Road Cycling Academy Podcast

Ryan Thomas & Cam Nicholls
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Sports
  • 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. Nov 3

    Does Riding Harder in Zone 2 Make You Faster? (Latest Research)

    Summary: Does riding at the top of Zone 2 give you a better training effect, or are you simply creating more fatigue? It's tempting to treat Zone 2 like every other part of cycling training: if 60% of FTP is good, surely 70% or 75% must be better. But recent endurance research discussed in this episode suggests that may not be the case. In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by RCA head coach Ryan Thomas to discuss 2026 research comparing endurance athletes training around their first ventilatory threshold with athletes completing their easier sessions at a lower intensity. Both groups improved performance, with no statistically significant difference in improvements between them. The important difference was fatigue: the athletes training closer to their first ventilatory threshold experienced greater fatigue. Cam and Ryan discuss what that could mean for cyclists and why constantly pushing towards the top of Zone 2 may create unnecessary training load without providing a corresponding performance benefit. They also explain why Zone 2 shouldn't be defined by power alone. While 55% to 75% of threshold provides a broad practical range, Ryan explains why perceived exertion, recovery and how you feel on a particular day should influence where you ride within that range. For many recreational cyclists, that might mean being perfectly comfortable riding at 55% or 60% of threshold rather than constantly chasing 70% to 75%. In this episode: What Zone 2 means from a physiological perspective Using the first lactate or ventilatory threshold to define Zone 2 The practical 55% to 75% of threshold power range How often recreational cyclists should include Zone 2 training Why Zone 2 should remain part of a structured cycling program How short periods above Zone 2 can change the stimulus of an endurance ride What the 2026 endurance study compared Training at VT1 versus 10% to 15% below VT1 Why VT1 doesn't occur at exactly the same percentage for every athlete Why riding at 75% of threshold feels very different from riding at 60% The performance results between the two training groups Why the higher-intensity group accumulated greater fatigue When riding at the top of Zone 2 could be treated as a specific workout Why Ryan generally prescribes a 60% to 70% range for Zone 2 rides How RPE can help determine the appropriate intensity on a given day Why riding at 55% of threshold can still be completely appropriate Using easier endurance rides to recover between high-intensity sessions Why consistently chasing the top of a training zone may not be necessary How the same principle could potentially apply to tempo and VO2 training Why years of consistent training matter more than pushing a single workout harder The practical message isn't that riding at the top of Zone 2 is always wrong. It's that you don't necessarily need to chase the upper limit on every endurance ride. If riding a little easier produces the required training stimulus while allowing you to recover better for your harder sessions, there may be little reason to push harder simply because you can. Road Cycling Academy helps recreational and amateur cyclists train smarter, improve their performance and get more from the limited training time they have available. If you're unsure why your cycling performance has plateaued or where the biggest opportunities are in your current training, RCA's Performance Breakthrough Call can help identify potential weaknesses and areas to focus on. #RoadCycling #Zone2 #Zone2Training #CyclingTraining #EnduranceTraining #CyclingPerformance #CyclingCoach #TrainingScience #RoadCyclingAcademy #RyanThomas Transcript: Cam Nicholls (0:01) 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 mate's 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 some 2026 research, Ryan, in endurance sports, but not cycling, it's running. Not all the good papers are in cycling, unfortunately. And the question we're going to answer is, does riding harder in zone two make you faster? And it's pretty tempting when you're riding in zone two, just to go right to the top of, if you're talking about FTPs, you know, 75% of FTP and just ride there all day long because it's at the top. But what we'll find out here is it's not necessarily the most optimal. Ryan Thomas (1:05) Yeah. Honestly, it's probably one of the most common things I see when we get a new athlete or you talk to someone, it's like, I really want to, it's just the nature of trying to improve is you think you need to push the, like push the limits a little bit. Most of the time, try and push the limits, but it's actually not the case in this. And there's good reasons for it, but it's kind of against what most people think. I think a lot of experienced riders and professional athletes understand why this is the case, but yeah, it's definitely not a ride harder to get stronger scenario. Cam Nicholls (1:39) Okay. So before we go dig into the research, let's just talk about what is zone two first, because everyone seems to have different views of it. In fact, in the performance breakthrough call I have with people before they joined the RCA, I often ask them, I'm doing zone two, what's zone two to you? And often you get very different answers. So let's just, for the purpose of this video, set the expectation from a scientific point of view, what's zone two? Ryan Thomas (2:05) Under your lactate or ventillary threshold one. So the first turn point in your internal physiology. Cam Nicholls (2:14) Okay. And then from a practical standpoint, so we've got heart rate and we've got power. Let's talk about power because it's the one we typically use the most. What is zone two from a power or FTP perspective? Ryan Thomas (2:30) Yeah. 55 to 75% of your threshold marker, which is a massive range, right? 20% of any sort of power range is just quite large. So hence the question. Cam Nicholls (2:41) Yeah. So before we get to the research and we talk about riding in zone two, I also want to ask you how often should recreational riders be riding in zone two? Because once again, this is having these performance breakthrough calls with people. I'm finding out some people are riding two or three times a week. It's actually a lot of people just ride two or three times a week. And some people are riding five or six times a week. And then some people are riding differently in winter than they are in summer. Like for example, one guy recently said to me, I do a lot of zone two in winter and then when it gets to summer, I don't do any zone two. So my view is from the research and from our coaching and this can get your, your input here is zone two. It should be a mainstay really in any program for cycling. Ryan Thomas (3:22) Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. Oh, it comes down to how many times you ride per week. But if you're most people are riding four to six times a week, if you're riding under that, then yeah, it kind of moves the ballpark a little bit. But if you're riding three to five times a week, probably yeah, two to three times in zone two, less than that, maybe take one out and do two instead of three. But it's, yeah, you need, it needs to be there. It's a long-term progression. It's used for many different reasons, but you can't just take it out, expect that it's going to be filled with something else. Yes. Cam Nicholls (3:56) Yeah. I have a three ride rule kind of, but it's a bit of a blanket, but if you're doing any more than three rides per week, you should definitely be doing at least one, maybe two zone two rides in your week to split up the intensity and also keep the cycling adaptations moving forward without putting too much physiological stress on yourself. And even for people that say, oh, I'm just riding three times a week. I say, well, can you ride more? And often they're like, oh, I'm not sure. What if you just did one half hour ride per week on the trainer at zone two, but that by the end of the month, you've done two hours of additional aerobic training you wouldn't have already done. Times out by three months, you've done six hours. It all adds up. When you look at the data and you're looking at zone two and you're looking at recreationals riding in zone two, what are you typically saying? Maybe when they first start working with RCA and then obviously we'll talk about what happens after, but initially what are they doing? Ryan Thomas (4:44) Yeah. It's generally not dedicated zone two. So they think it's zone two or endurance. It feels easy, but usually accumulating a lot of intensity in there, but yeah, once to twice a week, maybe if they're riding five, five, six times a week, they might be doing an easy zone two ride. And most of the time it's the actual ride itself. Cam Nicholls (5:05) What they think is zone two is not. Okay. So they're pushing like beyond or above that 75%. Maybe spending more time in tempo, which is zone three. So 80, 85% of FTP. Ryan Thomas (5:16) Yeah. And it's just micro accumulation, like on a short 30 second climb, they might go to VO2 or anaerobic, but if you do an hour and a half, two hour ride and you do that 20 times, there's 10 minutes in anaerobic zone that you have changed the stimulus completely. Cam Nicholls (5:31) Yes. Yep. Okay. So what does the research say then? Ryan Thomas (5:35) Yeah. So this paper was quite interesting. It's super recent, like Cam said before, it's 2026 runners. What they did was they got people to do two to three intensity sessions per week. So they

  2. Oct 19

    New Shimano Dura-Ace Pedals: A Bike Fitter's Verdict

    Summary: Shimano has introduced a new Dura-Ace pedal system with a lower stack height, reduced weight and a redesigned cleat. But has improving one part of the system created a bike fitting problem somewhere else? In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, Cam Nicholls is joined by expert bike fitter Neill Stanbury to take a close look at Shimano's new SPD-SLR pedal and cleat system. Neill explains why the approximately 2.3 mm reduction in stack height is a positive change, bringing the rider's foot closer to the pedal axle and potentially creating a more direct feel at the pedal. The complete system is also slightly lighter than its predecessor. But there's an important trade-off. While the new cleat retains some lateral adjustment, Neill measures only around 2 mm of fore-and-aft adjustment compared with approximately 12 mm on the previous system. When he compares the rearward cleat positions, he estimates the new SPD-SLR cleat sits roughly 8 mm further forward on the shoe. That's particularly relevant for cyclists who prefer a more rearward cleat position or require greater adjustment as part of their bike fit. Neill explains how Shimano's own shoes partly address the issue through a sliding captive plate inside the shoe, shifting some of the adjustment that previously existed at the cleat into the shoe itself. That leads to a broader discussion about shoe compatibility, Q-factor, stance width and why a few millimetres of adjustment can matter considerably for some riders. Cam and Neill also discuss what they'd like Shimano to do next, including offering different pedal spindle lengths to give cyclists and bike fitters significantly more control over Q-factor. Neill's final verdict? There are some genuine improvements, particularly the lower stack height, but the reduction in fore-and-aft cleat adjustment prevents the new system from getting his full approval. In this episode: What's changed with Shimano's new Dura-Ace pedal system Why Shimano may have redesigned its pedal and cleat system The difference between SPD-SL and the new SPD-SLR system Why a lower pedal stack height can be beneficial The approximately 2.3 mm reduction in stack height Why the new pedal and cleat system is slightly lighter Why the new cleats aren't backwards compatible with the previous pedals Lateral cleat adjustment and its relationship with Q-factor Why small changes in stance width can matter for some cyclists Using adapters and the effect they have on stack height Why Neill is concerned about reduced fore-and-aft cleat adjustment How much fore-and-aft adjustment the previous cleat offered Why more rearward cleat positions can be useful in bike fitting How removing the captive washer helped Shimano reduce stack height Why the new cleat may sit further forward than the previous system How Shimano shoes use a sliding captive plate for additional adjustment What the new pedal system means for cyclists using other shoe brands Neill's idea for interchangeable Shimano pedal spindle lengths How different spindle lengths could improve Q-factor adjustment Neill's overall verdict on the new Dura-Ace pedals The new Shimano system brings genuine improvements in stack height and weight, but cyclists shouldn't look at those changes in isolation. Cleat position, shoe compatibility, Q-factor and the amount of adjustment you personally require can all influence whether the new system is a good fit for you. Road Cycling Academy helps recreational and amateur cyclists train smarter, improve their performance and get more from the limited training time they have available. If you're unsure about your cleat position or want to better understand your overall position on the bike, RCA's Bike Fit Fundamentals provides a step-by-step approach to understanding and improving your bike setup. #RoadCycling #ShimanoDuraAce #Shimano #BikeFit #CyclingPedals #CleatPosition #CyclingTips #CyclingPerformance #RoadCyclingAcademy #NeilStanbury Transcript: Cam Nicholls (00:01) 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 expert bike fitter Neil Stanbury. And today, Neill, we're in a new studio. Our podcast listeners won't know that, but our YouTube watchers will. And I think we might've gone a bit too professional. This one is very serious, mate. Neill Stanbury (00:43) Yeah. It's pretty fancy, isn't it? Better than the dungeon in my house that we've been using for years. Cam Nicholls (00:43) Yes. Neill Stanbury (00:43) Or the dungeon where my clinic is located. Cam Nicholls (00:43) Yeah, exactly. Neill Stanbury (00:43) It's very upmarket. I like it. I hope it lends some, like, an air of credibility to our deliberations, but probably not. Let us know what you think below. Cam Nicholls (00:59) But today we're going to talk about the new Shimano Dura-Ace pedals, which has a funny story behind it because you said to me, "I want to do a video on the new pedals, but I can't get my hands on any." And I said, "Well, buy some and then you can sell them to somebody in your clinic." And you said, "I'm not going to sell these to anyone in my clinic." Sure. I'm going to be able to sell these, but maybe we could give them away. Okay. Maybe we could give them away to a viewer. All right. So you're going to bag them and then we're going to give them away. This will be the first time in internet history. Neill Stanbury (01:28) It is quite possible. There'll be some subtle criticism directed at Shimano headquarters here from me, but you've come to expect that from me, viewers. So, you know, this is nothing too new, I guess. Cam Nicholls (01:37) Okay. So just before you go, we will give them away. If somebody wants to go into the giveaway, and we'll chuck in an RCA cap to sweeten the deal, we'll put a link below and we'll give them away at Christmas time to a lucky viewer. Neill Stanbury (01:48) Very nice. And these are the Dura-Ace ones. So these are the top-shelf ones. These have come express. These have just come into Australia. We could barely get them. You know, it was a real struggle to get them. I couldn't buy a set of cleats individually. Could only buy the pedal system at the moment, and there's no Ultegra and no 105 as yet. So these are hot off the press. First new Shimano pedal system in 30-odd years or something like that. Kind of exciting. I was excited when I saw them come out until I saw the cleat. Cam Nicholls (02:15) Okay. So let me explain. Neil? I think it's interesting though. Why did Shimano decide after 30 years to change the pedal system? Because from what I understand, their patent ran out in 2022, a whole bunch of clones come into the market, taking their market share, and all of a sudden they decide after many decades, "Oh, we should create a new pedal system." Neill Stanbury (02:35) It is quite possible that that was part of the deliberations. Yeah. Like, I won't speculate, but it's a good observation and it could have something to do with that. The other part of it could be to nudge people more towards the Shimano ecosystem, particularly of their shoes, which we'll talk about in a second as to why that is important. But yeah, let's give you a bit of a rundown on how these differ from your traditional SPD. So these are called the SPD-SLR. They have a lower stack height, which is the big thing. They're 2.3 millimetres or so lower stack height, and Shimano has basically done that by thinning out the cleat. Now, I'm not sure if your viewers will be able to see this from home, but the one on my right, your left, is an old-style SPD-SL cleat. And on your right, my left, we've got the SPD-SLR. Very, very similar in general to look at. A little bit of a different profile and shape like this. From the side though, it is possible to see that the cleat is essentially thinner. The way that they've made it thinner, which lowers the stack height of the cleat. Cam Nicholls (02:35) Which is a good thing, isn't it? Neill Stanbury (02:35) Great thing. Cam Nicholls (02:35) Okay. Neill Stanbury (02:35) Yeah. 2.3 millimetres is good. I think it's getting down near Speedplay now, which is pretty good. Cam Nicholls (02:35) Okay. Neill Stanbury (02:35) It is good because it gives you a more direct feel of power transfer over the centre of the pedal. So the lower it is, the lower down your foot is relative to the pedal centre, the more direct it's going to feel. And conversely, if you've got a pedal system with a really high stack height, and I'm exaggerating slightly here, your foot is going to feel rotationally unstable. You're going to have a lot of what we call rocking torque over the centre of axis of rotation. So the lower that stack height is, the closer it is to the sole plate of the shoe, the thinner the sole plate of the shoe is, the thinner the orthotic is, all of that sort of stuff, the better it generally feels. Right. So it does come with another added advantage, which is the lower it is, the lower your seat height can be. So if someone's switching from these guys to these guys, that's right, my 2.3 millimetres of aerodynamics. And when you're a professional, like WorldTour-level rider, like you and me, this 2.3 millimetres is a pretty big deal. So, you know, at 60 k's an hour, which I'm regularly riding at, that aerodynamics is pretty important, mate. Cam Nicholls (04:37) The whole pedal system is lighter as well. Neill Stanbury (04:37) It's a little bit lighter. Cam Nicholls (04:37) Like 10 grams. Neill Stanbury (04:37) Yeah, 10 grams. Cam Nicholls (04:37) Yeah, yeah. Which is

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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

See All (97)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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.

Information

You Might Also Like