Road Cycling Academy Podcast

Ryan Thomas & Cam Nicholls
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Interviews with top performing cyclists and industry experts in the fields of coaching, advanced training techniques, and human physiology. The purpose of this podcast is to learn and understand what makes high performing individuals tick, digging deep into their ingredients to success both on and off the bike.

  1. 5D AGO

    Unpacking Josh Bekoff's Melbourne to Warrnambool Victory (Training & Race data)

    In this episode of the RCA podcast, the hosts discuss the impressive performance of Josh Bekoff in the Melbourne to Warrnambool race. They delve into his training regimen, performance metrics, race strategy, and the dynamics of the breakaway he was part of. The conversation highlights the importance of nutrition, pacing, and the mental aspects of racing, culminating in an analysis of the final sprint that secured Josh's victory.   Team & Podcast sponor: https://onekloudx.com.au/ RCA Supporter kit: https://shorturl.at/5axJb  Key Takeaways Josh Bekoff is a strong sprinter with a good five-second power. Durability in long races involves pacing, nutrition, and strategy. Critical power testing showed Josh's FTP at around 320 watts. Josh's training included threshold power improvement and long rides. Race strategy involved capping power to conserve energy for the finish. Nutrition was key, with Josh hitting his carb goals during the race. The breakaway dynamics were crucial for the final outcome. Experience plays a significant role in race performance. Josh's sprint power peaked at 1,100 watts during the final sprint. The importance of teamwork and communication in breakaway situations. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to RCA Bikes Online and Josh Bekoff's Achievement 03:01 Analyzing Josh's Training and Performance Metrics 05:54 Race Day Dynamics and Strategy 09:03 Breakaway Tactics and Power Analysis 11:57 Nutrition and Endurance in Long Races 14:55 The Final Sprint and Race Conclusion   Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:00.034) Welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. So please excuse any visual references for those listening on audio. Today I'm joined by the RCA's head coach and the team manager for RCA Bikes Online. And today we're going to be going through quite a phenomenal result by an RCA Bikes Online rider, the recent Melbourne to Warrnambool, Josh Bekoff. And we're going to break down what he did in his training at a high level before going in and then the race. breaking down the data. And Ryan, who's sitting next to me, happened to not only coach Josh, but he also coached third place. So we can sort of have a look side by side, the two of riders in the breakaway, well, that made the breakaway till the very end. So before we get into it, Ryan, Josh, just tell me a little bit about his, everyone's interested in power, to weight, and the high level stats. Tell me a little bit about Josh as a rider, high level. Ryan Thomas (00:50.702) He's a bit of a sprinter, so he loves the criteriums in Brisbane. We've got a very good criterium circuit in Brisbane and he is always on the podium. So it's very rare for Josh not be on the podium in a sprint finish or even in a little breakaway. He's got a really good five second sprint. It's not super big power, but you don't really need to be able to do super big power. It's just good for his weight at the end of a one hour trip. So that's kind of his strength. Cam Nicholls (01:16.748) We did ask for writer bios during the week and he said his best power segment was 5 seconds, 1280 watts. He also said fishing was his hidden talent. He said he's not a good f... Ryan Thomas (01:25.858) He's not a Cam Nicholls (01:28.962) Cool. And what about his FTP and his weight, like his power to weight? Ryan Thomas (01:34.638) Yeah, so we did critical power testing at the start of the year and he's sitting around 320 critical power. So 68 kilos-ish fluctuates, yeah, it's not a, critical power isn't huge by any means. So his strength really lies in that, the sprint. Cam Nicholls (01:52.206) And for those that aren't too familiar with critical power, so 320, is that also his FTP? Yeah. Ryan Thomas (01:57.368) That's what we use as his physiological threshold. Cam Nicholls (01:59.842) Yeah, okay. But obviously Melbourne to Warrnambool is a lot about durability, which you can't really measure as a tangible outcome, but clearly Josh demonstrated that he's durable. Ryan Thomas (02:03.118) Yeah. Ryan Thomas (02:11.628) Yeah, yeah, and there's a lot of like, there's a lot within the durability aspect and what came down to the end of the race and like it's an eating competition, it's pacing strategy, like how hard are you going in the first four hours? It's a six hour race, so there's a lot that comes into it, not just having a high threshold or having a high durability. There's an eating competition, it's a drinking competition, and it's conservation competition. Cam Nicholls (02:36.364) Yeah, so let's talk about Josh's training leading into Warrnambool and we could probably spend four hours on this if we really wanted to. So let's stay high level. The thing that I'm mostly curious about and I'm sure many of the listeners would be as well is, know, for those that know chronic training load, which is like a fitness score for want of a better word, what was Josh's chronic training load leading into Warrnambool? Ryan Thomas (03:01.518) On the day he was 95. Cam Nicholls (03:03.79) 95. So that's not really that significant. Ryan Thomas (03:07.406) No, well yeah, he's a full-time worker as well, right? So he has a full-time job at 99 Bikes in Brisbane. So he has a limited time to train. He's got pretty good hours around his work, but he's anywhere from two to three hours during the week, and then he fits in his big rides on the weekend and works one day on the weekend as well. And a big week he's doing 20. But most consistently around that 12 to 15 hours. Cam Nicholls (03:27.384) Yeah, so how many hours per week would he be doing? Cam Nicholls (03:34.542) Yeah, okay. Because I know as myself as a recreational amateur, I'm probably getting to 10 to 12 hours when I'm really being able to divide that and carve out my time and get to my cycling. And when I'm consistently doing 10 to 12 hours per week, for those of you who are probably unfamiliar with chronic training load, I'm probably landing around 85, maybe pushing towards 90 if I'm really consistent for a long period of time. So that's why I hear 95 and I'm like, oh. I know some amateurs that just love cycling so much, their CTOs are like 110, 120. So 95 surprising. Ryan Thomas (04:08.96) Yeah, so I'm looking at his like his duration on the bike in the last six months and his average is 12 hours 50. So there's some big weeks in there like big 20 hours, there's like probably five, six, 20 hour weeks in there. But consistency wise, it's yeah, it's pretty high and his CTL did drop a little bit coming into it was just over 100. Yep. Before SA kick it and then he got sick and a few other situations there and then his CTL actually dropped so probably freshness paid a bit there as well. Cam Nicholls (04:37.13) Okay, so he's freshened up. mean terms of the type of training he was doing was there a specific focus or was it all just like go out and do like, Melbourne to Warrnambool is a six hour race so it's just like just go and ride as much as you can which I know a lot of people for these events they think it's all about volume or was he doing specific interval training focused on specific zones? Like if you could pick out the top two to three things he was doing what were those? Ryan Thomas (05:02.028) Yeah, so two things with Josh, former specific training, we know he's a good sprinter, so we wanted to use that and that's where he was going to get theoretically, he was going to get his results was in a maybe a criteria sprint or at the end of a race like he did in a sprint, like that was going to be his biggest weapon. And we also wanted to work on his weakness a bit. So his threshold power is probably his weakest area. So we wanted to lift that a little bit and try and get him tolerable at riding around threshold. So doing five. to 10, 15 minute hill repeats just under threshold and at threshold. Try and get him, yeah, get him used to spending time at that zone. And then also we did, he did quite a few big rides as well. So was a big, quite a few five, six hour rides and big, big weekend blocks when he had the time to train. Cam Nicholls (05:46.414) Okay, that weren't specific to targeting an energy system or just go out and ride with some decent efforts in there though as well? Ryan Thomas (05:51.096) Long and hard. Usually around club racing, so you go and spend half an hour to an hour riding to the race, do the race for an hour, then go and do some efforts after or just go and do another three four hours after. So you're getting up five, six hours of riding pretty easily, but there's also quite a bit of intensity in there that makes it quite challenging. Cam Nicholls (06:13.132) I'm just going back to his rider bios. Your favorite type of ride Josh, crit plus extras. So no wonder he's been loving the training. Ryan Thomas (06:19.118) He loves local crits as they all do in Cam Nicholls (06:24.494) Yeah. So let's talk about the actual event, the day. And what's interesting is you also coach, not only do you coach Josh, but you coach Kevin Bifica, who was in the break and finished third. So it might be interesting to talk about some of the dynamics there and how they sort of compare as writers. But notably, what does the data look like? Ryan Thomas (06:52.161) It's solid, but it's not like, it doesn't jump off the page because it's, you're in a 250 kilometer breakaway, right? Like you're not going to be doing any power records doing that. And if you were, then you've raced it very wrong. So Josh's mindset, from before the race started, it was make the breakaway, get out there and just get a big gap as possible and see what happens. So we just needed to be there. And his mindset was, Cam Nicholls (07:19.406) TV time for the RCA. Ryan Thomas (07:21.358) He knew that he's been racing for a long time so he's had a couple of hiatus's from racing but Cam Nicholls (07:28.866) He had a year off racing last year, didn't he? Yeah. Ryan Thomas (07:30.83) Yeah, we

    20 min

  2. 12/12/2025

    Thank you

    Just a quick podcast note to say thank you for your support in 2025. This road cycling training podcast only really started 12 months ago. We've gone from 10's of downloads per episode to thousands. So now is the time for a reset and reresher, with the view to come back in 2026 with a fresh look/listen and an improved podcasting platform.  About the RCA: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/

    3 min

  3. 11/28/2025

    Group Rides: Boost, Burden, or Both for Your Cycling Potential?

    Summary The conversation delves into the significance of structured training in sports, particularly focusing on how managing intensity can lead to better performance outcomes. It highlights the importance of recovery and adaptations over time, while also addressing the complexities introduced by variability in training methods that comes with group riding.  Takeaways Structured training is essential for performance success. Managing intensity is crucial for recovery and adaptations. Variability in training can complicate performance outcomes. A well-structured plan can lead to year-on-year improvements. Intensity management should be considered in all training cycles. Coaching plays a vital role in structuring training effectively. Recovery is as important as the training itself. Performance peaks can be achieved through careful planning. Uncontrolled rides introduce variability that can hinder progress. Understanding the science behind training can enhance coaching effectiveness. Monthly coaching RCA: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/one-to-one-coaching/  Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:00.322) Welcome back to the RCA podcast where today I am joined by RCA coach Ben Treville, who's a science data geek or data nerd. I always forget which one it is. I think I say that every time, Who's actually in the middle of Australia at the moment, traveling with his partner in the Northern Territory. So thanks for joining us today, Ben. Alright, this podcast is brought to you by Starlink. Yeah, the internet connection is actually pretty good based off of the last podcast we did. So hopefully no issues in this one today. I wanted to talk about group rides and bunch rides because a lot of people that come to us, they're doing them and they want to incorporate them and we want them to keep doing them. We call it the not negotiable rides because we want people to continue doing the rides that they enjoy doing. you know, people also need to recognise that if you're overdoing them, which a lot of people are doing as well, you know, there's maybe some considerations you need to, you need to keep in mind. So in this chat today, I wanted to, you know, ask you with your, you know, partial science hat on, because I know there isn't a lot of science in this space specifically, this kind of indirect stuff that you've looked at, but also your anecdotal experiences as a coach, you know, working with amateurs and, and recreationalists that are doing know, group rides as part of their training, you know, how does it look? Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? What do we need to consider? So the first thing I'm going to ask you, because you know, a lot of people come to the RCA, they're making inquiries, I'm having conversations with them, and they're like, they're worried, do I have to let go of, you know, my group ride or my social ride or my, you know, we call it in noosa, the Tuesday world champs, you know, go smash fest with your mates. Do I have to get rid of that if I want to improve Ben? Ben Treble (01:53.484) My favorite statement. depends. It's a point. I feel like I wear two hats. My lab coat as a sports scientist, and then I have my coaching cap and my sports scientist lab coat says, you know, from a technical point of view, structured training wins out. It's really about managing control and intensity and the more, even from a science or a coaching point of view that we can. I can't. Ben Treble (02:22.402) control, manage, intensity throughout a week, a block, a macro cycle, like a year on year within the plan, the better we can manage the recovery and the better that we can peak for a certain performance and find year on year adaptations. Once we add in variability, and I'm going to... call on your bunch rides as highly variable uncontrolled rides, that's when things get a bit more complicated, right? And that's when you find that it's going to be difficult to plan a little bit, right? So that's the, we can dig a little bit more into the science side, because there is some science that's, would say, directly, or sorry, indirectly related to this topic. And that would be the science around what we call training intensity. distribution, which is fancy words for, you know, how much time do we spend in each zone when we train? So I think a lot of our athletes and listeners are used to thinking about, you know, in training peaks, we can see that how many hours in a week have we spent in each zone, week on week, and you can see the general structure. The two most common would be targeting for either a pyramidal structure, where the higher the zone you go, the less time you spend. And then you have probably what's got a bit more science behind it in terms of better outcomes, which would be polarized training or the 80-20 approach where you try to spend 20 % of your time at high intensity zones. And you spend 80 % of your time at the lower zones, so zone one and two. And you spend very little time in the middle in that zone three tempo space. Can I, before you continue, can I just play a little bit of devil's advocate here because you you talk about the unpredictable nature and not being able to control what's happening in a group ride or a bunch ride and I get that but isn't that what happens in the events that a lot of people are targeting like their Fondo events or maybe they even want to go to a crit race so isn't a group ride like the perfect conditioning tool for those? Cam Nicholls (04:40.64) No, it's unpredictable. Like you don't know what you're going to get. It's like for like. This is where I put my, my coach had on. said it in our last podcast, but, I am an advocate for bunch rides in, two scenarios. One is when you have a rider that's at risk of burnout from structured training, because I think we need, we need two things long-term. The most important thing that I think we could all agree on in, in cycle training is consistency over the long-term. Right? So how do we maintain consistency on the long term? The risk to achieving that is going to be burnout that stops you from training, taking a hiatus from training, which could be from work, family, travel, whatever it is. And then you have illness and injury. How do we reduce the risk of those things interrupting training? Ben Treble (05:43.636) And I believe that you need to keep training fun and interesting. And one of the most motivating things, but nothing is more motivating really than chasing your mates. many of your PBs can a set by on your Tuesday worlds versus on the indoor trainer? it's definitely, definitely Tuesday Worlds. But I do know, I mean, that other thing that's resonating going back to something you just said is burnout. I know if I do Tuesday Worlds and maybe if I did Saturday, the Saturday group ride as well, if I did that week after week after week, I'd be probably burnout within eight weeks, maybe even six. Yeah. Because there's too much for me. I know my body well now because I'm chasing wheels and you you're pushing yourself. You said, you know, you're getting PB's and stuff. You know, if you're your one minute power and your five minute power and, you know, 20 minute power, PBs or close to every other week, there comes a point where the body's like, I know, I've had enough of that. And all of a sudden you're not even anywhere near those PBs and you're all of a sudden you're on a plateau and that's demoralizing too. So while the bunch ride is fun, when you're plateauing and your mates are going faster than you now and you can't pull turns. maybe that affects the motivation. I there's certainly been a story of my past, not so much anymore because I'm a lot smarter, I listen to people like you now, but in the past, that's where I've been. Yeah, in science, we call it social facilitation. Right? know, when you put yourself in an environment where you're surrounded by people say pushing harder than you, the sciences has researched this topic a bit and it applied to both this research on both, like, sort of real world sport and eSports. So they've had the same outcomes indoors and outdoors on this and people were able to achieve more PBs within that social Ben Treble (07:45.496) group environment than outside of it. So there's still, think there's a lot of value to be had from Bunchrides, but it comes back to the individual and I think the timing of their program. So with my writers, yeah, with my writers, what we try to do is let's say you have a goal, a target event that's in four months time. Maybe within the base training, that's the time where we're going to make space for bunch rides. It might even be, or in the off season is a good time to make space for one or two depends on the individual bunch rides. But then as we get closer to the goal, we're probably going to reduce that to one bunch ride a week. And then when we'd say two months out, I'm probably going to say, look, let's keep this focused. Let's just do solo sessions for eight weeks. And at the end of the eight weeks after the target. We have a couple of weeks where we do two social rides a week to bring back some of that. The social aspect's really important, but also it's fun and motivating, I think, bunch rides for people. Okay. So what would you say then to somebody that, you know, has not negotiable to two group rides a week, but they want to improve. And I'm going to throw a curly one at you here as well. What if, what if their goal is actually to, to beat them like that? Cause we do have people that come to the RCA and like the number one goal is I want to beat my mates in the local group ride. Like that is, that is the goal, but they're also the irony of that is they're doing group rides all the time. Cam Nicholls (09:23.746) You know what I mean? So they're probably hit a plateau because they're just doing the same thing every single time and fatiguing themselves as well. I know, like I think sometimes people forget that the

    26 min

  4. 11/28/2025

    Boost V02 Max with Decreasing Interval Training (*Research Paper)

    In this RCA Podcast episode, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA coach and science expert Ben Treble, who dials in from the middle of outback Australia to unpack a brutal but fascinating VO2 max session: high-intensity decreasing interval training. This workout comes from a 2020 research paper and flips the classic VO2 script — starting with longer efforts and progressively shortening the work intervals while also reducing the "recovery" time. The goal? 👉 Spend more time above 90% VO2 max for better aerobic adaptations, without endlessly grinding through 4–5 minute repeats. Research paper here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32780251/  Cam shares his first-hand experience trying the session (including why the 2-minute rep hurt the most), and Ben breaks down: How the workout is structured and what intensities to target Why some athletes respond really well — and others… not so much Where this fits into a VO2 max "toolkit" alongside 30/15s and classic intervals How to think about specificity, timing in the season, and variety in your training Whether using ERG mode on the trainer is "cheating" (hint: it isn't) If you'd like this workout built properly into your own training, check out the RCA 12-Week Custom Plan, where you work 1:1 with an RCA coach to tailor sessions to your goals, schedule, and current fitness. Takeaways A really important part of all training is variation. People do respond differently to different workouts. You can easily keep it interesting. I call it like a VO2 max toolkit. You've got the classic four or five minute intervals. You could use these decreasing working time intervals. Variation is key for effective training. Different workouts yield different responses. VO2 max workouts can be diverse and engaging. Incorporating variety enhances performance. RCA 12 Week Plan: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/cycling-plan-custom/  Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:00.302) So welcome back to the RCA podcast where today I'm joined by one of the RCA coaches, Ben Treble, a science expert who's been with us many times before and is currently out on the road somewhere in the middle of Australia on some huge trip. Where are you Ben right now? It looks like you're in the middle of the country somewhere. Yeah, thanks Cam. I'm currently in the Northern Territory on one of the bigger cattle stations called Newcastle Waters. I'm just here overnight at the moment and then we'll keep heading north this afternoon towards Catherine. Yeah, nice. That room you're in looks like there might have been a few backpack backers murdered in that in the past. Looks nice and dodgy. Yeah, I won't go into it, but we're going to go through a town called Laramma that has an ongoing murder investigation. Oh, there you go. Yeah, it's a bit dodgy out that way, but it looks like you're having a good time watching your social media. So yeah, keep it up. Enjoy it. Today I wanted to talk about a science-based workout that's been going through the RCA coaching, you know, discussions recently. It was put up in our WhatsApp chat and we've created our own workout within Training Peaks that we've started to prescribe members to give a go. And I gave it a go myself this week. Cam Nicholls (01:22.234) And I've sent you the paper. I actually haven't read the paper yet. So I'm hoping you can give us a bit of background on this science-backed workout that's, guess, relatively new and there's a bit more work that needs to be done in the space. But I'll give you my thoughts on the workout. But before I do that, can you tell us, you know, what is this workout and what exactly are we looking at in terms of, you know, outcomes from a fitness adaptation perspective. There was a paper by S. Lazar and Co. It was actually published in 2020. So I wouldn't say it's that new, but possibly the adoption of it is new. So they call it high intensity decreasing interval training, which is fancy word for doing high intensity intervals. And as you progress through the intervals in the workout, they're decreasing the work duration of each interval. So the quick example. Say the first interval, you do it around three minutes. Then you have two minutes rest. Then you do a two minute interval, where that's the work duration. And then you have, say, around 80 seconds or 1 and 1.5 minutes rest. Then you do a one minute work interval, 40 seconds rest, 40 seconds down to 30 rest. And then it's 30 second work intervals until fatigue. What range are we working at? we working at VO2 max? Are we working threshold? What are we doing? Ben Treble (02:54.38) It's via to max. So the primary goal of this paper, and I guess this workout, it was to compare different interval workout types. So they had short, like classic fear to workouts. And then they had longer intervals, a reminder for the audience that anything above your threshold essentially just requires duration, but you can reach your fear to max at any intensity above threshold. it just takes longer. So if you're say, if you're 105 % above threshold, you can still reach via two max, but it might take you 25 minutes to get there. Right. And so the crux of the paper and a lot of these via two max workouts around what's the best workout to improve via two max, that's really where they come from is how do we make these interval workouts more effective? And it's based on That's a big assumption, but it's pretty validated that the more time you spend above 90 % VO2 max, the better the increase in VO2 max. So the better the adaptation outcome. And so they're trying to design and get creative around these interval workouts. What is the best interval workout structure that lets you spend more time above that 90 % VO2 max for less effort. Okay. And looking at the paper and the participants and the results, was there anything worthy to note? Yeah, yeah, it's keep in mind, it's a single paper is a pretty small sample size. So they had 12 cyclists, middle age, so around their 40s, they're moderately to well trained. So they had around a via two maxes of around 55 give or take. So that's just the population group of this study. So it's important to keep that in mind. And what they found was Ben Treble (05:01.358) that you spent significantly more time in this high intensity decreasing interval type of workout compared to small or long intervals for VO2 max. What's important though, I think in this paper is that there's a high amount of standard deviation. So for example, one of the measurements was they spent around 312 seconds. above that 90 % VO2 max, but your standard deviation was 207 seconds. So you had some responders in this sample group who might only have spent essentially what is an insignificant from a scientific standpoint, amount of time different to the other workout types. So some people had no more benefit that was measurable by doing this versus short intervals. But some people had very large responses to it compared to the short and long intervals. And this is a trend in most of these, you you and I have talked about 3015 as a really good VO2 workout before from Ben Ronestadt. And even with within that, and he's done multiple papers on it, so then the research is a bit more conclusive, I would say that it's a very good recommendation. This paper is good. And I think it's a really nice indicator to say potentially, this has a lot of good potential. But it's not a guarantee that it would work for you. Okay, so going to the workout structure and how to do it because the thing I liked about it is I'd actually never done it before. I've done a lot of VO2 max training sessions, know, 30-15s, which we talked about, I started to incorporate that a fair bit after we sort of made some content on it. And, you know, I found that to be quite effective. I hadn't done a lot of Cam Nicholls (07:00.622) 30, 15s in the past, so it was new. You get a bit of a dopamine kick out of it when you've been riding for a long period of time and it's a new workout to try. And you see a result as well, so that was good. In the past, I've done a lot of more sustained VO2 style sessions, like sustained three to four minute efforts, maybe if I'm out on the road, five minutes. But never this decreasing style session where you you start off and this is what I want to validate with you because I think maybe what I've done was, you know, Ryan, our head coach dropped it in my training peaks and he said, look, this is where you start. Because obviously there's a starting point for these workouts and you can progress from there. But it sounds like what this paper is indicating is a little bit different to what I did, which was, I guess, dipping my toe in the water with this workout where I did a warmup. I then did some activation efforts. I then got into the first set. and the first set was three minutes on, and this was, know, at, you know, VO two high VO two, two minutes, I wouldn't say recovery. It was probably, top end zone too. so for me, that was about my, was, try and operate just over 400 Watts for the three minutes. And then I came back down to two 50 ish. for two minutes. And then I did two minutes back around 400 or just over 400. And then I came back to 80 seconds at 250-ish. And then I did a minute at around, you know, just over 400. And then I think it was 40 seconds maybe, or 45 seconds, I can't recall exactly, back at 250. And then I did the 30 seconds. And then I went back down to 250 and then I did a recovery at like 150 Watts or something like that for seven minutes. And then I did a second set of that. But it sounds like in this paper, you continue on with the 30 seconds is what you said until you reach a fatigue state. Whereas I didn't do that. And I'm assuming, you know, the reason behind that is Ryan's like, well, you've never done this before. Cam Nicholls (09:26.114) And I also indicated that I've been training for a triathlon and I hadn't done much VO2

    23 min

  5. 11/13/2025

    Life as a Directeur Sportif (Matt Wilson on Orica GreenEDGE *2014-2020)

    Summary The conversation delves into the intricate logistics involved in organising a cycling race, particularly a Grand Tour, highlighting the challenges of managing teams and maintaining motivation in a high-performance environment. Through the lense of a Sports Director / Directeur Sportif. In this case, Matt Wilson, who was the Directeur Sportif for Orica Green Edge from 2013/14 - 2020.  Takeaways Cycling races involve complex logistics with multiple vehicles and staff. Managing a cycling team requires keeping everyone motivated and happy. Creating a cohesive vision among diverse teams is crucial for success. The environment in cycling is high-pressure and requires effective management. Logistics in cycling are more complicated than in many other sports. Team dynamics play a significant role in achieving performance goals. Each race involves staying in different hotels every night. The number of people involved in a cycling race is substantial. Maintaining a positive atmosphere is essential for team performance. The challenges of cycling logistics are often underestimated.   Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:00.056) Welcome back to the RCA podcast where today I am joined by Matt Wilson and Matt's a neighbour of mine and he's also co-founded the Pro Velo Super League which we just talked about in the previous podcast. If you want to hear about that, go back and listen to the last podcast. But Matt, which we didn't talk about in the last podcast, also has quite an illustrious, is that the word, cycling career and spent a lot of time as a pro and also as a DS, a director sportif. And as I'm... just starting to get a flavor for what's involved. Not that I'm doing the DS role myself, that's Ryan Thomas, the head coach at the RCA, but I'm hearing about all the things he's doing. I'm like, wow, there's a lot of work here. And Matt, you spent eight years as one. thought, why don't we just spend half an hour here or 20 minutes or half an hour. I'm just gonna take chatting about what does a DS actually do? Because you kind of watch unchained documentary, which a lot of people would have watched, and you see this guy in the car yelling at the riders. it's like, is... Is that all they do? Just tell them to ride faster. Which is clearly not the case, but I think a lot of people obviously don't have an idea and I'm curious myself to learn. But before we go into that, I do need to ask you a pretty hard hitting question here. And that is, you rode pro for a number of years. You won the Sun Tour, Australian road champion, you rode tour to France, know, top 10 at the TDU. Why do you never come to the famous Noosa Tuesday World Champs? Never seen you there. What's going on? I have done it just before your time. really? Sprint for the blue letterbox? Okay. Exactly. Yeah. Now it's the red letter box. Someone painted it a different color and you can't, it can't be changed on Strava. It's still the blue letter box. Matt Wilson (01:40.194) Yeah, right. No, no, I did it back in the day. But yeah, no, not in recent history. You just don't ride anymore, is you? I do but I'm just so busy and I sort of you know if I do ride it's 45 minutes down to Parisian and I turn around and I come back and that's it that's that that's my riding couple days a week. Not even. Two hours a week would be a really good week. So you're doing two, three hours a week? Oh. Not even? Cam Nicholls (02:08.032) Right. Do you miss it? Yeah, I do. I don't miss the professional hours and training as a job, but I miss being fit. I miss going out with the guys. I guess that single-minded focus of just all I have to worry about today is just a six hour ride and getting home smashed and just sitting in the couch and recovering and that kind of simple life. is still attractive now and you're working sort of 10, 12 hours a day and got three kids and juggling, you know, regular life stuff that people have to have to deal with. But, know, as an athlete, you don't. Yeah, okay. So you don't have any appetite to get fit enough to come do the World Champs on a Tuesday. It'd be great to see you there. Anyway, sorry. This podcast isn't about the World Champs, but it's become quite a well-known ride because I've made a lot of content on it and there's another content creator who's done a bit of content on it and yeah, gets quite a few people there now. They broke the record the other day actually. Really? Well, there was... How many guys to get? Cam Nicholls (03:14.254) There was one guy that rocked up on a TT bike with his sperm helmet and his disc wheel and he was the one that basically did it. But it's funny, like the day that happened, the whole bunch was with him. About 30 minutes prior, a whole bunch of professional triathletes went out and did the same course with six TT bikes and they went and smashed it as well. So it got smashed twice. It had been a record for like seven years and it got beaten twice in one day. yeah. Alright. Cam Nicholls (03:43.182) Your role as a DS, you were with Orica and you're a DS there from 2014 was it? To 2020-ish? Yes. Yeah. If my numbers are right. Yeah. I signed a contract when Green Edge Cycling started, Orica Green Edge, was one year sports director, sorry, one year rider, two years sports director. So I did the first year of the team, which I think was 2013, And stepped into the car. Actually at the end of 2013, I switched. So my last race was Hamburg Classic. And then the next race was the Vuelta and I was a director at the Vuelta. Yeah, okay. So as a pro rider, how long were you a pro rider for exactly? 10 or 11 years. 10 or 11 years. So you obviously exposed to the direct to sportive role during that time, you know, quite intimately. What was it about being a rider and seeing that role that made it appealing for you when you retired from being a professional cyclist? Matt Wilson (04:46.54) It was never appealing for the vast majority of my career. The vast majority of my career. Yeah. Look, last, probably the last three or four years of my career, I started to take on a more leadership role on the road and started to become that road captain. And as that started to form, I started to feel like that might be somewhere that I'm going to move into. I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do when I retired around that time. Ruh! Something changed though along the way, obviously. Matt Wilson (05:15.446) So as that started to become more obvious that that was where I was going to go. And I actually, the year I signed with Orica Green Edge, I had offers from other teams as sports director as well. So that was clearly where people saw me going. And that was where I saw myself going and just sort of grew into it. at that time, believed that sitting in the car, like you said, yelling on the radio and doing the team meetings in the bus was all you saw. You you thought that was the whole job, but essentially that's the tip of the iceberg sticking out the water, you know, and when you go underneath the water, the mountain of ice is really below and that's what all the work is. What you see at the top there, that's the fun part. Right. Getting in the car. So even like the layman sitting over here watching Unchained and seeing the DS in the bus talking about the race before the race happens and then yelling in the team car, that's almost what you only saw as well as or thought as a rider as well. Sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, especially as an athlete, you've got tunnel vision. You see what you see in the world that you have and you think that's the world. And then when you get, when you retire, the blink has come off and you see what the real world really is. It makes a lot of sense. So maybe you could tell me, I don't know, you know, we could probably talk for hours, but is there like five, 10, know, even 15, whatever it is, like critical things you do as a DS? If you had to break down, like what are the top things you have to do in a list of five to 10? Perhaps things that people, you know, outside of yelling on the team radio and talking in the bus before the riders race, like what are you actually doing? Matt Wilson (06:59.982) Look, a good DS is a logistics guru. Right, okay. So you need to be able to work with multiple teams, 20, 30 staff, eight riders and bring that whole group together in an efficient way. When you say teams, mean like teams within your team. Teams within the team. You've got your sporting department. You've got your high performance department. You've got your mechanics. You've got your soigneurs. You've got your management group and trying to bring all that together. And, and, know, on a cycling race, especially a grand tour, you're talking about the three week map of, you know, insanity. You've got, you've got two buses, you've got two trucks. You've got, you know, maybe a dozen cars, a couple of vans, a food truck. And you're staying in a different hotel every night. Like I said, with a staff of 38 riders, it's complicated, very, very complicated logistics, more than most events. that's one part of the puzzle, which is really difficult. Keeping those teams happy, keeping those teams motivated, keeping those teams on point, those teams within the teams that I just mentioned, and bringing them all together to one vision, one cohesive vision, which is trying to get whatever result it is you're trying to get and achieve and bring that through in a happy environment, high performance environment is incredibly difficult because you're talking about a lot of different personalities, a lot of different personalities. So, and as a sports director, you're the leader of that group, of that team going to those races. So that's very difficult. Then you've got the tactical, the race tactical side. Matt Wilson (08:46.7) So understanding what's going on in the race, where are the opportunities? What are the other teams going to do today? How can we capitali

    34 min

  6. 11/13/2025

    The ProVelo Super League & Reviving Australia's Competitive Cycling Scene

    Summary In this episode, Matt Wilson, co-founder of the Pro Velo Cycling League, discusses the inception and purpose of the league, the challenges faced by Australian cycling, and the cultural shifts affecting competitive cycling. He shares insights from the league's first season, innovations planned for the future, and strategies for funding and sponsorship. The conversation also touches on the importance of engaging viewers through content creation and the league's commitment to fostering international participation in cycling events.   Provelo webite: https://provelosuperleague.com/  Takeaways The Pro Velo Cycling League aims to revitalize Australian cycling. A healthy elite domestic cycling scene is vital for youth development. Rising costs and lack of volunteers are major challenges for cycling events. Cultural shifts have led to decreased participation in competitive cycling. Innovative technology is being integrated into cycling broadcasts. Funding and sponsorship are crucial for the league's sustainability. Engaging content creation is key to attracting viewers and sponsors. The league is open to international teams and riders. Prize money is currently low but aims to improve with funding. The league's long-term vision includes a crowdfunding campaign for support.   Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Pro Velo Cycling League 03:44 The Purpose and Vision Behind Pro Velo 10:27 Challenges Facing Domestic Cycling in Australia 17:49 Lessons Learned from the First Season 24:02 Prize Money and Future Plans 30:31 Sponsorship and Team Dynamics   Cam Nicholls (00:00.13) Welcome back to the RCA podcast where today I'm joined by Matt Wilson who is the co-founder of the Pro Velo Cycling League. Also as a neighbour of mine, so I wanted to bring him in today to talk about the Pro Velo team. Our reason being the RCA is actually putting together a team for next year and we'll go through why and who the riders are and who our sponsors are towards the back end of this discussion. But Matt, I wanted to pose this question to you because a lot of people that listen to our podcast, they're... American, they're UK European, Canadian, they might be wondering what the hell is the Pro Velo League, what is this all about? in its simplest form, can you explain to us what it is? So the genesis of it, I guess, came about two years ago, two and a half, three years ago actually, probably when it started. I used to run an NRS race and the NRS series was the National Road Series in Australia, was the top domestic road cycling series. And that had been going for about 20 years. And I'd seen it when I was a rider, as a young rider, and then obviously transitioned into a different role as I went along. And eventually started the Australian Cycling Academy. And this part of that, we started a race, an NRS race up on the Sunshine Coast, which was called Cycle Sunshine Coast. in that 20 year period, we saw it go from strength to strength down to what was basically running at six o'clock in the morning with a chalk line on the road, getting the riders out there and just creating some sort of race for people to race. was no commercial value. Sponsors coming into the sport were getting nothing. Events were struggling to break even. teams were struggling. So there was no commercial model there anymore and the whole thing was about to fall over. There's only a few races left on the calendar that had any sort of security. So I had in my mind from a team point of view, from a rider point of view, from a race organizer point of view, what was needed to turn it around. And essentially we needed a bucket of money to come into the sport and we needed to create a commercial model that made sense. Matt Wilson (02:08.248) that meant it was more cost effective for teams to come to races. It made sense for young riders to be able to come and race in the season. And it made sense for events because they could get eyeballs on it again. People would come and watch the race. Sponsors could get involved. There would be TV broadcast for to get some return on their investment for the sponsors. So everything needed to get switched. And we tried to create a model that encapsulated all of that. So compact season. three months, a narrative that the public could understand, bringing the racing back to the people. So running it at times of day where people will go and watch in areas that they can come and see it to create a good live broadcast that was cost effective, but gave return on investment for riders and teams and event sponsors. And create an exciting racing platform that is dynamic, that is more accessible to all. which is more open to results, not dominated by one team, basically. So it made the racing more competitive. And that's what the Pro Velo Super League is. So we started, we had to create three new events in our first season. was last year? Which was last year. this year. I'm forgetting what year we're in now. So we created three new events as part of the league and then we took the three oldest and most established national series races which is Tour of Tasmania, the Melbourne to Warrnambool and the Grafton to Inverrell and we encapsulated those into those three new events that we started and launched the league. Cam Nicholls (03:46.35) Yeah, well, okay. And so what's the purpose of it? Like, why do it at all? So, like I said, the sport was dying in Australia. was going to say the sport, talking about like the amateur top level road scene, which is like your segue to your next step into Asia or your next step overseas. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So the world tour level stuff is going great. Is it? That exists overseas. Yep. Got the tour down under in Australia, Cuddell Evans Great Ocean Road Race. That's great. But other than that, it exists overseas. It doesn't exist in Australia. And everything else from club level through to the top domestic level is struggling and dying. And the pathway is especially important. So if club level cycling exists, and a good young rider comes through, starts to win some club level races and then wants to go to the next level. If there's no pathway, there's no stepping stone with a top elite domestic cycling series, where does that rider go? They're going to have to go straight to Europe. And that's a big, big jump for any rider to take from club level. Cam Nicholls (04:58.008) seen it. To Europe. You're no better than me but I've just seen it just knowing a few guys. From top level domestic competition to Europe is a massive step. A massive step that most riders can't get over. But from club level to there, it's almost an impossible task. So we need to have a healthy, elite domestic cycling scene. It's vital to Australian road cycling and without it, yeah, the sport will go backwards in this country. There's just no doubt about it. And it's become so expensive to run races in Australia that we need to have a healthy commercial model around it to support that cycling scene. Why has it become so expensive? Police costs have, since I started running races, which was six years ago now, have probably gone up four times. Four years. It's probably our most expensive item line now is just police costs. So you're seeing more and more closed circuit races. So fixed criteria and courses that are purpose made criteria and courses, motorsport park courses, because these don't require police or traffic management. So between the police, the traffic management and the insurance, that's half your event costs gone already. Cam Nicholls (05:47.372) times in six years. Matt Wilson (06:08.898) And you haven't even stuck a barrier up or, you know, put any infrastructure in or anything. it's just become incredibly expensive and, and difficult to run events out on roads. People don't want events out on roads. The public don't like it. There's crashes and people who crash sue, sue their event organizers or sue the police for having a crash. And, you know, all these things increase the insurance, increase the costs, increase the liability and event organizers become less excited about running cycling races. Okay. Well, that's frustrating and disappointing to hear, but understandable. You mentioned as well about, you know, cycling struggling at a club level. I've certainly seen that. I remember like going back to even 2018 when I was leaving Melbourne and moving to the Sunshine Coast and there was the Tuesday nights at Sandown in Melbourne hosted by Caulfield Carnegie. I remember for years A grade, B grade, C grade, you know, they had 60 to 80 riders. It was jam packed every Tuesday. And then once, I don't know what it was, but it was around 2018. Those numbers just started to dwindle down to 30 to 40, 20 to 30. And it's like, what's going on? And I remember it's like, seeing it with my own eyes. And it just seems to have dwindled ever since. And obviously COVID hit, which probably didn't help. But what do you think it is? Obviously you've got your hand on the pulse here at that kind of club level and even at a race level, know, like domestic racing external to like national road series going back that long. So like tour of bright numbers were diminishing as well. do you have any, I know you're probably speculating, but any thoughts as to what it is? Yeah, I've got theories. Shoot. Look, I think we're seeing now a generation of riders that came through the, everyone gets a ribbon generation, you know? So competition was looked at a bit differently when these kids were growing up than when I was growing up. And I feel like they battle a lot with turning up to a race and not winning and what that psychological effect on them. Matt Wilson (08:21.838) I don't know, but there's definitely not an appetite to put themselves out there and just race and just race for racers sake. I mean, the Nusa Criterium was on two weeks ago. It's still probably the richest race in Australia. was $5,000 first prize f

    33 min

  7. 10/23/2025

    Pacing a Fondo Like a Pro: Strategy, Fuel, and On-the-Day Decisions

    In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with Head Coach Ryan Thomas to break down how to pace a Gran Fondo—from the night-before plan to the final sprint. Fresh off a grass-podium at the World Fondo Championships, Ryan shares the exact playbook he used on a course that opened with a 10 km climb, featured brutal crosswinds, and finished fast along the coast. You'll learn how to organise your race day (start-time math, breakfast timing, warm-up activations, clothing), how to read the course and wind to conserve energy, and how to choose the right effort on long climbs so you don't detonate before the finish. What we cover: Race-day setup: When to eat, what a practical warm-up looks like (incl. 30s high-cadence activations), and why start-line position matters. Climb pacing 101: Use lap-average power vs. your recent bests; ride ~90–100% of threshold on long openers; when to hold wheels vs. let them go. Wind & terrain tactics: Headwind climbs = sit in; tailwind climbs = expect selections; how to handle spiky "over/under" climbs and when to save bullets. Group dynamics: Solo chase or wait? Simple rules to avoid burning matches you'll need later. Heart rate in context: When HR helps (and when it messes with your head). Downhill & crosswind safety: Line choice, spacing, and staying within your limits on sketchy descents. Fuel & hydration: Real-world targets Ryan used (~100–120 g carb/hr), bottle strategy for 3+ hours, caffeine timing, and what to carry (and what he didn't). Gear notes: Gearing, tyre choice/pressures, and wheel depth for windy days. If you've got a Fondo on the calendar and want to turn fitness into a result, this episode gives you the pacing blueprint to ride smarter, conserve energy, and finish stronger. — Work with RCA: Want a coach to map your course, pacing, and nutrition for your next Fondo? Visit roadcyclingacademy.com → Hire a Coach (monthly or weekly options). Prefer structure without full coaching? Check out our 12-Week Custom Plan.   Cam Nicholls (00:00.088) Welcome back to the RCA podcast where today I'm joined by the RCA's head coach, Ryan Thomas. And we've got a bit of a series running here. The World Fondo Championships were recently in Australia. Ryan participated. He had a great result, grass podium fourth on eight hours training per week. If you didn't hear that podcast, check out the previous podcast where we talked about Ryan's training. But in this podcast, I wanted to specifically talk about your pacing and generally how you would pace or organize, prepare for a Fondo event. And for this one, Ryan, we had a few questions come through on, we've got a community forum, if you're a member of the RCA, and some of our members posed some questions. They saw your amazing result and they're like, oh, hang on a sec, I've got some questions for Ryan. So we're gonna go through those today, The first one. that I want to pose from one of our members. And it's kind of a big and broad question. So I'll let you answer it the way you want to answer it is like, how did you organize the race or the Fondo? Yeah, yeah, thanks, Kim. Organization for the race is kind of thinking about start time, warm up, nutrition, clothing, all that sort of stuff in my mind. So the start time for me was around 7.15. So I worked backwards from that time in terms of organizing myself from the race and think about the day before, car bloating, eating, eating a lot of carbs, a lot of pasta and rice. But on the event day, Usually you want to eat your main breakfast around two and a half hours, three hours before. So I was up at 4.50, had some breakfast. then I knew this event in particular was a very hard start. So preparing for the race and organizing myself for that was wanting to be warm and doing a good warmup before. So it was 17K in from our accommodation. So we rode in. Ryan Thomas (02:09.614) Um, we wrote in, was a nice warm day. So didn't really have to worry too much about that. Um, unreal sunrise, just as a side note, it was probably one of the nicest sunrise I've ever seen. Um, on the ride in, which was nice start to the day, but can I nice. can I just pull you back on one question? So you got up at 4.50 to eat. So you could eat roughly, you know, two hours before the event. And this can vary for people depending on the event. Like obviously, you know, if your event starts at six, you know, you know, do you want to get up at 3.30 or four? Probably not. But then what does your event look like if your events may be going to start with, you know, like For example, I did the Grafton to Inverrell earlier this year and that was an early start, but I knew because it was such a long event and the first part of the ride was relatively flat, there wasn't gonna be a lot of hard riding. So I could eat closer to the start time. So that one's a bit of a tricky one. And according to the science, you wanna eat three to four hours beforehand, which is just not practical in many ways. You gotta do what's practical, but you gave it roughly two hours. How many? And once again, you know, this is a really important one for a Fondo event to make sure you get enough fuel the day before you mentioned carb loading, but also the morning of. The science says one to four grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight for your main sort of breakfast before an event. And your 70 kilos, Ryan, roughly, do you know how many carbs you had for your brekkie? not exactly. I'm not a big, big number carb counter for meals. I do go racing, but I had, knew roughly roughly what I needed. I just kind of my normal, my normal breakfast is like two pieces of white toast with a bit of peanut butter and honey or something simple like that. So I just added another piece. So I didn't want to throw my stomach out of whack too much. And there's a three hour events on you. didn't need to Ryan Thomas (04:14.542) smash a lot of carbs. Yeah. Just from experience, but I had three pieces of toast with the butter and a lot of honey. I reckon I had around a hundred. That's probably around a hundred grams of carbs for that. And then I had 40 grams of carbs in my bottle on the writing. So got right pre pre event. had around 140. So two, two grams per kilogram. Okay. Yeah. And so you're riding in beautiful sunset, 7K warm up. Are you doing any activations as part of that warm up? an activation is where if you're warming up, it's sort of like a zone one, zone two sort of spin. know, an activation is going sort of beyond that more up into your threshold territory and beyond to sort of prime you, prime the muscles in a polite way before it becomes very unpolite in the event. Yeah, yeah, I did actually. I did two, two activations. I didn't time them. didn't lap them. I just kind of went off by feel, but usually the activations that work for me are like 30 seconds seated, build to a high cadence, hard effort. So probably like over 500 Watts for 500 Watts for me for 30 seconds. So I just stay seated, find a good spot on the, on the ride in and just pedal in the same gear as almost as hard as I can for 30 seconds. end up doing like 130, 140 RPM by the end of it. So that really works for me as an activation effort that doesn't fatigue at all because it's just, it's 30 seconds twice. So I just did that on the way in pretty close to the, pretty close to the start. And it was an awkward one because a few guys I was writing in with didn't do anything because this is like organization for the race is that we had a hundred and closer to hundred starters in our event. you want to get there early to line up. you're not sliding up 200s. Um, we got there around half an hour before start time and we were 150th on the line. So we're well, well, well back. Um, so I was kind of glad that I did the activations because you do your warmup for 30, 40 minutes and then you sit there for half an hour before you have to go again. Um, those activations, I think I felt fine at the start. Um, I don't know what everyone else felt like or what everyone else did, but Ryan Thomas (06:32.566) In my mind and everyone else who I told for the event was get a good 20 to 30 minutes. If you're to line up half an hour before you need a good warmup and a couple of activations to make sure when you get into that climb, your heart rate doesn't go to a, go to a peak within the first kilometer. Cause that'll you'll feel pretty average doing that. So that was kind of the strategy that half an hour before was you can get, build those nerves up a lot and they could, could tell the people around me were like getting real nervous and Everyone was getting anxious and like old bikes and going to the toilet and everyone was getting real anxious, but I was, I was quite relaxed and just, just trying to enjoy the moment and taking videos and texting and just like trying to calm myself before that half an hour, before the stock on went off. Cause it was going to be quite a spicy start. Yeah, okay. So talk me through, you know, the strategy and what transpired for the first effort. Because like any Fondo, you've got to look at, how long is it going to be, you know, and then, you know, how many efforts are involved and what are the efforts look like? Are the efforts, you know, like a, is it a sharp climb that goes for three minutes? Well, that's going to be a VO2 max effort. Is it going to be a long climb? for 30 minutes or an hour, whether that's going to be a tempo effort or a sweet spot effort or maybe a threshold effort. So can you just tell us before the gun went off, maybe talk us through what was required for this particular event? Yeah, so it's quite interesting in terms of demand. So it's literally five to 800 meters, I can't remember exactly. From start to the base of a 10 kilometer climb. So flat for 800 meters and you straight up a 10 kilometer climb, which I had done the event before. So I kind of knew the demands really well. So in my hea

    42 min

  8. 10/23/2025

    How to Achieve World-Class Results on Just 8 Hours of Training Per Week

    In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with RCA Head Coach Ryan Thomas to unpack how Ryan managed to secure a top-5 finish at the Men's Fondo World Cycling Championships—while averaging only 8 hours of training per week. Ryan opens up about balancing full-time coaching, family life with a young child, and the constant setbacks of illness earlier in the year. Despite the challenges, he pieced together a 12-week block of smart, targeted training that pushed his threshold power back up, sharpened his VO₂ max, and prepared him for the critical climbs on race day. From the structure of his weekly sessions—VO₂ on-offs, threshold climbs, and tempo bursts—to the importance of communication with family, racing bunch rides for "real world" intensity, and carving out just one long ride each weekend, Ryan proves that you don't need pro-level hours to perform at a high level. Whether you're a busy parent, full-time professional, or just looking to maximise your limited training time, this conversation is packed with practical takeaways to help you get fitter, faster, and more consistent on the bike. Coaching with the RCA; https://roadcyclingacademy.com/one-to-one-coaching/  Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:00.034) Welcome back to the RCA podcast where today I am joined by RCA head coach, Ryan Thomas. And I've asked Ryan for this podcast because I'm impressed, Ryan. You've done over the last 12 weeks averaged eight hours of training time per week, which is not a lot. You've gone down to Lawn, Victoria, Australia and participated in the World Fondo Championships and completed a road race, was 130 kilometers, it? Yep, 130 kilometers in length on eight hours training per week and you're finished fourth or what you call a grass podium, which is bittersweet as you said previously, but it's an amazing result. And I think, you know, given the dynamic of, yeah, obviously you've got natural talent, but eight hours is still not a lot of time. And I believe... Yes. Cam Nicholls (00:55.822) knowing how you coach, you've obviously coached me before, you're the head coach at the RCA, you do it for a living. Your training is very effective, you're very smart with your training on your limited training time. So I wanted to go into detail on what you've been doing training wise over the last 12 weeks. And I know you've pulled up your training peaks there so we can be quite specific. Before we sort of start at that 12, you know, going back 12 week mark. Can you give the listeners a bit of an idea on your age, the age group you are participating in, and just your personal dynamic at home, like what you're, you know, because it's not, you're not single. Yeah, you've got a fair bit going on, like a lot of people do. So, yeah, give us a little bit of a background on that. And then once you've done that, what you were doing, like before the 12 weeks started, because it's not like you've come off I just want to make sure people realize it's not like you were doing big K's at the start of the year and you've had this huge base engine going in. It's more like you've been fighting gastro bugs and all sorts of stuff. yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself and your age group. I've been down a lot. Ryan Thomas (02:07.746) Yeah, so I'm 30 years old. I have a wife and a young son who's almost 18 months now. So that's 12 to 18 months. Anyone who has kids is quite challenging. They're growing and learning a lot and need a lot of attention. So, and hasn't always been in daycare. So I'm looking after him some days. So dynamic at home is quite busy along with. Yeah, work being a full time coach at the RCA is takes takes a lot of hours as well. So trying to fit training around that I would just think about me as any other person with, so I'd say a semi flexible job. But working working full time with a young kid and wife and all the social stuff going on is, yeah, it's a hard balance. But yeah, I think a lot of people have have a very similar experience, especially a lot of members, members in the RCA. So It was a challenge and. Absolutely. Can I just before you move on, also confirm that your wife works as well. And the little one has been in and out of gastro. Wish you could call it gastro, couldn't you? Daycare. Yeah. little bit. And I know I kind of get out the popcorn. I'm a bit of a narcissist when it comes to this. Not narcissist. What's the word? Massacacist or something like that. When I see other people suffering when they're having a young kid because Yes. Cam Nicholls (03:34.452) I reckon I had gastro 40 times between the ages of 30 and 40 while my kids were going through daycare to kids. And I was just always sick and it was always disrupting my cycling. And I know that you've had to face a fair bit of that this year as well. Yeah, well, was so much so at the start of the year, we pulled him out of well, mid a couple months into the year, we pulled him out of the daycare he was in, because it was so bad. And we removed him. So he was he was out of daycare for a few months there, which was even more challenging on training. And that's where that was before the 12 weeks, thankfully, before this, because it kind of locked in at that moment. But before that, it was even more juggling, because yeah, I was having to look after him share the share the dad and mom load between us and when we weren't working, one of us was looking after him. but just before that 12 weeks sort of kicked in, then he was back in a daycare and the new daycare, fingers crossed has been unreal. I haven't actually been sick since, so that might rub you the wrong way, but. Now you've said it, you'll get sick next week. Just touch some wood. So what were you doing, like just at a high level, don't spend too much time here, but like what were you doing before the 12 week block started? Uh, yeah. So while the start of the year from like two or down under was a like, would go back to then, because it's kind of when I started thinking about this really, it was like, it's going to be 10 months of 10 months of training. And I was like, I'll use two or down under the set a bit of a base. And then all the sickness happened. All of it got it all. Um, so March was pretty much no writing. Like I've looked at my training pigs performance management chart now. And it was, yeah, I was down to 30 CTL. Um, Ryan Thomas (05:22.99) by April, is very, very little, basically not writing at all. And then the next few months was very similar. I was just in and out, in and out, in and out, sick, not sick, just trying to maintain, keep a little bit of fitness. And then around sort of June, that was kind of the period where it all eased up for us at home. So I could start a locked in consistently. And I was in my head, I was like four months, I need to. This is it. And my wife was really supportive and she knew that I was going to go and do this event and I'd. Pined a lot like investing quite a bit of money to get down there. It's not cheap. So it was like four months. I'm going to try and train when I can and get up early and do those sorts of things. for a month or two, my mindset was I need to ride four to four days a week minimum. So that was kind of like my base. If you want to call it base, I wanted to do four rides a week minimum, which wasn't happening. the few months before that four rides a week and yeah, focus around that low end energy system, do some tempo, do try and build a bit of threshold because I knew I needed to get my threshold high. So I looked at, knew the cause cause I'd done it the year before. So kind of knew where I needed to be and what I need, what sort of power I needed to be doing. And in my head, my first, my first mindset was get my threshold up. So I need my threshold to be back at pretty close to where it has been previously. in order to put the layers on top of that in the final six to eight weeks. I like just to go back on something that you said. You spoke to your wife or your partner and you said, you're going to do this event. It was important to you. I don't know if you said that, it sounded like you. Yeah, you're kind of assumed and that you were going to be focused on it. And I think that's really important because I think a lot of people, I've been guilty of this in the past, particularly going back Ryan Thomas (07:10.926) We did. Cam Nicholls (07:22.958) into my, you when I first started racing my early thirties, you just, you know, you don't set those expectations and it's all a bit of a burden and it's a bit of the unknown. and, you know, I think as well, specifically, if you're only targeting one or two events a year, which I think is a really good way to do it when you're busy with a family, you've got, you know, two, one to two, three to four month blocks in the year. And then the rest of the time you kind of just. do whatever and you're not so focused on it. But if you're doing it like that and you sit down with your partner and you express the importance of it, then they're on board as well. And there's no guilt when you're doing it. Everyone's aligned and obviously you step up to the plate in other areas. And I used to do the same as well. But I think just it's all comes back to communication, communicating. I even now do it with my family. I'm like, I'm training for Grafton in Varela side of the year everyone, just so you know, I'm gonna. but be a little bit more fatigued and tired, maybe grumpy at times. Although I feel probably for that event. So I wasn't grumpy. surprisingly that, you know, the afternoon grumps on, after you've done a five hour ride on a Saturday. but like, I, I don't just tell my partner, I tell my kids who are now old enough to absorb it. I'll tell my parents. and that's pretty much those who are close to me, just so they all know that the next three months are important training wise. And yeah, that, you know, there's the, once you've, once you've sort of like

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Interviews with top performing cyclists and industry experts in the fields of coaching, advanced training techniques, and human physiology. The purpose of this podcast is to learn and understand what makes high performing individuals tick, digging deep into their ingredients to success both on and off the bike.

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