The Mistake Most Of Us Make When Training | GCN Show Ep. 674

In this week’s GCN Show, Si and Dan discuss the dreaded “Grey Zone” and why doing too much riding at this middle intensity might be making you tired without actually making you faster. We also look at a new study linking the world’s happiest countries to cycling, and discuss the controversial new documentary narrated by Lance Armstrong. Plus, stay tuned for a massive counterfeit bike bust, a strange new electric vehicle from Honda, and your Hacks and Bodges!

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Chapters: ⏱️
00:00 – Welcome To The GCN Show
03:36 – Is The “Grey Zone” A Cyclist’s Worst Enemy?
06:36 – The Health Benefits Of High Intensity
08:32 – Dan’s Zwift Coaching Experiment
12:20 – Cycling Shorts: Lance Armstrong & AI Controversy
14:45 – Are Cyclists The Happiest People On Earth?
16:54 – Honda’s New Electric “Bike”
17:46 – The $1.6m Counterfeit Bike Bust
20:40 – Christmas Shipping Dates & Giveaways
23:25 – Hacks & Bodges
31: 47 – Caption Competition
33:38 – Comment of the Week

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Do you find yourself stuck in the “Grey Zone” doing the same intensity on every ride, or do you strictly follow a polarized training plan? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

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from the snow filled mountains in the middle of Norway. Welcome to the GCN show. Welcome to the GCN show. Coming up this week, is a cyclist worst enemy the gray zone? Doing too much riding in the middle that’s always the same when in reality going easier and going harder might be much better. And what implications does it have for your health as well as your fitness? We have also got a new electric four-wheel Honda that thinks it’s a bike. What links six of the seven happiest countries in the world. Could be a clue that we’re talking about it, couldn’t we? How AliExpress and Specialized for a huge counterfeit bike network. Plus, in just a moment, how Pagata hasn’t managed to match Lance Armstrong. This week in the world of cycling, we learned that Konago just sold a Y1 RS bike for $190,000. It turns out all you need to do to significantly increase the value of your bike is get Ted Pagata to ride it at the Tour of France, the Europeans, the world, and il Lombardia and then just auction it off at Sbeast. Yeah, it probably helped that the bike is virtually unbeaten, isn’t it? Uh but unfortunately for today, a Lance Armstrong Trek still holds the record for the most expensive bike ever sold at half a million. The fact that it was painted by Damian Hurst might have had something to do with that price because it definitely didn’t go as fast or winners as much shots fired earlier in the show. So we also learned that Masha Vanderpool and Ward are going to be back in action very very soon. Yes, both of them have announced their provisional cycle schedules and whilst Vanderpool should start this weekend, they will meet for the first time at the Antworp round of the UCI World Cup on the 20th of December. Not far away, is it? Uh Vanderpool’s cross comeback is incidentally the same day as size, isn’t it? Although you’re not doing it at the World Cup in an No, the start money there wasn’t good enough. Um so I’m going to be racing in Kim, which uh although closer to home is arguably bigger and more important. Don’t forget to go fairly easy. It came to me. It’s a dangerous course that one as I found out a couple of years ago. I’d almost forgotten how the highly technical flat grassy field laid waste to your poor uncle, didn’t it? But uh anyway, um Alex is racing with me. Oh, is he? Yeah, he’s another cross expert. So hopefully he’ll be okay. Uh, now I was hoping that spending the last month flogging myself on my fixed gear bike as an experiment for a video may have helped my fitness for this weekend, but it doesn’t seem to have done. Oh dear. No. If you watch the video of my journey of fixy cycling from the weekend, then you’ll have seen why I think it hasn’t. As well, if you haven’t watched it yet, there are summarized size findings from that video. So, riding it was too hard to ever be easy, but never quite hard enough to really be hard. Exactly. About right. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Every ride was basically the same. Like I couldn’t ride fast enough on the flat bits cuz the gear wasn’t big enough. But then the gear was too big to go up hills easily. So it was hard enough to hurt my legs, but not hard enough to get any kind of training effect. So I I felt like I was putting the effort in. I was getting really sore legs. But was I actually getting anything out? Well, it is a good point to raise. I would say this one. I mean, of course, it might not look to apply to those of you who ride bikes purely for leisure and pleasure and are not. That’s right. Thank you very much, mate. And I’m not looking to get fitter or faster. Greatiteration. But it is relevant. I’d say it’s relevant to all of us. Well, it is. Yes. So, we’ll go back to the the basics, shall we? The science of training can be complicated, can’t it? But it can also very easily be over complicated. We can get so caught up with the latest musto sessions or trends that we actually lose sight of the basics. Like more training will get you fitter but then too much is also bad. Yes, exactly. The balance I think is maximizing the training that you do in the time you have available. So for example, pros pro cyclists will do a higher percentage of relatively easy miles because they do more hours. So therefore have to do more easy miles because if they rode any harder they just wouldn’t be able to do the same amount of hours. No. But then most people aren’t pro. So for the rest of us do some really hard sessions and some easier rides where you don’t ever press on the pedals too hard. Don’t just do rides where you do a bit of everything. Unless of course those are the rides that you really really love. Yeah. In which case crack on. But and I say this as someone whose weeks can often look very similar from a riding perspective. But I’ve got to say, Sunday night, just the other day, I did a ridiculously hard as whiff session. Tell me. Yeah, for the first time. I’ve been telling everyone I was really bad, but I did for the first time in a while. And then I very I rode in very gently to work the next day. And you know what? It felt really really good. Well, it must have done. You’ve been banging all about it. Oh, I’ve been buzzing. Yeah. Now there is another risk of doing too much in that middle gray area or at least one that’s often talked about which is like the zone three sweet spot style sessions, isn’t it? The idea here is that exercise at that intensity is a waste because again not hard enough to be hard but not easy enough to be easy. So you’ll basically get tired without that much benefit supposedly. Well, yeah, I’m not sure I agree with that one. No, me neither. So I think it’s certainly less relevant to cyclists, isn’t it? runners can very easily get stuck in this trap. And so actually if you if you type in zone 3 or the gray zone as it can also be called most of the articles that come up will be about runners. Whereas as a bike rider it’s actually really hard to ride zone 3 everywhere isn’t it? But it means that when you do zone 3 for like shorter intervals it can be super effective because actually you can do more of that than you would do higher zones without getting super knackered. So therefore, the benefits kind of stack up, don’t they? They do. But if that was all you ever did, which it can easily be, I think, like you said, for runners, then yes, you wouldn’t be as fit as you otherwise would be, and you would also get tired. Although, if you don’t have loads of time to train, it is fair to say, I would say that zone 3 is going to be more productive than lower intensities done all the time. And regardless, you should still ride at higher intensities. Yeah. which is I think where we came back to initially, wasn’t it? For most people though, I think that not going easy enough isn’t the problem. Although, as we said, stopping doing really hard bits and easy rides should be a good thing. But really, what we could all benefit from, all of us, is doing some proper high intensity in our rides because there’s something else to bear in mind here, isn’t it? So, even for those of you that aren’t interested in getting fitter, it’s your health. It’s your health. uh which was a topic that was on the agenda for Alex Hutchinson who writes a brilliant column in outside magazine called sweat science. Yeah, we have mentioned him before. We have multiple times. So he references a recent effort from top scientists to a worldwide consensus on language around exercise intensity. Yes. Now one graph towards the end of that article was particularly striking, wasn’t it? Um it shows the effect of highintensity exercise on all cause mortality reduction. basically like how early you die, isn’t it? What it shows is firstly how potent highintensity exercise is when it comes to reducing the risk of death basically. But then secondly that you won’t get the same benefits from moderate exercise no matter how much of it you do. And those findings were actually backed up by a more recent study entitled intensity or volume the role of physical activity on in longevity. Uh that side was published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology. Oh, that is one of my favorites. Flipping love that one. Um now it concluded the article that intensity is the main driver of reduced risk for both all cause and cardiovascular disease mortality and also that sustained bouts of high-intensity exercise provided even more benefit than effort spread throughout the day. So I think repeated four to six minute intervals rather than 30 second sprints a few times a day. Right. Which sounds a bit weird. Yeah. But the latter has been touted as something that’s hugely beneficial to the to your health before, hasn’t it? But they found it’s not not beneficial, but it’s better to do those sustained bouts. Uh this is something that’s actually quite timely for me at the moment. S. So on Thursday here on GM, we’re putting out a video with Lorraine, who’s my wife in case you don’t know. Uh she had a V2 max test last week and for the next eight weeks she’s going to be doing two Zift sessions a week, 45 minutes per session. One’s going to be moderate intensity zone 2, one of which we did together actually on Zift yesterday. And one will be a traditional 4×4 V2 max session each week. Who prescribed those then? I did. Coach Dan. Exactly. Yeah. It’s a difficult relationship. Coach and husband Dan. This is going to be a big test. I was going to say yeah, but I did prescribe those with good reason. Uh the combination of those two on top of the two or three strength sessions he normally does each week should be as we see just before the optimal com the optimal combination I say for long-term health according to those studies. Plus I’m hoping what it’ll also do is encourage me to do those same sessions throughout the winter for the next eight weeks. Just out of interest what what time are those sessions going to be? They are going to be at midday GMT on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Are you calling that work time or lunch break? Well, let’s call that lunch break, shall we? Or I might have lunch break afterwards. Oh, and incidentally, everyone watching this is welcome to join as well. Uh you’ll find details on the Gen Club on Zift, but generally, as I said, there’ll be Tuesdays and Thursdays at midday GMT, but Christmas Day on Thursday. We might do a different one that particular week. And there’ll be banded uh rides as well. so that we can all stay together. The more the marrier. Lorraine doesn’t drop you basically. Oh, because they’re banded. Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, it’s also going to be an experiment for me. As I said, how much of my cycling fitness, hardearned cycling fitness from the summer months, can I maintain through two 45 minutes with sessions per week? Yeah. Well, since they’re polarized sessions, i.e. one fairly easy and one fairly hard, I assume they should work quite well, really. And let’s be honest, an hour and a half each week is not much less than what you were doing in the leadup to the Global World Champs. Is it really? Yeah, you do have a point. Well, I was tapering at that point to my my a goal for the year was six week taper. I wanted to be fresh. Yeah. Okay. Just what are you calling the video uh with Lorraine this week? Uh well, it’s not got past HR yet, but I’m hoping it’s going to be how fit is my wife. I see. We’ll see. Uh you’ll find out on Thursday whether it got past HR or not. All right. Well, moving on from that, it’s kind of time to throw out to you guys really. Uh have you ever found yourself stuck in a training rut whereby you’re not sort of you’re basically always doing the same thing and you’re not really distinguishing enough between intensities? I every ride is a little bit of everything and so you just kind of carry on in the same thing. Have you ever done that? I bet you haven’t done that, have you? Well, I used to do a lot of gray area sort of zone three/ sweet spot riding. And the reason that I agreed with you earlier that I think it can be quite potent still is that I made some quite big gains in my FTP at a point in my life where I’d already been a full-time rider for a good six, seven years. Yeah. So, I did exactly that same thing, sweet spot efforts, but it was done in a very structured way, which is I guess what you did, right? So, it’s like I wasn’t going out and doing highintensity stuff in that ride. It was a sweet spot ride and then I’d do a different intensity ride the next day or the day after that as opposed to just like going out getting really sore legs and not actually really achieving anything. Yeah. Yeah. I think also you need to do other intervals obviously at the same time, don’t you? So let us know if you’ve ever got stuck in a rut from that point of view or maybe you found those things potent as well or maybe you’ve recently added some highintensity intervals after reading about their benefits for health span. you’ve done that. Let us know how you’re getting on in the comments section down below. And now it’s time for cycling shorts. Cycling shorts. Now I’m going to start with the hugely controversial news that Lance Armstrong, him again, twice in a week, has agreed to narrate a cycling documentary about Schwin bikes. Does seem like a little bit of an odd choice. Does a bit, doesn’t it? But nevertheless, we were quite surprised to see how this story has made the headlines as widely as it has. Although when you read on a little further, the fact that the video we made heavily using AI to take archive photos and turn them into video also seems a bit strange. It does. Seems like cheating. AI. Well, just like getting AI to turn your photos into video. Anyway, um it’ be fitting, wouldn’t it, if it was cheating? Should I take that shovel off you? Yeah. No, I’m kidding. Um it sounds quite interesting, actually. does. Well, maybe I’m not very interested in Schwin if I’m totally honest, but the process is quite interesting. I don’t think he’ll be narrating one about Trek, will he? No, maybe not. Right, moving on. We talked about cyclist running a couple of weeks back, didn’t we? How fast they were. But Cycling Weekly had a great interview with a world and Olympic medal winning middle distance runner this week. That being Georgia Hunter Bell, who made the headlines here in the UK not only for winning an Olympic medal in Paris, but also for making a fairy tale comeback to elite running many years after giving it up after persistent injuries left her with little option to do so. Yeah. Now, what’s changed this time is the question. Well, potentially it’s cycling. It turns out, according to the article anyway, that having fallen in love with cycling in 2020, she continues to ride about 100 miles per week in addition to doing an equal volume of running. Probably all in the gray zone. Well, is it D? No, I think she’s polarized, mate. I think she does like steady bike rides and then high intensity running. Quite possibly. Yeah. Reduce risk of injury, wouldn’t it? There you go. Oh, that does make me wonder why you’re as bad at running as you are. Sorry. What? Cuz I do lots of cycling. You mean we establish You should be so fast. Well, we established when you made your video about why cyclists can’t run this year that it’s because my ankles are too flexible. They’re too something your ankles, aren’t they? Flexible is not the first word that would come to my mind. Thank you. When thinking about Thank you, D. Yeah. Should we move on to something lighter? Shall we lighter than your ankles? Well, the world’s our oyster, isn’t it? Yeah. Pull your boots off. Right. Let’s move on to the secrets of the happiest nations on earth. Yes. Okay. Right. Uh this is from the People for Bikes CEO Jen Dice. Uh she did a TED talk recently. Now she has made the link between Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, topping most of the list of the happiest countries on Earth, and the relatively high percentage of journeys taken by bike in those countries. So according to the world population review those six countries were number 1 2 3 4 6 and seven on the list of happiest countries and all bar Iceland top the list of cycling countries worldwide. Yeah and to be fair I can sympathize with Iceland not being in the top of that list because their country is second only to the UK for horrendous weather. Isn’t it Canadians? I’m including you in that comment going to go wild. Oh they are. Yeah, we’ve got Lance, we’ve got anti-Canadian winter. We got a lot going on this week. Anyway, while I suspect there might be other factors explaining why those countries top the list of happiness, you know what? I actually think that cycling almost certainly does help. Yes, I agree. I mean, there is that phrase correlation does not prove causation, isn’t there? But it can certainly hint at it, can’t it? Plus, we know that people who cycle are healthier both physically, especially if they do high intensity stuff and mentally. And we spend more time in nature, which is another thing. And we’re better connected with one another. You don’t get that in the gym, do you? No. Nor will I get it on my 16 sessions on Zift with Lorraine. Although we are doing it together, so there’s a social aspect, isn’t there? Yeah. But I have got more muscles than ever before by going to the gym. So there is that positive as a consolation prize. isolation in your loneliness, you can just flex your biceps. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we have got a mirror in the zifting room. So, that’s handy. Right. Moving on. Many of you will have seen size video where he rode a book, a four-wheel electric cargo bike not so long ago. Yes, it was an amazing bit of kit, wasn’t it? But it proved quite controversial in the comments. I think that bikes of that ilk genuinely are part of the future of urban mobility, Dan. Um, and it seems like Honda agrees because this is their new quadricycle. Wo. Like the VO, it’s designed to comply with electrically assisted pedal cycling regulations, meaning that you can use it in cycling infrastructure. And like the VOC as well, the pedals are not physically connected to the motor. Uh, it’s rated to carry much greater loads though, up to about 700 kilos. That’s quite a beast, isn’t it? Big. Very big, isn’t it? I can’t help but look at that though and see a vehicle that a little bit like a Dalek would get stuck at the first speed bump. Yeah, those are quite small wheels really. Yes, they are. Yeah. Still, I’m betting that you want the test ride. Yeah, I wouldn’t say no. No. Although it only goes 12 mph, so I’m not getting I’m not getting super excited. That sounds like a gray zone as well to me. Yeah, it does. Right. What about that counterfeit bike network? Well, bicycle retailer reported that Chinese authorities have seized $1.6 million worth of counterfeit bike products from two factories there. Yeah, Specializ made up by far and away the largest amount of the fake products, but Canidel Sele Trek and Pinello were all in there as well. It is worrying like we know that it’s out there, right? But I like Yeah. Well, yeah, you do wonder if it’s the tip of the iceberg or whether it’s not really that prevalent in cycling circles. You just don’t know, do you? I don’t think it’s a problem with buying a new bike, is it? But it is the kind of thing that you should probably think about if you’re buying a secondhand bike. How do you know? Original receipts maybe? But how many people keep them from a few years back? Do you know what? Right. I kind of always thought it was fairly easy to know this stuff, but uh I turns out bought a fake pair of trainers. Did you? Yeah. Where from? From the internet. Oh, so I did what everyone does. That’s not very specific. Well, so I did what everyone does and I was like I found a pair of shoes that I wanted. So I Googled it and it came up with like between it was like 140 quid and something else and then there’s this one shop that had a pair for like 90 quid and I was like brilliant. You there’s always one shop that’s like oh we’ve got one pair out the back and we just want to get rid of them. So I bought them from the shop and they turned out and I was like a bit less comfortable than they than I thought but anyway I modified them and then to well there was like a weird bit at the back that really pressed into pressed into my ankles. And I just assumed that that was because of my ankles and not because of the shoes. Standard that standard thing you have to do with every pair of shoes hollow them out a bit more. Um anyway, it turns out after a few months that the soles delaminated from the uppers and I was like that’s a bit crap, right? So I emailed the the uh customer service of the company that makes the trainers and uh they came back to me, I’m really sorry, but these are these are counterfeits. And I was like, you’re kidding. you know, well, could why don’t you just like get in touch with the shop that you bought it off? So, I got in touch with the shop that bought it off. It turns out it completely disappeared. Oh, yeah. So, I had actually bought a pair of fake Anyway, I glued them back together and they’re still going strong. Maybe this is why your running’s not great. You could be got fake shoes. Well, yeah, maybe. But anyway, I was just like, previously I had limited sympathy with people for buying counterfeit products and now I’m like, oh god, no, it’s easier said than done. Less dangerous, I’d imagine. and counterfeit bites could be. But yes, I mean, yeah, they the the soles delaminated and it was a mild trip hazard, but other than that, it was fine. It’s not like my face was going to hit the floor, but um yeah, is this Are you sure you didn’t make up the story about be on a bike when you when you fell into the bramble actually just had a flappy shoe sle? I can’t tell anybody this. I’ll make up something about being on the bike. They’ll believe me if I said I fell off my bike. Yeah, true. Okay, we got I’m going to switch things up now and I’m actually going to mention the C word Christmas. Okay, we’ve decided we’re allowed to mention Christmas now that it’s December. So, if you’re thinking of making a purchase over on our GCN shop, firstly, there are still some big discounts to be had even though I have actually switch the Black Friday deals off at this point. Well done, mate. Well done. Uh what you will need to know though uh is that the final shipping dates for if you want to get your order delivered before Christmas um they should be on screen for you to see right now. But essentially you need to or you should order this week, shouldn’t you? In order to feel relaxed and comfortable, but uh what was it? If you’re in the UK, uh if you’re in New in the UK, anything up to the 18th of December, you should be absolutely fine. We’ll do our best to get it out to to you before Christmas Day. Uh if you’re in Europe, depends which part of Europe, somewhere between the 11th and the 18th, and I think in the US it’s the 11th. As I said, they should be on the screen right now. Uh but if you’re unsure of exactly what to get your friend or partner or relative, etc., uh we should remind you we do also sell gift cards. And with those, there’s no cut off date to get it before Christmas, apart from the fact you need to do it on or before the 25th of December. Well, yeah, apart from that, but you could probably do it on the day like you said. S as long as you got a printer that works, you know. Well, I’m assuming you can just screenshot. I don’t know. Well, I know pretty much know these days. It’s nice to have a physical thing, isn’t it? But I mean, technically, you could, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, good to know that’s there, isn’t it? And as ever, your support is always very much appreciated. All right, let’s finish cycling shorts by announcing the lucky winners of our topic giveaway. Uh, so getting their hands on a Z-Wrap with strap mount, a U shell dry bag, and a U shelf for Z-Rack Essential are well, Christmas is coming early for James Mansfield, KP Coahon, and Pete Richards. Well done to all of you. If you haven’t already heard from us, then you will do so soon. Now, if you didn’t win on that giveaway, got another opportunity now, courtesy of Pirelli Tires. Uh, so we’ve got five sets of Chinterato Gravel M tires up for grabs. Good for now. The M’s knobblies good for mud. Good for Ken. Uh well, I’m going for Cyclross tires. Oh, yeah. Forcross racing. Well, it does. Yeah. There will be a twist actually, Dan. Oh, is it? Okay. Yeah. As the viewers will find out. Um right, there is a link to the giveaway in the description below, by the way. We should say entries are basically open to all locations worldwide except for those that are not listed on the DHL website. Yeah. DHL doesn’t deliver where you are. Don’t enter. Yeah. I mean, I assume they deliver just about everywhere, don’t they? I assume so. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Did you look to see where they don’t deliver? I looked to see where they do deliver and couldn’t deduce where they don’t. It was a vast list of countries. Okay. Next up, hack slbge of the week. If you’d like to get involved in this part of the show, all you need to do is go to globalcycling.com/uploader where you can upload your hacks and bodges or those that you’ve seen out and about, which is what this first one is from premik starves. Uh, clear hack as there’s no zip ties. There’s not much of a description to this. I guess the picture does the talking side, so we better explain it. All they’ve written is, “It is a legit picture. I just improved it to better resolution.” Now, if you have to say it’s a legit picture, I’m already suspicious. Yes. Uh but I mean, it is it is mildly bonkers, isn’t it? So, this is a handlebar stem and handlebar. And it looks like to fit the bar in the stem, a load of nails have been wedged inside. I’m not entirely sure what the black bits are. Bits of welding, isn’t it? I mean, it is terrifying. the nails have been there just to wedge wedge in the handlebars to presumably stop it rotating round inside the stem and then it’s all been sort of welded together. I mean they’re right there are no zip ties in sight. Uh this kind of goes back to what we often say for this type of photo is that there are certain parts of the world where they just can’t afford to replace things. No. So this could genuinely be a solution to keep somebody mobile and out on the road um that hasn’t got enough money to get another bike. Do you know what it is then mate? It’s a hack. Well, if that is the situation, then absolutely. In any other situation, it’s a budget. Yes. Okay. All right. I think we agree on that one. Next up, we got this one sent in by Aean. Uh he says, “Pinning a race number to your own jersey can be surprisingly frustrating. Picking the number up on race day only adds to the challenge, even if you can track down someone to help. Getting poked by safety pins for a well-meaning but clumsy helper is definitely not the kind of pre-race stimulation anyone wants. I think that’s fair.” Anyway, so Aean’s hack is bring a pillow to the race, slide it inside your jersey, then use a multi-purpose spray adhesive to position the number exactly where you want it and add a few pins for extra security. Then remove the pillow. The result, a perfectly placed, ready to race number without a single jab to your skin. Does sound safer, doesn’t it? It does. Do you think that the multi-purpose spray adhesive leaves nasty marks all over your expensive cycling jersey? I was wondering that because uh with the self adhesive numbers that you get in some races, I used to trash a jersey. Well, if you put them in the wash afterwards, I think they were okay if you peeled them off immediately afterwards if memory serves me correctly from that long ago. Do you know what my tip is to put your jersey over your knees? That’s what I do. And then you can spread your knees as wide as you feel like your back is. And then you can pin them on yourself with as much care as you want. Okay. And if you use your pockets, then you’re unlikely to stab yourself in the legs. Yeah, I always use the pockets. Yeah, but I like this. A I’m going to give it a hack. A lot of thoughts gone into it, doesn’t it? It sounds like it works. So, I’m going to give that a hack as well. Next up, this one from Ben. Most aerobic light question mark. I’ve put a 5B rear light from Halids on the seat post. Putting the circle part of the light round the seat post. Then the light on the top, then hooking it back on. Hard to explain, easy to see. Uh the name of the lights are the super slim LED lights. You turn it off through the pressure relief channel. Sorry. I mean, I think that’s quite good actually. It doesn’t look like the most uh hardcore of rear lights, but as far as mounting Yeah. Some of them are so bright now that even if they don’t look like much, they’re plenty bright enough for people to see you from behind. Well, this is true. And actually, when you’re on a group ride, half the time you end up having to ask people to switch them off cuz um cuz they’re so bright. Well, yeah. Especially if it’s like actually night time. Night time. Really? Well, then you can’t see anything, can you? But this is super cool. So, I’m really impressed that you have thought about removing your saddle in order to get it on. But, uh I think that’s well good. Yeah. Hack from me. Yeah, hack from me as well. Super nice. Cool. Next up, um I mean if we describe this one to podcast listeners, we could be here all day, but I’ll describe it as Ian Collins has done so to start with. After coming back to England for a brief visit and meeting Ollie, sorry about that. I then continued to London and spotted this monstrosity. Even the children were beused. Uh would you like to get started with this? Well, it’s a fixie to start with. It is a fixy. Yeah. So, one of my crew uh so it’s an arrow looking frame set to which someone has added a quite long travel pair of suspension forks, butt gloss suspension forks. Then the wheels are gold deep section aluminum rims with what looks to be 21 mil tires on. Yeah. Then there’s a matching gold Arrow seat post. But then this is where looks really weird, doesn’t it? Basically, so we have a pair of drop handlebars. We have multiple arrow extensions and I think by the look of it, multiple stems as well. Well, there’s multiple stems. I think there’s two arrow bars. One of which is the right way up at the very top of the bike. The other Well, I think they’re bullhorn bars that are equal width to the drop bars. Oh, those are handlebars. I reckon it’s a second set of handlebars. So, I reckon you’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight hand positions on there at least. Yeah. And then what you failed to mention is there are a bunch of inner tubes wrapped around said handlebar extensions and between the handlebars and the seat post. No idea what those are for. No. I mean, he obviously cares about it cuz he’s got two locks locking this bike up. Well, I mean, it’s obviously taken a lot of work putting that together. It’s I I don’t know where to start. Even having described it in great detail, it’s absolutely bonkers. It’s not arrow, is it? In spite of having three pairs. Yeah. In spite all the options. Um I’m going bodgege, I’m afraid. Well, like you said, it’s someone’s put someone’s put care and attention into this. They have. It’s not a hack, though, is it? No. No, it’s not a hack. No, I haven’t seen one like that for a long time. All right. Bodgege. Bodgege. Uh, okay. And then lastly, we got this from uh Louis the Millbilly. Uh, hey chaps, I’ve just had shoulder surgery and will not be able to ride a conventional bike for at least 4 months. Oh man, that sucks. Um, sorry to hear that. Fortunately, I had plenty of time before surgery to build this trainer rig. I welded some scrap metal tube together to make the frame, reconfigured the handlebars to mount off the back of the seat post, and nick the seat from my ride-on mower. There’s no need to mow in winter. Uh, note not a single zip tie was used. Just velcro cable ties to hold the cable housings in place. Soft side in of course. That I love it. I mean, that is dedication. That is Yeah. In so many respects, that is dedication to continuing on riding, but then to put that effort into what looks like a very professionally built contraption. I’ve got to say it does. Yeah. So, for podcasters, what you have missed out on is the fact that there is a trek Uh what is that? An ALR maybe a M ALR that’s still attached to the trainer and then this kind of like seat that’s bolted on behind the bike that presumably still allows him to reach the pedals. It’s also got a curved screen TV. I mean there’s a lot going on here. I’m saying absolute hack. Like if you really really want to carry on pedaling when you got an injury like that then uh doesn’t look like there’s much better way to do so. And that’s some that’s some mighty fine welding as well. Yeah. Oh, I’m I’m here for that. That’s absolutely amazing. Great stuff. Yeah. Uh I continue to love this part of the show very much so this week. Thanks for all the submissions. I look forward to seeing them again in 7 days time. Just one thing about that last one. Do you think after 4 months of sweating profusely on his lawn mower seat, there might be an issue with bolting it back onto the lawn mower? Might have rusted. Well, I just Or maybe just gets a little bit like moldy. Maybe a bit like, well, given how meticulous he’s been with all of this planning, I think he might clean the seat. All right, clean your seat. It’s time now for caption competition, that part of the show where you get a chance to get your hands on a coveted GCN Camelback water bottle. All you got to do is put a witty caption in the comment section down below that relates to a photo we will give you in just one second after we have read out the results from last week. Uh last week’s photo was this one uh from the Gent. This is Philip Hein of the Netherlands. Uh our winner this week is Kid Shabu who put cyclist searches for his handlebars after team assures him they’re already attached. I like that. That’s very good. This is a picture of the most lethal looking drop handlebars. Yes. I mean, no matter how many times you look at them, they don’t look any less lethal, do they really? Um anyway, amazing stuff. Get in touch, kids shabuya, and we will get your GCN Camelback water bottle out to you. Uh, this week’s photo is from a few weeks ago. This is from the Singapore Criterion, the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to caption competitions. It’s Jonathan Milan, uh, sprinter extraordinaire with his teammate Ed Turns. I will get you started. Let me just take a look at what’s in the middle of this week. I mean, I see where you’ve gone with it, Dan. Not your not your best mate. Nothing that takes my fancy this week, unfortunately. Uh, right. See if you can beat Dan’s caption competition there. Um, and if you know what on earth he’s talking about, then um, do you care to explain about the middle of little? People know what the middle of little is. Surely sorts of goodies that you can get at great prices. Rotate every month or so. Do people in Australia, USA, they got little? I’d imagine they make the trip to Europe specifically. I don’t know whether they’re in Australia. I don’t think they’re in the US, are they? I don’t think they are. Yeah. No. Anyway. All right. Well, just straight over your head. Get involved, though. See what you can do. Good luck. We will shortly let you know what’s coming up on GIN this week with first up comments from underneath last week’s videos. Uh starting from underneath the Gin show which was entitled, “We can’t believe we used to use these products.” As expected, a lot of controversy around size pick of quick releases. David Cotman put still use quick releases. Never had one fail. about 150 likes on that comment. So, John Stra put, “You can’t tell me quick releases aren’t easier than through axles.” 200 likes on that comment. I’m not sure. I did say they weren’t easier, did I? No, you might not have done. No, I’ve got nothing against quick releases. Like we said, I just find that personally now they make me feel a little bit nervous. And this is a problem. I mean, that’s coming from someone that’s quite happy to purchase counterfeit trays. I wasn’t happy to purchase counterfe. That’s the whole point. I accidentally purchased them. Yeah. And then they sent me head first into a bramble bush. So, watch out. No, I think quick releases are totally cool and legit, but it’s just one of those things where just perspectives move on, don’t they? True. Uh, Paul Collingidge put, “You fully described my entire cycling setup. Quick release wide computer, 23C tires, huge batteries of H hallogen lamps, add a triple chain set, and those brake lever extensions riding on the center of the bars, down tube shifters. All perfectly fine for a 12k commute.” Go for it, Paul. I mean, I think we pretty much did that, didn’t it? Look, no matter what you ride, it’s all great. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. And then TT Walt said, “Bicycle tart. That was my nickname in the ‘9s.” Yes. If you didn’t watch last week’s show, uh, instead of saying blet art, I read it out as bicycle tart accidentally. Um, yeah. Yeah, I didn’t live that down. No. Uh, corrections corner as well. Actually, from Unleaf last week’s show, had a lot of comments. Uh, one of which came from Fraser Goodwin who said, “Pretty sure Portland in 35th place is in Oregon above Minneapolis in 44th and so it’s top of the USA list of best place to ride bike.” Best places to ride bike. Apologies to Portland. I missed that completely. So, uh, yes, kind of makes sense as well. Portland is renowned as being like a bit of a cycling hot spot, isn’t it? But where was Bristol again? Is it above or below 35th? Oh, was 60 something from there. Oh, was it that far down? Yeah, it was. Yeah. Yeah. They said there weren’t enough influencers living there. Basically, not enough. Very true. Very true. Right. Uh hopefully you’ve all watched Connor’s video by now where he has thrown his hat into the ring for a race which scares the absolute living daylights out of me. Is it? Well, yeah. The Atlas Mountain race. Arguably one of the toughest ultra endurance cycling races out there. And he’s going to do it. It’s not far away, is it? No, it’s not. Good lad. Connor, he’s taking it seriously. Uh, in preparation, he’s bought an enormous bowl, hasn’t he? That’s crazy. Honestly, he’s got a bowl for his food in the office. I’m not joking you. Would you say that’s an exaggerate? No. It’s about It’s like a washing up bowl, isn’t it? I mean, it’s like It’s crazy. It’s absolutely vast. Yeah. But, uh, when Connor trains, he eats. He eats an awful lot. Yeah. So, so yeah, he has bought a trough basically to eat. Guys, it’s going to be expensive for him, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah, let’s check he doesn’t put it through on expenses. Good point. Yeah. Uh anyway, loads of people supporting Connor. Um Dave, uh well, lots of people taking the piss out as well, actually. Dave Pittinger, it’s called Water Connor. Remember to drink it. Um Graeme Foot Bicycle lover, this channel is getting better every week. Thank you very much, Graeme. Much appreciated. That jitsu guy, jiu-jitsu, jiu-jitsu, sorry. Uh there will be so many gubbins. There’ll be so many gubbins. It’s going to be bonkers. Conor’s going to go crazy. And then Robert Langland, uh, you have people all over the world supporting you, Connor. Go, young man. Go and challenge yourself. Pure a vida. Lovely stuff. Yeah, that’s great. Meanwhile, under the video we mentioned earlier, which is Sai riding a single speed fixed gear bike for a few weeks, the cats on holiday put, “You know you’ve got the correct gear ratio when it’s the wrong gear in every situation.” Fact. That did make me chuckle a lot when I saw that. Whilst Matt at 9744, but I prefer the half brother of a fixy single speed with brakes, still got your freewheel. I know. I prefer bikes with gears. Well, yeah. This is it. I feel like if you’re going to go on the road, I feel like it’s fixed or gears, isn’t it really? I sort of I don’t really see the point of Well, I mean, I do see the point of a single speed. I just don’t want to ride one basically. Um Gordon Shamwire, how to make your commute paid work time. Nicely done, Sai. Yeah. Two can play that game made Dan. Exactly. Yeah. And then finally, Toby Archer. But I already hold sight in pretty high regard, but with the exception of the silly massive sunglasses, those yellow Crocs now bring him up to fashion guru status. They are cool, aren’t they? Are they real? That’s the question. They’re almost as polarizing as uh Well, I hope they’re real. They’re uh as polarizing as uh my hand painted fixy, basically, which is to say that some of that, I like that one. That’s very cool. I’m like Toby get it then get it and then other people like my wife don’t. No, she does not like my fix it. She does not like my Crocs. No. Yeah. Strange though. Weird. Yeah. Right. Then there’s only one video you really need to watch this week that comes out on Thursday and it is how fit is my wife. Oh, that’s amazing. I would I cannot wait to see whether that flies or tanks that video. No. No. But let’s you know it’s going to make me laugh. So that’s good. I’ve got one thumbnail photo that I got uh Ben Ben to take us to on our bed. You didn’t? So, I bet you didn’t expect that when you came down today. We probably won’t use that in the thumbnail, but at least we’ve got it for our own use later. Yeah. Fair. Brilliant. Uh on Saturday, Ollie has been catching up with uh a man who has been busy trying to break the land speed cycling record and it’s absolutely bonkers. Yeah. Um, I mean, we’re talking like silly silly speeds, aren’t we? 90 miles an hour kind of job. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Not even worth thinking about. Um, but then on Sunday, um, something a little little gentler, less fast. Are titanium bikes any good? So, Alex and I uh had the privilege of riding Oh, we talked about this last week, didn’t we? We just didn’t put it out on Sunday. No, it got delayed. So, if you watched last week’s show, you’ll know what it’s all about. But if you didn’t, it’s a light speed from a tour to France team from the late 90s, isn’t it? Indeed. Indeed. Um, and yeah, titanium never won the tour to France. Why not? Is it rubbish? We find out. Right, that’s the end of another GN show. I will see you again this time next