VeloNews Podcasts

This episode is all about POWER. First, we’ll touch upon the history of power, and how it has fundamentally changed the sport of cycling and, more importantly, how we train. When did the use of power meters and power analysis first appear? Which athletes were the first to use them? And how did the pioneers of power revolutionize training methods over time to create the many sophisticated metrics we take for granted, like TSS, FTP, and performance management charts? We are joined by Hunter Allen, a veteran coach who, along with Dr. Andrew Coggan, wrote the original book on training with power in 2006: "Training and Racing with a Power Meter." That book has now been translated into 20 different languages and has recently started selling throughout Asia.

All the "tune-up" races are in the rearview mirror. The big kahuna of the Flemish classics awaits. The Tour of Flanders — De Ronde van Vlaanderen for the faithful — rolls out from Antwerp on Sunday. In contrast to recent years that saw Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen bidding the cobbles adieu, the conversations at the classics in 2018 have not revolved around "last hurrahs." Instead, all the focus has been on big stars in their prime. Peter Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet, seemingly every rider on Quick-Step Floors ... They will all be in the hunt for Belgium's biggest cycling prize at De Ronde. The Recon Ride pre-race show previews the route and the contenders, hears from perennial contender Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First-Drapac), and picks a few favorites to land on the podium ahead of the Tour of Flanders.

Go inside the Belgian spring classics with our team of reporters who are on the ground (er... cobbles) at E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem. Dane Cash, Andrew Hood, and Gregor Brown discuss the racing action. Just how good was Quick-Step at E3? Is Sagan's win at Gent-Wevelgem an indication of bigger things to come? Why did American Coryn Rivera go off the front in Gent-Wevelgem instead of waiting for the sprint? Stay tuned for more analysis and interviews throughout the rest of the big one-day races, including Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

We receive tons of compelling questions from Fast Talk listeners, and now it is time to give you the answers. On this first edition of "Ask Fast Talk," we discuss the following: the importance of aerobic threshold training and the physiological adaptations that take place from doing so; should FTP be based on one's very best race effort or on a test; dealing with muscle soreness after weight training; training in extreme cold; and much more.

With a daring attack over the final climb, Vincenzo Nibali wrote himself into Milano-Sanremo history with a solo win. Did he get lucky, or was this a result of careful tactics? Which sprinters' teams blew it in the final chase? We unpack all of the takes and analysis from the first monument of the season and talk to reporter Gregor Brown who was on the ground in Italy. Plus, Spencer has a rundown of his trip to Oklahoma for the Land Run 100 gravel race. He didn't end up scraping peanut-butter mud off his bike with a paint stirrer, but it was still an epic day on the bike.

When it comes to exercise, can there be too much of a good thing? In this episode we take a deep dive into heart arrhythmias in endurance athletes, and the details of how and why long-term endurance exercise could cause a variety of heart arrhythmias. We’ll analyze the research, discuss warning signs, and give you an idea of how hard your heart is working when you’re doing that set of intervals or running a marathon. And, of course, we’ll discuss at length the evidence that suggests there could be too much of a good thing when it comes to exercise.

With the season's first monument just around the corner, the show is switching gears for a deep dive into Milano-Sanremo via the Recon Ride, back with the VeloNews podcast for the spring classics! The Recon Ride is a race preview show with more analysis and commentary than you ever knew you needed. On this week's show, hosts Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash take a closer look at the route and favorites for Milano-Sanremo, and also have a chat with one of the contenders, Quick-Step's Elia Viviani.

This week's Tirreno-Adriatico race got us thinking: What would Team Sky do without Chris Froome? The four-time Tour champ had a rough outing at the one-week Italian stage race. We analyze the action from there and also consider the takeaways from Paris-Nice. Plus, Fred talks about his recent article on virtual racing. Will bike races of the future take place on trainers, in front of sell-out crowds in huge stadiums, on Zwift?

Strade Bianche was a muddy masterpiece of bicycle racing. We've got takes on how the racing action went down, and what we can expect in the classics this spring. Then, we unpack the never-ending Team Sky saga, which again has Bradley Wiggins in the hot seat, defending his reputation and his time as Britain's standard-bearer in the Tour de France. Is his reputation tarnished forever? We discuss. All that and more on this week's VeloNews podcast!

Is aging as bad as everyone thinks it is? Are our rides doomed to slowness and pain after 35? Don't despair, on this podcast we give you some answers. Throughout, we talk to Ned Overend about how he's managed to stay fast into his 60s. We first address what the research says, and why even past research painted a much grimmer picture than reality. We’ll explore the science with Dr. Jason Glowney and coach Frank Overton who know how to help masters athletes get the most out of their aging bodies. Don't sweat it, folks — age is just a number!

Astana impressed at the first cobbled race of the season, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. How did young Michael Valgren pull off this big win? We analyze the race and also look at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where Dylan Groenewegen confirmed that he's a top sprinter to watch. Plus, American Alexis Ryan found the podium in the women's Omloop. Also on this podcast, Andrew Hood talks to Paris-Roubaix winner Greg Van Avermaet about the classics and why Tour of Flanders will always be his dream race to win. We wrap things up with a look ahead to more classics action coming up Sunday at the men's and women's Strade Bianche races on Tuscany's white dirt roads.

If you've ever ogled a handbuilt steel frame, you should thank Tom Ritchey. Founder of the eponymous brand, Ritchey was one of the pioneers of modern framebuilding. He also was integral when a band of Californians decided to take their bikes off-road on the trails around Marin. This interview covers all of that and much more with a living legend of American cycling.

Can you feel that? The cobbled classics kick off this weekend with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad! We look ahead to that race and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Who is riding well? Why did Sagan decide to skip these fun early spring openers? Plus, we call up European correspondent Andrew Hood for an inside look at the crazy media scrum that was Ruta del Sol. Ruta del Sol? Yep, it was Chris Froome's debut race, and as you'd expect, there was a lot to discuss. All that, and we also look back on last week's other stage races: Tour of Oman and Volta ao Algarve.

It's time to unlock the mysteries of fatigue. Is it just lactic acid pooling in your legs, as your high school coach probably told you? No, that’s not it. The answer is actually a lot more complex than you'd think. In fact, some of the most exciting theories have only recently been proposed. This episode reveals those exciting revelations and explores the foundations of fatigue. First, we’ll discuss the many different physiological causes of fatigue, including muscle damage, glycogen depletion, body temperature, and why no one of these reasons fully explains fatigue, despite what some researchers might tell you. We’ll discuss an exciting new theory that suggests there’s a “central regulator” of fatigue, which integrates all of the different past theories and ultimately allows our mind to decide where are limits are. That is, could fatigue be, in part, a psychological thing. We ask the question, how much fatigue is actually a conscious choice that can be influenced by the length of the race, cues we give ourselves, and mental tricks And finally, we’ll examine why we need to be careful about toying with our fatigue limits. Our guest for today is Dr. Stephen Cheung, an exercise physiologist and professor in the kinesiology department at Brock University in St. Catherine’s, Ontario, whose research interests include the effects of environmental stress on human physiology and performance. We'll also hear from Sepp Kuss, a neo-pro with LottoNL-Jumbo on the WorldTour, who will talk about his limits when racing.

They might look like skinny superheroes, but pro cyclists grapple with fear just like the rest of us. In this podcast, we talk to Andrew Hood about his recent article in VeloNews magazine, "Fear Factor." He explains why the pros are afraid of some unexpected things. (Hint: Crashing isn't one of them.) But before that, we analyze scads of early season bike races from Dubai to Colombia to this week's action across Europe. What can we tell about the sprinters and their teams? Are the GC guys starting to awaken? How can Chris Froome be racing if he's (possibly) got a court date this week?