Strade Bianche highlights, Should you change your crank length? Epic riding in Israel & more!
Bonus - Download the free 'Protecting your Lady Bits' guide - 6 tips to a more comfortable ride
Noa Deutsch
March 06, 2023
Hi đ, happy Monday and welcome to the first edition of new Endurance Collective newsletter - I am excited you are here reading this! It has been years since Performance Training had a newsletter, so its about darn time! Since this is the first newsletter, here is a brief overview of what to expect. Most weeks, the newsletter format will be pretty simple and straight forward:
Articles & News - A few links to interesting articles / news relevant to gravel, triathlon or cycling, women in cycling, bike fitting, gear, anything else that catches my eye
Watch - A cool / funny / interesting video
Listen - A podcast I recently listened to and found interesting
Read - A book I read recently or one that is currently on my reading list
Community - Game of 20 Questions with a female cyclist
Updates - Whatâs new at Performance Training
Ride - Community ride schedule
Alright, now that you know what to expect, lets get into it!
Articles, News, etcâŚ
đ´đ˝ââď¸ Did you watch the Strade Bianche races on Saturday? How great were both the menâs and womenâs races?! Here are good articles from Derailleur publication and Rouleur magazine:
A Marriage of Inconvenience - Women's race - Derailleur publication
Pale Grit - Men's race - Derailleur publication
Menâs Race - Rouleur Magazine
Womenâs Race - Rouleur Magazine
đ Read the most popular article on the Endurance Collective publication: Your Ultimate Guide to Crank Length. Iâm biased, but I think its a solid one.
đ˘Â The landscape of cycling media is changing and I am here for it (case in point: the creating of my own publication). I canât wait to see whatâs coming from the former founder of Cycling Tips and I am all signed up for escapecollective.cc. Did you sign up? Or will you wait until they actually go live?
đ°Â Want triathlon specific news? Check out The Tempo newsletter! I first met Matt 14-15 years ago, when he was a junior triathlete⌠He is now an Olympian and long course elite triathlete. He is doing a great job with his new newsletter so you should subscribe to read it below!
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đ Looking for some tasty recipes and inspiration? Go drool over the photos on the Feed The Swimmers website and Instagram and try a few of the recipes.
đŞ About 3 weeks too early for Aprilâs foolsâŚ? Why the Fâ do we need a gravel specific âcargoâ helmet?!
đľđ˝ââď¸ The Arizona BWR course looked unreal and like my kind of gravel riding! I was insanely jealous looking at those trails while as I write this, there is still some snow on the ground in VancouverâŚ
Watch - Epic stunts and off road riding in Israel
I actually wanted to share a video from 3T about riding in the Negev desert, Israel. It was posted at the end of 2018 (blog post here) and it got me super stoked on gravel when I first watched it. I am from Israel, so I visited those areas before and did some MTB and road rides somewhat close to where it was filmed in my junior days. The last time I was in Israel was October 2019 to visit my family and managed to squeeze in one gravel ride: it was spectacular, with a solid mix of dusty dirty trails, sand and rocky descends. I have been dying to go back with a bunch of friends to ride a modified version of the holy-land challenge route - My 650B wheels with 48âs will come in handy, but I canât think of a better excuse to get a hardtail MTB (N+1, right?). Whoâs in?!
Anyways⌠Unfortunately, it seems like that the video was taken down and I could not find something comparable. I did however come across the video below, which is so well made and definitely highlights the unique & expansive terrain. Just maybe donât try most of that for yourself and stick to the maintained trails⌠Side note, I really enjoyed the behind the scenes video too, but it is much longer. Perhaps a solid way to pass the time on the trainer?
Listen
I am more of a reader than a podcast or video person, but while it is still indoor bike season, a podcast or two just make sense. Cross is so hot these days, I am still buzzing from how awesome Canada did at cross racing this last year and I wanted to keep it local this week, so here is a podcast with Michael Van Den Ham and Cody Scott, hosted by local bike shop Steed Cycles. And while we are at it, here is a shameless plug to the podcast I did with them last year, in case you missed it.
Read - Good for a girl by Lauren Fleshman
Community - Game of 20 Questions with yours truly
I guess itâs only fitting for me to be the first to play (again). I started this âgameâ in 2018 and it lasted about two years, taking a long hiatus due to the pandemic and having to free up time to focus on other projects. We had pretty awesome female cyclists featured, from here in Vancouver, as well as from the UK and the USA. Now that I have consistent help within the business, the goal is to re-start and keep this going. The format is 20 quick questions (for the most part). If you are a women who wants to play the game, you can fill in this form.
Updates - Performance Training
I am working on a million things as usual, but Iâll refrain from sharing everything all once, instead sharing one thing each week. The latest is actually something that I initially published in 2018, but took offline in 2020. It has now been updated and ready for you to download (for free)!
This comprehensive guide is for the female cyclists in the bunch (and the men who love them): Protecting your lady bits - 6 tips to a more comfortable ride
Ride - Community Ride Schedule
The weather situation has been pretty sad this winter⌠But spring is around the corner, right? Right?! Monthly Sunday gravel rides will start in April and women only early morning casual coffee rides will start at the end of March.
More info on all of this, including how to get the ride schedule, will be posted in this newsletter next week.
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See you next Monday,
Noa