The Return of Lance Armstrong - Do we care? - The gcn show ep. 239

- We're live from the Wounded Warriors Ride in Babylon, New York. - Welcome to the GCN Show! (group cheering) - Welcome to the GCN Show. This week we ask if there's a new Lance Armstrong controversy, but most importantly, should we really care. We also have some epic feats of endurance for you, and a brand new Wahoo competition. - Yeah, and will we see the end of two of cycling's biggest problems in Tech of the Week. No more fitness tests because of an app that calculates your FTP from live ride data. And no more naked Mario Cipollini because of a jersey that promises no more tan lines. - Will we really ever see an end to naked Cipollini? I don't think it's possible. - I don't think we will, but maybe old age might see an onset of less nakedness. But I don't know. Maybe we should put an end to it here and now. No more Cippolini naked on the GCN Show. - [Matt] We can only hope for that. (upbeat music) This week in the world of cycling, we've seen what I consider to be irrefutable proof that cycling could indeed save the world. Though after the roads were closed in London for the Ride London Sportif, the air quality did this. - [Simon] I'll tell you what, Matt. I wanna live in a city with air quality like that. - I'd like to join you. - Yeah, now this week, we also saw road bikes taken to a whole new level. Chris Akrigg has pushed his gravel bike into uncharted territory with this new video. (tyres striking rocks) - While at the Tour of Poland, we saw a horse trying to infiltrate the peloton. And Szymon Godziek, not exactly known for his race results, tried to do the same, as well. (rock music) - Brilliant. Bonkers, but brilliant. - Definitely bonkers. Definitely. Now we've also seen some more controversy surrounding Lance Armstrong, stirred up by some sections of the cycling media. And we, well, we wanna know your thoughts on it. - That's right. So the backstory, of course, Lance was famously served with a lifetime ban from competition, having admitted to doping to win seven Tours de France. But that ban is not just from competition. It's also from activity surrounding competition, sanctioned competitions, that bit's really important. Then Lance has made something of a return to the cycling sphere this summer with a daily podcast during the Tour de France. But the controversy now stems from the fact that the new Colorado Classic bike race have apparently asked Lance to do his podcast from the event. - Yeah, now whether that constitutes official activity and therefore violates the terms of his ban, will no doubt be subject to quite intense legal debate. But kinda more importantly, we wanna know whether we should care, or do we care in the first place? - That's right, if you're not really fussed about what Lance gets up to now, then vote, no, I don't care. However, if you think Lance has no place around the sport of cycling, then say, yes, I do care. Vote up there. - And also, get to work in the comments section, as well. - Yeah. - We know it's gonna go up like a bit of a tinderbox on this particular subject, but we do encourage your views down below. But please, please, just keep it civil. - Yeah, do. Nothing really polarises cycling quite like Lance Armstrong. I suppose there's the sock length debate. That comes close. - And also Mario Cipollini naked. - Do we have to see Mario Cipollini naked again? At least Lance didn't get naked. - No. - Actually, that's not true, he was a triathlete. He spent half his career naked, didn't he? Right, ok, let's lift things up a notch, shall we? So to speak, with Mark Beaumont. - Yeah. - He is now nearing the halfway point of his round-the-world record attempt. So that means he's been on the road for nearly 40 days, maths fans. And he's now currently battling the short days of the Australian winter and the really technical, twisty roads of the Australian outback. - Hello, GCN. You're catching up with me in the dark on the 90 mile straight. A 90-mile straight road, can you imagine? I've got an exciting ride into the dark here. But I've just finished my first month on the road and clocked up, is it 7,043 miles? I realise people in history have cycled more than that. I don't know how much more, but nobody's actually claimed the official Guinness World Record, so en route to hopefully the circumnavigation world record, I thought it would be a worth one to take off as well. So there's a challenge for all you keen bean roadies out there, 7,043 miles. Hopefully, that will be verified in the coming weeks as the new official world record for the most miles cycled in a month. And I do take that with a pinch of salt, 'cause I appreciate some people might have pedalled further. But I'm happy about that, it was a long way, including a big flight from Beijing to Perth. But yeah, 90 mile straight, I was here 10 years ago on my own with a touring bike, so I'm back here this time with a full sport team and media crew, and it's exciting, heading into the outback, doing some night riding, the odd kangaroo on the roadside, but, hey, we'll catch up soon. - Have you seen this yet? (energetic electronic music) - Yes, the Global Triathlon Network is coming very, very soon. Now, it's been in the offing and in the planning stage for quite a while now, but from what we've seen, it looks absolutely fantastic. Now, Heather and Mark are heading up presenting team, and already, Artie and Jason have learned from their expertise. - That's right. It's competition time now on the GCN Show, and this week, Wahoo have been kind enough to offer five, five of these brand new ELEMNT Minis to you lucky GCN viewers. So if you fancy winning one, and make sure you enter, the link to the competition is in the description beneath this video. - Hmm, I've also got a competition winner to announce. - Oh, yeah. - Now, the lucky winner of a Quarq power metre, which will be sent directly to your home, following, of course, the unboxing competition last week, presented, of course, by Simon just here to my right is, drum roll please, (drums on table) Chan Wai Tak from Hong Kong. - Congratulations. That is an exciting prize, isn't it? - That's pretty cool, isn't it? - Yeah. ("Reveille") - It's now time for Cycling Shorts. - We'll start Cycling Shorts with news, with news of cycling shorts, actually. Because Adam Hansen of Lotto-Soudal's incredible run of racing 18 consecutive Grand Tours is set to come to an end. He is apparently, although not confirmed, but apparently suffering from saddle sores. (jazz music) - Let's give him a round of applause, as well, racing 18 consecutive Grand Tours. - Big chapeau. - That's quite a big chunk of his life. - Yeah. - And when you add it all together, I don't know what it is, it's gonna be quite a big number. - We'll do some maths, and someone can pop it in over the screen. - Yeah. - Alright, from one rider who has had an impressive run to another rider who has had an impressive, if, at times, slightly controversial career, 'cause Alberto Contador is set to retire in five weeks' time. (speaking foreign language) - It will be sad not to see Alberto riding in the pro peloton in 2018, because he did really animate race, he gave 'em an extra rich layer with his unpredictable, swash-buckling old school style of racing. - [Simon] Yeah, absolutely, he won a lot of fans even in the Tour de France this year, didn't he? - [Matt] He certainly did. So adios Alberto, I guess. - Yeah, he also helped me with one of my favourite GCN videos of all time. - Yeah, come on, let's go! - He put me in the hurt locker that day. - That's why it's one of my favourites. - You are not professional, you need training more. - I was a professional 10 years ago. (laughing) - Right, let's catch up with the transfer rumour mill, shall we now, although it's not rumours anymore, these are official ones. So first up, Tony Gallopin is gonna leave Lotto-Soudal after four years and move to (speaks in foreign language) La Mondiale. Thank you. - Well pronounced. - A few weeks back, we commented on the rumour about Matteo Trentin going to Orica-Scott. That is now confirmed, as is, interestingly, Cameron Meyer going to Orica-Scott, 'cause he left Team Dimension-Data mid-season, but is now going back to World Tour racing with a three-year deal to take him through to the Tokyo Olympics. - Mm, good stuff. Now stepping away from the pro cycling scene just for a few moments, and back to the world of ultra endurance, now, we've already mentioned Mark Beaumont, well, he's halfway around the world on his record. - He is. - But there's another rider, funnily enough, trying to break a world endurance record, also in Australia at the same time, chap called Ed Pratt. But his record, well, he's doing that on a unicycle, albeit one with aerobars. - [Simon] Oh, nice, yeah, of course. - [Matt] Now, obviously, being on a unicycle, this record is taking a little bit longer than one with two wheels. - [Simon] Fair enough. - [Matt] Now, Ed did start way back, well, he's in Somerset in this particular cut, where GCN headquarters is, but way back in March. - Oh, yeah. - 2015. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah, fair play, he has been taking in the sights and sounds of the world along his journey. - [Simon] Yeah. - [Matt] And funnily enough, it's a record that's never been attempted before. - [Simon] Yeah, so he can take his time. - [Matt] Yeah. - Now, let's take the pace up a notch again, shall we, back to the Transcontinental Race across Europe, because it's actually finished already and it only started last week. So the first rider to get to Meteora in Greece was James Hayden, and he managed it in a quite remarkable eight days, 23 hours, and 14 minutes, which is pretty impressive. - Absolutely. Now, if you've not actually heard of James, you may actually remember him as the guy that taped his head to his neck on a previous edition of the Transcontinental Race. - Hard to forget that image. - Bizarre, indeed. Now, meanwhile, the rest of the field, well, they're spread in an arc, very large arc, through Romania and Slovakia, still munching through an inordinate amount of kilometres en route to the finish and also having to deal with a rather nasty heat wave that's spreading across Europe, too. - Yeah, much like this man, in fact, Sean Conway, a friend of the channel, who is also attempting his very own world record, this time to be the fastest person to cycle across Europe. So he's hoping to do it in 25 days, self-supported, and yes, his plant pot storage holder has gone with him again for the ride. - That's the ultimate boggle hatch, isn't it? Boggle hatch, hatch your bog, I've got to get-- - Ha! - (laughing) Just pause, turn off, 'cause that was really good. (beep) Last week, we announced preregistration for the new GCN Club, and to be perfectly honest with you, we were absolutely thrilled that so many of you have expressed an interest in becoming involved, and many of your ideas and suggestions, as well, they were absolutely fantastic. - They were, we've got a little bit of an update for you, then, this week. One of the ideas that we've got in the pipeline. How do you fancy a pair of exclusive GCN Club socks? And not just one pair, one different new pair of GCN Club socks every month, delivered to your door. - Whew. - That's the proposal on the table. - Hmm, now they'll be available in limited number, and for a small monthly fee, you can wear and show your allegiance to GCN with pride and continue to show your support for the channel. - That's right. - A pair of club socks, every month, I mean, I just love it. - Yeah, well, it'll look sharp every month, too. - It does. - Very cool. Now of course, this is very much just the start, so we'll be in touch to everyone who registered and we will be asking for your opinions more, and you can let us know exactly what you'd like, shape the GCN Club. - Indeed, talking of shaping the GCN Club, I've just been down the loom, got the first sock, hot off the loom. This is, as you can see, GCN sock number one. - No. - Yeah, do you reckon, sort of minty fresh (Matt and Simon drown each other out) down with this first sock - I like that. My only slight concern is they gave you sock number one. How come you got sock number one? - Well, I pulled a few strings down at the loom, the loom factory. (Simon groans) But yeah, I managed-- - Pulled a few strings-- - But, get this, come a bit closer. There's gonna be a special limited edition founder member sock, as well, but I didn't manage to get my paws on one of those. - So 001 is up for grabs. - Yeah. Tech of the Week, this week, bit of a surprise for you, is gonna be presented by our very own tech guru, Jon Cannings in our maintenance set, just upstairs. - That's right, he can handle tech. Question is, Matt, can he handle Mario Cipollini naked, 'cause that's one of the things he's gotta wrestle with. - This week's GCN Tech of the Week could see the end of two blights in the world of cycling, fitness tests and tan lines. For anyone who's interested in performance, you'll be well aware of the need of having to gauge your fitness to see how you're progressing. One way of doing that is by doing a threshold power, or an FTP, test. Essentially, that's a one-hour long, or 20 minutes long, brutal max effort test. The results of that determine what power you can produce for a one-hour-long period. I know which one I'd rather choose out of 20 minutes or an hour. Now that might not be necessary anymore, though. Xert have a really cool online facility that allows you to plan, optimise, and essentially monitor all of your training, as well as giving you FTP results from your actual ride data. That has now been implemented onto an app that can simply be installed onto your Garmin. Now all you have to do on this is just ride to your limit, so it could be a short ride, a long ride, it doesn't matter, as long as you ride until you can't ride anymore. Now, the app itself is compatible with certain Garmin head units, and with the Connect IQ function. You'll also need a powermeter, that's essential, obviously. The app itself is free, which is pretty cool. So if that's the end of fitness tests, have we got the end of jersey tan lines? You could go from this to this. Now, it's amazing he's been able to stand in exactly the same place, clearly weeks apart, the same hair, same background, quite simply incredible. Now, for some of us, tan lines, they're a badge of honour, but often, they're quite embarrassing to actually go down to the beach. So Ekoi, the French clothing manufacturer, have come up with a solution for that. So the Ekoi Solair is apparently the world's first trans-bronzing cycling jersey. Apparently, you can tan through it as if you're wearing a medium-strength sunscreen. Now, I'm not sure I'd look like that even with a tan. No, no chance. - Racing news now, and BMC's Dylan Teuns took, well, without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest win of his career by taking an overall at the Tour of Poland, fulfilling, I think, the potential that he showed when he first joined BMC back in 2015. Now, he set the foundation for his win with a mightily impressive victory on stage three, where he outpaced none other than World Road Race champion Peter Sagan on the brutally steep uphill run to the line. Now, rounding out the podium, second place with Rafal Majka of Bora-Hansgrohe. Third place was Wout Poels of Team Sky, who also took an impressive victory on the final stage. - He did. Interesting to note, Dylan Teuns started his career with BMC at the same time that Ed Pratt set out to unicycle around the world. - Interesting fact. - Yeah, thanks very much. Right, another rider, who needs no introduction, but who also used his devastating form to good effect, was Team Sky's Mikel Landa. He used his stellar Tour de France condition to great effect by winning the overall, two stages, the points, and the mountains classification at the Vuelta Burgos, and he pointed out afterwards that, at the Tour de France, he went there as a domestique, and he finished fourth, and he was then made team leader for the Vuelta Burgos and he won it, well, annihilated it, in fact. - I like the way he just pointed that out. - Yeah, you can't argue with that, can you, really. - Well, the second edition, or the second running of the European Road Championships took place in Herning, in Denmark, over the weekend, and things started off with the time trials. Now, in the men's elite time trial, it was Victor Campenaerts of Belgium who took the win, so a great win for him there. And it was Ellen van Dijk who took her second successive title in the European Championship by winning the women's. Now, a real illustration of how competitive it was in the men's elite time trial was this set of stats from Ryan Mullen. He finished just four seconds after pace in the bronze medal position, but those stats, absolutely nuts. - They are almighty, aren't they, those are impressive stats, aren't they. - I reckon it's world, er, record potential right there. - Well, you say that, Matt, but that time trial took 54 minutes, so he's got six minutes to find, it could all unravel for him - Yeah, that's a good point. - in that final six minutes. - Drop off a cliff from that point. - Yeah, it, maybe more preparation needed, Ryan, but still, potential, but a bit of potential there (laughs). In the road races, it was Marianne Vos who won the women's race. She out-sprinted breakaway companions Giorgia Bronzini and Olga Zabelinskaya to take that victory. Then in the men's race, it was run off in some pretty blustery, windy conditions, and it was, I think it's fair to say, resurge in Alexander Kristoff of Norway, who sprinted to, well, a rather chaotic sprint win, actually. Second place Elia Viviani, and Moreno Hofland of the Netherlands was in third. Viviani not terribly impressed with Kristoff's sprinting, but actually unfounded, I think, but anyway, he nevertheless remonstrated the Norwegian when he rolled across the line, in that way that only Italians can manage. The rest of us just look like idiots when we do it. - [Matt] Yeah, they do it with style, don't they? - [Simon] They do. - Sticking with European champs for a bit side, in the men's elite road race, Norway, well, they played an absolute tactical blind to the extent that this week's Wattage Bazooka goes to Edvald Boasson Hagen of the Norwegian team. Now he went clear with Nikolay Trusov and Jens Keukeleire in the last 10K. Then, in only the way that he can, with 1,500 metres to go, he kind of surged off the front of the group, and he looked set fair for victory, but was caught agonisingly close to the line with 300 metres to go. Yet, still, he deserves this. - A surging Wattage Bazooka, congratulations, Edvald. - The best type. - We've got one more Wattage Bazooka this week, of course, it's the GCN viewer Wattage Bazooka, and this week it goes to Rhys Edwards, nominated by his dad, Gareth. Apparently, according to this video, his Dad, Gareth, said he did a bike throw on the line at the top of Dewes but he didn't need to, 'cause he'd already knocked 27 minutes off his personal best time. - 27 minutes? - How good is that? To be fair, those days, when you could knock 27 minutes off your personal best. - My personal best, I'm adding 27 minutes on top. Flips the other way a bit. - Yeah. - Keep 'em coming, #wattagebazooka. - Yeah, please do. - It's time now for hack forward-slash bodge of the week, and we're gonna start this week's with this, which is what actually he's done-- - [Simon] Wow! - [Matt] It's from Fergus Main, who made this clock in his designer technology class, using some old bike parts, I mean-- - [Simon] Nice work! [Matt] That is, it just looks great, doesn't it? - [Simon] Yeah. - [Matt] Really all attention to detail, you got the cogs, got the chain, got the wheel, and I guess it tells the time. - [Simon] Well, hopefully! - [Matt] Do you know what? I'd buy that. - [Simon] Would you? - [Matt] I'd buy that, I'd pay for it, I'd buy it. Hack, definitely. - And you can sell it to Matt, as well, extra bonus. Right, this next one, I feel like I'm being trolled, Matt, Alex Cadogan likes his fishing and his chain keepers, so there you go, there's a chain keeper. Although, to be fair, I quite like this one. That, to my mind, sums up chain keepers, you've just got a dodgy little quick release and a piece of old packaging. - [Matt] It's simple and effective (Simon and Matt drown each other out) - [Simon] Does the trick. (Simon and Matt drown each other out) - [Matt] But this over on Instagram, this is from Kings in Taiwan, up in Taichung in Taiwan, only in China. Basically, it's a saddle, well, it's a kind of an *** saver made from, well, it looks like a bird. Thankfully, the bird isn't a real one, as far as we're aware. - It's not a real one. - [Matt] But unorthodox, quite artful, I probably wouldn't buy that one. No. - No? It's quite macabre, I'm not massively into taxidermy, so wouldn't want to sit on one. - [Matt] No. - [Simon] Alright, this I really like, this is Tobias Dalhaus's A-level coursework, so that's his, like, school-leaving coursework. Portable cycling rollers. Look at that, that is a nice job. And then when you zoom in on the old rollers, look at the craftsmanship! - [Matt] That is, there's a theme emerging. - [Simon] Oh, yeah? - [Matt] I'd buy that. - [Simon] You'd buy that? - [Matt] Yeah. - [Simon] Tobias, stick it on eBay, Matt's gonna bid. - [Matt] Yeah, I'd offer you a good deal. I mean, that, that's a thing of beauty. - It's not your position to offer him a good deal, is it? He's gonna offer you a deal. - Oh yeah, for that, yeah, that's how eBay works. We'll come to some agreement. - Alright, well, there we go. And then the last one, there's another one I like. - [Matt] This is looking good, isn't it? This is from Chris Hamar: I turned a selection of old bike chains into a bottle opener. - [Simon] Yeah. - [Matt] How neat is that? You know what's coming next, don't you? - [Simon] No, what's that? - [Matt] I'd buy that. - [Simon] Yeah? - [Matt] Yeah, as a gift. - [Simon] Chris, stick it on eBay, Matt's gonna buy it. That's another GCN hack, now, innit? - [Matt] Brilliant stuff, keep 'em coming. - Well yeah, and now, potentially you'll make money out of GCN hack, because Matt's gonna bid on it on eBay. - Yeah, I feel my garage is gonna get quite full. Caption competition now. Last week, we had this picture of Pete Sagan on a podium at the Tour of Poland. Now, your entries were so good, for the first time in a long time, we've actually got two prizes. Second place was - Two prizes! - Two prizes, now second place, who also wins a bottle, is from Alan Parker, whose caption was, After downing the bottle, he'll be Peter So-Gone. That one's good. - Oh, yeah. - That's good, that's worth second place. We've got another one for first, here we go. - Wow, my word, alright, first prize then, this one we really chuckled at, and many of you did, as well, judging by the amount of up-votes under this comment. It's STUH, This Cava-ndish goes down far too easily. (drumbeat and cymbal) Aw, yeah. Lotta mentions in the comments about elbows and all sorts, it was a cracking one. - It was a good week for the comments. - It was, and I suspect this week is gonna be good, as well, because it's that little horse that we talked about at the Tour of Poland, just, you know, invading the bunch. Can I have a go at this one? - You've already had a little practise. Go ahead, the stage is yours, Simon. - (clears throat) After Rigoberto Uran's near miss at the Tour of France, the Cannondale-Drapac team has decided to employ some more horsepower. (crickets chirping) Yeah (laughs). - You know what to do. Comments down below. - Now, before we get to what's coming up on the channel this week, we thought we'd have a little look-back under last week's videos, 'cause, as ever, you guys really with some brilliant, brilliant comments. This one, under the Psychology for Cyclers video, really took my fancy. So we asked you what you did to help improve your mental state when riding, and RicardoRix said he pretends to be a TV commentator and self-commentates his ride as if he's in a time trial going for a record. How cool is that, what a great idea. - That's quite interesting insight in psychology, but when I was first doing commentary, cycling commentary, I actually commentated on myself in the car whilst driving. Yeah, - My word, that's - A little bit weird. - Interesting insight as well, for ya. - Got another cracking comment. This was under the video about slamming your stem that me and Dan did over in Alta Badia, Italy, from daAnder71: now repeat that test over 100, 150, and 200 kilometre distance, and tell us how your back feels. 120 likes on that, fair point. - It is a fair point, actually. - But it was basically illustrating what the pros do, so they're pretty dialled in for that sort of position, but you do raise a certain point, we'd never, ever recommend, here at GCN, slamming your stem and just going out for a long ride, and any kind of changes to your position should be done incrementally and over time. - That's right, you won't go fast if you're uncomfortable. - No way. - But if you are comfortable slammed, seems like you will go faster, I guess. - Indeed. - Right, then, coming up on the channel this week, let'*** it, what've we got, Matt? - Indeed, well on Wednesday, it's how to pace for a sportive using a power metre, and on Thursday, it's six tips for multi-day events. - That's right, that's your home route, Johnny Beavan. - How's it, how's it going by the way? - [Johnny] Pretty good, pretty good, feeling fresh. - Anyway, you're not tapering already, are you? - [Johnny] No, just a little bit. - Yeah, little bit of tapering's going on. - [Johnny] Few more days' training. - Good stuff. - Good luck. - On Friday, ask GCN anything. - Saturday, we've got a very lovely pro bike, Pete Sagan's new specialised, and on Sunday, pretty excited about this one, Matt, Matt and I went to Berlin for a super-commuter challenge. And then Monday, back in the maintenance set, with Maintenance Monday. - And, on Tuesday, ask, it's not Ask GCN Anything, is it. - It's the GCN Show (all laugh) Number 240. - It's such a high number that my brain couldn't cope. It's time now for Extreme Corner. - That's right, at the beginning of the show, we gave you a little sneaky clip of Chris Akrigg's new gravel bike video, The Guide Raw, it's so good, frankly, we thought you'd probably want to watch a little bit more. Here we go. - Check it out. (water running) (tyres striking rocks) - Oof. - That is good, I like that. - That's pretty good. I mean, it was great, great skills, great video, couple of points. - Well, yeah, that's true, actually, we did pick up. Firstly, Chris, you didn't ride through the stream, and I was under the impression that, when gravel riding, you should not avoid water. - That's what we did, on our gravel ride. - Get your feet wet. - And also technically, Chris, that was actually a high-intensity gravel ride, as well. - I'd like to see your profile from that, 'cause it did look like there was a lot of top end in there. You probably want to knock it back a notch. - A lot of high cadence stuff, just saying. - He's got a lot of power, hasn't he? Oh, my word. - Yeah, it's there, isn't it? Just lets it go when he wants, doesn't he? Bosh. - Wattage Bazooka right there, actually. - Yeah. - Right, that probably is all we've got time for now on the GCN Show for this week, I'm afraid. Before leaving, do firstly remember to check our shop at globalcyclingnetwork.com. If you like any of the GCN clothes that we wear or any of the other stuff that you find other at the shop, it's definitely worth checking out. - Yeah, and if you haven't already, subscribe to the Global Cycling Network. And you can do so by clicking on the globe, which will be somewhere on your screen here, and that way, you just won't miss another video, will you? - True. - Now if we're talking of videos, how about clicking just down here, for Slammed: How Much Faster is it, Really? - Or, How to Think Yourself Faster: Psychology for Cyclists. That's one definitely worth a watch, just down there. - Don't forget to give us a thumbs up, as well.