Marginal Gains Cycling Podcast, Presented By Silca

The Tour de France is underway, and we've got questions (and answers) about it. For example, do racers REALLY still ride with tires at 120psi as Phil Liggett suggested? (Hint: no.) Why are riders turning their hoods inward? Is tubeless on the verge of replacing tubular as the wheel setup of choice? We've also got a great crop of questions from our listeners, including:  What are the meaningful aero differences between solo and group riding? Is a wheel upgrade worth it when the primary difference is round vs aero spokes? What is the most efficient way to execute your bottom-of-segment turnaround in an Everesting attempt? Got a question you'd like to have answered? Give us a call or text us at 317-343-4506.

Factor is a relatively new name in the industry.  But after just a few years in the marketplace, a leading publication put Factor alongside Giant, Specialized and Cannondale as the next bike to own. And Factor has been brought to prominence by Rob Gitelis. In addition to applying his experience as an engineer to build a really terrific bicycle, Rob has shown incredible instinct to quickly elevate the Factor name. In this conversation, Rob tells Josh how many of the most popular bike products get made.   

Nick Legan is a name anyone with more than a casual interest in cycling has probably come across. Nick was the tech editor at Velo Magazine and Adventure Cyclist Magazine. He is also the author of the book “Gravel Cycling.”  Josh and Nick talk about Gravel riding, bikepacking (not exactly the aero discussion we normally have around these parts but what the heck), Nick's time as a pro bike mechanic in Europe, running a “Service Only” bike shop in Colorado, coaching and what it’s like to oversee one of the most important component brands on the planet. 

Shortly after setting a new Everesting record — obliterating Alberto Contador's time by 20 minutes — Ronan McLaughlin reached out to Josh with some remarkable news: Silca Products and the Marginal Gains podcast had been an important piece of his extraordinary accomplishment. Needless to say, Josh immediately set up this interview to talk about Ronan's incredible accomplishment.

We've asked you to ask Josh anything (kind of meta, we know), and you do not disappoint. In this episode, however, we completely lose track of the "ask" thing because we are SO GEEKED OUT on Ronan McLaughlin's new Everesting record. If ever there's been a full-circle Marginal Gain moment, this is it. Listen and you'll understand. Eventually, however, we do get to your questions, including: The most reasonable way to measure your wheel circumference The best bike positions ... if you take aero OUT of the equation (hi Zwifters!) Whether new pavement means you should start putting more air in your tires How nearby barriers affect your time trialing We love our listeners' questions. Keep them coming.

Sean Small of Ruckus Composites is our guest for this episode. This is going to be a great interview for any listener who has spent any amount of time on a carbon bike. Sean is going to reveal a frame’s strong spots and the areas where it is most vulnerable. We also talk about the importance of torque, which company is making the best product and at the very end of the interview, Sean has some great tips on how to spot a problem before it happens. Ruckus is considered the premier composite repair company in the country and next to Calfee, one of the first one of the first to launch a business devoted to fixing Carbon frames.

Tom Anhalt was one of the first to turn conventional wisdom regarding inflation on its head. He is a smart guy. No doubt. But his true talent is curiosity. In this episode we learn that questioning the norm and having an open mind can lead to more than just marginal gains but to revelations.  Tom Anhalt runs the blog site, blather ‘bout bikes where he does deep dive posts on tire comparisons, bike aerodynamics and most importantly: rolling resistance. He is also a regular contributor to Slowtwitch.com.

Andreas Klier has been focused on competitive cycling since his early teen years. He became a pro in his first year as an adult and went on to become a spring classics specialist. He’s only win in those early season races was the 2003 Gent Wevelgem but he did come close at Flanders on a couple of occasions. Some believe he has a better understanding of Flanders than the Belgian racers from that region. If there was a wheel to follow while squeezing down the narrow roads of the Tour of Flanders, it was Andreas Klier’s.  So when EF’s Alberto Bettiol won Tour of Flanders in 2019, it was no surprise that the man calling the shots from the team car was Andreas Klier. 

Everesting — riding up a single pitch enough times to match the altitude of the summit of Mt. Everest — is a massive challenge with an elegantly simple set of rules. Which makes it a perfect candidate for a Marginal Gains conversation. Josh, Hottie, and Fatty talk about how the obvious, not-so-obvious, and downright bizarre strategies racers could employ to set a record in this socially-distant challenge.

We are happy to report that we continue to seek questions Josh is unable to answer, or at least unwilling to try. We regret to announce that we have so far failed, in spite of the fact that in this episode we expanded our universe of acceptable questions to include how to make electric scooters more aero. Josh was, in fact, distressingly excited by this question. We (or more to the point, you) also asked questions about: Silca's new Super Secret Lube: To be honest, we spent a few minutes asking about this lube, and then about half an hour talking about lubes in general, the importance of lubing, and the proper way to lube.  Pressure calculator vs manufacturer specs: What should you do when the Silca tire pressure calculator gives you one pressure recommendation, but the tire manufacturer gives you a much higher minimum recommendation? Pressure calculator and tube type: Does the way you keep air in your tire (latex tube, butyl tube, tubeless, tubular, etc.) matter in the pro tire pressure calculator? If so, h

Jordan Rapp is one of the true greats in triathlon. You may know Jordan as a 5 time Ironman Winner, or maybe as and ITU World Champion.. Or maybe as a US pursuit champion on the track. Nowadays, his claim to fame includes the fact that he designed the Alpe du Zwift (and much more of the gameplay on Zwift, for that matter). Enjoy this episode as Josh and Jordan discuss all things bike-related, and how they both played important roles in each other’s careers.

Josh, Hottie, and Fatty talk about problems in data quality, sampling bias, confirmation bias, cherry picking, and more (including a little detour into baseball). it’s great when data bolsters your beliefs or arguments, but it’s often times way more exciting and enlightening when they don’t!

This was not the episode we intended to create. Josh, Hottie, and Fatty sat down to record an episode on confirmation bias and how it can undercut marginal gains, and instead found that what we want to talk about — and think you might enjoy hearing — is the good things Josh is seeing during a very difficult time. So this is a "stories" episode: stories about good things other companies have been doing to help Silca, good things Silca is doing for its employees, good things Silca employees are doing to help keep the company going, and good things Silca is doing to help the community at large.  It's an accidental, unscripted, feel-good hour of stories. We think it's exactly the marginal gain episode you might need right now.

Damon Rinard has been at Cannondale as Engineering Manager for the past five years, but has been immersing himself in bike tech for the better part of three decades. In this episode, Josh and Damon completely nerd out over their shared love of all things technical. 

Josh, Hottie, and Fatty are back with all the bike-related questions too nerdy to be asked (or answered) anywhere else. In this episode, we tackle: What lessons from track racing can be applied to singlespeed mountain bike racing? All else being equal, are fewer spokes more aero? Is a matte finish on helmets faster than a gloss finish? What are the fastest patterns for tire treads? What marginal gains are there to be had when racing your indoor trainer online?

Cyclists are always on the prowl for marginal gains. We slam our stems, because we've seen pros do it, and they're fast. We eat mounds of spaghetti before races, because we've heard that fast cyclists carbo-load. In many ways, cyclists and cargo cults are remarkably similar.  What's a cargo cult, though, and what does it have to do with granola? We'll tie it all together in this episode of Marginal Gains!

James Huang, Global Technical Editor of CyclingTips, is one of the most-trusted cycling journalists in the industry today — and for good reason. He brings a knowledge, experience, humor, and integrity to everything he covers. In this episode, Josh and James have a great, wide-ranging conversation — from their similar histories in getting into the cycling industry, to how the cycling world has changed, to the relationship of cycling journalism and product manufacturers, and much more.

We've got a great batch of questions from you for Josh to contemplate this episode: Does the placebo effect apply to cycling clothes and shoes as well as to equipment? Since many rims are different widths in different places, where should we measure when applying the rule of 105? How much — if any — does a patched tube affect a bike's CRR? Are third-party ceramic bearings and oversized pulley wheels still relevant? How marginal of a gain do you get with a really nice hub? Is it faster to run a deeper wheel in the front than the rear? Josh will answer all of these — and more! — in this episode of Marginal Gains (Disclaimer: the answer almost always begins with "it depends.")

You know you've had this suspicion: the core of the cycling industry—much of what it's really selling you—is not tech, speed, or fitness. Nope, the truth is that one of the most powerful marginal gains you'll ever get is thanks to the placebo effect. Josh, Fatty, and Hottie talk about what it is and how potent a force it is in cycling.

In this Ask-Josh-Anything episode of Marginal Gains, we ask you to imagine Josh as your boy scout leader, and whether that would be the most awesome — or terrifying — thing in the world. (The jury's out on that question by the way). Then we settle in and talk about how Silca's new online Pressure Calculator works, why aero tires are no longer a thing, hysteresis issues of swerving under hard effort, whether being aero matters when you're in a big peloton, and a lot more. Gather round the fire!