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Latest Episodes:

Placeholders: It's always silly season in cycling Jan 17, 2024

Show notes

Jonny Long, Abby Mickey, and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz on this week's episode of the Placeholders to discuss the latest in the apparently unending stream of transfer chatter involving Bora and Visma, salads, what we can expect from Sarah Gigante, and so much more. Plus, members will get to hear another installment of the Placeholders After Dark ...

Men's Tour Down Under Stage 1: Sprinting out of the gate Jan 16, 2024

Show notes

Rupert Guinness and Ronan Mc Laughlin join Matt de Neef to kick off the first men's race of the season. The crew talks takeaways from the pre-race chatter, the fast finish of stage 1, and what's to come across the next week in Australia.

Women's Tour Down Under Stage 3: Emotions were high atop Willunga Jan 14, 2024

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Dave Rome is back on hosting duties with Matt de Neef and Gracie Elvin to chat about stages 2 and 3 of the women's Tour Down Under. Both days delivered potentially unsurprising but incredibly exciting victories, with some teams having to shift focus while others held firm to the plan.

In its second year as a WorldTour event the Tour Down Under delivered a race worth watching, but will they add stages in the future? And what can we take away from TDU into the rest of the season?

Performance Process: Coaching in the World Tour with Jacob Tipper Jan 12, 2024

Show notes

Performance Process returns for 2024 with the latest in our series delving into how and why World Tour racing is getting so much faster. Coach Jacob Tipper is our guest discussing various aspects of the training that goes into modern performances.

Covering everything from the importance of fatigue resistance to off season binges, Tipper talks from his vast experience as a rider and coach to many. Tipper has coached EF's Ben Healy since the under 16 categories and talks us through some of the steps and plans that Healy has implemented in becoming one of the hottest prospects in the World Tour and why other aspiring athletes shouldn't throw the towel in when they see young mega-stars siging pro and winning big right out of the junior categories.

Time stamps for the episode:

04:06 – UCI lever angle rules
09:24 – Is World Tour Racing getting faster?
14:59 - Is it just speed increasing, or is power increasing also?
16:51 – Modern training and increased professionalism
28:00 – Power training and its usefulness.
34:29 – The difference between pros and U23 riders and the key performance metric we should be talking about
41:11 - On recovery
44:38 – Altitude training
49:14 – Heat training
56:32 – A theory on how better fuelling may be heloping younger riders break through
1:04:04 - How it's now the young riders leading by example
1:06:53 - On how slower burner riders shouldn't look to emulate the teenage pros
1:12:03 - Athlete development

Women's Tour Down Under Stage 1: Gorge road disrupts expectations Jan 12, 2024

Show notes

Dave Rome takes Abby's place leading the podcast on the ground in Adelaide to talk about the first stage of the women's Tour Down Under. Our favourite tech expert is joined by former professional Gracie Elvin and Escape Collective's managing editor Matt de Neef.

The team discusses the event's growing prestige, why the Europeans are showing up to win, how the Aussies can compete, and how the new team kits look in person.

Geek Warning: Function-over-form, our favorite gravel shoes, and we’re off to TDU! Jan 11, 2024

Show notes

Dave and James have lots of spy photos to discuss this week! Factor’s got a revamp of its Ostro VAM lightweight road bike about to break cover, and Specialized and Trek have some enticing new road shoes roaming about in the wild. Lazer also brings its Kineticore technology to its popular Z1, we debate the pros and cons of anti-seize vs. grease, and we chat about what we look for in our favorite gravel shoes.

Timestamps:

1:52 – Ostro’s new Factor VAM may be fast, but it’s not especially pretty – and it’s not alone
7:03 – Lazer brings Kineticore technology to the revamped Z1
12:01 – Even tools aren’t immune to hacking
15:27 – Blurring the lines between auto mechanics and bike mechanics
18:17 – Dave (anti-)seizes the day
26:12 – Pick One! Our favorite gravel shoes, and what we look for in them
32:54 – PSA: dried sealant and wheel imbalance
36:02 – New lightweight S-Works road shoes coming from Specialized?
37:09 – Some very intriguing mid-range road shoes are definitely coming soon from Specialized
37:58 – And some new flagship road shoes from Trek/Bontrager, too!
38:15 – Ratio Technology is at it again with a new aluminum cable spool for SRAM DoubleTap levers
38:46 – Iconic UK MTB brand Orange is in serious financial difficulty
40:24 – Enve parent company Amer Sports Inc is going public
41:12 – Brompton with a capital B!
41:19 – 9point8 has angle-adjust headsets for IS-style frames

Placeholders: Nobody can leave Plugge Corner Jan 10, 2024

Show notes

Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz to take the inside line into Plugge corner and continue the ongoing conversation about Mathieu van der Poel's cyclocross form, among other things.

You'll also hear the first Weekly Pain of 2024, while Escape Collective members will get another edition of the Placeholders After Dark.

Wheel Talk: Dream teams and Aussie pressure Jan 10, 2024

Show notes

Abby, Gracie, and Loren are back to talk about Tour Down Under, what Willunga means for the race, our dream teams, and more. Have questions for us? Let us know on the Escape Collective discord!

Also, check out the Wheel Talk Newsletter for a stage-by-stage preview ahead of the TDU.

Geek Warning: Our favorite handlebar tapes, and what we look for in them Jan 05, 2024

Show notes

Geek Warning is back for the new year! In this week’s episode, Dave and James chat about some mysterious Boa dial failures and how some pros are using gravel bikes this cyclocross season, how 3D-printing is becoming just as much a marketing tool as a manufacturing one, and what we look for in our favorite handlebar tapes.

You might also just want to head out to the shed and check your disc brake rotor thicknesses, and the story of a lost bike in Colorado may help restore your faith in humanity.

Timestamps:

5:01 – What’s going on with Boa dial failures this cyclocross season?
11:54 – Even the pros don’t think gravel bikes are all that different from cyclocross bikes
16:35 – Everything that can be 3D-printed is being 3D-printed
20:40 – Pick One! Our favorite handlebar tapes, and what we look for in them
35:45 – PSA: Disc brake rotors don’t last forever
40:04 – A lost bike, and restoring your faith in humanity
44:30 – Rotor’s got a new dual-sided power meter for Shimano crankarms
45:45 – Look, ma, no ears! Kask has a mysterious new aero road helmet
46:30 – Bora-Hansgrohe has officially confirmed they’re on SRAM and Hammerhead this year
46:40 – Chris King has added a new Microspline freehub body option for its R45 hubs

Placeholders: MVDP is in his villain arc (does he recycle?) Jan 03, 2024

Show notes

This week on the show: Red Bull's buy-in at Bora-Hansgrohe, Mathieu van der Poel's spit, Ronan's beard, and our New Year's resolutions for professional cycling.

To get access to the members-only Escape After Dark segment of this podcast, sign up here.

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