Escape Collective

Placeholders: Cycling needs Pippo Pozzato’s dreams

This week's episode dives into Pippo Pozzato's dreams to rebuild Italian cycling, taking cues from Flanders Classics. Plus Ronan, Kit, and Caley discuss an interesting (and TT-heavy) Giro d'Italia route, the young Brit who beat Remco Evenepoel in a big time trial, and, of course, a bit of Jumbo-Visma news. 

Wheel Talk: The future of women’s cycling is bright!

This week Abby, Matt and Loren talk about some exciting up-and-coming riders, as well as the dilemma of Lidl-Trek’s five new 18-year-olds, the Tour of Chongming Island, and more.

Geek Warning: We’re listening, too

Welcome back to Geek Warning, the show that proves the world of cycling tech never stops.
This week we published our vision for covering tech news. In response, many of you asked for links to see and learn more of what we discuss in the Geek Warning podcast. And just like that, we present links!
Zwift has launched its Hub One smart trainer with a single cog. Ronan is working on a review, but in the meantime you can read what DCRainmaker thinks of it.
The recently announced Shimano crank recall is picking up steam as other countries roll out their respective recalls. However, it appears to be getting uglier.
We discuss BMC’s new all-rounder race bike, the Teammachine R. This bike left Ronan rather impressed, follow the link to find out why.
The Gravel World Championships offered a glimpse at a new Merida Silex. Meanwhile, Canyon’s long-awaited Grail CF is finally here, a bike James has a full review on.
We also touch on new mountain bike wheels from Princeton CarbonWork's off-shoot brand P1 Race Tech. And being a new week, there are of course, new chainrings from Wolf Tooth.
Timestamps:
4:58 – Zwift goes singlespeed and many tangents16:05 – Shimano crank recall is getting uglier21:50 – BMC’s new “not an aero bike” aero bike, automotive collabs, and narrow handlebars43:05 – Princeton CarbonWorks launches for mountain bikes46:50 – More new products from Wolf Tooth49:50 – New gravel bikes from World’s57:00 – How we’re thinking about covering tech news

Placeholders: The merger that wasn’t

Iain Treloar and Jonny Long join Caley Fretz to talk about the Jumbo-Visma merger that ultimately did not happen, the Ineos Grenadiers, Gravel Worlds, and Thibaut Pinot's retirement.

Wheel Talk: The problem with Jumbo-Visma

This episode was supposed to be about team captains but got slightly derailed by two topics none of us thought we would have to talk about in 2023: no live coverage of Gravel Worlds and the working conditions at Jumbo-Visma’s women’s team.

Pretty Serious Bike Racing: He won another one?

Cosmo Catalano and Dane Cash discuss Tadej Pogačar's second Monument of the season and third straight victory at Il Lombardia, as well as talking gravel, Paris-Tours, and MTB World Cups.

Performance Process: Everyone fails at 40 minutes

Welcome to a taste of the first episode of Performance Process, a podcast dedicated to making you a faster cyclist. 
To listen to the full episode, you'll need to be a member. You can sign up at Escapecollective.com/join. All members will receive an email with instructions for adding the private member feed to their podcast app of choice. 
This first episode focuses on optimizing for the hour record with guest Jonny Wale, delving into the processes behind the ten successful hour record attempts he's been involved with. That includes both Dan Bigham's former record and Filippo Ganna's current record. It's a fascinating chat and we hope you enjoy it. 

Geek Warning: Hookless rim designs are coming after your aluminum wheels now, too

There has been a slew of wheel introductions recently, with some of the most interesting ones being from Zipp (lightweight carbon XC!), DT Swiss (“Aero for All”!), and Mavic (hookless aluminum gravel!). Wait, what? Yep, Mavic is now so progressive that its new aluminum gravel wheels feature a hookless profile, and we have some thoughts on the idea.
Timestamps:
1:37 – A close at DT Swiss’s new “Aero for All” aluminum wheels8:27 – This most definitely is not the Mavic of yesteryear15:04 – Zipp enters the XC wheel market (and their carbon road wheels have quietly gotten heavier)25:56 – Bontrager cozies up with Look for a new range of clipless MTB pedals32:57 – Wahoo Fitness continues to streamline its operations35:58 – Brighter days are hopefully ahead for Parlee Cycles41:35 – The indomitable and indestructible Surly Cross-Check is no more46:30 – Dave is obsessing about what spare parts and – of course – tools to carry on his new bike52:59 – James’s safety rules of the road57:52 – More power or less weight for eMTBs?1:02:08 – Choosing the right chain lube is about saving money, not watts

Placeholders: Too Jumbo for their own good?

Jonny Long, Kit Nicholson, and Ronan Mc Laughlin join Caley Fretz to discuss the latest in the Jumbo-Visma Soudal-QuickStep potential merger saga, Alex Dowsett's new book, and more...

Wheel Talk: Recognizing the best domestiques

With no WWT racing since the last podcast, Gracie took charge of this episode. The crew spends most of the time discussing the best domestiques in the peloton, plus the different kinds of domestiques and who qualifies into which category.