Marginal Gains Cycling Podcast, Presented By Silca

Zwift VP of Product Mark Cote joins the Marginal Gains crew, picking up where we left off in our last conversation: the wind tunnel. This time, his time in the tunnel is all about future-looking features for Zwift, and this peek at what's to come is not to be missed.  From there we talk about everything in the present and future state of Zwift and Marginal Gains, from the extremely practical (tips and warnings for your own Zwift setup) to the philosophical (is Zwift for racing, training, or fun?) with everything in between.  Whether you ride a smart trainer or not, you will not want to miss this episode!

Bryan Larsen tells us his only real talent is that he's too dumb to quit. We strongly disagree, but take his point: Bryan is no quitter. In this episode, Bryan talks us through how he took the constraints given to him through birth and accident, and used passion, perseverence, and a love of marginal gains to reinvent his racing career.

We're so excited to kick this 35th episode of our "Ask Josh Anything" series with a discussion of the announcement of Silca's partnership with Visma Lease-A-Bike. Fatty does his level best to pitch having Hottie in the team car, hot-waxing on the move. We move from there to the challenges of high pressure with hookless rims, and how it has put Josh in the position of being the PSI bartender and cutting pressure-thirsty riders off. And that's just for starters. We also get into group ride marginal gains, changing pressure prescriptions for worn tires, whether 3D-printed Ti quicklinks should be a thing, the likely aero effects of Tadej's six-figure watch, and more. Enjoy this packed episode of Marginal Gains!

Gravel Racing is moving face and Amy Charity is one of the movers. Amy is the founder of SBT GRVL in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The race started on the back of a napkin in 2018 and has quickly become one of the premiere off-road events in the U.S. After a few short years of success, Amy expanded SBT to Europe and Australia. But before the dirt roads, Amy raced on tarmac. She was a pro roadie with a short but successful career. And before road racing, Amy was in high finance. Josh and Hottie talk to Amy about her days in the pro peloton, how her business education informs her work as a race promoter, and Josh and Amy have a college reunion of sorts.

At this point we've lost track on how many episodes we've dedicated to wind tunnels, but this is at least partially one of them. We've also got great questions about Fatty's new Firefly and the Ti-printed parts Silca created for it, a classic question on the best body position for riding in a strong tailwind, axle handle alignment, and a remarkably well-considered question on calculating tire pressure for full-suspension bikes. 

Gravel Racing has gone global, and governing bodies have gotten involved. The UCI is now in its third year of putting on its Gravel World Series. It has more than two dozen races on four continents. Instead of running the series itself, the UCI has turn to a sports group and the point person in that group is three-time Cyclocross World Champ Erwin Vervecken. It's an understatement to say he knows drop bars and dirt. He is. We talk to Erwin about how the series began, the lack of a major presence in the US, how to get into Worlds, UCI rules and Gravel, and we throw in some Cross questions.

Tony Karklins is the founder of Allied Cycle, is currently the founder of Time, and has deep knowledge of all aspects of the cycling industry, all the way back to when as a teenager he owned a bike shop. He's the perfect match for a conversation with Josh about bike business, manufacturing, racing and more. 

John Cobb may be best known for his bike saddles, but his experience and innovation go much deeper. John may be the first person to take a bike to the wind tunnel, and is likely the only person to crank up the tunnel to 70mph...with a rider in it. Enjoy this great episode with a cycling innovator

Life Time puts on what is arguably the biggest and most important pro bike racing series in the US: The Life Time Grand Prix. And one man is in chage of it all: Kimo Seymour. Fatty and Hottie talk with Kimo changes in the race, the "Call of a Life Time" series, aerobars, Keegan's Swenson's chances for dominating the event for a third year running, and much more. 

Our recent wind tunnel episodes have triggered a LOT of aero questions from our listeners, and Josh -- with hand hovering over the "It Depends" button -- takes them on. From IRL Burrito Powerups (IYKYK) to the StripChip and the Chain Waxing System to aero chainrings to leg hair stubble as a potential aero advantage to shoe aerodynamics, Josh will — apparently — answer anything. Enjoy!

Josh answers more of Fatty & Hottie's pressing questions about the surprises people are in for when visiting a wind tunnel for the first time, what happens when key learnings from a wind tunnel session are ignored, how often follow-up questions triggered by a wind tunnel session are actually followed up on, whether it's worth it to bring anyone but a top-pro into the wind tunnel, how bike companies twist wind tunnel results, and much more. If there's anything more Marginal-Gain-y than our fascination with wind tunnels, well...we'll do a trifecta of episodes on that, too. Enjoy the show!

An argument can be made that Mark Cote is the father of the Specialized Wind Tunnel. During his tenure at the Big S, he convinced the powers that be that the Big S needed its own wind tunnel — an amazing story Mark shares with Josh. Enjoy this deep dive into Mark's backstory and conversation between Mark and Josh as they swap stories on how they've found marginal gains with this one powerful tool

Josh's experiences in wind tunnels have come up in dozens of episodes of Marginal Gains, and we always find ourselves with more questions. In this episode, we're finally giving ourselves permission to ask them, from the essentials of using a wind tunnel to a day in the life before, during, and after testing in a windtunnel.  Look, we'll be honest here: we brought way more questions to this conversation than Josh had time to answer, and at some point during the recording, we realized we weren't recording "The Wind Tunnel Episode;" we were recording, "The Wind Tunnel Series, Part 1." Which means that if you've got quesstions about wind tunnels, now is the time to ask: call or text us at 317-343-4506.

When it comes to bikes, Josh is usually the smartest person in the room. But Josh will tell you, when the topic turns to mountain bikes and suspension, Josh turns to Darren Murphy of Push Industries. Josh and Darren talk about Darren's journey in the industry, as well as a dive into how advanced bike products are developed, tested and brought to market. 

With World Cup races being decided by tenths or even hundredths of a second, many racers and teams are now using sensors and data acquisition to dial their setups. Our guest this show is a leader in this area: Nick Lester and Josh get deep into how Nick and his Downamics team help the world's fastest downhillers get the most out of their suspension.

Would your motorcycle chain benefit from an afternoon in the chain wax spa? If you use a gel packet as an improvised tire boot, how much will it affect your bike's performance? When using the Rule of 105, should you be using the rim width at the brake track, or the widest point of the rim as your measurement? And for those of us carrying lunch, clothes, and a computer to the office as we commute by bike, how can we be more aero? Josh bravely answers all these questions...and for one of them, even does so definitively. Don't miss this astonishing episode of Ask Josh Anything!

Aerocoach's business is to help athletes improve their aerodynamic performance, through testing, coaching, and equipment. Josh and Xavier Disley get into a wide-ranging discussion of aerosensors, hype vs data, the need for wind tunnel standards, and so much more. This is an in-the-weeds episode you Marginal Gainer supernerds will not want to miss. NOTE: A prior version of this episode gets cut off partway through the episode. If it shows in your podcast feed, please skip it and listen to this version instead.

Russ Roca  - founder and host of the YouTube Channel The Path Less Pedaled - is our guest. The Path Less Pedaled has become a place to learn about the non-competitive side of the cycling world . Russ has produced hundreds of videos that focus on using bikes to carry stuff, explore, cruise, travel, ride comfortably and yes he has a couple on chain waxing and finding the right tire pressure. We talk with Russ on how he went from 2-packs a day to two wheels, the search for the right gearing, wheel size, the rebound of the road bike, Aluminum’s comeback, his love of Marginal Gains and knowing when they apply to him.

Rob Britton is an accomplished pro road cyclist who has  turned  to the off-road scene in the second half of his career. He’s been doing the Lifetime Grand Prix and other mass start events but he is also taking on ultra endurance challenges. This summer it was an event called Badlands:  Longer than Unbound XL, more climbing than an Everest Challenge and a landscape that blows the mind. Rob takes us through the unique challenges to body and bike this race presented. He talks about trying to scarf  down a jumbo size bag of chips, getting hit by birds, using Jensie’s voice to push through the pain and how a fresh chamois is a marginal gain….   

Josh, Hottie, and Fatty take on your questions in this, our 101st episode of the Marginal Gains Podcast (we forgot to check that we hit 100 episodes -- and 1,000,000 listens -- last time). From contemplating the aerodynamic benefits of chain guards to analyzing terrifying moments of physics in action when riding a high speed descent, to raising our collective eyebrows at the new 750d wheel size, we continue to give credence that we will take on any cycling question and boldly answer, "it depends."