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
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Nathan Haas: The Primal Fear
This conversation is a cross pod with Nathan Haas, he will also publish it on his channel, The Gravelogue.
We discuss The Primal Fear and how it impacts our decisions around training. Whether you are externally coached or self-coached, having a comparative mindset can allow self-doubt to cloud your decision making process during workouts, which can undermine or derail intent. This effect may be minor over days or a week, but in the long term, it can have a significant impact on your fitness trajectory.
In our discussion, we relate choices about training to the Six Foundational Principles and how they can help guide your decision making to be more effective in training.
Links:
The Gravelogue on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gravelog-with-nathan-haas/id1090662866
The Gravelogue on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3vKBF0PpLI8EXjMNlRbEeW
The Gravelogue on TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Sports--Recreation-Podcasts/The-Gravelog-with-Nathan-Haas-p2122441/
Monday Feb 20, 2023
Monday Feb 20, 2023
The 100th Episode
Welcome to the 100th episode of Cycling in Alignment. In some ways, it’s hard to believe I’ve made 100 episodes, but at the same time, it seems like I’ve been doing this forever. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to some ridiculously intelligent and articulate people, and hopefully, the conversations have informed and taught you. My goal has always been to educate and inform, so hopefully, this is the result of my effort. For this Centi-pod I have assembled a compendium of some of my favorite conversations. For all of my guests, if you were not included here, I mean no disrespect. All of you hold wisdom and I am grateful for your energy and input. I am also grateful for my audience. Without students, a teacher is nothing more than an idiot walking through the forest, talking to the leaves.
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
For the 99th episode of Cycling in Alignment, I am talking about the concept of timing. I use the model of a single center point, which we might call the Zero Point, which is surrounded by a sphere. Using this model I expand outwards, and time increases in duration as we get farther from the center. This model allows us to discuss different aspects of timing and how they impact our cycling, and our lives all together.
Friday Jan 20, 2023
Friday Jan 20, 2023
Lower Cross Syndrome - Ep98
Howdy Space Monkeys, today buckle your safety belts, grab a wooden dowel and a flat section of wall because we are talking about lower cross syndrome. What is it and why do you care? Find out all these details in my episode. All four of my gemini minds are discussing this topic with the sum total of all my knowledge and overstanding, which is more than many people and a lot less than many others. I discuss how you can begin to figure out what position your own pelvis is in, and what you can do about it.
Friday Dec 23, 2022
Friday Dec 23, 2022
Time Zone Adaptation Techniques - Ep97
This episode is about adapting to time zones. I share my wisdom after many years of hard earned lessons during travel to and from many bike races.
Commercial airline flight is not a thing that humans have evolved to do, but many of us do it all the time. “For a man or woman with a why, there is a how”. We chose to fly to visit family, attend races or events, or just to explore new places. I would never say that flying is a healthy thing for a human to do but there are techniques we can apply that will help us negotiate the process with less friction.
In this episode I unpack some of the best ways I have learned to help with time zone adaptation [jet lag] effectively, including the use of Zeitgebers. I also unpack wool socks, fasting during airline travel, and the use of binaural beats.
Thanks for listening, hit me with comments or Q’s as you see fit.
Travel safe, Space Monkeys.
Links:
Ra Optics Website: https://raoptics.com
Friday Nov 25, 2022
Friday Nov 25, 2022
Aaron Barchek, Mosaic Cycles
This episode of Cycling in Alignment is with Mosaic Cycles founder and owner, Aaron Barcheck. Aaron and I discuss all the things about custom bicycles, including materials, geometry, integrated cockpits and 3D printed dropouts. We discuss the three major reasons a customer might want a custom frame, and how Mosaic builds frames to fit these needs.
As a Mosaic dealer and frame owner, it made sense for me to have a discussion with Aaron about his process so that I could understand it better and share it with my clients. The custom GT1-AR they made for me is one of the best bikes I have ever owned. It is great to work with a company that was born and lives in Colorado, and makes bikes in a facility that is about 3km away from my fit studio. I only recommend products I believe in and use myself and Mosaic definitely makes the cut.
Links:
Monica Website: https://www.mosaiccycles.com
Mosaic on Instagram: http://instagram.com/mosaiccycles
Mosaic on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mosaiccycles/
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
Thursday Nov 17, 2022
The Bioenergetics and Seasonality of Strength Training
This episode is a solo on strength training and why I think it is so important, including reasons why cyclists should strength train. I unpack specifics on misconceptions that some athletes have around strength training, and why I do not recommend using machines to strength train, ever. This is probably an unpopular opinion…but I have to speak my truth.
I also break down the bio-energetics of strength and discuss how strength training can be defined by the same energy systems that govern physiological response on the bike.
Think I am full of crap? Confused? Questions? Write me a note.
I hope you find this episode useful.
Friday Nov 04, 2022
Friday Nov 04, 2022
Tea & Entropy - Ep94
This episode of Cycling in Alignment is a conversation with Molly Baron and Sasha Cucci from Entropy Designs. They have teamed up to create amazing custom paint jobs for bicycles, and have recently completed a Japanese themed paint layout on my custom carbon Appleman road bike.
We talk about the genesis of this project and how Molly has come to believe that her art belongs in the world and on the complex and nuanced canvas of a bicycle frame.
We also discuss the process of challenge and growth that Molly and Sasha went through in order to bring this painting business to life. They spent approximately 150 hours painting my Appleman, which included using indigo powder imported from Japan to create the blue hues, as well as real gold leaf. They also built a paint booth and coated the frame with diamond-hard Cerakote to protect the artwork during real world use. This bike won’t be a mantle or museum bike, it will be on the road climbing mountains and rocketing down hills, negotiating the black ribbon.
Together, Molly and Sasha make a gifted team that delivers a unique and beautiful product. Are you someone who would like the vision of a truly talented artist to transform your bike into a functional, durable work of art? If so, Entropy Designs is worth your investigation.
Links:
Entropy Designs on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/entropy_designs/
Entropy Designs Website: https://www.entropy-designs.com/
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Thursday Oct 27, 2022
Kevin Sprouse: The Second Simplicity
This episode of Cycling in Alignment is with Team EF Easy Post doctor Kevin Sprouse. He interviewed me on his podcast channel, The Podium. Kevin asks me some great questions about bike fitting, and even though Kevin is a doctor, and a way faster runner than I am, he has also done a bit of bike fitting. So it’s more of a two-way conversation in some senses.
To wrap up the discussion, we discuss the contact points of your Victorian Era Contraption.
Thanks for listening. Please share this episode with someone if you think they will benefit from it.
Links:
Link 1: https://www.podiumsportsmed.com/kevin-sprouse
Saturday Oct 22, 2022
Saturday Oct 22, 2022
Kenny Baker, Listen to Understand
This conversation for the Cycling in Alignment podcast is with Chek Practioner, RAAM competitor, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and ELDOA / SOMA practitioner Kenny Baker. Kenny owns a studio in Tennesee, 51 Fitness, where he works to help clients heal themselves of pain and dysfunction. We speak about our relationship to racing as master’s athletes, and our somewhat parallel paths in the sport of cycling and holistic coaching, and Kenny talks about meeting the client where they are by becoming the “hollow bone”.
Links:
Kenny's Website: https://www.51fitness.org