Coachingsarah & anthony

TO WAVE OR NOT TO WAVE, AN UNSPOKEN RULE | RIDER SUPPORT

with Rider Support

28:59·30 March 2024

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RIDER SUPPORT

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

There's no rule that compels cyclists to wave on the road — it's a courtesy, not a commandment. Anthony's call: a nod or a wave costs nothing and keeps the cycling community warm.
53/39 chainrings are a WT-rider drip-down. For most amateurs at typical body weight, going up a 20% gradient even with a 28-32 cassette can require more bottom-end range than 39 gives you. Don't be afraid of the compact.
Silca's online tyre pressure calculator (brand + terrain + weight) is the practical answer when "what pressure should I run?" comes up — beats guessing every time.
Mont Ventoux 2016 (Froome running) and the 2015 stage shopping-bag pileup are the canonical fan-interference incidents. The course-design and crowd-management lessons haven't fully landed yet.
Altitude tents are not worth it for amateurs. Sustained, high-quality exposure is hard to achieve at home, and the money is better spent on coaching, recovery, or structured training blocks.

We're diving into the unwritten rules of cycling culture, from whether you should wave at every rider you pass to how fan interference has dramatically shaped professional racing history. Along the way, we'll tackle practical rider concerns—from saddle soreness recovery to building confidence on steep climbs—and challenge some of the trendy fitness hacks that might be stealing your focus from the fundamentals.

Key Takeaways

Waving or acknowledging other cyclists is a cherished cycling tradition, but it's not universal—personality type, cycling culture, fatigue level, and bike handling demands (like hard interval work) all affect whether a rider reciprocates, so don't take it personally.
Your bike fit and saddle choice are the first things to address for backside soreness, not just stretching and recovery tools; standing out of the saddle occasionally during rides also gives that muscle group crucial relief.
Altitude training is a marginal gain for most amateur riders and carries real risk of overtraining; focus instead on nailing the fundamentals: adequate zone 2 work, proper bike setup, and consistent training volume.
Confidence on steep climbs and technical terrain isn't irrational fear—it's preparation; check your gearing, tire pressure, body positioning, and practice unclipping on safe ground before pushing yourself.
Don't let insecurity about cycling kit prevent you from riding; wear whatever makes you comfortable (tracky bottoms, skirts, short shorts) until confidence builds—people aren't judging you nearly as much as you think.

Expert Quotes

"If I'm doing something that's really hard, especially something where I need full control on my bike, maybe I'm doing a kilo full gas, like a one minute all-out effort. I'm not stopping to wave to somebody in the middle of that. You can nod or you can give a wink or you can give a smile."

"Altitude is the wrong idea... We're spending time on cold plunges, on saunas, on massage boots. This stuff is amazing and I love talking about it, but that stuff can't be a replacement for making sure you're moving enough, making sure you're spending enough time in zone 2."

"People are not really looking at you... Everyone has got too much going on in their own little world."

CLAIMS FROM THIS EPISODE

Each tagged with the strength of evidence behind it.

STUDY
The 2016 Tour de France stage to Mont Ventoux saw Chris Froome forced to run up the mountain after a collision with a TV motorbike — one of the canonical fan-and-traffic interference incidents in modern Tour history.
Source: 2016 Tour de France stage 12 reporting, summarised on the Roadman Cycling podcast
STUDY
The 2015 Tour de France stage saw a mass pileup in the peloton triggered by a spectator's shopping bag catching a rider — used as a key example of fan-caused racing disruption.
Source: 2015 Tour de France crash reporting, summarised on the Roadman Cycling podcast
OPINION
Anthony argues altitude tents deliver negligible performance returns for amateur cyclists because the required sustained high-quality exposure is hard to achieve at home — making coaching, recovery and structured training a better investment of the same money.
Source: Anthony Walsh, Roadman Cycling podcast
PRO PRACTICE
Silca's online tyre pressure calculator (configurable by tyre brand, terrain and rider weight) is Anthony's preferred resource for practical pressure recommendations — repeatedly cited on the show.
Source: Silca tyre pressure calculator, referenced on the Roadman Cycling podcast

KEY QUOTES

“Is it because we're buying bikes a lot of the time with 53 39 this is a drip down from the world tour riders who use this gearing but maybe for our level for our body weight that's not a particularly suitable gearing to go up a 20% gradient even with a big block on the back of like a 28 32 on the back you might need more gears than that.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“Silka have a great tire pressure calculator on their website which I always use where you can pick your brand of tire, your terrain, your body weight and it'll tell you the tire pressure you should be using. That'll give you a bit more traction.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“If you go on to YouTube, there's loads of good stretching workouts that you can bring yourself through. It's not glamorous and it does take time, but stretching out your glutes, your hamstrings, your lower back, and your hips will definitely help the next day. As will some gentle foam rolling, or if you're lucky enough to have access to a professional masseuse, getting a massage, they're all really going to help.”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT7 SECTIONS

Froome's Ventoux motorbike chaos

Sarah, let's get into it. Okay, let's go. Okay, question. Here we go. Anthony and Sarah, did you guys watch Bagotaa having to bang on the motorbike to get past it during the Vulta Catalonia last week? I know there's been loads of instances where fans or motorbikes have interfered interfered with the race. Do you have a top five worst fan moments? Yes, I definitely do. We're going to have to pull up some video for some of these cuz some of them we're going to have to journey way back down memory lane for some of them. Okay, Sarah, first up I want to talk about this one is absolutely hilarious. I remember watching this on the TV in disbelief. I was picking up my phone for anybody who would answer. I was like, you see what's going on France? It's absolutely insane. Right, let's check this out. Watch this. It's Chris Film. So, this is Richie Port coming up. The crowds are insane as they always are on Von Two. Motorbike hits the brakes. Richieport goes into the back of the motorbike and then it just turns into nonsense. Absolute farce like we've never seen in cycling. F goes into the back of Richie Port, his bike breaks and he sets off jogging up front, too. Oh my god, it's actually crazy. I This is before my time really watching cycling. And when you showed me this, I was like, this is insanity. Now, you can tell as the minutes go by, Froom is definitely getting a bit gassed. He's like, rolling cleat. He's rolling cleats up on too. He's on the um he's on the mic to his team car just being like, "Where the hell are you guys?" The best bit's the motor bike there that goes past like, "Do you want to wheel?" And he's like, and then look, keep watching, keep watching cuz then Mavic neutral Support comes up cuz his own team car can't get up. Mavic neutral support comes up and they give him the worst bike you've ever seen. Like you wouldn't cycle to the shop on the bike they gave him. It's like a comical clown. And you know when the clown gets on a really really tiny bike and he couldn't get clipped in either that was kind of hilarious. Do you think that the fans should be on you know vonu on opto like that? It is sketchy isn't it? Yeah there's so many different ways of looking at it isn't there should fan they interact. I don't think they should influence the race which maybe leads me on to maybe the most famous interaction between a fan and a rider of all time. It's 1975. It's pudome Eddie Merks and he gets he gets gut punched for one of a better word. He gets sucker punched. Yeah, sucker punched. Somebody just straight out. No messing and just straight into them. It's just awful. Frightening. Yeah. And you are that close to maniacs is the thing. So look, you don't like to see writers get punched. Obviously that's 1975. We haven't had that many bad instances. I know we're gonna go we're going through five of them here, but we haven't had that many bad instances. I don't think it's bad enough to stop the fans being up close and personal cuz we run off the way and that's kind of what makes cycling magical. You get that close to the fans. Yeah, I agree. And that Eddie Marks one that was very deliberate. I mean the guy literally socked him one whereas the rest of the incidents with fans or motorbikes aren't deliberate. They're a lot of stupidity I think from fans are not taken care of. Of course, you've got phones now, so everyone's taking videos while watching the race going up. So, no malice to a lot of these just extreme dumbness. There's a whole category of them. I call them just hooked bags. There's no malice at all. But people just not understanding that the handlebars go that close and if you have a strap off a bag, there's potential for that strap off a camera. This probably isn't in everybody's top five, but just because we were there on Altoz that day, I wanted to throw it in. Vincenzo Neibbley on Alpawez. The day we were there, don't know how sober I was. I was definitely pretty fatigued. Not at all sober. I was I can vouch for that. Dressed in just green, white, and orange body painted up in the middle of the road. There's an image. Anyone who wants to pay for that to get that image, I can send it to you. You were drinking warm beers out of a backpack all day. But it wasn't you who hooked this neebly nebly pass. No, it wasn't me.

Fan-caused crashes through history

No, I wouldn't be showing my face if it was. Needly got hooked by a fan accidentally. He went down. He broke his vertebrae. It turned out a fan pretty aggressively tried to put him back on his bike. Never a great idea when someone has a broken vertebrae. I'm sure their intentions were good. Nei went on to finish that stage, I'm going to say seventh if my memory serves me that day, which is pretty amazing considering he had a broken vertebrae. There's also another category in the kind of or another crash in that same category and that's we have to journey all the way back to 2003 and stage 15 for an incident involving the man we shouldn't name Mr. Lance Armstrong. Voldemort. Voldemort. He was hooked by a shopping bag again. But why that's so famous? He went on to win the stage, but he was hooked by a shopping bag when he was in the lead group. And his main competitor at the time was Yan Olrich. Armstrong went down in the yellow jersey. And there's a beautiful tradition in the tour of France that when the yellow jersey crashes, the race gets shut down. And everyone had assumed that Olrich, his bitter competitor, was gonna attack when Armstrong went down. And a beautiful piece of sportsmanship. Say what you want about that era, but in a beautiful piece of sportsmanship, Olrich shut the race down and he waited for Armstrong to get back to the front of the race. Armstrong subsequently dropped them and won the stage, but that's that's a different story. So that was brilliant. But there's one more clip I want to also look at because this is kind of in our time watching cycling together and that's the Tony Martin one. Yeah, this this I always say broke the internet. And I know I say that basically every week, but this I mean there was wasn't a person on the planet not talking about this person. I'm sure they had to go get like reconstructive plastic surgery so no one ever recognized them again and knew them as the person. I think they got a lot of hate from it. They got a lot of hate. Yeah, a lot of hate. Almi was Was it Al Omni Omni? Is that like upy Omni or something like that? I think it's basically like Hi, Granddad. Something like that. Anyway, so this person had this sign out completely got in front of the palaton and not just one person came down, everybody came down. This is the moment where the bunch is coming through. They're all very close together and this lady with the cl with the sign just gets in everyone's way. I mean, have you seen a stack up like that? There's bodies. The entire bunch went down. The entire bunch. Oh my god. And like you can really see her face as well. She got a bit of a whack, a bit of a belt of an elbow as well, I think. Who was that in front? Was that Martin in front who took the first to the force? He broke his collar bone. He broke his collar bone off that lady, I think, because he kind of put his elbow out to, you know, maybe kind of scooch her out of the way. But yeah, that is definitely one for the record books. Whole bunch down. Tour to France opening week normally chaos. And it didn't disappoint. No, absolutely not. Okay, so the next question, and this is from Jason. Why is it that some riders when they're out, even if they're chewing the bars in the middle of interval sets, can still greet other riders with a nod, a smile, a wave, or even a how how are you getting on? And yet others seem to look straight through you as if you're not even there. I seriously just don't get it. It's a funny quirk and cycling that we expect a wave from everyone. Do you wave to everybody? Everybody. I smile or I nod or I wave to everybody like a crazy lady. Yep. If they're in cycling kit, if they're in Lyra, I will wave or smile like a lunatic at them. Yeah. Or just a little subtle nod. It doesn't have to be, you know, really exaggerated, but just to acknowledge that they're there. And I know most people do, but I tried to be I tried to be realistic and say, do I always do it? And I don't. And the reasons I don't do it are obviously speculating as to why Jason didn't get his way. Maybe Jason was looking particularly angry that day. Who knows? Scary. But maybe some of the reasons I don't always wave. It depends on the interval I'm doing. If I'm doing something that's really hard, especially something where I need full control on my bike, maybe I'm doing a a kilo full gas, like a one minute allout effort.

The unwritten rule of waving

I'm not stopping the wave to somebody in the middle of that. Can no one's making you stop, but you can nod or you can give a wink or you can give a smile. I don't. So that's it is an option though. That's one reason. If I'm doing a introvert, maybe I don't. There's also personality types. Not everybody's an extrovert. Some people are just different personalities. They're introverted. They just like to go out and mind themselves, listen to their podcast, and they don't really buy into that because maybe they're not in cycle for the traditions or they're in a different bubble. Also, different cycling cultures are different. So, I've spent some time riding in France and it was a very close-knit cycling community. The hub of the town was around the bike shop. everybody met there. Whereas Canada, it was a more dispersed cycling community. There wasn't really that same sense of it's us versus them, we're all in this together, this collegiality or camaraderie. So that changes the dynamic on the road as well. Also, that's why it was kind of challenging. Did you wave all the time? Because I'm going to call on that and say you don't. Because if you're wrecked at the end of a ride, when you're absolutely ruined, you know those days, we've all had them where we haven't eaten enough, the weather's miserable, we've had one or two punctures, and life's just not going our way. Yeah. I still wave. I still smile. 100%. The day you cry coming home and you had to get a Mac flurry. You were waving at people that day. Like, I don't know. Maybe I was grimacing at them. The day I I That was one of the days that I bonked and had to pull over and have a cry. 100% I'm still nodding or acknowledging somebody. Even better human even making eye contact with somebody. You can't hide behind making eye contact. You're wearing glasses. Well, whatever. Just nod or a smile or anything. I just don't feel I'm a huge advocate for this kind of Yeah, I want to back this camaraderie. I want to back this we're in Lyra. We're out in the roads. We're doing a tough thing. Just don't be a miserable And I think as well if I wave at somebody or as I said, I very rarely wave. I'll do the the country nod, you know, up or down or I'll smile. I might give a little bit of a, you know, fingers off the handlebar or you blink behind your sunglasses. But like if they don't reciprocate for the next couple of minutes, I'd be like, you're like one of them people that flash the car to warn people of oncoming speed traps. Yeah, of course. I do that as well. If there's a speed trap and I've passed it, of course, I'm putting my flashers on to warn everybody else. And people who don't warn everybody else that there's a speed camera. Come on, get a grip. I think the main thing for me is it's just dayto-day variability. I change like the weather. If I'm having a good day, I'm everyone's friend. If I'm having a bad day, I'm just going out and put my headphones in and I want to be left alone. That for me are some of the reasons that Jason mightn't have got his reciprocal not. Don't lose sleep over it, Jason. It might be Yeah, don't lose sleep over it. Okay, next question. Anthony, how do you deal with irrational fears on the bike? Because I'm not a great cyclist. I don't have the confidence on steep 20% plus segments, especially on cobbles, that I'm going to be able to pedal hard enough to not fall over. And I don't have the confidence in my foot reflexes to get out of the pedal in time. Do you have any irrational fears on or off the bike, Anthony? Yeah, I think there's two different things here, isn't there? There's a irrational fears, which I know you're better at talking about. I might leave that part to you, but this isn't really an irrational fear because people off the bike all the time, including pros in 20% plus gradients. So, I would say this is more uh it's a preparation issue where you go, well, can I check a 20% gradient when there's not a crowd around and see if it's possible for me to ride it? What are maybe some of the problems I'm having? Is it because we're buying bikes a lot of the time with 53 39 this is a drip down from the world tour riders who use this gearing but maybe for our level for our body weight that's not a particularly suitable gearing to go up a 20% gradient even with a big block on the back of like a 28 32 on the back you might need more gears than that.

Conquering steep climb fears

So it could be a gearing issue is one of the reasons you're struggling maybe a traction issue that could be a pressure in the tires depending on what tires you're running. Silka have a great tire pressure calculator on their website which I always use where you can pick your brand of tire, your terrain, your body weight and it'll tell you the tire pressure you should be using. That'll give you a bit more traction. And anyone that's been out mountain biking will tell you how you distribute your body weight over the bike has a massive impact on your traction levels on those type gradients. Like leaning a little bit further forward with your head will weight the front wheel more and give you more traction there. So I don't think this is an irrational fear. I think it's quite a rational fear and a little bit of preparation will maybe overcome it. There's also maybe a a time to walk in these things. I totally agree. This was what I came up against in Santa Val during the gravel race that we did a couple of weeks ago in Jirona. It was gravel. It was these kind of 300 200 meter pitches at 20%. Very very technical. And yeah, if I couldn't get up it, I just got off. And then I tried to tackle the next one the next time and not get off. Like it's it's okay to do that. Um, I think this listener is also afraid that they're going to fall off because they're not going to get their foot out of the cleat in time. There's other things you could do with regards to that. Like you can loosen the tension in your cleat. Different color cleat. Different color cleat. Yeah. Blue, red, yellow is the sliding scale on a Shimano anyway. From tightest to loosest. Yeah. I think with these irrational fears, I mean, I I I don't agree that this is an irrational fear. It's usually these fears stem from not being in control or being afraid that you're going to make a show of yourself or hurt yourself or you're going to be embarrassed or anything like that. So I think as Anthony says, if you just control the controllables, if you practice that, this will all just become completely second nature to you. And completely irrational fear that I have is of swans. Like I mean that just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If I see a swan, I will go like 50 m around it so not to pass it. That's completely irrational. But yeah, I just think practice, practice, practice and try and face those fears and keep going up those 20% climbs. 20% climbs. How many are there with cobbles on them? A lot. You should practice spending time with swans. Okay, next question. And this is from Paul. Paul is looking for some advice, Anthony. He needs some tips on backside recovery. He said he's struggling today after a big ride yesterday. Yeah, it's a problem that a lot of people get, especially if you're doing a lot more volume than you're used to. We're having people at this time of year sign up for a lot of the sportifs that are simulations of the classics. People going out and doing Flanders, doing rubé and they don't typically ride that distance at home on a regular weekend. So, their backside is ruined after it. Couple of things that really work the next day. If you go on to YouTube, there's loads of good stretching workouts that you can bring yourself through. It's not glamorous and it does take time, but stretching out your glutes, your hamstrings, your lower back, and your hips will definitely help the next day. As will some gentle foam rolling, or if you're lucky enough to have access to a professional masseuse, getting a massage, they're all really going to help. Well, some other things that I've found through the years that really work, soaking in like an Epsom salts warm bath, just lying there, or a jacuzzi if you're a member in a local gym or you're a millionaire and you have your own jacuzzi, that will work too. Compression gear is another one that I really like. We have a set of compression boots in the house and I throw them on. They're going to loosen up the hamstring which is going to, you know, feed into the glutes because we're so interconnected. The last one to consider if you're getting this as a repetitive issue time after time, it's back to basics and looking at your bike fit and seeing is there an underlying problem that's causing this rather than treating the the, you know, the actual cause or rather than treating the symptom, treat the cause. Yeah, I think um the bike fit, you know, certainly when I got one, it completely changed my time on the bike.

Saddle comfort and altitude training intro

That and I finally found a saddle that I absolutely love and is really, really comfortable. You have shares in that double saddle. Yeah, I the I different colors and all around the house. The thing is that like that saddle might be totally chronic for somebody else, but for me it's absolutely perfect and I love it. Thing I think that you missed, Anthony, is and I find this alleviates a lot of pain is when you're on the bike, try and occasionally stand up out of the pedals. You know, stand on the bike if you're going up ahead. Stand out of saddle. Sorry. Stand out of the saddle. Yeah. So like let the let blood flow there. Let give your those particular muscle set a little bit of a break. Certainly something that helps me a lot. Well, that was particularly bad on the tandem when I was riding the tandem with Peter because the tandem it's actually a bit of a skill to stand up because you both have to stand up at the same time and it's the bike is pretty unstable when you stand up if anyone's ridden the tandem. So, you're because of that less inclined to stand up that frequently and you find yourself at the end of a ride with your ass totally numb. Yeah. When you're on the tandem, you'd be coming home every after every training session asking me to give give your glutes an elder rub. That wasn't me. That must have been an old boyfriend. Okay, next question. And this is from Luke. Hi guys, I'm new to cycling and new to watching cycling. I hear a lot of people talking about the professional cyclists going for high alitude training and I was wondering how and why this works. Also, would something similar be worth doing before a big stage race like three or four days of racing for a cat one rider? Anthony, have you ever done a similar training week? And did you see a massive increase in your performance? Hey, roadmen, excuse the short interruption. I love riding the bike, but on account of being so busy with the podcast at the moment, I'm now what's called a time crunched rider. I never thought I'd see the day, but I have a tool. I'm using W bike to keep myself sharp and on point with specific sessions to maximize that available training time. I have a what bike Adam right here in the recording studio beside me and when I have an error in between interviews I jump on. It's removing all the friction points for me. There's no more 10-minute setup unfolding legs, banging my knees off stuff, getting my hands dirty, the usual connection issues. It just works every single time. The Atom's perfect for virtual racing as well because it has crisp gear changes, it has 1% accuracy, and it has max gradient capability of up to 25%. If you're looking for an indoor trainer, I honestly couldn't recommend this any higher. I've been using a W bike since 2013. Honestly, it's the last indoor trainer that you're ever going to need. If you head on over to what.com now and you use code roadman10, that's ro o a dme and that's going to get you 10% off your what bike. Uh this is a topic that I've been talking about a lot on the podcast recently. It's majoring in minor things that you need to spend the bulk of your focus and the bulk of your resources on the stuff that moves the needle the most. So, I don't know this rider's background, but if he's a cat one and he's doing a lot of this stuff right already, maybe for him there's a small gain to be had. But the cost benefit of it, taking time off work, heading away to a Sierra, Nevada and Andor, wherever he's going to go for his altitude training, it's more than likely not going to make sense on a costbenefit analysis to go across there because you also might get an adaptation to it or like I've had friends who have gone to extreme altitude blocks before the Olympics and they've trained for four years for this and they've massively underperformed because you can dig yourself into a hole. you're having less oxygen is the very premise of being at altitude and that makes you have an adaptation to create more red blood cells. But you can go there push too hard and dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of. But I think for the vast vast majority of people excluding maybe the 1% of cyclists in the world, altitude is the wrong idea. It's the idea that we're spending time on cold plunges, on saunas, on massage boots. This stuff is amazing and I love talking about it, but that stuff can't be a replacement for making sure you're moving enough, making sure you're spending enough time in zone 2, making sure you're optimized time across the other zones, making sure your bike setup is good, like the very basic stuff that makes a cyclist.

Altitude training for amateurs

I think it's been too trendy for the last four or five years to talk about these small marginal gains. I had a physiologist on a couple of days ago and he's just like going, "If anyone talks to me about ketones and then I look at their training peaks and they have a training stress score, a CTL score under 120 is like just get away from me." Like these things make tiny differences to the elite performers. And so if for instance uh Luke wanted to go away for a week before a event or a couple of weeks before an event and he was kind of saying okay well I'm going away to do a block anyway would you recommend that he goes to altitude or are you just kind of like oh just go anywhere go to Mora go to I would go away somewhere else for just a big super compensation block. If you're going to altitude I think you need to do it under supervision of a coach who knows what he's doing. You need to be getting blood values checked to make sure you have the precursors necessary to make more EPO so you can get the adaptation from your altitude training and that you're have enough nutrients present and you're taking enough fuel when you're there to get the recovery adaptation on the far side. So it's not just a case of oh book a week up in Sierra Nevada if it's your priority event coming up after. It's just risk for return is too risky. Yeah. Pagache is up in Sierra Nevada at the moment up in that thin air. He does know what he's doing more than most. He definitely does for sure. Sierra Nevada. I was up there a few years ago. Anthony was racing in the area and I was doing a little bit of cycling up around that neck of the woods. Matchy Vanderpol was doing an altitude and I had the roads well worn trying to see if I could bump into them but alas no go. So, Anthony or sorry, Luke. Anthony says, "No, I'm afraid. No, Sierra Nevada for you this year." Okay. Hi, Sarah and Anthony, but I guess maybe this question is more for Sarah. Do you ever feel self-conscious in your cycling kit? It literally takes me about an hour to psych myself up to leave the house in my cycling kit. I just feel very exposed. Okay. I mean, is this from a girl or a guy? Yes. Doesn't actually say. Yeah, it didn't say. Doesn't matter. I suppose. Doesn't matter. Yeah. So, I would say this is from a girl just because she's kind of referenced me. Um, do you ever feel conscious going out in your cycling, Anthony? I did at the start. I used to wear cycling football shorts over my cycling shorts until I got out of town. But there was when I started cycling, there was no one else cycling. Now, I happily sit in a restaurant in my cycling kit on my own and wouldn't even bought an eyelet. My Woosh is hands down the best virtual cycling app for home and it's redefining indoor training at no cost. Yep, it's absolutely free. And setting up MyWish is really easy. Just download the My Wish app, connect your device like your W bike or your smart trainer and off you go. Now, if you're feeling competitive, there's weekly races for every category from beginner to pro. Plus, there's insane prize money up for grabs. Now, if you've no plan to race, that's no problem. There's hundreds of free training plans and workouts that are designed to really push you to your limits. You can enjoy daily group rides and group workouts, and you can customize your avatar, all without opening your wallet. So, go on over to the My Wish app and have a look around. Why spend money on monthly subscriptions elsewhere when My Wish offers all of this for free? So join my wish today. It's available on iOS, Mac OS, Google Play, Apple TV, or click on the link in the show notes to get started. Yeah, I think at the beginning, so for this listener, at the beginning, I would have been quite you quite self-conscious in it and kind of, you know, would have taken a lot to get out in full kit because you do. Yeah, this is very good. These words here, I just feel very exposed. Thankfully, there's other options now if you're not feeling comfortable in skin tight Lyra. And what I would say to you is don't let the clothes or the kit stop you from going out on a ride. Yes, Lyra cycling specific clothing is more comfortable and it helps you, you know, not chafe and it helps you, it performs better.

Kit confidence and cycling skirts

But if you're kind of thinking, I'm not going to go out on a spin today because I feel really I feel fat or I feel exposed in this or I feel like everyone's looking at me, then don't wear wear like normal yoga pants, wear your normal tracky bottoms, wear normal shorts until you start getting the confidence. What I will say is that people are not really looking at you. People aren't, you know, saying looking at you and saying, "Oh, look at the state of her. Look at the state of him." Everyone has got too much going on in their own their own little world. Anthony, you sent me a picture during the week about this. It's an advertisement for this kind of new set of cycling shorts, which was very interesting. We were kind of wondering to think it would take off. It's essentially a cycling shorts with the shami, but then it's kind of got a little pleated skirt around it. So, when you stand up from the uh saddle, the skirt kind of hides your bottom where the top of your thighs, which I think is like I wouldn't wear it. I think it looks utterly ridiculous. But if again, this kind of helps you to give you that little bit of confidence to create. In fact, I did see a lot of girls wearing these when I was over in Abu Dhabi. You know, they're they obviously due to like their religious beliefs need to dress modestly. So, I did see a lot of girls wearing skirts over their cycling leggings. Um, so they're an option. Um, and yeah, I mean, as I said, just get out on the bike and try and not worry about being in, you know, cycling kit or how is there an skirt for Scottish riders who might want to wear a kilt cycling a male skirt for Scottish riders. this for listener and we actually in other news about Schwarz during the week we had Chloe Dyard she's the American champ at the moment she got a little bit of grief on uh social media this week because she was riding in Gent Velingham and basically her shorts are extremely short they're more like volleyball shorts than cycling shorts and of course people were taking to Twitter to comment on this you know Jen's Decker on Twitter basically said that we can joke all we want about sock length rules by the UCI but if they don't regulate clothing you get things like Khloe Digert's shorts and those should definitely be outlawed and then someone underneath poor Bob has never seen a woman or a flash of a leg in his entire life cuz he wrote agreed I was horrified when I turned on the coverage Bob want to stay off Instagram I was going to say and Bob don't watch the Olympics don't watch the volleyball girls in their bikinis. So I look, apparently um Chloe Dagert, she wears these. Digert wears these because she was in a very bad crash back in 2020. She's got very bad scars. The long shorts apparently irritate wounds and stuff that she's previously had. But like why is everyone giving out about this? If the person is comfortable in short shorts, they're not giving an arrow advantage. Thomas Vogler used to wear short shorts like as short if not shorter than Khloe shorts. Yeah. for basically his whole career, right? We used to mimic them as well. I had teammates who would order shorts that were like three sizes too small because they wanted the Vler look and that was the thing. Yeah, I don't get it. Cyclist have great legs. Why not show them off? I'd be all It's uncomfortable enough. So, whatever shorts make you comfortable, just wear those. I agree. I agree. Sarah, thanks for chatting. You're welcome. If you enjoyed this conversation between myself and Sarah, here's another one up here that you're going to love. And don't forget to subscribe to the channel because it makes all the difference. That's down here.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

do cyclists have to wave at each other on the road+

There is no rule that compels cyclists to wave, but it is widely considered common courtesy in road cycling culture. Anthony and Sarah debate this on Rider Support, concluding that a nod or wave costs nothing and helps maintain a sense of community on the road, even if some riders choose to ignore it.

how do I fix saddle soreness from cycling+

Start by checking your saddle height and fore-aft position, as poor fit is the most common cause. A professional bike fit, quality chamois cream, and correctly padded shorts will resolve most cases. If soreness persists after addressing fit, consider a saddle with a different profile or cut-out to reduce pressure on soft tissue.

are altitude tents worth it for amateur cyclists+

No. Anthony and Sarah argue on Rider Support that altitude tents deliver negligible performance returns for amateur riders and represent poor value outside elite or professional contexts. The physiological gains require sustained, high-quality exposure that is difficult to achieve with a tent at home, and the cost is far better spent on training, coaching, or recovery.

worst fan interference incidents in Tour de France history+

The most notorious incidents include Chris Froome being forced to run up Mont Ventoux after a collision with a motorbike in 2016, and the 2015 Tour stage where a spectator's shopping bag caused a mass pileup in the peloton. Rider Support uses these examples to highlight how dangerous and disruptive crowd behaviour on race routes can be for professional riders.

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