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. 12h ago

    Want to Climb Faster? Here's How to Train for BIG Climbs

    Are you planning a cycling holiday in Europe, tackling iconic climbs like the Alps, Dolomites, or Swiss mountain passes? In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with RCA coach and data science specialist Ben Treble to discuss exactly how recreational and amateur cyclists should prepare for a climbing-focused cycling trip. Ben breaks down the key physiological factors that determine climbing performance, including VO₂ max, fractional utilisation, threshold power, training volume, and cycling-specific nutrition. Together, they outline an 8-week training strategy designed to help cyclists maximise their fitness, improve climbing ability, and arrive in Europe ready to enjoy every ride. Whether you're heading to the Tour de France region, riding the famous Swiss Alps, taking on Peaks Challenge, or simply wanting to improve your climbing performance, this episode provides practical, science-backed advice you can apply immediately. In This Episode: ✅ Why VO₂ max alone doesn't determine climbing performance ✅ The importance of threshold power and fractional utilisation ✅ How to structure an 8-week climbing preparation plan ✅ VO₂ max training vs threshold training for long climbs ✅ Why recovery weeks (deload weeks) are critical ✅ How to increase training volume safely ✅ The role of low-cadence climbing work and muscular endurance ✅ Nutrition strategies for multi-day cycling trips ✅ Gut training and carbohydrate intake for endurance cyclists ✅ Common mistakes recreational cyclists make before a cycling holiday Who This Episode Is For: Recreational cyclists Amateur road cyclists Gran Fondo riders Cyclists planning a European cycling holiday Riders preparing for Peaks Challenge, Amy's Gran Fondo, Tour de Brisbane and other climbing events Anyone wanting to improve their climbing performance 🎯 Learn more about RCA Coaching: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/one-to-one-coaching/    Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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 European correspondent and data science geek, Ben Treble, who's currently in Sydney but will be in Europe by the time this podcast goes live. Hello, Ben. Ben Treble (00:43.714) Hey Cam, how are you? Cam Nicholls (00:45.656) Good, thank you. So today, because you're heading over you're escaping actually you've timed this pretty well now. I'm just talking I'm thinking about this out loud. You're you're you're about to hit the depths of winter in Sydney. And Sydney gets pretty cold. People don't think it does, but it's actually it's a pretty cold winter. And you're moving to Europe, you've got a one way ticket, you're gonna be in Switzerland, one of my favorite places in the world. So you're basically heading into you're going from one summer season to the next summer season. You're gonna bit you're an expert in summer seasons, essentially. So I thought it would be a good podcast topic to talk about what's the best way not to prepare for a summer season, because we've kind of, you know, you should have been doing that two, three months ago. But maybe you might want to blend that into the conversation. But more so, you know, we're at the start of the summer season. How are we, you know, as a recreational and amateur road cyclist who's training anywhere between sort of six to twelve hours per week, depending on the person. We might have some goals to, you know, do some Fondo events, do some big climbs. How are we going to tackle the summer season? What's the best approach? Ben Treble (01:50.926) yeah, I think for me the context here is probably like a bit of a focus on climbing. So it's pretty hard to go over to Europe and not do climbing. I am a s more of a sprinter myself, so why I picked Switzerland as a location is beyond me because I'm definitely not a climber, but you can't really go anywhere without going over some big mountains. Cam Nicholls (02:15.458) Yeah, and I think this is like relevant to, you know, most people going into their summer seasons because let's face it, even though we don't have huge climbs here in Australia, when people are looking at their summer season, you know, so many people in Australia, you know, peaks has become the biggest fondo event. You know, they target peaks and there is a lot of climbing in peaks. And even some of the smaller fondo events, like Amy's, for example, what's the first thing you do? You go up a fifteen, twenty minute climb and then there's another climb in the middle. even Tour to Brisbane, which is you know, UCI qualifier, there's a fifth 10, 15 minute climb in the middle or wherever they put it because they change the event every year. So climbing isn't just a European thing. I know you're trying to rub salt in the worm because you've got amazing climbs over there, Ben in Switzerland, but you know, I think it's relevant no matter where you are in the world, because most events have significant climbs. Ben Treble (03:10.274) Definitely. Yeah. I mean Tura Brizzy, I can think of two athletes where, you know, the performance determinant was the climb. So, you know, it might not be a one hour, two hour climb. Maybe it's only fifteen to twenty minutes depending on your pace. But it's still a big determinant in tour of Brizzy and it's sort of a in some respects it it's a it's a speed hump in the what, one third of the way in. So it's but still it's super important. So climbing does become very important. I guess I just wanted to talk a bit around a couple different things on this topic. The first is probably what's important in determining climbing performance. So we'll stick to a bit of a focus on climbing and then we'll talk a little bit more around like people who go to Europe. I can think of a number of athletes I'm working with right now who are planning European holidays. That's either from North America, from Australia. I've even had athletes who wanted to prepare because they were in Australia and just going down to Bright, which is a very famous alpine region in Victoria, where there's a lot of big climbs, which don't don't underestimate. They are equal to many of the big climbs in Europe. They might not have the same altitude, but you can get a similar elevation profile. We're talking, you know, Mount Hotham as a climb in terms of total elevation is massive. It beats probably half the European climbs. Cam Nicholls (04:33.078) Yeah. How many meters do you hit in Hotham? Are you over fifteen you're definitely over fifteen hundred. Did you hit over two thousand? Ben Treble (04:40.024) think you do get two at the very top. Cam Nicholls (04:42.604) That t two thousand, from my understanding of when I climbed the the glibia many many moons ago was altitude actually kicks in at around five hundred meters. Although you probably it's probably quite subtle. Or even a few hundred meters it actually starts kicking in. But once you get to sort of fifteen hundred, two thousand, then the effects are really significant. Ben Treble (05:05.846) one eight four five Cam Nicholls (05:07.788) One eight four five. There you go. Ben Treble (05:10.254) There you go. Anyway, yeah, I think the first thing we should talk about is VO2 Max. We've talked about this a lot on the podcast. I think it's a big topic, but VO2 Max, we often talk about training it to have a higher VO2 Max. Lots of people walk around with their garments, which estimate their VO2 Max. You can think of that, it's like the the engine size, right? You can have a 600 horsepower car, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you've got the you know, horsepower or the fuel lines to feed enough fuel into the engine to actually achieve and utilize that power, right? Like you need all of the bits underneath. What is your utilization of the engine? So we know this is true. You can see people who have high VO2 maxes, but don't seem to be able to reach the same performance levels of other athletes with the same VO2 max. Cam Nicholls (06:05.269) More. Ben Treble (06:06.424) So why? Because the fractional utilization of VO2 Max is lower. Typically the way that we consider fractional utilization of VO2 Max is at your threshold. When we're talking threshold, I'm talking maximal lactate steady state, gold standard. For everybody on the podcast who don't know what that is, you can think of it as your critical power if you want to equivalent FTP. So threshold at w when you ride at your threshold, let's say it's 200 watts, 250 watts. What percentage of your VO2 max are you holding? Really well trained athletes are going to be, you know, using 85% or higher of their VO2 max at threshold. What does that mean? They're relying more on the aerobic energy system and less on the glycolytic. So they're going to use less glycogen, which is one of your, you know, most valuable resources for fuel. So you're going to conserve that glycogen. For later. Let's you having a high fractional utilization lets you ride at a higher intensity for longer, relying on less glycogen. Cam Nicholls (07:14.988) So less lactate production. Ben Treble (07:17.474) Yeah, exactly. Cam Nicholls (07:19.69) Okay. So that's important for climbing. Ben Treble (07:23.532) I should reference it's not necessarily less lactate production, it's a higher clearance rate. You're able to utilize lactate better through the aerobic system. Cam Nicholls (07:32.886) Okay. Because when you started to talk about VO two Max, I was like, well, wait a second, aren't aren't we talking about long climbs? Don't we aren't we just worried about sort of ar

    30 min

  2. Jun 10

    Long vs Short Intervals: Which Builds VO2 Max Faster?

    Are short VO2 max intervals better than long intervals for cyclists? In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with coach and data science specialist Ben Treble to unpack one of the most debated topics in endurance training: long intervals versus short intervals for improving VO2 max and cycling performance. Recent research has suggested that short interval formats such as 30/15s and 40/20s may allow cyclists to accumulate more time above 90% VO2 max compared to traditional 4-minute efforts. But does that automatically make them better? The answer is more nuanced than most cyclists realise. Ben breaks down the science behind VO2 max training, glycolytic capacity, VLaMax, lactate production, and why the "best" interval workout often depends on your physiology and cycling goals rather than what the latest study says. In this episode you'll learn: ✅ Long vs short VO2 max intervals explained ✅ Why some cyclists thrive on 4-minute intervals while others prefer 30/15s ✅ The role of glycolytic capacity (VLaMax) in cycling performance ✅ Why climbers and sprinters often respond differently to the same workout ✅ How to choose intervals based on your physiology ✅ The importance of training variability and periodisation ✅ Why copying professional cyclists isn't always the best approach Whether you're training for road racing, gravel racing, criteriums, gran fondos, or simply trying to improve your cycling fitness, this episode will help you better understand how to structure your interval training for maximum results. RCA Coaching: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/one-to-one-coaching/  Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Long vs Short Intervals Explained 05:00 Are We Talking About VO2 Max Training? 08:00 Why Short Intervals Became Popular 12:00 Understanding VLaMax and Glycolytic Capacity 17:30 Why Different Cyclists Respond Differently 21:00 Does Research Really Show Short Intervals Are Better? 25:00 Sprinter vs Climber: Which Intervals Should You Choose? 27:00 Training Variability and Periodisation 28:00 Key Takeaways   Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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 European correspondent and data science geek Ben Treble. Are you okay to be called a European correspondent now? Ben saying that, well, you're currently in Australia, but in two weeks' time you're gonna be going over and living in Europe. Ben Treble (00:46.646) Yeah, I'll take it, maybe clarify. I am not European, but I will be moving to Europe permanently and I will be the boots on the ground for RCA when I arrive. Cam Nicholls (00:59.148) Yeah, you'll be based out of Switzerland. So hopefully that gives us a bit more presence in Europe for not only to support our existing European clients, but anyone considering getting coaching, you know, that who are in Europe and they're like, I don't want to deal with, you know, those Aussies over there. Well, now we've got an Aussi who's, I guess, part Swiss. You know, I know you're going over there with a lovely lady who's from Switzerland. So we'll call you part Swiss for the time being, part European. Ben Treble (01:25.154) My better half is definitely Swiss. so I'll take a little bit of that. Cam Nicholls (01:30.05) Nice. So today I wanted to talk about something that popped up in a recent RCA coaching group call. So we have a a catch up with all the coaches at the RCA about once a month. And one of the coaches presents a a topic and one of our coaches, Johan actually, presented a a paper and he did a little bit of practical exercises alongside the research, which he presented, which I thought was pretty cool, about long intervals. versus short intervals. And I thought the research paper was pretty interesting, Ben. So I gave you the project, being somebody that likes to dig into all the research, to find out is this a real thing? Are certain type of intervals better than the other if you were to focus on one or the other? So Ben, you went away and did some digging. What did you find? Ben Treble (02:25.998) I do love this topic, particularly 'cause I I love building different workouts and you know, I've been very fortunate to do my cycling certifications, you know, with the UCI. We've had some they had some very good scientists come and present certain topics. For example, Ronastad came over and talked about HIIT training, which has probably been his life's work endurance HIIT training for for some respects as a researcher. Yeah, I love this topic. It's really important. I think every few years, you know, there's new trends with cycling training and we had HIT training a long time ago, I think. We've had zone two in the last couple of years and it seems to be making a resurgent at the moment across social media that, you know, you've got the classic Norwegian, you know, four by fours, which I would consider long intervals. And now you've got a lot of research coming out from Ronastad and a few other researchers where these short high intensity intervals might be better. And when we're talking about those short high intensity interval sets we're talking about anything from your 30 fifteens. So that would be 30 seconds on, 15 seconds easy, and you repeat this between nine to twelve reps, then you have a rest period, and then you do a second and potentially third set of those short intervals. There is no universal answer to which one is is better, Cam. So everyone always hates me when I say it's a context that matters the most. So We can bring this back to why do we train? We need to create stimulus for the athletes. And every interval is going to create a stimulus, but the stimulus for the individual is where it differs and varies. So should you do long or short intervals is going to come back to what type of athlete are you physiologically and what are your goals? Cam Nicholls (04:16.183) Can I also just preface and you know this before you continue, because when we talk about intervals, you can do zone two intervals if you really wanted to. Most people don't. They kind of just ride zone two. But you can certainly do tempo intervals. You can certainly do sweet spot intervals. So these are all sort of below threshold. But when we're talking about long and short for this conversation and I guess the research on this topic, I'm assuming We're talking about intervals that are kind of above threshold, kind of in that VO2 max category. I guess probably pretty much in that VO2 max category because a all anaerobic intervals are probably gonna be short. I don't think anyone's doing a 10-minute anaerobic effort. And threshold training, correct me if I'm wrong, is would mostly be deemed as long interval training because it's gonna be at least three to four. four minutes bare minimum in length. So are we specifically talking about VO2 max training when we're talking about short versus long? Or is there a line in the sand? Ben Treble (05:25.932) Yeah, I think for the purpose of this conversation, it's gonna be in reference to trying to improve VO two max. So what's going on in the media is obviously there's an awful lot of discussion around VO two max being a very important metric. We're not gonna debate how important VO two max is in this podcast, but it is a very important metric. It's definitely not the entire picture, it's one one metric among many that would help you understand how your training is working. But yeah. So long versus short intervals, maybe I'll just run through them both to keep it clear, but long intervals sort of anywhere from four to eight minutes, typically on or slightly above threshold. this would be, you know, akin to the Norwegian four by fours, obviously being four minutes, so it's going to be typically a bit higher, potentially a hundred and ten, up to a hundred and twenty percent, depending on what papers you look at. And then you have four minutes easy, repeat. This typically allows you a VO2 max to climb. really high. So the VO2 kinetics are going to climb and hold. and then you typically get we'd call it full recovery between those intervals. The short intervals are going to be the on phase anywhere from it's it can be as short as 15 seconds, but more common is going to be 30 or 40 seconds with either 15 or 20 seconds rest. So very short rest. The 30-15 component is typically around 120% of threshold. Sometimes it's harder. Certain research papers have tested should the 30 be maximal. So a common example that's very hard to prescribe in practical sense is going to be Ronostad did some papers where the 3015s were if the set is 12 reps, the athlete had to try and keep the highest possible mean power within the whole set. So the 30s were essentially maximal. And then the 15s were still moderate. They were not easy. So that's there's nuances to this in the research. It's not all the same, which is probably important for everybody to understand that you often hear and people are citing research, but they'll talk about 30-15s, but if you really dig into it, it's not always the same protocol in there. But yeah, VO2 max tends to stay elevated with the short intervals. That's the idea that it doesn't drop. You get higher lactate accumulation, but Ben Treble (07:51.18) you get a bit more rest from a muscular point of view. So the cardiovascular system, the rest is short enough that your heart rate can drop, but not too much. You're trying to keep it up. But then you get more muscular recovery. So that's the idea. The other thing that where this came from, long versus short, is Ronastud talks about how do we do

    30 min

  3. Jun 2

    The Simple 6-Week FTP Boosting Plan Most Cyclists Ignore

    Are you stuck on a cycling performance plateau? Have your FTP gains stalled despite doing hard intervals, bunch rides and endless VO2 max sessions? In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Road Cycling Academy Head Coach Ryan Thomas explains why a dedicated block of tempo training (Zone 3) may be the missing piece in your training program. Many recreational and amateur cyclists spend too much time riding hard and not enough time developing their aerobic engine through structured progression. Ryan outlines a simple 6-week tempo training framework designed to improve muscular endurance, increase efficiency, reduce fatigue and set you up for bigger FTP gains later in the season. You'll learn: ✅ Why tempo training is one of the most underrated zones in cycling ✅ How to structure a 4-8 week training block for maximum benefit ✅ Why most cyclists plateau despite training hard ✅ The difference between random intensity and strategic progression ✅ How to reduce heart rate drift and improve aerobic efficiency ✅ How tempo training fits alongside bunch rides and high-intensity sessions ✅ What training should come after a tempo block ✅ Why amateur cyclists should train differently to professional cyclists Whether you're training for gran fondos, road races, criteriums, bunch rides or simply want to improve your FTP, this episode provides a practical framework that can help you train smarter and achieve more sustainable gains. 📥 Download Ryan's Tempo Progression PDF below. Topics Covered: Tempo Training for Cyclists Zone 3 Cycling Training FTP Improvement Cycling Performance Cycling Training Plans Endurance Cycling Threshold Training VO2 Max Training Heart Rate Drift Cycling Coaching Road Cycling Academy Amateur Cycling Performance How to Increase FTP Structured Cycling Training Cycling Fitness Progression Download the PDF here RCA's 12 Week Custom Plan: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/cycling-plan-custom/  Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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 extend a conversation we had recently about a simple way or a simple format or framework you can utilize to increase FTP. And it's all about periodizing through the zones or spending, you know, strategic periods of your training working specific zones. Right. And according to you said something interesting, Ryan, in that chat, which I've kind of clung on to. Which I think is really easy if if somebody's out there listening that that they can think about. I think YouTube and the internet is just covered in all sorts of different you know, workouts you can do, ways you can boost VO2 threshold and people will see a workout or they'll see something online and they'll go I'll try that. And they might try it for a week or two weeks or just not long enough. So, you know, understanding the way training peaks calculates fitness, they look at a six week rolling average. Forty-two days. Why is that? Because, you know, in a lot of the literature, you know, s it's sort of it doesn't implicitly say, but it suggests that you need roughly around six weeks for the body to sort of absorb a stressor that you're putting on it. In this case, you might be targeting a specific zone. And that's the stress. It could be upper anaerobic, it could be a VO2, it could be threshold. So today we're going to dial it right back and talk about if someone wanted to start on this journey. Where's the best place to start? Ryan Thomas (01:54.818) Zone three of tempo. It's usually the first place you would go. Cam Nicholls (01:58.444) Okay. So let's talk about it. Ryan Thomas (02:00.034) Yeah. So I think the like most people would see zone two. It's plus zone two's plus it everywhere. And they've you people are usually doing some sort of zone two and then some sort of high intensity. Yep. And I think the the thing that most people come to the RCA with is either fatigue or they're plateaued. So they're struggling to get an improvement and they're doing bunch rides and they're doing random intensity and usually it comes with fatigue. So I guess the negative Taking a step back. The negative of doing a lot of high intensity is the neuromuscular fatigue, the nervous system fatigue that just goes on and on and on and you don't give it a rest. The benefit of zone three of tempo is there's not a whole lot of neuromuscular fatigue. It's mainly ki you're keeping everything under threshold. You're not getting to a point where you're in that hard or severe domain where you're really getting you're really having to work hard. It's just working on efficiency, endurance and muscular endurance. So I don't think it's something that people dedicate time to for a six week period or it doesn't have to be six weeks, four to eight weeks, whatever it is. But I think it's really beneficial if you just focus on it for six weeks. Most people get to the end of that and they're like, I just feel good. Like I just feel good at riding in zone two, three threshold. You just feel steady, comfortable at riding at that. It's a very different sensation to doing VO2 and feeling really good at high power, but it's really beneficial for when you actually get into that type of work. So Cam Nicholls (03:21.154) Yeah, okay. Ryan Thomas (03:22.05) Kinda wanna start. We'll have a progression when you you'll be able to see this laid out, but six weeks kinda wanna start. Cam Nicholls (03:28.01) So when you say you'll be able to see this, we've got a downloadable for people below. Ryan Thomas (03:31.266) Yes, PD downloadable PDF goes through every progression week in for six weeks. and you do these once to twice a week. And you can do the same workout. So a lot of the things that we do, we try to keep it interesting, but if you get down to the basics, doing the same workout twice in a week is completely fine. Like that's you're hitting the same physiology. It actually is probably the best way to do it. So we're starting super simple tempo, zone three, eighty to eighty five percent of your threshold or critical power. And we're doing that for 10 minutes, three by ten minutes with five minutes recovery in zone one. So that's a pretty easy workout. And most people will go and do that and be like, that didn't really do anything. Like it felt really easy, didn't really get my heart rate high. It was like I want to go harder. And that you should feel like that. In tempo stuff, you kind of should feel like you want to go harder. But it's really important for this type of work is to stay controlled. Stay in your zone because we're working on efficiency and muscular endurance. You go harder. What starts happening is you start accumulating lactate, your heart rate starts to rise, you start acc recruiting fast-rich muscle fibers, that starts adding the fatigue and it takes away, it's not targeting what you want it to. So you get up around threshold, very glycolytic dependent, you're a lot of glycogen down in tempo, just kind of mixed fat and carbs. So there's a whole bunch of stuff happening there that we're targeting. So as soon as you get above the target, kind of not doing it. So it's really important to teach control. Minimise that fatigue week in, week out, and we do it for six weeks. Cam Nicholls (04:58.914) Yeah, okay. And you you know, if people are gonna adopt something like this where they do target an upper end aerobic zone being tempo in this case, they can still do a like a bunch ride once a week or something where they just go tear it to shreds. But the rest of the riding is done in more of that strategic Yes. Obviously a bit of zone two, but also the tempo that you talk about. Ryan Thomas (05:12.822) Hundred percent. Ryan Thomas (05:20.11) Yes. And I to like high intensity interval training. Zone three is h interval training. It's intensity. It's just lower intensity than what a bunch ride would be or a VO two session or a threshold would be. And that that's there's a reason for that. We want to keep it reasonably easy. By the end of the six weeks, the progression goes through when we increase time in zone three. We increase the percentage light slightly up to ninety percent. We decrease recovery. during those intervals and we get all the way up to the last interval session in the at the six week mark is a forty to forty five minute effort at eighty five to ninety percent of threshold. Or you can do two by twenties at eighty five to ninety percent. So up to you. But that's a hard effort. Like you do forty five minutes at ninety percent the top end, by the end of it you're gonna be hurting. But that's the whole point. We start easy and gradually overload, gradually stress the system a little bit more each week and that starts to give really good benefits. This podcast is Cam Nicholls (06:13.294) 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

    13 min

  4. May 27

    Time to Move on from FTP Tests (Critical Power Simply Explained)

    In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with RCA Head Coach Ryan Thomas to break down one of the most talked-about topics in modern cycling training: Critical Power vs FTP. If you've ever wondered: What is critical power? Is FTP testing outdated? How do you test critical power? Why do some cyclists struggle at threshold but excel in VO2 max efforts? How do professional coaches use power profiling? …then this episode is for you. Start the RCA's 12 Week Custom Plan: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/cycling-plan-custom/  Ryan explains critical power in simple, practical terms for recreational and amateur cyclists — without getting lost in overly scientific jargon. The conversation explores why many coaches and platforms are now moving beyond traditional 20-minute FTP testing and toward more accurate methods of assessing cycling performance and training zones. The episode also covers: The difference between FTP and Critical Power Why critical power better reflects lactate threshold How to perform a simple 3-minute and 12-minute critical power test What W' (W Prime) means in cycling performance How power curves reveal what type of rider you are Why some riders are naturally stronger at VO2 max than threshold The importance of testing multiple energy systems How coaches use power profiling to personalise training Why FTP alone often fails to tell the full story Cam and Ryan also discuss real-world coaching examples from recreational cyclists and criterium racers, showing how two riders with similar FTPs can have completely different strengths on the bike. Whether you're training for: criterium racing, gran fondos, endurance cycling events, climbing performance, or simply trying to become a stronger recreational cyclist, this episode will help you better understand your physiology, your training zones, and how to train smarter. Topics Covered Critical Power Testing FTP vs Critical Power Lactate Threshold Cycling Power Curves VO2 Max Training Threshold Training Cycling Coaching Cycling Performance Testing Power-Based Training TrainingPeaks W Prime Explained Cycling Physiology Recreational Cycling Performance Amateur Cycling Training About the RCA Podcast The RCA Podcast from the Road Cycling Academy is designed for recreational and amateur road cyclists who want practical, science-based advice on: cycling training, nutrition, strength training, bike fitting, recovery, and performance improvement. 🎧 Listen now and learn how modern cycling coaching is evolving beyond traditional FTP testing. Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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, Ryan, we're going to talk about critical power for laymans. I'm a little bit of a layman when it comes to critical power. And I think there are a lot of people out there that still are, despite the fact that it's used over FTP quite often these days. Yep. So I don't want to go too deep into the weeds with critical power, which I'm conscious you can. I want to try and stay high-level. But I think before we talk about you know, critical power for laymans and, you know, how to test it and what it's about. Maybe if we can just talk about FTP first, because it's kind of a different mechanism to using FTP as your way to work out your zones and your threshold and all this kind of stuff. So how is it different to FTP? Ryan Thomas (01:13.516) Yeah, well I I actually think of FTP just as a term. Okay. But it's typically by the layman, it's thought of as one way to test and that's a twenty minute effort. Typically with a five minute effort before. And it's your approximate sixty minute maximal peak power. That's what they were trying to achieve out of the FTP testing, the old school five minute all out effort, and then your twenty minute all out effort and you take ninety five percent of that. And it's Cam Nicholls (01:31.265) FTP testing. Cam Nicholls (01:39.402) Most people don't do the five minute effort though, let's face it. It's a twenty minute test. Ryan Thomas (01:43.47) still pretty close to estimating your 60 minute maximal power. Which is essentially what they were trying to find a number that estimates your metabolic steady state. Yep. Which was pretty close. And it's a good test, but there's been yeah more science around critical power and your actual power profile and it's shown to be closer to what your actual metabolic steady state is. Cam Nicholls (01:47.118) Yeah, okay. Cam Nicholls (02:06.146) Okay. Right. So it's been proven in the literature then that it is more effective. Yes. Identifying that steady state. Ryan Thomas (02:13.346) Yeah, it's more closely related to your actual L T two. So where your lactate curve, so your lactate threshold two. Yep. We have two lactate thresholds. The first inflection point if you're doing a lactate test is the L T one or your top of your typical zone two. And then your second lactate point is your threshold or your functional threshold power, your critical power, or whatever however you want to determine it. Okay. Or describe it. But critical power is found to be closer to what your actual lactate threshold is as opposed to your approximate sixty minute maximum peak power. Cam Nicholls (02:45.646) Okay, interesting. And I feel in addition to it being more scientifically valid, it's actually maybe less daunting for people to do in terms of the testing protocol, external to the ramp test, which you can do if you're testing FTP, because that's just like a ramp to failure. It's pretty easy to get through, even though it can be inaccurate if people are actually doing which I mean most people aren't doing it as well. Yeah. Ryan Thomas (02:55.35) One hundred percent. Ryan Thomas (03:02.189) Yes. Ryan Thomas (03:09.152) Yes. Cam Nicholls (03:14.464) You know, not testing. So that's another rabbit hole for another day. But s with critical power, you know, before we talk about how you were using it, like how are we testing first and foremost? Ryan Thomas (03:25.282) Yeah, so whenever I'm talking to a member and I say, we're gonna do testing, you can see their faces just go, no, I'm gonna have to do a long, hard effort. Yeah. And then I say, we're using critical power testing and we're using a three and a twelve minute effort. They're like, is that all? So like people respond really well to that and they find it much more easy to achieve by doing a shorter effort than a twenty minute or however long you want to do. But the Science suggests you need anywhere from two to four perimeters. So two to four durations that you choose, and typically between two to twenty minutes is what you would choose in your range. The initial examples were three and twelve. And three and twelve would pretty much get you pretty close to if you were to do four tests. So we recommend you do a three minute, a twelve minute, and if you have time and the motivation to do a five minute. Okay. The five minute is optional and the reason I call it optional is that usually you get within two to four watts without the five minute by just using the three and the twelve. Okay. And we do those on separate days. So we want those to be your maximal effort, not on fatigue legs, not going in after a f effort. We we want these to be maximal, fresh, ready to go, your best power that you can produce on the day. Cam Nicholls (04:43.158) Okay. And separate days for the three minute and the twelve minute? Ryan Thomas (04:46.392) Separate days. Yes. Okay. Cam Nicholls (04:48.632) So if someone was like listening and going, okay, maybe I should trial this, how would they like what would a week look like to do the three minute and the 12 minute test? Would you do them back to back days? Would you spread it out over the week? obviously you want to be fresh that week as well. So don't, you know, come off the back of a a huge volume week where you've done 20 hours and five bunch rides or whatever it might be. So you go into the week fresh, what would it look like to do the three minute test and the the 12 minute test? Ryan Thomas (05:09.272) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Ryan Thomas (05:15.33) Yeah, usually I would give someone a day off. Yeah, easy week before the day off, let's say starting on a Monday is a simple way to think about it. Start on a Monday with your day off. On Tuesday, do some sort of activations to get your body ready after having an easy week so that you're primed for that three minute effort. Yep. Following day, Wednesday, for example, you would do your three minute. and the key here is you need to do some activations before. You don't just go do twenty minutes at zone two and then go into this three minute effort because you'll get a sh big shock. Yes. after an easy week. So you do a couple activation efforts, some thirty second efforts, a ramp to threshold, something like that to open the legs. Recover for five, ten minutes and then go for your three minute. Yep. You can do the twelve minute the next day. So on the Thursday, because a three minute effort on its own isn't super exhausting. So you recover pretty quick from one s one individual three minute effort. Okay. Particularly twenty four hours later. So I usually do a back to back days. Okay. But if you schedule a lines and a day in between's fine. Okay. Yeah, that's it. Once you've done those two efforts, we can we can get you critical power. There's so many different calculators out there. we can I'll tr I'll leave a I'll put a s

    18 min

  5. May 19

    Cycling & Lower Back Pain: The Hidden Cause Most Riders Miss

    Summary Cycling causing lower back pain? Dealing with sciatica, disc injuries, or recurring pain after long rides? In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with expert bike fitter and sports physiotherapist Neil Stanbury to unpack one of the most frustrating issues cyclists face: lower back disc problems. Neil explains the difference between common muscular lower back pain and more serious disc-related issues, why cyclists can develop chronic back pain from asymmetry on the bike, and how poor biomechanics may contribute to disc irritation and sciatica symptoms. In this episode we cover: ✔️ The difference between muscular back pain and disc injuries ✔️ What disc herniations and annular tears actually are ✔️ How poor bike position and hip asymmetry can overload the spine ✔️ Why cyclists may experience sciatica, hamstring tightness, or numbness ✔️ Bike fit changes that may reduce lower back stress ✔️ Recovery strategies including swimming, strength training, ice baths, sauna and inflammation management ✔️ Whether core strength training can help prevent future issues If you're a recreational or amateur cyclist struggling with recurring back pain, stiffness after rides, or nerve symptoms down the leg, this episode may help you understand the causes and potential solutions. Subscribe for more cycling training advice, bike fit insights, injury prevention tips and performance content for recreational road cyclists. #Cycling #LowerBackPain #BikeFit #Sciatica #CyclingInjuries #RoadCycling #CyclingPerformance #BackPain #DiscInjury #CyclingTips

    12 min

  6. May 13

    Bike Fitter's Top 3 Race Bikes (geometry & adjustability)

    *]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:a74dc3cc-662f-4a79-96ce-7afcca30d1f3-0" data-turn-id-container= "request-WEB:a74dc3cc-662f-4a79-96ce-7afcca30d1f3-0" data-testid= "conversation-turn-2" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn= "assistant"> Podcast Summary In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with expert bike fitter Neill Stanbury to break down their top three modern race bikes — but from a bike fitting and geometry perspective rather than the usual marketing hype around stiffness and aerodynamics. Neill explains why geometry, sizing range, and adjustability matter far more for recreational and amateur cyclists than marginal aerodynamic gains. The conversation dives into why some bikes suit a wider variety of riders, how aggressive race geometries can limit comfort and performance, and why finding the right fit can completely transform your riding experience. The episode highlights three standout bikes: The Pinarello Dogma for its exceptional sizing range and geometry options. The Cannondale SuperSix EVO for balancing race-bike performance with a less aggressive fit. The Polygon Helios for riders needing an ultra-aggressive, long-and-low racing position. The discussion finishes with a broader conversation about how the "best" bike is often the one that actually fits your body correctly — not necessarily the most expensive or aerodynamic option. Key Points 1. Bike Geometry Matters More Than Marginal Aero Gains Neill argues that for most recreational cyclists, bike fit and geometry are far more important than tiny aerodynamic or stiffness differences between modern superbikes. 2. Modern Race Bikes Are All Extremely Good According to Neill, there are very few genuinely "bad" bikes at the top end of the market anymore. Most performance differences come down to rider fit and comfort rather than frame technology alone. 3. Pinarello Dogma Excels in Sizing Options The Dogma stood out because of its massive sizing range, with 11 frame sizes that allow extremely precise fitting for riders of vastly different body proportions. 4. More Sizes = Better Fit, But Higher Cost Neill explains that producing more frame molds dramatically increases manufacturing costs, which partly explains premium bike pricing. 5. Cannondale SuperSix EVO Balanced Comfort and Performance The previous-generation SuperSix EVO was praised for having a taller front end and less aggressive geometry, making it ideal for middle-aged riders wanting race-bike performance without extreme flexibility demands. 6. Modern Bikes Are Becoming More Aggressive Again Neill notes that the latest SuperSix geometry has become more aggressive, which may reduce its suitability for everyday amateur riders. 7. Polygon Helios Is Built for Aggressive Racers The Polygon Helios was highlighted for its extremely long-and-low geometry, making it ideal for younger, flexible, performance-focused racers. 8. The "Best Bike" Depends on Your Body The episode reinforces that choosing a bike based on your body proportions, flexibility, and riding goals is far more important than chasing pro-level marketing claims. 9. Comfort Can Improve Performance Cam shares how finally finding the right geometry significantly improved his comfort and long-duration power output after years of riding unsuitable setups. 10. Bike Fit Education Matters The episode concludes by promoting RCA's Bike Fit Fundamentals program, designed to help cyclists better understand what bike geometries suit them best. Bike Fit Fundamtenals: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/bike-fit-fundamentals/    Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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. So please excuse any visual references. Today I'm joined by expert bike fitter, Neil Stanbury. Neil's going to give us his top three favourite race bikes, but we're not talking about how stiff it is and how fast it goes. We're talking about... Neill Stanbury (00:45.581) Geometry and adjustability. Or d-d-d-d-d So these are the things that really matter to me. Because when you're talking about the level that you and I would be potentially racing at, or most people watching this podcast, the tiny 1%, you know, two watts here at 50 kilometers an hour, that kind of stuff, the aerodynamics of the Frank... It just doesn't matter. Cam Nicholls (00:46.926) adjustability. Cam Nicholls (01:03.786) important very very important Neill Stanbury (01:07.924) Okay, all of these bikes, the top end of the road bike of the road bike world is all so good now that it's actually getting hard to sort of delineate much between them in terms of like the speed and the stiffness and the ride quality and all this sort of stuff. They're so good. There's so many that we have to choose from. There's very few real dog bikes out there anymore, I find. Yeah. Cam Nicholls (01:28.622) I'll also ask the boys at the Nero show, that's what they're doing every week. There's lots of dog bikes apparently. Neill Stanbury (01:33.07) Yeah, well, I mean, they're looking at it. They're looking at the aesthetics of it and that sort of stuff. Honestly, I've had my butt kicked by 65 year old guys on steel framed down tube shifted bikes with the levers on the down tube. I've kicked some guys with a 15, $20,000 Pinarello. The legs are what does, you know, what makes the bike go around. So this is the stuff that they're more interest me, which is the geometry. Let's go with number one. The number one that I love the most dealing with is the Pinarello Dogma. Cam Nicholls (02:00.206) Geez, if you've got a spare 30 grand floating around. Neill Stanbury (02:02.913) That's the problem. Cam Nicholls (02:04.92) You went bad with Pinarello these days Bill, yeah what's going on here? I've never heard you mention this bike and now all of a sudden... Neill Stanbury (02:10.568) I've been riding a dogma for about a week now. Yeah, Now why do I love the dogma? Yes, it is expensive. We're not talking about the cost. It is a beautiful race bike from all reports. Yeah, cost aside. This is the stuff that I love about it. So they apparently ride really well. They're very stiff. They handle well. They've got all those good attributes. Cam Nicholls (02:14.764) Yeah, you got three in your head. Cam Nicholls (02:24.216) we should have prefaced his cost to size. Neill Stanbury (02:34.11) like a lot of these bikes that we'll talk about. But what is best about them is the sizing range. They are amazing. So for example, just yesterday by a stroke of good fortune, I had a lovely lady from Northern New South Wales, Karen, if you're watching this, I hope you're enjoying these videos. Karen was very short, you know, not to beat around the bush. She was pretty small. She had been advised to buy a Dogma in the or the 415 size, the smaller size that they have, which was a great decision because it matched her perfectly. The smaller size Dogma F has a reach dimension of 350mm. Which is like, it's the smallest bike in the world. there's very, it's, if someone out there knows a road bike with 700c wheels that has a shorter reach than 350 whatever, I think it's 351 or 352mm, please let me know. But they are tiny. This bike suited her beautifully. It had an 80mm stem on it. It was perfect. She had a seat height of about 620 millimetres, so short legs, short arms. These bikes go tiny. They also go really big. And in between those, there are 11 sizes. Eleven! It's fantastic. A lot of modern bike brands, you'll get five sizes, right? There'll be an extra small, a small, a medium, a large, and an extra large. And the reason for that primarily is that you don't have to have as many frame moulds. Keeps the cost down. And there's often big jumps between the sizes or the small one is just not that small, you know, just doesn't go that small. And so you'll have this really annoying large jumps between them and you can't quite get the geometry perfect for the person and so forth. But with Pinarello, it's fantastic. You'll often see particularly, I think there's there's five one five, a five three zero and a five four zero. And the reach change between these three sizes is about five millimeters or six millimeters, something really, really small. And it's mainly the stack that changes. So they change because there's 11 sizes of them. They change in really tight increments. So you can spec them perfectly to suit the person. So, you know, if it turns out that the 530 is just a little bit low in the front end, you can jump to the 540 and the reach is only three mil longer. But the front end is 12 mil higher. They're fantastic. They just have so many sizes, so much adjustability. Cam Nicholls (04:49.71) Maybe this explains their costs now because this would cost them a lot to produce so many sizes. now maybe they can justify that price point a little bit. Neill Stanbury (04:57.966) Well, it's a very carefully thought out geometry chart. It's the most wide ranging geometry chart of any bike pretty much that I know of in the road bike scene. Really, really good because of the number of different frames that you can choose from. They're just fantastic. They are not cheap. And part of the reason is Pinarello name tax, you know, and part of the reason is because for each one of those sizes, you need four, five, 10 frame molds for the production process. And frame molds are not So whe

    12 min

  7. May 6

    Why Amateur Cyclists Plateau (What I Learned From 80 Calls)

    Summary: In this episode of the RCA Podcast, expert bike fitter Neill Stanbury interviews Cam Nicholls about the biggest training mistakes recreational and amateur cyclists make when trying to improve FTP, endurance, and overall cycling performance. After completing more than 80 one-on-one coaching calls with plateaued cyclists, Cam reveals the three major problems repeatedly holding riders back: Training to inaccurate FTP and power zones Skipping key aerobic development work like tempo and sweet spot training Failing to implement proper recovery and adaptation weeks The discussion dives into Zone 2 training, VO2 max work, sweet spot intervals, fatigue management, cycling recovery, aerobic base development, and how recreational cyclists can train smarter instead of simply training harder. Whether you're struggling to increase your FTP, feeling stuck in a cycling plateau, or wondering why your structured training isn't delivering results, this episode provides practical insights to help you improve your cycling fitness and performance long term. Topics covered: FTP testing and training zones Zone 2 vs tempo vs sweet spot training VO2 max workouts for cyclists Cycling fatigue and recovery Adaptation weeks explained How to break through a cycling plateau Structured training for amateur cyclists Common cycling training mistakes   The QUIZ: https://roadcyclingacademy.scoreapp.com/    Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the RCA Podcast 00:27 Interview Dynamics: Host and Expert Bike Fitter 01:58 Identifying Performance Plateaus in Cycling 02:23 Training to the Wrong Numbers 07:30 The Importance of Aerobic Work 09:52 Strategic Easier Weeks for Recovery     Transcript: Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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 for the first time in a, I think about five years of content, Neil, you're actually going to interview me. It'll be funny if this video gets like five views. Neill Stanbury (00:38.702) The rolls are reversed here. really on something. You mentioned to me off camera, this is a kind of an interesting one, I didn't know you'd been doing this, but you have with your RCA members, you have a service where they found that their performance is stagnated or plateaued. They can actually call you direct and it's a decent length conversation that you often have with them. I'll give it out to everyone. Cam Nicholls (00:58.862) Well, I'm not giving out my number to everyone now. People wouldn't necessarily call me and it's not for RCA members. It's for people that they've definitely plateaued from an FTP perspective. It's a quiz that we've got on our website and I'm not here to promote the quiz. I'm here to talk about what I've learned. But if people want to do the quiz, it's a quiz where people fill out, I think 15 questions, takes three minutes. And then they get a report on where the low hanging fruit opportunities are for them to improve their cycling fitness or to FTP. Neill Stanbury (01:08.376) So not just for members. Neill Stanbury (01:26.466) And you'll have a decent one-on-one conversation with these people to sort of tease out where they might be struggling. Cam Nicholls (01:31.49) Yeah, exactly. So those who fill out the quiz and say that consider some tailored advice or even working with a coach, we then offer a call, which is currently with me because it's like a beta offering we have. Not even on our website, this offering at the moment, because, you know, jumping straight into coaching can feel a little bit daunting for some people. So here's a one hour call and let's identify your low hanging fruit. Well, probably now, like no exaggeration, we implemented this back in the last year. So it's been about six months now. Neill Stanbury (01:50.742) You've done quite a few of these. Cam Nicholls (01:58.99) I've probably somewhere between 70 to 80 calls now with recreational and amateur road cyclists that have hit a plateau and they're probably training somewhere between six to 12 hours per week, depending on the week. Neill Stanbury (02:08.364) And you've learned absolutely nothing and that's the end of the video. Exactly right. You've learned a fair bit from these people, which is what you wanted to share. Cam Nicholls (02:11.598) No, nothing of interest aside And I haven't shared with you what they are, so hopefully, you there might be bit of interest from your Neill Stanbury (02:20.6) You mentioned there were three major things that you'd found? Cam Nicholls (02:23.38) Big things that, I mean, there's lots, everyone's different, but three big things. First one is people are training to the wrong numbers. you've done this before. I thought you would have been probably a little bit more because you've, you know, we've coached you in the past. think once you've been coached and you'd become more intimate with your numbers, it's, know, even if you don't retest, you kind of have a good feeling of where you're. Neill Stanbury (02:27.054) Alright, hit me with number one. Neill Stanbury (02:35.704) I'm doing it right now. Neill Stanbury (02:49.838) I'm terrible. always, you know, I had a bit of a layoff recently with bad weather and illness and stuff and didn't ride much for three weeks and I thought, I probably haven't dropped that much in three weeks. And I have, because when I tried to do some VO2 sessions to the same numbers as what I used to, there was just no hope. So I underestimate how much my numbers dropped back during those periods. Cam Nicholls (03:11.158) Yeah, and look, you know, we wouldn't recommend you go do VO2 work, you know, after some time off, you'd want to give it a good, obviously, if you're doing a bunch ride, you're going to do it or something like that or push with a mate. But if you're riding by yourself, you'd probably want to spend a good six to eight weeks at a below threshold, reestablishing the base. Neill Stanbury (03:26.894) Yeah, I'm too, uh, too impatient for that. I think I did two or three weeks, maybe four weeks of a bit of bass, and then started hitting the VO2s again and um, yeah, they were nowhere near what they used to be. Yes. So, training to the wrong zones, mate. Cam Nicholls (03:29.089) Yes, almost did, Valar! Cam Nicholls (03:41.07) Yeah. And that's ultimately what it means. So people taking an estimate off, you know, their Wahoo or their Garmin or Strava or some people use AI coaching platforms and take a number and nothing against those platforms because they're doing the best they can with the numbers that they've got. But nine times out of 10, the numbers are wrong. And then people are going and doing, I'm going to do this session on the trainer or I out on the road. You know, I watched it on YouTube and then they're actually targeting the wrong areas. Yeah. They're not actually at threshold. They're at VO2 max or they're not actually at zone two, they're actually at tempo, which in turn, and this is probably an underlying cause of a lot of people having underdeveloped aerobic engines. If you're not doing targeted zone two work or if you've never done it before, when I say zone two, from a power context, I'm talking around 60 to 70 % of your FTP. You know, a lot of people, every rider bringing lactate into the working muscles, which disrupts the aerobic adaptation. And then they're never really doing targeted zone two stuff off the back of having the wrong numbers. Yes. So that's the first lesson. you know, really for people out there, you know, the best way to get your numbers is just to do a test. Yeah. You know, as simple as a ramp test, you know, we were a bit more advanced at the RCA where you something called critical power. So that's typically three tests you can do with critical power, but we typically get our members to do a three minute test and a 12 minute test. So you get more of an understanding of the bigger picture. You might be really good at sustained efforts and not so good at the shorter efforts or vice versa. In fact, I had a call with somebody recently. where they're like, why is it, and he'd done a test, he's like, why is it when I do sub threshold work and I'm doing eight to 10 minute efforts, I really struggle. I'm like getting to the end of that eight to 10 and I'm like barely being able to finish the effort. Whereas when I'm doing a three minute effort, I can perform really well. It feels easy actually with my current FTP. Well, it's like, well, most likely genetically you're stronger at VO2 and not at threshold. So having, know, if you can get more comprehensive with your testing, then your zones are going to be... more accurate and your training is going to be more effective. Neill Stanbury (05:38.264) I mean I can relate to that because I'm the exact opposite. So I can cruise along at upper end zone 2 for a very long time without a lot of fatigue creeping in, but I'm terrible once I creep into VO2 or neuromuscular. It's just not. You're a grime. yeah. Yeah, I'm all slow twitch mate. All slow twitch. So it's very much fighting against my genetics to try and do a lot of VO2 and neuromuscular stuff. Cam Nicholls (06:02.286) This 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 your perfect next step. It

    14 min

  8. Apr 29

    10% Power Gains with THIS Simple Bike Fit Adjustment

    Summary In this episode, expert bike fitter Neill Stanbury explains the importance of Q factor (aka stance width) in cycling and bike fitting. Notably, how it affects power transfer, injury prevention, and how to optimize it for individual riders. Learn practical tips on measuring and adjusting Q factor for better cycling performance and comfort.   Key topics What is Q factor and why it matters Symptoms of incorrect Q factor How Q factor affects power transfer and injury risk Practical methods to measure and adjust Q factor Impact of Q factor on cycling performance and training   Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Q Factor and Cycling Performance 02:44 Understanding Q Factor: Definition and Importance 08:35 Identifying Q Factor Issues and Symptoms 14:24 Adjusting Q Factor: Solutions and Recommendations   Bike Fit Fundamentals: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/bike-fit-fundamentals/    Transcript:  Cam Nicholls (00:01.804) 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. So welcome back to the RCA podcast, which is also on YouTube. So please excuse any visual references, which is going to be hard with the man beside me, Neil. You use your hands. Yeah, it could be an interesting one, but today we're going to talk about Q factor. Notably, you know, I'm interested in how you can produce more power through the pedal stroke with your Q factor. But Neil, before we talk about the intricacies of Q factor and bike fitting and more power, what is Q factor? Neill Stanbury (00:35.426) There's going to be a few of those. You liked it? Neill Stanbury (00:56.078) Yeah, so Q-Fact is, the easiest way to think about it is how far apart your feet are. Okay. It's a terrible term really. I think it's a bastardization of a medical term in the orthopedic literature called Q-Angle, which sort of refers to the angle of a person's knee, whether it sort of kicks in or kicks out. it's been adopted by the bike fitting world from that, but really we should describe it as stance width. Yes. The distance apart that your feet are. And on a road bike, you're looking at about 25 centimeters. And on a mountain bike somewhere closer to 27 or 29 on some of the big dogs with huge bottom brackets, massive tire clearance. Cam Nicholls (01:28.684) I found super interesting and I might be cutting into your storyline here, but you mentioned this in a video we did four years ago. Jeez. Q-Factor long time. Been a while. That all bikes, all road bikes have the same Q-Factor no matter the size. It's just really odd. Neill Stanbury (01:35.886) Here we Neill Stanbury (01:43.842) Yeah, it's kind of strange, isn't it? Yeah, because it would be logical that the Q factor or the stance width of a bike would need to scale up or down depending, generally speaking, depending upon the size of the bike. That, mean, there's, plenty of exceptions to that rule. There's, short, wide-waisted people, broad-waisted people who need a wider Q factor on a tiny bike. And there's also really tall, beanpole, six foot four people who've got a really narrow waist and amazing hip mobility who need really narrow Q factors. But as a general rule of. you know, of extrapolation of thumb, you would think that bigger bikes would have a wider key factor, but they don't. There's a whole bunch of industry reasons behind that. Like it would be prohibitively expensive and difficult for a lot of the groupset manufacturers to make different bottom bracket, you know, different width crank systems and that sort of thing. So it just doesn't happen. And we're just kind of left to our own devices to deal with this. Cam Nicholls (02:33.198) So if you are a recreational amateur road cyclist and you are lift your own devices, how do you get to the bottom of whether you've got the right Q factor or the wrong Q factor? Neill Stanbury (02:44.334) Yeah, tough call. So let's talk about first of all, the symptoms that you might get if it's wrong. I'm going to tell you that probably 98 % of the time that your Q factor is grossly wrong, it's that it's too narrow, right? So there's like a 2 % chance that your Q factor is too wide and there's about a 98 % chance that it's too narrow if it's wrong, right? So let's say the symptoms that you would get if it was too narrow. Generally what will happen in cycling biomechanics, we really like to see your knees descending more or less vertically over the center of the pedal spindle. And if they're descending straight down the center of the pedal spindle or slightly inside the line of the pedal spindle, you'll very rarely have a problem, right? That's kind of kinematically biomechanically kind of optimal in a lot of cases. Sorry, what did you just say? Let's say you've got a circle that your foot is prescribing in the air. We want your knee moving straight up and down over that pedal center. Okay. We don't want your knee. Cam Nicholls (03:35.052) layman Neil you gotta break it down simply for me Neill Stanbury (03:37.166) I've always known you're a layman. I've known you for a long time. You'd never graduated beyond layman, but here we are. So we want your knee descending vertically over the center of the pedal spittle, ideally. Or slightly inside the line, but we do not want it chopping in from outside the line of the pedal. And we've got plenty of stock footage of your left knee doing that. It's the same B-roll every time. So if your knee is descending across Cam Nicholls (03:56.874) I've been in the audience this second time. Neill Stanbury (04:03.374) the line of the pedal spindle, you're much more likely to get biomechanical issues. And what are those issues going to be? Look, if it's on one leg, there'll be things like lateral knee pain, patella type knee pain, lateral foot pain from as the knee descends across the line of the pedal, you're going to load the outside edge of the foot, that type of thing. ITB insertion syndrome issues. If it's bilateral, your biggest, most frequent symptom is going to be lower back pain. So as the patella or the knee tries to move across the line of the pedal, your glutes will work over time, trying to stabilize this. Or in some people they will just switch off and your pelvis will rock excessively. And both of those will cause lower back pain for slightly different reasons. The first one is because of the excess muscle contractile effort and your glutes just makes them hurt. And the second one is just the excessive movement of your pelvis means that you're going to get instability and therefore pain as the pelvis rocks back and forth. Cam Nicholls (04:56.504) Good Neil, I only care about powertrain. Neill Stanbury (04:58.606) Power transfer. transfer. The big one. Big what? So yes, it is very inefficient. If the Q factor is grossly wrong, you can lose a lot. Most of the time the loss is in those efforts beyond about five or six minutes. So once you get beyond a VO2 effort, the efficiency becomes a really big limiting factor and the lack of glute engagement or lack of proper glute engagement. Cam Nicholls (05:01.336) care if I get injured as long as I'm produced in- Neill Stanbury (05:21.996) And the fact that your medial quad can't work properly. you're losing out in multiple different kind of kinematic areas on optimal power transfer. can say. And so I've seen plenty of people over the years where we've changed, we've fixed their Q factor as a major issue that we're solving in their position. And they've picked up like five to 10 % on a 20 minute effort in the weeks following the fit. So Q factor can be- Weeks? Close to instantaneous. Wow. Cam Nicholls (05:45.602) So instantaneous space. Neill Stanbury (05:48.846) Yeah, so I think I told this story in another video probably probably a long time ago But I have had elite level riders pick up 10 % like National Road Series type guys I had a bloke go from about a 440 watt 20 minute effort He was a big guy to a 480 watt 20 minute effort a long time ago. This was probably 10 years ago Purely with the addition of some 15 millimeter longer spindle pedals, which I'm going to show you guys in a minute. Yep, right Cam Nicholls (06:14.446) Okay, so he had a 30 millimeter increase all up in his Q factor. Yeah. And that was the outcome essentially. Neill Stanbury (06:21.012) Yeah, so he had chronic bilateral knee pain that he could never get rid of on the bike and it basically just instantly deleted his knee pain and partially you could maybe say that his power went up because he wasn't in pain potentially he could train harder, but it was real quick It was like within like a month or something his power jumped by like 40 watts across the 20 minute It was huge and so the nervous system has a lot of Safety like fail-safes in it that if you're in pain and you're damaging your limbs when you're pedaling It's gonna curtail your output to the pedals And so he probably had a neurological limiter due to the inflammation in his knees. But then you could also argue that it was just biomechanically much more efficient and he was using his glutes better and his quad better and hard to know, probably a combination of both. Yeah. Cam Nicholls (07:03.662) Yeah. The thing that comes to mind for me is, probably what you can't measure because you didn't track him over the next one to two years, but the compounding effect of actually getting it right. Yeah. Not having the knee pain, being able to train more, being able to recover. Neill Stanbury (07:16.152) Cover better consistent training. Absolutely. Yeah. Even like I've seen this in a lot of people doing big volume. Some of my world tour and my continental guys who are There's a couple. we'r

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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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