How cycling boosts the 6 indicators of a long life - The GCN Show

Cycling improves health and wellbeing, that much we all know. But what are the key indicators that signal a long life and how might cycling affect them?

In this week's GCN Show, Dan Lloyd brings an important bit of research to the studio courtesy of Forever Fit Science, which casts light on the six physiological indicators of life expectancy, namely: VO2 max, leg strength, balance, muscle mass, muscular power and grip strength.

VO2 max is a subject that Dan is quite used to, having clocked in a score of 74.3 back when he was a Cervélo Test Team rider back in 2010. This was a disappointing score, he says, but it also came only a year after he finished top 10 at Strade Bianche, as Dan will never let us forget...

In the studio this week, Dan is joined by Conor Dunne, who never got around to completing a VO2 max test when he was a professional, but will no doubt have been at the higher end, with most top professional cyclists scoring in the range of 80-90 for men, and 60-70 for women.

Although both members of our GCN team may perform well in the VO2 max test, we dare say that Dan and Conor are not as blessed when it comes to muscular power and muscle mass. It is no secret that road cyclists are as fond of the gym as downhill mountain bikers are of climbs!

As for the other four indicators of a long life, we'll let you make a judgement as to how Dan and Conor stack up, but more importantly, we would love to hear your own stories of how cycling has contributed to your improved fitness.

Whether it be cycling to work, weekend warrior rides or a dedicated training plan, drop your thoughts on how you think cycling fits in with the six indicators of life expectancy in the comments below!

In other news from the past week, Conor is reminded of his trips to the Gran Guanche Audax, as ultra-racer Chris Hall was interrupted on his ride around the Canary Islands by an unfortunate paragliding crash landing. We also have unfortunate news to report from online training platform Peloton, information regarding the first-ever UCI Snow Bike World Championships, and more, all in this week's Cycling Shorts.

Remember that the GCN x Precision Fuel & Hydration competition remains open until 10:00GMT on Friday 9 February, in which you have to guess which GCN presenter has the saltiest sweat. Click here to enter, and check here for full terms and conditions.

Hacks and Bodges

With no Si on the show this week, it's up to Dan and Conor to run their finger over the Hack and Bodge entries, ranging from a homemade GCN bottle to rather eye-catching mudguards. You can submit your entries via our uploader and please remember to include as much detail as possible.

Read more: Upload your cycling photos and be featured on our GCN shows

Marek wrote to us from Poland, having spotted these bright yellow mudguards adorning a bike in his company's parking lot. It is most certainly an eye-catching example of in-house engineering and some might say perfect for the winter, but would you be seen with these on your bike? We sense this might be a case of function over style, which is not necessarily a bad thing!

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There's no messing about with these bits of equipment

In Wellington, New Zealand, Matthew has made some interesting alterations to his alloy Cannondale Synapse. As he explains: "This is my indoor training setup, usually I'm road riding but with a few mountain bike races coming up I've slammed the original drop bars and stem, put a spare stem and mountain bike bars with my MTB measurements so I can train like I'm on that bike and then flipped up the drop bars so I can still reach and change gears on Zwift.

"It works surprisingly well, I don't need to swap bikes on and off the trainer and now I'm glad I never cut down my steerer!"

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Is this a Hack or a Bodge? Let us know in the comments

Anthony has a nice-looking Cervélo S-Series road bike from 2021, which he would prefer not to ruin on his indoor trainer. So after getting fed up of wiping sweat away from his stem after every steamy garage ride, he has chosen to repurpose a 6-pint milk bottle into a neat cover. It may not look too trendy, but it certainly seems to do the job.

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The beauty of a milk bottle sweat cover

Short but sweet from Gordon this week: "I got sick of waiting for a GCN CamelBak water bottle so I made my own."

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Should we start stocking this one?

Coming up on the channel this week*

Wednesday 7 February: Are you using your gears correctly?

Thursday 8 February: Here are 5 bike fit changes to prevent back pain when cycling

Friday 9 February: What is preventing you from cycling to work and how can we remedy these problems?

Saturday 10 February: Cillian Kelly vs the Tour of Flanders: can our 'average Joe' complete the challenge?

Sunday 11 February: Is this the world's fastest bunch ride? We take a look

*Video schedules are subject to change

Did you know: You can now listen to The GCN Show as a podcast. That means you can still get all the insight from the latest episode of the GCN Show without actually having to look at Dan and Si at all, if that's ever been an issue for you. Search for "Global Cycling Network" on your chosen podcast provider.