August 2018

Jon was at the Vuelta a España and managed to get a closer look at ex British national champion and Tour de France stage winner Steve Cummings' Cervelo S5. A thoroughbred aero race machine, we think it's super nice!

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Frame & Forks: Cervelo S5
Wheels: ENVE 3.4 Tubular
Tyres: Continental Competition Pro Ltd
Handlebars: ENVE Aero Bars 
Seatpost: Cervelo
Saddle: Astute Carbon
Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace R9150 Di2
Brakes: Shimano Dura Ace R9100
Front Mech: Shimano Dura Ace R9150 Di2
Rear Mech: Shimano Dura Ace R9150 Di2
Chainset: Rotor 2INpower
Pedals: Shimano Dura Ace SPD SL R9100
Chainring size: 53/36 Qarbon
Cassette: Ultegra 11/30

Bike weight: 7.4kg
Saddle height: 80cm
Reach: 61cm
Bar width: 38/42cm
Stem length: 145mm
Crank length: 172.5mm
Tyre width: 25mm

Finishing touches: Joystick bar tape, K-Edge out front mount, KMC SL gold chain, BBB race number holder, Elite vico carbon cages.

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Mathew Hayman's Scott Foil Disc 📹 

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Brought to you by the world’s biggest cycling channel, the Global Cycling Network (GCN), GCN Tech goes deeper into the bikes, kit and technology stories that matter.

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Steve Cummings' Cervelo S5

James was on the ground at the final grand tour of the season, the Vuelta a España, and he was lucky enough to have a look around Astana's team bus. 
 
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Astana have one of the favourites for the 2018 Vuelta a España in Miguel Angel Lopez. And, this is where Lopez and his teammates will be spending much of their down time before and after each stage. Team busses provide a sanctuary for the riders. It's where they receive treatments, grab a coffee before the stage and find out the day's tactics.

Who's your favourite for the Vuelta? Let us know down in the comments.

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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!

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Astana Team Bus Tour | Behind The Scenes At La Vuelta a España

We're back with Ask GCN Anything. This week, Dan and James answer your questions including what training you should do as you age, how £100 can make you faster than 10 years ago and when to get back on the bike after injury. 


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Should the way you train depend on your age and do the recommendations alter the older you get? Sprint and strength work is certainly something that should be included in our training, especially as we age. This is because the older we get, the more muscle mass we lose. Strength work has also been shown to increase aerobic capacity as well as mitochondrial density. These mitochondria are the 'powerhouse' of the cell and where energy is produced. Therefore, training can become more important the older you get. 

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📹 How To Improve Your VO2: 

Should You Change Your Training With Age? | Ask GCN Anything

Whilst at the Vuelta a España, James asked some of the top professionals whether they can do their own bike maintenance. An interesting range of responses, it turns out some of the pros are pretty handy on the tools!

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From fitting a press fit bottom bracket, to changing their own flat tyre - we asked the pros what they are capable of doing without their trusty mechanics. Some don't do any themselves, others claim they can do everything!

How's your bike maintenance? Let us know in the comments. 👇

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Ask The Pros - Spin or Grind? 📹 

Music: Epidemic Sound
Big City Soul 2 - Håkan Eriksson

Can Pros Fix Their Own Bike? | GCN Asks The Pros At La Vuelta a España 2018

Welcome to the GCN Tech Show! This week Jon and James have a prototype 12-speed electronic groupset, a 1x TT bike, research in additive manufacturing using titanium, plus a new gravel bike. They also take a look at the ways you’ve made your bike lighter.

Barely a week goes by without having a new gravel bike released to the market. This week then let's not buck the trend. It’s time for the Cannondale Topstone! It’s said that the Topstone takes its geometry choice from the Synapse range of Cannondales endurance road bikes. Which kinda makes sense, as if it was too relaxed it would be an MTB and too aggressive a road racing machine. 

Last week Ollie and Jon tackled the subject of losing weight from your bike, and some of the most cost-effective options for doing so.  We asked you fellow tech geeks to get involved with areas you’ve done it in as well as suggestions.

in case you didn’t know it’s the Vuelta Espana right now and Jon spotted something very fancy out there, it was a prototype product. A Campagnolo 12spd electronic groupset. So it had a similar appearance to the other EPS, although the rear derailleur was a fair bit larger than the Super Record mech, and it was in alloy! The same can be said for the front mech too. 

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How To Change Jockey Wheels 📹 

Music: 
Countdown Begins - Gunnar Johnsén
Feriado - Martin Landh
Guitars De France 2 - Stefan Netsman
I Play Colors - Justnormal
Rotations - Friends With Animals
Small Towns Of France 1 - Magnus Ringblom
Speak EZ - Matt Large

Spotted! NEW Prototype 12 Speed Electronic Groupset | GCN Tech Show Ep. 35

The GCN Tech Clinic is back, and this week we’ve got Ollie in the clinic answering your tech questions. In this show, we discuss disc rotor rub, unwanted ticking noises from your cassette and safe ways to remove old tubular glue.

We cover lots more in the Tech Clinic this week including using a derailleur hanger extender and the disadvantages of this, replacing your outer chainring with one of a different size and if upgrading your bottom bracket is a worthwhile investment.

Remember to keep your questions coming in for Jon and Ollie using #askgcntech. 👇

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Lose Weight Tech Show 📹 

Disc Brake Rub, Cassette Noise & Removing Tubular Glue | GCN Tech Clinic

James was on the ground at the 2018 Vuelta a España to ask the pros what cadence they prefer. Are they a spinner or a grinder?

James asked the pros whether they prefer to grind or spin the pedals. There was an interesting mix of responses from the top guys - including Elia Viviani, Peter Sagan and Thomas De Gendt.

Are you a spinner or a grinder? Let us know in the comments. 👇

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Ask The Pros - What Breakfast? 📹 

Music: Epidemic Sound
Slo Ryderz 2 - Martin Landh

Spin Vs Grind? | GCN Asks The Pros At La Vuelta a España 2018

Chris and James take to the city to show you how to safely ride a fixed gear bike. From safely stopping, all the way to their 'advanced skills', the pair teach you all you need to know about fixie riding.

In association with Schindelhauer Bikes, PEdAL ED, Gates Carbon Drive, Cycliq and Brooks.

There is one golden rule to remember when fixie riding! Keep your legs moving! If you’re riding along and just ‘stop’ pedalling, the force and momentum in your wheels, cranks and legs will be enough to throw you up over the bars and onto the ground. 

Get comfy on the bike. To start with we would recommend a saddle height around 0.5cm lower than you would normally run on your road bike. This will help with moving around on the saddle whilst you apply braking force backwards through the pedals, but it will also make it easier to move your body weight around for cornering and general technical maneuvers. 

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How To Spin Gears Like A Pro 📹 

How To Ride A Fixed Gear Bike

Welcome to the GCN Show! This week - is age really a barrier to your cycling performance? We’ve got both good and bad news! We’re also asking if cycling shorts are the height of general fashion right now, and following the death of the legendary frame builder Dario Pegoretti, we celebrate some of his greatest works. 

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Enter the Schindelhauer & Brooks giveaway here: 

This week in the world of cycling: the cyclocross season is nearly upon us, and we learned that for even the best it’s definitely time to start practising. Former junior World CX Champion Jens Dekker showed us how it’s not done in Melbourne. We also learned this week that a lot of you are indeed suffering from a quite severe addiction to cycling, but that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Finally, we learnt that age appears to be no barrier to performance. At least, not when you’re Alejandro Valverde.  At 38 years of age he became the 2nd oldest rider to win a stage of the Vuelta, taking stage 2 on Sunday.

Some sad news now from the cycling world, the legendary frame builder Dario Pegoretti has passed away at the age of 62. Pegoretti was a master of his art who both welded and painted his creations. He learnt his trade from Luigino Milani and he went on to pioneer the TIG welding process for bikes and worked in both steel and aluminium. Numerous professionals rode his frames including Marco Pantani, Mario Cipollini, Miguel Indurain and Stephen Roche. 

Anyone who thinks that they might end up winning the Tour de France had better have some bland answers ready for when journalists ask seemingly innocuous questions. You don’t want to end up like Geraint Thomas. He accidentally seems to have called for helmet use to be compulsory for cyclists, the only answer that hit the headlines in an hour-long interview. Having then got slammed for it by angry fellow cyclists, he tried to backpedal, even using the hashtag calm down.

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GCN Meets Ed Pratt 📹 

The Secret Of Staying Fast | The GCN Show Ep. 294

The jockey or pulley wheels on your bike do the job of both moving the chain across the cassette as well as keeping the chain tensioned. In the process, they turn thousands of times and get pretty gunked up and do wear out. Jon talks you through how and when to replace them.

What are you going to need? Firstly, some replacement pulley wheels. These do come in different sizes, so the number of teeth on them, and this is important as they need to be fit inside the cage of the derailleur as well as having the chain wrap around it too. I’ve tried using pulley wheels with more teeth, and they haven’t always worked well, if at all. Then of course you can have options with ceramic bearings that spin freely compared to standard bearings.

Lets look at when they need replacing, if the teeth are very sharp or in the worst case, worn away. Then it is time for new ones. Or some have sealed bearings and whilst they can be temporarily revamped, it is a smarter option to replace the complete units, as after all they do need replacing.

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How To Service Bearings 📹 

Music: Epidemic Sound
Take Away - Camelian Glade

How & When To Replace Your Derailleur Jockey Wheels

This week on the Race News Show - the Vuelta a España kicks off, we’ve got the resumption of the Deutschland Tour, plus the GP Plouay, the Bretagne Classic and a glimpse into the future with the Tour de l’Avenir and the Junior Tour of Wales.

The final grand tour of the season, the Tour of Spain, kicked off on Saturday with an 8km individual time trial on the streets of Malaga. Pre-race favourite Rohan Dennis blasted around the course to take the victory by a clear 6 seconds from Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky.  Dylan Van Baarle had been in the hot seat for most of the evening but was eventually bettered by Nelson Oliveira, Kwiatkowski, European Time Trial Champion Victor Campenaerts, and finally Dennis in his Australian Champions skinsuit.

The Deutschland Deine Tour, or the Tour of Germany, made a return last week after a 10-year gap - the 4-day event produced some really exciting racing and saw the return to competition of Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas. Day one finished with a sprint, Jose Alvaro Hodge timing his sprint to perfection and getting the better of a very disappointed German Champion, Pascal Ackermann.  The following three days, though, saw some particularly aggressive stages.

Over to France now for the GP Plouay, or the Bretagne Classic as they’re calling the men’s race now.  A notoriously tough one-day classic which struck fear into the heart of Ryan Mullen.  His tweet prior to the race was clearly written with a sense of fear. And, post-race, it was easy to see why - Alex Dowsett had a normalised power of 338w for 6 hours and 20 minutes, and that was to finish 42nd on the day, over a minute behind race winner Oliver Naesen.  The former Belgian champion was the best of a strong three-man group and outsprinted Michael Valgren and Tim Wellens to the line.

Vuelta a España, Deutschland Tour, GP Plouay & Tour de l'Avenir | The Cycling Race News Show

When cleaning our bikes we likely spray degreaser near our bearings. You often hear of this being bad for them, so Ollie investigates whether this is actually the case! Is degreaser going to strip the bearings? Watch to find out...

First lets explain what degreaser does - it is a cleaning fluid designed to strip grease, oil and dirt from your bike. Greasy oil and dirt are typically not soluble in water. However it far more soluble readily dissolves in liquids containing petrol and alcohol solvents - degreasers. Degreasers are really effective at removing organic dirt from your bike. So whats the problem? Bearings contain ball bearings surrounded by thick grease, to help lubricate them and prevent damage. They are designed to be watertight with the aid of seals.

The thinking is that the solvents in degreasers can penetrate the seals on bearings and then strip out the grease inside. The result is a bearing that performs like a mini washing machine full of cutlery. We want to see if this actually happens and to do this we have devised some tests - and this time we have got some incredibly sophisticated tests lined up.

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Should You Jet Wash Your Bike? 📹 

Music: Epidemic Sound
Final Approach - Rannar Sillard

August 2018

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