Colby Pearce has been a Steve Hogg Certified expert bike fitter for the past 10 years and has worked with elite athletes and WorldTour teams, including EF Education First. He is also an elite cycling coach and has been passing along his wisdom to the riders he coaches for decades. Pearce’s repertoire of knowledge spans 30 years, five continents, hundreds of races, and countless miles in the saddle. The minutiae of cycling and riding technique are just part of the story that Colby shares. Alignment with nature, foundational principles of health, and treating the sport as a practice are some of the philosophies he shares. Cycling in Alignment features a diverse guest list, including those who may or may not be familiar names in the cycling world. Prepare to have your belief systems shattered.
Episodes
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Gluten is bad news for your body and today we’ve got an expert in the subject who will explain exactly what the long-term effects of consuming gluten are. Trevor Connor, who you know as the host of Fast Talk, is also the CEO of The Paleo Diet.
We talk about keto and carnivore and veganism; we talk a lot about gluten and specifically the challenges that it brings. We get geeky and scientific in this episode but don’t worry, if you’re not a science person, you’re not going to get lost. Trevor does a great job of bringing it back to some relatable and understandable context.
RESOURCES:
Anit-Factory Farm Shopping Guide: http://www.trufkinathletics.com/books.html
Trevor’s series on wheat: https://thepaleodiet.com/the-wheat-series-part-1-wheat-and-the-immune-system
Paleo Diet page on nutrient density:
https://thepaleodiet.com/eliminating-non-paleo-foods-improves-nutrient-density
Metabolic Typing Diet: https://uprightmovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/The_Metabolic_Type_Self_Test.pdf
The Paleo Diet for Athletes: https://thepaleodiet.com/product/the-paleo-diet-for-athletes
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
The paradigm of climbing an endless mountain paints the picture of an athletic journey that at points will be fraught with endless comparisons to other athletes, and devastating setbacks with illness or injury. What if training and racing is more of an orbital journey? Your goal is one point of the orbit. At halfway, you can see your goal on the horizon.
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Greg Choat is a cycling coach and bike fitter with decades of experience, whose bike fitting knowledge traces back to the expertise of Steve Hogg.
Understanding the quintessential difficulty of a bike fitter’s challenge is most aptly painted in this proverb quoted by Greg in the show: “Man is to bicycle as fish is to elephant.”
Helping a human body fit seamlessly onto a carbon or metal frame requires mechanical knowledge of the bike as well as biomechanical and physiological knowledge of the human body.
Preventing and dealing with injury caused by either poor form or poor bike fit is one of the primary challenges that Greg and Colby face in their work— and which they unpack in this episode.
Website: www.sanussports.com
Instagram: @sanussportsusa
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Former guest on the podcast, triathlete and Feet Freex shoe creator, Jessi Stensland is here to unpack more of her evolution as an athlete. Starting as a D1 swimmer, making the Olympic trials, transitioning to triathlon, and finally competing in ultra Mountain Bike races are all a part Jessi’s athletic journey. Her continued athletic evolution has a different focus than simply “winning” a race. Creating a long-term health and high-performance lifestyle is now the primary focus for Jessi. The idea of being “kinterractive” as Jessi defines in this podcast, is one of nature, activity, love, and connection.
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
The essence of what training in alignment looks like began to crystallize in Colby Pearce’s mind after an email exchange with a listener of the podcast.
“As you’ve identified in your show, amateurs look at pros for things like training, not realizing that all pros do is ride, sleep, and eat. For those of us who race, how much training is too much? Where is the drop off in terms of results? Personally, I’m not willing to train 20 hours a week even if I had the time. Anyway, I’d be curious to know where the curve starts to drop in terms of fitness and health. When does it move?”
This episode is Colby’s musings on the matter, which he hopes will prove useful as you determine your own sport-life balance.
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
To perfect the time trial position for your given anatomy and physiology, it can take years of trial and error. Sometimes, becoming a contortionist is the most appropriate way to describe the skill you must master to find the fastest, most aero position.
That raises issues: Riding in such a time trial position increases the functional load when compared to road riding.
For instance, the wider the handlebars, the wider the base of support, and, conversely, the narrower the bars, the narrower the base of support. These different approaches yield different aerodynamics, but simultaneously address some of the load characteristic of such a contorted position.
In this episode, Colby discusses the key components to creating an effective time trial position based on his decades of experience, tinkering, and experimentation.
Resources
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
James Wilson is the owner and founder of MTB Strength Systems. He is a mountain bike, strength, and Jujitsu coach based in Grand Junction, CO. He is also the inventor of the Catalyst Pedal. He has pioneered many advanced perspectives on strength training for cyclists, producing content on this topic starting in 2005. Our conversation includes James’ thoughts on how power is most effectively made on the bike, how riders should stand more during training, and a model of tension during riding that is broken into four quadrants. Enjoy this discussion which is not only focused on mountain bikes; the concepts discussed apply to all aspects and disciplines of cycling.
www.bikejames.com/strength/3-bjj-c…your-mtb-riding/
www.bikejames.com/strength/winning…-bjj-tournament/
The shoes James uses: www.somfootwear.com
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Some say Scott Moninger is the greatest American cyclist to have never ridden the Tour de France. Moninger is a crafty all-arounder who has victories in road races, criteriums, time trials, and state races. He’s a versatile rider and a passionate athlete with a deep love for the sport. His characteristically stoic expression on the bike and ruthless competitive nature have earned him the nickname of The Iceman. Hope you enjoy our regaling of old racing stories and that you find our conversation about coaching and training to be useful.
Velocious coaching site: https://www.velociouscyclingadventures.com
IG @moningerscott
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
So many of my clients have questions and run into issues related to saddle sores, and man, when you get a bad one, it can be really bad. I have actually had a couple clients that suffered so severely, they had to have surgery.
When you sit on a saddle, that’s a lot of weight on a very small surface area. There’s the weight of the torso, the weight of the helmet, the weight of the upper body, the arms — it’s all focused into this relatively small point. Then we add friction generated by the movement of the legs. With so many moving parts there is so much that can go wrong which can lead to undercarriage issues for the rider.
Today, I’ve also got a special guest that we’ll get to in the second part of the podcast. Don Powell is the creator and owner of Panache Cyclewear. He’s been designing and creating his own cycling gear there for 12 years. We’ll hear a bit from Don about the construction of chamois and fabrics and technical details in the second part.
RESOURCES:
Panache Cyclewear: 20% discount code: Alignment
Kaerwell store for Liposomal Glutathione: 10% discount code: Pearce10
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Thursday Apr 22, 2021
Group rides are dead. Unpopular opinion number one. Even in ostensibly safe scenarios, group rides are dangerous. Rides are too big; riders are too brash; vehicles are too numerous, and drivers are too distracted.
Other potentially unpopular opinions of Colby’s are related to indoor riding. He outlines some of the pros and cons of Zwifting, including the benefits of riding with extremely controlled and focused training, as well as increased blood volume versus the compounding effects of poor posture that the monotony of riding inside can foster.