The Legal Hydration Hack for Cycling: Glycerol | NERO Show Ep. 146

What is the best way to launch a bike in 2025? A new game changing supplement that might help you get an edge and Whoop introduce blood test to give athletes like @Lionel.Sanders a better look in to their recovery.

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Chapters
00:00 intro
00:30 The Perfect Bike Launch
09:43 Who Should Review It?
19:13 Game Changing Supplement
26:15 Top Silver Bullet Tips
35:45 Whoop Blood tests
41:36 Nero Kit Update
43:15 Dog Or Fast Bike
1:05:15 Last Weeks Comments
1:14:30 Women’s Gravel World Champs
1:18:13 UCI Points For Gravel Races

Additional Footage Courtesy Of

@Cade_Media
@davidarthur
@PatrickLino
@specializedbicycles
@RideGiantBicycles
@Hambini

Welcome to episode 146 of the Nurero Show. In today’s episode, if a brand was going to release a new bike today, how should they do it? White papers, press junkets, bike reviewers. We chat through the strategy we’d like to see. A new gamechanging supplement hits the ground and we run through some of the 1enters that might help you win your next race. And this week, guys, there are seven dog fast bikes. Strap yourselves in. Let’s get into it. Busy year of bikes, Jesse. Mhm. Busy year of bikes, aerobikes, climbing bikes, lots of climbing bikes this year. Lots of climbing bikes. Did we Did we talk about that, Athos? I don’t I think that might have gone under. I didn’t really have anything to say about it. Really light climbing bike. Well done. What we can talk about is how they’re launched because quite often when bikes launch, we do give some commentary around who got the bike, who’s tested it, where’s it appeared, what’s it done. And so I thought to start off this week, we would probably let’s dig into what is the ideal new bike launch. What do we want to see? What’s the gold standard? Can I start? I think you should. Okay. First thing I would want to see is the in-house content before you even send the bike out. Get your ducks in a row. I do want a white paper. Give us some numbers so that the white paper isn’t just your testing. I I like to see some design process 3D sketch. Um how you adjusted the layup? Your iterations. Iterations. Yeah. Like what was the what was the inspiration? Was it a whale fin tooth? Something I I I kind of like that. Just a bit of a story gets kind of gets me in. Um some photos inside the factory, inside the molds. Give me an idea of what’s going on behind behind the curtain. Otherwise, they if you don’t do that, a lot of these bikes kind of look like these open mold things. So, give us a peek behind the curtain. Uh all the specs. So, in the in that in-house white paper, that’s where I’d like to see geometry charts, uh handlebar widths, lengths, crank lengths, the full full top to bottom spec. Do you want it what about comparisons in the white paper? Do you do you hold any of that accountable? Like do you want to see I mean obviously we’re going to see the two previous version comparison would you like to see other brands other makes in there or is that kind of okay so if you if you in in the white paper you’ll have your arrow your stiffness testing your weight that kind of thing I do think compared to a compared to our previous generation and compared to some competitors I think is nice to see I do think if you’re going to do that you should name the competitors. So that’s what I it’s like what Karago did where it just said the next fastest competitor is utterly useless cuz that could just be a Tarmac SL4 from 2006. So if you’re going to do the competitor, just put the name of the competitor. Um but I do I do like that in the comparison, especially if it’s a relevant competitor. Help help us help you help us flesh flesh the bike out. Relevant competitors were also important to mention, Jesse. I don’t want to see, you know, you launch a new aerobike and your relevant competitor is the new Monone. No, I want to see it being the the Dogma, an S5, something at least that’s up there that we know that’s up there. Mhm. I I want at least 20 page PDF. 20 pages. Beautiful. 20 20 plus. Give us plenty to work through. Now, other in-house stuff I like is a nice behind thescenes video. your engineers at the wind tunnel. Bit of a walk around the factory. Something to go alongside the white paper. I think Roal did this well with the CLX3 and the CLX Sprint Wheel set. They had quite a good video that bit of, you know, blowing a bit of smoke around why we came up with this, why we didn’t do certain things in the design process they mentioned in that video. So, I do think a bit of video content alongside the the the numbers heavy white paper is nice. wouldn’t have watched a second of it myself. Absolute waste of time and money. Yeah. Absolutely not interested. Everything in there is irrelevant to me. In fact, the only reason that video exists for me is it will be used as B-roll over when we’re talking about it. But apart from that, the contents of it completely irrelevant. It’s mostly marketing. But often in those videos there are little bits that explain things like when in that in that particular video I’m talking about with the CLX flea they explained the testing behind why they went to the reverse mullet. You’re not going to get that if they just released that and why they did that is one or two sentences in the product description on the listing. That doesn’t really give you much. That’s true. That that did I do I did watch that one that did visualize I think what they were saying quite well. So maybe I back maybe I go this far. I say a wheel release. Yes, I’d like to see that. A bike release not so important because even I remember there were those weird images of the what was was the reserve wheel release where they were they had this like truck or motorbike in front of the these these bikes trying to measure turbulent air at the time and you’re like all right that’s what it actually looked like allegedly. So all right well I’ll allow the in-house in-house media just don’t blow your budget on this crap. That’s all I’m worried about. Just Just keep your overheads low, please. Then you need media to see your bike. Oh, I know where this is headed. To to junk it or not to junk it. What do you think? So, a little behind the scenes. I just sat here and five minutes of complete silence, you know, because I am still genuinely torn on this. Yeah. Okay. I I Can you convince me one way or another? Well, so I I’ll skip ahead cuz there’s two here. You’ve got the junket and then the next one I was going to get to was send the bike to reviewers early. So in the list of junket people I’d want to see, you’ve got Dave Arthur, cycling weekly, some YouTubers maybe like a cade and a peak talk like the KGO Y1 RS remember they had a bit of a junket thing. So, so the question is could you remove the junket altogether and just send the bikes that you were going to take to the junket out to the reviewers directly so that all the first look videos actually become reviews. One of the reasons the jump junket exists is the brand wants to fill your brain at this junket with what they think you need to know and what you should therefore be putting in your review. Okay? Just sending it out with a white paper potentially doesn’t osmosis doesn’t occur as as quickly. There’s no froth factor. you don’t get you don’t get sort of cuz you go to the junket and you can’t help but kind of woohoo we got it’s there and you’re riding around and there’s definitely something to be gained by some two and fro discussion at a junket and this is why I think that there’s nuance in this because who’s attending the junket from the brand perspective that’s that’s the thing is it just the the product manager who was kind of sitting above this or is there is there are there actual people there who were designing this bike that you can really get some solid questions because ultimately what the reason we’re talking about this is when this bike gets launched is there accurate information hard information for someone to go out and genuinely purchase the bike. Okay, so I’m going to say okay let because this is our what we think is the dream bike release. I reckon 2026 junkets’s done. Yeah, I agree. I don’t think the junkets the junket is essentially you could just send the media pack out via email and they download the photos of the bike and you can do your articles based on that you know because there because the first look articles is just from some guy at a junket that’s ridden it once. So there’s no value there. I would I would say send a good media pack out and and you should still get your articles without having to junk it. and then send the prioritize sending the bike to re more reviewer type people. I think but I would still so I would still put Dave Arthur then in that category. I think most of the people I listed in the junket Dave Arthur, Cycling Weekly, Francis Cade, I still think they deserve to get one, but I don’t see why they need to be flown somewhere just to ride it once. Depends on what bike we’re talking about. I mean, if we’re talking about the launch of a new Aero road race bike, I think there’s there’s value in I mean, how’s this for how’s this for a junket then? So, the the the reviewer goes to the training camp with the team as there. So, you’re remember when the so the S5 was being ridden by Yonas with his shirts sleeves off. Yes. Pre-our. Someone’s in in camp in that situation with the boys. you’re riding it around there. There’s value in that. Okay. Now, that’s not the case for the Cannondale Synapse review. That’s not required. Okay. But I just I just think the the the idea of journalists coming together for a 2hour coffee ride to talk about the new I’m not going to throw Argon 18 under the bus again. But you know whatever that type of bike, high level performance bike is done. Okay. Send the bike to reviewers so they can thrash it around and do an actual review and get it early. So they still the important thing is they need to get the bike early so they can still release their content on the embargo day. So it’s let’s say it’s you’re releasing it 30th of July. You want them having the bike 1st of July. Give them 30 days to review it, get a feel for it and film film some stuff. Now I’m elitist in this category. I think there needs to be like an FTP cut off. I think I’m gonna go FTP needs to be above 280 to get the bike for review. So I think like actually I don’t know what Patrick Leno’s FTP is. Let’s say it’s I’m assuming it’s above 280 like someone like him you like did like Ben Delaney few in those categories. So alongside the press release style you get an actual review. I actually think that’s more important than the junket and a lot of brands don’t bother doing that. They just rely on the junket. No one actually reviews it. Something like, you know, like Jimmy and and and Cade, they would be more in the junket category. I don’t really care for their ride review because they don’t they can’t review a race bike. So, they would be more get that would be more if I’m looking at that split, get them to the junker just to do a initial impression. get the over 280 FTP guys to actually review it. Uh what do you reckon? Yeah, it’s a time thing. I know what you’re saying about the the fitness thing, but I think it also well I suppose comes with the territory because if you’re able to ride more, you tend to therefore be fitter. And I think that’s a what kind of gets missed with this. A lot of these Jouos are trying to churn out. They might be doing six reviews a month. So to be putting hours into a bike that I think’s necessary to to do a review is pretty challenging. Um and so this is what comes back to this thing of getting the bike early enough to be able to to do that. Is is there a like six weeks? Do you reckon that’s I think that’s heaps. Yeah. I think four weeks. I think four weeks. I agree. As long as you’re not doing it exactly right. Yeah. If four weeks doesn’t work if you’re working at a magazine, you’ve got six bikes to review. And I’ve I’ve only done this briefly in bits and pieces, but I had I had three and a half weeks, a little bit over with the S5, and I stand by everything in that review at this point. So, that seems to hold up. Does it need to go to a YouTube mechanic person? Yes, we need we need the the QC. Yeah, the tolerance. The tolerance brigade. We got to get the tolerance. Do you think No, no, I’m I’m I’m serious. Does should the should the S5 have gone to Hambini? Good question. Good question. Cuz I got you got like GC performance. Uh for a mainstream bike, I think you’re getting actually no. So I would put him in the junket um bucket. Okay. So let’s leave him out of it. But what about Yeah. H should have been get the S5. Is that an important piece of the launch puzzle? Himself, Peak Talk, Map Deck. That’s the three I’m thinking of. That’s one of those three. I’m happy with that. Okay. You think worthwhile? I think that’s I think there’s value in that. Yeah. Cuz I remember my problem is a map not maybe I’m not m they I think they tend to have sort of an anti-industry bias a little bit. So some I’m like ah grain of salt sometimes with the stuff. But for example, with the first S5, I remember I think it was Hambini was one of the and Ral Lucia were the first ones to point out that when you turn the handlebars too much, the stopper would pierce the inside of the head tube. And so stuff like that, they were the first to call out. So I’m like, they do have a bit of a track record pointing out things which are then later on corrected by the brands. So yeah, I think one of the YouTube tolerance brigade would be good. I put that in. It’s the it’s the anti-industry narrative that I mean whatever bias occurs but that is definitely a part of their audience. There’s no two ways about it. You can’t deny it. And so assuming that they kind of left that the side and just judged the product as the product then yeah I think go for it. Okay. Then you’ve got Instagram and I think this this is an important part like there does that’s all well and good. too. We got reviewers and we all know about the bike, but that doesn’t really help unless there’s froth. I do think a couple of Instagram people or a Conti team or just something that Jesus, what decade are you living in? I mean, there’s a few of them do it decently, but just at least something to get a bit of community, get a bit of emotion in there. Just pure frothing, I think, is important. Otherwise, you’ve just got this kind of dry forum lurking optimized frame with no but but there’s nothing behind it. The problem I I hear you. I absolutely hear you. It’s just the the cesspool that is the Instagram brand ambassador pit does to me doesn’t do anything. But it’s there’s a whole category of them. They’re all mostly postco cyclists with brand deals hanging out their butts. But you’re right, they get in the run club algorithm and create froth. Yeah, you probably got to do it. Like Safer Bryant on Scott. Yeah, good point. Like I don’t think he’s ever mentioned anything about how the bike rides. Like it’s just irrelevant. But he it is when you look at the when I’m when I think of a Scott foil, I know he did that c I think I’m pretty sure I remember him doing that custom painted one and I’m like there’s a bit of a buy in there. I do think that’s as a part of a release. Give me some some buy in from that crowd. Have I missed anything? Anything else you’d like to see? Does this cost too much? That’s the problem. I don’t think it costs too much. I just don’t think brands will do it. And I think you not to completely just destroy our entire conversation, but I think the chances of this happening are becoming less and less with most like if you look at specialized now, they’re becoming more and more insular with the way these products are launched. That was pretty obvious with the Athos that was that was really only given to people who are trusted journalists. And we all know what a trusted journalist is. And they can control the narrative that way. And you are going to find that is the case more and more especially if specialized do it cuz who did it go to? It went to I know Vell outside that’s a US um publication in house. I mean I know that like um so Rona McLolin at at Escape Collective was not given it. Didn’t even know it was coming. He’s on the naughty list. Oh no. There’s there’s that’s a that’s a thing now with with Specialized. Yeah. Well, it’s true. None of this is paid except for probably the blatant brand like the Instagram part or the or the team part. You have to give out a lot of frames. Or if it’s an Instagram person, they’re probably going to want cuz they’re not reviewing it. They’re not getting anything back. They’re probably going to want some money depending on what level they are. The rest is basically just a freight and then eating the cost of the frame because you’re probably not going to it’s not realistic a lot of the time to get it back. All right, so that’s our dream bike release. Who did we miss? Any reviewers that we needed to to mention? Let us know in the comments down below. All right, we’re going to pause for a quick moment from a word from today’s show partner, Join Cycling, the Join Cycling app. Now, this is sort of taking over social media at the moment. There’s a bucket of reviews on their app and there’s also over 200,000 athletes already using it. You did say join cycling app and I want to reiterate because there are quite a few other competing competing training platforms out there. It really is an app. That’s what join cycling is. You can go and download it. Use the link uh join.cc/neosow and you’ll see you get 30 days free with no payment. But you literally download an app on your phone. You log in. You fill in all your information, your goals, your availability, and all that. And then it shows you your workouts, but it’s quite simplistic in its approach. So, it’ll show you the next workout. You can look up to seven days ahead, but it really is appbased. There’s no sort of webbased function where you log in, it’s like you’re in a airplane cockpit with numbers everywhere. And for someone that’s especially just getting started into structured training, that can be really overwhelming. Is actually a blocker to a lot of people. So to be able to just download an app, put your goal in and start ticking structured sessions off is really useful. So you mentioned it there, Jesse. Listeners of the Neuro Show get 30 days of a free trial instead of the usual 7 days. And the best part, there is no payment method required. The trial ends automatically. So to take that up, visit join.cc/theuros show. Download the app from the App Store or the Google Play Store and start ripping in. Head on over to join cycling and a big thanks to them for supporting today’s episode. There’s a new supplement game changer. Get me on it. Let’s go. What do we got? I’m trying to So, I’m trying to get in before GCN, okay? Cuz I’m telling you, this will be mentioned on GCN in the next 18 months. Thumbnail like game changer. Dan’s head exploding. Yep. What are we using? It’s So, it’s actually not something new. It’s been around a while. It just for whatever reason doesn’t get talked about much. Okay. And it is called glycerol. Have you used glycerol before? I don’t think so. It sounds like a jelly or like some sort of like um imation that I might have used, but go on. Used it as shammy cray. Shammy cray. All right, I’ll do a let me just do a boring read of what it is. Glycerol is an odless liquid sugar alcohol that has a mild sweet taste with a syrup like consistency. used in food manufacturing to thicken foods, control their moisture level, or stabilize them. In sports nutrition, it can be used with a substantial volume of fluid to increase the body’s capacity to hold on to extra water, hyperhydration, for up to 4 hours. This can reduce unwanted performance decreases associated with dehydration. So, this had been on the supplement framework for ages. I’d never really looked into it. I’d actually never really heard anyone talk about it even though there’s quite a lot of research on it and it’s kind of in in the vein of the whole sodium craze and everyone’s obsessed with sodium. You got to do this, you got a sodium load and how much sodium do you have? It’s kind of in that bucket of supplements that can help you with mitigating performance loss due to dehydration. So you and you don’t have to the good thing is you don’t have to load it. You you just have it uh before your ride. Um, I think it’s about 2 to 3 hours before you mix your your glycerol. It’s like a syrup. You pour it into your water and you have a big dose of water. And we can you can look up the measurements. Um, you also add your sodium into that and 2 to three hours before you drink that and it gets absorbed into the blood and it triggers the kidneys to stop producing as much urine. So, you won’t pee as much before your ride and it circulates about body in the bloodstream and it it triggers your body to store more water. So you might gain half a liter to point8 of a liter of extra fluid and then if you’re going and doing a really hot race, a long hot race where you’re going to be affected by dehydration, you’re just delaying the point at which the dehydration kicks in. Um, and I’ve had a few riders, I’ve prescribed I I haven’t been training enough, so I actually haven’t used it, but I’ve prescribed it to quite a few riders and it’s gotten some really good feedback, especially in events like a grand fondo. If it’s an awkward duration and you’re kind of going, “Oh, I’ve only got two bottles. Will I need to stop?” And you’re expecting you’re going to be finishing somewhat dehydrated because you don’t want to stop. Those situations there where it’s quite hot. It can have a Yeah. quite a quite an impressive um performance improvement or just make you less thirsty so you don’t have to drink as much. Like that four 4 and 1/2 hour. Yeah. Yeah. Four hours. I’ve got two 800 mil bottles. It’s hot. Yeah. like the gravel race type thing. I can be a real winner there instead of having to run the backpack. You’ve got the little camel Mhm. glycerol pack. Yeah. Drink it before you start. It’s like Yeah. It’s like you It’s like you’re a balloon. You just Yeah. So soak the sponge. So I just read from the AS fact sheet and we I I’ll put a link link to this somewhere. It’s got all the doses you need. Hi. Um, it may help you when it’s not possible for fluid intake to get close to matching fluid losses during exercise or when exercising in the heat when fluid losses are expected. You’re a known heavy sweater. Access to fluid consumption during exercise is impractical or sport rules don’t allow it. Um, all that kind of thing this absolutely can help with. And so I have no idea why in the era of every man and his dog banging on about sodium, this doesn’t get a mention. It is group A in the AIS supplement framework which is there ones they put in which are like there’s no maybe ifs ands or buts. This is just it works. It’s concrete. It’s it’s up there with creatine uh caffeine in that level of scientific rigor. So is it the weight gain thing that puts cyclists off it or just a lack of knowledge? Oh, if you would well like if you were doing peaks this year, would the be would it be something that you would consider? Oh, you I would be doing it for peaks. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the weight gain is well, it’s weight gain, but it’s fluid. It’s hydration gain. It’s totally worth it. It’s water that you would otherwise be carrying around or stopping to fill up with. Um I don’t think riders like if you were doing a short hill climb time trial, it’s not going to help you. Um, actually if you’re doing a really short event, it might work against you because it dilutes your blood a bit and that in impacts your stroke volume and impact the oxygen delivery. So if you’re doing like a really short time trial, you probably want to avoid this because of the dilution in the blood. But for something longer, absolutely. Um, is there any training benefit to it? So if you if you’re uh doing your preparation rides, is there a benefit to be to to use it in that scenario? Um, it’s not like you’re it’s not as if you’re training your body to act like I mean it would help if if you were doing really hot hard training rides and it would help in the same way it would like it would help get a higher quality training session in the same way it would help get you a better performance in a race. So yeah, but no, there would be no there’s no no side effects from like you’re not actually dehydrating yourself. So no. Okay. No, it’s the opposite. you’re overhydrating yourself. Um, and especially if you have it with sodium, which is in the the thing, you’re not worried about sort of sometimes if you don’t have it with sodium, you’re having this huge pickup in body fluid, it can mess up your electrolyte balance, but the recommendation is to have it with your with the sodium dose as well. And yeah, kind of works well. A lot of people are doing sodium loading now anyway. And so you’re just adding the glycerol in and just helping enhance that. Glycerol for the boys sounds good. It used to be banned by water. Well, that’s a good sign. Yeah, that’s a very good sign. I think I didn’t I know it was banned. I didn’t I think it was banned for something to do with masking because it can dilute your blood like a diureticy type thing. Well, the diuretic is kind of the is the opposite. It’s like kind of getting a quicker pass through. I think if you if you’re measuring something if you’re measuring something in the blood that was related to concentration and you knew you had a blood test coming up and you took glycerol and you diluted your blood and so you’re under the like you know the um the things was concentration concentration is important like the asthma medications and it’s a um yeah it’s done as a concentration in the blood I think that’s why but they got it’s not banned anymore though. Okay. So would you describe that as a bit of a silver bullet Jesse? Oh that’s a it’s a gold bullet. It’s a gold bullet. It’s the the one thing you need that’s going to suddenly give you all the power you’ve ever needed. Exactly. Silver bullets. I don’t know there I just want to have this quick chat because um so after nationals I had lots of messages from people. Well done blah blah Masters Nationals. Masters Nationals. Good call. Masters three nationals. Jesus. That’s bad from me again. Come on Chris. Um, and along the lines of, “So, what’s what what what are you how what have you done? What have you done? What’s the How many wheat bicks in the morning? What’s the Tell me, Chris. What What is it? What is it? What is the one? I’ll pay you. Just tell me what it is. What is it? Stop hiding it. It’s just hiding the thing.” And well, I mean, I giggle about it because obviously that’s not the case. But I thought what I’d do is I would sit down and I would think of all the little silver bullet 1% things that don’t matter at all until maybe they all matter as you add them up. So it’s not a silver bullet. It’s like a buckshot sprays across. We’re going and we’re all little pellets. And we’re forgetting all the things like consistent training. Yeah. Um I don’t drink alcohol. Just just boring. get on the soap box and talk about how that that works. No, I want the the little niches. Yes. All right. Give it to us. Okay. So, I’m going to step us through the niches. The first one, learn to write intervals on the flats, especially as a sub 70 kilo rider. Okay. I think there’s a silver bullet there because my theory as a cyclist, not a coach, is that that is in some way giving me stronger muscles or something or or a better pedal stroke or I’m just I’m I’m a more complete cyclist because I can do an interval correctly on a flat road. Now, there’s a tipping point for it for me, and that’s normally around a V2 effort. Like, I could I can manage a V2 effort on a flat on a flat piece of road, 4 minutes, but if we’re any going much higher than that, then that’s not really an option. Okay. Um, and anything downhill’s a real struggle. But yeah, I I think there’s value. I think that’s a potential little niche that people can think about. Can I Yeah, I’m with you. Can I just give a minute on why that’s actually important? Oh, okay. If your 20 minute power as a lighter rider is 300 watts when you’re going up a hill and it’s 10 watts lower than that, sorry, it’s 20 watts lower than that on the flat, you can only do 280 for 20 minutes on the flat. If you’re a heavier rider and you can do 350 for 20 minutes up a hill and you have an even bigger drop off, you can only do 315 for 20 on the flat, you’re still going to go faster than the lighter rider, even though you’re worse on the flat. So, as a smaller rider, you need to be relatively strong on the flat compared to the climbs if you’re trying to compete with heavier riders on a flat course. Y if you followed that, you will understand. Yes. Uh probably picks up on this on that same sort of um thinking as you there zone two rides in an arrow position. pick, not pick, but try and find those long and you sort of taught me this whereas I just started riding with you and all of a sudden you’d be dropping down into an arrow position riding zone two speed or zone two power, but just spending hours in that position, getting used to it mentally, physically. And it’s it is it’s annoying to do because and I find this like at a low a lower power I find it’s actually more uncomfortable a lot of the time sitting down in those positions and you also look like a bit of a tool. Yes. Like that’s another thing I will often be riding along and in my arrow position [ __ ] dialed there. I’m S5 head tucked. Look at me. I’m so good and fast. People just cruising past me now upright going what’s the wrong with this guy? So, it is it is a bit of an a thing that perspective, but honestly, I and this is obviously something I work with with Mick as well, but I’ve never felt as comfortable in that position than I have and I spend time in it and I do long efforts in it. Love it. Fair. Absolutely. Especially good for winter. If you’re in your winter and your volume isn’t that high and you’re kind of desperate for next season, you’re like, I want to do more hours, but it’s not appropriate to do more hours because we just started the off season. Doing little accessory things like that to get be a better rider without necessarily just doing more load is very useful. Uh supplement silver bullets. I’m pretty boring on this, but creatine, magnesium, and protein shakes. I’m not particularly exciting there, but there you go. I’m I’m creatine 365 12 months of the year, every day of the week. And get a blood test. Uh yes. I didn’t put that in the list, did I? No, that’s that’s every 3 months. I should have put that down. Every three months. Blood tests. Okay, I’m going to let you go. Just let after you finish a chat, I have some chat on that, but remind me. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Um, all right. We’re starting to get real niche now. Okay, good. Yes. Love it. You’re in your fastpaced group, right? Okay. Mhm. I want you to do this instead of pulling a couple of turns, getting tired, and sitting on. Pulling a couple of turns, getting tired, sitting on. Then everyone starts getting a bit weaker and and you come back to the front and you pull some really strong turns and then you get to the end and maybe a few people give you a pats on the back. That’s fake fitness. What you have what you have just done is fake fitness. M challenge yourself to stay in the rotation for the entire ride. Every time you come up, you pull your turn, you start dropping back, and you hear the person behind you. Yep, [ __ ] it. Just jump straight back in. Just stay in that rotation. Because to me, silver bullets here, that is the point of the fast-paced group ride is that kind of fitness. It’s not to go and do a a V2 session. It’s not to be doing 3030s. It’s the fast-paced group, right? Mhm. And you’ll find new limits in yourself. Trust me. And you won’t delude yourself into thinking that you are fitter than you are because you sat on while other people are pulling turns and then all of a sudden your turns were strong. That’s not f that’s not fit. That’s fake fit. Okay. Um and if you’re going to do V2 efforts, go do V2 efforts. That’s not what the fast-paced group ride is. Okay. Cool. Yep. Right. Gym all year round. As an over 40year-old, this is me. See you mumbling away over there. All year round. Try try and maintain it two two days a week. I’m currently doing it on a Monday and a Fridays. I’ve stepped away from trying to do it after the rides. It’s just not feasible. So, it’s essentially now on my rest days. Uh Mondays and Fridays. Can I say what I’m working through at the moment? Okay. Safety bar. Good mornings. So, this I have two sessions, two different sessions. First session, safety bar good mornings, safety bar squats, single leg squats, and I’m now doing upper body work. So, I’m doing chin-ups and dips is one block. And my second block is deadlifts, leg press, Bulgarian split squats, the dumbbell flies, those ones. Mhm. And the other one, which I don’t know what it’s called, one where you’re lying down on the the bench and you’re pulling up. You you got the dumbbells and you’re going back up the fly like they’re like a reverse fly. Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. Is that what it’s called? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you do that in the machine with a chest against the pad and you do like a rear delt fly. Yeah. Yeah. So on like an inclined bench and then pulling back up. So those ones. So that’s that I rotate between those two. And at the moment I’m doing kind of high reps at the moment. So squats I’m looking at like 8 to 10. Mhm. Whereas I was doing kind of higher higher weight earlier in the year. Okay, that’s that. And I’ll finish with some nutrition silver bullets. Real people talk about this, but I’m just going to go pure numbers. All right. If I’m doing a 2hour endurance ride, I will have 60 g of sugar with sodium citrate. 60 g an hour. So I will finish with so it’ll be 60 grams in both bottles and I will ideally aim to finish those two bottles having finished that 2-hour endurance ride classic me if that goes up to a 3 and 4h hour ride it will be 75 g in those hour in those bottles with jelly snakes probably a stop to fill up along the way 2 hours with efforts that will be there’ll be 75 g in my bottles I often won’t finish both bottles in that session because I struggle to consume a lot when I’m actually doing the efforts. So that just means when I finish the ride, I’ll make sure to take on more carbs than I normally would. Just on the blood test, I saw this came up the other day. They sent you a link to a to Whoop website. Oh yeah. So, I did a video about Lionel Sanders diet and he’s because he’s a Whoop athlete. And I was laughing because he had this like this this red symptoms and all these hormonal issues cuz he was his diet was crap and he had he was I think he had um he was anemic and all these all these issues in his blood test. Um and yet he’s this Whoop athlete which is meant to be like we monitor recovery and and he’s like one of his job Yeah. his job is to do that. And meanwhile, they’re their sponsor of like the worst recovered triathlete with stress fractures like in the in the pro triathlon tour. I thought it was quite funny. Then the other day, to their credit, I saw Whoop release this new advanced labs function for their uh for their customers. So, it’s Whoop advanced labs combining 65 biomarkers with thousands of daily Whoop data points for the most complete view of your health with lab testing powered by Quest. So, it’s essentially integrating a a blood test into your Whoop profile and they say integrated it with the Whoop, you know, the heart heart rate variability and all that, but essentially it’s just a way for uh Whoop Advanced Labs gives you a clinician reviewed plan that highlights which biomarkers need attention and the daily behaviors from sleep to stress management that can help improve your biomarker results, which is fair play. Like that’s exactly what I gave them [ __ ] for is just you’ve got this strap measuring this one little thing and you could be doing 100,000 things wrong and it still says your heart rate variability is good in your green box 100% recovered and you got stretch factors in your spine. So you’ve got reading through here every biomarker chosen for impact. So, it’s it’s pretty um pretty good blood test. They got all the obvious hormones, all the different ones, cortisol, testosterone, the thyroid hormones. Um, you’ve got the ones related to they say sleep but some of the other ones related to energy u red blood cell count feritin which is your your iron stores inflammation vitamin D they’re testing for hematocrit free testosterone HB1C which is the the um biioarker that shows if you’re borderline um pre-diabetic are pretty like the the markers here are all the ones that you’d want to see. I’m not sure if they have B12 would be the only one I didn’t see. Oh, it says and more. So, maybe they do include it. Yeah. So, that’s that’s cool. So, if you’ve got a Whoop now, they are actually Well, you’d have to pay for it, but you can if you’re in the US, you can schedule a test at one of these Quest clinics, have your blood tested, and actually have a picture of how recovered you are. But it’s what it does with the data. And this is what I find even when in myself. So, I get blood tests regularly, 3 months, every 3 months, and I do that through my GP. God love him. He’s kind of useless when it comes to this stuff because he’s a GP. He when he looks at a blood test result, he’s looking at what kind of lowest common denominator slopper person is this is your iron low to walk to the shops and back. Like obviously I’m a weirdo. I’m trying to like optimize my life. Well, you know what I mean? like I’m trying to I’m pushing my body pretty hard and so I want my blood test results to be analyzed by somebody who’s looking at it through that window. And I’m lucky obviously to have um yourself and then to be able to do that. But that’s I think I and I’m I don’t know enough about this to to to know whether it’s what ranges they’re using. I mean, if it’s Whoop, you’re assuming they’re it’s it’s it’s performance focused people. So, you’d assume they have a they’d be looking at it through a sports lens. I don’t know exactly what they do, but this should help that because it’s you’re getting a blood test as someone who’s training through Whoop. You would assume that they have a better So, you you have athletes who look at who get blood tests. Yeah. Yeah. Are you looking at the blood test results? Okay. Fair enough. Most coaches do that. Probably not. replied. Sorry about that. That’s cool. So, one So, it’s a it’s a plan. So, one test per year, $199. Two tests a year, 175 per test. You get four tests per year. So, once a quarter, $150 per test. I don’t Is that a lot of money? I have no idea what a blood test costs in the US. Yeah. Wow. I mean, so you can get if you get a private you can get a private um blood test with all of those key markers here for about $100 Australian. Now, when you go through your GP, it’s free, but yeah, you can go to a private lab, it’s 100. Yeah. I mean, if you I like But something like Yeah, the pricing is one thing. I don’t know. I I the fact that you can just subscribe and it’s choose a choose a plan that keeps you on track. It’s two tests a year and it’s build annually and then they’re all booked in and so like if you’re doing that it’s $349 a year and they’re pre- booked so you’re going to it’s kind of forces you to go because you’re already going to pay for them. I think that’s that’s very that’s a good investment I would say to if you’re someone who’s got planning on training for the next couple years. So you get your two blood tests a year. It’s testing all the markers you want to see. I think that is a good place to spend your money. So kudos to Whoop for for that. It’s a pretty good feature and it saves the headache of like do I go and see my doctor and then I’m asking my doctor, oh I’m a rider and my coach wanted me to get these markers and the doctors. That’s always just awkward. This is pretty simple. You just go and get the blood drawn and it shows you the results. For those that have been living under the rock, the Nero kit still in stock. It’ll be the LA this whatever’s on the website now is all that’s going to be there before the end of the year. So get in now if you want to get in before Christmas. Question that came up on the Nero suit. There are there’s the the bladder pocket. There is two leg pockets and two pockets on the rear. Where do you put your phone? Uh leg pocket. Yeah. Okay. Because if you have a big phone like a Pro Max uh it will struggle to fit in the rear pocket. Yes. So, and I actually think the leg pocket is more comfortable for the phone because you don’t feel it when you have a phone like that on a skin suit on your back and it’s held quite tight to your back. Um, I just find it more comfortable on the leg and this I’ve never have Have you had your phone fall out? No. God know. Yeah. But I think people get nervous that it might fall out. I’ve done a million rides with the skin suit and I’ve never had the phone anywhere close to falling out. So, if you do get the Nero suit, uh, leg pocket is where we recommend phone, rear pocket, food, and then whatever you want in the the sugar flask pocket up the back. My protocol had been um phone in the leg pocket. Uh, arm warmers had had moved their way into the nipple pocket back there. Headphones and jelly snakes in the rear pocket. The It’s the pretty much the goated setup at this at this particular point, I have to say. All right. As always, free global shipping. You can pay in your local currency, whatever that may be. Shillings, pennies, rubles, whatever you got, we’ll take it. Um, check that out now. Link down below in the description on YouTube. All right, that time of the week. Dog or fast bike. Oh, yes. Last week, you said my brother’s twin brother’s Specialized SL7 was certified fast. Now I want to prove to him that my bike is faster. Oh, we are looking at a focus is Alcoax size 52 red E1 1 by 521036 zip 404 fire crest internal 23 external 28 ratios issues. Ratio issues there I think. I think so. Uh, SL80 carbon arrow handlebars, 36 cm and flared 110 stem, zero offset saddle, zip bottle cages, purple shramm force E1 chain, rally pedals, G rally pedals, GP5000s, 28 front, 30 rear, ride wrap, custom wrap, specialized power mirror, 3D printed saddle, weight 7.5 kilos. Here it is, Jesse. Just quickly, the folk I mean, I’ve mentioned there’s a few cults out there. There’s the There’s the TCR cult, the soloist people. They’re they’re a cult. This lot, this crowd, they’re another danger. They think there’s something special in that car. They think they’re like, it’s a different grade. German engineering, Chris. It’s German. But you haven’t ridden it. It’s in the It’s in the feel. Yeah, it’s in the It’s in Yeah, it’s in the modeling. Now, I I do think this is a really nice looking bike. I I like the colors. It matches the zip wheels with the one by. It is a nice Yeah, I I’m not going to lie, that does look cool. It’s It’s the the the MLE has that same very nice gray aesthetic, minimalist industrial sort of aesthetic. Yes. That however is not a fast. No sir. No sir. No. No. This This could be any generic piece of [ __ ] that’s churned out of China on a daily basis. Mhm. You’ve put a set of wheels that are fine, but yeah, they’re fine. They’re good. Decent. Decent. You’re running a one by chain ring. Are you trying to get points for it? Cuz it’s just a 50 to so you’re not going to be getting extra special points from me on that. And it weighs See, problem is it weighs 7.5 and it’s one by and you’re kind of going it’s not a fast bike. It’s not a fast bike. It’s not It’s not a light bike. It’s not a light bike. It’s just It’s not a comfortable bike. It’s just a froth. It’s just a froth machine. It is. Which it does that. But that is absolutely no. There’s no stickers for a froth bike. No. Maybe we need a third category. No. Your brother’s bike is a far superior bike. You should be very jealous. His twin brother as well. Oh jeez, that’s awkward. Um, yeah, that’s a dog. Sorry. Yep. Uh, bike two. Really drunk the Stram Kool-Aid with this one. Okay. Um, BMC T- Machine SLR1 BMC carbon Aero Cockpit 3642s Silka Nastro. Oh, we’ve got 2.5 mil bar tape. Thank you. Thank you. Nice. Nice bar tape with Tram Force E1, 160 rotors, 4835 chain ring, quiet power meter, 160 mil cranks, sorry, 170 mil cranks, silk wax chain. I cheated a little and put red 1036 cassette on it. Saves 60 g over force. Time pro XPro 12 saddles. That’s a package. This is a real package. Uh ShraMM 353 NSWs. Oh, they’ve got the tire. Okay, gauges are in there. Mhm. gauging your uh Goodyear Vector Z30 NSW tires optimized. Barely legal 6.81 kilo. Oh, so this is the mut. Sorry. Yes, of course. Oh, it looks pretty cool. I’m not even going to lie. No, it does look cool. That looks sick. I like I do like the wave pattern on the Zip 353s. Um they look Yeah, that’s a cool looking bike. Um, this is going to really challenge me. That cockpit looks pretty actually looks pretty nice, too. Oh, I want to hate this boat. I really do want to hate it. I want to like it, but I we just said we can’t give awards for frothing. I know. I know. Here’s the thing. If I If I’m turning up to Laapter Tour in 2026. Yeah. Are you you’re gonna So, you’re absolutely going to have to start somewhere there. Yeah. This This plays a role for me. What about the valleys in between? You’re having to roll turns and you’re going It’s not really There’s no freewilling turns on this. I keep I keep moving away from the performance disadvantage that ultimately I do think this bike is. Okay. In comparison to like what’s out because there are much lighter climbing bikes out there. This is this is I mean I sure I’m on record saying that this bike when it was launched was really disappointing cuz it’s it’s a this is a topsp spec package and it’s only just hitting 6.8. Whereas that Athos that R5 the Scott Addict that’s that’s doing 6.8 and eight builds with like force setups. So, from a value for money perspective, no, I don’t think this is in the same ballpark. It looks cool, though. Um, all right. So, but that can’t sway me, Jesse. Yeah, I think we just have to do it. Come on, Chris. It’s a dog. Mhm. It’s a dog. I’m glad I said that out loud. Feels Yeah. Bike three, Jesse is an oak twilight frame set and seat post and handlebars in a size medium with 110 38 cm bars. Vision Metron 60 SLS. It’s got ShraMM Force everything except for red cassettes. Wolf 252 chain ring. Um, Bontrager Aolius Elite 145 mil saddle. Uh, AliExpress carbon bottle cages. Total weight, including pedals, mounts, cages, and saddle, is a mindblowing 7.44 kilos. That’s a TL, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, what off the press? No, it’s not. Yeah. Oh, by it’s a OEM devel. All right. Yeah. TL Arrow 7.44. What? How’s What’s happened here with including pedals? Yeah. Yeah. See, that’s a bit See, for a do it all, that’s a bit slop with 60s. They’re not the lightest wheels, though. No, but they’re not heavy. I’m pretty sure they’re sub400. Yeah, that’s seven. All right. So, take So, that would be 7.2. No pedals. Yeah, there’s a real BMC sort of paint job. There is style to this. Yeah, where they match the handlebar to the Yeah, it’s a good looking paint. He’s a begrudging crit racer. Yeah. I need some Yeah. What? 83 kilos. Working his way into into Cat 3. Lives in Wisconsin. So, you know, again, lots of Tres around him. Just wants to change it up a bit. Bored of the Trek boys at the shop. So, something a little bit different. Um, the bike compared to my old Scott foil is so much more fun to race. Stiffer, lighter, and more responsive. That’s helped me enjoy the season. He’s loving his bike racing on his oak. Loves the oak. Oak Twilight. Is there anything Is there anything that makes this a fast bike or is this M? Well, that’s the problem is there’s nothing that’s there’s nothing but slow about this. It’s It’s perfectly fine, but I’m It’s also like I’m not looking at it and going, “Yeah, it’s missing for some reason an X factor.” M and that build, see the problem is the build weights got me because if that was an S Specialized SL8 Pro should be lower than 7.44 unless I’ve lost my marbles. Um is there any internal uh TL testing you can share with us here? Is the was the spe the spear? No, this is the arrow you were saying. The arrow. Yeah. Is this Have you got numbers? So, we got this compared to a an SR. Look at the front end of it. Okay. I’m I stand by this frame. It’s very It’s very narrow from the front deep. The fork’s deep. Molded well into the down tip. It’s a quick bike for a It’s a good It’s It’s As far as the do it alls go, I can tell you it’s going to be up there. The front end of that, especially Do they have a front on photo? Yeah, you can’t really see it. It’s quite narrow. It is modern. Yeah, it is quite narrow. Yeah. Um, but it’s almost like a begrudging. It’s fast. Even though you’re not feeling it, are you? No. I don’t know why the one I don’t like one by personally. Yeah. I mean, if if this gets sent in two by and it’s 7.7 kilos, are you just immediately saying dog? Oh, yeah. It shouldn’t be that heavy. So, something I don’t know what’s I think I don’t know. There’s a lot of lacquer in that plane. No, seven. No, you got one buy on a do it all at 7.45 kilos. That is a dog of a bike. I would have Yeah. Okay. That’s he’s he’s in a mood today, ladies and gentlemen. Bike 4 is a 2024’s size ML Big Rock Aerocarbon with the Big Rock Skyline integrated bar stem 138 mil width 100 mil stem. Big Rock in-house carbon saddle, Altegragra Di2 11-speed 1130, uh, Practis Dune cranks, wa bar sports S5 wheels, GP5000s, machine P715 power meter, Jura Ace 11speed wax chain. Weight, this is an interesting comparison. Weight is 7.3 with everything including pedals. 5’9 is my height. 78, sorry, 76 kilos. Lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Flattish with a few short punchy 1 to 5 minute climbs. Races all over New England. Interesting. So that’s lighter than That’s a good race scene. Lighter than the Oak. Interesting. Well, that’s that’s why actually want to put this in. This is why we we back to back and it’s okay. Okay. Ooh, the See, I’ve seen this frame before. M it it is it’s going to be a tough cell for this frame for me. This bike has been a rocket ship for everything, quote unquote. Okay, hold on then. Rocket ship. Well, actually, no, just a rocket. Not a rocket ship. Was a rocket, but maybe So, it just looks kind of a generation ago. He’s in a mood, ladies and gentlemen. Don’t you think? Tell me you don’t like it’s like the it looks like the Canyon Arrow, but when it was released four and a half years ago. Don’t know. I don’t know. Not everything can be the Y1 RS, Jesse. I think I the needle the goalpost move. There’s some additional arrow some Look at the tweaking of those of those chain stays and the seat stays. That’s some tweaks down there. It’s two by Look at that. He’s got He’s got custom chain rings. It’s Don’t send your bloody picture in in the small ring, though. That’s That’s an error. Down point for that. Um we like these wheels. Wheels. Yeah, nice wheels, good width, 24 internal. Like I mean the rock, the big rock, it’s a rocket ship. I don’t believe that weighs 7.3. I just don’t with pedals. That’s not 7.1 with no pedals. I’m sorry. That’s an AI generated weight. Yeah, right there. Uh one one to five minute climbs over his area. Yeah. And why is the front tire tan walled? Yeah. Well, you’re not helping me. No, I’m already grumpy today. Yeah. And then you do that. I mean, no. That’s a dog. It’s a dog. It’s a dog. It’s a dog. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Oh, come on. Come on. I think it Okay. Well, let’s be fair. Between the oak and the big [ __ ] One of them has to be quick. I I would on the side of giving this one fast bike. Since when did we Since when are we just handing out token? Well, because I No, just because I was borderline with the oak. I feel it’s unfair that this is coming lighter. Oh, this this is a vastly superior Yeah. And we’re like we’re punishing the owner because he hasn’t looked after his dog properly, but it’s not the bike’s fault that the front tire is a tan wall and it’s in the small chamber. That’s true. He’s too busy riding and there’s a light. It’s got a 340 FTP. This bike doesn’t have time to waste a better photo. No. So, this would be fast if it was Yeah. So, let’s not punish the bike for the owner. The owner’s actions. Big [ __ ] Fast bike. Big fast [ __ ] Bike five. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. This is an Icon A40. Which is the open mold version of the Chanel Pressure. What? Size. Open mold of what? Why would you open mold that? What the hell is a Chanel pressure? Sorry. Size 56. Uh, he’s got a custom blue paint job done by me. Uh, giant contact SLR Ford saddle. Uh, Canon Albartape. I can alpha 52 wheels. Orange sealant. Orange seal sealant. Not sure it wrong. Uh, 105 DO2 group set. It’s given for 5034. That’s given for free. Free. Zip. It lives. What happened to cycling weekly guy? He’s not on anymore. He’s gone. I think he wrecked it. Searching around the tip. Reached out to S Chinelli and I can for a testing. He’s looking for a white paper. Unfortunately, no white paper. They didn’t do any. I thought he was going to say unfortunately they didn’t send any through. I’m like, yeah, I can tell you why. Oh dear. Oh dear. Hey. Wow. I mean, come on. like um right. So there’s there’s some special things that have happened here. The the bar tape that looks like it was wrapped by me. That is horrendous. I should do a better job than me. We got the what’s that? A negative 42° saddle tilt. Mhm. And for the pause. For the pause. Yeah. Full pause. The triceps are going to be absolutely churning on this baby. Um, there’s nothing redeemable about this bike except that your group set you got for free apart from that. That’s a shocker. That’s a genuine. That’s up there for dog of the year. All right, two to go. We’ll keep moving. Here’s one for you from here in Cornwall, UK. A Canyon. Oh, a Canyon CFR aerode 2022 model. 12speed durace with Eube. Oh, it’s got the It’s got the Bluetooth thing. Oh, that’s You don’t need to. Is that a client? That app is dreadful. So, I don’t know why you’re selling that feature. Uh, power to max NG spider power meter. Fantastic. 172.4. I think I ran this exact setup. Alu cranks, durase pedals. Finally got rid of the duros power meter and can update for new 12speed setup with new power to max scopes for the boys. Hang on. What scopes are they? Do a little deep dive there for me. Uh, black logos. That’s the 6A. That’s the 6A. 28 front, 30 rear. GP5000s. Uh, banging bike and comes at 7.2 kilos. Also got a set of 5263 reserves for winter riding. Okay. Um 5 foot 11 FTP 335 according to Trainer Road. I mean this is if you were in Sydney 3 years ago without the scopes this was what wheels would do. Oh those DT or No, there would have been zips. Yeah. If you did a wheel upgrade you would have had the zips or the four 54s. Yep. Yep. Exactly. That was the Sydney spec bike for a period of time. Okay. Well, this is one for you, Chris. What’s that bike? Does this do the scopes work on an aero? You can see package. I can see package. Absolute good flow. I mean, I hate that we’ve just been [ __ ] all over big rocks. And what was the other one? Oaks. Oaks. And now I’m going to froth all over this. Mhm. But well, the other ones didn’t have scopes. The other ones didn’t have scopes. This is This is a very fast bike. I would What’s What weights he claiming it at? I’m going to guess it’s about 7.2ish. Um 7.2. It is 7.2. Yeah. Yeah. Also got a set of reserves for winter riding. There is no race you would do and you would feel outgunned on that. Grafton, give me that bike every day of the week. In fact, I did ride that bike. Um, yeah. Fast bike. Fast. I’m going to go with you bike. Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s one of those examples of that canyon that cuz the Kernic would have had to ride that with Shimano slop wheels. Mhm. Now that’s that’s up there. Black seven. Last one. Now, this is this is a bit of there’s a bit of two and fro here because this has been this was sent in to us a number of times and each time there’s been an upgrade added. All right. It’s been was this was sent in again this morning. Okay. With the most recent update. Okay. Okay. So, I think I’ve sent the Okay. The pictures. Yes. So, the first picture is what it was and this is what it is. It is a 51cm 2023 Sevel S5 black Jura Ace 12speed D2. There’s a lot of details in this just quickly. Um bar ends a carbon works seat post is a Hilix. Seat post clamp is Hilix. Let me just sorry before we get going on this. The person who sent this in is a moderator on the weight weenies forum. Oh dear. Yeah. So, it has a mental problem. Yeah. Certified mental issue. Okay. Uh, saddle is the Burke Lina short padded. Bottle cages. Uh, I don’t even know any of these brands. No, this is this is very neat. AI generated weight weeny things. Brake rotors are galas. Of course they are. Brake adapter. I don’t even know what part of a bike that is. That’s a chaser. 68 g. He’s lifted the grammage of every single thing here. Okay. Um, cassette is a ZTO SLR. Cassette extras is a ShraMM stealth ring. Saves 5 g. Uh, pedals Xedo Thrust SL Titaniums. Now, it originally came with Roville Rapid CLX. It didn’t come with it. Originally had on it Roville Rapid CLX 2s with an Envy SES 5.6 rear. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, I could get around that. thought process that has been thought through. Okay. Now, the updated wheels uh from Peter at XMCS Joan Carbon Speed. Uh update, he you now don’t have to message someone through a secretive Telegram channel. There is a web shop for those. So, update as of a week ago. 24 mil internal, 16 spoke front, 18 spoke rear. Unfortunately, they came damaged in in transit. Slight wobble. So, they’re being tred by Ben Caden. And ultimately, we are looking at a S5. Oh, where’s the weight? I didn’t put the weight in. We pretty much live at CP. You guys often lap us. Just a group of old guys. Okay. Do we have Do we have weights then? What What’s 6.35 kilos? Jesse Coil 6.35 6.35 6.3 This is the lightest S5 I’ve ever seen. Okay. However, it’s definitely a fast bike. But but not with those new Shiaan things. I I think with that Envy, get that rear Envy up to speed. Big clunker of the thing, but nice and stable. And then you’ve got the Rovar CLX2 on the front, steel spokes, the same rim. They’re not changing because it’s so good at at speed with the crossies. I think that’s the setup. He So with that setup, it was 6.76. What are you doing? What a bike. What a bike. Light enough. Absolutely. That is superb. Get those other slot machines off there. See, that’s just cuz that’s in the just cuz you can. Yeah. Uh bucket for me. I’ll put I’ll put a link to his Instagram cuz it’s I mean he’s got a mental problem like as all weight weenies do. Um and it’s fantastic viewing. It’s great content. But yeah, for me that’s 7.76 envy split wheel is is the way to go. Yeah, 100%. All right, that’s this week’s dog off bike. Remember to send them into [email protected] and please send them in landscape. Thank you. subscriber questions last week and or comments or comments or statements as most people who comment on our show do. They It’s a statement. So that’s the game for thumbs up. I love that game. Yeah. Who can get the most thumbs up clout? The problem with the wheel chat and the idea of crosswind stability is that nothing could be more subjective. The skill of the rider, the exact direction of the wind, the weight of the rider system, the speed of the wind, the number of riders around you in a crosswind, the environment around you in the crosswind, hills, trees, etc. The list goes on. Certainly, different rim shapes and profiles will contribute greatly to the crosswind instability of a wheel. The problem is that there is no way to quantify that for a person making a buying decision. The best test possible with the ability to ride many different wheel sets in identical conditions and see how they perform for you. However, no general consumer has that ability. Definitely 100% agree. That’s why we’re here. That’s lit. I mean that’s literally our chat is we we our we are trying to give our opinion on that particular performance indicator in all these different circumstances wrapped up in the reality that those performance indicators could be very different for me as they are with you which we nutted out last week. That’s kind of what Centennial Park is. It’s the same loop generally. you know, in the afternoon what the wind is. We’ve ridden because we’ve ridden so many times. So, if we can both ride the same wheels and form an opinion on how it performs crosswind wise, I don’t I think you can make a I agree. Get you get there or thereabouts. And but I I totally the point that I completely agree with is no two crosswinds are the same. like the CP crosswind stuff that you’re talking about. I think this is this has hurt my discussion about the scope since why I’ve gone back riding them is because the the crosswind discussion that I was having about them was when I was doing 80 km hour descents down Aubry Road and that that’s a any anytime you’re in that particular circumstance with wind coming in from the side, it’s going to be a very different crosswind experience to just lapping at 35 km an hour on the flat. So that’s why I put the scopes back onto it to kind of revisit that and it sort of backs up his point. Um, which kind of leads me to the next one. This got quite a few thumbs up. Okay, good. The bro science with these guys is off the charts. Honory PhD for them from Teimu University. Oh no. Good sledge. What do you think? Bro science. Is there any value in bro science? I think he’s wrong. Is it bro signs or is it just opinion? And like if you don’t tr if you don’t like our bro signs, what are you using to judge if you’re looking for a new set of wheels? Like and you think we’re full of it. Fair enough. But like what’s your source for how the two wheels ride? Like where where else are you going that’s more scientific? Did you listen crosswind stability lab that you’ve got access to that we haven’t I didn’t check. Maybe maybe this guy listened to the chat with Josh Croxton from cycling news and like was oh my god this is the greatest bit of content ever because there’s so much data here. I kind of Yes. But I also get the point of like sometimes we just like having a chat about it% and someone’s probably sitting there going voice you where are we going here? But that’s kind of the fun. I’m like, “Yeah, I we’re way we’re way off into the weeds.” What What What was more just kind of slop chat. But what was more delusional? The 20 minutes about subjective like crosswind slop or us doing this bizarre rabbit hole of how much can you feel to watts rolling resistance in a tire. I mean, both those subjects independently viewed are ridiculous, but at least they might. But I actually care. Like when you ride the scopes, I genuinely sit down and go, “What did you You went into the park on Thursday afternoon. That was windy. What What did you reckon?” Like I actually I don’t know why I really text. I I genuinely find it interesting. And I will race the scopes tonight at He racing those 100%. I’m You saw me. I’ve gone I’m going forecast. I double down on anytime I make a negative normally I make a negative comment about something I I want to go back and check myself and so I know at 7:45 p.m. tonight I’ll get a text from Jesse. It won’t be how did you go on the race. It will be how did you stay on the road? How are the scopes? It’s a westerly tonight. That’s good for that’s that’s a hard he that might change my tactics. Interesting. M. And that’s also good to test the crosswind because it means you have constant crosswind. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Subscribe for more slop chat cuz we got plenty more. All right. Lastly, I’m traveling this weekend down to lawn without you. You’ve dogged me. You’ve left me. You got me all hyped about this 12 months ago. You’re like, “Ah, just think about it, Chris. You get to go into world grand fondo worlds in your own country. Get hyped, Chris. So, you got me hyped. You got me down there. We did it. Now you’re not coming. So, I’ll be down there solo. Looking love. Come up. Chat to me. Just don’t do the whole, “Oh, pity Jesse isn’t here. I’m just sick of this chat. I had it on the weekend as well. People coming up going, “Oh, is Jesse here?” No, he’s not here. Screw him. He’s useless. He’s He’s not here. Lazy. Let’s all just enjoy it while he isn’t here. Can I just just that’s a warning to everyone. Be careful what you wish for. We don’t want him around. Um but yes, I’ll be down there. Uh hopefully I’m going to try and get out and so I’m get down on the Friday. I want to actually watch a little bit of the time trial stuff. I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the the mast’s time trial setups. I reckon we’re going to see some setups, you know. Is a TT bike legal? Oh god. For the team relay thing. Oh, for the TT. No, no, no. That’s road. Oh, no. There’s a proper time track. Oh, I didn’t realize. Okay. The Ken Bullhouse will have optimized every Oh, yeah. Everyone’s been in for a few. You can’t get a racing license in Melbourne without being optimized by him. Um, that’s an in joke. Um, yes. So, be down there. Say hello. Um, as for the event, cool. I don’t know. We talked about it last year. There’s I I have a feeling. So, I had a quick look at the start list in my age group. So, I’m mast’s three. Um there are 20 so 20 of the top 30 I think I’m right in saying from the pre last year’s world championships are doing it again this year. Oh that’s good. Okay so it’ll be because it’s a long way to come. Yeah. So it’ll be a pretty solid sick field. I would have thought it’ll be interesting to see where we stack up against the boys and uh rip in up the 20minut FTP test. I’ll get the world. My is my skin suit going to arrive in time. Oh, so what’s the latest update? Uh, so there is a there is a a national champion Australia. What am I what’s Can you just Can you say it? A Australian Masters Criterium Masters 3 National Championship jersey skin suit. Yes, it is. It is with the freight forwarder to be on a FedEx plane probably this afternoon. It is currently Tuesday. Chris leaves on Friday afternoon. Touch and go whether Chris will be racing in his Australian national champion Australian colored skin suit or some other because as we know you are required to wear some form of Australian of national colors for it. If it doesn’t arrive, you’ll still be racing it at the warar’s crits anyway. You’ll still get a chance to have a rip on it. It’s just whether it comes for Grand Fondo Worlds. Be riding in just war crit. What are you talking about? Uh yeah. Otherwise, I think I’ll probably just run the So, I ended up taking the jersey that I got on the podium uh to the local seamstress. Yes. Got it taken in. So, it’s a large taken in as much as they could, but the problem is you can’t take the length in. So, you’re always going to get the little belly folds no matter what. So yeah, we’ll have to we’ll we’ll do that alternatively. Okay. Well, fingers crossed everyone. Yeah. Pray for for tailwinds in the air. Well, I don’t know why we left this to the end. The the women’s gravel elite world champs. Yes. What was going on there? Uh oh, let the girls race as far as I’m concerned. Um, so what was going on there was a bit of a pity party for Sharon Van Sharon. Sharon Van Enroy. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz she goes off the front with I think 14 km to go. Mhm. With about three of her Dutch teammates in a group of five chasing. You think, “Ah, she’s going to sail away for the win.” And then the Croatian, oh, sorry, the Czech rider pulls from about 6 km ago to 2 km to go. gap brings the gap down to about 12 to 15 seconds and then the three Dutch riders just go bang. Yeah. And all launch it, chase her down, overtake her with about 250 m to go and Lena Weebas wins the sprint for a for a Dutch one two catch caught their own teammate. This this was a social media [ __ ] storm. People going like cuz she she she was Sharon Van Androy was sort of not happy. teammates chased me down. Yeah. Should have been mine. Not really though, are I mean like like you said, so the Croatian So she’s on the same prof she’s on the same trade team as Vibbus. So clearly there might have been a little bit of nod nod wink wink there. Julia Capeeki and Lorena Weebas both ride for SD works. But this look this it’s not the same as the Grand Fondo World Championships thing, but how many starters did the Dutch have the elite field? 25. 25. So this is not it’s not team racing. It’s not like you can’t race it as a team. They had 25 starters. The next biggest team was GB that had 13. So the expectation that they would ride as country mates is would be a joke. Like how is that going to work? Yeah. And also um Mariana Voss was not racing clearly as teammates. She was when their attacks were going from before 14k to go. She was sending it chasing the her teammate or her country mates down like she was just having a good old rip. So I think that the story that came out after of like people I can understand feeling sorry for that Amroy but that people kind of pooing for for winning for chasing her down. And I think that’s not really fair. Yeah. I mean, it’s a little the dodgiest thing is the two trade teammates on different countries pulling for each other. That’s if if you’d flicked on the last if you’d flicked on the last 5ks and that’s all you watched and all you ever watched was road racing, you would be like, “What the I mean, I did. I did like a double take. What’s going on? That’s a that’s an orange jersey chasing. What’s going on?” Um, but this is it’s gravel racing. It I pretty firmly believe it shouldn’t be team oriented and even their manager or coach Lawrence Tendam I think said it to them like the pro riders beforehand is like this is not we are not racing necessarily as a road race team here. We you are looking after yourself in in certain scenarios. So I like it personally. I’ve got no issue with that. Gravel world championships capture your imagination just generally Jesse shocked you. I only watched I only watched the I watched the end of the women’s one and then got up the full live stream cuz I had to go back and see what the hell was going on cuz it made no sense. Yeah, you’re right. But no, I didn’t. Well, that said in the age groups YouTube weapon certified Yasper, correct me in the comments. Third in his age group. Third in the World Championships. Gravel. What an absolute weapon. Potential best YouTube result ever. B. I reckon I reckon that’s up there. Correct me if I’m wrong, but um shout well played, man. Oh, did you see this thing with the UCI? So, next year UCI points. You’ll be able to earn UCI points, like prolevel UCI points in gravel, track, and gonna say mountain biking, but I’m not sure about that. What? Yeah. So, there’s some of those um no all of those UCI like accredited gravel races in the prolevel field. You’ll be able to accumulate actual real life UCI points for your trade team. For your trade team. Yep. That What’s the cell for that? That doesn’t seem to make sense. talk talk you through it because the the sense is that the UCI has some value. It’s in their it’s in their interest to hype up these these UCI gravel events as much as possible. Well, what’s one way to do it? Convince a Darnic Whip Quickstep guy to enter it because that way he can earn three or four UCI points for his team. Same, you know, same with a a cafetus guy or an arca guy suddenly going to be shunted off out to a a gravel race in Cataloonia because there’s the chance of of getting some points. Now, it’s I haven’t looked into how it’s weighted or anything like that. I’m sure it’s very low spec, but yeah, and it’s it’s also another it’s a little play, I reckon, at just trying to nibble at the Lifetime Grand Prix as being the kind of premier off-road. Yeah. Series is the UCI say, “Huh, we we’ve got this thing called UCI points people seem to value. So, let’s add those to some of our races.” Well, why are UCI points valuable? Um, well, they’re they can be valuable for an individual rider because it can help with their contract negotiations, potentially getting on and off teams. If you have more UCI points, you’re more valuable to a team because teams are ranked according to their UCI points and a ranking then helps with invitations to certain races, automatic wild card, all that kind of stuff. So, there’s there’s value to it. I don’t think I like that. I mean, I just you’ve just sprung this on me now. I haven’t really thought about it, but I I don’t like a trade road cycling team getting points cuz some pro rocked up to a gravel race. I mean, that to me that just doesn’t follow. What do you think? I hate it. Okay. Yeah, I hate it. Like it Why can’t they just have a UCI gravel have that? Why can’t that be its own thing? Own thing. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a different sport. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. You know, like the Pidcocks of this world, it’s like perfect for them. They can go and earn points at leaz baston leazge. I don’t know any other offense. Graalista, there you go. There’s there’s a UCI one in Australia in a couple of weeks. Yeah. Wonder if you can get points at that. Actually, if you’re if you’re if you’re like an up and cominging rider, you could kind of gain that. That’s what I mean. Because because team like especially conte teams or or the pro teams which are below world tour, like they they need points to get entry to races and climb up the rankings. So they’ll sign you. That’s why like some riders will get signed cuz they’ll win like you’ll win Oceanania Champs and some Asia couple of Asia Tour races and you got and will go, “Oh, great. There’s 35 points. Sign him.” Yep. Um and so if if you can clean some of these up at the low hanging fruit in the gravel races, okay, next step, UCI points at you at Grand Fondo World Championships. Grand Fondo event is an idea. There you go. Get get the get the 48y olds earning earning UCI points next minute look out Saporro are stacked with a bunch of 48 year olds I think fantastic don’t worry about junior cycling we need to be doubling down on old B come on 100% get the boys get some points for the boys okay and on that note Jesse we’ll see you and everyone else next week thanks for listening everybody chow chow what was that I don’t know that was weird felt like it. All right, talk to you later. [Music]