If You’re A Cyclist In 2025, You NEED To Do This | GCN Show Ep. 626

Fat biking in Quebec, Canada. This is the GCN Show. Welcome to the GCN Show. Coming up this week, four things the modern cyclist needs to do to take their riding to the next level. We think it'll make 2025 your best year yet. We've also got more bad news for the cycling industry. Survived to 26, anyone? Plus a new world record, possibly three, and the most boring ride we have ever seen. This week in the world of cycling, we learned that Norwegian cyclists are just built different. No, that's not footage from Canada, but I think even the hardest of Canadians will admit that those are proper winter conditions. Looks absolutely brutal there, doesn't it? We also learned that over the weekend, a GCN presenter just became an elite national champion. Indeed, yes. This is incredible, isn't it? Our GCN en France presenter, Louis Piollet, beat Erwin Beignet in the final of the French Individual Pursuit Champs in the Breton-Aludiac Velodrome. Lots of French words for me to get my head around there. Well done there, Dan. Seems like he's too good to be a GCN presenter then, doesn't it? We also learned this week, though, that thanks to your generous donations, Dan is inching ever closer to doing his longest ever ride this year. For those of you who don't know the backstory to all of this, I was basically blackmailed into agreeing to do the Manchester to London ride this coming June, if I can raise £15,000 for the Ambitious About Autism charity, an amount that unfortunately seems to be a bit more achievable than I was originally hoping for. As we record this, we're up to £6,300. Not quite halfway. Not quite. If we were to compare it to the 220-mile ride you're going to do, you'd be 92 miles in, Dan. Geez, that puts the ride into some sort of perspective, doesn't it? Not even halfway is 92 miles. You sound daunted. I am daunted, Conor. Good. I just sound it. Good. Anyway, if you'd like to ensure that Dan gets well out of his comfort zone on a bike this year and you're feeling generous, head to the link in the description below to make a donation. Beyond watching Dan suffer, it is all for a very good cause. It is. Moving swiftly on. Hold your horses. Si also wanted me to mention he's had another message from Simon Mottram. Not another message from Simon. Don't worry. He's just wanted to point out there are a few spots left for the ride itself. If you'd like to watch Dan suffer in person for the 350-kilometer ride, just follow the other link that we'll put in the show description. Strength in numbers, I guess, or suffering in numbers. Can I move on now? Go for it. Brilliant. Now, this is the time of year when many people are making resolutions trying to positively change a few things in their lifestyle. The question is, what should those resolutions be if you're a cyclist? What should the 2025 cyclists be doing, given the latest scientific knowledge, if they really want to take their riding up to the next level? We've come up with a list and the very top of it is resistance training. Now, admittedly, resistance training is not new, is it? Even for cyclists, but its importance has never been so well accepted. Cycling as a sport is brilliant for health. It's a low-impact sport, which is great for cardiac health and fitness. However, it's non-weight-bearing, isn't it? That has its advantages, but then to retain bone density and general strength and injury prevention, resistance training really is key. Yes, I think anytime you go on social media at the moment, it seems like a pro is in the gym, lifting weights, incorporating resistance training into their programs, which wasn't, I don't think, the case a few years back. No, it's definitely more prevalent at this point, isn't it? Pogacar spoke about this when he was on the Peter Atiyah podcast late last year. I think it's worth pointing out that you shouldn't just jump in the gym and push or pull the biggest weights you can. You do need to go in with some sort of plan that will strengthen what you want to strengthen, improve your stability, and address any weaknesses or imbalances. Nail that, and you're almost sure to improve your cycling come the spring or summer. Next on the list, running. Again, not something you'd see many pros doing until retirement, but more pros are incorporating some running, at least in the off-season. Why? To make them more robust, less prone to injury, and similarly to weight training, the impactful nature of running can help with bone density. We even did a run together at lunchtime, didn't we? We did. Six and a half Ks. We did. Now, before you slip on your running shoes though and do a six-kilometer flat out, bear in mind that it's best to start slow. If you're an avid cyclist, you'll have the fitness to go fast, but perhaps not the resilience to do so without injuring yourself. Start slowly. Don't be afraid of taking a break by walking as well. Walking. They're great starters, aren't they? You should, I think, get home. This is a good bit of advice. You should get home thinking that you could have run way further and way faster. Even if you do that, you might find that you're sore in places that you didn't know could be sore when you get up the following morning. Next up, know what you're putting into your body. One of the biggest leaps in performance of pro cyclists in the past few years is down to understanding of nutrition. What to eat and exactly how much. Obviously, the quantities will be vastly different to most amateur cyclists, but the theory remains the same. I bored a few people in the office earlier on this morning by telling them about an app I've been using to count calories and macronutrients. I've done it simply out of curiosity. How many calories am I consuming on average daily and how much of that comes from carbs, from protein, from fats, et cetera? Any surprises? Yes, bear with me. I've been very, very accurate with what I've logged. My breakfast, it's almost always Greek yogurt with a lot of fruit, nuts, seed, et cetera, and I weighed all of them individually. I did the same with lunch and I did the same with dinner. Then one afternoon, I decided to have a slice of Christmas cake that Lorraine had made, pre-Christmas, obviously. That was a decent-sized slice, but not too excessive, especially by your standards, I would say. Have a guess at how many calories were in this slice of Christmas cake. Well, you've already told me, I'm pretty much safe right now. Okay. For the viewers who this is new for, in that piece of cake, 1,000 calories. I couldn't believe it. My breakfast, which is quite substantial, was under 700 calories. My dinner was about the same, but that slice of cake that I wolfed down in basically a minute, 1,000 calories. Breaking news, cake is calorie-dense. It's all right. I know it seems obvious, but my point is that by spending just a few days logging what you eat, you learn quite a lot about where calories are coming from, whether you're getting enough or whether you're getting too many. I personally mainly did it to check how much protein I was consuming on a daily basis, but I ended up learning a lot more than I expected. Should we bring this back around to cycling? That is a good point. Yes, please do. Now, most of the pro teams use very advanced programs to give individual diet recommendations to all their riders. I saw an example of it myself at a pro team's hotel late last year. Based on their training from that day and the training they need to do the following day, they're given very specific guidelines on what to eat and how much. For some people, that might be a bit too much, but for me, I'd have loved to have had access to something like this when I was a pro. It takes all the guesswork out of it. I think that as a keen rider, you can learn a lot too as to what you need and what works for you. I agree with you. I would have loved to have had that tool at my disposal when I was a pro rider because it takes all the guesswork out of it. I too have seen it where the rider's going up and weighing what seems to be an awful lot of rice, I've got to say, and then the pro teams with the meats, et cetera. It's fascinating. They seem to have that absolutely dialed now, don't they? Yes. One word of warning though, and I'm particularly concerned about this. If you're the type of person who can become overly obsessive about things, calorie counting might be something to steer clear of. I've seen a lot of pros end up with eating disorders, and I've experienced the perils of obsessive dieting myself, but I agree the tools that are now available do make it easy to ensure you're consuming enough to fuel a rise, that you don't go to extremes if you're looking to lose a bit of weight. Exactly. There are loads of tools out there that are far more sophisticated than anything we used to have access to. Anyway, the last thing on our list, log what you're doing. Sounds obvious, doesn't it? Most people are uploading to Strava or other training platforms, but it's how you use it that can make a big difference to your performance on the bike. If you track your training and your other stresses away from the bike, it can be incredibly informative. Are you doing too much, too little, or just the right amount? Again, this is something that has been around quite a while, hasn't it? The tools, they're just getting better and better year on year if you use them properly. At this point, there's really no excuse for over-training or under-training or anything along those lines. The most important thing, as you alluded to, Conor, is just taking into account what else is going on in your life and then adapting your training accordingly. Yes, which is the biggest difference between being a pro and not, because as a pro, everything else fits around your training. As an amateur, your training fits around your other commitments, so it can be even easier to overdo it. Something you should bear in mind, actually, Dan, when you're training for your longest ride. We're back to that now, already. Have you ever done a ride this year? Yes. I haven't yet, but then at the same time, we also haven't got to 15 grand that I need to rate. We can get there. I've been continuing with the gym, strength sessions, et cetera, the runs that I talked about with you earlier, and I will get back on the bike, not just when we get to 15 grand, but more importantly, when the weather gets better. It's been like Canada or Norway here in the UK for the last few days. Anyway, time for you to get involved at home. What is the best bit of modern cycling advice that you've received or that you've got for our other viewers? Yes, let us know in the comment section down below. Just before we move on, though, I think we should probably caveat everything that we've said in that it assumes you're already doing a decent amount on the bike and you're riding intelligently or training intelligently. If you're currently doing one hour a week on the bike, then upping that to three or four is probably going to be your best bet for improving. Yes, definitely. If you feel like you've nailed your training on the bike, we do think our suggestions could help take you to the next level. Now, it's time for Cycling Shorts. Cycling Shorts now, starting off with a warning to beware of any January deals that just look too good to be true. Rafa has been one to make their customers aware of a fake site, which is called rafacycling-sale.shop, which contains huge discounted prices on very popular items. This is a total scam, so please be aware. Yes, but also beware of any other scam copy sites too that are on the internet, especially at this time of year. If you are one to surf through the January discounts, unfortunately, there are a lot of these essentially copycat websites which look totally similar to the real brand sites. You get sucked in by clicking on links, don't really notice it until it's too late. In reality, these sites are scams, stealing credit card details, selling on the black market, so do be really careful and you know you're on the right sites. I actually nearly got caught out by this. Did you? Yes. What cycling stuff have you been buying? I was buying camping gear and it looked exactly the same. It was discounted, but not too bad. I went through to pay and that's when I started getting alarm bells and luckily aborted before it was too late. I'm surprised I've not been scammed in that way because as you know, I like a deal. If I saw something super cheap, I'd be straight on it. It's so easy to do, so be careful out there, folks. Moving on to some world record news now and penny-farthing records tumbled just before the new year. Canadian Lisanne Wilmot set a new women's 1,000-meter and max speed record at the recent Tasmanian Christmas Carnival, which has $200,000 prize money up for grabs across different eclectic events. Yes, Wilmot smashed the 1,000-meter record by a whopping 30 seconds, posting 1 minute and 52 seconds, 75 for the kilo, and 41.7 kilometers an hour max speed averaged across two 100-meter segments. That speed broke the all-time men's and women's world record. Congratulations, Lisanne. I feel like a new GCN challenge is coming along. Well, we're never going to beat that, are we? That's a ridiculous speed. I just want to see how you give it a go. If not that one though, what about this? We're not sure actually if this is a record or not, but we can't find anyone who's managed to ride anything bigger. The largest circular route you can create in the UK, 916 kilometers long. It was created and ridden by around-the-world blogger Jonathan KB and highlighted on his site. Yes, I love this. I love this sort of art that you can create on a map. It's so cool. It's something about it. That's in a whole country, Dan. It looks amazing. I might do a small square. I believe Jonathan's inspiration came from Dutch cyclist Quinder who created and rode the biggest circle in the Netherlands, 600 kilometers long. Rode it in one hit too. Wow, total madness, but I love it. For anyone who doesn't find the biggest circle appealing, maybe you could go the opposite end of the spectrum and try the smallest, Conor, like New Zealander Matthew Fairbrother did. 425 kilometers, 15 hours and 16 minutes, continually riding around a roundabout in Rolleston, west of Christchurch. Same guy, by the way, who'd bikepack in the New Zealand Mountain Bike Rally. Rather than taking the helicopter, like the rest of the competition, and then bikepacked around all rounds of the Enduro World Series. Yes, pretty impressive, but we're not entirely sure why he rode around a roundabout all day, Matthew. Fair play. If you're watching, please let us know your motivation down below. What on earth could be the motivation? I noticed on his Strava description, he basically had to climb off before he was sick and he could no longer balance. It's 425K though, it's a long, long way. It's longer than the ride I'm endeavoring to do this year. I'm glad it's not on a roundabout. Anyway, we also spotted this over the holiday period. It should have been submitted really to Hack or Bodge for a full appraisal, but we'll break from tradition to examine it here. Honestly, we're not sure if this is real or not. I think it's a piss tape. It's got to be. Going with the trend of internet hack videos, this is one to inflate your tire with a syringe. It works, although this has obviously caused uproar in the comments. Yes, because I think when I can't find my pump, I think, soldering iron, syringe, spare pump head, hack. Let's go. Next up, I'm never one to say no to a free coffee or free anything for that matter. It seems that the council in Northern England is hoping that a similar incentive along with discounted food and free pass to local attractions will help get more people on their bikes. The scheme, which is due to run in West Yorkshire, will see those who cycle, walk, or use public transport earn benefits to be used at local businesses as a way of encouraging greener forms of travel. It's interesting this. I think it's a good way to try and encourage people onto bikes, but I guess at the same time, I do wonder if that money, the BBC actually reported that £450,000 in total is being tendered to develop the app that would manage this. I wonder if that's the app. Just for the app, yes. I do wonder if that would be better spent improving safer infrastructure that actually help make it easier for people to get on bikes. I thought this was a brilliant news story when I first started reading it, but I think you're starting to persuade me otherwise. Maybe they could be going a better way about it. Either way, the British bike manufacturer Brompton will be hoping that encouragement pushes people to buy more of their bikes. There's a segue for you. Profits at Brompton were down by 99% in 2024, falling from £10.7 million to £4,602 year in March 2024. That was due to fall in sales of 5.2%, selling 8.2% fewer bikes. Yes. Managing Director Will Butler-Adams said to the Guardian newspaper here in the UK that the industry is still in turmoil and will not get better this year. It will not be as bad as 2024, but there's still excess stock. Blaming the fall in profits on less bikes being sold mainly due to widespread discounting across the industry as brands still look to offload that excess stock. Despite all of that, the company remains positive about the future with that global drive to get people riding and traveling in more sustainable ways being pushed further over the coming years. Obviously, though, the bike industry as a whole is still in tough waters. As we said, maybe it's now a case of survive until 26, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it as survive to 25, does it? Before we move on, though, don't forget our GCN Zwift club rides are back up and running after a brief pause during the festive period. If you're looking for a bit of extra motivation to get riding more this year, do come and join us. They'll run every Wednesday at 6.30 GMT. This week is led by newly crowned national champ, Louis, and I'll actually be leading proceedings next week at a much slower pace. Although, both rides are no drop, so don't sweat it. Yes, it doesn't matter what pace. Yes, that's it. Presenters are out. You should be able to keep up because it's a banded ride, I think is the term, isn't it? Yes. We hope to see some of you on the rides 6.30 PM. We should probably specify, don't jump on early in the morning. Hack, forward slash, bodge of the week. This is the part of the show where you can get involved by sending in your hacks or bodges to globalcyclingnetwork.com forward slash uploader. You can find a link to that in the description just down below. First up, this has been sent in by World Abounding. I used a 1.5-inch spade bit to draw indents for the tennis balls and train legs. For the front support, I had to do a little chiseling between two adjacent indents to get a good fit. No hard connections. The friction of the balls against the PVC mat and the weight of the whole machine so that everything stays in place is a definite boost in comfort and realism to having some fore and after sideways motion in response to changes in pedaling intensity. Very good. We get a lot of these, don't we? They're very popular. Tennis balls, rocker plates. Yes, just like a DIY Zwift ride rocker plate as well, which is next level. Yes, first time we've seen that. Yes. I don't know. I think I prefer just keeping it nice and steady and static. Obviously, there's a lot of you out there who do. Well, have you tried the tennis balls? I haven't tried the tennis balls. I know, yes. I just feel like I'll be bouncing all over the place. I never get on the trainer. I have been on the trainer not that long ago and I will get on it very soon. I never sat on there thinking, I could do rocking a bit. It feels fine, doesn't it? Yes. I also haven't tried tennis balls and a rocker plate, so I will also reserve judgment. This one has been done very neatly by World of Bounding. What I also like is that they seem to have a cordoned off area simply for their Zwifting, which is next level, isn't it? Yes, I would like that. For that alone, I'm saying hack, but I think the tennis balls look like a hack for me as well. I'm going to go with a hack, yes. Fairly professional setup there. Maybe we should try it before we get the next one sent in so we can pass actual judgment on whether it's good or not. Reuseit wrote in to say, my son broke the handle off our reel mower by pushing it into a gopher hole. He was so excited that he wouldn't have to mow the yard again. My wife was excited we might get an actual electric mower. Being a thrifty cyclist though, that just wouldn't do. I went to my spare parts bin and found an old bullhorn bar, two stems and a broken broom handle, a shim from some old garden hose, and voila, an adjustable handlebar that also makes my kid embarrassed to mow the lawn. That's brilliant. I love this. I think it's fantastic. I also think, Reuseit, that you're doing very well to get your kids to mow the yard or the lawn. I refuse to let mine mow because I think, somewhat deliberately, they don't get the lines straight. I think it's just a ploy to make sure they don't have to do it again. It'd be like washing up badly, leaving bits of food on the side of the plates and stuff. Yes. I just have to do it straight, otherwise, I just start getting it. Come on now. You're the same. The kids have got it wrapped around their fingers. I'd have put TT bars on this though. Then at least he can get into the position and relax. I'd have put a rocker plate on it. You definitely would have had straight lines then. Just bouncing down the floor from random patches. Well, I think that's great. A great use of spare parts. Those bullhorn bars are a blast from the past, aren't they? Yes, a hack from me. A hack from me as well. Right. Next up, this has been sent in by Goz. This is a gorilla battery cover hack. We're not saying it's a hack or a bodge. We're not calling it a hack just yet. They're out on a Christmas break in the Pyrenees, cycling across the hills, heading north. Wrote a power meter battery cap caught on a shoelace and popped off. Couldn't find it anywhere. There's no way you're finding anything roadside when that something small pops off. Despite ordering a new one, when they get home, the power data still went out riding. Used a spade connector. It's a very big spade kind of thing. Yes, but not proper spades. No, you're about to Google both. Don't tell people that. I don't know what a spade connector is. Use a spade connector to bridge the battery, connect the circuit, and cable tied a piece of wood across the top to prevent it falling out. Today, popped out for a four-hour, 48-hour, 48-mile ride up into the mountains. The power meter worked flawlessly the whole way. I think the key to our conclusion as to whether this is a hack or a bodge is, cable tied a piece of wood. The thing is, you look at that, you're like, there is no way that's a hack, but it's worked. It's done four hours and it's the power meter's working. If this was done out on the ride to get you home, that's a definite hack. This was done back at base and Goz thought, yes, nailed that one. Even the bulbous part of the zip ties is facing outwards. It looks to me like the crank's got scuff marks on it, presumably from where the shoes already rubbed it. Surely, your shoes are going to catch. The shoelace already caught the cap. Surely, it's going to catch the zip ties. Obviously, it didn't. It got through a 48-mile ride, but it just looks horrific. Yes, it splinters. This is not just so you can keep riding. This is just to get power data. Yes. I wonder if you can mark it on Strava, effort with a plank of wood on a crank. Plank of wood. I'm saying bodge for that one. I think that's a bodge. I'm as bad as any when it comes to getting data on every single ride, but I'd stop short of zip tying some wood to keep a battery in place. Anyway. Fair play though. Good effort. Good effort, but yes, it's not a hack from us, unfortunately. Finally this week, this from Marwin's Dad. My son decided he wanted seat post lifting two millimeters after a year of riding on his training bike. The seat post is well and truly stuck. No WD-40 heat, knocking, pulling, or swearing was going to move this baby. Took it to work, made a rig with a few straps and a heavy pallet. We kept adding weight and gently knocking the seat shoe. We got to 375 kilograms in the pallet and boom, it slid out. In a fairly dull and controlled fashion, happy to offer the service up. That's a lot of weight, isn't it? That is a lot. How much do you weigh? I'm like 90, basically. 90 kilos. Four of you. Four of me. More than four of you. That's a lot. There's a lot of weight going through a specialized frame. Four of me hanging on that. Seat post, isn't it? Marwin's Dad does say it was a fairly dull and controlled removal in the end. A couple of taps and that 375 kilograms pulling, but it does make you shudder a little bit thinking about the forces going through that frame. I don't think frames are designed for 375 kilograms of force going through them. Engineers might tell me otherwise with the forces that go through around a very sharp corner or something. I'm not sure. Yes. I'd have liked to have been there when it popped out though. It must have been so satisfying to go through all that effort. That's a lot of weight hanging on the frame. It is. He's done the job. He's done the job. It's a hack. I mean, we didn't get the after photo. Presumably, the frame's in pieces at this point, but the seat post is out. Yes. We need more evidence of the bike riding. I think also evidence in a year's time that the frame's still together. I'm not sure I'd want to ride that bike if I'm perfectly honest. For that reason, I'm saying bodge. You're saying bodge. I think I'm going to split and go hack. Are you? You feel bad for two bodies on the road, don't you? Well, the bike is otherwise, it's like the bike's stuck on that height so you can't ride it. It's two millimeters. You want it adjusted by two mil. You might want to put it up further. Before you get a saddle with a higher stack height of the rails. You might not be as comfortable. Disagreed on the last one. As I said, we love you getting involved in this part of the show. Please make sure you send in any hacks or bodges, even if you're afraid we're going to be mean and say bodge. Caption competition. Now, your chance to win the coveted Camelbak GCN water bottle. All you have to do is put a witty caption to the photo, which we're about to share now. We'll choose the best caption and then we'll get in touch to send you your water bottle. Starting off with last show's photo. This was a harking back to yesteryear. It was, yes. A long time in the past, actually. It was a 1930 shot from the Tour de France, wasn't it? I think on the Col du Tour Malay, if memory serves me correctly. It's from a couple of weeks ago because last week's show was pre-recorded. Either way, the winner this week is helipeak2736 who put, you mark my words, one day cycling on gravel will be all the rage. Yes, I like that. It's nice to have a bit of an old photo. Fantastic, isn't it? We've got a few on the photo service that we use, that we could use in future episodes. There's no current ones that we can, but yes, what a fantastic photo that is. Well done to helipeak. Get in touch with us, as Colin said, on Facebook with a message in your address. We'll get a bottle sent out to you. This week's is much more modern. Here is Wout van Aert at the end of a successful cyclocross race, which he won. I will get you started. Wout, where art thou? Do you like that? I like that, yes. Very good. I like that. I was going to go for, hey, Mathieu, can I get a lift back in the Lamborghini? Oh, that would be a good one as well, yes. It's all muddy. No, I think would probably be the answer. Some amazing shots from that race, though. I've never seen a cyclocross that muddy. No, I was watching some social media clips. I did watch the race itself, but some of the social media clips of Wout riding through mud about that deep in slow motion. Yes, incredible. It doesn't look like a sport, does it? No. I haven't shown that to a non-cyclist saying, yes, this is what I get up to for fun over the winter months. Anyway, get involved in the comments below with your best caption. We'll pick another winner this time next week. We will shortly let you know what's coming up on GCN later on this week, but first up, a few comments from underneath the last week's worth of videos, starting actually with the most recent video where Si had a look into whether if you pedal slower, you might be able to ride faster. A lot more in-depth than the title suggests. Anyway, Buster Keaton wrote in to say, core work. As I age, I feel core work is essential, not for increased power output, but being able to ride longer in a more aero position with less discomfort. By chance, you were talking to me about that this morning. Yes, I feel as I get older as well, actually, that I need to do more core work and stretching. You can't get away with it. When you're younger, you could and now I'm noticing. If I don't do it, I feel a bit. I probably would do as well. There was one moment, it's quite a long time ago now, actually. It's probably two or three years ago. Definitely whilst GCN Plus is around anyway, we've made a documentary about how to win the Tour of Flanders. We found this amazing open section of road where we did a locked-off shot of me going from left to right on the shot. Once on an old bike, Mappe Colnago, 1996, I think it was, and once on a modern bike. On both, but I'll get super aero here. Anyway, I looked back at the footage. I looked bolt upright. That's how far things have deteriorated for me. It is hard though, getting into that position for long periods. You have to build up to it. Greg Duchesne sent this comment in, pro bodybuilder here. Do both. Just take your time in the gym, as in take your time before going really hard with weights. Think of your first sessions in the gym as zone two. Just go easy and progressively overload, aka go harder on the last time of the next weeks and months while training heavier and harder and feeling more like you're doing three, four, five efforts with weights in the gym, which is great advice. Daniel Ritchie Great advice. I imagine it's Doucette. Greg writes in quite a lot. I think he's quite a well-known bodybuilder over in the US. I was on his Instagram not so long ago. He's got a lot of followers. Thanks for your advice, Greg. It goes back to what we were saying about running at the start of the show, doesn't it? You don't want to start too hard and too fast because you really will pay for it the following days. Meanwhile, underneath the last rider standing GCN presenter challenge, in which I was the first in the car, didn't do any riding, Obonito wrote, Alex should have a special GCN yellow jersey until the summer challenge. He does win quite a lot, Alex, doesn't he? He's a bit annoying. Alex I'm trying to devise some method of beating him. I figure I'd have to just take him camping, just take him on a self-supported bike back home. He'd still be so strong. Daniel Yeah, he is good on the bike, isn't he? Alex Maybe we should give him some yellow bands. Daniel Yeah, the one on the sleeves. Crikey. Alex We don't want it to go to his head. Alex A1 White sent this one in, Lloydy knows the team so well, bang on with those predictions. You were really good with your predictions, actually. Daniel I was very pleased then. Alex Scary. Daniel I did genuinely do them right at the very beginning of the ride. Partly based on previous knowledge, partly based on how you all looked that morning. You looked great when you arrived after your 35k walk. That was a good half an hour later when you'd cooled down again. Alex Yes, that was the only problem. Headwind didn't help either. Daniel Arière du Peloton put that relatable moment when Simon turned around and just went, bleep. If you've been there, you know. It's one that Conor and I went through in pretty much every single pro race we've ever done in our lives, so we know it very well indeed. On to GCN's best bloopers from 2024 year in outtakes. Liv and Trek Go Cycling put, Alex, my sympathies. You appear to be in an abusive relationship with Ollie, the signs are clear. I got that sort of vibe as well when I looked through the bloopers. Alex It's kind of true. No, I was just messing, this one was sent in by Little Talks with Miles. I love this best part, Ollie getting angry. Daniel I think Ollie actually wants to get angry more than he does. He just successfully holds it in a lot of the time, doesn't he? Alex It just steams us. Daniel Occasionally, he does let loose. Very good. Right, on to what's coming up on the channel this week. On Thursday, we've got a video all about fenders or mudguards as we call them here in the UK. Quite a contentious issue here, isn't it? In cycling circles in general, I think even amongst us as presenters, Alex is very on one side of the fence, adamant that you should have mudguards and if you don't have them, you've got to sit at the back of the group and not get him muddy. Si is so anti-mudguards, he's only recently put some on for the first time ever, I think, because the road's got that bad. Si I'm fully on the mudguard brigade. Daniel Yes, but yours is an in-betweeny mudguard, isn't it? It does something for you but not for anyone else. Alex That is true. I've got a full coverage one as well on that game changer in the UK. Daniel We're putting them to the test this week so watch that video on Thursday. Alex Then on Saturday, the biggest lie about weight loss. This is Ollie actually really doing a bit of a deep dive to give us quite a lot of information on weight loss. It's something that's on a lot of our minds, January, New Year. Daniel It is, yes. I'm really looking forward to this one. He did a great video just under a year ago actually about diet and weight loss which I know a lot of you watched. He's going even deeper on this one, looking at slightly different subjects. Make sure that you watch that one as well. On Sunday, the worst piece of cycling equipment on the planet or maybe it's the best. This is another video from Si. It's actually a product, I won't give too much away. It's a product that we were offered about 11 years ago and we poo-pooed it. It's probably the best way of putting it. Si's opinion, he reckons that our opinion might have changed in those 11 years due to age. Conor I'm interested to see his thoughts on this. Conor I don't want to give too much away either. Daniel No. No spoilers just here. Thanks, Conor. Conor Thanks, Dan. Thanks for having us. Daniel Thanks for watching at home. Don't forget to leave your 2025 cycling advice in the comment section below because I'm sure lots of people will be reading that to see what you've got to say as well as us. Thanks for watching. See you next week.