Future of Bike Maintenance and Sustainability

This episode is brought to you by Sum Up. Now, if you're self employed or a sole trader and like me, the whole making tax digital thing melts your brain, then fear not. Sum up can help. Yes, Francis, you're not exactly known for your paperwork skills, are you? I th I think that is pretty generous. I've seen his spreadsheets. I'd say they are more like abstract art. That's why I have you, Jimmy. My finance yoda, but not everyone has a Jimmy. And that's where Sumup comes in. They've built a great free piece of software to help sole traders get ready for making tax digital. It's all built into the Sumup app. There's no monthly fees and it helps you stay on top of things without the stress. So you can spend less time panicking about taxes and more time doing what you're actually good at. Getting started is easy, just search Sum Up MTD Online. That's Sum upMTD. Trust me. If I can get my head around it, you'll be absolutely fine. My name is Chevy and this is my NHS story. Over a couple of days I was getting quite intense pain on the left side of my stomach. So I called my doctors and then was referred to the L CDT. It was literally a seamless, stress-free day. There was no anxiety or worry. The government is opening new community diagnostic centres with many already available twelve hours a day, seven days a week. So the NHS can be there for all of us when we need it. Find your closest one at gov.uk slash nhs fit for the future, available England wide. Today's show is supported by Garmin, and thanks to their tax trainers, I don't even have to leave the house to get a proper ride in. Literally set up all year round, there are so many reasons that I jump on it instead of heading outside. Like when it's snowy or icy. Or I just want to do some clean intervals. Or I don't have much time. Or I'm dog sitting. Or I want to ride at unsafe times of the day. Indoor training is totally different and a much more pleasant experience now than it was when I started cycling. Yeah, stuff like the motion plates are a game changer. You just have way more ability to simulate a real ride. The road feel, steep virtual climbs , sprinting. And when you pair tacks with an edge head unit, rally power pedals, your Garmin watch, or a heart rate monitor, you get a full indoor outdoor training system backed up by heaps of data. So big thanks to Garmin for supporting the sho It's the wild ones, it's the wild ones. Are you guys wearing the same top? Maybe. No, look. Have you got the one with Bella on the back on? No. Not. I have not. Which one is it? The one that says we are the wild ones. Oh mine mine also says we are the wild ones, but a different version of it. Crazy. Yeah. Who'd who would have thought we have all this amazing merchandise with all of these different variations of our logos? But only one variation of the advert that plays at the end of some of our videos because we finished recording last week and I said to Francis, he he said that he wanted more versions of the advert that plays at the end of some of our videos that says, Whoo, we have merch. Wearing more different stuff. So we recorded that about a month ago, and then I realised he'd never done anything with it. So I just said, Oh Francis, um what happened to the other versions of the advert? And he, I would say, very diplomatically, said, It's my fault, I didn't give enough dire ction. I need some way you're not being so weird . Because we went a bit silly, didn't we? We just had a good time. Yeah. I would describe it as vibes . It is vibes , but maybe not the right ones to advertise a t-shirt. Yeah, it it all went a bit odd and strange. Um I don't actually know. I I just remember enjoying myself, not really caring about whether there was a camera or not. I don't know. gonna m see the light of day. So if you want to stick around, I'll I'll make a little montage at the end for the viewers on YouTube and and Spotify now. Everyone would unsub unsubscribe. No, it some of it I'll use it just you know, uh just a nice smiling person in a t shirt going wouldn't have gone amiss . That's all boring . The wig was my personal favourite . Emily's uh you I've did a face that I've never seen her do before. It was shocking, in fact. Welcome to the Walmart's podcast, the show where we chat about bike stuff. I am Jimmy, and today , with no surprises, I'm joined by Producer Emily. Hello. And the wonderful Francis Cade. Hello. And also thanks to Garment for supporting the show. Tell me more about what you've been making recently. Francis wrote the lightest bike in the world. I think it's the lightest frame in the world. But it could be the lightest bike in the world. There's too many different options and specs and variables. But um I think the three are the this the X Lab RT9 , the s new Scott Addict, and the specialized Athos are all up there. Um and well it wasn't it was a mixed bag. I saw a section of that video where you tippy-tappied very lightly on the paint and it looked like it was flaking a little bit. Tippy tappied is maybe not the right word. It sounds like he was standing on it. Oh no no, sorry. I mean I just mean like you what do you call it? I don't know, touched it. Standing on it. What are you talking about? Tippy tappy is like you you that's your feet, isn't it? Tip tap. Oh right, right. Got you, got you, got you, got you. I thought you were accusing me of doing something to the bike that I did not do. Well no, just uh ultimately for the listeners, what I'm making it clear of is Francis wasn't standing on the bike and then going, Oh, but the paint's knackered when I do that. He he was f ingery fingery on the bike then. Is that better? They are fixing it , long story short. And this was not the only sort of negative in the video was that you can basically scrape off the paint with your fingernail. It's not paint, it's like a very thin. You know, on the outside of an apple there's wax. Yes. That was Lawrence. That's what Lawrence said. They're fixing it. This batch of frames is gonna be changed. Um I know it's their job, but the people from X Lab were unbelievably cool about us covering the bad as well as the good with this bike. And they're well up for us trying two more bikes at lower price points. Because there's another one, a new one, a new one releasing in a few weeks, I think. But they're and like the one oh five specs, which are insanely good value and probably don't have paint, which is like a wax from an apple. I I think uh on that subject, I think if anything, we are fortunate that they're they're they're cool with how we do our videos, because ultimately we're gonna say what we're gonna say, and inevitably there's gonna be brands that aren't happy and cut us off like they may or may not have done in the past. Um, but yeah, it's it's I think the most the more modern of brands understand that not everything's perfect and you know sh happens. You also reviewed the new Canyon and Jew race. We did, yes. Which is a perfect segue based on there being issues that we talk to them about. Oh yes. Can I can I say can I be so bold as to say they messed up and you sav ed them from a from a production fluff up. I I Well how how many have they made? Okay, explain the fluff up. Explain explain the problem first here. So essentially one of the things that I like to do when we've got a bike in for first look is look at the geometry ch art and look at the bike. I get a tape measure out, I get a protractor out, I get a plumb line out, and I do some bits and pieces and I just like to really like understand the geometry. It's something it's such just part of my process on a first look video. And I noticed on the canyon that on the seat tube at the very top, weirdly, and I think it is weird because I don't know why they would do it, they actually print the model the geometry type and then also the stack and reach number. And as part of my analysis, what I discovered was what's printed on the frame and what was on the geometry charts applied was incorrect. So naturally, we went back to them and said , here's a photo of the frame, here's a copy of the geometry chart you've given us. Which one's right? And what what's what's the scenario? Um and uh yeah, ultimately they incorrectly printed their frames. Oh no. So if you ordered one, you would receive the right one, but it would just have the wrong information printed on it. Yes. And we have no idea how many that technically affects, but maybe it'll be one of those things in like twenty years' time that'll become like a cult. I was thinking that as well. We have some old records hand me down from uh my mum who has great taste in music. Um, I I managed to swap her for Spotify. She's now on the Spotify family plan that I pay for in an exchange. I'm sort of long, long-lawing some of her old records. And some of the she has an Abbey Road that has um the an Apple logo printed weird on it, and it's got um one of the tracks is missing off the back and all of these things are um they're printing errors, but they actually become rarities over time. And and uh a Led Zeppelin 4 where it has someone's name etched into the actual record itself and it's like uh I don't know collector's item. I don't even want that one. Yeah, I guess so. No way. Oh sorry, anyone with his first batch of Canyon enduraces , keep it. Keep it. Don't even unbox it. Put it on eBay, like a f a first edition iPhone still in the cellophane. Yes. Uh why do they put what who does anyone really need uh stack and reach written on their frame . Firstly, it doesn't mean anything to the majority of people. So why put it there? It's it's very odd, especially when they have now transitioned to effective stack and reach being the number that you should be using. Oh, which is different to their old if what most people think effective stack and reach is. Yes. And then they have like stack plus and reach plus and they were really uh hesitant. Well not hesitant we had to ask for the full geometry chart which they didn't send out with the main press kit they sent a press kit with like a reduced geometry chart on it . Which is useless. To be fair though, that might be because of the information they have available at the time. Because as we know with embargoed stuff, the brands are incredibly protective about what gets out there. So it might be because of that. But yeah, we did get the full geometry uh info in the end. Um I feel like we should I should read Canyon's reply to our querying of the issue. Oh yes, right of reply. Please do. So the numbers on the tech box, the graphic on the down tube you sent the photo of are actually incorrect. Thanks for drawing our attention to this. We've checked across the rest of the sizes as well and realized these are displayed wrongly too. And now we've implemented the change so that bikes painted up from now on will display the correct values. Obviously this is something that shouldn't happen, but honest mistakes do happen, so thanks again for drawing our attention to it. So yeah. Sounds like we have saved one of the biggest bike brands in the world. You know, my my least favourite bit of things that could could be printed wrong that are sometimes printed wrong is the markers on the bottom of cycling shoes because you go to set your cleats up and I've held the same pair of shoes in my hand and one of them is on Wonky. So people will go and set up their cleats. Like they don't they don't match. Oh. So of the printing of the guide to fit your cleats is incorrect. And James has found this on like loads of different people's shoes as well. That's so annoying. Well it's you're better off with the nothing. Maybe that's why my left-right balance is currently so I've I've recently started using the Garmin Power Pedals and noticed that my left-right balance is 70% left, 30% right, which is a probably not a good thing, and also probably why my left hi knee hurts all of the time . That is outrageous. You but you are an S shape. Yes, I am, yes. I have uh scoliosis. Going back briefly to the why is is Canyon printing that information on the is you say it was the down tube. Uh seat tube. Is it just like an aesthetic thing? Because it made me think of do you know H M now do some cycling kit? Yes. Yeah. If you look at their cycling kit, it looks like it's meant to be like a panor mal ripoff. So it's got P S E B and then if you zoom in it stands for power, speed, endurance, balance. Balance. That's a good one. Well how this is just a this is our kit where we just didn't have any sponsors, so we just made some up. Exactly. This is it. I think it's printing stuff for the aesthetic rather than for informative purposes. But that is the hipster movement. All of the hipster brands, Panormal, all of the running hipster brands as well. It's like that is the like scandy aesthetic, isn't it? So yeah, it it possibly is that they're doing it for that, but I don't know, it just seems like it it doesn't have that effect . But I don't know, maybe maybe maybe well pff I I haven't even got a potential practical solution for it. You find some brands I feel like Scott don't even print the size on their bike. Well 'cause you'd be trying to work out what size the frames are going to have to put. And and th they have a code on the bottom bracket and the code then means what like size and model it is. But it's not just like S. Yeah, they're stuck and reach figures are not that useful unless you also have head and suit chip . Ideally you want everything. A whole a whole geometry chart printed on the canyon would be great. Just like wrapped you have to like go around the tubes to actually read it all. Um the best tool I have if anyone is interested in bike sizing and as sad as us, well, me and Jimmy at least, um, can we give a shout out to this website? Because I think these people are I'm guessing this is just some people who are also excited by bike geometry who've made a free website. It's called if you type in bike on bike, but the website is actually called bikeinsights.com. There is a tool where you just compare visu ally bike geometries. So you can type in I I've added the new Canyon Endurace and you can compare it to the old Canyon Endure, and it overlays a white and a black bike, and you can see exactly how different the geometry is. Because looking at a bunch of numbers, that's that's n not how my brain understands things. I need to see it. And it's great because you can then put it next to uh New Canyon Enduros is a good example. Is it an endurance bike? You can very quickly compare it to an equal si zed specialized Roubaix and see the difference. And that this is the best way, the fastest way to get a a good rough idea of how big a bike is, how small a bike is, how small bikes go as well, because you can then just do it by size. You know, check out how small that old 3XS canyon is that they don't make anymore compared to the smaller size of the new Endurece, which is two XS, and you're like, oh, well, that is sad that they don't make that one anymore. And it's just, you know, it's just such a great tool. So whoever made this website , mm-hmm . Nice. Okay. Uh do you want to segue us seamlessly into the news now, Francis ? Oh I segue seamlessly into the news. Where's the seamless news? One second. Let's find it . If you go to the left and you click on news one. I am now seamlessly segueing us into the news. News one. Amateur riders who take part in races, an indoor riding platform, my whoosh, could now face random drugs tests. The indoor platform hosts a Sunday club competition series with prizes ranging from fifteen pounds to sixteen hundred pounds, and anyone taking part in those could now be asked to provide urine or blood samples to test for doping violations. How the hell would this actually work? Well, apparently all competitors will have to declare their location. If you're chosen, you'll be notified before, during or after a race to stay where you are for up to three hours. Someone from the international doping tests and management will then come to you. Athletes and that they aim to test at least ten percent a year after that. Some will be chosen at random, others will be chosen based on podium finishes, performance data, and intelligence led targeting. The platform also hosts the eSports World Championships and the same measures will be in place there too. Seems extreme, but also if you're offering prize money, then that's the level of the thing. Like a legit rival to sports. Yeah. Do they do drugs testing? Gaming esports is just f freaking massive. Uh they don't do drugs testing. Did you see the chess documentary on Netflix where the guy got accused of having things in his bum. Ye Yeahah.. I mean I I um Maybe people people do that. I actually am interested in chess content anyway, so I did know that story, but I did also watch the documentary as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Similar similar stuff, similar cheating problems, I imagine, because a lot of it's like uh League of Legends is just like really complicated chess or like a different style. It's like a it's a strategy game, as well as what I'm gonna say . With lots of variables. What did he have in his bum? Extra chess pieces. That would have been better. Wait there. Wait there. You were the white pieces and now they're brown. No, they accused him of having some sort of device that could alert him like vibrate. Okay. Might work for my whoosh racing as well. Perhaps. I di uh like I know some people I I know there are question marks over my whoosh because of the source of their funding, but it is pretty sick that they give away a load of prize money. I do know what, when I was writing up this story, I thought this is just a roundabout way of them getting PR to say that they give away so much prize money. Do you reckon? Hundred per cent. In the article, it also said my whoosh gives out five million dollars in a year in prizes. Fall them for it. And also, in practicality, how the hell are you doing this? So if you have to remain in that location for three hours, that means testers have to be within three hours of you. This is happening all around the world. How are people with in always have a tester within three hours? They don't. I d I question how effective it can be. And I'm happy for them to maybe I'll I'll message them for a response on that. I've got something I've got unfortunately wada are everywhere. Wada unfortunately wada are everywhere. Everywhere. How about on the island of Tristan da Cunha ? Where's that? It's in the middle of the South Atlantic. And the reason I know is that the you were telling me about this island. Why? Yeah. So um I was reading about Tristan de Cunha. It is a British overseas territory. It's a British island, which means that's at some point we stole it from someone, I guess. Or maybe we just inhabited it at first. I don't know. But anyway, it I was reading about it because there was a cruise ship that had an outbreak of hantavirus. Oh yes. And someone on that cruise ship who subsequently was diagnosed with hantivirus had lived on Tristan de Cunha. So he he got off the cruise ship, he went home. This this island is only accessible by boat. It's in it's basically in the middle of like South America and Africa. Tiny tiny. And you have to get a boat to it. So he'd been on his cruise ship. I don't know if it was a man. They'd been on their cruise ship. They went back to Tristan , they felt really ill , subsequently diagnosed with hantavirus, and the British Army had to parachute in two medics and extra oxygen supplies to the island because they only have two doctors and they needed some extras to be able to treat this person. Hopefully they're okay. And also as an aside, what if you're logging on at my whoosh from them? I don't think that you're going to get tested within three hours. Do you think warders there? Big my wish is massive there. They've got spare bikes and all that stuff. What in Tristan de Cunha? Yeah, yeah. But surely it's just the same as pro rid ers. They they are subject to random testing and it and the protocol's the same. So s presumably MyWoosh is just going to pay Wada to just include some I don't think it's Wada, I think it's the uh Well w whatever it is, you know, the equivalent International Dorping Test and Management to Company. Um They need to work on that name. They'll just go go go test this person. Have you ever heard of North Sentinel Island? Uh yes. Oh good. Next is the one where it's um an indigenous tribe that lives on it, right? And they just attack they it's near India, tiny little island, and the um people on the island just attack anyone who tr tries to come and say hello to them. Yeah, just a bit sad. But not apparently not anyone . Women, they do not attack. So maybe they we need to send I don't know how we know that. Did we just leave someone there? They were like But it's um i it's it it's good self preservation because sometimes when When people visit indigenous tribes, they end up giving diseases and stuff like that. Yeah. So maybe that's the reason that they still exist there. It's such like an interesting thing. And I think that, you know, it it'd be very easy for oh, let's go make a Netflix documentary on North Sentinel Island and then just destroy a whole civilization like they did hundreds of years ago. Yeah. Wild that they all have my whoosh as well. 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With an army apprenticeship that'll set you right for life. Still listening? You belong here. Army. Recruiting now. Search. Army jobs. Okay, moving on. Our friend Jan Willem van Schip is back in the news. Is he our friend? He I wish he was. It'd be cool. It'd be a great chap. He's the guy who is very creative when it comes to to he's a racer. He's very creative when it comes to his bike setup. He really likes to go to the edge of the UCI rules and unfortunately, when you play at the edge, sometimes you go over and you get banned, which has happened again to poor Jan, Jan Willem. He was disqualified from the Tour of Hellas in Greece for the way he rested his forearms on his handlebars during a stage of that race. Which everyone does. Perhaps unfortunately for Jan, he's he's come under fire so much that there's a lot of scrutiny on him, perhaps. Is he being unfairly unfairly targeted? Is it justice for Jan? Yes, he has been unfairly targeted. And I and I think the difference between his setup and a lot of a typical pro setup is his his stem and bars are super narrow and super long. So although they do all rest their forearms on their bars, he has more s more bike to rest on. So it looks more like a like a T T extension, but um just let the man race. Do you know what I mean? Let let him be inev in innovative let him be innovative and lead the way in performance. He is he is like a modern Graham O'Bri, being persecuted for thinking outside of the box. They can't just pen alize him for that. There's literally a rider in the video behind him doing the same thing. So either they need to uh tighten up the existing bike rules and then make the sport like Japanese Kieran racing where they all have to ride the same bike or let people push the little or you can't you just can't DQ him for that specifically. There's a line somewhere. There's a line somewhere. And he rested his arm on it. And he did. I see, I I honestly feel like if you got properly back into racing, you would be this kind of person that would be looking at right, okay. So if I set myself up like this and I ride like this, I'm faster, therefore I will. Yeah. Well sh most people think like that, don't they? Well, but but he's like I'm glad that I'm not racing anymore because nah I don't have to deal with all of that annoying aero crap. Yeah, fair. But I'm glad I raced in the era that I did. Okay, next up, I'm gonna bunch a load of s one-liner stories together, which I would say come under the category of odd, weird news, cycling related news. First up, two guys called Jamie Hargreaves and Alfie Cookson cycled from Lands End to John of Groats on a tandem to wing two wheelie bins behind them. And for our international viewers, a wheelie bin is essentially a square a trash can with wheels. It's a trash can with wheels. Plastic . But they got the same there's the same ones here. Oh is it? The reason that they were towing wheelie bins is because they were picking up litter along the way. Good lads. Yeah, good lads. The the reason I was uh off camera laughing when you first started this, you said two guys called Jamie Hargreaves. I was like, what? They're both called Jamie Hargreaves. I think twins and the same name. Have you got uh like a little Instagram group with uh other people called Jimmy Nichols? No. I would if I if I if I had a more common name . Unfortunately, uh I can find other Cades, but not another Francis Cade doesn't exist as far as I'm aware. Um but I have yeah I've got like a few a guy on Facebook who was just some kid who added me like years ago and now we're still friends on Facebook . Kristen Cade. Good lad. I've definitely made friends with pe people just bas solely based on the fact that we have the last name. Don't you have a cousin that has your name? Oh, I do have a my cousin 's daughter has my name. I can't believe you're just like, oh yeah, people with my name. Forgot that you're actually related to one with the exact same name as you. Went to my school as well after me. And then I went back and then, oh Emily, oh Emily . We always think of the other Emily now replaced. Anyway, I'm gonna get back to my weird stories. The next one is a guy called Tom Williamson is riding around the world on a wooden bike. Oh. He's just had a heart procedure and he's doing it as a fundraiser for cardiac risk in the young. My name's Tom and this is me in hospital. Back in twenty twenty one I tried to cycle the end to end here in the UK. Day one was fine, but on the afternoon of day two, something wasn't right. My heart became extremely erratic and I passed out while cycling. I crawled to the destination and took myself straight to hospital. Spent two nights there while they tried to figure out what was wrong. And honestly, that uncertainty was terrifying. Because I didn't know how serious it was and I didn't know what the future looked like. Fast forward four years and three surgeries later, my rare arrhythmia is finally under control, and honestly, feels like I've been given a second chance. One I don't want to waste. So I'm gonna do a thing. The thing I promised myself back then . In a matter of weeks, I'm gonna leave my long-term life here in London, leave my settled job, and move back in with my parents before stepping into the big unknown. I'm gonna cycle around the world. I'm doing it for a charity. They're called Cardiac Risking the Young. And they mean a lot to me as I know what it's like to live with heart uncertainty. Have you seen any pictures of his bike? Oh geez, like an aeroframe. That's not bamboo. That is properly wood. Carbon fork. It's just the frame that's wooden, we should say. Everything else is more normal, more traditional. I have wanted to make a wooden bike for a very long time. To make one? It's plywood. Of course it's plywood. Plywood's such a good material. You can basically set plywood under vacuum so So it's like thin layers of wood, which actually are very flexible. And then you can set it in a mold, a vacuum mold, put all of the glue in, get it in place, vacuum it into like weird shapes, let it set, take it out, and then cut it into place, which is how they'll have done those seat stays. If you look at the seat stay, you've got all these beautiful veneers from light to dark, which is obviously the different colours cross-woven so that's stronger, and then you've got this incredible actual seat stay shape. That's class. Nice, very good. And good luck, Tom. Finally, Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor, has been filmed having a row with a fellow London cyclist who accused him of jumping red lights. The top comments on it is like uh this seems like a script, it was like a part in a play. Yeah. Because they're both so well spoken. Uh one of them is an actor. Maybe they're both actors. Who knows? But ten minutes. The altercation went on for ten minutes. Did it really? What were you doing? He must be bored. Yeah, no, I just saw a clip where they were sort of stopped at a set of red lights and oh you're a plonker, you're a plonker. Words to that effect. And I thought the one the guy there's one guy with like a a buff fully covering his face, like a balaclava sort of thing. I was like, Oh, that must be Benedict Cumberbatch hiding his identity, but it's not. No. Benedict Cumberbatch has his face out and the other guy is hiding his face. Yeah, so this thing says maybe the other guy was even more famous. Easy. So this the ul the altercation lasted ten minutes before the masked man left and Cumberbatch posed with fans for a selfie. Masked man. Masked man. What if it was another Benedict Cumberbatch? Oh, the masked one was. Yeah. Oh, so two Benedict Cumberbatchers wrestled. Mar um Marvel Cinematic Universe. The the met the thingy verse. Multiverse, that's what it's called isn't it? Is he in is he in is he in that? Yeah, he's Doctor Strange. I checked out after Iron Man One. So that was one one movie, yeah. Maybe he was he was practicing for a role. Maybe he's got a role coming up where he needs to be an asshole. Discruntled cyclist. Oh speaking of ass holes and cyclists. We've been watching a thing on Sky called Sweepy, and there is a character in that. And the like annoying, uppity , selfish character, who's a journalist in the newsroom, of course, is a cyclist, and he walks around in his lycra, and he's just a bit of a twat, and it's very annoying because you know why they've chosen to make him a cyclist. It's i so that it says all of those things without having to say it, isn't it? And that's the unfortunately the branding that we as road cyclists who wear Lycra have. But the the biggest issue is with it it just exacerbates the problem, doesn't it? If in mainstream media they are actively portraying cyclists as birds. It has a it has a big effect. It has a big effect. Sad. Okay, well I'll move us on. Let's do some racing news because the women's vuelta just wrapped up. Spaniard Paola Blasi won the GC by just 24 seconds. And it was one of those nail-biting races where it all came down to the final stage, and actually the final climb of the final stage. Blassie went into the stage eighteen seconds down on Anna van Bregen after she put in an incredible climbing performance the day before. The final stage was basically this mahoose of climb called the Angleroo. It's a beast and Blassie absolutely stormed it. She took second on the stage and then snatched the overall victory in the process. Van der Bregen finished a minute behind her on the stage and then took second on the GC. Incredible stuff from Paola Blassi. It's the first homegrown Vuelta Feminina winner. She took the Queen of the Mountains jersey too. Lotta Kapeki won the points competition. And also I would say an incredible performance from Anna van der Bregen as well, who came in second. Anna actually retired in 2021, but then came out of retirement last year, I think it was. She she I think she had a bit of burnout and then you know, has absolutely found her mojo again. So that cool cool to see. Great, good, good, good riding all around. The Menji Row is now also underway. It kicked off in Bulgaria. There were three stages, and then they had I it was a day off for us as spectators, but not really a day off for them because the race then moved to Italy, so the teams were travelling the riders by aeroplane, the bikes and all the race infrastructure by road and ferry more than fifteen hundred kilometres. So quite an undertaking. I would yeah, but for the riders, they're just sitting in luxury. And if you're Van der Pol, you're in your own private jet. Well yeah, fine for Van der Pol who isn't actually racing in this race ? Um but Jonas Vingigo was grumbling about it. He said he would rather have avoided the travel and he had to bring his his mask and his hand sanitizer. Because what he's worried about is taking commercial flights and and dealing with all the recycled air and the viruses that potentially brings. Sounds like he's about to drop a private jet sponsorship later this year, doesn't it? Yeah, maybe. The organizers of the Giro apparently earned 10 million euros from starting in Bulgaria. I think that's pretty normal, though, isn't it? Because they the the Grand Tours generally well, at least the the Tour de France definitely does, has has starts at different locations and you would typically pay for that to be there. 'Cause it's UK next year, isn't it? In the Tour de France. In the Tour, yeah. There's the and I think this year it starts from Barcelona. Women's as well. Do we have women is women no, but is is the um Yeah, we have women something's happening in the UK. Do we have women Tour de France start the UK? No? The men's and the women's Tour de France starts in the UK next year. Nothing this year. No. Okay. You can delete me from this section. Women's Tour of Britain? Something. Yeah, women's Tour of Britain will be in Britain . Where else would the Britain's Tour of Britain the women's tour of Britain be? The Women's Tour of Britain is starting on Sentinel Island. That is crazy . But it's fine 'cause they're women. So they just feel oh yes. Coming in Very good, very good. Um what else has happened? Paul Man ier is off to a flying start. The young Frenchman took two sprint stages at the time of recording, which is before the end of Tuesday's stage. UAE is on the back foot from the start. They had a very unlucky stage too. They had a big crash, which took down a number of riders. J Vine DNF'd in the process, fractured elbow and concussion, although thankfully didn't require surgery. And also I have been following maybe my new favourite team, the underdogs of this grand tour, Unibet Rose Rockets, who are making their grand tour debut. This is a team started by a bunch of YouTubers. Bass Titama and Cole aka Tour de Titama . They I think started the channel in 2019 and they used to go to the start of the tour stages and do lots of like fun, silly stuff. And get get copyrighted strikes constantly. Or like ASO would constantly take down their videos. I don't know why I'm laughing, they're so annoying. Because they were showing parts of the race. Let them. Like they're promoting your sport. Uh there's a reason why NFL does so well. It's because they let people use the footage and clip up their stuff. Like I it's it it's will procycling would be bigger if they just let people talk about it and show it. Because I think technically, even if you're not showing the race live, if you're not recording riders coming past live, I technically I'm not sure you're even allowed to record the road. They are in the road. Racing time. the longest wheelie up the climb. It's a great idea. It's fun. It's promoting the race. Like why are the organizers being It's also not spoiling the race in any way. No. It's it's literally impossible to Ridiculous. Detract from what they offer. Because of the nature of a grand tour and the fact that it's not a circuit, it would be impossible for someone to go like you know, us to turn up and go, right, well we're just gonna film the Tour de France, start to finish and just use our own footage instead. Literally impossible. Unless you had maybe a helicopter, but presumably they have rules which stop you from doing that. You'd have to fly the whole thing with a helicopter and just have like a shot. 360 can . Yeah. Yeah. Just just just oh you could drone. Just get a a fleet of drones. No, but it's life feed. A weird drone f on like a email you got from Timu or something and it's like a tiny little Micro drone. Yeah, micro drone. Loads of those. Just yeah. That that is definitely a film, isn't it? What film is it where something is just made up of loads of little micro drones. Um Spider-Man Far From Home. The one with Jake Gyllenhaal in. Why is there so many Spider-Man? Well, in the third Spider-Man, they all meet up. And then Uncle Ben went on to make rice. Crazy . Um, how do I get this back on track? Okay. Bastetama and Core, they now have their own pro team. And this they're now racing the Giro, their first grand tour. Well done, guys. Yeah, they have a spin-off channel which is just the Unibet Rose Rockets YouTube channel and they're making a daily vlog there. That's been cool to watch. Their squad is raster, is absolutely class now as well, isn't it? It's decent. They've got j Dylan Grona Vegan they've got Elmar reindeers, they've got Wout Poles. So I think they're they're very much stage hunting and they've done they've done pr they've had a podium already in a stage, as of the time of recording. They might have something else by the time this goes live, but uh yeah, it's it's nice to it's nice to have stor ies to follow from different teams and smaller teams, and it's nice to root for underdogs. Anyway, I had a question for you. Since these are YouTube YouTubers turned pro cycling managers, would you guys ever fancy starting a pro team? Pro team? Wow, that's a lot of work. I think you would be make an interesting team princip le with a sort of Mr. D motivator mentality. Be interested to see how that went down. What is in like turning up and being like, you know, if you're not feeling it, don't worry, lads. If you get, you know, if it's if if you get a puncture and then you just you lose a bit of time, it'll be all right. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about the sponsors. I th actually think Francis would be quite good as a as a DS. No, get distracted. That's what DS stands for. D-stracted. I'd be on my phone in the car and I'd eat all the gels and they they do that. The DS is like my DS Tim would just it didn't have his own food, so he just eat the gels to avoid the caffeine ones, maybe . Just constantly. Yeah. Maybe a chef. That'd be fun. A chef. I'm not a good cook, but I learn. But I mainly cause I could eat the food. I think it's a lot of just driving in between places. Yeah. Sadly. That's the brunt of the job. So no, I wouldn't want to be involved. Not for me. Not for you. Fair enough. This episode is brought to you by our favorite VPN service, Nord VPN. Now it's Giro de Talley a month, and if you're into pro racing, you might already be familiar with Nord VPN. Yeah, a VPN is a virtual private network. It basically protects your privacy online by masking your IP address. And you can also change your location. And one of the things you can do is stream your sports and your entertainment wherever you are. It's really handy, for example, if you're trav elling and you want to have access to your usual subscriptions. Well we we used it recently. We've just got back from holiday, which was wonderful, and it was nice to be able to access some of our stuff. With race season in full swing, a VPN is a useful piece of kit to have and Nord is one of the best. And I'll be honest, I was pretty surprised that NordVPN has tons of privacy tools. It helps keep your data secure, it protects things like your passwords and your bank details , which can be especially useful if you're doing things like using public Wi-Fi. It can alert you to dodgy websites too, and there is a password manager. One account can cover up to ten devices, so your whole household is covered. Or if your name is Jimmy , all of your phones that he uses for his business deals. I've got four phones now. Have you actually got four? It wasn't even an exaggeration . Why? My personal phone , my work phone, Francis' old number and my old work phone. Which is now the podcast. Yes, which is now the podcast one, yeah. Don't we have a deal as well? We've got like a mega deal. Yeah, we do. If you hit the link in the description, you'll get four extra months free on a two-year plan, which works out at over 70% off. Nord also offers a 30-day money back guarantee, so there is no risk. You have to click the link in the description to get the deal. Thank you very much. Thank you . Find your rhythm . And live life in the Black L ane . Travel to and from the airport . Reinvigorate. Recharge. Ramp up . Blacklane, the global chauffeur service in London and over 500 other cities. Book now at Blacklane.com or download the app. Well I guess we should move on to on popular opinions then uh Iliana says, unpopular opinion, a noisy rear bike wheel while freewheeling a coasting is not sexy at all. And she also says that she listens to this with her boyfriend, and every time we do this section, she listens to what we say, she pauses it and then he gives his opinion and it's basically always the same as you guys. So whatever you guys are gonna say with which person we I feel like we always argue. I don't know. She she didn't Maybe we don't as much as I think. Yeah. She's picked someone who's got fantastic opinions and taste. So well done. Um and then on to her unpopular opinion. I think that for me is a popular opinion. Noisy free hubs are annoying. You want a nice quiet one. A traditional quiet one which just goes . Yeah, uh there's a sweet spot. There's definitely a sweet spot. There is no to be completely silent, then you're like, oh something's wrong. In in fact, I actually have different preferences. On a road bike, I want a a relatively quiet one and a gravel bike, that's where you can get a relatively noisy one because it then acts as a uh like a bell. Yeah. So you so if you're approaching someone, you just freewheel for a bit. Even backpedal if you want to ramp up the noise a bit more, and it's kind of a way of someone going like, Oh, what's that? That was a bike. You can take a little a piece out of the DT Swiss hubs to make them louder. The house wheels are r are actually quite a nice I have a set of DT Swisses on my road bike and they are annoyingly loud to the point that I've now taken them off and put my old zips back on. Uh oh . What's happened? What's happened? I was just getting the wheel. Oh god. We thought I thought that the video had gone off. Oh god, this is harder than I thought it would be. Brand new brand new DT Swiss uh this is a 350. Yeah . Which is a hub . That's nice. So yeah, you're right, inoffensive. And it probably gets a little bit louder, maybe. I've had in the past very, very loud ones on a kind of racy looking bike that I went around London and never did any races on, but I did think I was really cool. And I don't regret it. I don't know if it's still around, but there was definitely a point, it feels like it was probably best part of a decade ago, where it was like it had to be the the louder it was, the more expensive it was. Was the interpretation that wasn't necessarily true 'cause obviously it's just the way how many ratchets it's got and whatnot. No, I'm I'm all for a quiet bike. And if you have an unpopular opinion, you can send it to Wild Ones Podcast at cademedia.co.uk or WhatsApp us on plus four four seven eight six oh eight six oh two one three and it might feature on a future show. Let's end with some listeners takeover . And Benjamin from the beautiful Gravel Destination of Stockholm. I'm assuming that was his words. It was, yes, but you gonna f fight him about that? Nah, I've never been. Okay . As someone only buying used bikes, this article got me thinking of this frustrating future of tinkering. The article is linked argues that modern bikes are becoming overly dependent on proprietary plastic components, especially the integrated cockpit and cable routing systems. It warns that this might create long-term maintenance and sustainability problems as the plastic parts fail. Poor spare part standardization would make otherwise functional bikes impossible to repair in the future, turning small unavailable components into critical failure points. So Benjamin says the year is twenty fifty-five. You find your dream bike from your childhood at a flea market. Some of the plastic parts around the headset are broken The woman selling it, say she bought it from a friend that tried to fix it. She herself had it standing in a shed for five years, never finding the right parts to get it riding again. She talks about some website where you can source the It was something like so you bought a bike from 2026, now what dot com? You get carried away and pay a bit too much for it. It's just a small plastic part, you think. The year is 2060. You sell your still broken dream bike at Flea Market. You tell the guy buying it about this awesome website. The cycle continues. It's so sad. That's so sad. It is sad, but I think he's missing how fast tech is moving. And I think actually what would happen by twenty fifty five, bearing in mind that is a long way away, I think what you would do is you would take a photo of it and it would instantly print it from your 3D printer and then you would just stick it on your bug. That is where my head went to as well. 3D print. Like love love it or hate it. Think about headset. Think about the carbon integrated ones that are currently very popular. There's plastic bits , but all of it can be run with normal spaces within some of them can be run with normal spaces. So you probably would be able to get that bike rolling again, even if you didn't have the right piece. Do you remember when we just took the Scots and we just put normal bars and SEMs on? As long as the steerer is round and there isn't like a plastic, the you don't you the stack underneath , even that, as long as the headset bearing is around and you go over one and one-eighth steerer, you can just put normal spaces underneath. Create the preload. Yes. I think it'll depend on the top cap. I think the Scott top cap allowed it. It would look ugly, like naked C three PR, but it's doable. I i you may or may not remember that the Scots actually use a weird fork standard which no one you can get spaces for that as well. Well yeah, I know you can because I I I actually grabbed one of the stems that we bought, which I think were from Richie, and I was like, Oh, that that'll go in my bike. Now I've got a Ritchie seat post on it. And then I went to put it on, and I was just like, Oh, yeah , no, it's a weird standard that isn't gonna now work on anything. We've got two of them. So they're just sitting in a box and no one's probably ever gonna want them ever. Yeah, I I s I I snapped one of the bolts in one of them as well. No, I think we replaced it. I think it's fine. Well, I did I, replaced it. Yeah, it's fine. Oh, good job. So yeah, proprietary products. It's the s it's kind of the same thing. P proprietary propriet ary products and weird little niche things Availability later on is the issue, isn't it? Like the brand the brands why was Scott aren't gonna be making a headset cap for this bike in ten years time? Well, probably. Because they'll be doing something else. Somewhere Yeah, yeah. But maybe there'll be a weird website where they do sell 3D printed bits for different bikes. If anywhere, that should be so you bought a bike from 2026now .com? Surely that's your solution. But he he goes on the website, he doesn't find his thing. Five years later, he sells it at a flea market and then he tells someone else about the awesome website. But the awesome website clearly didn't what he wanted, so I don't know why he's recommending it to other people. Wait, what what year is it? Twenty fifty five? Yeah, bold to assume that we go outside and ride bikes then. We'll just be consciousness in it, uploaded to a little egg, plugged into a wall, and then we just go like, oh, simulate tour de France. And then you're in the Tour de France and you're just riding it, you think it's real. Mm. So you've just described already live in a simulation, so who knows? The first matrix. Well, actually I'll be more correct. You've just described Akira. What the anime? Yeah. Is this the one you keep trying to get me to go and see. Will you please watch Akira or me? You can't get Emily to watch anything pre-90s. An anime is like a pre-2000. An anime from pre-2000. Is it? When was Akira? 88 . No way, he's only watching good luck. Francis, you are coming to the UK and you're gonna be staying with us. Please will you go to the cinema with Jimmy and watch all of the films that I don't want to go and watch with him. Mortal Kombat Two. Okay. Mortal Kombat Two and Akira. Akira's currently in the cinema. Well I think it'll be gone again. I think it was just for a week. Oh , Mandalorian have booked us all in. I've booked us all in for that one. Why are you coming to that? Because new Star Wars is better than old Star Wars. Sorry, that's gonna be an incredibly unpopular opinion. It's true though. It is true. To me, who has horrible taste in films. No, you're right though. I think as a non-Star Wars fan, it's an easy point of entry and it's quite entertaining. How do they fix their stuff when it breaks? That's the future. They just go to salvage yards and they have all of the stuff. The Jawas do it, yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say the little Sam people, they they would do it, wouldn't they? Who do you need that's literally their function it'll be something like that they speak um they speak Ja wese is the language they speak um the best thing you know the song you know in the can Cantina there's that's the guys who are like play the same song and they go is called Jizz That's the best thing Yeah that's the best best fact about Star Wars that I know . So like so I guess it's inspired by jazz but not jazz, I guess. Good good deduction. Running a part that you want to then 3D print . If the part's broken, does that work? Well this is why I'm saying by twenty fifty, I think probably three D printing and the use of AI will be so integrated that actually you can just take a photo of anything and replicate it. What you're gonna have to do is ask your AI master overlord if you're allowed to print it. Well, no, it will be like Francis said, your overlord will have put you in an egg and been harvesting all of your energy . The dream. I want to be like that or the people from Worley . So you don't need a bike if you're just one of those people who sat in the little floating chairs, hooked up eating food, maybe through a tube.. Gels Basically. Gels is the closest I can get at the moment. Oh dear. And still the people on Sentinel Island will be have zero interaction with any of this tech. So really you can opt out and go and live with them. You can't. They won't let stabbed. No. No, you're fine. You're fine. Now what's gonna happen is all of the women are gonna go there thinking that it's okay and then they're all gonna get get killed. All women who w listen to this podcast. Are you thinking about Zelda where there's that town where you can go if you dress as a woman? Gerudo Town. Yeah. I Google, can women visit Sentinel Island? No, m women and men cannot visit North Sentinel Island. Well they can, but they get stabbed. Yeah, so Sentinel Island But that might be made. It might be that they can't visit because actually it's banned. It is it is like a international thing where it's like don't go there. Don't don't give those people diseases. Dr. Mad umala ch Okay, I'll not even try. Is the first and only female anthropologist to make peaceful contact with the Sentinelese tribe on North Sentinel Island, 1991, part of a 13-member survey of an India India team. She bridged the gap with the isolated tribe by offering coconuts. Her presence as a woman helped ease tensions with the tribe accepting gifts without the expected hostility. And the other twelve of them goners. So probably don't go but if you do, be a woman with coconuts. No don't don't go 'cause you'll give them diseases. Leave them alone. Well uh probably, yeah. You probably. Yeah. Okay, well that's the end of that. I'm gonna finish off with some postcards. We have absolutely loads of them. So I'm going I have read them all. Thank you very much. They were lovely. I'm going to very quickly mention the names. Steve in Portugal. Matt and Chandra in the West Coast of the USA, Tabarak in Baghdad, Gustav in Kuala Lumpur, Jonathan in Utah, Don in Walla Walla. He asked us a couple of questions. He said, um, what does one do with older bikes that you are no longer using? Uh old bikes either get donated to recycle bike or we sell them on eBay and I have a big batch of stuff I'm waiting to get on there because I need to clear some space. This one has no name that I can see, but it has the word vibes written a lot of times and it came from Grey in Maine in the USA. It looks like a Christmas postcard. Yeah. The last one's blank because I I bought it when we were in Ibetha. Oh, you should write it to yourself. Yeah, I haven't I haven't written it out, but I bought my first postcard and it will also go on the wall. Thank you very much, everyone. That's your first postcard you've ever bought. Yeah we talked about this already, Jimmy, this is why the postcard thing started. Oh any other business guys? No. Francis, we hope you have a wonderful, safe journey to the UK. We're looking forward to welcoming you to our shores. Bring some nice weather with you, please. Yeah, take take a few photos of um the first class food as well so everyone can see. What in the in and the private jet. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you and Matt. The welter. No, that was the women's welters, the men's gyro currently. Oh god. Procycling. Don't ever start a broad cycling team, that's the advice. No way. We'd end up in the wrong place. Why are we in Spain? I thought it was the Welta . Why are we on Sentinel Island again ? Leave those people alone, Francis. She's obsessed with Sentinel Island . No, I've never I'm not obsessed with it. I don't know why it said it so many times today. Now I can't now I'm gonna think of it all the time. Today's episode is sponsored by Visit North Sentinel Island No, no it's sponsored by Don't Visit North Sentinel Island. Yes, exactly. That is literally their uh tourist board. Do not visit Do not visit, yeah. That would actually work, wouldn't it? Loads of people would then visit if you actually had a nation go out and go, please don't visit here. Yeah, like Lisbon. Is that just xenophobia? Just straight xenophobia? No, they hate tourists, don't they? Uh do they? Yeah, Barcelona, all the locals because it's gent it just j gets gentrified. And all it's Airbnbs and stuff. Oh. They hate tourists. Um isn't Lisbon Portugal. It is, yeah. Yeah. I'm assuming he means both places. Oh, Spain and Portugal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well th those two cities that I've seen in the news before people were really uh like there's protestss, there's all sort of stuff. Yep. Um because the locals don't like it. Wow, Lisbon is so pretty. I should go there. And I think that is all for this week. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much. Goodbye. Bye. Goodbye.