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. 3d ago

    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

  2. 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

  3. Jul 28

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

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

  4. Jul 21

    Is your Zone 2 training actually in Zone 2?

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

  5. Jul 15

    The Bike Fit Upgrade Nobody Talks About

    Are cycling insoles worth it, or are they just another expensive upgrade? In this episode of the Road Cycling Academy Podcast, expert bike fitter Neill Stanbury sits down with cycling podiatrist Nathan White, founder of Cobra9, to explore one of the most overlooked aspects of bike fit: what happens between your foot and the pedal. While many cyclists obsess over frame geometry, saddle position and crank length, very few consider whether the insole inside their shoe is helping—or hindering—their performance and comfort. Nathan has spent over 17 years designing cycling-specific orthotics and insoles, working with everyone from recreational riders through to elite athletes. Together, Neill and Nathan unpack the science and biomechanics behind cycling insoles, explaining why properly supporting the foot can improve comfort, stability and overall pedalling efficiency. During the discussion they cover why carbon fibre has become the material of choice for premium cycling insoles, how foot pressure is distributed throughout the pedal stroke, and why many off-the-shelf insoles fail to provide adequate support for cyclists. They also explain the differences between generic, semi-custom and fully custom orthotics, discuss common causes of numb feet and "hot foot", and reveal how subtle improvements in foot stability can influence rider position, knee tracking and overall bike fit. Whether you're struggling with foot discomfort on long rides, looking to optimise your bike fit, or simply wondering whether cycling-specific insoles are worth the investment, this episode provides practical insights from two specialists who have worked with thousands of cyclists. Cobra9: https://cobra9.com.au/  In this episode: Why your feet are the most important contact point on the bike Generic vs semi-custom vs custom cycling insoles Why carbon fibre is used in premium cycling orthotics The biomechanics of foot support during the pedal stroke How insoles improve load distribution and reduce pressure points Common causes of numb feet and hot foot Why shoe fit matters just as much as the insole How better foot support can improve stability and pedalling efficiency What bike fitters look for when assessing cycling biomechanics If you've ever wondered whether cycling insoles are worth the money, this episode will help you understand the science, the biomechanics, and the practical benefits behind one of cycling's most misunderstood upgrades.

  6. Jun 17

    Cycling Hip Pain Explained: Labral Tears, Bike Fit & Prevention

    Hip pain is one of the most common issues cyclists face, but the source of the problem isn't always where you think. In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with expert bike fitter Neill Stanbury to discuss one of the more serious causes of cycling-related hip pain: hip labral tears. They explain how poor bike positioning, pelvic asymmetry, hip impingement and repetitive movement patterns can contribute to chronic pain and injury. You'll learn: ✅ What a hip labral tear actually is ✅ Common symptoms and warning signs ✅ Why hip pain is often mistaken for a hip flexor issue ✅ How bike fit can contribute to hip impingement ✅ The role of pelvic asymmetry in cycling injuries ✅ Why some riders develop snapping hip syndrome ✅ Bike fit adjustments that may help reduce symptoms ✅ When MRI scans may be required ✅ Why surgery should be considered a last resort ✅ Practical ways to prevent hip pain before it becomes chronic Cam also shares his personal experience overcoming years of cycling-related hip pain through targeted bike fit changes, including cleat adjustments, leg length correction and improved biomechanics on the bike. If you're struggling with hip pain, deep groin pain, hip flexor tightness, hip impingement, or recurring discomfort while riding, this episode provides valuable insights into potential causes and solutions. Subscribe for more cycling training, bike fitting, injury prevention and performance content from the Road Cycling Academy. 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, and we're gonna be talking about hip stuff in our injury series. This is the second video in our injury series. I'm quite interested in this one because before I came to you, I used to suffer from hip pain for probably 10 years. I used to get back from my Saturday ride and actually put peas, like cold peas, on my hip to deal with the inflammation. And Of course, you know, you resolved it through, you know, identifying that I was dropping my right hip and I was slightly twisted to the bike. So you put my cleats in a better position. You gave me I think a six millimeter. Yeah. And maybe widened my Q factor a little bit. And it's funny, like I've never experienced hip pain ever since. So it was positional. Neill Stanbury (01:02.796) Shim. Leg length shim, yes. Neill Stanbury (01:10.328) Yep. Good. Yeah, yeah, most of them are. This one that we're going to talk about in the as part of our injury series is a bit more specific. I think yours was probably more sort of like an ITB syndrome, like a hip flexor type thing, because it was so easy to resolve. Yes, the other syndrome. This one we're going to talk about labrum tears. Now labrum tears, a lot of people watching this will know what a labrum tear is, but I'm gonna go through it again because there'll be plenty of people that don't. The labrum in the hip Cam Nicholls (01:25.486) Yeah. I do have a lot of syndromes. Neill Stanbury (01:38.516) is a if you imagine the hip as being a ball and socket joint, you've got a socket and a ball that sits in there. And that ball just sits neatly in the socket. And that socket is mostly comprised of bone, which is the actual acetabulum of the hip, but extending off the top, mainly the top section of this socket, there is a flexible cartilaginous lip. And the job, and this is what the labrum is, right? So that this is adhered to the edge of the the bone here as like quite strongly, but it can rip off, which is what we're going to talk about in a minute. And labrum tears what happens when that actually separates off. They typically, when we're talking about cycling, they're very common. They often occur when the hip has been impinging at the top of the stroke. Now, what do I mean by impinging? Essentially, your knee is coming up over the top of the stroke. And if you've got there's some anatomical things you can have in your hip joint which can predispose you to this, but the big one is if you're sitting twisted to the bike. And we talk about this kind of as a causal mechanism of almost every one of these problems because it is. But if your pelvis is out of playing with the bike, the knee typically on the opposite side to what you're dropping your hip. So if you're if you're dropping your right hip, your left leg will get forced away from the bike. And as it comes in from outside the line of the pedal, that femur is going to have to internally rotate repetitively across the line of the pedal. And so as it internally rotates, you're much more likely to get striking of the neck of the femur onto the acetabulum. And that loads the labrum and it can rip it off. Now, sometimes they're good for a long, long, long time and then it fails. And you're out on a ride one day and you think, geez, my hip is suddenly painful. But a lot of them creep on. A lot of them, you know, it's a bit niggly and then it slowly gets worse over a couple of months. And then one day it's really bad. The typical pain from this from a labrum tear is a really deep anterior groin pain. So right in through the front of the hip. People will often sort of grab their hip with their hand like this. We call it a sulcus sign. And they'll say, the pain's in there. It really feels deep inside. It is often mistaken for hip flexor problems. Okay. So a lot of the time the person will get a diagnosis of, your hip flexor is tight. You know, it's your hip flexor. You just got to stretch your hip flexor, your psoas. What you've got to realize is that the psoas muscle and the iliacus, which together form the hip flexor, they both run directly across the Neill Stanbury (03:57.966) top of the socket, right? They are literally like on the labrum. So it's very, very difficult to delineate between a labral tear and psoas irritation because when the tear in the labrum occurs, it'll leak inflammation into the area around the psoas and you'll get chronic hip flexor tightness, which you can't resolve. So these are an underlying trigger, if you like, of some psoas type issues that people have with their hip flexor. So deep anterior groin pain often comes on suddenly, but sometimes creeps on. Always associated with asymmetry on the bike pretty much, unless you've got terrible hip impingement issues. And often the rider will have a bit of a clunk and a creak in a pop in the hip. So that if they flex their hip up, as they bring it down, it'll go, wow. That's yeah, it's so we call it sort of a a snapping hip syndrome or something or both. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So there's often a bit of a noise. Cam Nicholls (04:45.006) That you can feel or hear or both. Never got to that extent, thankfully. Neill Stanbury (04:51.946) Yeah, and I don't think yours was very frontal pain. Was it was it right in the frontal. Yeah, it was lateral. Yeah, so the lateral pain is more likely to be like ITB or TFL type pain, but the actual hip flexor slash labrum tear patterns, they're very frontal pain. So that's a it's a much worse problem to get. They're very difficult to fix. The treatment, when you're talking about cycling and biomechanics, the treatment is obviously Cam Nicholls (04:55.502) No, it was right on the side. Neill Stanbury (05:16.226) Two things. You must, and we banged down about this in the back pane one, you must correct the asymmetry that's caused it. That makes total sense. The other big ones are to reduce the height at which the knee is rising over the top of the stroke. So basically the higher this hip has to come up, the more likely it is to whack into the edge of that socket and damage the labrum. Yep. Shorter cranks, taller front ends, more forward saddle positions. Often we end up doing a combination of things where we move the saddle up and forward in an arc. Around the bottom bracket. So we run a higher further forward position and we shorten the cranks and we bring the front end of the bike up. This can cause other slight other issues elsewhere. But if if you're trying to unload a chronically painful hip and let it heal, it's the lesser of two evils. Yeah. So you can end up with a bit too much weight on your hands and that sort of stuff from this type of positioning. But if it gets rid of your hip pain, it's often often the way to go. So you want to reduce the hip flexion, you want to open the hip angle up, shorter cranks are really good, upright front ends are really good on the bike. And with any luck, it'll resolve. Now, if it doesn't resolve, sometimes these ones you do everything you can and they c they don't get better. We often end up doing an MRI, sometimes with contrast dye injected into the joint, which basically allows us to image the joint with a little bit more detail and determine it sort of increases the sensitivity of the scan for picking up the tear. But a lot of the time you can pick it up on a regular MRI without the dye. it's not very nice putting contrast dye into a hip joint. So yeah, you've got to pick and choose who you want to do that with. It's a big needle. So we we scan your hip, we determine that it is a labrum tear, and then sometimes, sometimes they have to get off the bike for a period to allow it to heal. If it doesn't heal in that time, you know, which is often like two to three months, if it doesn't sort itself out and kind of the the labrum doesn't glue itself back onto the edge of the socket properly, there is surgical interventions that you can have for these. So is that a sort Cam Nicholls

  7. Jun 17

    Thinking About Hiring a Cycling Coach? Here's What Actually Happens

    Thinking about hiring a cycling coach but not sure what's actually involved? In this episode of the RCA Podcast, Cam Nicholls sits down with RCA coach and sports scientist Ben Treble to pull back the curtain on the coaching process and explain exactly what recreational and amateur cyclists can expect when they start working with a coach. Whether you're training 6–12 hours per week, struggling to improve your FTP, getting dropped on group rides, preparing for a Gran Fondo, or simply looking to become a stronger and healthier cyclist, this conversation covers the complete journey from onboarding through to long-term performance improvements. RCA coaching: https://roadcyclingacademy.com/one-to-one-coaching/  In this episode you'll learn: ✅ What happens during a cycling coaching onboarding call ✅ Why goal setting is more important than FTP targets alone ✅ How coaches analyse your training history and cycling data ✅ The difference between FTP and Critical Power testing ✅ How TrainingPeaks is used to deliver and monitor training ✅ Why accountability is often the missing ingredient for improvement ✅ The role of recovery weeks and periodisation ✅ How coaches adjust training around work, family and illness ✅ Common mistakes recreational cyclists make when training themselves ✅ How structured coaching helps break through performance plateaus Ben also explains how coaching extends far beyond simply prescribing intervals. From nutrition and recovery to training load management and identifying performance blind spots, coaching provides the structure and accountability many cyclists need to unlock their potential. If you've ever wondered whether cycling coaching is worth it, or what the process looks like behind the scenes, this episode will answer your questions. 🚴 Perfect for recreational cyclists, Gran Fondo riders, masters athletes, endurance cyclists and anyone looking to train smarter and achieve better results. Subscribe for more evidence-based cycling training, nutrition, bike fitting and performance content from the Road Cycling Academy.   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 Ben Treble, who's also a science data geek that digs into all the research. But today we're actually, Ben, we're not going be talking so much about the research, although I know your approach is very research based. So no doubt we'll be sprinkling that a little bit into the topic of today's discussion. But what I wanted to do today is talk about what does the process look like if I'm a recreational slash amateur road cyclist. You know, I've been training anywhere between six to twelve hours per week, depending on the week. And I'm kind of stuck on a performance plateau. I've been thinking about getting a coach, but I'm a little bit un uncertain. Maybe it feels a little bit beyond me, or maybe it feels like it's going to be another thing in my life. But I I kinda I don't really know. I know people improve a lot when they get a coach, but I don't know if I can commit to it or or what's involved. So I thought maybe you could share how you work with RCA members, which are essentially men, women between the ages of, you know, thirty-five to sixty-five, that busy lifestyles, jobs, families, you know, life stresses, but they want to improve on the bike. So let's peel it back. Let's just say somebody doesn't really know you know they know s coaching's gonna help them improve, but they don't know what's involved. So my name's Joe Blow. I'm thinking about getting coached. Ben, what's it gonna look like? Ben Treble (02:00.162) Yeah. You're gonna you're gonna sign up to the RCA and the first step is we're gonna get you scheduled in for an onboarding call, which kind of sets the stage for what's gonna happen afterwards. In that onboarding call, we're just gonna have a big discussion. We're gonna talk about primarily it's a it's an opportunity to get to know each other, but second it's an opportunity for me as a coach to get your context, get your history. And we're gonna start to have the first conversations on what is one of the most important parts of working with a coach and that's goal setting. I think it's something most athletes are typically not very good at doing. Cam Nicholls (02:41.304) Yeah, and I think some people come into cycle coaching with a an expectation that they have to have like a event goal or, you know, a specific of you know, something that's happening on a certain time and I need to be, you know, peeking for for that. Whereas I know a lot of our members actually yeah, once once I have a call with them, because I like I'm typically speaking, you know, as in the inquiry guide to them before they join. No, you don't need a specific event goal. You don't need to be racing your bike. You can literally just want self improvement. But then within that self improvement, you're breaking down what does that look like? Ben Treble (03:24.76) Exactly right. I can think of a perfect example. It's probably one of my longest standing athletes I've worked with at the RCA. He did just do his first event recently, but we've been working together for well over a year now, and he never had any necessary intention to do any events. He wasn't racing in the history. His goals were quite simple in some respects and beautiful. One was he wanted to get fit and healthy So he was a good role model for his daughter. And he wanted to get fit and healthy for himself so he could enjoy life a bit better. And he also just found cycling really enjoyable. and he only did indoor training at this point in time when we started. Interesting. So a very different set to maybe what is more traditional where someone says, I'm a master's writer and I'm gonna do a grand fondo in twelve weeks' time. Cam Nicholls (04:09.912) Interesting. Ben Treble (04:21.633) And I would like to qualify for the UCI Grand Fondo Worlds. Cam Nicholls (04:25.698) Yep. Okay. So in this call, if someone says, yeah, look, I just want to increase my FTP, do you just go, Great, let's just increase it? Or do you set things a little bit differently? And how do you determine where to go? Because obviously you're having a conversation, but do you in that initial call, are you like looking at the previous riding history? are people, you know Are you getting them familiar with training peaks, which is the software application we use for the calendar and looking at the data, or are most people already familiar with it? Ben Treble (05:00.642) Most people are familiar with training peaks or a similar athlete management system. if they're not familiar with it in this initial meeting, I'm not going to spend massive amounts of time on that because you could spend days doing this. That initial meeting is the time has to be focused on getting the context of the athlete. So what's their training history, which might be I'm very new to the sport to I've been training for fifteen years, you know, varied periods of time from seven to twelve hours a week. So you could have big different levels of experience and there's often a injury context. So, you know, I've recently had diabetic people who are trying to improve diabetes. I've had people who are coming back from back injuries, very common back or knee injuries. maybe they've not been riding for twelve months because of that and they're trying to come back into the sport. So the context is that's a big part of the conversation. Then there's the availability piece. We're trying to tick this off relatively quick, which is, you know, what days can you ride? How many hours are you willing to commit to? That sort of thing. Part of that is looking at their training history. So objectively, I tend to look at if they have training peaks, I'll go in before this conversation and look at how many hours they do a week. And I'll ask them, how many hours do you think you do a week? And they always overestimate it. Interesting. And then I show them, I show them the data in training peaks. I'll screen share and be like, I know you said you think you're doing eight to ten hours a week, but unless you're not syncing your data into training peaks completely, says you're only doing five to six. So there's sometimes we just try and set the scene a little bit here and put in some reality checks. When someone says, I'm doing eight hours a week and I want to move up to twelve, if they're only doing five hours a week in reality, you're not going to jump to twelve. Yep. Straight away. So I like to do that. And then the goal setting is the next biggest piece. And if That's a very common thing. Someone says, I want to lift my threshold. I want to improve FTP or what's worse is I just want to improve, you know, my cycling. And I'll ask them why. So Cam, Joe Blow, why? Tell me why you want to improve your FTP. Cam Nicholls (07:10.196) because I I'm struggling on the local group ride. I'm you know, I'm in in the D in the B group and I feel like I could be better in the B group and I want to get to the A group. Ben Treble (07:21.816) Yeah, so tell me what do you struggle with the most in the B group? Cam Nicholls (07:26.002) look, towards the end of the ride I just tend to fatigue out a bit and I go from being able to roll some turns and then I'm at towards the back and there's this climb at the end where sometimes I get popped and you know, I I don't finish and then other times I make it, but I'm always just struggling in the last part of the ride. Ben Treble (07:43.77

  8. Jun 16

    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

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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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