Fast Talk

Amos Brumble is a New England legend. Is it because of his racing palmarès? His charm? His collection of guinea pigs? Or all of those things? We find out, and then we dive into some listener questions. David H. of Seattle, Washington asks: “Suppose a 55-year old athlete is training with a heart rate monitor and perceived effort and recovery scales and is able to train between 10-16 hours/week. No...

Are you ready to go long? Today we want to introduce you to the fascinating world of ultra-distance cycling.   While there isn’t a true definition of what “ultra” means, and some of our guests like to say it is a state of mind more than anything else, for the sake of this discussion we’re talking about multi-day bikepacking events; randonneuring events which range from 200 kilometers up to 1200 ki...

Today we bring back a former frequent guest, Colby Pearce, who has since graduated to his own show, Cycling in Alignment. We start with a discussion on crank length, determining what you need, and how consistent you should be across your, presumably, fleet of bikes. That leads to a discussion on power imbalances, what constitutes an issue when it comes to imbalances, and what you can do to correct...

Ah, sleep. I love it. Do you love it? If only I could get more of it, and get better at it, and wake up each day well rested. Somes days it works, many times it doesn’t.  Sleep can be hard, but does it have to be? Sleep is critical, so are you getting enough? And are you getting the right kind? We all know we need sleep, but knowledge is not enough. The focus of this episode is not to convince you...

Whenever we speak with a guest of Fast Talk—coach, athlete, or scientist—we always ask them their favorite workout. In this episode, we share the favorite workouts of Cameron Cogburn, Joe Friel, Jim Rutberg, Neal Henderson, Payson McElveen, Amos Brumble, and Petr Vakoc.  You’ll hear each guest discuss the specifics of the workout itself. You’ll also gain a sense of the guest’s philosophy—based on...

It wasn’t long ago that riding inside was something most of us did only when the weather was bad, or the days too dark, or we were pressed for time.   Flash forward to today and indoor cycling is quickly becoming a discipline many people focus on for its own sake. It’s no longer a second-rate alternative. And that’s why, today, we’ll focus entirely on indoor cycling and its many nuances.  The auth...

In today’s episode, we catch up with our friends at The Pro’s Closet, Spencer Powlison and Bruce Lin, to discuss their recent four-week Strava PR Challenge. In the lead up to their attempts, we helped them with training advice and “race-day” strategy tips.  No doubt, this has been an unusual year for cycling. Many of our favorite races were postponed or canceled. And while bikes aren't the most im...

How do you, as an athlete, combine your understanding of sport science and your training and racing experience to most effectively map out your training? That question is the basis for today’s episode, one in which we drift between the philosophical and the practical.   Essentially, we’ll dissect the different ways science and experience can influence how we train. Where does the science shine? Wh...

In today’s episode, Colby Pearce, a Steve Hogg Certified bike fitter, sits down with Chris Case, host of Fast Talk, to dissect the minutiae of how to pedal a bike. Saddle position, ankling, dead legged drills, plantar and dorsal flexion of the foot, all of this and much more is unpacked in today’s episode.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’re breathing, I’m breathing. But neither of us is probably thinking about our breathing right now. Do you ever think about your breathing during your workouts or races? Do you ever wonder if you should be "training" the act of breathing as a skill? Or whether you should do something differently during rest and recovery, or between intervals, or even on long endurance rides?   In some ways, bre...

In today’s episode, we formally introduce our new head coach, Ryan Kohler, and put him in the spotlight for a classic Q&A. (Don't worry, Trevor is not going anywhere! He’s merely stuck in isolation amid the tundra of northern Ontario at the moment.)  Ryan brings a wealth of experience as both coach and nutritionist after years of working at Carmichael Training Systems, as manager of the University...

In today’s episode, we’ve assembled a fantastic group of coaches to discuss the differences, similarities, nuances, and challenges of coaching beginner athletes versus veteran amateurs.  This episode is filled with myriad topics, all related to the coach-athlete relationship. And it starts by defining some terms. What constitutes a beginner, and a veteran? Can you be a beginner if you’ve ridden fo...

This week, our favorite physiologist Dr. Stephen Seiler is back on the program to talk about something that many of us get wrong: the distinction between overtraining, overreaching, and burnout. Often these terms are used synonymously, but there are many nuanced differences between these conditions, and that’s what we’ll explore in today’s episode.   We’ll dispel any myths about these terms, point...

We have another fantastic Q&A episode for you today, with a diverse range of questions.  Our guest coach this week is Julie Young, who has appeared before on Fast Talk—episode 91, to be exact. Julie is a former professional cyclist turned coach. Her road racing career stretched over a decade with teams including Saturn and Timex. She continues to race today at a very high level across multiple dis...

You’ve heard us talk about so-called “big gear” training on the program before. Many of you probably incorporate it into your riding, and for a variety of reasons.   What’s surprising is how little research has been done on this low-cadence, high-torque riding. Even the definition of what constitutes “low-cadence” remains hazy. And there are as many ways of incorporating this into your workouts as...

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk, your source for the science of cycling performance! I'm your host Chris Case. Today, we’re digging into the archive for some season-planning knowledge. Why now when our seasons have been demolished? Because it’s never too early to start soaking in the wisdom of seasoned veterans on how to best map out any season, particularly next year’s.  Trevor did several great i...

Have you ever woken up early in the morning to go for a ride, skipped breakfast, and thought, “I wonder if that was bad for my training? Or maybe it was good?!” In today’s episode, we try to decipher if there are any advantages or disadvantages to occasionally riding, or exercising in general, in a fasted state. What does “fasted” actually mean, in this context? How’s that help, or hurt, my traini...

Today, Coach Connor and I discuss something that comes up nearly every time we receive an email from one of our devoted listeners, from you. (By the way, please keep sending us questions and voice memos—we love them.)    So, what is it that is nearly universally included in every piece of correspondence we receive? Well, it’s some indication of a listener’s “threshold.” Often that figure is stated...

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk, your source for the science of cycling performance! I'm your host Chris Case.    I’ll set the stage for today’s episode with an analogy. And apologies to those of you who don’t enjoy our car engine analogies; alas, we’re sticking with it on this episode. We ask the simple question: Which has the greatest chance of consistently producing the best performances: a powe...

Hello and welcome to Fast Talk, your source for the science of cycling performance! I'm your host Chris Case, and today Coach Connor and I are joined by Coach Steve Neal of The Cycling Gym, which now resides exclusively in the virtual world: https://online.thecyclinggym.com/.  Let’s get into the questions.  Our first question comes from Dan S., as a follow-up to episode 113 on recovery period leng...

Which cycling shoes should I buy? This may seem like a straightforward question. But the better thing to ask is: Which shoes are right for my feet? If you’ve been a professional cyclist with extensive experience as a bike fitter, like show host Colby Pearce, the answer to that more complex question becomes an hour-long podcast, filled with the nuances of human anatomy. There are several questions...

Today we’re taking a good long look at training metrics. We’ve released previous episodes on how to use different numbers, what many of them mean, and how they’re calculated. Today, we tie it together into one package, with a master of data analytics, Tim Cusick, who is not only the product leader for TrainingPeaks’ WKO platform, but also an elite cycling coach of athletes including Amber Neben an...

In today’s Q&A episode we invited coach and co-owner of Forever Endurance, Grant Holicky, to join us for a lengthy discussion on a myriad of topics.   First, we converse about sweat rates. Ernest Boskovic references our discussion in episode 111 with Dr. Cheung, and asks several intriguing questions. (It makes us believe we’ll soon invite Dr. Cheung back to the program for a full episode on the su...

Long-time friends, training partners, and competitors, Jonathan Vaughters and Colby Pearce have a deep racing history and relationship. With decades of experience in pro cycling, they have gained many insights about training, coaching, and the trajectory of the sport.  Colby and JV first discuss their early training techniques, taught to them by their first cycling coach, Adrie Van Diemen, a Dutch...

Today we’ll hit the subjects of cornering and descending from many sides. Our main guest is Emile Abraham, who has racked up numerous wins because of his cornering and descending prowess, having grown up riding the twisty, steep roads of Trinidad and Tobago. Also in today’s episode, we hear from our friend and podcast colleague Colby Pearce, Petr Vakoc of the Alpecin-Fenix pro team, professional m...