Kit Nicholson and Jonny Long join Caley Fretz to discuss the heat and a big transfer at the Vuelta and a supermarket sweep in Germany. Plus, Joe Lindsey joins to chat Di2 hacking.

This week's Placeholders recaps one of the greatest Grand Tour stages in history, goes into the history of the race radio debate, and discusses nationality swaps of Olympic athletes. 

The fight for the yellow jersey is over. Tadej Pogačar now has over five minutes, Jonas Vingegaard conceded it won't happen for him this year. Richard Carapaz has come close to locking the polka dots, and Biniam Girmay is close to making history. Caley, Jonny, Iain, and Joshua Robinson of the Wall Street Journal digest and discuss the Tour's high water mark atop Isola 2000, and then catch up in Nice to bring you inside the race. 

From next to the Arenberg and inside the velodrome, the Placeholders crew brings you an episode from the ground at Paris-Roubaix. What happened to Quickstep? Will Belgium be mad? What about two world champs winning in one weekend? That was neat. And lots of more, of course. 

Cyclings Holy Week is all about Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix, but sandwiched between those two monuments is the sprinters classic, Scheldeprijs.

Escape Collective was on the ground for the Week and took a trip to Terneuzen for the start of the race named after the river Schelde to record a Performance Process pit walk special.

In this episode, Ronan and Caley take us on a roam around the Scheldeprijs start area, talking flat race bike optimisation, the one bike they’d pick, and much more.

Loren Rowney, Matt de Neef, and special guests bring you all the action from the infield at the Roubaix Velodrome, as the fourth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift comes to a thrilling close.

From a bar in Belgium straight to your ears: The Placeholders crew preview both of this weekend's Paris-Roubaix races, discuss the Arenberg chicane and the crashes in the Basque Country, and we hear from Emma Norsgaard on what Roubaix means and how to ride it. 

Whew, so much new product news to discuss today, and Sea Otter is still two weeks away! Shimano looks to strengthen its stranglehold on the entry-level market with a new range called Essa, while some updates to the CUES collection may provide some hints at higher-end bits to come, too. Campagnolo finally announces a power meter to go along with the Super Record Wireless groupset launched last year, there’s turmoil at Scott Sports, and some hooked wheel companies are out for blood. Dave and James also discuss the pros and cons of on-bike tool storage along with a PSA that’ll hopefully save you from being awkwardly stuck to your bike, and there’s a whole bunch of new stuff on the way from Rene Herse, Vittoria, Gore Wear, Enve, Hutchinson, Feedback Sports, and Robert Axle.

Timestamps:

1:15 – Dave has some thoughts on T47
5:42 – Shimano is smart to not ignore the entry level market
17:00 – Campagnolo finally announces its Super Record power meter
22:47 – Scott Sports’ CEO is out – or is he? Depends on who you ask.
26:35 – Hooked road wheel companies smell blood in the water
31:16 – On-bike tool storage is a trend we can get behind
38:13 – Check your cleat bolts!
43:50 – Rene Herse now has TPU inner tubes – and they have metal valve stems!
44:30 – Vittoria is getting into running
45:34 – Gore Wear is stepping up its clothing game
46:48 – Enve’s new race day road tires are “like crack”
48:06 – Hutchinson is hoping its new Blackbird road tire can take flight
50:38 – Feedback Sports is almost old enough to buy alcohol in the US
53:10 – Want a nicer Universal Derailleur Hanger? Robert Axle has got you

The Placeholders crew comes to you live from Kortrijk, Belgium, this week, where they tackle life's greatest questions (who's better, Boonen or Van der Poel?), debate the merits of goat-based cobble upkeep, and have some Weekly Pain with a real live member.

One year after her historic win at Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift Alison Jackson sits down with Abby Mickey to relive the day and the months leading up to her victory. The two discuss the plan going into the race, and how Jackson manifested her own destiny prior to winning the Hell of the North. Find the full written piece on EscapeCollective.com.

This week on the podcast Gracie, Loren and Abby break down one of the best races of the year the Tour of Flanders and talk about how Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday gave us an idea of what was to come on Sunday. They also discuss the dynamic of SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek and how the two are circling each other. And Kasia Niewiadoma. We just love Kasia Niewiadoma.

Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash break down a grueling edition of the Tour of Flanders and ponder whether anyone in the peloton could have done anything to challenge a dominant Mathieu van der Poel.

We're back with a special on-the-ground episode from Oudenaarde, the finish town of the Tour of Flanders. It's wet, it's cold, but we've found a bar and a fire and are ready to talk about a spectacular bike race (even if the last 50 km were slightly less spectacular). As always, for a deep run-through of the women's Flanders, don't miss Abby and the Wheel Talk crew early this week. 

The crew discuss the cleansing power of Dad Watts, the fireworks that await, and dig into the listener mailbag.

Bridge Bike Works is an upstart brand that's trying to make a go at building premium carbon fiber bikes in Canada. It's not just a geographic thing or a point of national pride here, though. Bridge says it's obviously proud of making bikes in its own backyard, but it's also striving to make better product, period, by keeping the entire process – from R&D to lay-up and curing to paint – under a single unobtrusive industrial roof in Cervelo's old stomping grounds. In this Geek Warning episode, James sits down with Bridge co-founders Frank Gairdner and Mike Yakubowicz to see just what makes the company tick, why it might be smart to start asking about hobbies the next time you interview someone for a job, and how the quest to build its own fork nearly broke them.

The Placeholders crew is together in Belgium and talks through the route, key storylines, and crash-reduced field of favorites for the men's Tour of Flanders. 

Welcome back to Geek Warning! In this week’s edition of the regular show, Ronan and Dave discuss why current road bikes may not be ready for emerging trends in seated positions. Later Ronan shares a PSA related to multi-tools that turns out to be more of a Pick One and a rant.

On the news side, the geeks discuss the new Cannondale Scalpel cross-country race bike. Pinarello has finally officially revealed its Bolide F HR that Italy will race on the track in Paris. There’s more 3D-printed tech to discuss in the hubs of Scope’s new and impressively light Artech wheels. And Dave gets excited at the chance to talk about Feedback Sports’ new Pliers Wrench tool.

As usual, the end of the episode is kept for a quick discussion of other interesting new things. There you’ll hear about Wahoo’s firmware update, another new Mirror saddle (the comfy 3D-printed type) from Specialized, and CeramicSpeed’s new OSPW RS derailleur cages.

Happy geeking!

Time stamps:

4:25 - Cannondale’s new Scalpel is yet another 120 mm cross-country bike option
9:10 - Pinarello’s 3D-printed Bolide F HR track bike is now official
15:10 - More 3D-printed tech with Scope’s new Artech wheels
23:40 - Feedback Sports release a Pliers Wrench
28:00 - The limitations of modern road bike geometry is on Ronan’s mind
40:45 - A non-PSA that unexpectedly into a wider topic and Pick One about multi-tools
53:40 – A firmware update to Wahoo head units
55:15 – Specialized brings S-Works Mirror technology to the Phenom saddle
56:04 - Our thoughts on CeramicSpeed’s new OSPW RS
1:01:00 - Where much of the Escape Collective team will be next week

This week's episode of Placeholders, recorded after a busy weekend of racing – but before Dwars door Vlaanderen ... – ponders which men's Classics team is best right now, riders skipping races to go to altitude, and whether the "Big Six" is really a thing.

Another great episode this week with Abby Mickey, Loren Rowney and Gracie Elvin.

They talked about Classic Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem, specifically SD Worx-Protime’s tactics and the sprint finish where Lotte Kopecky made the difference for Lorena Wiebes.

In order to really pick apart the sprint finish on Sunday they watched it live while recording. If you’d like to join in you can find the video we watched here.

In our final episode of this limited series, we turn the floor over to member questions. Thank you to everyone who became members throughout this series. Every single one of you helps make us produce more content like this. If you're not a member, you can join here: https://escapecollective.com/join/

You can listen another podcast you'll enjoy about 'Why are modern bikes so expensive' podcast here: https://escapecollective.com/why-are-modern-bikes-so-expensive/

Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash have plenty to talk about after a week that was absolutely jam-packed with racing. The E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem, and the Volta a Catalunya all get the How the Race was Won treatment as the Tour of Flanders looms.

Welcome to the first episode of The Rest Day with Jack Haig! This new podcast is hosted by Bahrain-Victorious' Jack Haig and will take you behind the curtain of pro cycling. The first episode is a chat between Jack and his roommate, Wout Poels, discussing Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico from the inside. 

We don't often think of a saddle as a performance item. Sure, the wrong saddle or poor fit can lead to performance-sapping discomfort or injury, but using the saddle to promote, maybe even improve performance, is something we rarely hear about. But that's precisely how Wove suggests we should think about saddles, and after a year or more of using both it's saddles, I tend to agree.

As such, that saddle-centric performance bike fitting is the topic of this week's Performance Process podcast, as I invite Nick from Wove onto the show to discuss everything from his bike fitting philosophy to the evolution of Tadej Pogačar's position.

Four weeks on from Thomas De Gendt's now infamous crash, Zipp has released its findings and explanation, but many questions still remain.

In this podcast, Ronan is joined by David Morse and Nathan Schickel from Zipp as he seeks the answers to the questions many have been asking.

The Tour Daily crew breaks down a stage 17 that finally saw a breakaway stage winner in the mountains – but that still featured attacks from Tadej Pogačar. Plus, the crew ponders whether someone on the Internet actually has special insight into what goes on behind the scenes at UAE.

There’s certainly been a lot of outrage over the price of bikes in recent years, and for sure, when the price of a new bike falls inline with a new Ducati, it’s bound to give people pause. There are more ultra-expensive flagship bikes than ever before, but are mainstream bikes more expensive in general? Not really. And in fact, you can pretty easily make the argument they’re not only more affordable, but also a lot better, and the real problem might not be with bike prices, but how the bike industry markets itself.

Yeti is also back in the XC game with the resurrection of its storied ASR nameplate, and while it sounds like a heck of a bike, it also raises some questions about the direction of mountain bike suspension in general. Do more e-bikes equal more bikes sold? Salsa sure hopes so with a recent pivot in its product range. And if you haven’t removed your crankset in a while, one listen to our PSA this week might have you heading into the garage.

Timestamps:

0:56 – Dave makes his case for why you should buy a 3D printer
4:28 – Yeti’s back in the XC race bike scene!
22:25 – Salsa is jumping into the e-bike market, and at a very enticing price point
32:17 – Bikes aren’t really more expensive than they used to be, but the bike industry sure seems hell-bent on convincing you they are
45:25 – We hate to break it to you, but your frame is anything but waterproof
51:44 – DT Swiss has some ultralight carbon fiber XC race wheels on the way
53:06 – WTB has brought back the Solano name, this time for a new short-nosed saddle
54:29 – SRAM’s wireless Blips can now be used on their own for more flexible cockpit setups
56:15 – Finish Line is cooking up a new range of hot wax and drip wax chain lubes
58:38 – Strava has some new features for cyclists

Kit Nicholson and Dane Cash join Caley Fretz to discuss Mathieu van der Poel's longterm deal with Canyon and extension with Alpecin-Deceuninck, whether the pros should be friends, and what's coming up in the Spring Classics.

Loren, Gracie, and Abby are back to talk about Trofeo Alfredo Binda over the weekend and look ahead to Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem coming up. Plus, if you haven’t seen Miss Americana on Netflix … well, now you’ve got your night planned for you, you’re welcome.

Why are bikes so expensive? In this episode, Factor's Rob Gitelis speaks openly, providing an insight deep into the world of premium bicycle manufacturing and breaking down the costs of making a modern high-end bike. More broadly, Gitelis talks us through some of the inner workings of the manufacturing facilities brands employ, staffing models and transient workforces, and his fears that a repeat of the Covid boom and bust is just around the corner.

Caley Fretz joins Dane Cash and Cosmo Catalano to break down all the storylines from Milan-San Remo: Jasper Philipsen as a bona fide Classics contender, Mathieu van der Poel as an MVP teammate, whether Michael Matthews could have closed the door in the sprint, whether UAE could or should have done anything differently, and more.

So many new bikes to talk about this week! Giant’s new TCR is a meaningful evolution of the previous one, but should it have been a revolution instead? Meanwhile, the new Liv Pique offers a preview of the next-generation Giant Anthem, and Specialized’s new Epic and Epic Evo genuinely push the envelope of what XC bikes are supposed to be. And do electronics belong on bicycle suspension? Why does Trek offer seven colors in one model of Emonda? And what the heck does “Ari” mean? All of that and more in this week’s episode of Geek Warning.

Timestamps:

3:04 – Giant’s got a new TCR road racing bike, but is it all it could (or should) have been?
14:04 – Liv’s new Pique Advanced mountain offers a sneak preview of what’s to come in the new Giant Anthem
16:35 – The new Specialized Epic ticks an awful lot – maybe all? – of the boxes.
26:33 – RockShox’s Flight Attendant electronic terrain-sensing suspension finally comes to XC
34:33 – Trek is “right-sizing” in a big, big way
41:01 – US-based consumer-direct brand Fezzari finally addresses the elephant in the room
46:24 – Not everyone wants to know how the sausage is made
52:50 – The suckiest addition to any home workshop

Dane Cash, Jonny Long, and Kit Nicholson join Caley Fretz on the Placeholders this week to discuss this generation of Americans after Matteo Jorgensen's Paris-Nice win, where things stand for the WorldTour sprinters, and what's on tap this coming weekend at Milan-San Remo.

Loren, Gracie, and Abby sat down this week to break down Ronde van Drenthe, look ahead to what some performances mean for the upcoming Cobbled Classics, the return of Ellen van Dijk, and how Trofeo Alfredo Binda fits into the calendar.

On this week's How the Race was Won podcast, Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash discuss the surprising Paris-Nice podium, Primož Roglič's early season form, Jonas Vingegaard's dominance, and new developments in the Republic of Sprinters after Tirreno-Adriatico.

After two years at home racing the Life Time Grand Prix and working coaching and bike fitting roles, Ruth Edwards is back in the WorldTour peloton and already back on the pro road podium. We sat down with Ruth in Adelaide just days after her first WorldTour race back at this year's Tour Down Under in January to discuss all things returning to professional road racing. 

We kick start the conversation deciding this is not a "comeback" but merely a return from sabbatical. Ruth talks us through the whys of needing to walk away from the WorldTour, why gravel is not for her, and why ultimately the lure of a road return was too much to ignore. We discuss the process of determining if a return is the right idea, setting goals with no idea where your level is, and process for mitigating the challenges that ultimately led to her needing a break just over two years ago. 

Ruth explains why you do things because you want to, not because you should and how the rapidly changing landscape of pro racing was a major motivation in wanting to return. 

Jasper Philipse edged closer to the green jersey as Biniam Girmay suffered a nasty crash, and we're about to head back into the Alps for a tough end to this Tour de France. Caley, Jonny, and Iain discuss all that plus a very flat rat, some live-on-TV swearing, carbon monoxide, and Cav's last sprint stage. 

To get the bonus After Dark segments at the end of each show, sign up now at escapecollective.com/TDF for just $1. 

Framework Bicycles isn’t afraid to say it’s making its frames a little differently from usual. In fact, the Canadian company is not only extremely proud of that, but feels its unusual methods are also integral to what makes its frames what they are. In this week’s members-only episode, James sits down with Framework founder – and one-person fabricator – Jonathan Kennedy for an ultra-deep dive on his philosophy behind what makes a good bike.

Geek Warning is back, with Dave and Ronan on hand to discuss the latest happenings from the world of cycling tech. James is currently roaming the halls of the Taipei show, so this week, you get two-thirds of our geeky Geek Warning trio discussing the Fraser Group's acquisition of whatever is left at Wiggle-CRC after another round of layoffs and the latest questions as the hookless conversation rages on following what appears to be another failure.

There's also news of Look's new Keo Blade and X-Track power meter pedals and Rapha's latest aero jersey that might save you 7 watts, four watts, or both; we're not sure. 

Later in the episode, the conversation changes to Ronan's concerns we may be headed for an automotive industry-style "approved service centre only" model for our bike's servicing and maintenance needs. While the conversation throws up some potential positives from such a move, worryingly, Dave suggests we are already there. 

Finally, Dave has another reason to buy more tools dressed up as a PSA. 

Time stamps:

5:20 - Frasers Group's Wiggle-CRC takeover
10:00 - Hooked on hookless 
16:50 - New Giant TCR
21:55 - Stupid helmets everywhere
28:10 - Look's new power meter pedals
32:50 -Rapha's new Pro Team Jersey
37:40 - On Your Mind - "Approved service centre only" 
48:00 - A PSA from Dan Bigham's mechanic 

Ronan Mc Laughlin, Jonny Long, and Kit Nicholson join Caley Fretz on this week's Placeholders to discuss new helmets and new helmet regulations, Tadej Pogačar's talent, and hookless rims.

The crew also gives the BikeGrid game a go.

Loren, Gracie, and Abby get together to talk about all the action at Strade Bianche, and the exciting change that will impact Ronde van Drenthe next weekend. Plus, Abby is losing the Draft and is quite stressed about it.

This week on the How the Race was Won Podcast, Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash break down the action at Strade Bianche. Could the race have been won any other way? Was the winner playing mind games with his rivals?

Plus, the podcast discusses what's on tap for this week at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico.

We interrupt our regular scheduling to bring you a special episode of Performance Process to coincide with the start of the Formula 1 season. In this special episode we focus less on the processes of going faster and more on the transferable skills, processes, and obsessions between F1 and cycling with former F1 driver and Escape Collective member, Jack Aitken.

Jack was the 2015 Formula Renault Eurocup champion and he competed in GP3 and FIA Formula 2 before becoming test drive at Renault F1. He is best known in F1 circles for his time with Williams F1, whom he drove for in the 2020 Sakhir Gand Prix. We recorded this episode last July when he was doubling up driving duties with IMSA’s Whelen Cadillac and DTM’s Emil Frey racing. Jack is back in IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) this year with the number 31 car Whelen Engineering Cadillac.

Jack also takes to two wheels as often as any of us and has competed in both criteriums and gran fondos. We ask Jack what the fascination is with cycling for F1 drivers, and discuss the transferable skills, the leakage of talent that is F1’s loss and cycling’s gain, environmental endeavours of both sports, how breathable his underwear is, and finally rules … but of course.

The time has come for the geeks to share their strong opinions on road tubeless and the movement toward hookless rims. In this episode, and off the back of a high-profile failure, James, Ronan, and Dave dive into the growing concerns related to the many caveats around hookless road rims.

Later in the episode, the conversation changes to fancier ways to hide cables through smaller headsets and the problems this may present. Then there’s a polarising PSA many probably won’t want to hear.

In many ways, this episode is just our geeks ranting about the issues of modern bikes, but hopefully, it proves useful!

Time stamps:

3:15 - Digging into the big topic of road tubeless tyres blowing off hookless rims
36:00 - A little promo of a podcast series not to miss
37:12 - Baum and slotted steerer tubes are on Dave’s mind
43:55 - The only good fix for contaminated brake pads
47:10 - New things from Cadex
48:05 - A new endurance road tyre from Vittoria

This week on the Placeholders, Dane Cash, Abby Mickey, and Kit Nicholson join Caley Fretz to ponder whether anyone will remember Visma's Opening Weekend results if they can't win a Monument, who is the best sprinter right now, and whether team mechanics can disguise themselves as riders to get into races.

In this super chaotic episode, Abby, Gracie and Loren are joined by Matt de Neef and Matilda Raynolds for an NFL-snake-style draft. Who will the first pick be? Who’s already winning by a heck of a lot points? Find out in this episode.

We also chat a bit about an exciting start to the women’s Classics season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and what it might mean for the season ahead.

If you, like us, have spent the past four months nurturing a pent-up need to be pretty serious, your wait is over. After a long hiatus during the offseason – and even through the first few weeks of this year, with apologies to the Tour Down Under! – Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash are back with a weekly show to break down all of the racing action that took place over the past week.

The podcast's aim has always been to be Pretty Serious about bike racing, and that isn't changing, but the *name* is. Since its inception, the podcast has focused on telling listeners about how events were concluded in the triumph of this or that rider, but this year, Cosmo and Dane are just going all-in on telling you How the Race was Won.

Each week, you can expect Cosmo and Dane, and occasionally other voices too, to take a closer look at the moments that defined racing over the previous few days (focusing mostly on men's racing with Wheel Talk the following day focusing on the women's racing), to highlight which riders maybe deserve a bit more heralding and which might have been a bit too heralded, and to look ahead to broader storylines. Sometimes, the podcast will even attempt to venture into sports talk radio territory.

This week on How the Race was Won, the crew breaks down Jan Tratnik's win at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, who deserves a bit more credit for their performance in the race, Visma's general dominance across the weekend, and what it all means.

Welcome to the second rest day of the Tour de France. The boys have taken a pilgrimage to a site of lore on the Tour Daily pods, the river through Carcassonne, where the tarps came arf and many listener questions were answered. 

For access to the whole Rest Day episode, sign up at escapecollective.com/TDF for just one dollar/euro/pound. 

In EP3, we heard about what much of the bike industry experienced during that dramatic slowdown of bike sales, and what resulted. In this episode, EP4, we'll hear about some of the learnings and takeaways from the past three years, and put forward some tough questions for the bike industry to ask itself.

JP Ballard joins us for the third half of our mini-series with the CEO of Swiss Side. This week, we dispel some aero myths, discuss and imagine some aero hacks, and JP generally breaks down aero for us non-aerodynamicists. 

We discuss if lower and narrower is slower or faster, acid tests for assessing aero marketing, and why aero matters regardless of what speed we ride at, even uphill.

We then delve into where’s best to spend your money chasing aero gains, the best bang for the buck, so to speak. Finally, perhaps the biggest takeaway is that JP doesn’t believe the rule of 105 is as critical as we once thought

All told, this is a bumper episode and a fitting way to conclude this mini-series. 

Welcome one and all to the Escape Collective Men's WorldTour Draft 2024!

The draft, a method of allocating players into teams, is beautiful. It’s a system based on fairness, hope, and competition. Maybe perplexingly, it’s also about as American as it gets. As American as yugging down a hot dog and a Miller Light on the fourth of July, or driving in a Cadillac to Lauderhill in Florida to visit the biggest rubber band ball in the world (which if you were wondering weighs over 9,000 lbs).

You’ll likely know it from the acronym sports such as the NFL and NBA, but what about if we did it with sports that had real names too? Like cycling?

Well, that’s what we’re going to find out. We’ve assembled an Escape Collective crew who will be selecting squads of 10 riders for the 2024 men’s WorldTour season, accruing UCI points as they compete in real life.