How is Keegan Swenson so fast? His coach Jim Miller explains 

I like your comment and yes, specifics on training are what I prefer, too, yet understandably some cards need to be held close to the vest, especially for a pro in the glorious sunshine of a career peak. Yet so much is available about training and nutrition and tactics and tech, and I'd say use it all to craft your own plan and perhaps make surprising personal discoveries along the way. And my one main tip, just me as a lifelong rider, would be to be wildly enthusiastic about whatever training you opt to do. Make your time and conditions count and call it perfect 'me time" because it is just you and your pursuit of strength and stamina for speed on the gravel, making the pretenders eat your dust. And I grin bit nothing wrong with being fierce and focused to the checkers with plenty of time to cheer the later arivals like me, but hey, I might be first in the over-60 class. Just tell me where I can get my trophy. I'll set it on the dash of my custom Chevy van with a fading mural of a sunset on the sides. 😀

Oh wow, follows the program, no other athlete has ever done that, that is the secret!

😂😂😂

Yeah he just does the entire thing every week 😂

It's more fun to watch more American Cyclist Race and compete at the European tour

I think Matthew Riccotello is faster than Swenson, and about 9 years younger, and they both have ridden and trained together in Arizona before.

🤷‍♂️

Truth, I’m an SLC local and Keegan regularly rides 3-5 times over guardsman pass during training rides. To be specific, 3-5 times over the top and down S a part of a much longer ride. Pretty normal day on the bike for him from what I can tell

I’m curious why the reality is VO2 max? Oxygen consumption doesn’t make the pedals turn - watts do.

The short answer is all of them. All the calories.

he CHUGS the sugar.

You are comparing apples and oranges. 5th in the worlds is not bad. XCO is different then long distance 100k races. He is not training for XCO races. Just like Nino is not training for marathon races. Also you are looking at 1 gravel race. Plus cycling is so much bigger in Europe than USA.

@@harizavdic4893 Well, top Europeans have no incentive to leave their leagues and go do Lifetime stuff, but keep watching Keegan try his hand in the Gravel worlds and see what happens. Or when Kasia or others go and make mince meat off of the GP dominator.

@@PtWhiteBelt seems like Keegan did well with a 5th finish. What more do you want from a athlete who is not used to competing in that environment. Kasia is a world class athlete. She dominates in Europe of course she will in the USA. She is a WORLD champion. Plus Sofia finished 25th that race. She didn’t even really race. Plus she just happens to be good. And is not at the European level like Kasia. I don’t you are giving enough credit where it’s due. Plus Kasia said it was a very relentless course, much more climbing than expected. Also it’s less likely for them to chase an athlete that’s not in the GP. Like I said cycling is much bigger in Europe and it’s just starting to pick up steam here. The GP has only been around for few years. That’s almost like comparing the English premier league with the MLS.

@@harizavdic4893 Sofia raced until Kasia put the hammer down after the detour. Until then she kept trying to compete. When that happened, suddenly she was just having fun - lol. Re Keegan, it's not about him but his fans who are delusional and keep insisting he has world tour/european XC level. He doesn't, but he isn't less of a beast anyway.

@@PtWhiteBelt I’m not a fan of ether really. I’m just saying I don’t think you give Keegan enough credit. He went and completed at the highest level and did well. I think he is capable of completing in Europe and he proved it. But at this point in his career I don’t think it’s worth it to him to go to Europe. He only has few years then he will drop off due to age. The results didn’t affect Sofias standings in GP. Still finished 1st. She could have at least competed for 2nd. Coming 2nd to a world champion wouldn’t be a bad thing. Lol But the women here, I think only Hannah Otto competed in Europe. Not sure how she did or what events. I wouldn’t really say Sofia is that dominant here. I don’t think she is the Keegan of women side. I’m not sure that she would be even top 15-20 in Europe. I don’t really follow except XCO, marathon, downhill and enduro. Lol I’m just happy to see my country Bosnia 🇧🇦 represented in the UCI marathon distance by Lejla Njemčević. But come man be a little fair at least. Kasia is on a different level. She came in wearing a UCI champion jersey. It would be like Nino coming over here to do some XC racing. Lol But I do think in the future is the GP grows you will see more European athletes participating in more events.

Watts per kilo.

@@K-lu4nc well yeah I assumed as much I'm just wondering if there referring to the watts per kilo of his ftp or vo2 max.

Typically those numbers are like 20 minutes to 1 hour power. Vo2 max would be even higher.

He finished 5th at worlds. That's definitely success. He also improved a lot the last few years doing this volume

behind a 43 year old, retired alejandro valverde

@Eramsay121 A 43yr old that EVERY world tour team would sign if he were up for it🤡

@@Eramsay121 Are you really minimizing a 5th place finish at Worlds? Valverde got an 11th place start and Keegan had to fight from 90th on a course not set up for passing. Keegan also had to fight back from a crash. Good chance that if he had a decent start position he gets a podium.

Closely guarded trade secrets. As well they should be while actively competing. They will probably be revealed one day in his best selling book after retirement😂

😀

Big volume works,and you got to build into that slowly.

And not braking too much.

Ya know ive known and worked around Jim for 20 plus years he aint about that at all!!! And KS is subject to testing via usada

Jim was running T mobile Womens in 2001 i believe, Jiri and others were the heads of usac at the time Jim was a director and coach more on the womens side of usac during that era

@@matthewfallon1635 In 2001 maybe, later not. He was a part of USA Cycling's stone walling policy when the revelations came out. He didn't resign, as the entire leadership should have done but didn't. Re: testing, neither USA Cycling nor USADA release records of who has been tested, when, and how many times, for amateurs or pro-ams (he's essentially the latter). Since that's the case, I think you can assume it's close to zero for everyone except UCI-WT pros in the US. Also no blood passports.

@@pmcmpc hey all i can speak on is my experience with the man and ive never seen Jim partake in it, in any form. You can allege things all ya want and that is your right and i support it, im just saying from my dealings with him as a usac mech i never saw or even heard a rumor about Jim helping cheats. I cant speak to what happened when i wasnt present. Just saying as a guy who was there i didnt see any doping with usac. Now proteams thats where most of the issue was and yea i saw some stuff but never with JM. Also as far as testing athletes my girlfriend who was on the national team (track) and on a proteam was tested a 5-6 times a year at our house and even more when racing and travelling….not sure whos getting tested or how often theu are nowadays but i hope they still get tested. And if you have a pro license you are open to testing at any time i believe

Keegan dope tests regularly

Thanks for the feedback.

@@TheRidewithBenDelaney You're good Ben. Plenty of people out there have the attention spans to listen to 3-5 hour podcasts. If anything, more long form stuff is well appreciated. You were great to listen to on Ted King's podcast.

"Old guys and gals on bikes, in the cold, getting coffee." I'm thinking of former pros, CEOs, artists, etc...

I just put the phone in my pocket and gad on my headphones while doing chores and it was 👌. (Music at the end was a little bit loud though if any constructive criticism to be said)

Haha who happened to be named Valverde. But yeah when I saw that he was 5th at worlds, it was a wake up call for US vs international talent

@@MorganBrownMuch shorter course in Europe than in the USA!

A guy that could still potentially podium in a monument/classic. It's not like there haven't been +40yr old Olympic medalists in other sports that favor youth even more than cycling does.

Starting 200 wheels back in a race that was strung out from the gun. How many matches would you burn navigating a pack of that caliber? And then to even be in the mix for a podium? Give it a rest

😂hillarious how you say "40 + master" as if referring to Dave the bike shop owner who can still take pulls on the weekend group ride. Valverde is still tearing legs off of young Euro's in grand tours my man. Geezus. You should be saying Keegan almost beat a legend.