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
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Monday Aug 15, 2022
This episode of Cycling in Alignment is a conversation with gravel superstar Nathan Haas. It is technically a CARPOD, as we are driving to Steamboat, Colorado for the latest stop on Nathan’s calendarNathan explains why FTP is stupid, and what he means when he says he is not a bike racer.
We also talk about Nathan’s relationship with his sponsors, including Colnago and Castelli, and how the project came together to make five new kits to match five new bikes for him to ride this season. It’s a showcase of the abilities of Colnago to paint gorgeous bikes, and for Castelli to make perfectly matching, gorgeous kits, while both platforms can enjoy a canvas unencumbered by logo placements or design restrictions typically found when working with an athlete of Nathan’s caliber. Have a look at the photos below for shots of kits one through four. Number five will be revealed at UCI Gravel Worlds later this year.
Nathan’s insight for each of the Jerseys
Jersey 1: The Full Circle - Inspired by my phases of cycling, this jersey is to tell a story of my journey so far, from MTB, to Road to now beginning on gravel.
The radar that links to the center of the jersey has drawn each phase, staring with the outermost circle (part circle) being my MTB career, the middle circle, the biggest of them the Road career, and the small red slither, the start of a circle is my time on gravel
The texture dots in the jersey are actually an illustration of all my race days in all sports, with certain dots being in colors representing either wins, podiums, team mate wins or special races like the TDF and world championships.
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Jersey 2: Kansas- Art Decor. We looked at Kansas and asked, what is it famous for? Nothing really.
But we loved the state flag colors and thought it would be a fun way to bring back the art decor era of colnago and their Master olympic bike.
The jersey was built around the bike, in the colors of the state flag with the state motto on. Plus, we called the jersey, the Wizard of Aus. Great pun.
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Jersey 3: DOPAMINE - Designed to be raced in Iceland against the grey scale of the black earth and grey skies, Dopamine was to be the excitatory neuron of the race.
Inspired yet again by the full circle concept, as my season had begun to build and my time in gravel, so too have the circles changed. This is a variation of the circles in motion.
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Jersey 4: PURPLE RAIN - Again another variation of circles, this time, in the form of blurred color droplets that cause a blur throughout the jersey to give a fluid effect, whilst staying true to the full circle philosophy. It's all a story building and evolving.
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Don’t forget to go to https://cycling.endurobearings.com your exclusive Enduro Bearings discount code mentioned in the episode.
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Space Monkeys, today I talk about the concept of binary decisions and how they can be used in your planning of race tactics. These are “cutting tools” that are best used in the context of Perspective and Presence.
Ones and Zeros are the most fundamental elements of how we have boundaries and tension in the world. In relationship, they are how we negotiate what we want vs what someone else wants. Once this concept is understood, it can make relating to other people simpler.
Tuesday Jul 26, 2022
Tuesday Jul 26, 2022
Today’s episode is a conversation about women’s specific bike fitting with Julie Young and Dede Barry. The format of this pod is them interviewing me, so I do most of the talking.
Julie and Dede will be releasing a podcast over the Fast Talk Labs channel over the summer, so if you are wanting more info about all things women and cycling, their channel will be one you will want to follow! Between the two of them, they have a deep reserve of knowledge and experience that will be highly beneficial to their audience.
Today we talk about some of my observations in fitting women, some saddle solutions, and the nature of modern bikes and gender specific equipment. I once again reference of my favorite articles, “When the US Air Force Discovered the Flaw of Averages."
Links:
https://julieyoungtraining.com
Monday Jul 18, 2022
Monday Jul 18, 2022
Part 2 is a continuation of my discussion with Sebastian Weber, creator of INSCYD software, which is used to analyze exercise performance and help prescribe training recommendations for athletes in many sports (not only cycling).
Sebastian is very knowledgeable and we get deep into the weeds on physiology and cycling performance. When an athlete uses INSCYD software to analyze their data, they gain insight into how power is made for a given duration and intensity. This can help a rider or coach understand what training recommendations will provoke the desired result in future performances.
Buckle your seatbelt and enjoy this nuanced and technician discussion. I have been learning a lot from Sebastian and I am sure you will as well.
Special announcement: After over two years of recording and 80+ episodes I am elated to announce that Enduro bearings has agreed to become a supporter of the Cycling in Alignment podcast. Listen to the episode to learn how you can take advantage of an exclusive offer to upgrade your whip with some of the best products on the market from Enduro. Link in bio.
Links:
Enduro Website: http://cycling.endurobearings.com
Enduro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enduro_bearings/
INSCYD on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inscyd_/
Friday Jul 15, 2022
Friday Jul 15, 2022
Today’s episode is a discussion with Sebastian Weber, creator of INSCYD software, which is used to analyze exercise performance and help prescribe training recommendations for athletes in many sports (not only cycling).
Sebastian is very knowledgeable and we get deep into the weeds on physiology and cycling performance. When an athlete uses INSCYD software to analyze their data, they gain insight into how power is made for a given duration and intensity. This can help a rider or coach understand what training recommendations will provoke the desired result in future perform ances.
Buckle your seatbelt and enjoy this nuanced and technician discussion. I have been learning a lot from Sebastian and I am sure you will as well.
Special announcement: After over two years of recording and 80+ episodes I am elated to announce that Enduro bearings has agreed to become a supporter of the Cycling in Alignment podcast. Listen to the episode to learn how you can take advantage of an exclusive offer to upgrade your whip with some of the best products on the market from Enduro. Link in bio.
Links:
Enduro Website: http://cycling.endurobearings.com
Enduro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enduro_bearings/
INSCYD on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inscyd_/
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Today’s conversation is a continuation of the last episode with running coach, biomechanist, minimal running pioneer, and bike fitter, Helen Hall. I discovered Helen on Matt Wallden’s podcast and heard her again on Just Fly Sports. She has studied at the Chek Institute and brings a tremendous amount of thought, perspective and wisdom to her practice of working with clients to help solve their niggles.
Helen and I get deep in the weeds on bike fitting theory and we discuss how we each see clients on the bike. She divulges some of her ways of thinking about how to help a client become more efficient in their cycling and I found the conversation fascinating. If you would like a deeper dive into fitting philosophy, this will be a good episode for you.
More info about Helen can be found on her website.
Links:
Helen's Website1: https://www.helen-hall.co.uk
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Part 1
Today’s conversation is a running coach, biomechanist, minimal running pioneer, and bike fitter, Helen Hall. I discovered Helen on Matt Wallden’s podcast and heard her again on Just Fly Sports. She has studied at the Chek Institute and brings a tremendous amount of thought, perspective and wisdom to her practice of working with clients to help solve their niggles.
Helen and I get deep in the weeds on bike fitting theory and we discuss how we each see clients on the bike. She divulges some of her ways of thinking about how to help a client become more efficient in their cycling and I found the conversation fascinating. If you would like a deeper dive into fitting philosophy, this will be a good episode for you.
Helen's Monkey Graphic
More info about Helen can be found on her website.
Links:
Helen's Website1: https://www.helen-hall.co.uk
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Wednesday Jun 08, 2022
Today’s podcast is with Enduro Bearings founder Matt Harvey. Matt details some of the life events that brought him to start a company that makes bearings, and the unique solutions Enduro has brought to the market to help riders ride more and maintain their bikes less. For me, having a dependable and efficient whip is what cycling is all about, so I was keen to speak with Matt and understand more about how his products are designed and manufactured.
Rick Sutton is the director of Business Development at Enduro, I worked with him previously on the Wave handlebar project at Coefficient Cycling, which produces the RR model bar I currently use on all my drop bar bikes.
As a listener to this podcast, you will have the opportunity to take advantage of a special offer on all products made by Enduro Bearings, including their headsets, derailleur pulleys, and bottom brackets. Stay tuned until the end of the pod for this exclusive offer. Also be advised that the Maxhit and XD-15 bottom brackets are guaranteed for life.
Links:
Go to https://cycling.endurobearings.com to use the promo code mentioned in the episode to get 35% off.
Enduro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enduro_bearings/
Rick Sutton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rick33ster/
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Today’s episode of Cycling in Alignment is a conversation with The Low Carb Athlete, Mike McKnight. Mike has won the triple crown of 200 mile runs in 2017, and also raced a 100 mile race with zero calories. Mike and I discuss the spectrum of the high carb athlete vs. the low carb or keto athlete [which are not the same thing], and some of his coaching philosophies and strategies when working with clients to determine their own optimal diet. We also unpack a bit behind the psychology of eating and how athletes climb the ladder of dietary health.
Links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5407976/
https://blog.supersapiens.com/ronan-mclaughlin-scales-the-everest-of-fueling/
Saturday May 14, 2022
Saturday May 14, 2022
This episode of Cycling in Alignment is a solo discussion of my own lessons in feet. In 35 years of cycling including 15 years as a professional [four as a European Six Day rider], a small pile of National Championships, one Olympic Games, and racing on five continents, I have learned a lot about feet, orthotics, footbeds and cycling shoes. Hopefully some of these lessons will help you in your path as a human, athlete and cyclist [NOTE: they go in this order].
Some resources I will discuss in this show: