Chris Froome Blames New Bike Fit & Why Energy Gels Are A Rip Off | The NERO Show Ep. 57 

How about internal gear hubs and/or belt drives? Seeing everyone's bike get totaled by mud in Unbound made me quite sad. Of course they're less efficient in good conditions, but, good conditions those weren't.

For me races like the one covered by you show that gravel bikes overall are artificial thing, that suits only a very specific kind of routes... And if you want to make them less specific, you need to start turning them into mtb bikes... (wider and wider tires, suspension etc) which shows once again, that we dont need gravel bikes at all. I always wonder why people hurt themsleves on a given course if they could simply use a hardtail, with some thinner tires, and some small adjustements.

@@Karollenart This line of thinking is so old and tired. Show me a mtb that can take a 50t chainring. Show me someone pedaling a 150mile course on an upright seating mtb. Show me someone doing that for 5-6hours (let alone the 8+ hours of normal humans) in a headwind in that upright position. There's a slew of reasons for why mtbs are not appropriate for a gravel ride and why gravel bikes exist.

@@Mikeplus14 Or, you know, use your brain and don't try to pedal through the mud that's sticking all over your bike. This might be shocking, but those two things we use to pedal a bike can also walk you across that mud. Evolution is really cool.

@@cjohnson3836that’s rude for you to say. A race is race: we push pedals through the course. You simply suggest stop pedaling i a middle of it. May be you haven’t used yours this time to overthink the bicycle race idea in general. Cheers

That’s interesting and maybe not that surprising to read. Keep up the great work Patrick!

This is why @PatrickLino 's channel is so important. Out with the brand BS, just the facts even when ppl don't want to hear it.

Zipp’s are overrated, but I am not convinced of Winspace Hypers: truing could be better, crosswind stability is worse than other wheelsets, creaking sounds, limited warranty. They still appear to me as low budget made in China. Pay 300 bucks more and you have high quality DTSwiss wheels.

​@@user-d32658I crashed mine at 50km/hr dead stop ( I broke bones), two spokes came loose, still in true, tire didn't even flat, and had a couple small cracks. This was gen 1 hypers. Second gen, even stronger. For the price of 1200 with 10% code vs what you'd get at that price for DT swiss, isn't even close. And elite wheels are about 250-350gr lighter than DT swiss in price range. The newer gens need more trueing than first gen - my grapids and hypers both did in the first 1000km. Still a lot of bias like Patty says, for Chinese products. Now that DT swiss hub patent ran out, it also another reason that Chinese brands are even better as they are clearly using and making their own takes on it. But hey, I'm stoked if people under value them and I get better deals :)

@@user-d32658 quality and dt dwiss shouldn't be in the same sentence

indeed - they have listened to the criticism (too much sweetspot - folks burning out cos they are time crunched and pressured into riding in the mid-zones too long for the time they have) so have renamed workouts from sweetspot to endurance :D :D just kidding, but you see what i mean?

Came here to say something similar. Another thing I get value from is having structured workouts on my commutes to make them more interesting/worthwhile. Not having to take my time to think about the workout, just have it pre loaded onto my head unit makes the $300 per year well worth it!

I think TrainerRoad was a great value as a beginner. It does a great job of getting people into training and I used it with good results for 3 or 4 years. But once you know how to plan a training calendar, it's kind of expensive for what you get. Their plans aren't the greatest, and overly complicated sometimes. Once I moved away from the TR plans, I had incredible gains (FTP, power profile), but more importantly, I was getting results in races. I don't think TR is a bad program, I just don't think it's worth what they charge. Especially when compared to other things out there. Everybody offers FTP detection. Progression levels feel a little gimmicky to me (I don't really need AI to tell me 3x20 is harder than 2x20). And they've been promising outdoor levels for over 2 years now (is it ever going to actually happen?). I mean, Zwift is cheaper, and you get workouts, free rides, and races. I just don't get why TR are charging what they do for what they give you. The podcast used to be the highlight of my week and was an invaluable and highly entertaining listen. But that too has sadly gone downhill of late. First Pete left, then Amber, then Chad. And Nate is rarely on it these days. It feels like it has lost it soul. I haven't felt the draw or pull to listen to it in probably 4 months.

Teach me how to write my own training calendar and im all over it 😃@@junksmiles

SweetSpot block, 3 weeks on, 1 week off. Two to maybe three workouts per week. Increase time in zone week over week. Do 1 or 2 blocks or at minimum 1hour time in zone. Threshold block. Increase time in zone. 2 workouts per week. VO2 block. Aim for 18-20 minutes time in zone per workout. 3 workouts per week. 3 week block. Rinse and repeat. I plan to hit the VO2 block around 6 weeks before my A event. Sprint work 2-3 weeks before A event.

Getting old sucks!

Froome has always looked like a robot on a bike - no surprise he can't feel the difference between geometry/position. Plus a bad crash throws your position off for years unless you do everything possible to regain your old position post injury. Having said that I think it's time he retired, sat up and bought himself a nice endurance bike, gave it a couple of years and then turned up at some Grand fondos.

Yeah, that's an off-road perspective; most failures are for a reason - either poor choice of equipment, or poor riding technique. The road racing view is that failures are always 'bad luck'......

Yup. The only mechanical I've had at a gravel race was my own fault. 1) for not doing my checks until the morning of the race (arrived to the race site late the night before and it was raining). 2) for forgetting something simple (re-engaging the clutch). Luckily for me, I at least got all the major things accounted for and it was only a short delay to fix in the race.

Never too old! I saw former winner Gordon McCauley was in the race this year at 52!

All my bontrager wheels. If I get a scratch on them I can replace it. What can you do with your crap?

@@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed nice username.

@@PhilB303 Thanks 👍 😁

​@@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed uhhh the same I guess? A lot of hubs mentioned now even take DT-Swiss parts. And replacing rims...well you buy a new one and replace it. Or have warranty. What's so different?

@@RepsacZ I just don't want to support a country that doesn't do any development on its own steals other countries ideas. You see if I spent 10 million on creating a product because it had to go through testing and whatever. How would you feel if somebody replicated what you spent so much money on creating and is benefiting off of your hard work and invention? Why would you want to support that? My morals as a human being won't allow me to do that .

Which hubs do you think are worth it? I have campagnolo wheels, as well as Chinese with novatec, bitex and some no name Taiwan something. Curious about your perspective, I have mixed feelings on the last two myself.

Me neither but I only lasted a week or so without wanting to use the route builder!

They literally asked me to send a crashed bib back last week for repair, wasn’t expecting that 🤔

@@JPDCC A repaired bib. I'm genuinely curious how they would fix that without botching the looks of it up. Either way that makes for a good indoor bib I suppose

Maybe it's simply more apparent what is character really is?

As a super flexible rider in my experience i almost cant tell the difference when i change the height even by a cm or two. ive ridden with my saddle on my dads height about 3cm lower without noticing on my mtb and road bikes b4

The fact I can get a calculator with more processing power for a 1/10th of the price

What's your recipe? Very curious

Same. Mine covers the basics and accidents. They pay out the amount I said it's worth which includes accessories and upgrades. My company doesn't depreciate like some others do.

@ThomasWestrick that's great. Mine does have that depreciation thing after a certain number of years, which is why I don't insure my track bike anymore.

Unless the review includes full Engineering Schematics ... I'm not interested 😂

My immediate thought on the Princeton wheels was long the same line. With the added knowledge that the first search for aliexpress wheels I ever made had a set of knockoff Princetons for about 500$

My fenix 5 pro can play music, but my edge can't. Not sure if the fenix can pass as bike computer for you.

Use both. You deserve it! :) I have the watch but still use head units for their bigger screens.

Navigation?

Dentist recommends don’t brush after rides, teeth are susceptible to the abrasion after all that sugar or something like that. Just rinse down sugar with pure water separate bottle during the ride.

I fluctuate between sugar water and carb mix when racing. I spoke to my dentist about my concerns, and he said the sugar is probably less damaging because it doesn't contain the acidic ingredients that the carb powder would. He told me my best opportunity to mitigate damage would be to rinse my mouth with water after each sip. Slightly unsustainable but an option nonetheless.

And? How much does it cost to travel to a downhill park? All races require travel if you aren't local. At least with gravel races, they're often outside of the city to its easier to find cheap camp grounds.

sure, for smaller ones -agreed!@@cjohnson3836

Most trainer manufacturers have their own (usually free) traning platforms attached, e.g. Wattbike Hub, Elite myTraining etc. The training programmes themselves are pretty trash, but if you have a coach or a decent idea of the workouts you want to do, you can create them in the platform editor and off you go.

Trainer Day is a good low-cost alternative. You can use power-based workouts inside and out. But it's not adaptive.

Zwfit, Garmin. Maybe the Arab swift clone with a shitty name I can't remember, maybe they do structured training too in game?

Do you mind elaborating on how exactly you've incorporated using sugar alone? Are you simply mixing with water alone? Adding salt as well? I was intrigued by the segment and wished they had further elaborated, but didn't. Thank you in advance

Absolutely, I mean, people use them for a reason. I just wish more people knew about sugar water. Let's say I race or I'm doing a big event. I will definitely pack some gels. But if it's just another 3-4 hour training session I will 100% rely on sugar water to get through that. And I feel like for most riders I see out there the use case for gels compared to the actual financial value of the nutrition inside vs sugar water just doesn't stack up. Some of my buddies rock up to a long weekend session with huge assortments of bars and gels and I always cringe at how much money they're wasting. Could easily replace your chain, pads, discs, etc with that same money spent on gels. Idk I find myself consuming gels very rarely nowadays 🤷‍♂

Think we agree. I only use water for training sessions myself, but sugar can be helpful. Never eat bars. Sandwich with home baked fibre bread works great and is healthier. @@xAudiolith

I feel the difference in 2 mil saddle height up or down... his claims are ridiculous like the 5 million euros he's getting for complaining and DNF'ing

What’s the size bottle you’re running

@@zam.sauce.adventures6475 Different sizes depending on ride, but for 500mls I would use 90-100g sugar

Speeds in XC are easily as high in downhill with rockgardens etc. Talking about XC, not just downhill

Depends on where you get the puncture on xc not sure if youre talking speed as in catching up or increasing puncture chances. But yeah most of the time punctures are game over in xc

You can't change bikes in XC MTB; everything bar the frame can be changed.

@@WerdnaLiten you’re right, was mixing it up with CX in that regard

I agree with what you said regarding the features of TR, but it's also good for structured outside riding, just as long as it's the correct workout. I'd never do a sprint or vo2 max workout unless I was on an appropriate stretch of road..but yeah TR has many features besides being a workout player and training plan builder.

Yeah. That's true. I would also add progression levels on the workouts. These are just great. When you find a workout on the internet, it is like 4 x 5 min @vo2... But TR adds progression levels. So at low levels you get like 8 x 2 min @ vo2 whereas at higher ones you get 5 x 4 minutes or 7 x 4 minutes etc. You cannot create such a detailed plan on your own unless you are a coach :) @@steviedee9344

Reusable gel bottles, as well as trail flasks. You put your DIY gel in there

I think that's spot on. AI FTP is unique to TR, and really works. Also, yes, you can go out and build an annual plan, but you have to work out the progression or load and difficulty.

The AIFTP definitely works but I think regularly doing FTP and even SST workouts can give you the same info without the $300 per month price tag (sorry Chris)🤣

Maple syrup is super expensive in Australia, so doesn't make sense here.

Because we ask them

Oh yeh. I like this one.