That Triathlon Life Podcast - Ironman World Championships in Nice, pacing climbs in a triathlon, junk food after a race, and more!

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

This week we start out with our thoughts on the upcoming Ironman World Championships in Nice, France for the men. We then move onto your questions about persistent flat tires, creating safe routes when away from home, dealing with jet leg for a race, and more! To submit your own questions, as well as become a podcast supporter, head over to http://www.thattriathlonlife.com

Hey, everyone, welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Erica Loggestrom. Hi, I'm Paula Finley. I'm Nick Goldston. And this is our triathlon podcast. We mostly take questions from listeners and do our best to answer them and hopefully share some useful information. But we also talk a little bit about what's going on in the triathlon world, what's going on in our triathlon world. Paul and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is a professional musician, great friend, and amateur triathletes.

So he brings a little bit more of a, I know, sometimes it doesn't occur to a Paul and I to think of certain aspects of the sport. But Knicks here for that. Eric, are you racing Iron Man World Championships this weekend? You're a triathlet. You're a professional triathlet, so you do the Iron Man World Championships, right? For those who don't know, the men's Iron Man World Championships are in Nice this weekend, the first time that they haven't been in Kona.

And I would actually be interested in doing that course. I've never been particularly interested in doing Kona because of the heat and just the flatness and the highway. but the course in Nice is really, really cool. Amazing roads. We actually raced their 70.3 rules in 2019. Similar course, not exactly the same. It's a lot of climbing, but more importantly, it's a lot of descending.

And turning. And lots of corners and turns, very technical. So I think it'll be interesting to see people's bike setups. Like, do people use disc wheels? Do people use road bikes with arrow extensions? There's a lot of decisions to be made that, aren't decisions that need to be made in other races. So it's kind of cool.

Do you guys think the climbs or the descents are going to be more of the dividers amongst the cyclists? Really? I mean, I think things are going to happen on the climbs for sure, especially a little bit later in the race. Yeah, the problem is the climbs are early, so everyone's fresh or early. And a hammer. And then you get to the top of the climbs, you still have 100K of riding. at least my experience when I did that race

I got to the top of the Col de Vance with the lead group and then got popped because I can't descend well so I think the skill aspect knowing the course

people that ride it a lot and can descend an arrow are gonna thrive they basically need to be a complete well-rounded athlete you need to be able climb with the best

and then descend faster than those people yeah yeah I do wonder how much I mean yes the descending of course is good. You see it even at like a pro tour level, right?

Like someone like El Philippe descending really well and passing people on descends. Like it can happen even at that level. And in triathlon, I think we have a much wider spread of skills in descending than you have at the pro tour cycling level. But even still, like you spend so much time climbing. And there's so many people that we're used to seeing at Kona that are just in a bike pack.

You know, I'm thinking of someone like Patrick Lange, who then does nothing special on the bike, but then runs an amazing marathon. I just think people like that are going to have a really hard time with those big climbs. The group dynamic is just going to be more mental than it is aerodynamic, and people are just not going to be able to hang. Possibly. It is true that there will be less of benefit from being in groups.

I think you could be solo the whole time, and it wouldn't matter necessarily that much as it would in Cona or some other race. It's funny, Paula, you I think would actually, you say you wouldn't do well on the dissents, but do you feel like you've gotten better at descending since you've raised 70.3 worlds there? Because I feel like those climbs you've gotten so strong on the bike that I think a course like this could actually be really good for you. I was riding well back then on the uphills as well. Like my whatever, my power's not crazy different now. But yeah, maybe my descending's better at this point.

I think I was one of the only people that used a disc wheel in that race. I remember trekking in my bike and no one at a disc. except me. So I was questioning that decision. It's a bit heavier. But there are some flat sections of this course and even on the upper part when you get to the top of the climb. There's some like rolling T-T sections. So I don't know. I don't know what the right call is on wheels. What would you do now? If you were racing Iron Man World Championships there, 858s? Yeah, I'd probably do the 858s. On a TT bike, on a triathlon bike, not on any kind of hybrid. Yeah, we're very fortunate that we get that bike. The shift T.T.T. is so light.

Like all these people riding the Canyon tri-bike, I don't know why they aren't riding the Canyon T-T bike for this course. Right. Because I imagine it's lighter, just like the Shiv T-T. But I don't know. We'll see. Kind of depends on what fuel you need to carry

with you, where there are aid stations. Yeah, obviously it's much trickier for that. Yeah, like if there were aid stations at the top of hills so that you could basically ride up the first bit with only one bottle and then grab a bottle at the top. And, you know, I think there's a lot of There's a lot of interesting things like this.

We all know kind of like the little secrets and the tricks for Kona, but this is like starting from zero, and there's a whole bunch of new questions. And for those who don't remember, Gustav Eden, who is currently kind of dealing with an injury, but is really one of the best in the sport, he won 70.3 Worlds at Nice on a road bike, and that kind of shocked everybody.

So I wonder how much even that, even from that long ago, is still affecting people's decision on what kind of set up to ride this weekend. Yeah, different for an Iron Man, though. Yeah. Does anyone know what time it starts? Yeah, the pro men start at 6.50 a.m. local time, which is 12.50 Eastern and 9.50 p.m. Pacific time. So not a great time to watch. That's going to be a rough one to watch.

Yeah, that's literally all night. Wow. Yeah. Might not be watching it. Yeah, that's a tough one. Oh, man. I have to, though. Five. Why do you have to? and not check social media, but start back at the beginning of the live broadcast. I don't have to, but like, it's once a year. It's such a big deal. I want to. It's a little easier for you than it is for us, too. You've got a little bit of experience, stand-up late, doing artist and things.

Yep, that's right. I'm going to an after-party tonight at like 11 p.m. For actually, Kingfish is playing the Hollywood Bowl, and I'm going to an after-party downtown for it. But if you want to watch the race, you can watch it at Ironman.com slash live or just go to their YouTube page and you can stream it for free from there. YouTube's pretty sweet. If you have the tenacity, perseverance to stay up and watch it. I mean, it'll be an exciting race, I think, no matter what, especially considering what happened to 70.3 worlds.

Okay, well, we're going to get back to some neat stuff in a second here. But first of all, I wanted to say that this podcast, as you can tell, we don't do any ad reads, but we do have podcast supporters that help the podcast go forward, and we really appreciate them. And we try to as often as possible pick one person each week that's a podcast supporter and send them a little something.

So this week we put in our random number generator and picked a random podcast supporter and found that Maggie Mangus from Wisconsin. Did we say she's from Madison? Madison, Wisconsin. Madison. I love Madison. I mean neighbors with Jackie. It was almost a year ago that I did that race

the full and DNF'd. But Maggie, you were going to get a pair of TTL socks. So did we have, we did not have her address, right? So we need her address. No, we do. We do.

Message next, just in case. Yeah. Yep, you can message me, make sure that the address is correct, and we'll send you those socks. I'll be the one that sends you the socks from LA. So yeah, and if you are interested in potentially being included in this drawing,

all you got to do is go to that triathlonlife.com slash podcast. You can become a podcast supporter there. That's also where you can submit questions for the podcast, which is kind of the whole thing we're doing here. If we run out of questions, we're done. We're just chatting. Keep them coming.

And also on that triathlonlife.com, we have a bunch of apparel that we hope you will love, that we put a lot of heart and time into. So, first thing I want to do is update on something that we talked about last week. That was confounding all three of us, which is, are USAT officials, volunteers, Are they paid? Are they paid by the race? Are they paid by USAT? How does it all work? And just for people who are curious, when you do USAT sanctioned races, there are officials that are going around on motorcycles that are making sure that rules of racing are being abided by. And because of the controversy with Lionel and a lot of penalties that were given out in the women's race as well last week, we kind of, that question arose. So we got an answer from a USAT official.

And this is exactly what Candice said. We are volunteers, but there is a lot of training going into this. An interview, classroom certifications, a race practicum, shadowed by a more experienced official, and maintaining the certification. I am a new official, and it is my way of giving back to the sport. I'm a rule follower and understand that there is a balance. We are constantly reminded that we are ambassadors of the sport. Love the podcast, full supporter here, love Candace.

So it is a volunteer. I was right. Yes, yes. That's exactly what I expected and what I said. It's not like they just pulled three random people out of the crowd on race morning. Like there is a bunch of certification and stuff, but these are still people who are doing this out of the kindness of their heart because they like the sport. So how does that make you guys feel as professionals knowing that your career can be on the line,

especially for a race like world championships, when the person that's there is, the only thing that's keeping them there is their own free will. They're not obliged to be there. Yeah, I think, like, the potential issue for me is, is that this person knows who Paula is. This person knows who Yon is, and they know how important it is to them

to not get a penalty, how that affects their livelihood, et cetera, versus if you just pulled five basketball referees who had no idea who anybody was, they're going to treat every single athlete exactly the same. They're not really going to care as much as someone who's like a fan of the sport in the way that a volunteer from the triathlon community would. That's how I look at it.

The thing is, every sport has this dynamic, though, right? There's no NBA referee that doesn't know who LeBron James is. There's no soccer referee who doesn't know who Lionel Messi is. and somehow we're tried to made to believe that they are impartial in their refereeing. It's just a little different when it's like they're volunteering because they're fans of the sport, presumably. So I see the problem there. If you're making calls that involve Lionel Messi, I think you're getting paid pretty well. Like you have a boss, you have, you can be fired.

There's, it's like there's a lot more at risk. and I think it's just a higher level of professionalism. The other side of this is that I am now, I feel so thankful and indebted to these referees that they're doing this as volunteers. Like they're showing up super early on weekends to ride around and not be able to swim bike and run to make sure that our races go well.

And I'm sure they're doing the best job they can. Well, I mean, the entire race revolves around people volunteering. Yeah, that's true. I don't know if people know that. When you're at races, if you're at Iron Man races or your local races, those people like handing out water and snacks and cleaning up, they're not getting paid.

They're volunteers from the local community. Yeah. So you got to be real thankful for those people. Yeah, for sure. So anyway, I think we're going to stand by what we said last week and just that the hope is consistency from race to race. Because I don't think anybody was, like with the exception of what happened with Lionel and, you know, I think that could have been discussed better in the pre-race briefing.

but it wasn't necessarily a complaint of like the rules being enforced. It's like the rules have been enforced to this level before and now they're being enforced twice as hard or half as hard or like what what is the consensus just so that I know. Yeah, how to operate around this corner. Because if you said everybody who bunches up going around a U-turn close inside of the draft zone will get a penalty, nobody would anymore. But for the last 15 years, just U-turn. turns and 9 degree turns have just been, just be safe and we'll look the other way until you get out the other side and you reset.

That's just an example. It makes sense. It makes sense. We do this and everything. Speed limits on the roads. Like, there's no freeway in the United States. They're not suggested. But there's no freeway in the United States

where people are all going the speed limit. There's just like there's certain things that we, but yet you do stop at red lights. No one's just pausing at a red light and going through it, right? We do have certain understanding. standings and flexibilities around certain rules and triathlons no exception to that.

So like you said, consistency. Okay, we're going to move on to our segment. This week we're going to do this or that. That was beautiful, Paula. Really beautiful. Getting better every time. That's right. I think you actually, you might have a slightly perfect pitch.

I think you just sang that in the right key without having it. So just everyone knows when we played that theme song, none of us hear it in the moment. I've pre-recorded those and I put them in later. So when Paula sings it randomly like that and she's singing it on key, that denotes maybe some kind of

extra super ability that you might have. Well, I do have a musical family. That's right. Your mom's a trombonist, right? Yeah, my mom played trombone in university and my uncle and my aunt are professional musicians in the orchestra in Toronto. So it's in my blood a little bit. We expect nothing less.

Oh, speaking of parents, this is kind of a tangent, But my dad just bought a pair of running shoes. He bought Cloud Monsters, and he went on a run with them this morning. My dad, who was 80, and he's been swimming, and he bikes a lot. So I think he's going to try to do his first ever triathlon as an 80 or 81-year-old man. And I told him if he's able to complete it, we could have him as a brief guest on the podcast to see what it's like to do a triathlon as an elder. Yeah, that'd be so cool.

First time we're at 80. Did he like the Cloud Monsters? Well, so keep in mind, the only shoes he's ever run in are, New Balance 990s, I think, almost hip now kind of, but they're like those old school. I know what you're talking about. Like tennis shoes kind of. Yes, like dad shoes, 100%. Okay, okay.

Yes. And so he's running in those, and I'm like, I'm like, Dad, you can't run in those shoes. Those are going to kill you. You get a pair of nice, cushy shoes, and I told them to go for Ons. And I actually told them to go for the cloud surfers, but he went there and he fell in love with the cloud monsters. So he bought a pair of cloud monsters. And he ran in them today, and he's like, I can't even understand.

He said, it's like running on clouds. They're so soft. They felt so good. And he's fine. I taught him how to like lap his watch and go for runs. And he's big into Strava. So he's going to be wrong. Every other day now, trying to get more into it.

I'm going to go follow him right now. Wow, that's so cool. Yeah. Good job, Bill. Yeah. Okay. So this version of this or that, we got a little sidetrack there, but this version of this or that is going to be,

I'm going to give you some kind of question, and you're going to have to tell me if you'd prefer to do that in Nice or in Kona, because it's just so everyone knows, World Championships, Iron Man World Championships traditionally are always in Kona, but this year for the first time, the men's are in Nice, women's are in Kona. And if you didn't already know that, stop listening to this podcast. No, do not, please. We love you.

We love you. Okay, first one, would you rather vacation in Nice, France or Kona, Hawaii. Nice. Nice. Nees. Any more elaboration on why? Because I feel like a lot of people would pick Hawaii.

I think that Eric and I aren't really like beach people. And I think that you could find some cooler like coffee restaurant. Definitely. Stuff in Nice. And you still got the ocean there. There's some mountain biking nearby. There's awesome road biking. Lots of history.

Who cares about the biking? I mean, I would probably, if we were in Nice, I might rent him on a bike. Said as a true Paula Finley. Wait, vacation, what does it depends on vacation? Yeah. I'm not training, but just like, depends how you vacation. What you want to do? If we're just eating around, Nice, probably.

Yeah. Well, of course, France. Okay, that's, well, that kind of is funny because my next question is food. In Nice or in France. And Nice or in Kona, sorry. And obviously you're going to pick me as for that. I would say Nice. Yeah, I don't know that much about Kona, but I can't imagine it's better than

Nise. I just feel like you get like pokey, like a lot of fresh fish. It's kind of my style of eating. Yeah, yeah. It's probably good if you're, especially if you're into seafood. But remember that pizza place we used to go to Nice when we were there? Yeah. And it's not that expensive.

Yeah, it was really good. Eric, I'm already thinking about our first meal in Italy. I'm not sure if we're going to my grandma's house or if we're going to get pizza, but it's one of those two. Those both sound like fantastic options. Okay, next one, would you rather live in Kona or in Nis? I feel like I already know the answer to the rest of these questions now. For this, I might choose Kona.

I don't know, Nis was like hectic. You'd have to change your expectations, like don't drive. Remember, we couldn't really park anywhere. Moped's only. Yeah, different language. Right. I'd have to learn French. I've refreshed my French.

It's in Europe. It's very far from our families. I would have definitely said Nice up until we did our foreign writer film in Kona and kind of saw the deeper cuts, things that are a little off the beaten path, and then that made me think I could live there for a little while and maybe not just instantly be bored with the Kona town.

Yeah. Yeah, the island is so gorgeous, the way that we saw it, the way that he showed it to us. And then finally, if you were racing, and I'm not saying necessarily Iron Man distance, but just in general,

would you rather race Nice or Kona? Nice. I don't know. I'm going to say neither. Neither, or what you really mean is both. Actually,

and why are you more excited to watch this year? Is Nice more exciting because it's different, or are you still kind of like tried and true women's Kona is going to be the big show?

I'm more excited to watch Nice, but I think I'm more like not invested in Kona, but it's, it's interesting to watch athletes that I often race against. So that's a cool aspect. But in terms of like race dynamics and stuff, I think NICE will be really interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that. Really too bad that the timing is, I just realized as we were saying it, it's like right in the middle of the night. Yeah. Yeah.

I think Kona is a better, it's like perfect for us to watch, isn't it? It starts mid-morning and runs to, yeah, yeah. That's okay. Well, okay, cool. That's interesting. I feel like I would have answered those almost all opposite. Yeah, what are your answers? Vacation in Kona, food in Kona, live in Nice, race Kona, and watch Kona.

Wait, you would race Kona over Nise? Of course. You're so good at descending. You're wrong. Well, okay, what I'm good at and what I enjoy aren't always the same thing. I'm not a naturally good triathlet either, but this is the sport I've chosen. That's what I like. So you want to like roast your brains out in Kona?

And do poorly. Nick, I think you would DNF. You know what else is not fun? Swimming 3K in the pool and I just did it an hour ago. But I do it because it's for this cause that I'm doing. It's not, it's not, I'm not trying to do it for it to be fun. I want like a life achievement. You'd pick Kona because it has more of a,

It has more meaning to me. It has more meaning. Yeah. I mean, I remember watching Jan win in 27, 16 or 15 or whatever. That's a fair reason. Not just like all things equal. You'd pick Kona. It's like how the history.

We're doing Iron Man's because it feels good. So Nick is not talking about the Iron Man that takes place on Kona. He's talking about Kona. That's right. The myth. He's got the Kona boner. The counterboner. That's right.

Okay, so we'll move on to questions here. And as I said earlier, you can submit your questions at Thattriathlonlife.com slash podcast. And the first one here is from Chris from Sacramento. Hey, all, love the pod and all that you do. My question is probably mainly for Eric, but I trust whatever any of you guys say. I'm racing Santa Cruz on Sunday, and I'm a bit worried about the bike leg. It's very flat where I live in Sacramento, so I have a tough time practicing any rolling hills. Do you have any advice for riding that course well, since it's mainly rolling hills?

Based on recent lactate testing with my coach, he's confident I can hold 200 to 210 watts, but advice is against going over 250 watts too much. I ride a Cervillo P series with a 5034 chain ring and 1130 cassette, and head RC6 vanquished wheels, if this helps. Thanks, Chris from Sacramento. It's funny because at the pool just now, I had to circle swim as I was telling you guys, and I jumped into a lane with a guy who listens to the podcast, coincidentally. And he's also racing Santa Cruz this weekend.

My friend Serena is also racing Santa Cruz this weekend. There's a lot of people from here that are racing Santa Cruz this weekend. Such a good race. We love that race. We would be if it was a pro race. Yeah. Thanks, Iron Man. Thanks Obama.

Obama? Yeah. Just a thing you say. So what do you think? I mean, how much more should you be pushing on those rolling hills and on the dissents? because there's nothing's that steep. No, but you can, there's some long grinds. They're like four minutes of three percent,

like four percent uphill. And I would say the thing is, if you're not trying to go over 250 watts, which I think is a great idea, do that over, do that 250 watt bit the first like 30 seconds of the client try to carry as much momentum as you can, and then slowly taper back down to like your 210.

Because there, I think, think if you go 250 watts just anytime you're going uphill there's too much uphill based on your sweet spot being 210 so definitely let the power meter be your guide try to carry the momentum into the hill but then try to get back to your like you know the high end of that race power and get that average power as close to there as you can paula you've done that race too yeah but it's all blur so long ago got it i don't remember my power i don't remember anything The thing that I'll say as an age grouper who gets, whose livelihood doesn't depend on this. And so I'm not as dialed in as you guys is I get really excited when I'm going downhill.

And I tend to push harder than I should downhill. And I just want to remind you guys, like if you're going really fast, going 1,000 watts or 2,000 watts, it's like at a certain point the air resistance is so great that it doesn't make that much of a difference. But going up a hill, 1,000 watts or 2,000 watts makes a huge difference. So like Eric said, don't blow yourself up on the climbs, but also you don't have to push 210 when you're going downhill, right? Like, still pedal, but keep it relaxed so you can actually have the energy to do what Eric said, which is like hold that 250 at the beginning of the climb and try to keep it steady

and maybe pull it back towards the top. That's something I have to remind myself of all the time that I'm sure you professionals know. Yeah, we can't ever ease off on the downhills or the uphills. Yeah, you guys have to stay in a pack. that's a little different. Yeah. Like Flynn in the forest, like you get so excited, he goes 200% effort. Yeah.

For no reason. Yeah. And then he's toast. Yeah. Take advantage of those rollers to like just get a little bit of energy back when you're going down and focus. Instead of peddling hard, just focus on staying as arrow as possible and still being safe.

Yeah. Next question here is from Brian from Long Beach, California. Oh boy. this has given me some PTSD. Two flats, one ride. Last week's episode, Nick touched on having two flats in the same ride. I had a question regarding flat frequencies. Last summer, I upgraded to a Cervello from a mid-80 steel frame.

Steel frame, that's awesome. The steel frame, Kabuchi, I got free around 2010 and put maybe a thousand miles a year on it with only two flats in that time. That's crazy, by the way. That's like unheard of, and no one is getting two flats over the course of 12 years. wild. That's just wild. Needless to say, test riding my now Cervello 3T with Williams WS30 wheels felt like I was getting pushed, of course. However, in the last 12 months, I think I've had over 10 flats. Last week I had two in the same ride. Nine of them have been on the back wheel

and have hardly biked this summer since I'm running more to train for a marathon. After two flats, I upgraded to a super sport anti-puncture tire, but they just keep coming. I've had the wheel checked out different tires, but I'm losing my patience. Anything else that I could look for that could be causing me to lose my mind. Thanks, Brian from Long Beach. So first of all, is 10 flats over the course of 12 months? Do we think that's low, high, normal? That's totally out of control.

I mean, we're getting like maybe one flat at a year right now. Yeah, I haven't... Since we switched to tubeless, I think I've had one flat over the course of like five years. Yeah, but there's no way this guy is running tubeless. right? We agree this guy's running intertips. Relevant. Prior to tubeless, maybe we had two flats a year. Yeah, it was pretty uncommon. This reminds me of when I first got my first road bike

and I didn't know the frequency of flats and I was getting a ton of flats and then I found out that there was like part, the tire was manufactured improperly and there was like threads on the inside of the tire that were sticking out that were puncturing my inner tubes. And I wasn't smart enough to know to check. That's crazy.

Yeah, but this guy's on his like third type of tire. Anytime that I've had a flat with a tube, you take the tube out and then you blow some air into it and you see where exactly the hole is. Is it on the rim side? Is it on the tire side? And then you use that to locate where the piece of glass or like the little sliver of metal might be or if it's on the inside or if it's been pinch flatted because you pumped it up improperly. Yeah, that's a good idea. Like kind of cadivering the actual tube once it's flat to figure out the location and the cause. Because it could be it's always underneath on the rim side in one spot and the rim tape is too thin and it's actually cutting into like one of the nipple holes from the spokes. Yeah, because at this point it's more likely that it's a wheel issue than a tire issue if you've tried different tires, right? Yeah, or you're just the world's unluckiest. I'd be curious about what PSI, Brian is pumping up to either way too low or way too much potentially could.

I mean, if you're doing way too much, those flats would be like catastrophic flats. They would be blowing the tire off the side of the rim. Yeah. Yeah. But with tubes, are you supposed to keep, you can't have too low, otherwise you get pinch flats? Right. Which I think would be pretty obvious. You would all of a sudden have a large impact and therefore, and I have a flat immediately after.

You know, it's like you don't get a pinch flat and not realize it. Yeah, are these slow leaks or these bombs? We got to get on the inside. We've got to look at these tubes. We've got to do some research. We've got to look at these tubes. See what's going on. See how they died.

That's the solution. It's also so expensive to get flats. Like tubes are not that cheap. Tell me about it. If you keep getting like an $8 tube, $8 tube, $8 a ride, that's insane. I think all three of us would say if it's possible and a very, very good solution to this is to convert to a tubeless setup. It's like Paul and Eric said, they barely get flats ever. And on my TT bike, I am tubeless and I have not gotten a flat in years.

On my mountain bike, I'm tubeless. I mean, I have gotten flats. And always it's because the sealant dried up, which is user error, not because of anything that's wrong with the tire or the wheel. Yeah. Even the installation is pretty quick. Eric, does it very fast. I mean, I will say that putting those tires on and off is one of my least favorite things on earth.

But once they are on, like, that's it. You're good. It only depends on what wheels set you have. And you have to take the tire off to put sealant in? Eric, do you? I don't. I take the valve core out and put the sealant through there and then put a new valve core in. But do you kind of just like pull it off?

I mean, usually I won't pull the core out just because before a race, I'm just pulling the side of the tire off to check and see if there's still wet sealant in there. And then with that little part that I've pulled off, it just drips some more sealant in there. makes a little bit more mess than if you go in through the valve hole, but that's how I do it. And that still preserves some of the spot where the tire bead is hooked onto the rim for easier inflation. For whatever reason, both wheel sets that I have, it's really, really hard to get that bead on and off.

So I kind of lazily just, when I feel like it's been like a few too many months, I just put more ceiling in through the valve. Yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Yeah. So what's our final suggestion to Brian? Check where the inner tube is getting the flat. And Eric, have you ever done the thing where you inflate the tube and if you can't find the flap because it's a small thing?

You can put it in water and see where it bubbles. Yeah, I'll resort to that. Or I just keep pumping it more and more and more and more until it... Oh, yeah. Because usually, like, I'm trying to figure this out on the road. You're like, is this the rim or is there a piece of glass sitting to get out of the tire, etc. So usually I'll do that. And if I can't figure it out, then I'm just assuming it's...

a tiny little hole. Until you get 10 flats, then we'll do the deep dive. Yeah. Right. Okay, cool. Well, let us know if you are able to fix that,

Brian. That sounds extremely frustrating, especially two-in-one ride. Let me know. Let Nick now. Yeah, the message Paula directly. Send her a letter, actually. She loves to hear about it.

Okay, next question here. This one's from Carl. Hello, a question for Paula and Eric about, what the right equipment is. I myself have mediocre equipment, such as a wetsuit, no disc wheel, mid-range trisuit, an okay bike,

good gear, but not top of the line. To get into the top three at World Championships is first-class equipment necessary. I myself came in fifth place in the World Championship, age group 60 to 64, just over one minute up third place. Maybe I have to buy good gear to compete

and give myself a chance for the podium next time because it's very close between the top contenders. I understand that the obvious answer is it depends, but please elaborate a bit on your thoughts on equipment selection as it pertains to top placing in Iron Man 70.3. Regards, Carl. Yeah, it's a good question because when we talk about there's so many marginal gains to make performance-wise before spending money on gear, I think in this particular instance, he's kind of at that point now and that level now where new gear could save several minutes. Don't you think? Yeah. And I think that just breaking it down into what's the least expensive option for the most gain,

like a better arrow helmet, a more comfortable, buoyant wetsuit, things like that, like maybe set yourself a budget of $2,000. What can you replace an upgrade to, yeah, fit within $2,000? Exactly. And I think that you could for sure make up at least a minute. I'm kind of curious. I wonder at how much, what the speed, for example, just on the bike of a 60 to 64 age group winner is compared to a 30 to 34.

How much of a different it makes. I'm like a few miles an hour. I think that it's a fast age group still. Yeah, it's surprisingly, they're surprisingly fast. Yeah. And it's a guy, right? Yeah, the fact that he got to top five in world championships means, he's extremely fast

and I bet that all the other people he's racing against that are there have brand new super awesome awesome stuff if you're 60 to 64 and you're racing real championships and you don't have the best gear what are you even doing like this is

it's for you the super fancy bikes the super fancy wetsies the super fancy gears we are hoping that you will buy them to keep the triathlon world going but I love that this person doesn't have all that and they're still super good athlete. Another thing I'd say is just reach out to maybe get some secondhand stuff. I'm not going to say we have wet suits for

sale because then my inbox floods with hundreds of requests, but a professional athlete that has something used, they don't need anymore and they're selling for half of retail or something, but it's the best top of the line thing that is gently used. So look at pros closet. keep your eye out for that kind of thing as well for less expensive upgrades. If we're trying to look for the biggest bang for the buck, it depends on how cheaply you can get a disc versus having a pretty deep section wheel at front.

Like an 858 set versus a 454 set is a pretty significant difference versus going from an 858 rear to a disc is less of a difference with just being the rear and stuff. So if we're trying to maximize the thing, maximize the speed change. Maybe, yeah. Yeah.

Eric has some Argon 18s for sale. TriBikes top of the line. We'll give you a great deal, Carl. Yeah, Carl, slide into the DMs. But that's awesome. I hope that you can get on the podium next year. Yeah. Yeah, that's great.

I hope I'm still racing at 60 to 64, and maybe finally then I'll qualify for World Championships. Next question is from Grayson. Been a fan of the pod for as long as it's been around, but a fan of the tube for even longer, the YouTube, that is. My question is for Eric, but probably some Nick and Paula knowledge too. It's not dramatic to say your videos are like watching a short at an outdoor film festival. The music, the footage, the storyline, not to hate on the original material because, like I said, I've been a big fan from the start, but it doesn't take a film major to recognize some serious growth

and innovation in the creative and production front talking about you, Eric. I know y'all have done a deep dive on camera equipment in the past, but my question is more about video editing software, music choice and rights to use it, storyboarding and scripting, audio and video and video headphones, YouTube analytics if you care, and anything you'd be willing to share about what makes a successful YouTube video and some of the process changes you've made along the way. Thanks for all you do. Truly appreciative, Grayson. So, Eric, how much do you think that stuff actually contributes to a good or not good YouTube video? I think you could have a wildly successful YouTube channel using an iPhone. That's exactly what I was thinking.

And I would maybe get a decent microphone to attach to the iPhone. But like the image quality doesn't really matter that much. Being able to understand what everyone is saying, that definitely is important. Because more and more YouTube from what I've observed is about. conveying information, compelling, and a compelling storyline, maybe. But like, people want to learn stuff. People want to go to YouTube to get to learn stuff and be a little bit entertained in the process. So me getting state-of-the-art cameras and lenses and using video editing software that professionals, quote-unquote, use completely overkill, but it makes me interested to

continue making YouTube videos after I've been doing it for three years. And I identify with the higher production quality of that. And being able to use different, like a zoom lens versus a wide angle lens and all that stuff, keeps me excited. But we could 100% get the point across, have a very entertaining thing with an iPhone, for sure. And you use iPhone and the YouTube videos all the time, actually, right? When you're out on the bike or on a run or something, and you just can't bring a whole camera around. Yeah, I don't know who said it first, but there's a quote that's something like, the best camera for the job. job is the one that you actually use. And if I can't, if you, if you're, you know, $30,000 red camera

takes a minute to start up and you miss the shot every time versus you whip out your iPhone and you got the moment happening, that's the shot. That's the best, that's the best camera for the job. And I think people, they watch your YouTube videos and they, they think they're having an emotional reaction to the quality of the footage, but they're having an emotional reaction to the quality of the storytelling. That's how, that's what I think. Like, I think if you gave someone that didn't know what they were doing a nice camera and you gave Eric a little GoPro, you're still going to prefer Eric's version of things because he's so used to telling a story through, through the lens and he knows how to stitch things together. And it doesn't matter. Like,

Eric, you use DaVinci Resolve now, but you used to use Final Cut. And no one knows when you made that transition. You could use anything. It's not about that. switched? Yeah. You switched to Nix program. Yeah. Back when we were doing the Foreign Rider film. I didn't know you had officially switched, though.

I just started learning it and then just like kind of committed to it one day. Around at the time when I started doing every other week, I had a little bit extra time to learn it. But like no one can tell. I think maybe the colors are a little better now just because you have put more work into it. But no, it's not about that software stuff. I will say the thing that strikes me as someone who, also kind of makes film sometimes is it's what like the camera stuff that Eric was saying that he likes it like the YouTube videos that Eric and I watch a lot of times are videos about camera

equipment and this kind of stuff so we're more likely to want to use that stuff and want to get that stuff and like that's kind of like the self-fulfilling prophecy within there like Eric's saying that YouTube is somewhat about education and entertainment like a cross-section between those two things and we just like the camera stuff so we put it in there but it's totally not necessary it's just like that. that's Eric's brand now. That's like in your DNA now. Well, also Eric's being asked to do more stuff for brands that needs to look more professional,

not necessarily for YouTube. So that's at least how he justifies it to me to buy the fancy drone. Right, of course. Of course. That's what I was going to say, actually. I mean, that's always been part of my game plan, if you want to say that, is that I want our stuff to be so good that specialized or DeBore or Wahoo will feel comfortable reposting it or collaborative, doing a collaborative post with it,

or would potentially ask me to make a film for them the next time they need a special on Paula Finley getting ready for 70.3 World Championships or whatever. I take pride in that and want that to be part of my career in the future. So getting practiced with those higher-end things is good. Awesome. Awesome. Love it. Next question here is from Florian. Hi, I'll found your podcast in June,

and I'm looking forward to each new episode. Luckily, I still have some older episodes left. Flore and Angard, he's taking time from training to ask a question on the podcast. Thanks, Flo. Luckily, I still have some older episodes left. I come up with questions all the time, but I forget them before sending them. After my most recent half this last Sunday, the most important question so far came up that will not go out of my head since.

How would you rate McDonald's or something similar as post-race treat? I was thinking easy carbs, protein, salt, calories. It has it all, doesn't it? Or is that wishful thinking? Curious to hear your opinions. So what do you think? Are there any rules about a post-race treat or does anything go? I think anything goes.

And I was just going to say probably more often than not we want burgers after a 70.3. Like it usually ends up there because that's something we almost never get. Right. Like the salty, fatty. Yeah. That's what he's saying. You don't really want sweet stuff? Impossible you could be hungry after.

Yeah. Like so many gels, so many sport drinks. Sweet stuff doesn't sound that good, but something that's more substantial does. And you also get this feeling like, oh my gosh, I've missed like, I didn't have a good dinner last night. I missed breakfast. I missed lunch. So I need something bigger. So that's where I.

Nick, you and I went to, was it five guys after 70.3 worlds? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we did. It was five guys. five guys. Oh, that was good. That was good. Or Eric had to race the next day so he didn't come with us. Oh, no. I'm sorry. I mean, with regards to like McDonald's, I just, that never sounds good to me.

Yeah. So it's like, might as well get a really good version of whatever it is. But if McDonald's, that's like, man, that sounds the best ever. Then like to each their own. It's totally fine. I just, like you said, though, I want a big, juicy, good. burger and McDonald's is none of those things. I mean, you might enjoy it, but I don't want to yuck your yum, Florian. So if it's McDonald's for you, but yeah, it's like, is it even a

McDonald's? McDonald's, for some people, has a nostalgic effect. Like when I was a kid, we would go to McDonald's, and it was a treat. And I'd get chicken nuggets and I'd get fries and nothing else tastes like it. So it's not all about being the most extravagant, elegant burger you've ever had. Oh, elegant, yeah. It's like a treat. Yeah, right. Whatever sounds like a treat.

Whatever sounds like a treat. Throwing a McFlurry in there and then I feel like it's a little more understandable. I'm down for McFlurries. Yeah, also sometimes don't we drive through McDonald's just to get fries only? Yeah. Frosties. Sometimes we do that. Frosties is Wendy's Eric.

Read a book. McDonald's is McFloor's. I don't know. I just drive. Just go where I'm told. We do Derek Queen, too. Read a book. I got to Wendy's for some dilly bars or what?

No. What are dilly bars? Is that a Canadian? The Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen. Dalybar, you dummy. Very nice.

Very nice. Very nice. Okay, love it. Okay, next question here. Let's get away from that one. The next question here is from Olman. Hey, hello TTL fam. I hope everyone is well after a demanding series of races in Europe.

As you were recently on your Euro trip very far from home, it makes me wonder, How would you find good and safe routes for biking and running while you're traveling or doing a road trip? Thanks for all the content and info that you share with us. Pura Vida, Oman. Do not follow a Strava suggested route. That is my number one rule. And basically do not go anywhere in the USA. Oh, wow, that's easy.

So just don't travel and don't use Strava. Just stay indoors. Yeah, Zwift on your trainer. No, I think that when I were in Europe, it was much simple. to find safe routes. And I just felt safer in general. The cars are smaller, they move over. I don't know, the pavement's better.

A lot of the time in the U.S., you can just suddenly find yourself on a freeway with a light every, you know, 100 meters. Yeah. So. Usually what I do is I will use the Strava heat maps. That's the best.

And I'll go and try to like look at what's the darkest and then I'll usually try to drop a pin on Google Maps and see if like, that's actually a bike path, or if it's just there's one dude who's been commuting since 2012 up and down, up and down, up and down. You're saying use street view

to see what the actual road looks like. Exactly. I'll try to just street view every couple miles to see if there, is there a bike lane or do people here just have like a different tolerance level? And usually this is when I'm thinking about planning a ride for Paul and I, when it's just me,

I'm slightly more laissez-faire about it and like relaxed. But I'm going to take a ride I guess he reads a few books at this guy. He sounds smart. But the reason I say don't use the Strava suggested routes is every time I've done that, it just, it takes me on some really strange thing because it's just like, oh, I want to get you from here to here using places that people have ridden their bikes ever. And when we were in Glasgow, it was like taking me on walking paths that were one person wide underneath an underpass. And like, yes, this is safer than the road, five feet over there.

but now I'm dodging pedestrians and maybe if I was a commuter this would have made sense but as a person trying to get in a training session not optimal. A good tip is to never bring your bike on trips unless you're going to a race and it's much easier to find safe running routes

because most big cities have a bike path or some kind of infrastructure to exercise on. Milwaukee had a great bike path so everyone thought the riding was bad there but the bike path was actually great. So I don't know, I don't know, running shoes are just a better option if you're just looking for like exercise on holiday. Versus if you're at a race, at a triathlon, you probably want to preview the course if it's safe to do that.

So do your research and see if that's possible at any point in the week. And variable terrain is just so much easier to deal with in a pinch on running while running compared to biking. That's my problem, Eric, with the Strava recommended routes, is that you'll say I want a road-only route. and it just Strava is just not right. And actually, every time I've done that, it has brought me on to dirt. Oh, wow, really? Yeah, it has brought me on.

And maybe they've changed it since then, because I got very frustrated with that feature when it first came out and just swore it off. And I do exactly what you do. I just use the heat maps to make things. But I did not think of the idea to use Google Street View to actually check if certain roads were paved or not.

That's really, that seems like a great hack. Yeah. The last thing that I'll say is when I do the, Check the roots. If I see, like in Milwaukee, I thought that there was a bike path there. And then I went and actually found a segment that was on that bike path. And then I clicked on some rides of like the top 10 people to see what type of rides they were doing. And they were doing like intervals, intervals, threshold.

So I was like, okay, we can actually ride fast on this bike path versus it's going to hit a stop sign every 10 feet. I love that idea. Last thing I'll say about this is I use that same technique to see if trails are runnable in like the winter or something. I see, has anyone done this trail in the last week or month? If not, probably not runnable, right? Or same with mountain bike trails. Like, nope, not going to roll the dice on this today. Yeah.

Okay, next question here is from John. Hello from Yorkshire in the north end of England. Love the podcast. It reignited my triathlon spark after a fallow couple of years. I do a chunk, yeah, fallow. A lot of vocab on here. All the way from McDonald's to Falmouth. I do a chunk of long-haul travel with my job and struggle with training whilst overseas, whilst, I love it, overseas, largely due to lack of sleep and adjusting to the time zone differences, particularly difficult when traveling west to east.

Have tried all sorts of tricks to try and adopt and sleep better, but none seem to work. Interested to hear how you cope with jet lag and sleep deprivation when you're traveling long haul, particularly with recent Scotland trip. do you take medication like melatonin have any supplement tips or any other suggestions or do you just suck it up and get on with it John? Yeah, we just saying jet lag makes me sleepy. Paula is still not on the time zone. I think it's harder coming back for me. But when I'm going over, I'm in a totally different mindset. I'm like, I must get on this time zone for a race.

I'm more dedicated to it. And I think psychologically that mindset helps you get over it, honestly, quicker because you're diligent about when you go to bed, force yourself not to nap. Maybe I'll go to bed a bit earlier than I would and back at home time zone. But we do take melatonin at night for the first like four or five nights to kickstart sleeping at a certain time. And that usually actually gets us a pretty good night of sleep. Where it ends up hitting us is just in the afternoon in Europe. you get sleepy, but we use coffee for that or just go out and do a training session. And I found I adapted pretty quickly when I got over there.

Coming back has been a different story. And I don't know if that's just accumulation of all the stress and hecticness over there, plus the time change coming back. I've just felt super wrecked this week. But I'm less worried about it because there's nothing super important on the calendar coming up. So I don't know. I mean, we were talking about this with the Corbyn's because the new,

the watch they use. I won't say the brand, but it like has a feature that helps you adjust to jet leg before you even leave. Nick, you have this too. I have it too, yeah. Oh, you should start like, you know, go into a dark room and don't look at the light at 10 a.m. That kind of thing.

Oh, well. unrealistic suggestions. But, yeah, I don't think that that's necessarily the way to go because it's so disruptive to your life pre-travel. And who knows it if it really helps when you get there. But my first tip would be if you can fly business, because sleeping the whole flight just makes a world of difference. I know it's so unrealistic and expensive, but if I'm flying over for a super important race, I'll splurge on business. And I feel totally fine when I land because I've had eight hours of sleep.

That's a snobby response. You can't fly business. A thing, the food schedule, I think is like really impactful for me. I think not just waking up at 7 a.m., but mimicking exactly when I eat at home when we get to where wherever we are. So I wake up at 7 a.m. I have a breakfast, whether or not I'm hungry, and then like actually try to wait until lunchtime without snacking too excessively. Fight like those random hunger urges you get based on what time it is back home. Eat at lunch at a regular time at noon, not at like four. and then get dinner at like 6.30.

That's a good point. Like, I think the food thing has a lot to do with your circadian rhythm. A lot of the times we'll just get like starving at 2 a.m. Because it's dinner time back home or something like that. Yeah. And kind of fight that urge to get up and snack in the middle of the night. Because, yeah, you're right, Eric. That is a huge factor of getting on the time zone.

Are you guys methodical at all about when you land, you go for a ride or do exercise? Like, do you, some people swear by that. they say, like, as soon as you can, do some exercise, it kind of helps you get tired, or you take it more as it comes. It just totally depends on what time of the day you land. I think, like, my current favorite time of the day to land after doing this is, like, 7 p.m. So you're kind of like a little bit tired from this flight, maybe didn't sleep that great, and then you immediately go to sleep.

And then when you finally wake up, at the end of that, I feel like I'm just so over-rested. I can make it through the next day, fine, and then actually, like, go to sleep. the next evening. What I do not recommend is what me and my sibling used to do when we were flying between Italy and the U.S. is stay up as long as possible all throughout the flight so that you're so exhausted that that first night you're able to fall asleep. The problem is, yes, we were able to fall asleep, but we would also get sick every single time because we were so tired.

Yeah, you miss a whole night asleep. You miss a whole night. Like I'm just going to watch movies for nine hours. That's what we did. That's what we did. But with fully intention of trying to adjust the jet lag, the problem is we would always get sick. It wasn't about the movies.

It was about the jet lag. Science. That's right. That's right. Okay. Last question here is from Anson. Hello, Paula, Eric, and Nick. Thanks for all the great work you do.

Your podcasts have kept me company on many long, boring days in the warehouse as I try to pay my way through college, as well as on many long rides and runs. Love all the content. Keep it coming. Question that I have is actually for my younger sister. She swims competitively and has struggled with multiple shoulder injuries that keep sidelining her season. This week, she has.

had a pain that began to appear in her bursa in her shoulder. I know that none of you are doctors, but coming from competitive swim background, I was hoping you give her some advice and maybe even some encouragement regarding how to approach her injury so that she can get back into racing. Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers, Anson. So you guys both race swimming growing up, right? Did you have shoulder issues either of you?

I didn't, but almost everybody on my swim team. Yeah, I had a little bit of pain and tendinitis and stuff. when you're swimming 8K a day when you're that young, it's so crazy how much stress it puts on your shoulders. That's crazy. I feel like women. I remember the women on the team having it way more often than the men, shoulder issues. Maybe. But something that our coach did with us that was helpful was prehab kind of stuff with bands.

So little tiny rotator cuff motions with stretch cords or things that don't feel hard until you do like, 20 of them and then you get fatigued in the little muscles. Those are the muscles that are maybe fatiguing when you're swimming and breaking down and causing these pains and injuries. So just strengthening before pain occurs, I think is a good way to go, especially for like younger swimmers that are still growing and still developing their muscle mass. Yeah, I bet if you Google like swimming shoulder exercises or rotator cuff prehavs, something like that, I bet you'll get a couple good YouTube videos. And it's like this really kind of awkward chicken wing type of motion with a band tied against a wall. Not great for podcasts because we're both doing it right now. Yeah, it's like

pretty impossible to describe. But you'll know it when you see it based on that. Yeah. Did you guys do like heavy lifting ever or was it always these like small micro movements strengthening these little stabilizer muscles? We did a little bit of like more when I was in university swimming. we would do weights, but I don't think that was as much injury prevention as it was, just getting stronger and more powerful to swim faster. So when you're younger, I don't necessarily think the weight room is critical. You can get a lot of strength and power and speed just through the activity itself and through some dry land training.

But yeah, I guess your stroke and your technique have a bit to do with potentially getting injured, but that comes down to like a coach having eyes on you and seeing if there's anything that might be off. And also, swimmers do all four strokes pretty often. So if they're doing butterfly or breaststroke or backstroke, those are all different motions for your shoulder. Whereas triathletes, Eric and I exclusively do freestyle for 4 to 5K every day. So mixing up the stroke, doing kick, like all these things and drills that swimmers do growing up, take some of the stress off of the repetitive motion.

So what would you say to, what would you say to Anson's sister, who is now already in? other than what kind of mentality do you think kind of helps with this? With injury, I always kind of come back to the obstacle is the way. And this is an opportunity for you to work on, like what we were talking about, do some shoulder exercises, learn how to come back and be potentially a more resilient athlete at the back of this rather than just sitting and waiting for it to be over. Think about your job now inside of the sport is to get better. get, you know, come back stronger.

Yeah, I think also as like a young athlete, sometimes the mentality, especially with swim team, is to like push through because I always felt the sense of guilt and embarrassment if you missed a practice or if you got out early. Yep. It's like this weird guilt funnel that you get into with swim team that's like no other. So listen to your body, actually stop if it hurts. Ice helps a ton with shoulders. I remember I just like can envision people sitting on the side of the pool deck with ice

on their shoulders. And kicking actually is a good way to, like, still do the practice with the team without swimming. Like, you can just do a different set, but be kicking and developing that. So I just want to get a shoulder injury. Like, please, can I get a shoulder injury? Yeah, seriously.

Well, like, the ankle injuries, the knee things, you can't run, you can't bike. We're all just dreaming of the shoulder injury. I just want a swimming injury, please. It just makes you think of back during, like, COVID when obviously people were having a really hard time finding pools and then everyone came back to swimming and people, you guys were pretty okay at swimming still. Like that time had passed, but the swim was still better. That's the other thing. You will be fine. It feels like an eternity,

but it's in the long run, it's not that big of a deal. Another crazy thing with swimmers is like as triathletes, we talk about laboral tears and hips a lot of the time, but swimmers get labor tears in their shoulders and need surgery for that. So just be cautious of that too if something's repeatedly hurting and not really getting better with rest, that's something that happens with competitive swimmers as well. Well, as much as I feel like you guys should say without being doctors, but I feel like all that was pretty helpful, even to me. Oh, yeah, we are not doctors, we're not experts.

This is just what we've experienced and what we're thinking out loud about. We're just poor, hard done by competitive swimmer children that are now grownups. That's right. That's right. Well, those are all the questions that we had. Guys, I hope if you're listening to this and you stay up and watch the Iron Man World Championships and you live in North America,

kudos to you. I hope it's worth it. I'm going to try to stay up and watch as much of it as possible. But it's a long... You're crazy. You're crazy. Watch the swim, hit pause, come back. I just have a hard time.

I'm not going to be able to wake up and not check who won, though. I will. Yeah, that's what... It's like Iron Man. If there's some like spoiler-free link we could get where we could just watch it, the next day without anyone.

You have to be so vigilant. Like, do not go on Instagram. Do not go on Reddit or whatever social media is where you have triathlon content because it will be the first 10 posts in a row will be. This is great. This is what you should do anyway. Take the day off from social media. Just wake up, before bed, watch the first 20 minutes of the swim, hit pause on YouTube.

Wake up in the morning, unpause. Right. Don't look at anything else. You should be good. And it'll keep going from that point. I think so. I mean, that's my hope. Even if the stream ends. That's going to be my theory. That's my strategy. Okay.

And if not, then you're just going to have to find that point in the stream since you're going to be looking at your phone or whatever. And I don't care about the spoiler. Oh, it's hard. I feel like this is not. I want to experience it naturally, if possible. I think Yan's going to win. Oh, are we doing a little. And we'll see you guys next week.

Are we doing, you want to do, uh, we want to pick our winners here? Yeah, let's pick our winners. Come on. A lot of be fun. Well, but there's only one winner. There's no, there's no female winner to. Winners. Well, pick our winner.

Like, we all. All three of us pick a winner. God, I, you know, I hope Jan wins because it's just, it's like, it's the opposite of what we experience watching 70.3 worlds where you're like, who's that? Who's that? Who's that? I just, I need something familiar here to understand what I'm looking at. And I'm like super happy for everybody who is in the top 10 there.

But having Jan win will just be like, the way that I see the world is still, it's still okay. It'd be like getting a hug. Yon is still the best and now he can leave and he is forever the best. And I don't know how to change my complete outlook on the world or something. Right. Yeah. I think if I had my heart, I would pick Yon for the same reason. But I wonder if we'll just see someone who is super good on the bike.

I think Rudy could win. Rudy knows those streets really, really well. He's strong. Yeah. I think he'll make it through the run, though? Yeah. I think he's fit. He's not going to get 10 minutes on the downhill on the bike, you know.

He's a good runner. I think there's some guys that are going to run really, really fast. Okay, well. I mean, yeah. I like Rudy. And if you saw his YouTube that he just put out, his new bike is so beautiful. Yes, it is? It's got a great paint job.

I could paint a huffy with that paint job, and you would be enamored with it. Wow. Wow. The paint on that bike weighs as much as your entire frame. It'll be very fun to watch and see how it unfolds. Yeah, we're excited. Okay. If Yon doesn't win, I want to see a battle.

That would just be the cool thing. The only bummer in Iron Man is when somebody's so far off the front and then they stay off the front and then they win. Yeah, right. And I'm like, oh, cool. Yeah. A time trial. Exactly. Nick, if you fly to bend, we'll stay up all night with you watching it.

Ooh. Okay, got it. Great. And I'll pay for your flight. Is that motivation? I can't tell. I'll pay for your flight too. The chances of Paula Finley

staying up all night to watch the men's world championship are about as low as me spontaneously combusting right now. You can't even sit through a movie, right? If it's at past 9 p.m. We can do that. We could do that.

It would be a thing. Wow. I'm impressed. I'm going to consider it. Okay. We'll chat off air. Great. See you guys.

Later, buddy. Bye.