Escape Collective

•

Channel • 9 Shows

Sports News

Sports News

Updated 14 Jan
Sport

Sport

Updated 23 Sept
Sports News

Sports News

Updated twice weekly
Sport

Sport

Updated weekly
Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

Updated 20 Aug
Sport

Sport

Updated 22 Sept
Tech News

Tech News

Updated weekly

16 JUN

The handlebars are too damn narrow

Well, some of the knee-jerk predictions made last Friday didn't last very long, did they? Tadej Pogačar showed everyone who's boss at the Dauphine, and we wait with baited breath to see if he somehow messed something up going into the Tour de France. Caley's back from a successful foray into lobstering and is joined by Jonny and Kit to break down the weekend's racing. Then the three turn their attention to the other big story from the weekend, an incoming ban on a number of go-faster gear, including narrow handlebars. Has the UCI even lost Caley on this one, a man who thoroughly hates the narrow bar trend? Seems so.

16 Jun

•

1 hr
31 MAR

The Classics pecking order

Head to Escapecollective.com/member to sign up today. This week on Spin Cycle: Mathieu van der Poel got spit on, a Belgian rider got stuck in his hotel room, and Kit thinks Mads Pedersen is going to win Flanders. Plus the crew discuss E3, Gent-Wevelgem, Fabio Jakobsen's surgery, and extra team in the Ground Tours, and look ahead to Holy Week.

31 Mar

•

55 min
25 SEPT

Geek Warning Bonus: Trek on testing gravel suspension and bike design

Today, Trek launched a bike that’s sure to spark debate in comments sections. It’s called the CheckOut. It features a new 60 mm travel front suspension fork, courtesy of the RockShox Rudy XL, and 55 mm rear travel to match. It fits gravel-width cranks and has official clearance for up to 56 mm tyres (about a 29x2.25in). However, it’s the design and testing of this bike that brings our fascination up to a boiling point. Trek published a white paper explaining how it used a rolling road with 3D motion capture, on bike sensors, and a metabolic mask to understand the benefits of having suspension on typical gravel terrain. We had questions. So with that, Alex Bedinghaus (Lead Design Engineer) and Kyle Russ (Analysis team) jumped on to geek out with Escape's Dave Rome. The conversation covers the design of the bike, what modern off-road efficiency testing looks like, why gravel bikes continue to go where mountain bikes have been, and plenty more. Meanwhile, head over to Escape Collective.com to see Dave Rome’s early coverage of the new Check Out. Those on the free feed for Geek Warning get the first 25 minutes free. Meanwhile, members of Escape Collective get the whole thing, which frankly, includes the best parts. Time stamps:3:00 - Introductions6:00 - The design goal of the CheckOut10:00 - Why not a mountain bike?15:30 - Designing for bikepacking20:00 - Longer suspension and stack heights25:00 - Suspension layout versus Trek’s IsoTrust27:00 - Testing explained (Escape Members Only from here on)35:00 - Body is a damper and a spring37:00 - Suspension versus bigger tyres44:00 - Measuring steering compensation49:00 - Qualitative versus quantitative data53:30 - Is smoother always faster?57:00 - CheckOut versus a gravel race bike

25 Sept

•

29 min
13/03/2023

Paris-Nice, Tirreno, and Drenthe

For whatever reason, someone is still letting us talk about bike racing. In episode two of the PSBRP, Ronan Mc Laughlin and Abby Mickey join Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to cover... Tadej Pogačar's Paris-Nice dominancePrimož Roglič's return to form at Tirreno-AdriaticoLorena Wiebes and another big win for SD Worx at the Ronde van DrentheThe fast-approaching Milan-San Remo and Trofeo Alfredo Binda Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

13/03/2023

•

1h 7m
01/09/2023

Geek Warning: A wrap on MADE with Rob English

Two episodes of Geek Warning in one week? Oh yes! This second episode has a more familiar format, but there’s still a twist. First, we have James and Dave chatting about what’s new this week and their thoughts from the MADE bike show. And then, you’ll hear from famed frame builder and Escape Collective contributor Rob English about the show, plus thoughts on the handmade scene. Timestamps: 2:35 – A brief recap of new gravel and road groups from Shimano 14:57 – Layoffs at Wahoo 17:50 – James and Dave chat Made. 32:18 – Hello Rob English!

01/09/2023

•

1h 15m
10/05/2024

Geek Warning Bonus ep: Ask a Wrench is back!

We know, we know, it’s been ages since we did our last Ask a Wrench episode – late January, in fact. Guilty as charged. Better late than never? But as a nice bonus, our panel of geeks had an extra-long list of repair and maintenance questions to answer this time around, like why bedding in your new brakes is important, what not to do with your fancy digital torque wrench, how to diagnose a curious front-end clunk, how to protect your fancy new bike for the long haul, the best way to fix a paint chip, and much more. Fair warning: The full episode is only available to Escape Collective members. Head on over to escapecollective.com/member to support this show and everything else on our podcast network.

10/05/2024

•

32 min
31/07/2023

Tour de France Femmes Daily stage 8: C’est fini

The crew delivers one final episode from the ground at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift with Abby Mickey and Matt de Neef (plus a cameo from a familiar voice or two). Plus, final audio diaries from Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Vittoria Guazzini (FDJ-Suez), Georgia Williams (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health), Ella Wyllie (Lifeplus Wahoo), Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step), and Jess Allen (Jayco-AlUla).

31/07/2023

•

57 min
20/09/2023

Placeholders: Final thoughts on the Vuelta and Jumbo’s dominance

Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Ronan Mc Laughlin join Caley Fretz to discuss their final impressions of the 2023 Vuelta a España and Jumbo-Visma's dominance, some chatter around Mark Cavendish racing on, and more. Plus, the crew dives into a Sepp Kuss-related Weekly Pain competition.

20/09/2023

•

1 hr
26/03/2024

Wheel Talk: Milliseconds make the difference

Another great episode this week with Abby Mickey, Loren Rowney and Gracie Elvin. They talked about Classic Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem, specifically SD Worx-Protime’s tactics and the sprint finish where Lotte Kopecky made the difference for Lorena Wiebes. In order to really pick apart the sprint finish on Sunday they watched it live while recording. If you’d like to join in you can find the video we watched here.

26/03/2024

•

1 hr
28/01/2023

Building Zipp Wheels

Zipp is an indisputable icon in the wheel and component business and they have a long history of innovation. They were one of the very first brands who thought about wheels differently and pushed the envelope to bring performance wheels where they are today. An engineer by the name of Leigh Sargent is the founder of Zipp way back in the late 80’s, and it’s a gentleman by the name of Andy Ording who was Leigh’s first employee. Ording bought the company outright in its early days, and built Zipp during its formative years. Zipp now belongs to SRAM and its family of products and continues its legacy of innovation, but the origins of this pioneering brand started over 30 years earlier.

28/01/2023

•

1h 37m

Welcome to Escape Collective, your home for independent cycling journalism.