a huge rugby fan um no he so his point he started working with the England rugby team and the question he asked to cive Woodward at the time was what are the basics of rugby and it’s a really important question I always asked

Myself that in terms of my own approach with the sport okay what are the basics of the event I’m approaching and it’s same with the people I’m coaching as well is what are the basics what do they need to get right and keep it as simple

As possible um and I say for cycling it’s easy to think okay the basic is just more power well no it’s it’s speed yeah do you think that people can have too much information absolutely absolutely I think that’s in fact that’s that’s one of the I don’t know if it’s I

Guess it is unique to cycling but there’s there’s a real uh drive for devices that move move you away from your instincts yeah they create something that um it’s almost like a disassociation with your own body it has to be about the output it’s the power

It’s the heart rate it’s now well now it’s the CDA it’s like all of these other factors whereas in fact what I try and incorporate a lot of the time into my coaching is more more of an emphasis on on your your feeling and the input so

Yeah in my own approach thinking about training uh using RP rather than power is kind of thinking of power is the output and heart rate is the output and the speed is the output okay look at those things after but actually during the session concentrate on their input

Which is your your feeling your body how’s your breathing during the session can you explain what RP is uh rate of perceived exertion so essentially for me I use a scale of 1 to 10 one being very easy 10 being absolutely full gas um so yeah when I’m setting sessions uh in

Fact I’ll use Nick as an example because this was uh so James works in the bike shop with Pro bike mechanic Nick for uh context yeah um so sorry about that by the way it’s been uh I mean yeah it’s when I think about how many years we worked

Together I’m like oh God some some people can’t survive minutes no um so we were talking so Nick’s in in true Nick style he’s uh he’s preparing for dirty Reaver uh he promised a lot of people he’s doing 200k and started his training now so again the diry ring is four weeks obviously

Plenty of time to to prepare for something that would be he to be fair to Nick though he is a brute He he’ll get it done he will get it done he won’t he’s already he’s putting he’s putting loads of creats already it’s like oh if

It’s if the route goes past the past the car park I’m turning off if the weather does this I’m it’s not going to happen but well I I decided to hum him with some with some training advice anyway so when it comes to testing I’m sort

Of I always suggest people do it at the right time if people are curious about testing and they want to see where they’re at they want a bit of a benchmark then great um I think the danger is sometimes uh people can that Define themselves a bit too much yeah

You know it’s kind of it’s a snapshot of where you’re at in that moment it can help provide a bit of an insight into kind of training zones and and give a bit more Direction but again it become it can become an obsession um and I’d

Say a lot of the time people being in achieving what they want isn’t doesn’t necessarily correlate with the testing itself okay sometimes it does yeah I mean but B essentially with Nick we decided to well he he wanted to do some testing so I was like okay we keep it simple we

Do a three minute test and a 12 minute test so basically those those two they’ll give you a marker on like a on a on a power Cur a critical power curve if you’re familiar with one of those but essentially it will give you two points

On a on a curve that will allow you to give a a rough estimate of Ft so okay start off with a 3 minutes he’s how would I best approach that so saying okay to start off with obviously 3 minutes it’s quite a short period of time but there’s still an element of

Pacing involved so first minute start off at like a seven out of 10 so it’s hard but you’re in control of your Brea in yeah in control of your breathing um second minute okay it’s starting to get a little bit harder but again you’re still in control maybe it’s

Up to like an eight or nine out of 10 it’s not quite maximal you’re still holding a little bit back and the last minute it’s full gas it’s going to hurt it’s going to be horrible but just get through it last minute absolutely full gas again we talked through a bit of

Strategy for 12 minute again similar sort of thing obviously slightly lower RP at the start kind of visualizing perhaps starting like a a 10 mile time Trail for example underdo it kind of aim for 20 minutes and just let your body default to to where you end up and

Invariably in that sort of test the last three minutes you can always just kind of push on a little bit more and that will give you fair fairly accurate snapshot of where you’re out in the day yeah yeah no worries okay the next day

Oh Nick did you uh how did you get on with the testing oh I did one minute and I uh I just completely blew up afterwards I could feel myself tying up like okay right so so what I mean obviously we spoke about RP beforeand I

Was like what and he’s like sorry that was the other point as well he mentioned I could I was like trying to hold 450 Watts blah blah blah I was like so that what was your what was your focus before that or what did what did you think

About during it he’s like well I had that I had that number in my head it’s like if you focus on the number as say you’re chasing after that and invariably you overshoot the entire no one’s ever done a test thinking of a number that was actually like well within there yeah

Within their range they always kind of overshoot and it’s I say you end up kind of chasing after it your breathing’s elevated and also mentally you kind of with stress as well isn’t it yeah it’s an element like I’m thinking about myself if I was going to do a test now

And aim for a 300 watt 10minute effort I’m going to be I’m going to be elevated my heart rate and everything is going to elevate cuz I’m like this is going to suck this is going to hurt this is really hard am I going to be able to do

It and I’m going to stress about it you know so so there’s a a guy I worked speak to him kind of most weeks my um my kind of Mentor Maxim and he he described it as like it’s almost like waiting for someone to slap you in the face what

Does that do like straight away you’re just like you’re bracing like exension isn’t it exension is the word where in fact when it become when when it comes to Performance you want that freedom in what you’re doing you want to feel relaxed and and calm it’s kind of

Which sounds it’s like a paradox really because okay you’re trying really hard but at the same time it’s effortless effort is the expression um but yeah I say that’s that’s kind of an example where it’s like okay you you’ve had that number in your head and also you’re

Chasing it a little bit and then it starts to tail off again what does that do mentally it’s like I’m falling short of it I’m oh no now it’s now it’s 420 now it’s 400 now it’s three and then and then all of a sudden you just give up

Because you’re miles away from from that expectation that you’d essentially plucked out of the air the the one I used to do a lot historically especially with running because obviously uh it’s only recently I’ve seen that there’s a power number that you can now get with running so you would always do running

Off of heart rate and it still it still applies to all of the cycling that I’ve done as well but I always I say for example a 5K race I’m looking at my heart rate and you’re you know halfway through and all of a sudden you’re like

Right okay my heart rate’s on 190 I’m like oh this is bad and then it gets into your head then that you’re like oh this is this is like I’m at my limit here I can’t do anymore but and then you even that even that as a point though

We’re talking the initial point was in terms of that disassociation with your own body you you’re you’re looking at the number you’re saying that’s my limit yeah what about what how how do you get the Breakthrough it’s that day when perhaps that Li those limits weren’t there and there’s loads of examples um

Who’s the there’s a the guy who’s got the or certainly had the world record for the individual Pursuit the American guy I can’t remember the name of of top of my head but I remember essentially he was lifting weights in the gym and it was like pounds and he went to a

Different gym when he saw on the side it just said uh the weights had 20 on the side so I think he’d assumed it was pounds just kind of load it all up in fact it was kilos it was like far more weight and he just just got through the

Session just kind of powered through he oh man my legs are in bits then someone told him there was like actually this conver so he all of those there’s all these limits before based on based on what he’d done and in fact it was just that day when he accidentally lifted the

Wrong M it’s interesting I guess bringing it a background to arrow and arrow sensors I imagine I mean first of all if this is hideously expensive it’s £1,200 but I imagine the sort of person who’s even thinking about getting this is someone who’s looking for that next breakthrough they’ probably made a load

Of breakthroughs and they’ve hit a wall or they’re looking for what they say marginal gains and is the point you’re making that you can probably make those in other ways 100% And I think I think money yeah yeah I mean the financial side of things yeah that’s obviously

It’s a massive fact it’s already an incredibly expensive Sport and I think that’s yeah it’s become more and more difficult obviously bikes so much more expensive race fee well if you’re talking competition yeah all the competitions are more expensive um then all of a sudden it’s power as well and all of a

Sudden it has to be power and it’s just yeah it doesn’t need to be that essentially I mean there’s an article I remember read ages ago talking like someone had interviewed Teo gagh har races for little track and obviously won the Ziro three years go incredible pro

At the highest level he wasn’t using a pal me to before the age of 21 at which point he’d already won I think Ro probably going to undersell his results here but I think he was on on the podium at uh Peru Bay whether it’s under 23 or

Juniors same with Le age Bast on the age under 23 he was racing for one of the best development teams at the time well they’re called Axion now um he’d achieved all of these great things at the Pinnacle at his level at the time without using that as a device I know

What you mean he almost he’s got in he’s he’s got in tune with his own body before he’s used the numbers to then quantify that exact whereas people almost now do the opposite they get the quantification but they don’t understand the process the why and yeah the why is

The the real reason I asked um zav from AO coach what he thought about this he said none of them not one have been able to figure out how to resolve changes in Rolling resistance while outside um he said if they work out eventually how to

Do this and happy days but what’s the market just knowing your CDA isn’t going to make the average consumer faster you need to know what to improve the best analogy is bike fitting everyone has access to a tape measure but not everyone is a bike fitter and I then

Asked him whether he thought that these devices could put him out of a job one day and he said no because if they did work he’d just incorporate those into his protocols but he’s basically saying they’re expensive and there are a lot of caveats with them even if you get

Reliable data which may not be the case how do you then put it into uh effect as the average consumer you know it’s kind of the same as having all of this access to training information but not necessarily how to piece piece things in the right places yeah so James are you

Going to be running out to get yourself an Aeros sensor yeah go be signed up so a quick update on L Lotto Destiny’s hookless drama so zip has now investigated the front wheels of both Lotto Destiny riders that blew the tires off their hookless rims you might remember the first incident happened at

The UAE tour and the second was at Strada Bianca the rims in question were the zip 353 nsws they have now confirmed that in both cases the wheels were damaged by major impacts they’ve tested the carbon and claimed that neither of the wheels were faulty they uh say that both

Breakages were wholly unrelated to the hookless design or the tire and rim width combination however interestingly they are now advising all of their teams to run no small than than 29 mil TSS compatible tires on their 25 mil internal Rim widths so I was chatting to

Someone that does not want to be named at Ram um zip so zip weren’t an official sponsor of Lotto Destiny at the time of the incident they were only officially a sponsor of M Star mov star M Star how do you pronoun M Star M star and q36.5 um

They’ve apparently since signed a deal with Lotter Destiny to make sure that they are using the appropriate product prodcts for the EV the events that they are doing so they were ultimately saying that the wheels that they were using in those events are not wheels that they would have had their their official

Teams riding um which is a thing I guess I have to say I mean so the reason we’re talking about this again this is the third time we’ve talked about it is because ultimately it’s the first time zip who are you know we’re talking about hookless and ziar the manufacturer of

The hookless wheels it’s the first time they’ve put out a full statement I do think that this statement is is all over the place because number one they’re saying that it was caused by Major Impact and it would have happened to any wheel so if that’s your line then you kind of almost

Don’t the rest is irrelevant but I think almost by trying to then explain it further it creates more doubt because then they’re saying they said look 28 mil tires on 25 mil rims should be fine however we’re now recommending that you go up to 29 mil it’s kind of a mixed

Message there isn’t it yeah and also they’re saying you know but well they’re they’re only saying that to the teams they’re not saying that to Consumers exactly yeah and they’re saying that it is still it is still fine to to do that I think I think people are trying to

Turn it into a hookless thing it’s it’s like they want they want to attribute it to being this new thing it’s the same when disc breaks initially come out and there’s a few crashes in the pet on everyone goes oh I’ve got this mark on my shoe and therefore disc breaks are

Horrendously dangerous it’s not so much disc breaks it’s just the nature of racing is it’s really dangerous crashes happen frequently and as much as they can post yeah in I don’t know how how the duration between the two events within two weeks of each other whatever I mean during that same time there’s

Probably 100 other crashes where a bunch of other Clincher Wheels have been smashed up with the rest of it it’s not because they’re clinchers it’s just because Racing’s pretty dangerous stuff gets broken and I don’t think I think to yeah I think the only slightly confusing

Thing here is is Zipper now trying to address it it’s like just you don’t need to address it totally the bit that seems weird to me is I I just don’t see how one millimeter makes a difference it can’t do and the thing is they they acknowledge that the 28 mil the smaller

28 mil on the 25 mil Rim is IOS ISO approved and it’s been used safely in the Pelon for three seasons now so it would be weird that it’ be used fine for three seasons and then in two weeks this happen even even the point on one millimeter is like yeah when you

Consider that if you put 10 different brands tires on those Wheels there would be at least one mm difference between like there would I doubt any of them would measure exactly 28 exper actual like production variation yeah interesting there’s huge amount of variant I mean like I think I think yeah

Ties they had to it took ages for ties to be approved for hookless compatibility anyway because they had to made be made to a slightly better standard so initially when they started selling them it was like like a good year seemed to have done a bit more yeah

Well their ties were most of their range was compatible with hookless where Brands like Victoria um I think cont there was like a very limited range of what you could officially run hookless whereas I say that’s that’s evolved and it seems like the list is getting longer

Year on year um but yeah interestingly as well on Zip’s website there’s still there’s a list of hookless compatible tires and all of the 28 Ms are still on there so it’s like okay so it’s fine for consumers but not necessarily the guys racing it’s like I think P purely from

Um a PR standpoint I’m not talking about the safety of of the wheels or anything but ultimately they’ve had they’ve had a disaster in that you know are a company that sell I think all hookless isn’t it now majority it’s it most of their range is hookless if not all so this happening

To them is ultimately a PR disaster there’s doubt in people’s mind in terms of safety and they had to address it but I think the the point that they have gone wrong on is they should have just said the wheels were damaged due to Major Impact it would have happened

Anyway stop whereas this kind of this idea however we’ve advised everyone ch a little bit and it’s theyve created the doubt again they’ve reacted to it they’ve created too much doubt yeah I think so yeah but um I think that they’ve sponsored this is complete speculation I think they’ve sponsored a

Lot of Destiny because they you know you want to keep them close and make sure nothing else I don’t know I don’t know if they have officially sponsored them but I I I believe they have now a relationship so that they can they can advise them on the best products to use

For the events that they’re doing uh so sips statement ended will continue to advocate for hookless wheels for all of the benefits to the rider which include significantly reduced prices at retail a better tubeless installation experience significantly lighter wheel weights well we welcome the ensuing public discourse

For improving Rider safety and review of Industry minimum required testing standards we strongly oppose the notion that these incidents were the result of hookless rim design or zip wheel safety standards now onto our big question and this one’s for I know that you are a big believer that

It isn’t just about improving your body but also improving your mind is an important part of performance and I know you incorporate this into your own racing and your coaching so what are some of the best tips that you think can help people improve their mindset and

Become a more successful athlete so I think I think the first point I wanted to make was just having a balance between having a plan uh and trusting your instincts so essentially when it comes to event planning It’s always important to go in with a with a plan

And intention about what you want to do and you the way you want to execute things in the event um but actually when you’re in that event itself trusting your instincts a little bit so an example might be again we use dirty Rees an example it’s it’s an event that’s

Coming up which I’m helping a few people prepare prepare for um so for for them it’s okay the plan beforehand in terms of the the training and nutrition and that s of things um and again in the event it’s just being clear on what you

Want out of it I say whether you’re kind of looking to to race at the front or you’re just looking to work to a a time kind of having a clear process of okay here’s my pacing strategy for the event um and okay if this like preparing for different eventualities whether that’s

Punctures or running out of energy or wherever it is like have a solution for that and kind of think through that before hand um but equally on the event day itself not overthinking things so just kind of going I’ve done all I can because the Temptation beforehand is to

Kind of you then start thinking through all the different scenarios of what could happen or what about this what about that where in fact as long as you’ve done the preparation beforehand you’re kind of you’ve prepared as well as you can based on the knowledge you’ve

Got at the time you just need to accept that and during the event just engage in the event and enjoy the event itself you can be lot more calm a lot more relaxed and you make a lot better decisions through the event because of that um

Where in fact I say the the alternative to that is one way you’re kind of thinking through things you’re worried about all of these details that could happen further down the line um and in fact it’s kind of I mean we ultimately what we’re talking about here is

Optimizing performance in in a cycling event but that could translate into into anything it’s kind of even using this podcast an example it’s ultimately it’s it’s a conversation with some friends but then there’s always these other there’s there’s still needs to be a there’s there’s an objective for the

Conversation we’re trying to talk about certain topics and so in this case it’s okay there’s a prior plan of okay we’re going to perhaps talk about these details but it’s not necessarily a script it’s not a minute by minute or word by word thing of okay we’re going

To talk through all of these steps and it’s it’s fluid isn’t it you know exactly ex and the same comes to racing like stuff happens that can’t be accounted for or it can be accounted for but might change how things happen mhm and you need to be just prepared to

React to that rather than worrying about all the all the ifs MH just accept that be content you’ve done enough going into it and then equally just in terms of the I think people can end up in a place where they fear a negative outcome from

It yeah so it’s like if you like again okay we’re using Race For example obviously the outcome you want invariably if you’re racing you want you want a win so if you get the win then great fantastic you’re more confident after you’re trusting in the process most of the time in cycling particularly

Just because of the amount of competitors the amount of things the variables or the rest of it a lot of time you don’t win and then and in which case you need to have that relationship where you’re if I don’t get that outcome where I’ve got feedback of what I need

To work on and then all of a sudden you don’t fear not achieving or not getting that outcome you’re content either way because you’re going to either be yeah you’re either going to have achieved it or you’re going to be a better cyclist because of it because you’ve learned

From that feedback and invariably you’re going to perform better because of that it’s almost taking the emotion out of it isn’t it it’s taking you you know if if what you’re worried about is failing and what that says about you as a person it’s almost removing that part of it

Isn’t it it’s going the these this is the prep I’ve done this is what’s going to happen and either I I achieve a goal or I learn these things and then we move on it’s like a science experiment ultimately 100% And and like you said there just in terms of that yeah

Separation from from the from the performance itself so again it’s when you’re going in as a you’re you’re in that moment you’re a cyclist you’re performing that role on the day you’ve got your you got your kit on you’ve got your helmet on you got the outfit on for you to

Perform but it doesn’t Define you as a person it doesn’t need to become like a yeah a real as you say emotional sort of thing it’s just okay I’m performing that role in that moment um and yeah the same the same in in any in any level of performance the

Same with I think I see it with um even people at work sometimes they’ll have like a they’ll get criticized for the work they’ve done for example and a lot of people kind of deal with that criticism in a a bit of a negative way

They kind of they treat it as a personal attack whereas in fact it’s just a feedback on on the work they’ve done and and it’s not a reflection on them as a person it’s just okay right in that role yeah maybe you need to work on

This this and this and just have that separation there it creates an opportunity to grow mhm Jimmy’s very good at taking feedback Even in our personal lives yeah I can imagine he gets a lot of feedback you trying to say J yeah no you are very good and you say

Have you got any feedback for me and yeah and you’re almost not interested in the good stuff you want to know not that it’s like bad stuff but you know what I mean you you you definitely actively look I think to be fair I think I think

What you’re saying there just in terms of looking the bad like there’s that there’s that balance as well to have with it when it comes to analysis because invariably want to have a lot of conversations with people after an event they can tell me a long list of things

That didn’t go well but it’s really important I one of my things I try and emphasize as a coach is what went right you know there had been loads of parts of that performance that have gone right and I say particularly in cycling where there’s so many variables you need you

Need to kind of emphasize okay we’ve had this plan beforehand the nutrition strategy was great I felt I had energy throughout tactically I was aware but then there was one detail I got right I punctured so maybe that okay you’ve done all of these steps right you’ve made the

Breakway you’ve got so many different details right but then you punched at the wrong time or I say if you’re going for a certain time in an event a Time troll or yeah dirty reav I want to go sub five hours over this distance it’s

Like okay I got all of these steps right but I didn’t achieve my goal I can improve in this way it’s not just a negative like drilling yourself into the ground and and that because ultimately as well that’s it’s going to help you to improve um but also it’s going to be a

Far more enjoyable process um and enjoyment and fun and all those that’s what gives you longevity and then longevity is what enables you to actually find your true potential with whatever you’re trying to purs pursue essentially can I ask you a potentially controversial question absolutely do you

Think that normal people and I don’t consider you to be a normal people because you race at a very very high level do you think normal people should care about race nutrition or their weight when they go into an event if they’re just doing a random

Event because they want to do it and they want to do all right at it uh I think I think it’s about caring about it for the right reasons I think i’ I want them to care in terms of their energy levels how they’re feeling on the bike

I’d want them to be fueling well for training sessions and I think if you get those basics in place in place in terms of having the right things for Recovery the right things for fueling most of the time your weight invariably just kind of starts to starts

To drop down anyway um I think yeah I mean there’s a there’s a balance it depend I think it depends on that person’s personality as well so if they’re kind of super obsessive and it could develop into something that would be potentially um unproductive uh then then i’ I’d be cautious about

Recommending what they do um where if I feel like I can speak to them and and kind of give them some some basic tips in terms of how to optimize things with the kav that you don’t need to obsess it’s not about it kind of comes back to

That point about power not being about an exact weighing every single thing exactly exactly that is not sustainable ultimately the the’re kind of using an app to trap how many to track how many grams of X you’re having and weigh like scanning barcodes for every that’s not sustainable practice where in fact if

You have like a an approach of I mean yeah say for example of a minute there’s there’s actually I guess it’s kind of relevant there’s a there’s a guy I was talking to he’s just been away and raced and was kind of a had a few concerns

About his well not concerns he wants to lose a bit of weight um and for him it’s like okay right we’ll concentrate on just basic things okay right a regular source of protein at various different points during the day think about carbohydrate relating to the the sessions you’re completing and I say a

Lot of time I I’ll I’ll share podcasts um in fact there’s your your mate uh will gurling yeah yeah he did a a really good podcast I listen to and point I I share share that information with people and kind of let them interpret it have a

Conversation around that and I say it’s just yeah thinking about it but in not becoming obsessive I think I’ve got a A vibe from this entire conversation I think I think what I’m taking from it is that you are ultimately saying do most things at like 80% and

You’re going to do well MH you don’t you don’t actually need to be like perfect at absolutely everything nutrition doesn’t need to be 100% perfect you don’t need to train 100% perfectly all of the time everything has to have like a a a buffer of flexibility and if you

Do all of the things pretty good you’re going to be better for it yeah and it’s more it’s more it comes down to that point of being more sustainable because if you’re looking to improve longer ter like it’s well if you truly want to find out about how far you can progress you

Need to be you need to be going at it for ages essentially it’s not just one year Crash and Burn right I’ve achiev it’s not that you can’t achieve things doing like that it’s not that’s not kind of what I’m saying it’s like there will be several high-profile Sportsmen will

Have that mentality where it’s like right we’re all in absolute Obsession I don’t necessarily think that’s even the the optimal strategy for them because there’s so many examples of complete burnout within Sport and yeah like I mean there’s a whole list of absolute High performers so uh like Adam py for

Example in the swimming World Rono Sullivan in the snooker World Johnny Wilkinson in the Rugby World these these are all people who are abs like the Pinnacle they’ve achieved the Pinnacle in each of their areas and equally they’ve had depression and it’s like I think I think the two the two are

Definitely related in terms of how they’ve pursued things and just that absolute Obsession and it being it defining them during different periods of their career where in fact both I’ve listened I mean yeah I don’t if we can promote other people’s podcasts on here can do whatever you want I’d strongly

Recommend uh if if if there’s anything I’ve kind of brought up today um that is interesting or you’re kind of curious around that kind of Mentor approach Johnny Wilkinson’s got his own podcast which in fact is he’s releasing another Series this week which is kind of good

Time but he has he talks a lot about this um and in fact how he was achieving a lot during different periods of his career but mentally he was just all over the place in a really um unhealthy place and essentially he talks a lot about how

His yeah the Journey of of how he’s kind of evolved from that point um and it’s the same with Ron Ron Sullivan um I think I spoke to you about this is he he’s released a documentary on uh Prime I think is um and that’s he’s talking about his like it’s kind of

Behind the scenes access during his um win at the essentially the world championships and they’re kind of talking through his his processes there and there’s a conversation um with a guy Steve Peters who’s kind of pretty big name in the in the sports psychology World um and they I think I think what

He said to him it was like when they first started working together his the point he made to Steve Peters it was like okay what do you want out of this he’s like I just want to enjoy playing snooker again and he’d got to that point

In his career where it’ just become so unenjoyable he was and they both both those two people Wilkinson and oant they both referenced this mindset of pursuing Perfection where in fact they both had incredible ability anyway amazing instincts and in fact what they needed to do was just trust their instincts um

And they they kind of I think some the way way I’ve heard it word is worded is like M when it comes to kind of like Mastery because you could definitely both consider them to be masters of their respective disciplines absolutely they they describe it as like learning to be a kid

Again because when you’re a kid you’re free you’re not worried about all of the outcomes from it you’re not worried about achievement you’re not worried you don’t want anything else out of it you’re just free in what you’re doing it’s pure enjoyment is exactly and that and these are people the absolute

Pinnacle saying that yeah so and you could argue that especially in cycling with all of the numbers and data it’s really counterproductive to that I imagine there’s a lot less data and number involved in snooka for example 100% but in cycling you almost have to be aware of how the data can be

Unproductive as well as productive exactly that’s the real that’s the real challenge within within the cycling world because I say it’s the the message that’s being promoted or the popular message that is being promoted like through the media and everything else the say when a race finishes you have there’s always like oh

He’s done this many whats for this duration he’s done that is all has to be Quant quantifiable and there have to be that but you’re not you’re not necessarily talking about the things you can’t quantify that he that that person has done in their preparation exactly

But in fact when you I’m a big fan of just kind of listening I just fun fact like love sport in general I always listen to kind of okay I watch the game but I’m almost as interested in in what people have to say after the performers

Themselves but the coaches and to be fair sometimes with particularly in the football world it’s like some some generic here’s the line we’re going with and all the rest of it but equally a lot of time you can get really good insight into into that sport psychology side of

Things um there’s actually I mean I guess it’s kind of relevant given that the race just finished on Friday uh mat vandero won E3 Harold Beck which is kind of like a big race in the buildup to well it’s a big race in its own right

But it’s also one kind of in the runup things and Fabian kelara released an article talking through yeah his performance during that and there wasn’t one reference to anything dat related it was more around how Mato had a real clear plan in what he’s trying to execute and it was

He was he was talking more about that he was talking about the momentum he now has going into the bigger race that are to come and the effect of w vanart slipping off on the CL how does that affect his mentality he was talking about van Art’s mentality going into

Flanders being a Belgium being a favorite what does that do and again this is a guy who has been prolific in that level and he’s talking about all of these different factors and how challenging it is to manage um and I say the more Yeah the more you kind of tune

Into that you more the more you you read about it and I say I think so if I can round up your last tip there I I guess it’s not necessarily there’s there’s a lot there’s an abundance of information online isn’t there and it’s really easy

To click on the headlines that are like you know the top tips and hacks for this and that and the other but almost it’s trying to delve into the unquantifiable stuff the qualitative stuff rather the quantitative stuff of what makes very successful people successful MH and and ultimately that’s

The thing the thing there is there things that you can do yeah you know that they’re within your power you can’t necessar like you don’t necessarily have the physical capabilities to do what these guys can do on the bike genetically most people aren’t there but equally you can Embrace productive parts

Of their mindset and and and try and improve your performance in that way I say that’s something you’re very much you are in control of that and yeah I say I think that’s it’s almost like an area where it’s like there is endless potential for you to build to build and

And grow with when it comes to to mindset and I say the yeah I think I think you need to be kind of free and open to to ideas around that and the more free you are I think the people I’ve worked with that um have progressed the most are the

Ones that yeah a little less stuck in their ways they haven’t got this clear yeah essentially they haven’t got a super clear idea of oh this is how I’ve done it this is how it needs to be and they’re just a bit more free a bit more

Willing to kind of embrace uh Embrace new ideas 100% time for another round of overrated or underrated I’m going to read out a list of things and you going to tell me if you think they are overrated or underrated first up we have naked rides suggested by Gabrielle from

Brussles who says I’m sure you’re familiar with the World Naked Bike Ride which is an International Event where participants ride bikes naked to promote cycling in my opinion this movement is entirely counterproductive it portrays cyclist as Ecentric or crazy whilst there’s nothing more reasonable than using a bike for everyday

Transportation what is truly unreasonable is to move a ton of Steel and emit pollutants into the atmosphere just to buy bread or walk the dog I refuse to believe that any motorist has been convinced to ditch their car and switched to cycling after seeing naked people with peace signs drawn on their

Bellies and flowers in their hair pass by do you share my opinion I’d be curious to hear your thoughts I do have an opinion on this um on the surface it is absolutely ridiculous and I can see why some people would look at it and go this is just

Absolutely just obscene and just stupid and and hippie dippy but I think the more that I’ve absorbed Um what’s what’s the word for like uh campaigning and all of that kind of space you need to have extremes to demonstrate that there are things out there so essentially what this represents is a really really extreme over-the-top thing that gets attention and reminds people that cyclists are

That bike riding bikes is a thing and then the other campaigning Which is less extreme then fills the Gap and actually changes the policy and gets more people riding bikes you kind of have to have stuff like this so that it gets attention and it just reminds people

That bikes are an important thing and should be doing more stuff in the world yeah I guess so I you know what I have never ever thought about it until reading this and I I get what he’s saying it does portrayed cyclist as eccentric and crazy

It does feel very I didn’t realize it was a thing to promote cycling I thought it was just people who like getting naked well yeah but the same same I think I think there’s probably yeah two it’s probably part of the objective as well yeah I am going to Turbo this evening

Naked okay cuz I I I imagine it’s incredibly horrible yeah that’s always what I think that is probably the only thought I have when I see these things is just that that looks pain James have you ever ridden a bike naked have you ever done have you ever done like a

Prote I actually I actually I have been part of a naked calendar yeah first year really no genuinely genuinely yeah you maybe I’m sure you could dredge that photo up from some but yeah first first year of um so I studied at Sheffield University and first year there there

Was like a they do a naked candar Fe each of the sport essentially each of the sporting teams had to put in a photo and the the ambition was always like if you had the best photo you’d be on the front cover and the cycling team was

Always on on the front cover because it was like the shot was essentially the Ries just rode out to it and got got their kit off but then the mountain bike there was like a mountain biker sending it off this massive jump and he’s yeah

Mars in the air with his ass out oh man I don’t know I think especially in uh the UK we have a very uh prudish approach to nakedness and I think that might be the same in the US but I mean this guy is from Brussels and he doesn’t

Like it either but I’ve been to I’ve been to Finland and they are big fans of a naked SAA and they do not care they have communal naked saers with your neighbors and all of that kind of St I don’t think that’s a generalization that is what I was told by a genuine

Finnish person um so I don’t know maybe it depends I know that a lot of Continental Europe think that we are incredibly prudish when it comes to nakedness so maybe it’s not as much of a but also they love bikes as well so they’ve got it right we’ve got it wrong

I don’t have any issues with it yeah if people if people want to have a good time and ride their bike naked go for it does it help cycling or hinder cycling probably neither really yeah moot I think and therefore I’m going to say it is underrated yeah fine if more people

Want to ride their bike in any way that they want to ride it good carbon spoke suggested by Hector in uh NYC which I’m assuming is New York City probably Jimmy yes I’ve heard good things and bad things I’ve also seen them explode into giant balls of carbon needles which

Makes me hesitant to upgrade loving the show keep up the great work it is definitely not an upgrade if you get carbon spokes you’re obviously a bike mechanic so you can comment on this my angle is that we have historically made a video about carbon products that you

Shouldn’t buy and one of the things on the list was carbon spokes because they’re just completely inly unnecessary yeah I mean I think it depends on the the design of the wheel like I think I think for me from a practicality point of view even okay like the performance thing is

Like I’m sure there’s like there is maybe some marginal performance there but yeah it’s more what issues does it create so if the if if it’s a carbon spoke where it’s kind of molded into the rim and the Hub it just means that if you break a Spoke then you’re replacing

A wheel replacing a wheel where there are some Brands now that have like a carbon spoke I think in fact scope’s new worlds have a a carbon spoke that you can replace yeah so I guess in some ways that’s but ultimately this is like such a a marginal thing that yeah they’re

Definitely definitely in the realm of being overrated they 100% are overrated James keep sending your suggestions to Wild Ones podcast at Cav media. co.uk and we might read yours out in the next show next up fluff up of the week flu up of the week whoops

Okay um in the interest of time I will try and keep this short and sweet uh I had a major fluff up which was I’m going to tell you this listen we’re all friends here I’m going to consider this a safe space I need you not to judge me

You shouldn’t keep this as consider this a safe space because it is going to kick off in the comments I I got caught speeding in my car um I I’m not going to make excuses I was caught speeding not very much and not to make excuses but it

Was my electric car’s fault it’s really hard fault yeah they don’t give you enough feedback I’m learning I’ve made a mistake I have rectified uh but basically in the UK if that happens rather than getting points straight away you are offered a speed awareness course I think we’ve talked about it before

What I found out is you can still do an online version so that’s what I did the point of this story is that during that course I was like I wonder if they have a section on cyclists cuz it’s all about you know you learn about how to become

More aware of your own speed and what the dangers are of going even a little bit over the limit and then it has a section on vulnerable Road users so as part of that it said about cyclists it said you know give give them 1.5 MERS

The same as horses and all of that and I thought this is great and then he and he he said he’s a cyclist as well but he said you know I don’t really go on road M roads much and I’m not one of these who Cycles to a breast or is all over

The road and that one sentence really really riled me up he was great I I don’t want to I don’t want to besch the good name of of this instruction because he was great and I think he he used a lot of his own personal stories and I

Think it was really to try and warm up the crowd and I think that what he was trying to do is kind of be like I’m not one of those bad cyclists but the the perception of that is number one that those two things are dangerous when you

Know the point of it is teaching us the highway cord and the highway cord says you can ride to a breast when there’s large group groups or when you’re with an inexperienced rider for example there can be reasons why it’s safer you know being in in quotes all over the road

Might be that you’re trying to avoid Port Halls you’re trying to avoid Road Furniture which might cause you to come down in the path of a car and I thought like but you can also ride anywhere on the road yeah it it it really it really

Really peed me off and he was running over time so he was not inviting feedback at that point but he said you know give feedback to the council who’s running this course so I wrote them a long email straight after the course just being like look the course was

Great I was really happy to see that cyclists were included as part of you know uh driving awareness and safety however he said this and it it was really disheartening I think that there is such a Negative discourse and language around cyclists it’s really stalked in the media that I think that

We have to be really careful about the language we’re using especially when the stuff that he is saying and implying is dangerous or is implying makes a bad cyclist who might not be worthy of the same level of treatment or safety the stuff that he was saying was

Potentially safe for a cyclist to do it was really it peed me off so rightly so Emily yeah so if you are unfortunate enough to have to go on a speed awareness course number one don’t speed do not do as I did I have learned from

My mistakes and I now have a sticker in my car of a police badge so that I see it every time and I will not speed um however if you are on course and they say bad stuff about cyclist I implore you to send them a little bit of

Friendly feedback it doesn’t have to be a long rant I try to word mine very nicely I tried to do it as a as a sh sandwich it was this was great this could have been better but this was great thanks for your time kind of thing

And I’m hoping I’m hoping that the message got through we’ve not received a response yet but we live in hope well thanks for going to that nice and quick yeah sorry about that let’s head over to our emails because it’s time for listen takeover we have a question from Farooq I’m taking

Part in my first Ultra this summer the Transcontinental race from ru to Istanbul which is around 4,000 km that is going to be epic uh I’m no stranger to long distance and multi-day races I finished many axes in ridden London London Edinburgh London I’m aware of how

Important the head game is for these types of events any tip to train and cify the mental fortitude for the inevitable loads that will come during a twoe event like TCR go so when things are are getting difficult when you’re finding it more and more mentally challenging it’s it’s always just to

Accept the situation you’re in no matter how much challenging is just accept the situation whereas a lot of people will try and fight against it and then just kind of end up in more of a a turmoil and this is literally meditation oh yeah but that’s so interesting that is what

Sports performance is about essentially or in my in my in my eyes it’s kind of just okay accept the situation you’re in how can I improve the situation what do I need to do okay think about kind of breaking things down into into chunks within the ride okay right I’ll get to

This checkpoint rather than kind of looking at the end goal which can feel miles away it’s just okay right what do I need to do now what in this moment what can I do to improve the situation I’m in um and also I think even again this is

Probably that in that same sort of space like gratitude you know realize that you’re actually in a really fortunate position like grand scheme of things is riding through all of these amazing countries all these beautiful interact with so many amazing people on that Journey you’re going to have learned so

Much during that experience as well so just yeah don’t forget to enjoy it exactly yeah have some gratitude for the place you’re in and then I say all of a sudden things start to to look a bit more positive next we have a question from did we actually answer that yeah we

I think so and I would what I would say is go back and listen to all of the tips that that James said in the last bit as well next up we have a question from lonus hello from the states I train about 10 to 12 hours a week for mostly

Gravel races in the five plus hour range I feel like I have a good fit on the road bike and gravel bike however I want to ask if I have fit or Fitness issues if I go out for a 2-hour hard ride I get off feeling fine orbe it fatigued if I

Ride for 5 hours my back starts to feel stiff at the end and my feet get hot spots and really start to hurt are these things I should be fine juning my fit to fix or should I work on conditioning my body with back strengthening exercises

Now is the time of a year when I start going for longer training rides and I feel like in past Seasons these issues fade the more I do for plus hour rides uh so I think they’ve kind of to certaine they’ve answered their own question at the end there a little bit

Just in terms of I feel like in past Seasons the issues start to fade when I start doing longer rides well that ESS yeah um so there’s a bit of that um I think as well if you’ve got 10 to 12 hours a week I’d be looking to

Kind of incorporate some sort of strength and conditioning work not necessarily back specific but just en strength and conditioning work because that can just help get your body in in better balance essentially um the hot spots on your feet I guess that could be potentially to do with CLE position um

But again it’s whether you’re kind of competent in sorting that out yourself or whether it’s better just to kind of I I guess people probably underestimate fatigue a lot as well because ultimately hot spots in theory could be if it’s on really long rides could be because he is

Fatiguing in other areas of his body because he isn’t conditioned for the longer rides at that point in the season he’s then accounting and accommodating with other bits of his body which then are causing other issues M um conditioning is definitely a significant thing in sport which is why pretty much

All professional athletes have a strength and conditioning coach MH how much strength and conditioning do you do uh so across winter like two to three sessions per week and then this is this is the time where it gets really challenging because I say like what do you prioritize ultimately yeah and and

Just kind of managing fatigue CU it’s like right now okay you go and do a stage race you try and recover but then you want to you do want like it’s it’s the what I’d like in it too is kind of it’s like keeping plates spinning yeah

That’s the whole the whole thing during the season it’s like just making sure you’re working on these different elements are important and that’s probably the one the one plate I find most challenging to kind of keep on top of it’s just you when to do that session

When to and I think as well it’s um yeah think about it in terms of priorities and and whether when it becomes like more of a maintenance thing you’re just kind of keeping it keeping it spinning then yeah dropping the the volume essentially just putting a bit less

Strain in your body during that session if someone was looking to incorporate strength and conditioning into their training is there like a like say someone which doesn’t know what to do is there a good source out there or is that the sort of thing where you kind of need

A coach for them to be able to make some suggestions it’s a tough one isn’t it because it’s if you don’t know yeah I mean there’s like there’s loads of articles online it’s like yeah I mean there is there is if you just Search cycling strength and conditioning just

Stuff just keep it keep it pretty simple to start like if you’re if you’re just looking to do something so just think of it don’t just kind of anything in that space is going to be better than nothing yeah ultimately if you did 12 weeks and

It was like 3 by 10 reps it was like you probably would improve that yes there may be a more optimal strategy but as a starting point it’s kind of yeah think of like pick the low hanging fruit first just do the yeah do a few basic movements which um yeah replicate the

Cycling range of movement but then also includes Max sizes that potentially address other areas you want to improve um and just keep it keep it as simple as that cool thank you to all of those that sent in questions for James we’ve had loads of really good ones so we’re going

To release more of them next week and we’ll be doing a dedicated listeners takeover special and if you’re interested in coaching with James and Pete get in touch via their website ww w. upshift vow. co.uk remember you can email your questions stories and fun stuff to Wild Ones podcast arcad media.

Co.uk that’s all for this week thank you for listening please like And subscribe if you’re watching on YouTube please follow and leave us a good review if you are listening anywhere else see you on the next one thank you very much