Road Cycling Academy Podcast

Ryan Thomas & Cam Nicholls
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Sports
  • Updated Monthly

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. Aug 26

    How Much Strength Training Do Cyclists Actually Need?

    Summary: How much strength training do cyclists actually need, and could doing too much in the gym be interfering with your riding? For recreational and amateur cyclists balancing training with work, family and limited time, strength training can easily become overcomplicated. Long gym sessions with multiple exercises, sets and repetitions may create unnecessary fatigue, making it harder to complete the cycling sessions that actually matter. In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA head coach Ryan Thomas to discuss a simpler approach to strength training for cyclists and how a minimum effective dose can make gym work easier to maintain alongside riding. Drawing on recommendations from RCA strength coach Dr Aaron Turner and the research discussed in his previous RCA content, Cam explains an approach based around accumulating approximately 16 to 30 lower-body repetitions at a sufficiently heavy load. In practical terms, that could be as simple as two sets of five repetitions across two lower-body exercises, giving a cyclist 20 quality repetitions without turning the gym session into an hour-long workout. Cam also shares his own experience of doing considerably more gym work, including squats, single-leg press and alternating lunges, only to find that the additional volume was creating fatigue that interfered with his cycling training. As he moved from an off-season phase into preparation for Masters Nationals, he reduced his strength training to one maintenance session per week and simplified the workload. The result, he says, has been less soreness and fatigue while maintaining his strength. Cam and Ryan also discuss where gym sessions can sit within a cycling week, including the option of placing strength work later on the same day as a hard ride so that easy days can remain genuinely easy. The conversation isn't only about cycling performance. They also discuss resistance training and bone mineral density, and why cyclists may have reasons beyond power and durability to include some form of strength work in their routine. In this episode: Why cyclists often overcomplicate strength training How much lower-body strength work cyclists may actually need The 16 to 30 repetition range discussed by Cam Why the working weight still needs to be sufficiently heavy Two sets of five repetitions across two exercises Why more gym volume can create unnecessary cycling fatigue Delayed onset muscle soreness after strength training Building strength in the off-season versus maintaining it during the season Why Cam reduced his gym training to once per week Maintaining strength with a lower training volume How long a simple strength session can take Why technical exercises should come earlier in a gym session Rest periods between heavy strength sets Combining gym work and hard cycling on the same day Why Cam reduces the weight when lifting after a hard ride How simplifying gym sessions can improve consistency Balancing cycling, strength training, work and family Why cyclists don't necessarily need a gym membership to do resistance training Strength training and bone mineral density for cyclists Why doing something can be better than abandoning strength work because the ideal session isn't practical The practical takeaway is that strength training doesn't necessarily need to involve long, complicated gym sessions. For cyclists whose main priority is riding, Cam and Ryan's discussion points towards keeping the strength work focused, managing the fatigue it creates and finding an approach simple enough to perform consistently. Road Cycling Academy helps recreational and amateur cyclists train smarter, improve their performance and get more from the limited training time they have available. Weight Training for Cyclists RCA's Strength Training for Cyclists program provides structured off-bike strength training specifically for road cyclists. #CyclingTraining #StrengthTraining #StrengthTrainingForCyclists #WeightTraining #RoadCycling #CyclingPerformance #CyclingStrength #CyclingFitness #AmateurCycling #RoadCyclingAcademy Transcript: Cam Nicholls (00:02) Welcome to the RCA podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. Today I'm joined by the RCA's head coach, Ryan Thomas, and today we're going to talk about a simple approach to strength training, the gym, because I feel like, I mean, I don't coach anyone anymore, Ryan, you coach a lot of people, but just from speaking to people before they jump on board, that people overcomplicate the gym and, you know, it becomes all too difficult and then they don't do it and then they're missing out on the gains. Would that be fair to say? What's your experiences? Ryan Thomas (00:58) Yeah, I would agree. It's a conversation every time you talk to a new athlete. What are you doing in the gym? And usually it's, I'm doing these 10 workouts, I'm trying to do this amount of time in there and this, and I just say, okay, just break it down, make it simple for me. What are you doing? How many times a week are you going and what's your sets and reps and what's your main exercises? Try to simplify it. Cam Nicholls (01:21) Yeah, and I think people do overcomplicate it quite a lot. I've been guilty of this myself and once you start doing a bit too much, which I think is instinct for a lot of recreational and amateurs. I've only recently finally listened to Aaron Turner, the RCA strength coach, and gone, watch that video again, which we'll link up there. We're going to reference today, and gone, actually, this is a game changer. So essentially what we're talking about here, and this is based off the research, right? Rather than thinking about all these technical exercises you need to do and lots of sets and reps, the bare minimum dose, according to the research that you need to achieve, assuming you're already, you've done some gym before, right? You're conditioned. You're not going to go in and just do this out of nowhere, right? You need some conditioning in the gym first. Let me just preface this. All you need to achieve to obtain the 5% improvement in cycling, threshold, neuromuscular power, durability is the big one. You need to accumulate somewhere between 16 to 30 repetitions on your lower body, which is your legs, right? 16 to 30 reps. With the slight caveat, it needs to be at a minimum of 80% of your one-repetition max, which in layman's terms means you need to work out how many reps you can do up to eight and you're failing at eight. That's your 80% of one-rep max. Bit of a mouthful, that one. You need to work that out, but you don't go to eight. You normally just go four to five. Let's just say for the purpose of this video, five. So if you only need to achieve 16 to 30 repetitions on your lower body to achieve the strength gains or strength maintenance, to achieve bigger threshold, bigger neuromuscular power, more durability, in simple terms, that's two sets of five reps on one exercise and then two sets of five reps on another exercise. Ryan Thomas (03:42) It's not much, is it? Cam Nicholls (03:44) It's not. And you've achieved 20. Now, you could do a little bit more. You could do a little bit less, but you're still getting in that minimum dose range to achieve outcomes. Now, from when you speak to recreationals, are they doing their gym sessions like this? Ryan Thomas (03:44) No, it's way more than that. Cam Nicholls (03:44) Way more. Ryan Thomas (03:44) Way more. Cam Nicholls (03:44) Yeah. And the problem with doing way more is, yes, and this is according to research, you may get bigger gains, right? But more means more fatigue, means more delayed onset muscle soreness, and typically means that there can be somewhere between one to three days post-gym exercise where you're carrying fatigue or you're affected by the gym session if you're doing too much. Three days in a week, if you're doing intense training, two to three intense sessions a week. Ryan Thomas (03:44) Yeah, two to three. Cam Nicholls (03:44) It's going to impact your cycling. If cycling is your goal, it's going to impact your cycling. I was doing this. I was guilty of this, right? I was going to the gym twice a week up until recently because I was having a bit of an off-season, and that's typically the protocol, right? During an off-season phase, you want to go to the gym twice a week to build strength, and then when you go into an on-season phase, so I'm now training for Masters Nationals, we go for one session per week, one gym session, which is a maintenance session. And according to the research, we'll link to it below, you can maintain the same level of strength that you've developed in that off-season phase for up to 13 weeks by just going once per week. But what was I stupidly doing? I was doing three sets of, I was doing squats, I was doing single-leg press, and I was doing alternating lunges, three sets of five on each. So that's a lot of repetitions there, well and truly more than the 16 to 30. And I've kept that going now. Well, I did, and what happened? I was experiencing too much fatigue relative to what I needed to reserve for my cycling training, because now I've upped my training to two to three times per week. So in the last couple of weeks, I went back and watched Aaron's video, and I'm now aiming for that rep range, normally around 20 reps. And all it takes, unless you're accessorising with abs and some upper-body stuff, literally takes 20 to 25 minutes in the gym. Ryan Thomas (06:30) Yeah, probably less. Cam Nicholls (06:30) Probably less. Yeah.

  2. Aug 26

    The Most Important Cycling Graph You're Probably Ignoring

    Summary: Do you know your best five-second, one-minute or five-minute power, or are you basing almost all of your cycling training around FTP? For many recreational and amateur cyclists, FTP becomes the number used to set training zones and measure progress. But one number can't necessarily tell you where your strengths and weaknesses sit across everything from a short sprint to a sustained effort. In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA head coach Ryan Thomas to discuss the cycling peak power curve and why Ryan considers it one of the first things worth examining when assessing a cyclist. Using a power meter and platforms such as TrainingPeaks, cyclists can look at their best power across durations ranging from a few seconds through to longer sustained efforts. Ryan explains how those numbers help build a picture of the rider's physiology and why simply relying on an estimated FTP can sometimes lead to inappropriate training intensities. A major issue is whether the data actually contains maximal efforts. A cyclist who mostly completes structured workouts in ERG mode, for example, may never have produced a genuine all-out five-second sprint, one-minute effort or five-minute effort. In that situation, a model trying to estimate fitness from existing ride data may be working with an incomplete power curve. Cam and Ryan discuss how critical power testing can provide a more useful picture without requiring cyclists to test every individual duration. Ryan explains the RCA approach, including a 10-second sprint, a three-minute maximal effort and a longer 12-minute effort, and why shorter and longer efforts can be used to help model critical power. They also discuss why two cyclists with a similar threshold may need very different VO2 training prescriptions. One rider may have considerably more capacity above threshold than another, meaning a standard workout based purely on a percentage of FTP may be too easy for one cyclist and unsustainable for another. Ryan also introduces W prime as another useful, although not perfectly precise, way of thinking about a cyclist's capacity to repeatedly work above critical power. In this episode: What a cycling peak power curve actually shows Why Ryan looks at the power curve when assessing a cyclist Five-second, one-minute, five-minute and longer-duration power Why FTP doesn't describe every aspect of cycling performance Why you need a power meter to build a meaningful power curve How racing and bunch rides can produce different power data from structured workouts Why ERG mode may leave gaps in your peak power data How to tell whether your existing power curve is representative Why you don't need to test every point on the curve individually How critical power testing works RCA's 10-second sprint and three-minute maximal test Why Ryan uses a longer 12-minute effort When a five-minute maximal effort can provide additional information Why estimated or modelled FTP can sometimes be misleading How incorrect threshold settings affect your training zones Why VO2 power can differ substantially between riders with similar thresholds Why fixed percentages of FTP don't suit every cyclist What W prime can tell you about work above critical power How TrainingPeaks and Strava can help you examine your power data Why tracking more than FTP can provide additional ways to measure progress For recreational cyclists, the practical takeaway isn't that FTP has no value. It's that FTP is only part of the picture. Understanding how your power changes across different durations can help identify strengths and weaknesses, make training targets more appropriate and give you additional ways to recognise progress. Road Cycling Academy helps recreational and amateur cyclists train smarter, improve their performance and get more from the limited training time they have available. One-to-One Cycling Coaching For cyclists who want ongoing, personalised guidance, RCA coaching can help interpret individual strengths and weaknesses and use that information to make training more specific to the rider. #CyclingTraining #CyclingPower #PowerMeter #FTP #CriticalPower #VO2Max #TrainingPeaks #CyclingPerformance #RoadCycling #RoadCyclingAcademy Transcript: Cam Nicholls (00:02) Welcome to the RCA podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. Today I'm joined by the RCA's head coach, Ryan Thomas, and today we're going to be talking about, we believe, the most important graph for any cyclist, definitely more important than FTP. And I think, well, you would know because you coach a lot of people, that not many people know what this is, or they don't spend a lot of time looking at it when it tells them a lot. So much. If you're a rider wanting to be better, you should know this, shouldn't you? Ryan Thomas (00:58) 100%. Yeah. The context, we onboard members all the time doing off-the-shelf programs. And first thing I would go into is the TrainingPeaks dashboard. I'll go in and I'll look at the peak power chart and I'll say, oh yeah, looks good. Compare it to this year versus last year, and then go in and look at threshold and see if threshold's right. Measure it, like see the zones. But the first thing is look at the peak power chart. Cam Nicholls (01:21) Okay. So for those out there that don't know what a peak power chart is, I know we're going to go into a fair bit more detail here, but just at a high level, like what is it? Ryan Thomas (01:30) It's essentially, you can choose the date range, but it's... Cam Nicholls (01:30) You need a power meter. Ryan Thomas (01:30) You need a power meter. And it's the, in TrainingPeaks, it's the peak powers that you have produced across their ranges. So five seconds, 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 20 seconds. And it's not every, it's not very specific. It's like one minute, five minutes, six minutes, 10 minutes, 12 minutes, 20 minutes, 60 minutes. It essentially plots a curve based on your... Cam Nicholls (01:30) Does it go all the way out to two or three hours if you want? Ryan Thomas (01:30) Yeah, it goes, yeah. That part of the curve is probably not as important. It's more the under 60 minutes that's the critical one as it defines the physiology of the rider type. But yeah, it's super important if you want to know, you will know what type of rider you are, but as a coach or someone looking into it, or you don't know what your peak five-minute power is, how do you do a five-minute effort, for example, or a 20-minute? You don't know what that number is. A lot of people will know those two, five and 20, but what's your one-minute or your 30-second or three minutes, for example? It's very specific to what type of rider you are. Cam Nicholls (02:34) So that's a good segue. Well, why bother understanding your numbers across those segments? Essentially they... If you're a recreational amateur, and you sit out there and you're watching this video and you're like, no, I'm not going to bother because it's too much hard work. I've got to go do all these tests. I don't need to figure this out. What would you say to that person? Ryan Thomas (02:57) I'd say you're not training the right areas if you don't know what your peak powers are across those curves. It depends on what type of rider you are, whether you're a rider that trains or you're a rider that does bunch rides, racing, two very different people in terms of what that curve looks like. A rider that just trains, let's say, I'll just pull a generic one out, someone who does AI programs or chooses a program online, and they just do specific workouts. They're never going all out. Cam Nicholls (03:27) Zwift workouts is a very popular one. Ryan Thomas (03:29) Zwift workouts. They just go on and choose a workout. It's in ERG mode, never going all out. You're not doing racing. That power curve is not going to represent the rider type you are because you've never done a five-second sprint, or you've never done a one-minute, five-minute all-out effort. Cam Nicholls (03:42) You might've done one 10 years ago. Ryan Thomas (03:47) Or five years ago, but not racing. It's not representative of the rider you are today. Someone who's racing or doing bunch rides, they're going all out for certain durations, might have a better idea in that curve. More often than not, people who are coming to the RCA, I'll look at the curve and I'm like, your threshold setting's 250, but the highest power you've ever done for 20 minutes is 200. Why is your threshold at 250 watts? That's an example, even if you're doing one-minute efforts. What's your one-minute peak power? I don't know. What do you do on these efforts? Cam Nicholls (04:20) In order for somebody to understand their peak powers, if they haven't really done this before, and they want to go, I want to get a little bit more accurate with my training, and I want to understand what rider type that I am. Am I actually, I think I'm better at VO2 than threshold, but I don't really test it. Would you recommend that they spend a week going out and doing an all-out five-second, then a 10-second, and then a one-minute, and then a three-minute, and then just following the TrainingPeaks cycle? Because I know some people might have this information. I mean, you would know better than me. What percentage of people, recreationals, come to you and you look at their data, they've never done structured training before. They're about to start. You look at their peak powers. You're like, okay, you've got a good picture there. Ryan Thomas (05:03) One to 2%. Cam Nic

  3. Aug 24

    Why More Group Rides Won't Make You Faster (Incl: latest 2026 Research)

    Summary: Why can you keep doing the same group ride every week and still get dropped in exactly the same place? For recreational and amateur cyclists, simply doing more group rides can improve fitness and experience, but it may not address the specific weakness that's causing you to lose the wheel when the pace suddenly increases. In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA head coach Ryan Thomas to discuss training specificity and what amateur cyclists can learn from research examining how professional riders train for the different demands they face during stages of the Vuelta. The research looked at power distribution across sprinters, all-rounders and climbers on flat, semi-mountainous and mountainous stages. While the findings may not sound revolutionary, Ryan explains why they reinforce an important training principle: professional cyclists prepare for the specific demands they'll face in competition rather than relying on racing alone to make them better. Cam and Ryan bring that principle back to a much more familiar goal for amateur cyclists: keeping up with the local bunch ride. If you're repeatedly getting dropped when the group accelerates, simply returning to the same ride every week may not provide enough targeted training to improve the energy systems that are limiting you. Instead, Ryan explains why identifying where you're getting dropped and training that specific weakness can be more effective. They use RCA member Belle as a real-world example. After previously being dropped repeatedly on the local Boreen Point bunch ride, Belle became more consistent with her training and incorporated dedicated Zone 2 riding alongside specific sprint, anaerobic and VO2 work. Ryan explains that her five-second and one-minute power improved substantially, while Cam describes seeing the difference firsthand when Belle returned to the same group ride and was able to stay with the bunch and contribute turns. They also break down one of the sprint sessions used in her training: six seconds all-out, two minutes recovery, another six seconds all-out, two minutes recovery, then a 12-second sprint, repeated for two to three sets. The purpose isn't simply to sprint harder once. It's to develop maximum power and the ability to repeat those short, hard efforts that often determine whether you stay with the group when the pace changes. In this episode: What professional cycling research from the Vuelta tells us about training specificity How sprinters, climbers and GC riders face different demands during a race Why professional cyclists train specifically for their role Why doing more group rides isn't always enough to stop getting dropped How to identify the point in a bunch ride where your fitness is limiting you Why short, hard accelerations often decide whether you stay with the group The importance of five-second and one-minute power for group riding How Belle changed her training after repeatedly getting dropped Why consistent Zone 2 training still matters How sprint, anaerobic and VO2 work can complement group riding A six-second and 12-second repeatability sprint session Why sprint sessions should still be treated as intensity training How different rider types respond differently to sprint work Why specific training doesn't mean you need to stop doing your favourite group ride The practical takeaway is to look beyond simply doing more of the activity you're trying to improve. If you're consistently getting dropped at the same point in a group ride, identify what happens at that moment and train the specific demands involved. For many riders, that could mean adding targeted sprint, anaerobic or VO2 work around their existing riding rather than simply adding another bunch ride. Road Cycling Academy helps recreational and amateur cyclists train smarter, improve their performance and get more from the limited training time they have available. Research: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13179141/  Weight Training for Cyclists #CyclingTraining #RoadCycling #GroupRides #CyclingPerformance #SprintTraining #VO2Max #CyclingWorkouts #AmateurCycling #CyclingFitness #RoadCyclingAcademy Transcript: Cam Nicholls (00:02) Welcome to the RCA podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. Today I'm joined by the RCA's head coach, Ryan Thomas. And today we're going to be talking about some 2026 research that was published about how the, not Tour de France cyclists, but Vuelta professional cyclists train. And I sent this to Ryan and his initial thoughts were, I'm not sure this is going to blow anyone's mind. But I said, no, I think, Ryan, it actually reinforces something that we all know, but I think a lot of recreational and amateurs neglect a lot. And I've got some evidence through the comment section of YouTube to show everyone. And then an example of an RCA member who's recently demonstrated, like, how this type of training can really benefit the general recreational and amateur. So can you tell us a little bit about the research? Ryan Thomas (01:20) Yeah. So essentially they looked at professional riders. They looked at the distribution of power and intensity factor and average power across particular stages in the Vuelta, in the Tour of Spain, across rider type. So they looked at sprinters, all-round riders and climbers, and they looked at three different terrains. So flat, semi-mountainous and full mountainous stages. And they looked at what type, what rider type, how their power distribution was across each different stage. So essentially, if you're a mountain climber, you spend more time in the higher powers in the mountain stages. If you're a flat rider or a sprinter, then you spend a lot of time in those lower zones and then you'll spend a little time in those higher zones. So yeah, it's like, we all know that as a flat stage, it's going to be pretty easy for the climbers and then it's going to be really hard for the sprinters, and vice versa. For the climbing stages or the mountain stages, the GC riders or the climbers are going to spend a lot of time in that higher threshold, VO2 zone. And the sprinters in those types of stages are going to be in the lower-intensity, moderate-intensity zones. Cam Nicholls (02:31) Yeah. And if you're, like, I like how deep it went in terms of, like, if you're a domestique climber and you're there to support a GC rider, how does the stage look for you? Because you're not grinding threshold for four hours, are you? No. You're probably really aggressive out of the gate on the climb to pace and protect your GC rider. So it really went into the specifics of, you know, not just about the rider type, but what they expect to receive, or expect, on any given stage. Ryan Thomas (03:04) Yeah. And it helps them be able to train, right? Like, as a domestique, you know that I'd have to follow the breakaway for the first hour. So I need to be able to do accelerations. Then I'll settle down if I'm in the breakaway or if I'm in the group. And then my role is to get that rider, the GC rider, to the bottom of that climb through five minutes, as hard as you can, and then see you later. Cam Nicholls (03:21) See you later. Ryan Thomas (03:22) Pull the agenda. Cam Nicholls (03:22) In Zone 1. Yeah. Ryan Thomas (03:23) Zone 1 for the rest. Whereas GC rider, sit back, Zone 2, a couple of accelerations following breakaways, the surges in the group. But your main role is halfway, beyond halfway through the stage, whereas the first half of the stage is easy. So as a GC rider, you probably don't need to train that as much as what a breakaway specialist would. You go all out at the start, and then you need to be able to go all out at the end. So quite a different type of situation. Cam Nicholls (03:49) Yeah. So the pros obviously analyse this information and then they train accordingly. So what is this specifically, maybe I've, pardon the pun, what is this specifically called? Ryan Thomas (04:01) Yeah. Specificity. Cam Nicholls (04:03) Yeah, exactly. Which is not anything new. So I think it's actually been around for a very long time. But when I sent you this paper and I said, we should do a YouTube video on it, and you're like, oh, it's kind of like just validating or reinforcing something that we all know in the coaching circles. But I don't think many recreational and amateurs pay a lot of attention to it. Especially, and the example I'm going to use here is what a lot of amateur and recreationals want to achieve. They want to beat their mates in the local group ride, or they want to hang on to the local group ride, or they want to get from the B group to the A group or something along those group ride lines. There's always some type of goal. But then what do a lot of people end up doing? Ryan Thomas (04:47) Just more of that. Cam Nicholls (04:49) Just more group riding. In fact, there was a video we made recently about how you can actually improve your group riding through a specific workout. And we'll link to that at the top of the screen here. And one of the comments was like, just do more group riding. And there was a lot of people that liked that comment, which suggests to me that perhaps there's some naivety out there about, okay, if you're wanting to get good at something specific, like a local group ride, which is the example we're going to use, we shouldn't just be doing group rides. Why is that, Ryan? Ryan Thomas (05:23) Yeah, well, the example that I like to say is if I want to have a 400-watt threshold, I don't just go out and ride at 400 watts f

  4. Aug 18

    How Pro Cycling Teams Are Testing Durability (& What We Can Learn)

    Summary:  What is cycling durability, how do professional cycling teams measure it, and could it be more important than your FTP or VO2 max? In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA coach and exercise physiologist Ben Treble to unpack emerging research into one of cycling's hottest performance topics: durability and fatigue resistance. Fresh from the Science & Cycling Conference in Barcelona, Ben shares insights from unpublished data presented by Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, exploring how WorldTour teams are attempting to identify riders who can continue producing high power after thousands of kilojoules of work. Because having a big FTP or VO2 max is one thing. Being able to produce that power after several hard hours in the saddle is something very different. Ben explains how cycling durability can be measured by comparing fresh power with power produced after significant accumulated work, why elite riders can experience remarkably little power decay, and why some amateur cyclists may see substantially larger declines. We also explore an emerging metric involving four-minute torque, which Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe has investigated as a potential predictor of durability in younger elite riders. But does the same relationship exist in recreational and Masters cyclists? Ben has started analysing real-world data from Masters cyclists competing in UCI Gran Fondo events — and his preliminary findings don't necessarily match what is being seen in elite riders. In this episode: What does "durability" actually mean in cycling? Why FTP alone doesn't tell the whole performance story How professional cycling teams test fatigue resistance Fresh vs fatigued five-minute power Why accumulated kilojoules matter How much power cyclists lose after several hours of riding The difference between FTP, VO2 max and durability Why WorldTour teams are investing heavily in durability How durability is being used for talent identification What the "compound score" is Four-minute torque and its potential relationship with durability Unpublished insights from Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe Why elite cycling data may not translate directly to Masters cyclists Ben's preliminary analysis of Masters and UCI Gran Fondo riders What recreational cyclists can learn from the latest durability research If you've ever felt strong at the beginning of a ride but watched your power disappear after three or four hours, this episode explores the science behind why some cyclists maintain their performance better than others — and how researchers are trying to measure it. Ben is also looking for additional Masters/UCI Gran Fondo cyclists willing to contribute training and racing data to his ongoing analysis. 📧 Contact: ben@roadcyclingacademy.com 🌐 Road Cycling Academy: https://roadcyclingacademy.com Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.836) Welcome to the RCA podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists, and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster, and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, where today I'm joined by the RCA's science geek who's now based out of Switzerland, Ben Treble. And as per his nickname at the RCA, Ben has been at a cycling and science conference in Barcelona, and he's got some unpublished data from one of the world's biggest cycling teams, Tour de France teams, that he's going to share with us. So this is a bit of a an inside scoop. Are you allowed to share this info, Ben? Or like are we gonna get it in a bit of trouble here? They didn't say anything. Ben Treble (01:02.848) I didn't see the first like two minutes, so Okay. That was often my trick. I mean, if they gave us a and there's no NDA anyway. I'm not sharing photos of it, it's verbatim. Some of this I feel like let's just do it. Cam Nicholls (01:05.112) Yeah. Cam Nicholls (01:16.514) Okay. Good. Ben Treble (01:17.826) But hot topic, hey? it's on durability. Cam Nicholls (01:22.414) Okay, and which team are we talking about? Which Tour de France team? Ben Treble (01:25.696) Red Bull Bora Handscrow. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So David De Klerk from Red Bull, I think he's one of their performance managers. He may also be a coach, I can't remember. Sorry, David. he gave a very nice presentation in Barcelona on some of the work that they're doing with some metrics to measure say durability and and performance. Cam Nicholls (01:28.437) look at. Ben Treble (01:55.116) beyond the the standard metrics of say threshold and stuff. So this is actually very big business in the World Tours, which is we would bucket it under talent identification or talent ID. Why is this important? When you're a World Tour team, you have a budget and at some point you have a pipeline of riders and the performance of those riders or finding the next Tade Pogachar, that becomes one of your biggest goals. Can you find the next Tade Poggachar? And how do we know if a rider's going to be good in the future? How do we measure that? Cam Nicholls (02:28.29) Well what are the standard mechanisms for testing durability now? Because to me it's such a untangible because durability is the ability to produce, you know, high bouts of power essentially after long periods, long fatiguing periods in the saddle. So is is there a standard testing protocol? Because I guess, you know, what what we hear is, you know, often in articles on online is the twenty minute FTP test. But that's not a durability test. Ben Treble (03:01.344) You might argue in some cases that in part a threshold test. It could be a ramp test for FTP. It could be a multiple maximal efforts for critical power test. Ultimately those are testing your threshold, which still represents durability. How much power can you push for how long? Cam Nicholls (03:20.152) Twenty minutes, yeah. Ben Treble (03:21.44) It's still a a durable marker. But I think the difference is those things were always trying to measure, at least in my books, the gold standard threshold, which was metabolic, your lactate steady state, MLSS. Right. And this is very difficult to test well. So people come up with easy tests you can do from home that they found some correlation to MLSS that was actually really poor. And that's how we came up with FTP. That's my that's my nutshell history that scientists will debate forever. Cam Nicholls (03:55.352) So is there a gold standard dura durability test? Ben Treble (03:58.76) No. You know, it's been a hot topic for the last two, even three years at Science and Cycling Conference. And I don't think anybody has agreed on a single test that says this measures durability. There are multiple tests out there. Some of them are quite similar. I would say the most common type of testing to look at durability and assess it would be to do a ride where you deplete a certain amount of kilojoules. So let's say you have to deplete, I don't know, 2,000 kilojoules, 3000 kilojoules, 4,000 kilojoules. And then you have to do a maximal effort at the end. And they look at, let's say, let's just use five minute power, for example. They get you to do a fresh five minute power test. Like what is your best five minute power you can do in a fresh state? Then they go and do these, you know, depleted efforts. And then you have to try and do your best. How close to this five-minute fresh power can you get? And what is the percentage decay in this power? Now, different teams and different riders use different durations of this. So this is where we see differences in the Jubilee protocols and why there's not a single one necessarily. For GC riders, they might use a longer, they might use your 20-minute power. So you go do a 20-minute fresh test, you do a depleted ride. If you're a world tour writer, it's probably going to be even 4,000 kilojoules because that's closer to what you would have in, you know, a hard hilly stage. And then what is the decay in your power, your 20-minute power? And that is something they see. They talk about this in Tade Pogachar a lot. That's where he's different to a lot of other riders, right? His decay in like 20 it was quoted somewhere. His decay in his 20 minute power. After like four thousand kilojoules is only one percent. Cam Nicholls (05:56.738) Huh. Ben Treble (05:57.912) course. You and I are probably like minimal fifteen percent, twenty percent declines. Amateurs can be thirty plus percent decline in their power after doing only say two and a half thousand kilojoules, not four thousand. That is a very big difference. So that's probably the most common method of durability testing that I've seen across the conference and different teams and what's used. but I would say there is no single standard protocol There's big questions even around this protocol. So we don't have to go too far down this rabbit hole. But for example, when you do let's say you have to do three thousand kilojoul depletion, you can deplete three thousand kilojoules by doing, you know, five hours of zone two, or you could do it by doing high intensity efforts for one and a half hours. Cam Nicholls (06:47.676) Of course. Ben Treble (06:48.93) You know, doing a fresh versus a depleted, doing another twenty minute test at the end of high intensity intervals for two hours versus four hours of zone two, those are very different depletions that lead you into this. So this was a topic that was brought up by David in his presentation, as he said something they're working on is trying to find a way to standardize that depletion. But at the moment they predominantly use training data because it's too difficult to pull writers out and say, literally go do a 3,000 kilojoul depletion and do this effort. They typically get them to do a train

  5. Aug 12

    The Latest Science on Carbs for Cycling: How Much Do You Really Need?

    How many carbohydrates per hour do cyclists actually need — 60g, 90g, 120g or even 150g? Professional cyclists are consuming more carbohydrates than ever, with reports of Tour de France riders pushing towards 120–150+ grams of carbs per hour. But does more carbohydrate actually mean better performance — and should recreational and amateur cyclists be trying to copy the pros? In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA coach and resident science geek Ben Treble, fresh from the Science & Cycling Conference in Barcelona, to discuss emerging research into high-carbohydrate fuelling for cycling performance. Ben breaks down where the traditional 60–90g of carbohydrate per hour recommendation came from, how glucose and fructose are absorbed by the body, and what the latest research suggests happens when cyclists increase their intake to 120g or even 150g per hour. They also discuss why simply eating more isn't necessarily better, how professional cyclists periodise carbohydrate intake depending on the demands of each stage, and why gut training may be one of the biggest untapped performance opportunities for amateur cyclists. In this episode: 60g vs 90g vs 120g vs 150g of carbs per hour How much carbohydrate cyclists actually need Why 90g/hour became the standard recommendation Glucose vs fructose absorption explained Does 120g/hour improve cycling performance? Why 150g/hour may offer little additional benefit What Tour de France riders are really consuming How the pros periodise carbohydrate intake Gut training for cyclists Why amateur cyclists often eat less than they think How to gradually increase your carbohydrate intake Fuelling hard sessions vs easy Zone 2 rides When lower-carbohydrate or fasted training may still have a place How better fuelling can improve performance and recovery For most recreational cyclists, the goal isn't to immediately chase 120 or 150 grams per hour. As Ben explains, consistently reaching around 90g/hour during demanding sessions and events — after progressively training the gut to tolerate it — can already represent a significant opportunity for improved performance and recovery. Road Cycling Academy helps recreational and amateur cyclists train smarter, improve their performance and get more from the limited training time they have available. One-to-One Cycling Coaching: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/  12 Week Custom Plan: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/cycling-plan-custom/  #CyclingNutrition #CyclingTraining #Carbohydrates #CyclingPerformance #RoadCycling #CyclingPodcast #TourDeFrance #EnduranceCycling #SportsNutrition #CyclingScience Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.826) Welcome to the RCA Podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, where today I'm joined by the RCA's Science Geek based in Switzerland now, Ben Treble. And Ben has recently, as per his Science Geek nickname, been to a science conference in Barcelona. And he's been to a number of presentations, seen some research, which I believe is yet to be published. And we're going to dig into some of that. And it's relating to carbohydrate intake. Now, I know this is not new news, Ben. Is it taking more carbs to help you improve your cycling performance? So it's not so much about that. It's more about the level that we should be targeting now, which is therefore, I guess the research is becoming more specific to okay, is it ninety grams good enough? Is 120 grams good enough? Should we be looking at 150 grams? Like, where do we shut the door? I believe that's what it was relating to. Is that is that correct, Ben? Ben Treble (01:30.028) Yeah, it was looking at I mean, I think this is just a hot topic. It came up at another conference as well after Science and Cycling, which was at Barcelona. But I think an enormous amount of research in nutrition has only historically looked at, say, either zero, sixty or ninety. Ninety was for a long time considered the if you want to say the ceiling or like high carb intake. Now we have some research that looked at a hundred and twenty grams per hour. And I would say there is coming soon, there will be some published research on a hundred and fifty grams per hour as well. So hot press. What is the takeaway at the end of the day? You need to fuel it's very individualized for one. And two, you need to fuel for whatever your your efforts are. But I personally I wouldn't be at this stage anyway, thinking even Dreaming of a hundred and fifty grams per hour. Cam Nicholls (02:32.01) Okay. So what about let's back the bus up. So for a long time ninety was considered, you know, that's where we should be targeting for optimal performance per hour, ninety grams per hour, four R intense training sessions or four hours when we want to go go hard, whether it's a group ride, whether it's a fondole event or whatever it might be. And of course, if people are out there listening and th and it and thinking to themselves, Well, ninety just sounds ridiculous, or even sixty sounds ridiculous. and maybe this is a conversation for another day, but you know, don't start there. You've got to work your way towards it. But let's just say somebody's at ninety grams now, they've been training, they've worked their way up towards ninety grams per hour for the key sessions. Is there any science which says actually suggests that if you actually then worked your way from ninety to one hundred and twenty grams per hour? And then we can touch on one fifty shortly, is there much of a performance? benefit f to increasing from ninety to one hundred and twenty? Should I be looking at that, Ben, as I'm now training for Masters Nationals, starting to increase my carb intake? Yeah, am I going to benefit from one hundred and twenty? Ben Treble (03:39.584) If the duration and the intensity is high enough, these I think it's worthwhile if you have the capacity to do the gut training and your gut can handle it, at least to test if your gut can handle ninety to a hundred and twenty. I think the reality is that for a lot of people, to be honest, especially amateurs, they really struggle even just to do ninety. It's eating a lot of food. It's a lot of gels or a lot of bars or a lot of whatever combination you want to use. And that was also really clear. So there was a couple of presentations. There was one that was quite interesting from I don't know if they were, sorry, if they were a researcher, I can't remember the name, but they were from precision hydration. So take this as you will. There's obviously some commercial bias, but they have collected, went and collected over the last couple of years enormous levels of data on carbohydrate utilization across cycling events, triathlon events, like a bunch of endurance events and running events. And they compared age groups and genders on what were people actually managing to eat during these events. And for the most part, a large majority of people were in the like 40 to 80 grams per hour. Which tells me two things. One, people often think they eat eat more than they actually do in the event. Two, a lot of people struggle from an amateur point of view, and this in my coaching is something I've experienced. They struggle with gut issues and they struggle with the the logistics, like taking my hand off the handlebars to get gels out of my pocket to eat, and then it's a bumpy road or a descent, so then I'm not eating, or I drop the gel. Like these factors are impacting their ability to get 90 grams per hour, maybe more than anything else. So practicing eating on the bike is probably a big takeaway from this. But let's back this up. Where did the like 90, 60, 90 grams? come from. I think it's kind of important to just reestablish some of the basics. So I am now talking about we eat food. This predominantly what we're caring about here is the sugars, the carbohydrates. How do those sugars go from being in your gut to producing ATP or energy in the muscle? Right? Step one is they have to get absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream. The blood then transports the sugars to the working muscle group to to utilize. Ben Treble (06:04.166) For the sugar to be absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream, there are some things that are called transporters. And different sugar types have different transporters. So the SGLT1 transporter is the glucose transporter, and it has a ceiling. It's rate limited. This is biochemical math. It's around 60 grams per hour. So you can take in 200 grams of glucose if you want. Doesn't mean your body's Actually, going to absorb the 200 grams through the gut any faster. That's kind of this is still very solid science that has not changed. The second transporter we care about is the GLUT5 transporter. This was a big revelation in the science many years ago because we realized actually fructose, which is a a different type of sugar to glucose, has a different transporter. That means that if we take, for example, 60 grams of glucose, and we can now take, say, 30 grams of fructose, because it's going through a different transporter, we might be able to get more sugar into the bloodstream and to the muscle. So that's and there was typically thought to be around 30 grams per hour, was the limit of fructose. But that was more so due to the fact that's just the amount that the research papers picked in the first days, and it was also that's what The participants could tolerate without GI issues. Keep in mind in science world, you know, they're not necessarily bringing in gut-trained athletes. They're bringing in normal people who are not gut trained. So t

  6. Aug 4

    Tour de France Cooling Secrets: Should Amateur Cyclists Be Paying Attention?

    What can recreational cyclists learn from the cooling strategies used by the Tour de France peloton? In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA coach and exercise physiologist Ben Treble to unpack the science behind cooling strategies, heat acclimation, hydration and performance. With the 2026 Tour de France being one of the hottest on record, riders were seen using ice baths, cooling gloves, slushies and cold water immersion before stages. But do these strategies actually improve performance, and are they worth using for amateur cyclists? Ben explains the physiology of riding in hot conditions, why heat dramatically reduces cycling performance, and the evidence behind practical cooling methods that everyday riders can use before and during training and racing. Whether you're preparing for a gran fondo, summer road race, Zwift event or simply trying to survive hot weekend rides, this episode is packed with practical, science-backed advice. In this episode: Why the 2026 Tour de France put cooling strategies in the spotlight What happens to your body when you ride in hot conditions How heat affects power output, recovery and endurance performance Heat acclimation vs simply riding in hot weather Ice baths, cooling gloves and pre-cooling strategies explained Do Slurpees actually improve cycling performance? The truth about pouring water over yourself during rides Cooling vests, ice socks and cold towels Does menthol actually help? Practical cooling tips for recreational and Masters cyclists Common mistakes riders make when racing in the heat If you're looking to perform better in hot conditions, improve your endurance, or simply understand the science behind what the professionals are doing, this episode is for you. Learn more about Road Cycling Academy coaching: https://roadcyclingacademy.com Podcast Sponsor: https://onekloudx.com.au/  #cycling #cyclingtraining #tourdefrance #endurancetraining #heattraining #cyclingperformance #roadcycling #granfondo #masterscycling #hydration #cyclingpodcast   Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.826) Welcome to the RCA Podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, where today I am joined by the RCA's science geek based in Switzerland now, Ben Treble. And today we're going to go through well, I wanted to ask Ben about the Tour de France, actually, because it's just been and gone. And there was a lot of scenes of riders with their arms in icy water or arms and hands in icy water. And I was like, that's interesting. Cooling strategies, Ben. But does this like relate to, you know, everyone that's watching them, we're all recreational and amateurs at the end of the day. Like, should we be paying attention to this? Like, is it something that, you know, the mere mortal should be leaning into? Should we be dunking our arms and hands in ice before we go out for our rides? Ben Treble (01:13.91) I think you should pay attention to it, Cam. How feasible is it for an amateur to pull off the same strategy though, at a fondo race? Probably pretty limited. Cam Nicholls (01:24.43) True. So why should I be leaning into it? What does the science say about the cooling strategies? Especially when it's hot, of course. Like, you know, if you live in Canada and you're you're riding in the middle of winter, you're probably not gonna worry about it, are you? Ben Treble (01:37.706) No, not necessarily. You're probably worried about hypothermia instead. Yeah, look, I think the tour is a pretty special case this year. I'm over in Switzerland and we've we had some pretty severe heat waves even here for Switzerland, which you'd think as an Australian I would be pretty well well established to cope with, but it was I can tell you it was some of the hottest periods I've gone through. The two are I think I read this stat the other day. The two are averaged in the first two weeks thirty point eight degrees. Now, that may not sound super crazy, but to be an average for two weeks where every day is over thirty, the previous record was twenty-five point nine in twenty-two. That is enormous. Like to have a a two week average temperature to be four degrees higher than the last record. To me that's what stands out the most. Anyway, so it was an extremely hot start to the tour. In fact, the majority of the tour. Stage eight was hitting forty degrees. They cut stage nine short because of the extreme heat protocol from the UCI, which I think is a it's a good thing it's in place and it it worked and whatnot. Yeah, what else did we read that was pretty interesting before we get into the real physiology of it? Picnic post NL put up that they were going through twenty eight bottles per rider per stage, which was three times the normal number of bid-ons that they use. Cam Nicholls (03:12.704) Well, crazy. Ben Treble (03:14.902) So safe to say, I think why does this matter? Well, for the Aussies back home who listen to this, they're you probably used to the heat and probably already put in place a fair amount of attention to being able to ride in the heat safely. Maybe they already do some heat training potentially, or they at least think that riding in the heat is their heat training. Maybe not. you'll find out later. And you know, what else can we do to cool down in the meantime? So I think there's a lot in this, Ken. Cam Nicholls (03:49.198) Can I just like my little anecdote that I'd like to share at a recreational and an amateur level? Yep. And it's not even cycling, it's triathlon. I know we shouldn't be talking about triathlon on the Road Cycling Academy podcast, but I'm going to. So I've done the Noosa triathlon the last two years. It's the the biggest Olympic distance triathlon in the world. It's big event. I don't do very well because I'm not a very good triathlete, but on the run. Not last year, the year before, the first year I did it. my daughter gave me a little bit of ice. I just put down my back. Because it's very hot in Noosa during November when this is on. Like I'm talking, you know, like early 30s, high humidity. By the time you're doing the run, which is a five kilometer run, you're getting quite hot. I had my heart rate monitor on. She gave me the ice. I dropped it down my tri-suit and it went down my it actually slid down my spine essentially. But I noticed my heart rate dropped. Probably three beats, which may not sound like a lot, but when you're pushing threshold when I was I guess essentially during a ten kilometer run, which is what I was doing. It enabled me, I I noticed that all of a sudden I could run at a faster pace. So the next year, which was last year, I got it to drop me ice on the way up and on the way back. And it was almost instantaneous, like energy. Even though I was, you know, I wasn't consuming anything. It was just The heart rate dropping and the ability to to go a little bit higher. So I see what the pros are doing and I'm like, yeah, I completely understand why they are doing it just from my own little baby recreational experience at the Noosa triathlon. Ben Treble (05:31.03) Well, let's find out why why that may may have helped you out from a few different angles. Maybe I thought it's good to talk about I think a lot of people talk about the heat and they don't necessarily fully maybe understand what's actually happening. We know that when you ride in really hot weather, it affects our performance. You feel hot and you know, generally your your core body temperature starts to go up at some point and affect your performance. Cam Nicholls (05:36.439) Okay. Ben Treble (05:58.626) But I don't know if we really quite talked about this, or people don't necessarily go too deep on it. So that's what we're going to try and do a little bit here, at least to begin with. So let's talk about what happens when you ride a bike. So that could be in the trifulone or for most of our audience, masters athletes. You can think of your body as a as a space heater. So when you produce, so you push the pedals, right? You're going to produce energy. And Only about 20, maybe 25% of your energy from metabolism that fuels those contractions gets converted to mechanical work. The remaining sort of 75 to 80% of that energy gets released as heat. So yeah, exercise raises our heat production above rest rates about 10 to 15 times. There's a big range because there's huge variance across, you know, say untrained to well-trained and elite athletes. So I'm giving you some pretty broad ranges, but it's for a reason. You know, during strenuous exercise, your active muscles are going to produce potentially 100 times more heat than at rest. Right? So what does this look like in numbers? Well if say you're sort of a a general rider amateur, let's say you know between 250 to 350 watts, this would be like an above threshold effort. You're probably producing anywhere from 800 To 1200 watts of heat, right? So if you're a master's rider, if you're at a lower wattage, say 180 watts, you're still producing another 650 watts out of in terms of heat. If you're to talk in watts, I know we love watts. Let's talk watts instead of percentages. So I'll let that sit with you for a second, and we can take it a little bit deeper when we talk about. You know, I have a great textbook, one of my favorite scientists, George Brooks. His exercise book is a bit of a Bible. it goes a little bit more in depth, right, and starts to talk about one of the best ways our body cools down is through evaporation. Now, if we didn't have that evaporative cooling, right, and there are circumstances where it's not functioning very well, your body te

  7. Jul 28

    Train to Drop Your Mates (The Ultimate Group Ride Workout)

    If your goal is to beat your mates on the weekend bunch ride, this might be the most effective workout you can add to your training. In this episode, Road Cycling Academy founder Cam Nicholls and Head Coach Ryan Thomas break down one of their favourite interval sessions for recreational and amateur cyclists. Rather than targeting a single training zone, this workout combines VO₂ max efforts, sweet spot intervals and anaerobic repeats to replicate the demands of a real-world group ride. TP Virtual Ride: https://tpvirtualhub.com/84191  Free PDF: https://shorturl.at/Pw2rp  You'll learn: Why most indoor cycling workouts don't prepare you for fast bunch rides How hard-start VO₂ intervals improve your ability to respond to attacks Why sweet spot efforts in the middle of the session build fatigue resistance How anaerobic efforts on tired legs improve your finishing power The importance of durability and race-specific training Why Ryan recommends riding in Level Mode instead of ERG mode for sessions like this How to progress this workout over a 4-6 week training block Whether you're preparing for your local bunch ride, a gran fondo, criterium or simply want to become a stronger cyclist, this episode explains how to train for the unpredictable nature of real cycling—not just structured intervals. If you'd like to ride this workout with us, we'll also show you how to complete it on TrainingPeaks Virtual. https://tpvirtualhub.com/84191    Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.826) Welcome to the RCA Podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. Today I'm joined by the RCA's head coach, Ryan Thomas. And I think we're going back-to-back bro science videos here because we're going to talk about the best workout you can do to beat your mates. And this isn't really there's no science literature on this one, is there? No. This is just from us doing, you know, RCA for now about six or seven years, working with recreational and amateurs, digging into the science and Coming up with a workout that we think that people can do that I did actually yesterday. I'm still a little bit fatigued from it, to be honest. but a workout people can do in on a week to week basis for a maybe a six week block or something like that, if they're looking to to beat their mates. So if people want to do this workout, just know that we've we're gonna be hosting this workout on Training Pegs Virtual, which you can do with us next week. So we'll drop a link below to that. I also Did this workout on Training Peaks Virtual yesterday. So I've got some questions about it, Ryan. But what is the workout first? Ryan Thomas (01:27.17) Yeah, well it's we've done so many different workouts and we're always prescribing something. It's a mix of like a blender that we might have seen on Wahoo system, bit of Bunch ride style, a bit of Cam Nicholls (01:36.088) They have the mini blender and the big blender. I've done them both on Wahoo system. Or is it Wahu X these days? I can't remember. Ryan Thomas (01:42.03) Yeah, they're incredibly challenging, right? Like you by the end of it, you're on your hands and knees. So it's kind of thinking about what you need to do in a bunch ride or you're riding next to your mate, like how do you get up that climb and they're like, you're starting to drop and you're starting to get a half wheel and it's like it's really challenging. Yep. I've kind of mixed together a bunch of different physiology, but essentially it's fatiguing you and making you stressing your body enough that by the end of it you're gonna have to go really hard on fatigue legs. So this particular workout's one version of many that we can do and that we can create. And there's many different adaptations, but essentially we do a warm up, do a ramp, up to threshold, activate. And then in this particular one, we've got two hard start VO2s, which I really like. It kind of gets we prime our VO two system, we get our oxygen consumption really hard in the first minute, and then we settle back down into low VO two and where heart rate stays really high and it's but it's still really hard on the legs for four to five minutes. Yep. Do that twice, recover, and then we get into some sweet spot tempo for two by eight minutes with a short recovery in there. So kind of what you would do in a bunch ride, for example, you've done a couple of hard efforts and then you're settling into a nice pace, settling, rolling turns. And then the final set is one minute anaerobic effort. So in a bunch ride, it's like where that split happens. Usually in a bunch ride is like that really hard one minute effort. Recover, go again, and then go again and again until you until you can't go anymore. So kind of mimicking that really hard end of a bunchie. Okay. Cam Nicholls (03:09.966) Cool. So before I give you my feedback on it, I've got some questions about the ride. Yep. Let's keep in mind that, you know, based off previous conversations that we've had, because this kind of does contradict a little bit some of the conversations we've had about targeting specific zones and spending six weeks there. Yeah. This is kind of like all the zones in one ride. Go smack yourself. So make sure that, you know, if you want to get the most out of these, you've have sort of periodized, you know, through, you know, your lower end aerobic zones. Maybe spend a bit of time on threshold. Yep. You know, if you really want to get the most out of it. If you don't care about that, fine. But I just wanted to preface that because it does kind of this workout is a bit of everything. Yeah. Right. It there's a reason for it because bunch rides or races or events, they're a bit of everything. And a lot of times people do the training and they're doing, I'm doing the over unders, I'm doing VO two session, you know, max workouts. And but they're sustained and they're they're they're predictable. This is like an unpredictable interval session, if that is not a co not a contradiction in itself. So Ryan Thomas (03:53.046) Hundred percent. Ryan Thomas (04:06.232) Yeah, it makes sense. Cam Nicholls (04:09.228) Yeah. So what I liked about this workout, let's talk about the first intervals. Yep. Was that if you think about getting dropped in a bunch ride or or you know being on the limit, what happens? And I even hear this from recreational amateurs. I hate it when people attack. And then, you know, it's like, why are you training that? You know, and this is kind of doing a big effort where people will attack and then going back into quite a hard effort. So it could be like, you know, someone's attacked in the bunch and everyone's accelerated. And then you gotta get on the wheel because you know there's a couple of guys driving it. So that first couple of intervals I feel replicates that to a certain degree. Ryan Thomas (04:45.186) Definitely. Okay. Yeah. And it's a strategy you can use across any type of interval, like a tempo interval or a hard start anaerobic interval or a hard start threshold. And I use this quite a lot. Yeah. It's really good physiologically, but it's very applicable what you do on the road. Cam Nicholls (04:59.918) Okay. The next two intervals that you sp spoke of, which was the probably for me, maybe bottom end sweet spot. Yeah. Tempo. Yeah, around 300 watts for eight minutes. I've been doing a lot of tempo work recently. So I've I found or sweet spot work because I'm not really training for anything and I like just to sit on because particularly from a weight management perspective, I'd rather than do zone two, I'd rather do tempo or sweet spot because I know I'm just burning through some more calories. Ryan Thomas (05:09.582) Three hundred watts, yeah. Cam Nicholls (05:28.866) Because I'm not doing enough volume at the minute. Yeah, it's different to the actual you know I'm Ryan Thomas (05:31.126) One way to think about it. Do what I say, not what I do. Cam Nicholls (05:37.09) Yeah, exactly. But I've been doing a lot of work, so I actually found this kind of quite easy this part. So I was curious to get your perspectives. Maybe it's just because I conditioning myself for this, I found a little bit easier. Other people may not. Is it designed to be a bit easier or like what's the purpose of the sustained efforts in the middle? Ryan Thomas (05:53.356) Yeah, I mean this is one iteration is probably the first type that you would do. And and I would increase this up to threshold. Okay. So in the progression, we want to make them harder and harder. If you're doing the s exact same workout for two weeks, three weeks, it's probably not gonna give you much more, right? And you're gonna get pretty comfortable with it. But the next week, so next week go and do them at threshold. Do those eight minutes at ninety five to ninety seven percent. Or I'd go to a hundred percent if you're feeling good. And I think the one caveat for this type of workout is you do it in level mode as opposed to erg mode. You can probably get a bit more out of it if you're feeling good. Yeah, so go I'm personally as a writ as a when I'm riding on the trainer, I'm rarely in eark mode. I'll go in level mode. This podcast Cam Nicholls (06:25.23) I doing erg mode. Cam Nicholls (06:34.158) The podcast is brought to you by the Road Cycling Academy. If you're a recreational or amateur road cyclist and you're stuck on a frustrating performance plateau, feeling like you need some guidance, but you're not quite ready to dive straight into one-to-one coaching. At the RCA, we've created something called the 12 week custom plan, which we believe would be yo

  8. Jul 21

    Is your Zone 2 training actually in Zone 2?

    One of the biggest mistakes recreational cyclists make is relying on estimated FTP numbers from Garmin, Strava or Wahoo to determine their training zones. If those estimates are wrong, your Zone 2 training could be missing the mark—and limiting your aerobic development. In this episode, Road Cycling Academy founder Cam Nicholls and Head Coach Ryan Thomas discuss a simple "bro science" method that can help cyclists estimate their true Zone 2 power without needing a formal FTP or Critical Power test. RCA 12 Week Custom Plan: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/cycling-plan-custom/  You'll learn: Why estimated FTP numbers can lead to inaccurate training zones How to use heart rate and power together to validate your Zone 2 intensity The one-hour Zone 2 test almost every cyclist can perform What heart rate drift (decoupling) tells you about your aerobic fitness Whether you should train to power or heart rate during endurance rides Why easier Zone 2 training is often more effective than riding too hard Practical advice for cyclists training 6-12 hours per week Whether you're training for your next gran fondo, trying to increase your FTP, improve endurance or simply become a stronger recreational cyclist, this episode provides practical, evidence-informed advice you can apply immediately. If you'd like to try the Zone 2 test discussed in this episode, we'll also be providing a downloadable guide linked below. #cycling #zonetwo #FTP #endurancecycling #cyclingtraining #roadcycling #cyclingcoach #cyclingperformance #masterscycling #hearttraining   Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.826) Welcome to the RCA Podcast, designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists with a focus on performance. We dive into cycling training, nutrition, strength training for cyclists and even bike fitting tips, all designed to help you train smarter, ride faster and hopefully tear your mates' legs off. So without further ado, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. Today I'm joined by the head coach of the RCA, Ryan Thomas. And today we're gonna do some bro science, Ryan. Because at the end of the day, with recreational and amateur road cyclists who we deal with, you know, guys that are training six to maybe twelve hours per week if they're lucky, busy lifestyles, jobs, families, you name it. You know, sometimes people just aren't gonna do testing. Yes. Ryan Thomas (00:36.91) Knuckle down. Yeah. Cam Nicholls (00:56.832) work out their numbers. They're just not going to do it. I've we've recently implemented a quiz at the RCA where people fill out this questionnaire, three minutes, they get presented with results on where we think they should be focusing their fitness if they want to increase their FTP. And off the back of that quiz, if people say they're looking for some tailored advice or maybe want to work one on one with a a coach, I offer a call. And as part of that call, it's just like an intermediate step if people are maybe coaching's too much to jump straight into, they just want to have a chat with somebody. So I've been speaking to a lot of recreational and amateurs and through that conversation I've learnt that yeah, people are just taking an estimate off Strava or Garmin or or Wahoo. Is that commonly what you see when you bring people on board? Ryan Thomas (01:37.548) So common. Yeah, super common. There's a lot of AI predictors out there. Yep. That will give you a rough number. But yeah, like we just spoke about in another podcast that you may or may not have listened to. It's a lot of estimating it doesn't tell you much. Cam Nicholls (01:51.246) Yes. Yeah, exactly. So as a result of that, you know, people are getting a zone two number from this estimated FTP. And, you know, often it's external to the fact that they're a lot of them aren't actually doing exclusive zone two work, which is perhaps another rabbit hole for another day. The number that they're getting for their zone two power is inaccurate. And zone two is probably like the mainstay that we wanna be working. You know, in our cycling, no matter where we are in our journey, whether you're doing targeting an event or you're doing off season work, you're always doing zone two. Yes. You always want to keep topping up the aerobic engine. So it's arguably the most important number you should have. Ryan Thomas (02:34.094) Yeah, definitely. You agree? Yeah, well cycling at the end of the day, it's and it's an aerobic sport. Like it's and if you're cycling for more than f two minutes, then it's aerobic. So the easiest way, less stressful, most the least stressful way to boost that aerobic engine is zone two work and a lot of it. Cam Nicholls (02:43.096) Yes. Cam Nicholls (02:51.544) Yes. So if we're gonna give somebody an idea of what their their zone two power should be, and if we're using FTP, obviously we use critical power at the RCA, which is perhaps a bit left of field when you think about the whole recreational and amateur cycling community. Most people are talking about FTP. So that's why we're talking about a little bit more. But so if we look at FTP, what number should we be looking at if we're trying to target our zone two power? Ryan Thomas (03:17.122) Yeah, anywhere from sixty to seventy percent. The actual zone two zone is fifty five to seventy four percent of your threshold or your FTP. So anywhere in there. Usually we when we set zone two work, it's usually sixty to seventy percent. Yeah. Cam Nicholls (03:32.6) Yep, okay. So here's my broscience hack, Brian. Yeah, yeah. Which I haven't really told you about. And I'm keen to get your thoughts. If somebody hasn't done their any formal testing, they've taken an estimate and they think they're doing zone two. Here's what I'm going to recommend to them without them having to go do a test. This is kind of a test, but it's a much easier test than doing an FTP test. jump on an indoor trainer, okay, if you've got one, or go to a trainer. Ryan Thomas (03:36.76) Tell me, I'm I'm interested. Cam Nicholls (04:00.462) crit track if you've got one or somewhere where you can just pedal consistently for an hour. Yep. Take your what you think is your sixty five, seventy percent should we be targeting upper end zone two for this one hour test? If it's a one hour test, testing your aerobic Ryan Thomas (04:14.668) Yeah. Yeah. I would say sixty five, just go in the middle. Cam Nicholls (04:17.484) Okay, 65%. So go sixty-five percent of your FTP for this test, right? We're pedaling consistently. We're making sure that we're not compromised by heat. We haven't had a bad sleep. We haven't had eight coffees before we do the test. Nothing is going to affect the heart, right? And then make sure you're wearing a heart rate strap. Okay. Key. Key. Super key to this test. Okay. Because what we want to do is see where our heart rate lands once we get maybe 15, 20 minutes into this one hour test. Ryan Thomas (04:34.734) Yes. Cam Nicholls (04:46.35) So if you're doing it out, you know, on the road or on on the trainer, make sure you warm up for the first five, ten minutes. And then once you get to the ten, fifteen minute mark, we want to be hitting sixty-five percent of FTP. Then we want to see where does the heart rate land. Now, to calculate your zone two heart rate. If people haven't done FTP testing, I'm gonna tell you right now they haven't done lactate threshold heart rate testing. No. Yeah. But most people know what their max heart rate is, roughly. Ryan Thomas (05:09.566) Yeah. Cam Nicholls (05:14.53) I could still argue that it's probably not their max heart rate because to get your max heart rate, as you know, you need to be three hours deep in a heart event where it's hot and you're climbing and you're on someone's wheel and you feel like you're about to have a heart attack. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. When was the last time you did that? You know, it doesn't happen all that often. And some people have never done that. So maybe you could argue that people should add three to five beats to what they think their max heart rate is. But anyway, close. Just trying to take your max heart rate, sixty to seventy percent. of max heart rate is your zone two heart rate. Ryan Thomas (05:45.73) Yeah, a bit higher for for max. it's usually around seventy, seventy five for a heart rate, or eighty even, based off your max heart rate. no, that's the threshold. Cam Nicholls (05:56.054) That threshold. It's seventy, sixty to seventy percent. Yes. Yes. Ryan Thomas (06:00.034) I don't use heart rate zones. I don't use max heart rate. everyone's doing testing, so fine. This podcast Cam Nicholls (06:01.75) You don't use Max Right though. Cam Nicholls (06:07.63) Is brought to you by the Road Cycling Academy. If you're a recreational or amateur road cyclist and you're stuck on a frustrating performance plateau, feeling like you need some guidance, but you're not quite ready to dive straight into one-to-one coaching. At the RCA, we've created something called the 12-week custom plan, which we believe would be your perfect next step. It starts off with an upfront deep dive call with your coach who will understand your goals, your riding preferences, what your not negotiable rides are. And where you want to go, then they'll create a fully tailored 12-week custom plan that is supported over the 12-week period. We believe it's the perfect intermediate step, giving you a taste of working with a coach and experiencing a customized plan without committing to full coaching. Our writers are seeing real results too, and you can go to our Google reviews to see this. Marvin recently shaved over 30 minutes off his Grafton to Inverel time from doing the 12-week custom plan. Adam gained 20 watts on his FTP in 12 weeks and 40 watts on his five minute power. And we have riders completing rides that they've failed in previous attempts like Peaks, Challenge, all from doi

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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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