GCN Tech Show: Things you learn from the hardest race you’ve ever done

You may have already seen on the main GCN YouTube channel this week the chronicles of Ollie Bridgewood completing the Tour de Stations ultra-endurance race in Switzerland. This was an unfathomable ride covering all the major alpine passes in the country amassing some 26,000m of climbing in 1,000km.

The Tour des Stations is an event unlike any other and something that is hard to comprehend until you are doing it. This week on the show, Ollie is breaking down what he learnt by undertaking the event on top of all the regular tech news.

Ultra-endurance events are incredibly testing, both on the body and mind. The fixed position and repetitive motions for hour after hour can cause issues that never feature in a typical ride. This is where smart choice pays dividends deep into an event.

Opting for a traditional racy fit over a more relaxed fit is something open for debate in an event like this with the boys discussing the merits to both approaches.

© GCN

Ollie opted to keep the fit of his bike inline with what he is used to rather than relaxing the fit for the ultra-endurance event

They are also taking a look at what tyres are best suited to ultra-endurance racing for both speed, puncture resistance and longevity. Even though the event did feature gravel sectors throughout the course a standard road tyre (Pirelli P-Zero SL) was selected, set up tubeless in a 28mm width, under the advice of Pirelli themselves.

Heading into autumn it is also fitting that Ollie goes through the lighting set up he used to keep the road illuminated through the multiple nighttime stints that he completed. Opting to run a multiple light set-up, Ollie also carried a power bank in his top tube bag to charge the lights in the daytime ready for the next stint of darkness.

As a fan of waxed chains, Ollie opted to use this during the event, even though a waxed chain only has a service life of around 600km before it needs a re-wax. To combat this a second chain was prepared and swapped out at the halfway point allowing Ollie to run the waxed set up for the full 1,000km without issue.

In an event of this magnitude fuelling is a key part of the success, as eating enough and staying hydrated can be incredibly difficult when you are always burning calories that need replacing. Ollie spends some time going through his fuelling strategy and how it worked for him this week on the show.

Hot tech this week

• The boys announce the winner of the DMT Poggi edition shoes giveaway - if you entered make sure to check out the show to see if you are the lucky winner
• Even though it has been out for a few weeks now, the new Specialized Tarmac SL8 gets some attention, with the weight being the topic of discussion. For a do it all, aero optimised frame it is incredibly light, coming in at a claimed 660 grams for a size 56cm making it one of the lightest chassis out there for its class
• MyWhoosh will be taking over as hosting platform for the Esports World Championship for the next three editions from 2024-26 after winning the bid to take over from current platform Zwift. Read more about this here
• Hunt have announced a new and updated hill climb specific wheelset, called the Hill Climb SL Disc Tubular wheelset. These weigh in at a feathery 963g from the set. You can find out more about these wheels here
• Ahead of La Vuelta kicking off this weekend, there are some appropriately Spanish themed new lines of merch in our online shop, so don't forget to check those out too!

After quite some time away, snack of the week makes a return to the tech show, featuring a Tour de Stations ultimate cookie!

Elsewhere in a jam-packed episode, Comments of the Week and the Bike Vault.

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