VeloNews Podcasts

Things get loose during Stage 8 of the TdF with team PYSO. Gus agrees with the UCI. Bobby is still not sure what Gus means by “Snacks on Stage." We have special guest Therese Sundstrom, pro soigneur, live from Girona, Spain. We talk rider care as well as self care today on the fastest growing sports podcast PUT YOUR SOCKS ON. Oh, and quick tip: don't mess with Bobby's chamois cream…

Today on PYSO Gus and Bobby examine the science around preparation and recovery. Skratch Labs founder Dr. Allen Lim joins the fun to address everything you want to know about cycling, from nutrition to new technology. Does Lim talk about Cryotanks? Yes. What about ice vests? You bet. It's all here. We even bring back Spinaci bar extensions, because we think they are cool. Be prepared: this is PYSO.

What exactly does it take to race the Tour — physiologically, mentally, spiritually. Each day these phenomenal athletes race an event that would shatter most of us in just one day. But then they also have to contend with answering reporters questions, pleasing sponsors, transferring between hotels, trying to eat enough food to cover the day’s expenditures, and, finally and perhaps most importantly, trying to get quality sleep. It’s a feat that’s hard to comprehend, so today we'll try to give a sense of what it takes to race the Tour. We’ll cover: First, an overview of the Tour from a numbers perspective, and why the numbers really don’t tell the tale. Our guest, Ciaran O’Grady will explain his role as a Tour team physiologist and coach. The many challenges of the Tour outside of racing, including not only what I mentioned above, but also not missing the bus, handling the food, and what happens when you get sick. Why getting dropped by the peloton doesn’t make for as easy a day as you might think. What happens to the riders physiologically over the three weeks and why, in essence, it’s just a controlled burnout.How riders try to recover day-to-day, especially when they’re dealing with injuries. How riders train for the Tour and why having incredible endurance comes first. Then we’ll take a deeper dive into how the different types of riders prepare, from GC contenders to stage hunters and domestiques. Finally, we’ll try to pull all this together and talk about what mere mortals should and shouldn’t take from Tour riders, whether we’re preparing for a weekend race or a three-day stage race. Our primary guest today is Ciaran O’Grady, one of the team physiologists for the Dimension Data WorldTour team. Along with Ciaran, we catch up with one of our favorite guests, Brent Bookwalter of Mitchelton-Scott. Brent has now completed nine grand tours, so he had a lot to say about what it’s like getting through 23 grueling days. We also talked with Houshang Amiri, a former Canadian National and Olympic coach who runs the Pacific Cycling Centre. He’s coached Tour athletes and had a few thoughts to share on getting athletes ready for a grand tour. So, get your bidons and your musettes and your baguettes and your crepes, let's make you fast!

The Tour de France completed its first mountain stage of 2019 on Thursday, and delivered a huge dose of excitement. The timing was perfect, because Thursday was Gus's birthday. Happy Birthday, Gus! Your present is an awesome and exciting Tour stage! On Today's podcast, Gus and Bobby debate climbing. What makes a climber? Is it power-to-weight ratio, tactics, and or something else? What are the odds Giulio Ciccone takes the yellow all the way to Paris? Tao Geoghegan Hart, a veteran racer at age 25, shares his favorite #recoveryprotocol and sensations during a year of firsts. Also: “Do you like t-shirts?”

Toms! Toms! Toms! Bobby goes down memory lane but doesn't like it much. Superfan suggests that Sagan’s interview “form” is also back! Phillipe Gilbert shares some very interesting insights into today’s theme: Tactics. Are cartoons really better than Rosetta Stone, does 75% of tactical riding come down to nature or nurture, why did Gus’s coach tell him to climb into a ditch and take his shoes off, and which annual event in Belgium is guaranteed to get you a Pro Contract? Find out all this and more!

Stage 4 was sleepy in spots but PYSO is not! On today’s show, Bobby Julich and Gus Morton discuss failed nature-break ploys, getting jiggy with it, France vs. Italy on the subject of “legal usage” of champagne, high-speed praying mantes and more. Plus, EF Education First assistant sports director Tom Southam calls in to share some thoughts about being a director and the importance of analog technology. `

Find out what happened and why! Do you want a World Tour contract to show up in your mailbox? Here’s how. Listen to legend Juan Antonio Flecha talk about one of the greatest upsets of his racing career. Then learn about the cracks, clips, cats and chalkboards that REALLY matter. #managainstpeloton #supertuckshaves20percent

Early aggression, TV attacks—you know you’re in the TDF. Mike Teunissen calls the audible of all audibles. Micro breaks, #bubbleboys, Bobby pushes back on the expression “meat sack”, the boys deep-dive into the intricacies and nuances of Team Selection, and it’s only Day 1 but some of our predictions are already out the window. It’s time to Put Your Socks On.

In today’s show Bobby and Gus dive into Stage 2 and all things Aero. Is the yellow jersey a powerful motivator? What’s Rule Number One for a TT specialist? Did Jan Ulrich need team to win a TTT? Is your dad’s skinsuit the same as today’s skinsuit. What does Bobby mean when he says—“Don't overthink it.” And is tomorrow’s finish packed with enough snacks? Find out all this and more! Put Your Socks On.

What kind of workload does a rider need to achieve in the weeks and months leading up to the Tour de France? What kind of power numbers do they need to hit? And what new techniques can help the preparation? Allen Lim, PhD, has been coaching elite cyclists for two decades. In the run-up to the 2019 Tour de France, Lim has been working with Tejay van Garderen of EF Education First. In this episode, Lim and cohost Brian Co of Veloworthy recount all the training that has been done to get Tejay ready for the start of the Tour on July 6.

From his academic work on power meters beginning in 1997 until today, Allen Lim, PhD, has been obsessed with improving a cyclist’s performance, on and off the bike. The founder of Skratch Labs has coached some of the world’s best cyclists, including most all the American grand tour contenders of the past 15 years. In Beyond Limits, Lim brings you inside the sport at the highest levels, showing its secrets, its humanity and its significance for everyday riders as we seek to improve. Here in Episode 1, Lim and co-host Brian Co of VeloWorthy bring you Lim's genesis story, from racing the likes of Jonathan Vaughters and George Hincapie as a junior to coaching Floyd Landis and George W. Bush to being shunned from the sport and ultimately coming back on his own terms. Come along for the ride. #velonews #cycling #beyondlimits

On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast, Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal calls in to talk about the Tour de France, the rise of Zwift and indoor cycling, and his experiences at the Fat Bike World Championships, among other topics. Jason is a weekly sports columnist at The WSJ, and he regularly writes about the National Football League, NBA Basketball, and other mainstream sports. But Jason is also a cyclist and passionate follower of the sport, and thus, he also regularly writes about cycling topics. Fred and Jason discuss what cycling topics are able to break through to mainstream audiences. Finally, Jason makes his predictions for who will win the Tour de France. This week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast is sponsored by Garmin and its line of Edge cycling computers. The Edge 530 and touch screen 830 are lightweight and extremely durable computers that go beyond data collection with training tools designed to help you reach your peak performance. For more information go to Garmin's website: https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/into-sports/cycling/cIntoSports-cCycling-p1.html

We all make mistakes. No one trains and races perfectly, which can be frustrating when so often those mistakes are made out of honest effort and a desire to perform at our best. But we have a choice in how we treat our mistakes. One way is to get frustrated and beat up on ourselves. The other is to realize that admitting when we make a mistakes is an opportunity to improve and be a better athlete. With that second perspective in mind, today we’re going to talk about some of the most common mistakes that we see in athletes — even pros. And we’re going to hear from a variety of athletes, coaches, and experts who have been around the block a few times. They know all the mistakes, but more importantly they know what to do about them. A few of the things we will talk about: - The one thing that almost all of our guests said was the biggest mistake – hint, don’t try too hard to figure it out. - Being coachable, or more generally being willing to listen, know yourself, and identify your mistakes. - Warm-ups and cool-downs — they can have a big impact if done right, and also if done wrong - Nutrition — though you may be surprised by what our guests say is the biggest mistake - Too much intensity — do you really think Coach Connor and I were going to have an episode about mistakes and not bring that one up. - Bike fit and biomechanical mistakes — one of our guests today is Dr. Andy Pruitt who has made a very successful career of helping athletes find success by fixing these often-overlooked mistakes. - Racing mistakes and why one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to never risk making mistakes. - And finally, we’ll talk about a more philosophical mistake — not knowing when to move on. Our primary guests today are Dr. Andy Pruitt and Frankie Andreu. By now, you should know who Dr. Pruitt is, one of the foremost experts on cycling ergonomics and medical issues in athletes. Frankie Andreu was a longtime professional, a mentor to many, a team manager and director, a race commentator, and a legend in the sport. Along with our two primary guests, we checked in with several other respected experts including Joe Friel, author of the "The Cyclist's Training Bible" which was recently updated. Joe has coached over a thousand athletes in his career and has seen it all. So we had to ask him what he thinks are the biggest mistakes athletes make. We also speak with Jared Berg, who’s the head physiologist at the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center. One of the issues with making mistakes is we can often convince ourselves that it doesn’t actually affect us. But you can’t fool the physiology and Jared sees that inescapable truth every day. Next we pulled in an old interview with Grant Holicky, formerly of Apex Coaching with Neal Henderson and now with Forever Endurance, who talks about a mistake that we love to harp on — training in moderato. Finally, Trevor touches base with Houshang Amiri, a former Canadian National and Olympic team coach who’s worked with many of the best cyclists in Canada. Like Joe Friel, Houshang has seen it all and had some interesting insights on the importance of being prepared.

On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast we analyze the Tour de France's list of flawed GC contenders, including the new frontrunner, Egan Bernal. Bernal's dominating win at the Tour de Suisse makes him one of the top favorites to win. What would a Bernal victory mean for Team Ineos, and more importantly, the country of Colombia? We discuss Bernal's rising star in pro cycling. Could a French rider win this year's Tour? The climbing course and lack of Chris Froome could open the door for Thibaud Pinot or Romain Bardet. Fred and Andy examine the two French riders and their teams, and ponder whether or not either man can take the Tour. Finally, we catch up with Jonny Brown, the reigning U.S. professional road racing champion. Jonny takes us through his big victory a year ago and discusses the impact that the U.S. championship had on his young career. With USPro on the horizon for this weekend, Brown's story sheds light on the importance of the race. The 2019 VeloNews Tour de France Guide is available now. Get your copy at www.velopress.com.

On this week's episode of The VeloNews Podcast Fred Dreier and Andrew Hood discuss the seismic shift that pro cycling underwent in the final week. Chris Froome's crash has completely changed the dynamics at the Tour de France, as Team Ineos no longer is the favorite to dominate the race. Which riders have the best shot to win in lieu of Froome's participation? How does the crash impact Froome's spot within Tour history? Then, the guys discuss the news that the UCI will sanction Juan Jose Cobo for a biological passport violation from nearly a decade ago; a move that could nullify his 2011 Vuelta a Espana win. Finally, we hear from Olympic mountain biker Chloe Woodruff, who takes us inside the chase for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The U.S. women have a fabulous opportunity to qualify three riders for the Olympics, and Woodruff explains the dynamics shaping the yearlong chase for the upcoming summer games. The 2019 VeloNews Tour de France Guide is available now. Get your copy at www.velopress.com.