The Cycling Podcas‪t‬ Lionel Birnie, Daniel Friebe, Richard Moore

In this episode of Service Course, Lizzy Banks and Tom Whalley take a deep dive into the world of online cycling, something that we've all become even more accustomed to over the last 12 months thanks to a global pandemic.

Tom speaks to Zwift's lead game designer Wes Salmon, Hustle City creator Marcus Cheek, cyclist and CEO of Die Gute Fabrik Hannah Nicklin, Mike Rose from No More Robots, and Stuart Ruecroft. If you played Milk Race on your Spectrum or Commodore 64 in the 1980s then you'll have seen some of Stuart's work.

In the episode Tom asks how platforms such as Zwift have been so successful in combining the language of cycling with that of video games. Tom also peaks into the future to see what new platforms are emerging, platforms such as SOL cycling and Hustle City, and looks at how they are going to utilise your smart turbo trainer to create new ways to enjoy online cycling. Plus Lizzy takes a look at a sub-5kg disc-brake bike build.

Service Course by The Cycling Podcast is supported by Science in Sport. For 25% off all your Science in Sport products go to scienceinsport.com (https://www.scienceinsport.com/) and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout. 

This episode is sponsored by Babbel, the language learning app. With Babbel you can choose from 14 different languages, including, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Babbel is offering our listeners six months free with a purchase of a six month subscription. Go to Babbel.co.uk/play (https://begin.babbel.com/en_play/) and enter the code CYCLE

The 2021 World Tour season is underway with the UAE Tour and in this episode Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe discuss the opening three days of racing in the dessert.

There was a stage win for Mathieu van der Poel before his Alpecin-Fenix team had to withdraw after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19. As expected, Filippo Ganna won the time trial with Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar taking the leader's jersey before strengthening his position by winning the stage to Jabel Hafeet ahead of Adam Yates.

But what colour is the leader's jersey? That's the burning question posed by Daniel.

We also discuss the curious case of Marc Hirschi's transfer and the NDA and in the final part there's a subject that is sure to divide people. No, not Slow Radio (although there is that too), but an look at the impact Brexit is having on the careers of British cyclists, and particularly young riders, now freedom of movement is no longer a right for UK citizens.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by iwoca (https://www.iwoca.co.uk/) and Science in Sport (https://www.scienceinsport.com/) .

Listeners can get 25% off Science In Sport products with the discount code SISCP25.

This is the first ten minutes of an episode that's just been released for Friends of the Podcast called A Team Apart.

It's a study of a team that punched above its weight last season, Team Sunweb. They won three Tour de France stages, Flèche Wallonne, Paris-Tours and nearly the Giro d'Italia too. A new sponsor DSM has perhaps given the team greater security, considering Sunweb is in the fragile holiday market, although the team lost its new star, Marc Hirschi on the eve of the season. This episode gets under the skin of how the team often shuns the conventional approach.

To sign up as a Friend of the Podcast go to http://thecyclingpodcast.com/friends

This episode of The Cycling Podcast starts with the most significant corrections corner ever following Daniel's assertion last week that Ineos Grenadiers rider Pavel Sivakov had climbed the equivalent of the distance to the moon...

We also discuss the early races of the season, the big stories in the news and look ahead to Chris Froome's debut for his new team, Israel Start-Up Nation. Can he win a fifth Tour de France after his long recovery from injury? Or will age and the emergence of so many other grand tour contenders count against him.

We also hear from Doug Ryder, the boss of the Qhubeka-Assos team which nearly collapsed at the end of last year. Having saved the team from extinction he was celebrating at the weekend as Giacomo Nizzolo got their first victory of the season at the Clasica Almeria.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by iwoca (https://www.iwoca.co.uk/) and Science in Sport (https://www.scienceinsport.com/) .

This episode is also supported by Harrys (https://www.harrys.com/go/gb-pod-2020?dc=&utm_medium=sponsorship-podcast&utm_source=Cycling+Podcast&utm_campaign=audioBoom&utm_content=Sep19QualityTP--395_trial&crid=Sep19QualityTP--395_trial&hid=&name=Cycling+Podcast+listeners) .

I was travelling back to Girona from the first team training near Marseille at the start of the year with our trainer Nate Wilson and I was asking him a whole bunch of questions about coaching and it suddenly struck me that the conversation we were having would make a great a great podcast.

So I got my recorder out of my backpack and asked Nate about his methods and philosophy but also the mental side of a relationship between a coach and an athlete.

Nate is a young guy – younger than some of the athletes he coaches – and he's raced at a good amateur level himself so I was really interested to know if there are any differences between coaching a keen amateur who wants to get the best out of themselves and a pro rider whose living depends on their performance.

It made me think about my own training and relationship with my coach as well, so I hope that you take something interesting from it no matter what level of riding you do.

I've got a block of back-to-back racing coming up which I'm really looking forward to. I'm back to the south of France to race Haut Var this weekend, then it's up to Belgium for Opening Weekend and then I'll be at Strade Bianche again, which I'm really looking forward to.

Listen out for Talking Luft with Nate over on the original Life in the Peloton feed next week and I'll be back with another episode here on The Cycling Podcast in a couple of weeks.

Hope you all enjoy the pod. Until next time, take care,
Mitch

Life in the Peloton 2020 playlist (https://audioboom.com/playlists/4630938-life-in-the-peloton-with-mitch-docker)

Keep in touch with Life in the Peloton

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Theme music
The theme music for Life in the Peloton was composed by Pete Shelley, who was lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks. It was commissioned by the production company behind Channel 4’s coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s and was used as the theme music for the nightly highlights show. Pete died in December 2018. We were given permission by Pete’s widow and his manager to continue using the music for the theme tune to Life in the Peloton. To hear more about the music, listen to the Andre Greipel episode of Life in the Peloton.

This is the first ten minutes of an episode that's just been released for Friends of the Podcast. It's an in-depth conversation with Ineos Grenadiers director of racing Rod Ellingworth about his early days in cycling. The full episode is available now. To sign up as a Friend of the Podcast go to http://thecyclingpodcast.com/friends