It's phenomenal service, but it's just such a cool light. Like it feels like I don't know the craftsmanship of a gun or something. It's a fully sealed steel light. Yeah, it's just sturdy. It just feels trustworthy, doesn't it? I'm also going to run a little red light on the back of my bike as well. You have to Oh, we have to do that. And I got your exposure on as I'm gonna have a little uh normal light on the front as well, just for visibility. Um so like a nonexo, you know, in case a car hits you or something. Yeah, just in case. I think um No, I got a little exposure set front and back over there. Okay. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, just as I said, a few people I spoke to have done it already were kind of saying, what's the point to that? I don't know. I think when you're when it's kind of dusky, maybe they say to put it on rather than your full light. Got a headlight as well. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, you don't have to. You have the sun. Listen, you don't have to do it, but I'm going to do it. A hydration pack. Yes. Yes. A hydration pack. I mean, they are so comfortable. The hydration pack. I can't get over that brand leader. Uh, and US. Yeah. Actually, good job. USWE. Yeah. Um, that's one I'm rocking 2 liter. And then I'm also going to have two 2 L bottles on my bike. They basically say, "Do not even attempt this race unless you've got three to five liters of water on you at all time." So, that's kind of what where I am with the I have the first bottle cage on my bike, so I don't know if it's overkill bringing three bottles and the hydration pack. I have nothing really good or bad to say about the hydration pack. It's a hydration pack. Like, you can't get too excited about it. I think they're made. They're so handy, especially, as I said, always say on the gravel when you don't want to be reaching down for a bottle. I would consider bringing a third hydration pack or bottle, but I don't know. I'm just going to weigh up between the weight of another liter. Another liter of fluid, another liter of water is going to be an extra kilo on the bike. So, kind of weigh. Yeah. Okay. Hey everybody, let's take a quick break to talk about the bike I'll be riding this season, Reap. I've been lucky enough to ride all the top brands in the world over the past few years, but these Reap bikes, they're not the same. And I'll tell you why. Reap is the first company I've seen that isn't chasing sales targets and the mass market. They're chasing something very rare, perfection. Every bike they make, it's crafted in the UK factory. And it's not about slapping a made in Britain label on a bike from a Chinese factory. It's about control. From the first sketch to the final build, they're hands-on, ensuring that every detail is dialed in. That's very rare in an outsourced world of mass production. What sets them apart is innovation. While others pump out the same old designs, reaps pushing boundaries. They're not following trends. They're setting trends. Think precision and performance like an F1 car for the road. Absolutely no compromises. And it shows and you can feel it when you ride the bikes. These bikes are built for riders who demand the best. Whether they're chasing podiums or just want a machine that feels like an extension of your body, a piece of art. It's not hype, it's substance. Ride a Reap for yourself and you're riding something crafted with intent. So, if you're serious about cycling, check them out. It's reapbikes.com. I absolutely love my one and I couldn't recommend it highly enough. Back to the show. Uh, moving on. Training your check in with your coach. Yes. So, my coach, your training. I just don't know how somebody would train for an event like this and not have a coach because it has been such a long, you know, process to get me from basically to from couch to doing this race, couch to 818K plan. They're hard to find on the templates on the internet. Oh, so I don't I I really really just can't say enough about having a coach. Obviously Anthony, you've been coaching me and I think we've navigated getting sick, fatigue levels, saddle sores.
Saddle sores. Again, that's been my biggest issue. I had a knee injury in the middle. Yeah. Um but having the coach, I honestly feel so fit. I feel so strong. I feel very very prepared for this. I I have to say I'm a little bit My motivation levels to train this week have been super low. I think I'm, you know, maybe just ready to race now. I'm just kind of like, okay, I'm over going out and out in the roads for like seven hours on my own now. I just want to get over to Granada and start this like amazing adventure. So, I am really glad to be starting the taper. Can you talk about the taper? Yes, you're starting taper. The idea with the taper is to just get rid of all the fatigue. You've built a lot of fatigue in the last specifically the last month or so. You've been training hard, bit of intensity, quite a bit of duration, and now it's time to shell some of that fatigue while keeping some of So, you're trying to get freshness, keep the fitness, and kill the fatigue. So, it's a little bit of a balance of thrown in a lot of a little bit of intensity, but killing most of the duration. So, like you've hard enough spin tonight, but it's only going to be 90 minute, twohour spin. Same again, you're off Friday. Same again, Saturday. You've hard but short spin. Sunday, you're off again and we're traveling next week. So, it's probably a 10day taper into this, which is on the long side for a taper. The taper is proportionate really to the length of the event and the length of the buildup. So, yeah, it's been good. Look, you're you've made massive gains from, you know, I'd say you've added 50 60 watts onto your 20-minute power and we haven't really focused on 20 minute power at all. I don't think you've done many 20-minute efforts. It's been more looking at aerobic efficiency and decoupling. looking at heart rate to power and seeing how that's improved ratio and it's been massive improvements. You know, you're you came pretty untrained like you hadn't followed many structured training plans before. Y so those newbie gains which are massive and you rode that wave. I think you're very very well prepared for it. Like you showed in Rift how well prepared you are for it. Like you were you know you won your age group in Rift which was an absolute everybody. Yeah. Double checking your results there. I think aselle what you you have to kind of remember when you're training for something like this and again just to bring it back to having a coach is that you're you're training for this specific event. We have a a section in the Roman Saturday spin on a Saturday where everybody sprints each other at the the airport section and I mean I have nothing at that because what I have been training for over the last 10 12 months is just building this big endurance engine. So, and you do need somebody to help you navigate that and kind of figure out what are the important bits. And it's a sticky mix though because you're not just trying to go and do a race across America where it's, you know, pavement all the way across. You're trying not to die when you're fatigued on super technical descents. So, there's been a lot of work on off-road. Y understanding that if the wheels move under you, it's okay. mountain biking, mountain biking, underbiked on some sections like we were riding gravel bikes on blue trails and red trails really building a skill set to get you through sticky situations. So, it's been fitness and skills getting built in tandem over probably a 10 month preparation. Yeah, almost here. Okay. Whoa, get even more nervous now. What have we missed? Uh pacing wise, I think it's just staying within yourself, staying on top of hydration plan, staying on top of fueling plan. You've tested your fueling plan quite robustly over Rift is probably the best test of it. You kind of know what's working for you. You're going with what brand? What gels you using? Never. Never. Yeah. Uh yeah, gels are very individual. I don't think I will use Never Second. I got a bad dose of the shits at Rifts by gels. Yeah, that was that was pretty that wasn't pretty, but I found them absolutely brilliant. So yeah, very individual uh heat adaptation. You know, I've done loads of podcasts on heat at this stage.
Heat's the new altitude. We didn't really use heat for physiological adaptations. There was no heat training. Just felt maybe the risk to reward of trying something new for the first time into the A priority event wasn't really worth it. So instead used heat more just from an acclamation point of view with some sauna exposure and sleeping setup. You've gone through that hydration strategy. We've gone through that. Anything else? Um, missing. No, not really. We I just want to run through a couple of the the kind of bits that are probably making me the most nervous about the the reef. Look, it's a big long race. And the the thing is that as soon as the the starting gun goes off, you're basically into climbing immediately for a kilometer 0 to 19. There's a 19 km climb straight away. Actually, I haven't looked at the parkour at all. That's going to be heartbreaking. We've got almost uh 1,000 meters in that 19 kilometers. So, the average is around 5% for that. So, that's going to be kind of Hello, welcome to Bland. Well, that's going to be after an hour and 10k done and you're looking at go going, "Oh my god, I've got another 700 and 800. So, I can't even do maths." What do Ajouralia, Stage Slayer, Mads Patterson, and half the professional pelaton have in common? Well, they're all turning to Nomio, the natural performance enhancer proven to reduce lactate buildup during intense efforts. In the 2025 Jeratalia, Person's form was undeniable. The Danish star surged to four stage victories. This was a major leap in form from his previous season, and a key part of this preparation and performance was Nomio. Developed by the same researchers who discovered the performance power of dietary nitrate. You know those beetroot shots that half the pelaton were using. Nomio is clinically proven to lower lactate levels, reduce oxidative stress, improve training adaptations, and deliver a noticeable boost from the very first time you take it. Riders are reporting bigger threshold power, fresher legs mid race, and quicker recovery. All from a formula made with just three natural ingredients: broccoli sprouts, lemon, and sugar. Whether you're racing at the front or you're smashing local segments, Nomio helps you get more out of every ride. Take it before key sessions or races for an immediate edge. Or take your training to the next level and get more out of your hard work. Go to drinknomo.com, that's nomio, and check out this gamechanging supplement. Details are in the episode show notes or description down below. Um the other things that I'm kind of a little bit nervous about are there's a few climbs like look we have a lot of climbs that are over 20 25 30 km long and the average gradients on those are over 6%. Um you know so that will I know that those are going to be really really tough. Again in the middle of those you've got pitches of between 15 and 17%. So, they're going to be like pretty challenging for me, but as you said, I'm just going to try and pace myself through them. The other thing I think to watch out for is the descending because we do have like a lot of really long technical descents in Badlands. So, it's just about, I think, staying hydrated, full concentration, getting down those safely. Um, and then the other really stand out part to me is this beach section that everybody talks about where it's like 10 km along the beach. It's not It's not that far, is it? Yeah, I think it's quite long and it's all sand bike. You don't think so? No, maybe it's 10k tread in the coast, but it's not a 10k hike bike section. No, it's a it's a much shorter hike unless it's totally new this year. The hiker bike section, I think, you know, if you look at even the video of Lackland, he's pushing for like a couple of minutes. Oh, I thought it was way longer than that. Okay, that's after setting me um at ease a little bit. As soon as we come out of that section though, there's three big climbs one after the other. 21 km, 18 km, and 14 km climbs. And they all have about That's the length of the climbs. Yeah. And they all have they're back to back to back. They all have gradients of about 5 to 6%. And it said that on the handbook individually they're very manageable, but to together they're a sustained workload. So I think coming out of the beach area in Almaria going into those three clims is going to be a real real challenge for me.