July 2017

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This week, we're talking mechanical doping, Mark Beaumont's round the world ride and, we're starting a club!


Get exclusive GCN gear in the GCN shop! 

Motorised doping and hidden motors in bike racing have reared their ugly head again. Details are scarce, but this one really has us thinking; should mechanical dopers be banned for life?

We also have tech of the week from Wahoo, who have launched the Wahoo Mini.

Tragedy struck the 2017 Transcontinental as competitor Frank Simons tragically passed away following a collision. The event will go on, but, of course, our thoughts and sympathies are with Frank's family, friends and fellow competitors at this time.

We also have an update from John "Chocolate Voice" Beavan. Training for the Haute Route is going well. You should head over to Instagram and give him a follow: 

If you'd like to contribute captions and video info in your language, here's the link 👍 

Watch more on GCN...
Si's Gravel Bike 📹  


Reasons you should train with a powermeter 📹  

Music:
Viper Creek Club -  Because I Know (Instrumental)
Mikey Bruce, James Green - Fire It Up
Josh Kirsch/Media Right Productions - Morning Stroll

The Global Cycling Network puts you in the centre of the action: from the iconic climbs of Alpe D’Huez and Mont Ventoux to the cobbles of Flanders, everywhere there is road or pavé, world-class racing and pro riders, we will be there bringing you action, analysis and unparalleled access every week, every month, and every year. We show you how to be a better cyclist with our bike maintenance videos, tips for improving your cycling, cycling top tens, and not forgetting the weekly GCN Show. Join us on YouTube’s biggest and best cycling channel to get closer to the action and improve your riding!

Welcome to the Global Cycling Network | Inside cycling

Hidden Motors: Who's Mechanical Doping Now? | The GCN Show Ep. 238

Ex-professional cyclist Simon Richardson is here with several tips and tricks to help you get the most power from your drivetrain. Using accurate data from Boulder based company Friction Facts, Si busts some myths about what's best for the efficiency of your road bike. 

If you're looking for more power, increased efficiency or just want that horrible grinding noise to stop, these tips are sure to help out:

- Clean your drivetrain
- Lubricate your drivetrain properly
- Monitor your chain condition
- Choice and condition of jockey wheels
- All important selection of gears

If you'd like to contribute captions and video info in your language, here's the link 👍  

Watch more on GCN...
Need to know how to clean your chain? 

How To Make Your Drivetrain More Efficient | Maintenance Monday

Powermeters are hugely popular here at GCN with Dan, Simon and Lasty reaping huge performance benefits when they began to use them for training. They allow us to gather data for our attempts at science and help hugely with our training. 

Watch more on GCN...
Powermeters allow us to be accurate... 

Unboxing The Quarq DFour & DZero Powermeters

Simon Richardson decided to take a cyclocross/gravel bike to use at the Dolomiti SuperBike race. Here is everything you need to know about the Trek Crockett.

What do you think of the Trek Crockett? Let us know in the comments below 👇

Frame and forks: Trek Crockett
Wheels: Zipp 303 Disc
Tyres: Continental CycloCross 
Handlebars: Fizik Cyrano Bull
Stem: Fizik 
Seatpost: Fizik
Saddle: Fizik Tundra
Shifters: SRAM Force HRD
Brakes: SRAM Force HRD
Rear Mech: SRAM Force 1
Chainset: SRAM Force 1
Chainring size: 38t
Cassette: SRAM XG-1180 10/42
Bar width: 44cm

Watch more on GCN...
Mountain Bike Vs Gravel Bike – Which Is Faster? GMBN Vs GCN 📹  


GCN's Handbuilt Bike - GCN's First Ride  📹  

Simon Richardson's Gravel Bike – Trek Crockett With SRAM 1X

Alberto Contador's riding the brand new Trek Emonda at this year's Tour de France At just 640grams for a size 56, Trek has both shed weight from the previous model, and beefed up areas such as the front end and bottom bracket. As a 7x Grand Tour winner, Alberto is riding the H1 race geometry.


Get exclusive GCN gear in the GCN store! 

Frame and forks: Trek Emonda SLR 9
Wheels: Bontrager Aeolus 3 Tubular Wheelset
Tyres: Vittoria Corsa 25mms
Handlebars/Stem: Bontrager XXX 1 piece bar/stem
Saddle: Bontrager Sarano RXL
Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150
Brakes: Shimano Dura-Ace 9000
Front Mech: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150
Rear Mech: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9150
Chainset: Shimano Dura-Ace w/ SRM Powermeter
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace 9000
Chainring size: Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 53-39t
Powermeter: SRM Power Control v8
Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace 9100 11-30t
Cages: Bontrager XXX Lite bottle cages
Bartape: Bontrager - double wrapped - immaculately. 

🎵 Drop it Low - Vincent Alfieri, Mathew Waugh🎵

Watch more on GCN...
Here's more info on the new Emonda: 

 📹
Check out Nacer Bouhanni's Orca Aero: 

Alberto Contador's Trek Emonda SLR | Tour de France 2017

In this weeks ask GCN Matt Stephens is answering the questions you've been asking throughout the week.

This week's questions include subjects such as:
- Steps to becoming a sponsored racer
- Biomechanical Analysis
- Efficient Pedalling
- What Pro Riders do when they drop out of a race
- Professional Nose-wear
- Matt's National Champs Win
- Riding happily with slower friends
- Clips and Clipless
- Patching tubes

Watch more on GCN...
6 tips for better descending: 

 📹 
5 tips to climb better without being fitter: 

How Do I Become A Professional Cyclist? | Ask GCN Anything About Cycling

Matt & Dan are in the Dolomites in Alta Badia and have 6 reasons why you should invest your money in a powermeter for your bike.
 
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Let us know your experience of training and racing with a powermeter in the comments below 👇
If you are totally against them, let us know why too 👇

Fitness Gains - Having a powermeter  is going to lead to huge gains in fitness. You will be able to use the data to formulate a training plan specific to your needs.

Segment Times - You can set a power PB instead of time PB's. Particularly important as wind can massively effect a timed segement of riding.

Dealing With Headwind - A powermeter can help you deal with headwinds. Knowing that you can keep a good even tempo and not worrying about speed.

Go Faster - A powermeter makes sure you don't go into the red to soon, and "blowing up" followed by a miserable rest of your ride.

Use As A Reference - A powermeter gives you a reference against yourself. Allowing you to see how your efforts number up on roads you may be visiting compared to local roads

Test Yourself - Testing is training, and training is testing. A powermeter allows you to train on the open road and test your fitness 


If you'd like to contribute captions and video info in your language, here's the link 👍  

Watch more on GCN...
How To Pace A Time Trial Like A Pro  📹  


How To Do A Functional Threshold Power (FTP) Test  📹  

6 Reasons Why You Need A Cycling Powermeter

In association with SiS.
All views are the presenters own.

Simon is here with tips on how to ride in hot and humid weather so that you can continue your bike ride in pleasure. 

Let us know your tips for cycling in hot & humid weather in the comments below 👇

Ex-Professional cyclist Simon Richardson knows a thing or two about training in the rare hot weather we get in the UK from time to time. Here are his tips on how to cope when it gets hot and sticky.

Clothing - A lightweight jersey with a full length zip is your first desirable bit of clothing, then where possible have some shorts with minimal bib-straps. Paired up with one another this allows air to circulate even at lower speed when climbing for instance.

If the sun is shining it's certainly worth covering up with suncream too, look for a sports specific product if you can find it. As you don't want it running into your eyes etc.

If the sun is particularly brutal there are actually specific products to help out, such as arm/leg warmers which have UV protection and technology to stop you getting hot, clever hey.

If you do decide to wear a cap under your helmet in the sun, which is certainly going to make you hotter, it's worth thinking about cutting off the top of the cap, effectively turning it into a visor! Allowing the heat to escape from the top of your head.

Hydration is critical when riding in the heat. You may not notice how much you are sweating due to the cooling effect of the wind. You will need to take two water bottles with you, allowing for sufficient rehydration. If you are going to be out for a long time then it's adding an electrolyte product to the water to replenish vitamins and minerals you lose, and any longer put a carbohydrate mix in too. You can get electrolyte tablets in a tube that easily fit in a jersey pocket, so if you refill with water whilst out, you can simply add a tablet to the bottle.

Apparently you also use up more calories trying to stay cool than trying to stay warm. To prevent the dreaded "bonk" take some energy gels with you too.

Your route may need consideration too. Planning a route thats sheltered from the sun as much as possible is a dream, but not always possible. Avoiding long slow climbs where you can't escape the sun is advised, this is where you are really going to bake in the sun.

If you are travelling to a warmer climate it could be worth trying to acclimatise before you get there. Try indoor training (wth the heating on) for a week leading upto your travel , supplemented by lots of fluid will help get you in the right place.

As for riding with no jersey, we will leave that to your discretion! 

Watch more on GCN...
Top 10 Things Not To Wear While Cycling 📹  


Tour De France And The Giro Rosa - GCN Weekly Cycling News Show - Episode 27  📹  

How To Ride Your Bike In Hot & Humid Weather | GCN's Pro Tips

This week we look back at a great Tour de France and ask how Chris Froome really won the Tour, again. Was he weaker this year? How did he do it? 

How do you think Chris Froome won the Tour de France this year? What was his strategy? Let us know YOUR thoughts in the comments below 👇

Chris Froome has sealed his fourth Tour de France victory, his third in a row. His first win of the year though.. 
It definitely didn’t come easy, it was one of the tightest Tours for years and he had to fight every inch of the way against some really strong rivals. 
Just what made the difference though? What was the secret to this year’s success? 
Part of the reason for such a tight, closely fought Tour was the route, plain and simple. The Tour organisers set a course that was not as selective as previous editions with less climbing and fewer summit finishes. When a stage finishes at the bottom of a descent as opposed to the top of a climb, it’s much harder to win alone and so we often see the same group of riders crossing the line together. 

We announce the winner of the Orbea bike competition and the GoPro Hero5 Session. Congratulations.

We also say goodbye to Thomas Voeckler who retires from cycling haven ridden 15 editions of the Tour de France.
There's cycling transfer rumours, as well as Human Powerered Flying. We really do cover it all. 

We hear the latest from Mark Beaumont who is almost in Mongolia when we filmed the show, very impressive.

We look at some custom painted bikes from the TDF to celebrate winning the different coloured jerseys, as well as a special Trek Madone for Haimar Zubeldia who retired after 20years as a professional cyclist.

In racing news we talk about the La Course event won by Annemiek Van Vleuten as well as rounding up the GCN presenter predictions that were made prior to the 2017 Tour de France.

Not forgetting the regulars, including Wattage Bazooka won by the Cowley Road Condors, Hack/Bodge of the week and caption of the week 

Watch more on GCN...
Clipless Pedals Vs Flat Pedals - Which Is Faster? | GCN Does Science  📹  


Train Like A Professional Cyclist With Cannondale-Drapac 📹  

Music:
Viper Creek Club -  Because I Know (Instrumental)
Mikey Bruce, James Green - Fire It Up
J. Solar - In Safe Hands
Israel Medina - Waves
Josh Kirsch/Media Right Productions - Morning Stroll

How Did Chris Froome Win The Tour de France Again? | The GCN Show Ep. 237

Changing your gear cables could possibly be the best thing you could do to improve the quality of your gear shifting. Simon explains how to do it the right way.

Let us know your experience of changing gear cables in the comments below 👇

Smooth shifting gears make bike riding a pure pleasure. There is nothing worse than a slow shift or missed gear change at that crucial moment. Ex-Professional cyclist Simon Richardson explains how to change your gear cables on a Shimano equipped bike so you get silky smooth gear shifting.

It is important that the outer-cables are the correct length. If they are too short the will have increased friction as they will bind when turning your handlebars.  Too Long and they won't just look untidy, they will also have increased friction as they are inside the housing for longer than required.

After cutting the outer-cables to length we cannot reiterate the importance of making sure that the ends of the outer-cable are as circular and flat as possible, remembering to ensure that the liner is not squashed. This allows the inner-cable to enter and exit the outer-cable as smoothly as possible.

Watch more on GCN...
How To Adjust Your Front Derailleur 📹  


How To Index Your Gears - Adjusting Your Rear Derailleur 📹  

How To Replace & Fit Gear Cables On A Road Bike Like A Pro | Maintenance Monday

2017 was the first year the disc brakes were used in the Tour de France. This is Alexander Kristoff's Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc with new Zipp 454 NSW wheels and SRAM Red eTap HRD shifting and braking.

Let us know your thoughts down in the comments and don't forget to SHARE this video.

Frame and forks: Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc – almost identical to the rim brake version with a slight (we mean slight...) aerodynamic penalty
Wheels: Pro-only Zipp 454 NSW, disc brake and for tubular tyres. 
Tyres: Continental Competition ProLtd tubulars, 25mm
Handlebars: Canyon
Stem: Canyon
Seatpost: Canyon
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Team Edition
Shifters: SRAM Red eTap HRD. Kristoff does not use SRAM Blips (satellite shifters)
Brakes: SRAM Red HRD disc brakes, 160mm rotors with pro only smooth edges
Front Mech: SRAM Red eTap
Rear Mech: SRAM Red eTap with a WiFli cage to accommodate any size of cassette
Chainset: SRAM Red
Pedals: Look Keo 2
Chainring size: 39/53
Powermeter: Quarq D-Zero Powermeter
Cassette: SRAM Force, 11-28
Bottle cages: Tacx

Bike weight: 7.835kg
Saddle height: 80cm
Reach: 61cm
Saddle to bar drop: 15cm
Stem length: 130mm
Crank length: 175mm

Watch more on GCN...
Another pro bike 📹 

Alexander Kristoff's Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc | Tour de France 2017

Is there any benefit to using flat pedals instead of clipless pedals? Matt and Dan decide to conduct some experiments

What do you think? Is there a difference between using Clipless pedals over flat pedals

Dan and Matt are going to do each of the following both with clipless pedals and using flat pedals
Sprinting x5:
Max 3sec power
Max 5sec power

Climbing:
10minutes with clipless pedals and 10minutes with flat pedals

Descending:
2 x descents of the Passo di Valparola

Watch more on GCN...
Road Cycling Pedals Explained: Things You Should Know About Clipless Pedals  📹  


What Is The Most Efficient Pedalling Style? We Test Flat Vs. Clipless Pedals | GCN Does Science  📹  

Music:
Fire It Up - Mikey Bruce, James Green
Hometown Throwdown - Marc Adamo, Tico Zamora
Hot Desert - Marc Adamo, Tico Zamora
Misbehavin'_Per Ljungqvist, Donnie Dragon
Neurons - Richard Gale
Petrol Head - Richard Gale

July 2017

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