The Bike Lane: Something about Cadel

Season 3, Episode 7

Welcome to episode seven of The Bike Lane's third season. In this week's show we put your questions to Cadel Evans; hear some untold stories from Dan Jones, the man behind Orica-GreenEDGE's Backstage Pass videos; and we feature a Hot Lap showdown between My Kitchen Rules duo "Smiley" Sam and his cousin Chris.

In this episode we:

Discuss the push for safety on our roads, including gracious cycling, stickers for cars and Amy Gillett Foundation’s new partnership with Toll Group
Interview Cadel Evans at his home in Barwon Heads
Hear some untold stories from Dan Jones, the man behind Orica-GreenEDGE’s Backstage Pass videos
Chat with Justin Cordy — High Performance Manager at the Western Bulldogs AFL team — about illness and recovery, for the Health.com.au Healthy Living Tips
Watch as “Smiley Sam” from My Kitchen Rules takes on his cousin Chris in The Hot Lap

Be sure to follow The Bike Lane on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also subscribe to the show on iTunes by heading here or searching for “The Bike Lane” at the iTunes Store.

Special thanks to our season sponsor Health.com.au, Country Road for dressing us and to Malachi Moxon for letting us film the show at Northside Wheelers. Also, thank you to The Sweetshop, our production partner.

If you’d like to support the panel’s Movember efforts, you can donate to the CyclingTips Movember network here.

Tags: The Bike Lane

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Discussion thread #1: What do you do to be a “gracious cyclist”?
- Jono_L
  
  On that topic; this is a great read.
  http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/the-most-basic-respect/Let’s get one thing, perhaps the purest essence of the problem, very straight right here and now:
  
  Respect does not have to be earned.
  
  You can walk out into the street, see hundreds of people whom you’ve never met before in your life, and you can respect them. You can let them do what they’re doing, wear what they’re wearing, say what they’re saying. It’s perfectly normal and natural and – by and large – everyone does this. It’s basic respect that we all have for each other by default.
  
  Yet, somehow, many people seem to have a philosophical problem with extending this to the idea of driving in such a way as to simply ensure that these people stay alive.
  - Jono_L
    
    Link: http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/the-most-basic-respect/
  - Jono_L
    
    http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/the-most-basic-respect/
  - jules
    
    exactly. we should also stop talking about rights and instead focus on responsibilities on the road. no one has any rights - if you fail to live up to your responsibilities, you are breaking the law. it is irrelevant what others are doing - your responsibilities are absolute.
  - geoff Duke
    
    Well said Jono, and Steel; if I felt the way you seem to the last place I would be at any time was on a bike.
- Steel
  
  Last time I looked there has only been one pedestrian/cyclist fatality caused by a cyclist in Victoria in the last ten years. In that time there have been over 400 fatalities from motor vehicles. So who really cares about gracious cyclists?
  
  That’s obviously a provocative argument and it’s some what devil’s avocado, but it’s designed to illustrate the utterly ridiculous tone of debate regarding cycling safety. Who cares if cyclists run a few red lights or ride up on the footpath? It just doesn’t matter.
  
  That’s not to say that cyclists should run reds willy nilly or ride on footpaths where there are safe alternatives. But if you see someone running a red, there’s no real need to get hot under the collar.
  
  What you should be upset about is the lack of dedicated bicycle infrastructure in Victoria when there is clearly a very strong argument that it is the only way to improve cycling safety. They also help to encourage less confident people on to the network and thus shift transport from more carbon intensive modes to less.
  
  The Look dooring campaign and 1 metre matter campaigns do nothing to help. They just help make advocacy groups and governments feel slightly better about themselves. Sorry (patronising - yes). Changing behavior doesn’t work. Never has. Look at the stats after PTV released their ‘dumb ways to die’ campaign. It’s the most loved safety campaign I’ve seen yet in the 12 months since the campaign was released, train related pedestrian fatalities have gone up.
  - Notso Swift
    
    So have the number of people who died from having eaten superglue
  - jules
    
    Steelo, i agree on some points but not others. education is important. we can’t rely on dedicated infrastructure alone - at some point we get on to the road proper - particularly so for roadies. we need motorists to learn to respect and interact safely with cyclists - there is no alternative or short cut. having said that, bike infrastructure is important in encouraging more new riders, which in turn helps legitimise cycling in the eyes of broader society.
  - velocite
    
    Agree with the your main point Steel but not at all with your ‘Changing behaviour doesn’t work’ statement. That’s the most important thing, and we should do as much as we can to change driver behaviour for the better. Scott mentioned working on the next generation of drivers via the licence test. Things like the ‘metre matters’ would be best in legislation as well as on bumper stickers and signs on trucks, but it all helps. In France there are signs all over the place about leaving 1.5 metres, and I know in which country I feel safer riding.
- Dave
  
  A few thoughts I put into play every day:
  
  1. Be predictable.
  
  2. Lots of hand signals, don’t ignore the non-compulsory left turn signal.
  
  3. Engage with other road users - make eye contact and then signal if you have the opportunity. It’s worth doing a ‘straight ahead’ one if you’re waiting at the lights with a driver behind you.
  
  4. Choose carefully when to take the lane, you’ll get respect for doing it well through tight areas (as a way of communicating your intentions) but hatred if you do it when there’s room to share the road.
  
  5. Be willing to lose a couple of seconds to smile and wave through a driver who has driven patiently behind you through an area with limited overtaking chances.
  
  6. Just because you are allowed to ride two abreast doesn’t mean you should.
  
  7. Don’t fiddle around with drink bottles, other accessories or making adjustments to bike when waiting at a junction, you don’t want to be left flat-footed fumbling to put everything back into place when the lights go green. If it can’t be done on the move then find a spot to park properly and sort it out then.
  
  8. When merging into a line of traffic from the left on approach to a roundabout or major junction, signal clearly and drop back into a gap with good time to spare. Don’t aggressively move forward on the left and try to merge at the last possible moment - passing on the left is called undertaking for a bloody good reason!
  
  On a more technical note, carving up a driver from the left and forcing them to brake is both insanely stupid and quite rightfully regarded as causing a hazard. If you don’t get yourself killed, you deserve to be ticketed instead.
  
  9. Never ever approach a signalled intersection so fast that you would have to enter it late in the amber light phase or early in the red phase.
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Discussion thread #2: Cadel Evans: Can he win the TDU? And will he race the national championships? Let’s hope so.
- echidna_sg
  
  nice to see him quite relaxed in an interview - he comes across as a a bit uncomfortable in front of a camera (nothing new), but with a glimmer of a smile for most questions.
  
  Can he win TdU and/or the nationals? of course he can… if his form is there and greenedge allows the race to play out that way (specifically for the nationals).
- Notso Swift
  
  More likely to win the nationals than the TDU, just because of the parcours, though there are a lot of other guys who will actually target those races, as opposed to being naturally underdone because he is looking to May (regardless of having more natural talent)
  - Matt Keenan
    
    If he does ride the nationals the odds are against him purely based on
    numbers with Orica-GreenEDGE having 15 or more riders. But the odds have
    been against Cadel in the past and he’s overcome them.
    - Abdu
      
      Good point Keeno, we saw even Adam Hansen get worked over last January OGE and miss the podium.
    - Dave
      
      If there are a couple of other accomplices from other teams alongside Cadel willing to make it a selective race, I can see it getting to the point where the winning group has only one or two OGE riders - just as it was in 2012.
      
      To level the playing field a little, I would like to see events at the road national championships raced in state/territory coloured jerseys (normal team shorts) with space for a team/club decal on the front of the jersey as on a stage race leader’s jersey. Riders could have the choice of purchasing a state jersey from their state cycling body or having the livery design emailed to their regular team equipment supplier.
    - Notso Swift
      
      Kind of what I meant with guys targeting the races, OGE will have egg on their face any time they don’t win the nationals
- Abdu
  
  I am of the view that this is Cadel’s last year of racing, hence why he is doing a ‘victory lap’ here when he is still in his prime. 2015 will see him back in Europe with his feet up I reckon.
- Dave
  
  Cadel is far funnier than Richie Porte!
  
  I guess that’s the difference between a TdF winner and a guy who races as twelfth man (carrying the drinks) for the poms.
- Pete
  
  It’s going to be very hard to snatch that jersey away from a OGE rider…
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Discussion thread #3: What are some of your favorite moments from Dan Jones’ Backstage Pass?
- echidna_sg
  
  MSR in car footage of stevo and whitey losing it. superb.
  
  the whole feel of the team culture and the sport they portray to the viewer are fantastic. All the other teams efforts aren’t up to par (yet) in comparison and certainly none of them seem to enjoy themselves as much!
  - Notso Swift
    
    Yep, the first really big win was the best
    - Abdu
      
      I just wish Dan hadn’t told us lots of his clips are staged…poor form.
      - Richard Riley
        
        Yet honest.
- dbranson
  
  AC/DC tribute by far. The boys almost died making it!
- Dave
  
  Call Me Maybe, because it was the one that really put it on the map outside of their Australian fans and had no previous expectations to live up to.
  
  Docker and Beppu giving their Top 5 tips for riding the cobbles earlier this year - Froomey might want to pull up that one before the 2014 TdF gets underway.
  
  The hamburger contest with the Orica Bomb was a good one, Richie Porte made it onto the stage video a few days later when he pulled alongside Stevo and asked about his ring of fire.
  
  Can you imagine Team Sky managing to put together a fun video instead of their po-faced details on technical equipment? Only if their sports scientists were somehow able to prove it would get them some kind of marginal gain.
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Discussion thread #4: Recovery. Are you an intensity junkie? Or do you make time for recovery rides?
- jules
  
  i have chronic issues with this. i try to regulate my intensity but i always seem to end up tired. then i can’t do high intensity work. i suspect a lot has to do with work - my form lifts during holidays.
- Nitro
  
  Try for recovery rides, but when both myself and the guys I ride with don’t get to ride any more than 2-3 times a week, its hard to convince anyone not to turn every ride into a smash fest.. Even the “friendly rides” start out slowly, someone gets bored and ramps it up a bit, and then its on !
  - Dave
    
    Even a commute ride has the potential to get too serious!
    
    Another rider who blasts past you needs to be brought back, and if you see some other rider get through a set of lights one cycle ahead it simply means you’re in an Aussie-style handicap race.
  - dcaspira
    
    Recovery needs to be attractive, perhaps recovery rides at the local velodrome with your local CT crew after the show? Meet new people, chat about the show, no big ring allowed - etc.
- Justin
  
  Show me the athlete who fully understands recovery and I’ll guarantee they are competitive when it counts. It’s harder to do recovery properly ime than hard intervals. One means moderation which is inimical to the human psyche and the other is the enemy of the athlete ie extremism.
  So to the question …I’m way past any interest in structured training but in my prime I was an intensity junky much to my long term detriment.
- SuperDom
  
  All my rides are recovery rides.
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Discussion thread #5: The Hot Lap: Who do you think will win: Smiley Sam or cousin Chris?
- Nitro
  
  What I want to know is when is the 3rd member of the Bike Lane panel going to hit the hot lap ? We’re all waiting…
  - Scott McGrory
    
    Yeeeeeesssssss!
    - Craig
      
      And surely the Hot Lap is the only real way that Evans can finally step out of the McGory shadow!
      - Matt Keenan
        
        I much prefer Craig’s idea than Nitro’s. And Scott versus Cadel on the Hot Lap, my money is on Scott. Mr Ergo is the master of this sort of effort. 50 laps of the Hot Lap however…
        
        Scott McGrory
        
        I’m hearing you! Cadel would have to bow to me ‘a’ Hot Lap!!! But after 5 or 10 then I might just be on my hands and knees kissing his shoes…lol
        
        Dave
        
        Kissing them or vomiting on them?
    - jules
      
      clearly Scott believes he’s got the wood over Keenan
- Abdu
  
  Who is cousin Chris?
  - Dave
    
    They were on MKR together.
- Abdu
  
  How about an AFL footballer, if only to show how slow they would be? Or the PM, he’s supposed to be a cyclist isn’t he…?
  - http://davidjohnstone.net/ David
    
    I remember a few years back there was a Wattbike set up at some event, and they were getting people on it to see who could put out the most watts. In the end, the winner was some amateur footballer who put out 1800W+. That’s different to a 80s effort, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some footballers could beat most of us.
    
    I’d love to see the PM do it!
  - Dave
    
    I think the PM wouldn’t be that stupid, he’s not *really* a cyclist as anybody who has seen how nervous and uncomfortable he is on the bike would know. I saw him and his security detail out on Mount Barker Road* one time he was in Adelaide for something last year, I’ve seen people descend that road on MTBs far faster than he was on a full carbon racer. It was annoying, even on my flat bar road bike with panniers attached for a serious commute I was having to ride the brakes to stop catching up to the back of his group.
    
    Tony’s cycling is all about his macho action man public image, simply appropriating cycling as a way to put that on display. I understand that his staff always makes sure there is a bike ready for him to do a quick early morning blast on a popular route (often hijacking a shop ride, and of course the press are told where and when) each day when he’s somewhere other than Sydney or Canberra. Until Cadel Evans started doing well at the TdF in the late 2000s and cycling as a sport took on a new popularity he would usually just go for a run or a swim each day.
    
    * a twisty climb which was once the main road out of Adelaide into the hills and towards Melbourne, now bypassed by a freeway and partially converted into an excellent route for cycling with generous-width bike lanes separated in parts.
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Discussion thread #6: What’s on your mind? Let us know the topics you’d like to discuss in the next episode.
- Nitro
  
  When is it worth getting a coach / structured training plan?
  
  If you’re a recreational cyclist, but seeking to get better / train for a big event, is it worth getting some “professional” help or does this only make sense if you’re (a) racing and / or (b) very good…?
  
  Happy to hit the ergo (Yes Scott, we do listen to you) and smash out the Sufferfest videos, but is there benefit to more structure?
  
  (And if yes - where do you start looking for a coach / what do you look for / what questions should we ask?)
- Abdu
  
  Wearable technology and technologically advanced and performing clothing.
  
  I am of the view that many aspects of cycling are very very slow with technological advancement. Just like cars are still big hunks of metal with four rubber tyres as they were 50 years ago (the only ‘technology’ is external devices that haven’t come from the car industry), a couple of things like ABS just don’t rate.
  
  I reckon we are short changed by the bike industry to a degree, we are still riding pretty similar shaped bikes and without much change for 20+ years. Di2 is ok, but not a major advance.
  
  Helmets aren’t much safer, just a bit more aero. Jerseys and nicks still shred and don’t protect road rash (imagine the Kevlar jeans like motorbike riders have?).
  
  Why do we still strap on the HR band and look down at a Garmin? Why don’t we have jerseys etc that ‘read’ our HR, helmets that carry ear buds inbuilt, or even a decent way to hold my iPhone and cards that isn’t a ziplock sandwich bag…?
- Wish I was on the bike…
  
  The potential for OGE to monopolise the Nationals. My thinking is about the race strategy. I am aware of the talk/ perceptions of influence of the governance of the sport in AUS and selections of National teams etc, though see this as a different matter.
  
  How do we make the Nationals as fair as possible so all highly talented riders have a real chance, not just those in OGE kit?
  - Dave
    
    State colours with space on the front of the jersey for a team/club logo.
- Wish I was on the bike…
  
  What is the current standing of the HOur Record in the sport? What sort of rider would be a good candidate and what insight can an expert (VIS coach?) provide into the preparations required?
- JC
  
  Black cycling kits. Where’s the safety in them? Living near 1,20 people in black with no lights and in the shadows of the trees. No wonder drivers are frustrated and why cyclists have close calls because they are not seen.
ed - sydney

I ride how I drive a car. Ride predictably, ie hold my line & stay in my lane, use lights, maintain eye contact & acknowledge drivers when they let you in or give you space.
ben

err Scott, isn’t the whole point about Movember that you’re supposed to talk up the reasons for growing a moustache? It’s meant as a talking point precisely as they are so clearly awkward?
- Scott McGrory
  
  Yes for sure Ben, I’m just saying regular moustache wearing men might feel strange hearing Movemberists explaining how embarrassing their Mo’s are. We’re effectively saying you’re weird if you have a Mo during the other 11 months of the year. My 4 brothers have had, or have, Mo’s at stages in their lives, so I feel qualified to answer this one.
  - echidna_sg
    
    get ya brothers onto the hot lap ;-)
  - tomness
    
    Scott
    
    I agree with your comment. I have now been bearing a mo for over a quarter of my life and the “novelty” effect of Movember does slightly irk me . I am all for the charity and raising awareness and I cannot deny that Movember is very successful in this regard. However I am not so keen on how mo’s are considered a bit of a lark for one month a year.
    It would be great if more guys pushed through the one month old, porn star look weedy mustache and embraced their outer mo. Try it. You may like it.
    - Scott McGrory
      
      Respect Sir!
    - a different ben
      
      You might be interested in this campaign to save the lip weasel… http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/143384-save-the-lip-weasel/page__view__findpost__p__2943170
- Paolo
  
  Unfortunately half the guys i know, who take part in Movember don’t even know whats the reason behind it. Nor do they care.
  - Matt Keenan
    
    This is the first time I’ve taken part in Movember and the first time I’ve really understood what it’s all about. The mental health element really got my attention as most people, particularly men, are terrible at seeking help on mental health related issues.
    - Abdu
      
      I thought it was for Prostrate Cancer? I had a Prostrate exam last year as part of Movember and reckon my mo grew as a result!
      - Guest
        
        You mean prostate. But I’m still laughing
  - geoff Duke
    
    As is the case with many charity events. Most people do them for the fun not the cause.
Steve J

Gents - you’ve got a proper TV show on the go these days - well done.
- dbranson
  
  More like the best damn cycling show on the go these days! :D
  - http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
    
    Thanks guys. We have a blast making each episode. I hope that comes through!
Mike Hone

Wade, my training and riding is suffering too. Holy moly.
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Don’t fight it, embrace it!
  
  I now think that Masters racing should be graded by time training per week, not age.
jd1566

The single best way of getting driver’s to respect cyclists is to require a week of road-cycling for all driver licence applications. Requiring people to ride in traffic is simply eye-opening for drivers with respect to giving adequate space, and understanding why cyclists may go through a red. Another practical measure would be to allow cyclists to treat a stop light as a yield sign when turning left. Both cyclists and road users need to respect driving rules, and each other, and the only way that will happen is if the rules are practical and drivers know what a cyclist feels like.