Train like a Monk

David has had a career most cyclists would dream of. Spanning 14 years and counting and riding for some of the top teams in the sport, Quickstep, Team Sky and Team UAE. He shares some learnings from his time at the top of the sport and discusses how he has continued to improve in the TT discipline throughout his career.

When I see Joey’s name on the team sheet for a race I’m travelling to, I’m always excited. He is the ultimate teammate both on and off the bike, drawing on his 15 years of racing experience to help the team in almost any race scenario and provide a calming figure on the team bus pre and post-race. We talk about what has changed in the time that Joey has spent at the top of the sport as well as wha...

Rory Patrick Townsend is a former Irish Road Champ and has been the most consistent rider on the Q36.5 Team this season. He excels in sprints at the end of a hard race day and we chat about how he prepares for these in his training (it’s probably not what you’d expect). He has finished inside the top ten an impressive 14 times this season so far. Rory is also one of the very few pro cyclists to ba...

By now you're probably used to seeing Toms at the pointy end of all the biggest races from the Cobbled Classics to a Strade Bianche podium to the Tour de France. I managed to sit down with him during Deutschland Tour, a race not quite on the same level as the above but one he was certainly at the pointy end of. His team, Lidl-Trek, won all 5 stages along with the GC, the cleanest of clean swee...

If you've watched any bike race from Australia you've likely had the pleasure of listening to Keeno's commentary. He's become the voice of cycling in Aus and has an unmatched encyclopedia of race results and cycling knowledge built into his hard drive. Matt may have used to his gift of the gab to build a career providing race commentary for the biggest races in the world, but his l...

Hard core fans will have noticed Loz putting in some strong rides in the harder one day races in previous years, but 2024 has been a breakthrough season where he has shown himself as one of the top contenders in the biggest races on the calendar. Laurence started the year with a win at Cadel's Race before having a Spring that turned many heads in the cycling world, highlighted by epic rides in...

Neve made the step into the pro cycling ranks as a teenager through the Zwift academy which she won in 2020. Fast forward four years and she’s consistently finishing on the GC podium at the toughest climbing races on the women’s calendar, taking some epic stage wins in the process. Find out which training methods have allowed Neve to take consistent results for Canyon SRAM racing at the highest le...

From first jumping on a road bike four years ago, to representing Ireland at the Olympics in Paris 2024, Megan has had a rapid rise through the pro cycling ranks. But a fast progression doesn't come without it's challenges and we discuss some of these as well as the different methods Megan has used to reach the top of the sport so quickly. Megan is currently racing for Team EF-Oatly-Cannondale and...

The Olympics are almost here and it's time to talk training like an Olympian with Shannon McCurley. Shannon represented Ireland in the Keirin in Rio 2016 and then made the very uncommon (at least at such a high level) switch from sprint disciplines to track endurance to compete in the Madison in Tokyo 2021. We chat about the challenges involved in following this path while competing for a relative...

Who's Coaching the Coach? This week I chat with my Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team Coach, Helmut Dollinger. The easy-going Austrian has worked with many top-level cyclists in the past and draws on his experience as well as the latest research in the field to help me and many of my teammates seek top results in 2024. I've made some big steps forward since commencing Helmut's coaching late last year and we d...

Matt is an Aussie climber for team DSM-Firmenich-PostNL who turned enough heads in his first year as a pro to be selected for both the Tour de France and World Championships. His versatility and bunch skills also mean he's up there at the pointy end on almost any kind of parcours. Season 2024 hasn't gone quite so smoothly for Matt and we discuss this along with his usual training habits in today's...

Zuke is the reigning Canadian National Road Race Champion and a versatile teammate of mine on Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. He is one of those riders capable of impacting a race on any terrain from the mountains of Switzerland to the cobblestones of Belgium. He's had a bit of a rough trot of late with illness and injury and we discuss this along with his favourite training methods when things are going...

Welcome to the Train like a Monk series where I discuss training with professionals at the top of the sport. To get things rolling I talk to Jensen Plowright about training in Nice, why Hawthorn Cycling Club crits are the best training on earth and how to perfectly execute the mid-ride bakery stop. Jensen is an Australian Sprinter for Alpecin Deceuninck who has already won multiple UCI races in hi...