Inside The Race - EP 27 - Sprinting Special - how to get it right with 2 MyWhoosh Sprint experts!

Matt Payne: Hello and welcome to episode twenty-seven of Inside the Race, the My Wish Racing podcast, with me, Haley Simmons, and my co-hosts Matt Payne and Emma Martin. Thank you to everyone who has watched, liked, subscribed, sent us messages, interacted with us in any way, shape, or form. ⁓ every public interaction we get really does help us get the show established on all of the streaming platforms. And this is a sprint special. This is the spr the sprint special. Never mind, ⁓ The sprint special, we have been promising you for ages. So ⁓ whilst we may not have ⁓ managed to get to the chase race yet, we are doing the sprint special, we're getting there. We get there in the end, promise. if you want to know what makes you a good sprinter on my whoosh, maybe you've always wanted to know. Maybe you've always wanted to know just how the best of the best do this. Maybe you are an amazing sprinter looking for a little tip, or maybe you are an absolutely world's worst sprinter. Haley, excuse me. I've got a bit of a cold. then you probably are gonna hope well, hopefully, find out something that's gonna improve that. Now, you're not gonna have to listen to me or to Emma or to Haley on this because we're amazing experts. Yeah, the what not to do by Haley and Emma. ⁓ me to be brutally honest. ⁓ This is going to be two amazing guests joining us. We have got two absolute sprint legends, and we picked on two people who really, for me, sum up two very different types of sprinters, but both are great actually at both sides of those sprinters. ⁓ we've got Marius Fossiet from Category Four men and Doran C. Gonzalez Rur from Category Two Women's. Both outstanding sprinters, both great at what they do, coming in to talk to us. ⁓ I've got a list of questions in my head and lots of things I want to learn from this. Emma, what about you? Because you are consummate at at doing threshold efforts, you know, that is your absolute forte. It is so true. Even as a runner in my twenties, I could find a heart rate and I could hold the same heart rate between one or two beats for about four hours. No problem whatsoever. That is and I have transferred that to bike racing as well. My problem is lifting up and the dropping back down, and then the lifting up and the dropping back down. So I am really, really looking forward to hearing from our guests and trying to pick up some hints and tips because I think this might be the winter where I actually do something I find challenging in my training. Okay, that's I I'm glad you were in the in the training 'cause working with optimal speech challenging every time we do a show. Yeah, so I'm really excited about this show, which I know when I said I was excited for it before, Matt was like, You don't sprint. And I was like, Well, I'm excited because sprinting's something that I've just I've never been able to wrap my head around. I just don't understand how to make myself better at it. So I'm really looking forward to listening to two of the top sprinters and getting some of their tips. ⁓ and to give you an example of Of like the fact that I've just always been a terrible sprinter. So about 10 years ago now, ⁓ probably 11 years ago, after I won my first British national TT title, ⁓ I did some physiology testing at Loughborough University with ⁓ a a physiologist called Jamie Pringle, who used to work for British Cycling and In English Institute of Sports. And I'm quite good friends with Jamie now. But I went and did some physiology testing with him, and it was you know, almost a whole day of of different bits and pieces. And in the morning we did ⁓ did the ramp tests and did some lactate testing and all of that. And all of my numbers were really, really good. And then and then later in the afternoon, ⁓ he was like, Right, okay, so for this the last thing that we're gonna do today is ⁓ a series of six second sprints. So we're gonna do, I can't remember how many it was, but we're gonna do like four or six six second sprints. And so you know, you'll just be peddling and then I'll give you a bit of a countdown and then and then you do the sprint and then we'll have some recovery and we'll just repeat until we've got all the all of the sprints done. So okay, yeah, fine. Anyway, so I start riding and ⁓ he gives me the countdown for the first one and I I do my six seconds and then kind of s stop the effort. And then he's like, N no, no, no. Like that was like that was the effort and I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I know it was and he was like, ⁓ okay. I th I I think we've uncovered the issue here. And ⁓ and afterwards when we were talking, he was like, Yes, I've I think I might write a paper because I think we might have just discovered a new type of muscle fiber. You know, there are type one muscle fibers and type two muscle fibers and there are type Hayley muscle fibers and they're like extra, extra slow twitch. So yes, that's my so I'm hoping that maybe I can like learn to either activate the the one or two fast twitch muscle fibres that I have, or maybe develop a few more throughout ⁓ some of the tips of this episode. Well Well, yeah, I think we've got ⁓ I think maybe our guests have got their work cut out today based on that I'm not sure they can introduce new genetics into into Haley's DNA. But tell you what, let's get inside the race and let's find out just how to go sprinting. So let's start this part of the show by saying what's the s what what do we call a sprint? ⁓ and as somebody who knows about actually doing the sprint, because I've got Yeah, you better you better do this. I think I I think I'm gonna take I'm gonna I'll take the reins on this with this one briefly. ⁓ a sprint basically is it is that high effort end effort that is it tends to be explosive. It's about going at your maximum speed, it's the fastest speed you can achieve. It generally is for a target, so it could be an intermediate sprint. It could be the sprint at the top of a climb. It could be the sprint at the end of a race, but they are all sprints because you are riding to get to that fixed point in that final moments and getting there fast. So it's not about being paced. It's not about go going in a breakaway. It's not even about sprinting clear of a bunch and then holding a pace. This is the sort of effort we're talking about that. When you finish this, you know that you've really done an effort and you actually can't keep on doing any endurance work after necessarily. So the sprint's imp important for so many reasons. That's that's what it is. Why you need it? Well, if I'm racing against my two co-hosts here, and I've managed to hang on a Haley's wheel doing forty-five, fifty K an hour on the flat for two hours, and then Emma's gone up the climb ⁓ a tempo. ⁓ which is 20 minutes long, where she normally has to wait for a cup another cup of tea whilst I arrive. But if I made it to those points, no matter where it is, and we're all there together, we need to sprint, we need to finish the race at some point, and we need to beat, and whether you're in a bunch of 50 or a bunch of one, two, three, four other people, plus you, you need to be able to beat them. So that sprint's really important, and that sprint. Makes a difference and it doesn't matter whether you're sprinting for ninety ninth place or you're sprinting for first place, it's uber, uber key. And it's a very definite skill as well as being to some degree genetic. Well, Matt, let me just ask you, how good a sprinter actually are you? And do you need to learn anything? Okay, so so can yes, I do need I need Yeah, of course I need to learn anything. I'm the dummiest person here. I'm the one without a degree or a master's or a doctor or a professor. ⁓ course I need to learn lots of things. How good a sprinter? ⁓ let's let's put it into perspective. I can it's been a while, ten years ago, I could do two thousand watts for about three seconds. So I could really put down a lot of power very quickly. But then I couldn't tend to sustain it for very long. So anything going over fifteen seconds, I was toast. I was gone. ⁓ that is still with me to a degree now. But I got mobbed in my last road race that I did. I was the strongest rider there. I could dictate the pace of the race and how the race played out. But when we came into the finish, whilst I might have led around the last two hair pins and made everybody go, ⁓ we're gonna die because we went round ⁓ that quick When we came into the finish, I got mobbed and ended up with eighth place and not first. And I should have won that. And I didn't ⁓ get the I did I sprinted, but I mean honestly, it was like watching a clockwork toy run out of spring clockwork as it went towards the line. It was like ⁓ Yeah. And it was because you know, clearly I'd done too much too too early. But so yes, I can sprint, but I'm not a sprinter. I'm more I can sprint on the back of a hard race. And ⁓ I'd say if you've got a Mark Cavendish out there who is a pure sprinter, I'm more of a max ⁓ Mads Pedersen in that I can sprint on the end of a really hard race where there's been a lot of hard efforts, but I don't have that top end sprint power where you're gonna see the the real sprinters come through and just wipe the floor with everybody else. So so that's where I fall. What about you and ⁓ let's if we're gonna be brutally honest. Where where where are you at in terms of sprinting? What what's how close can you get to sprinting? Well, if if I go out and I do a zone one, zone two ride and decide to do six sprints, always coming off of zone two into a sprint and then coming straight back down and riding around and then doing another effort, I can actually sprint or at least what I would call a sprint. You know, I can hit Somewhere between 650 and 700 watts, which for me is quite good. Right? In a race, things are very different. Very, very different. I cannot sprint off a higher heart rate at all. So if I am sort of sitting at tempo pace in a race, and my heart rate's at about For me, which is that sort of sort of a hundred and sixty two, a hundred and sixty three beats a minute, not zone two, I'm up in tempo. I cannot then launch a sprint from that effort. In any way, shape or form. I can get out of the saddle and try, and then my body says to me, You need to sit down very quickly and stop that. So that's me and sprinting. ⁓ but ⁓ I do try, ⁓ but I have to be You know, if if I want to attempt a sprint, as in what I would call a sprint, where you kick the pace up and your numbers go up, it has to be off zone two heart rate, it can't be off a zone four heart rate. So maybe I need something specific in my training and I'm looking for that today. What about you, Haley? You've talked a lot about Haley muscle fibers, you know. Are you power surging then in your races and not sprinting? Yeah, I think so. I think if I'm gonna win From a small group in a race, I have to have completely ridden the legs off everyone else around me. so at the start of September I did ⁓ I did Gravel Wales Gravel Race. and coming into the finish, there were there was a group of us c battling for third place. and I was already like, I'm really gonna struggle to get a third here. And actually one of the riders in the group was Lucy Lee, who a is a very good British sprinter. Now, I came fourth from like I came second from the group but fourth overall in the in the race. I did actually beat Lucy Lee because I was like the only way that I am going to potentially come third is to just go really long and just ride really, really hard, really long and hope that people can't come around me because it's been a hard race. and one person did come round me, but Lucid D didn't actually. So I mean, but but that's the only way I win a sprint is is if I've ridden like r ridden the legs off everyone. And very much like you, it's funny, Emma, hearing you say what I would call a sprint, because I'm not sure that what I do could actually be identified as a sprint. In my head in my head. In my head I'm sprinting. But I think if you looked at me you'd be like She's just accelerating slightly from the sta from from the high pace that she was doing. She's now going just a slightly harder pace, but I don't think it actually I I suffer from the Instagram versus reality. It's like what it looks like in my head versus what everyone looks You see, when I watch Sunday when I watch Sunday Race Club and I'm like watching the numbers go up and you know, eleven point two, twelve point three, eleven point six watts per kilo. That's a dream for me. If I get eight watts per kilo, I am chuffed. I seriously, seriously am eight point five, I am over the mo Yeah. I think I have the flattest power curve ever. So yeah. So so just to put this in numbers, Emma, you could do how many? Sorry, I can do how many watts? Watts per kilo did you manage? What's your best watts per kilo sprint ever? I can tell you what my best total watts sprint is, and that's seven forty. But that was probably six years ago. ⁓ hold on, I have to get the c calculator out to do that. It's all right, I've just done that. I gonna need my calculator as well. Okay, hold on. What's your best peak sprint? What's your best peak sprint? Well that's quite a lot. Yeah, see you're probably fine. Your best peak sprint. So at it would flick up there and down. I've done that once and that was We we'd have seen the numbers flick up to twelve watts per kilo. Okay. Haley. ⁓ my I think my highest power that let's ignore the fact that the power meter on my gravel bike is currently playing up and told me that I did eight thousand dollars. So well the racing excuses come with a number. I think the highest power, like real power that I've ever seen is about seven hundred and fifty watts, which is about twelve and a half watts per kilo. and hilariously, if you look at the Andy Kogan power charts, ⁓ and you look at like twenty minute power and ten minute power and five minute power and all of that, I'm like, you know, international rider, which, you know, I I am, that's fine. And then you look at my sprint numbers and I'm like category four domestic. And So do you know, I actually know where I did that power as well because it's it's etched in my memory because I've never numbers. I know where I did mine as well. It's funny, isn't it? You're like I came down a massive descent on the road. I had two spotters at the crossroads at the bottom of the descent, because we then transitioned into an uphill climb and I was going for the Queen of the Mountains section. And as I transitioned into the climb and put the power down. That's where I hit that number. Okay. So I could I it's that etched on my memory. I could actually even tell you where I did it. It's funny that mine and Emma's sprint numbers are like pretty pretty identical. But let's j let's just throw another number into this equation. Let's let's get let's let's put these numbers in. Emma, you you talking twelve watts per kilo, so it's Hailey for plus four your peak power. Watts per kilo, peak absolute peak, ⁓ flat out top peak sprint. Not what can hold, just at that top peak sprint. What would have your FTP been roughly, do you think, then, in terms of watts per kilo, roughly? At that point in time? Yeah, at that point in time. Four four watts per kilo, maybe? Okay. Just over. So you could do four four and a half, what four four and a half watts per kilo, and you could go to twelve plus. So you could do probably something around about two and a half, three times as much in a sprint. Haley? My FTP was about five point three. And you could go to twelve, so you were doing just over double. Yeah. Okay. My FTP was four and a half and I could do twenty-six plus watts per kilo. Yeah, see flat power curve. I tell you. My watts per kilo are rubbish in an FTB because I cannot ride. I can't hold the same heart rate for more than about four seconds. Never mind for twenty minutes. That's not happening. It's like twenty seconds at the same heart rate and I'm I I'm in trouble. So it just shows we have three very different people, but I think what we should do is hear from someone who really, really can sprint. We know and and let's start off with a real legend, not just of sprinting, but of the Sunday race club, ⁓ with Dorancy Gonzalez Rua, all the way from Colombia. ⁓ I can't believe I have the absolute honour of welcoming this guest to Inside the Race. I'm gonna give you a little flavour of who she is in the My Whoosh world before I welcome her to the show. ⁓ because she's had 199 appearances on the start line of the Sunday Race Club. ⁓ she's taken 25 sprint jerseys in that time, 25 top five places as well. And it was August 2021, when it was still the Friday race club that she first got onto that start line. In the MyRoof Championships in 2025, she had two stage wins, one second place and one third place. Yes, that's four top threes all in sprint stages. And in the My Roof Championships in 2026, she battled and Boy was it a battle for that sprint competition. But I think it was just the number of sprints post climbs that made it just too challenging for a pure sprinter. And it's the fact that she is that pure sprinter that we have her here today. Welcome to Inside the Race, Dorancy Gonzalez Ruer. Emma Hello, thank you for having me. ⁓ we are so happy you are here. Thank you. I'm glad to be here too. Well it's great, isn't it? I mean, we've we've watched you for a long time and maybe we'll get into for quite how long and quite what we see on screen. A little bit later on in the show. But it is great to have you with us. It it kind of feels like you're you're as much if not more part of the furniture than than we are on commentary in lots of ways. So no, I think ⁓ it it kind of w it ki when you have you're not allowed to have a week off because when you have a week off, it does j Sunday Race Club just doesn't seem the same. We do literally search for you on the start line. So thank you for joining us on the show very much so. Thank you so much. Here it's too early. The races are two thirty five AM, but I'm there all the time. It's amazing. The commitment is phenomenal. Well, Dorancy, as you know from previous shows ⁓ we often start out with a guest and we ⁓ offer them sixty seconds to tell us a little bit about themselves. Are you okay with this? Yes, of course. ⁓ Okay, Matt, do you have your stopwatch ready? I do. If with the change we're going today with an iPad version V nine point one, I think. ⁓ with a ⁓ a currently a full screen clock app countdown. Not that we're sponsored by them, but I do use them a lot. ⁓ so yes is the short answer. Okay. In which case, would you like to do the countdown now? Go on then, that's very kind of you. Okay. Doroncy, I'm gonna give you a countdown. You have sixty seconds to tell us all about Doroncy Gonzalez Ru starting now. Okay. Mm lay in my day to day I have a full time work. I ⁓ I work in in marketing. ⁓ in a company that works with helmets for motorcyclist. So that is my real life. But people think that just riding my bike all the time because my Instagram. ⁓ like normally I train every day. Monday Mondays are my rest day, but normally I train at 4 30 AM. So I'm waking up ⁓ before four a ⁓ every day. Weekends not that much, but Sundays yes because the races are at 2 35 a.m. like Columbia time. ⁓ And then after the race I used to go out for ⁓ like long ride. I love all the about cycling. And I've like something different that I'm sorry it's not okay so Going for that harsh I was too ⁓ during the honest reason, but it was a very short car there was no count because I was too absorbed in what you were saying and I missed the clock. I wasn't watching it. My one job and I forgot it was about to fail, so I had to go. You had one job. Had one job and it almost failed. Hold on a minute. Currency, what were you just gonna say? Blow the clock. The races are something that I enjoy a lot, but my the thing that I love the most is ultra cycling. So I used to do an ⁓ like every year I do a challenge, n everesting or brevet, but something around I don't know. Like last year was one thousand kilometers that I did in one ride. So that is where I Where I I don't know, where I love. Wow, that was worth coming back for. Yeah, that was. Yeah, I'm glad I'm glad we ⁓ I'm glad you didn't cut that off completely, Matt. Thank you. That was Well, we can always go back in what's the point in having a show where we which is our show if we can't break the rules every now and then. But actually that that leads quite nicely on to ⁓ talking a bit about your sporting background. So, you know it yeah, I didn't expect you to kind of say that you had done things like Everest Challenge and things like that. But have you always been a cyclist or did you do other sports before you kind of found the bike? ⁓ like when I was a child I used to run and do like gymnastic but no for ⁓ soccer but for competition. So all that is what I used to do and then when I was in the university I started ⁓ riding at the bike like just to go to a town and have a coffee or things like that. But now I'm here. I'm training every day. Yeah, and like you're amazing. So, you know, I'm lucky enough that we're obviously on the same team when we're both in the same category on SRC. And I love racing with you. Like, yeah, and and you just you're one of the people in in the group that just always makes me smile. So I feel very lucky to have you on the team and also obviously have you ⁓ chatting with us today. Thank you. I I love it that ⁓ the last year championship. The two were together. That was so good. It was yeah, no it was. ⁓ I think I can go back there there's so much to go at in this from those sixty seconds. I almost don't know where to start. ⁓ but I guess really let's go back to the start of before time. ⁓ aka The stu before I was talking about Sunday Race Club, but when it was Friday Race Club, I mean I can't I am like an old person. You're not, you're young. And yet you were there in Friday Race Club before old gimmers like me were even talking about it. So I how has that ch you know, how has that changed? Did you ever think on when you were doing those Friday race clubs, all these years later, it would have evolved how it has? Mm I I don't know. I we ⁓ at the beginning was like no we are just trying this platform, like let's see if it's real, if it all the ⁓ competition is good, and then you get in that how you say, like that vibe that you want to be there every weekend because it's like a way to challenge you and have ⁓ that that part that you say, I'm racing with the best girls in the world. And that is ⁓ motivation to get better. So at that moment was like just something that I do because I like it. I did, but now it's like part of my life. Like it's it's something that I like to do. Even the time is too crazy for us, but I'm there. Yeah, and it I wouldn't ⁓ we I've been watching the countdown because we've been watching people as they've move towards 200. ⁓ and it's part of my ritual almost every time we go into the show now is one of the key things I look for. But you know, one of my key things is that I'm looking for who is approaching those 100 Sunday race clubs, 200 Sunday race clubs. You you're one away from hitting 200. Which means I'm guessing that you're going to be racing your two hundredth in Montreal as as Haley said. Two hundred is nearly four years of your life of Sundays. Yes, even a little more because some some weekends I'm racing in the like competition here, so I can be there. ⁓ normally I I am all the time, but I just keep one or one at month or sometimes I'm on vacation so can be all the month. Maybe it's almost ⁓ five years racing. In total. Yeah, it's a it's a long time to be racing Sunday Race Club. ⁓ I was gonna I was I'm not even gonna say the question. Do you ever get bored of it? What? Do you ever actually get bored? You you get up in the morning and think, ⁓ I really can't be bothered. Okay. I don't know. There are the the thing that I'm telling you about competition that you say, I'm racing with the best, so I want to be there. I see. It's a huge motivation, isn't it? You know You have to love it if you're getting up at like two in the morning to do it. But but I have hope about something changing the future, like maybe where ⁓ guys can be first as girls. ⁓ so you have the same time but we have a different moment. When you're on that start line or even before that start line, I mean we we see you and we very regularly come to you on the bike during the Sunday race club, particularly when the sprints for the green jersey are in play. That seems to be very much part and parcel of you know your strategy ⁓ when you take to that start line. Is that something that is some something that you really focus on and target? Or is that just You know, ⁓ today ⁓ I it my legs just feel really good so today I'm gonna target the sprints. ⁓ I have that as a target all the time. normally if we are in the finals I just keep in the rhythm with the pack, but if it's a qualification, that that is something that I want. Every qualification. So I have in mind when it's the sprint like the final line of each one and I do my strategy every weekend ⁓ around that. Sometimes it's impossible because I'm too tired because the training or there are something happening around. But normally I have that in mind. Every weekend. Wow. Wow. So talk us through those sprints. Let's imagine that you are coming into a sprint midway through. You're going for the green jersey like normal. What does that look like for you? So this let's say there's 40 riders in the bunch, because like category two at the moment just is like one the the crazy race at the moment. And category two has got like so many people in the bunch all the way. There's 40 of you going in there, where are you positioned? What what how soon are you starting to pick it up? Where do you how'd you pace that? What does that feel like from you? You know, what talk us through a sprint almost. Okay. Mm, I think you have to know your competitors because some girls ⁓ are doing that like too long. Like I don't know, one kilometer that's for it's too crazy. So ⁓ if you know who are going to do that, you have to stay there, like in the front. But normally it's five hundred meters. So I used to be ⁓ in the middle of the park. At that moment I ⁓ I'm going up. like in front. Even I can be the first, but I'm there. Just there waiting to see a move. And then I'm I'm in my in in the and strong change for so then someone go and I can be there like just behind. Because I want to be ⁓ doing drafting like until two hundred meters. At that moment I go like all out and try to be in front. But my in my mind I have to be ⁓ doing the drafting with my legs fresh. Like even if I'm going hard, I have to have something back like something left to do the that final meter is what give you like the difference. Sometimes ⁓ I I have ⁓ like I don't know five meter ⁓ five meters five hundred meters to go and you go in front, someone is in your back, that is like you have to have too much what to fight for that. So the best strategy is be there back, back, way for the moment and do all when you are two hundred meters to go. So when you're holding back on there and you're holding back the pace and you're wanting to keep your legs with something left, which is a concept probably the rest of us are going, like, I have no idea how you even do that. Is that done by being in a lower gear? Is it done by going in a lower cadence? How do you stay back off? Do you do you back off with the gears or with the cadence? ⁓ with the spin changing cadence. with the cadence, like I'm around eighteen, like eighty, yes, or seventy, it's like slow. And then when ya I want to go, I go ⁓ I don't know, over one hundred to do the push. And and you're not changing gear, you're just staying in that same gear. ⁓ just if it's necessary, but for me the be the like the thing that works is cuttings. that give you the rhythm because when you start ⁓ changing the gears you have like ha ⁓ like bugs like the the avatar can stop you can see the the legs in the avatar the they don't move like have ⁓ a stop in the in the pacing so for me it's better with cuttings put the gear that you need go behind with a slow cadence and then when you want to attack all all the way with a high cardings over one hundred if it's possible. And do you work on that high cadence? Is that something that you've or is that just natural? No, no, I I'm training that too. At some moment was something that was there, not that much, but now I'm training cadence too. When I have like my normal week, like some of those ⁓ intervals are over ⁓ one hundred. So it's like something that you can do natural because it's too much. For reality one hundred is too much. But you feel normal when you train them. So is your is your strategy the same kind of regardless of how big the group is or and is it the same at the end of the race for the race finish ⁓ as it is for the intermediate sprints, do you just always take the same kind of approach to the sprint regardless of of whether it's an intermediate sprint or a final sprint? Normally in the intermedial, yes. ⁓ the ⁓ the like the change are depending on the people. But you have to know the people. So you know if someone is going to be ⁓ before you or there are no one and you can wait for the last moment. But in the final line is ⁓ the feeling of that moment that you are going to sprint is even like two kilometers before the final line. So I try to be in the from from that moment. And sometimes people start attacking but just ⁓ short attacking so you have to be there but don't go for those those girls and you know when a girl have the push to to be in front and to ⁓ sustain that power so I think it's most of that is about knowing all the competitors and you know who is going to have the the power and who know. I'm I'm only laughing because and I we've obviously spoken about this before on our on our group chats, but one of my favorite things is when somebody goes maybe two kilometers before a sprint and then You still win the sprint because because they've gone really early and they're just dangling out the front and then we accelerate, accelerate, and then you jump out at the perfect moment and you still and you still win the sprint and that's always one of my favourite things. Thank you. It's what it is a it's a classic, isn't it? And we see that time and time again where people who maybe aren't sure of that last minute sprint are going early and that they get caught back down again. But Kind of with that end sprint, it always leaves me to thinking, how do you get the recovery between your intermediate sprints? So you're gonna you go for a sprint, you've then maybe got another climb coming or you've got a another sprint coming. How do you actually recover quickly? How do you get that snap back? Is it what what do what do you do? What works for you? Like is difficult for real because it's too much the power goal ⁓ is higher. So mm training training that the in those intervals are like forty seconds then twenty to recover, like forty seconds, I think that give you something on your body that you can recover like quickly. And I try to breathe. There are a technique that you do like long then a short one and then you go slow and your hair ray can be like a little more down just breathing. I do that and I have eyes like near to me and I put eyes in my hands. So I try to do all that. When I'm focus I'm really focused I do all. Sometimes I I'm using the rays and then I'm like ⁓ ⁓ my hair raise too high, but I try to do that every sprint. It's really, really interesting and I love I I I quite often love watching the start line of like a world championships or something like that. Because so many people now utilize breathing techniques to bring their heart rate down on the start line and you can see it as the camera pans across. And it's so interesting to hear you saying You know, you're regulating your nervous system by that double breath and, you know, those types of things to bring your heart rate down to get that recovery in. I mean, it's really interesting to hear that. One of the things I was going to ask you, you know, you talked there about doing 4020 sessions to to re to train recovery. What other things do do you do, Dorrency, specifically, or do you do anything specifically around sprint training? ⁓ do do you, for example, do different sessions on the bike or or do you go to the gym and lift weights? Is there anything specific you do for that sprint power? I have to be like to say the truth. But I think it's my body. It's the composition that I have just biological. I don't know. Like is where I have ⁓ So I used to do the I I used to go to the gym but it's not something that I do all the year. Some just some months. and then my legs ⁓ start going like how do you say like mo stronger. So I I can use this power to do the sprints, but it's not something that it was like ⁓ okay I want to be a sprinter so I going to work in this part of my body. No. It's something natural because I have a lot of muscles in my body just because. I was gonna say 'cause it's really interesting, isn't it, that, you know, your passion is long distance ultra riding, yet you are a fabulous sprinter. I mean you don't normally put the two together. I don't know either, but I think the chore ones is because my body composition and the long one is because my mind. No But I I I I have the problem in the middle. If I have to go in a a long climb, I don't have that ⁓ that that technique. ⁓ I'm working on that. That is my ⁓ thing to focus on because the sprints and the long rise are something that I do b just because and I love it. But that now my problem is that moment and when you have to use your ⁓ tempo or thread hole. ⁓ that is something that I don't like. I feel the hair rate too high. We always don't do the bits that we don't like, do we? We were talking about that the other day. ⁓ you know, if if it's something you don't like, you don't tend to train it or do it, but actually probably you should. I do, yeah. So for me, obviously, well y you know as well as anyone, ⁓ that I cannot sprint. So this, you know Gonna gonna get be a bit selfish here and and try and get some tips from from the top sprinters. So in this in this question, it's ⁓ help Haley to sprint. So what advice would you give the world's most useless sprinter, me, ⁓ to try and improve my sprint? Just a little bit. I just just want a bit more. Okay. first you have to practice your recover because you've done when you print, you you are like empty. So it's not going to work for a race that is going to last one more than one hour. So that is one thing. The other thing for me is to import and the ischios. I don't know if that is the same name in English, but when you sprint you are in your in your pedals. So if you are in in your pedals and in that position, you can use that part of your body and it's going if you don't have enough power there, it's not going to work like in the same way that works for me, for example. The other thing is you have to focus on the timing. Don't go too early, but don't wait too much. So you need to know who are the people in the pack. And like for me it's like that. Five hundred meters before you you start going focus and you have your gear where you need. You go slow. If someone is in front, you go there, you are there, but doing draft it drafting and then two hundred two hundred yes meters before you start pushing but not all out from that moment. Five hundred meter and w sorry, one hundred meters to the end, that is when you go All out, all out, and that have to work, but you have to practice too much because timing is everything. And your timing is great. Yeah. Yes, but you can practice that. I'm sure. I'm very sure about that. Well, ⁓ your timing and your sprinting, Dorrency, is absolutely first class, and we we really, really enjoy watching you week in, week out. And there's another Sunday coming where we will see. Dorren C well, it's a final. She might be under team orders. No sprinting in the final. But wait till we get to the qualifiers and she'll be back at it for those green jerseys. ⁓ it's been absolutely brilliant. Stop, stop stop. I I I keep saying stop. It's Matt's cheeky question time. It's that time again. I'm gonna get a little jingle, a little sound effect. Matt's cheeky question. Your list of demands, Matt. You you want a quick board, you want a j the the list of demands are growing. I'm getting a real diva at this, I tell you. I diva matt. ⁓ well I I do have a cheeky question. Before that, I want to say thank you very much for joining somebody who likes to sprint and can sprint well, but actually likes doing long distance but hates the bit in the middle. I have a kindred spirit at the moment on the podcast for the first time for a while with the two diesels, Emma and Haley, who both love doing long Threshold sessions within one heartbeat of their maximum. And yet I would rather go sprinting or go for a long ride, but not the middle bit. So thank you very much for joining me on that. It's made it's made it's nice to have company. ⁓ but my cheeky question is the bit that's not the same. When I'm sprinting, everybody looks at me and thinks I look like I'm about to die or be sick or I'm gonna kill somebody. One or the other, take your pick. But you when you sprint, you you are The ultimate poker player. So my cheeky question is, do you play cards? And when you do when you play cards, do you win? And does your face change at all either? No, I think this can be because I was I don't know how you say in English, but mm in at some part of my life I was working as an ⁓ auditor, like the people that look into the other jobs. Yeah. So you you have to be like so partial. Maybe that was the moment I ⁓ it started doing this way so you don't have feelings. No expression. Maybe I don't know. This is like the opposite of Emma, because you can always tell what Emma's thinking on camera if you look closely enough. You can play ketchup. So whilst Dorrency ⁓ you know, trained and honed her her her facial skills whilst auditing other departments at work. I once had a boss say to me across the boardroom table, Emma, we can't go into this strategy meeting if I can read your response within seconds on your face. You have to practice There you go. Cheeky question. Great answer. ⁓ well, Doroncy, thank you so much for joining us. It's been an absolute pleasure. ⁓ to chat to you and to get to know you a little better. We are gonna continue to watch you with joy. Thank you so much. Thank you guys ⁓ for having me. ⁓ enjoy a lot this and every race of course. ⁓ nice to meet you, even if it's beautiful, but nice to have a face to talk about. So see you in the final race. We will do indeed. Thank you. Thank you so much. Bye bye. Wow. ⁓ what a what an absolutely insightful insightful interview with somebody who clearly is you could see the desire. When I go racing, I go there and I'm going to turn up and I'm gonna go and I am gonna speak 'cause I want it. I mean what that said so much about Dorrency, didn't it? I mean you could just I'd do it and I want it. And you're just like, okay. ⁓ I think there's so much, so much to unpick in there. ⁓ Emma, you've got what w what are you gonna take out of that? ⁓ that's a really good question. What am I gonna take out of that? One, I need to do some specific work and I need to choose what I do, I think, because I she gave us so much information. you know, and some of it I think there has to be some logical progression to. You know, there's no point me looking at my race. competitors and iron up who's going to be where and which wheel I'm going to be following. If I can't follow the wheel and I've got no sprint to start with. So I think I need to start at the basics before I then follow some of that advice later on. But for me, I think, you know, that repeatability is really interesting and and being able to recover between efforts and also, you know, and how you work on that. And I think that's something I'm going to have a think about Maybe integrating weekly into my winter programme. Okay, Hayley, what about you? I think the ⁓ what she was saying about cadence was really interesting, about how she basically she's set in her gear pretty much, ⁓ from like five hundred metres and then she adjusts her cadence. so you know, when she's kind of in the draft and holding the wheels, she's at maybe seventy, eighty RPM and then she accelerates. And obviously that's a skill in itself, being able to accelerate the cadence to, you know, a hundred plus. but I think that that's actually a really good tip for me to try because when I was sprinting with with Kate in training the other week, Kate mentioned like trying try and get to a higher cadence because you look quite low cadence. ⁓ and then what Dorancy just said like really reinforced that. So I think actually learning to accelerate the gear that I'm in to a higher cadence, I think that's going to be a a useful thing for me to try. Well Before you try that one, Haley, let's bring another perspective into this sprinting discussion. ⁓ Marius Fossid is going to be joining us for a chat very, very shortly. Famous to me, at least, ⁓ for winning the first three stages of the My Ruse Championships in twenty twenty five, all from a group sprint, which had over twenty five riders in the group. ⁓ let's hear what he has to say. We thought we would bring in one of the people who really came to our attention as a super sprinter, a man whose timing is to perfection. If he was a comedian, he'd have every line nailed. If he was whipping the tablecloth off, he would do it and every single glass would be on the table because his timing is absolutely superb. Welcome to the show, Marius Fossier. Thank you very much for the introduction and Thanks thanks for having me. ⁓ Pleasure to have you here. And ⁓ thank you for taking the time. I know you are a very busy man. ⁓ and ⁓ we have to wait until the family are all sorted as well, which is great. I absolutely love it. ⁓ because it shows that sort of the real side of people. You know, you're not just an avatar and a sprinter. There's a there's a whole life goes on. Yeah, not Jason that can bike like every day for ten hours. I wish both. Yeah. Yeah, we we all do. Yeah. ⁓ this is really looking forward to this because as we I'm sure well, as we have alluded to many times and I'm sure we will come to, I am a horrible, horrible sprinter. So I'm hoping I'm hoping that the sprint special is gonna, you know, give me ⁓ uncle Matt's zipping his lips. Yeah. To be honest, I'm used to it. I c I don't think ⁓ I just take it all on the chin now. I know it's awful, but ⁓ I'm hoping that This sprinter special gives me some tips and unlocks some yet to be found in the last 10 years of being a professional bike rider, ⁓ fast twitch muscle fiber ability. But we shall see. ⁓ so one thing that we do with all of our guests that's now becoming a bit of a a bit of a ritual is we give them 60 seconds to tell us and tell all of our audience a bit about them. And it can be anything. It can be as random as you like. So yeah, just hit us with some facts. Matt will give you a countdown. But yeah, sixty seconds to learn all about Marius Fossid. Okay, just to b because the last race that I actually watched was the road race time trial in Montreal. ⁓ Marius, you're going to go in five, four, three, two, one, away you go. Hello everyone. Yeah, I'm Marius. I'm forty years old and ⁓ have two kids, ⁓ the aged two and five. I work in IT, mainly in infrastructure, networking, and cyber security. And these days AI is taking over, so you need to speed up the knowledge there like every day. ⁓ yeah, I'm generally pretty bad at sitting still, so yeah. I I think I've been traveling to around 71 countries so far. And hundred scuba dives. yeah. In 2011 I think my bike career started. After like two, three weeks I attended a 230 kilometers race and that went really bad. But I finished in like under 10 hours. But ⁓ yeah, that was really bad. ⁓ I never stretched. It's like 20 years since I done that. ⁓ and I actually use my same cycling shoes that I bought. Bought in 2011. Four. Three. They are 15 years old and I still use them every every time. And time's up. Absolutely brilliant. That is ⁓ absolutely to the the second. Told you his timing was good, see? See we have we actually we have some we have some similarities apart from our complete difference in muscle. Fibre types. I c I have a scuba diving qualification. love to travel. So there we go. It's just with completely opposite muscle fibres. I'm entirely slow twitch and you have obviously a lot of fast twitch. Yeah. Yeah, travel is fun to experience new cultures and stuff. That's that's an amazing list, isn't it? Do you have a favorite country that you visited, Marius? I know everyone asked that, but the different I can't say ⁓ favorite country, but I really like Japan. No I love Japan. Yeah, because every everything is just working perfectly all the time. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ⁓ everyone is kind and yeah. It's beautiful there. So I've got can can I s can I ask a question? Because the you said your cycle sporting career life started in twenty eleven. Was there sport before that? Is there any sport background before that? Maybe some Years before I ⁓ trained some strength, ⁓ so that and quite quite heavy deadlift and ⁓ squats, so that's probably why ⁓ I can sprint now. So but before that, no from I was maybe ten to twenty five. pretty lazy I would say. So ⁓ yeah. Let's let's explore, shall we, a little bit more of the more recent times. ⁓ in that last ⁓ well that's 15 years now of ⁓ cycling history, Marius. But ⁓ you joined the Sunday Race Club in February 2025 and so far you've raced 57 ⁓ Sunday race clubs in which you've had nine wins and 12 sprint jerseys. But really I would say you came to well definitely my attention in the MyRouge Championships in 2025 when you only rode three stages. And you won every single stage in a bunch sprint. It was absolutely amazing. ⁓ this year in the MyRuch Championships, you won a 30 up sprint on stage one and a 28 up sprint on stage two, on stage three, should I say. just we don't see you Matt and I often say after a show on a Sunday. We don't see you in the bunch, in fact we don't see you all race. The only time we see you is when your wheel goes over the line at the end. And it is just it it's a beautiful thing to watch, even though we're not really watching you for forty something kilometres. It is it one big effort? Is it hiding and conserving energy until the very last moment and then one big effort? How do you do it? Yeah, I can try to ⁓ try to Explain it, but the main thing is it's really hard to just stay in the group because it goes so fast, even yeah, depends on which category you are in, but ⁓ whatever category in you're supposed to be there, so it's hard anywhere. ⁓ but yeah, it's all about saving the energy for when it matters. So s try to try to stay on the punchy hills without using too much ⁓ matches and then yeah, I will say the last five ⁓ kilometers are a r really intense one. Then you need to try to stay in the draft, save energy and find the timing and the right wheel to to follow. ⁓ yeah. It's ⁓ it's do you have a favorite do you have riders in the Peloton? That you identify before the race that are the wheels you think are the ones you're gonna follow to the line? Yeah, I'm actually going into my bush info and looking at ⁓ fifteen seconds, one minute, and five minute power. usually don't look at twenty minutes too much because that's more for climber stages, but ⁓ I usually s see out ⁓ five people or something. I need to watch those names ⁓ and try to follow their ⁓ wheel if they go. ⁓ and I've like you said, I've been ⁓ racing like fifty seven races now, so I know basically which people to follow. Some people are really aggressive and start too early every time and then we always catch them. So some people are let just let go and let the group ⁓ catch them. ⁓ but it's it's hard to yeah. ⁓ Stay I would say it's try to stay in draft as long as possi possible, save the energy and then commit 100% when you actually go. So kind of leading on from that, you know, you you said you just said that some people do tend to go too early. ⁓ we we've spoken about it ⁓ on on commentary before and just in discussions when we've been talking about sprinting. But how how do you get that timing right? Like timing your sprint is is is an art. It's very difficult. Are you just instinctively good at it? Is it something that took several Sunday race clubs to get used to? ⁓ t talk us through kind of the timing of the sprint. Yeah. ⁓ it's basically follow the the tension in the group. I see like lately the sprint often start like maybe three kilometers before because people are trying. The climbers they are trying as hard as they can to go early. And then the group s ⁓ seems to stretch out and then it's sometimes you lose lose the front and then then you lose, but like I would say like ninety percent of the time the group will catch on what whoever ⁓ goes in front. Of course if you Jason Osborne or something, you can just keep it ⁓ what per kilo and stay there for enormous long of time. But yeah I think the main thing is ⁓ patience staying in the draft staying in the draft as long as possible and until it's like four hundred meters left and then try to go all in. ⁓ it's what I experienced it ⁓ in my worst it takes the avatar a little bit time to get up it to speed so around the four hundred meter marker is where ⁓ yeah where you should start. But it often starts one kilometer before and it's It's so irritating. But ⁓ if I could choose I would always wait for everyone could wait in a big bunch group until four hundred meters and then yeah. But I also use like the the steering to try to stay in the draft. ⁓ so but in my wash when you push left or right you the avatar moves so much to the left so you maybe lose the draft and then go back right you maybe go all the way to the right and lose the draft. So I'm I missed some micro adjustments in that part. But yeah. I don't know. So that I I mean you've you've literally answered a a question that I had pre written for this, which which was about steering in terms of following the riders in front and and you said you've got key riders you'll follow. There's some riders that you know are gonna go early and then you know you're gonna get them because they're gonna blow up. And you're gonna come back in. Like in ⁓ usually in cat category five, ⁓ Joel ⁓ Warren, the Swedish guy, he is he's really strong. But I see him going for the sprint every time. So at the finish print he's still good, but he'll he used too many matches. So I think he would win more often if he will save himself. But I ⁓ yeah, it's a problem because I also all I also want to go for the sprint jersey every time. Lately I've been trying to save the matches for the the the final sprint. And is that for you and I know you can only talk for yourself here, Marius. For you is that then one sprint extra is one sprint too many for the sprint jersey, or is it the the whole two, three, maybe four sprints plus that then that is too much? Is is it Because you've also got the climb and you talked about not burning energy there. Is it literally that critical that those you know, those few seconds, those few watts, is the difference between getting your sprint right and winning or not? Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ 'cause I tested many times going for the sprint jersey and then either I lose to grip at some ⁓ some ⁓ Punchy Hill or or I don't have any deuce left in the sprint at the end. And how does how does that feel? Is that can you feel that in your legs? Is that is that your your head or can you just you you go and it just doesn't happen? The head is ready but when you when you stand up and going ⁓ all out you feel that ⁓ it doesn't work. That's how I feel every time I try and spread. Yeah. Yeah, no, ⁓ it's strange feeling, but you you really want to go hard but you can't get the power up. So Yeah. So ⁓ all the climbers they want to really ⁓ have a high speed hole race and then ⁓ get l rid of so many sprinters as possible. So my main goal is to just sit in, try to save draft and ⁓ hopefully I can stay in the punchy hills. But ⁓ it's getting harder and harder. How's that become harder with the wind? When the wind's been added in, so the wind's coming from one side or another. Are we are you feeling that in the bunge? Yeah. Definitely it's ⁓ a lot harder to race now. And I actually look at the wind ⁓ for the last five kilometers to see if it's ⁓ a headwind. ⁓ it's really hard to go early. Because the b the bunch group will always win. ⁓ if you see my numbers compared to the others when I start ⁓ the race, it's I'm not having the best watts per ⁓ kilo, but ⁓ Pretty good at timing. So timing is Alpha Omega here, I think. If you see the pro sprint is in ⁓ Tour de France. It's very seldom that people go ⁓ very early. Basically like the hundred maybe fifty last meters, someone will show up and then pfft because the wind will stop you a lot. And in my wish it's more realistic and then ⁓ other platforms it's ⁓ really fill up so I was ⁓ I spent some time on the same road team as Katie Archibald and she was obviously a a very very good sprinter she was always our sprinter and on the way to starts in the morning she would be looking at the road book looking at the last five kilometers the last three kilometers looking at the weather forecast where the wind's coming from ⁓ and really doing that homework ⁓ and I really like the fact that you basically do exactly the same thing. And especially now that things like wind have been introduced into the platform, making it more realistic, making it ⁓ more like outdoor riding, you as a sprinter are basically treating it exactly the same as Katie would have been for the UCI road sprinters. ⁓ so it's it's nice that we have kind of that that comparison as well. Yeah, basically. And but as like I said before, the Moving the avatar is really hard, so actually now I'm trying to stay behind as ⁓ many p people as possible to get the draft. Because it's dangerous to just follow one person because it's easy to get out of the draft and then the group will take you. So you need to be patient but still aggressive enough to don't lose the sp ⁓ draft. Let's let Let's change tacks a little bit, Marius. Do you When you're not racing, do you train specifically for sprinting or do you train as more of an all-rounder? Actually I never trained to be a good sprinter, but ⁓ the sprinting funned me, I guess. I like I tell ⁓ told ⁓ in the 60 second intro, ⁓ I think my strength training ⁓ like created the base for the sprinting. But I'm really competitive and like everything So you just can't not win. No, and I I I don't really have any structure training. I just race all the time. I think the only time I had some structure training b was before this year's My World Championship. I started like two months before and I never been in ⁓ better form than I am now. So actually for not that works amazingly, but yeah. Do you do you still do you still do any strength work or like any gym work? No. No, I don't do any more, but I I wish I had time for it. I think my if I give someone some ⁓ tips is doing heavy squats that will make your sprint better because ⁓ that's what matters, real high power. ⁓ and I've noticed that between ninety and hundred and ten RPMs is the best number to get the highest ⁓ watts per power. If you go over hundred, hundred and twenty maybe, nah it it spins out. You can't can't make the power enough. Maybe if you older Jones, because he has a really I was about to say Ollie Jones' cadence. I mean we were talking about it in the show on Sunday actually, because he when he went for that sprint on Sunday, his cadence shot from about eighty two to a hundred and fifteen in the ⁓ blink of an eye. He is one of those that has a lot of cadence. But he also also had one of the best sprints, so I'm just a little jealous of him. There's ⁓ it it's almost we we have a phrase for it that that came from the UK, which is around Olympian Ed Clancy, Ed Clancy could win a crit race with a seated sprint. He basically didn't get out of the saddle to to win because he had that pickup from racing on the track that he had the cadence range. So had the track speed and that that that's your blessing. You said earlier on you you know, you don't stretch and I'm in that club too, you know. you know, I'm as flexible as yeah, exactly. I'm as flexible, you know, some people are as flexible and whippy and I'm like a lump of stone. ⁓ you know, that's ⁓ but do you think so if if you were you were to say ⁓ to Haley, Haley, what's the one thing to do? Would that be to improve your cadence or would it be to improve your weight do weights is i is it that for is it the same tip for everybody do you think? Yeah it's I think weights ⁓ like ⁓ heavy weights and sometimes do some ⁓ quick weights like ⁓ less kilos but faster stand up instead of ⁓ sitting down. It's only the track cyclist that's really good at sitting down. and don't find your sprinting gear before you start sprinting because gearing under a sprint that's just a mess. Especially if you if you have ⁓ real gears on the bike it's easy to ⁓ the chain will jump off. Before I got my ⁓ like ⁓ Wahoo Pro bike whenever I put over ⁓ twelve hundred watts the chain will jump off. So what's I'm not gonna have that issue either. No, I don't have that issue either, Haley. Don't worry. ⁓ But this is this is mission help Haley to sprint. And actually, I do have already in my training peaks for after my few weeks off the bike that's coming up in October, ⁓ I have hit the gym already as a note in training peaks. So so maybe maybe this will help. And do five, fifteen, and thirty seconds structured sprints. on your training days and do like five or six of those just until you you can keep your power up but ⁓ like the thirty second ones ⁓ they're really hard to do but they will help you. I don't do a lot of that but yeah. I But ⁓ it's basically thirty, fifteen seconds that's what's matter if you can stay in the draft and then you have to do all out then. Well we're gonna collate all these tips and see if I can actually hit a respectable ⁓ max power number by by the end of the winter. Yeah. Have have one more thing. I don't know if it's ⁓ if a if it's a good tip, but ⁓ is instead of structural training, just race short races every other day. Yeah. And try to win them because Yeah. It's I think that's made my sprint. I think I on Yeah. Like structure training I have maybe haven't done at all. It's just been racing. ⁓ before my wish it was ⁓ swift, like short thirty, twenty minutes ⁓ races. And then ⁓ it's hard all the way and then you want to win, so you you go really hard and then just yeah. Really hard. I really hate to ⁓ lose. So I'd I do some ⁓ personal ⁓ streaming on YouTube so I can go in after and look at what went wrong. Yeah, cool. Because I think I use more time on when I whenever I lose than than I win to watch those videos. That could also be something you can do, like ⁓ yeah video your sprints and see see what you can do better. You can do it in private, Hailey. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be a public video. Yeah, it won't it won't be public. Kate and I filmed each other doing six second sprints when we were together in Tallinn, ⁓ and we both kind of look as though How how we look in our heads when we're sprinting is really not how we looked on the videos when we watched them after. It looked like we were just moving away in slow motion. It was like, have you slowed down this video, Kate? No. No no no no. Yeah. And it's it's a really big difference ⁓ sprinting ⁓ end of a race than being fresh because in my wish ⁓ and especially SRC, the whole race is usually really, really hard and then you have to Even if you're completely empty. Yeah. You d you feel like, ⁓ I can't do anything more, I just want to lay down. Then you have to stand up and sprint even and go even harder. That's ⁓ yeah. It's really hard, but and doing a hard session and do sprints at the end, that could be also a tip. Well, all I can say, Marius, is you do it very, very well and the results show us that ⁓ You know, whilst you might get it wrong some days, you get it right an awful lot of the time. ⁓ all I can say is thank you so much. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop, stop, stop. Stop, stop, stop. That's a cheeky question. What you do Come on then. Cheeky question. Cheeky question time here. So che so when you have finished sprinting, at the end of a race, you get to the end of the race and we've seen you laid on the handlebars and you've given it absolutely everything. How much do your legs actually hurt? How much do your legs hurt and how long is it after you've finished before you can then do something some useful training afterwards if you've sprinted it right? So if you've if you've done the a really great sprint, you've you've done what you needed to do, how long after that do you then have to be super careful until you actually try something else because you need to recover? Yeah, you should ask my girlfriend that question because she is She's ⁓ quite upset every time I do S SRC, but yeah. ⁓ no, I'm I've from scale from one to ten, it hurts like ten. It's ⁓ you do all out whatever you have. Use all your muscles to d get the last watts out. ⁓ and ⁓ it takes like ten minutes before you can do anything, I guess. ⁓ but rest of the day I feel the heav the legs are really heavy. So we have some stairs at home and yeah, I struggle to walk up and down those. Stairs the enemy of a cyclist anyway. They are after sprints, hundred percent. And how long before you then do like a training session? I should say forty out hours forty eight hours at least. I still feel some fatigue there, but but ⁓ Yeah, I usually now nowadays after I'm turning after I turn forty, I try to have at least one rest day between ⁓ each ⁓ session. So I would say at least forty eight hours after a really, really hard sprint. ⁓ or else yeah. You don't feel fresh. No. It's lucky Sunday race club's just once a week, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And I I I'm now I I now want to go back to how on earth did you manage three days past twenty twenty five. Just thinking that, yeah. What is Emmy's cheeky question? Come and say that's the most cheeky question at this, right? That was actually the best ⁓ experience in cycling I had, then was the my wash twenty twenty five. I really suffered from ⁓ what do you call that? ⁓ No, I I really wanted to to attend that stage four as well. Yeah, FO FOMO Fear of missing out. But I was sitting there with ⁓ two of my pretending I'm young. Yeah. So ⁓ but it was fun watching. I did commentate and ⁓ I saw you ⁓ notice that so ⁓ it was fun. We yeah we we we we knew you were still watching even when you finished racing. ⁓ I wish that same happened this year, but there was yeah, there was this guy was disqualified ⁓ after, but ⁓ I would have it the first ⁓ stage this year as well if but yeah. It was really cool. You did it was a good performance, great performance, mate. Year in, year out year out. And it's one of the reasons we asked you. We need somebody who knows what they're talking about on this film. And Marius, thank you for bringing us so much joy when we watch you race. Because whilst you might be really competitive, we absolutely love it when ⁓ we know the stage is absolutely bob on for you and could well be a Marius sprint gold again. Yeah. Pretty flat one is ⁓ my type of track. Thank you so much for spending time and joining us today. It's been an absolute pleasure ⁓ chatting to you and getting to know you a little bit more. ⁓ and ⁓ we will undoubtedly see you for yet more Sunday race clubs and yet more sprint finishes. Thank you so much, Marius, for joining us today. ⁓ thanks for having me and enjoy. ⁓ what what a amazing person full stop, never mind Sprinter. ⁓ just brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. So much to take home. Again, I mean information overload, I think, from from both of our writers in lots of ways, but so much so I'm gonna be I'm gonna go back through and listen again and and and watch again and and pick out which bits I'm I'm really gonna take from those. ⁓ but again I think there's a degree of knowing that they are Sprinters, the amount of work they actually do now in very different ways. Doris is training, but Marius there talking about doing a just doing a lot of races and a lot of sprinting in those races for me. That that says to me that actually it is one of those things we all just need to do again and again and again and again. And not get lazy. In not doing them because it's the sort of thing that can be done again and again and again, but maybe not to the extreme of Marius basically being falling off the bike and not being able to move and etc. I think there's maybe there's a balance there that we n we all need to find out ⁓ Hayley Emma, what did what did you two think in in terms of Marius first of all, and then maybe what do you think of both of them in terms of both Marius and and ⁓ and Dorrency. Go on, Haley. So they both both of them kind of do their homework. maybe in slightly different ways. Dorrensey spoke about knowing the competition and knowing maybe who's gonna go early for a sprint and ⁓ and who's gonna kind of hold back a bit and and just knowing the riding styles. And Marius as well. He spoke about the fact that he looks at the in information on MyWish Info, which you we've mentioned loads of times as being, you know, the font of so much knowledge when it comes to to racing on MyWoosh. ⁓ he looks at who's got really good five second power and things like that on MyWish Info. So they both they both know their competition, they know the courses that they're racing. and I think that's I think that's really crucial. If you're gonna try and win a sprint, you need to know who you're sprinting against and how that sprint's gonna play out in terms of like gradients, wind and stuff like that. And and as well as obviously all the technique tips that they gave us. That was something that really stood out for me, I think, just how much it it's not just about getting on your bike and pedaling. There's there's a lot of work that goes in before you get on the bike. if you wanna be successful in in a sprint. It's interesting, isn't it? Because ⁓ one of the things I was thinking really that stuck with me is hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, don't do any work, don't do any work, don't do any work, wait till the final four hundred metres. That's probably where I go wrong in a race. Yeah, because I don't conserve enough energy and and I sort of I sort of because I know I don't have a good finish and because I know if I come in with a group at the finish line, even eight or nine riders, I can almost guarantee I'm gonna be at the back of the pack. I can almost guarantee, unless I go early and get a jump and they just think I've gone too early, so they let me go and I make it to the line, you know, that's the only way I know in that position. If I come in to 2K to go and there's a group of us, I'm sitting there thinking, Well, ⁓ I'm ninth then today. You know, and I think I think maybe what I take from Marius is I need to do less work. in a race, if I'm thinking about the sprint. Yeah. And I'm thinking about the finish. So how in whatever position I am in in the race do I do the least amount of work? Yeah, and you look back to Dorancy saying, you know, when she's sat on the wheel going into those last few minutes, she needs to be sat on that wheel with something extra left in the lace. She's not going into it there with tied legs. She's going in with fresh legs. And while she's on the wheel holding, she might be in second or third place. It might be six hundred metres out, but she still once she's when she's in the draft, she can't be on the limit there. She has to have more to go again and to kick her even more. And I think that is a re that is a product of that smart riding that we're seeing from them. And that I think there's we can all class sprinters as this sort of, you know, the the the big thigh sort of Sort of, you spread it into the line. But they're not. This is an absolute that these guys are super sharp. They are super sharp in terms of tactics, in terms of technique, about self knowledge, super sharp in terms of what they know what their strengths are, but they're doing the homework. They know the course profile. You know, Marriott is checking it out. ⁓ Doris is looking at the competition. They are really, really sharp riders. And it's not just about being able to put down the walts or having a great kick. There's so much more to it. And I think because it's such a big thing, and it isn't just this that's you're only getting to in a show. ⁓ because it's not just that sort of brute force and ignorance just go really hard. I think we all can improve. Everybody can improve because there's so many things, so many facets to it. You know, you can improve one, two, three, four different things and still have two, three, four. You might be good at half fifty percent, seventy percent of this. But that doesn't mean you can't improve on that other twenty percent. You could be good on ninety nine percent, but that one percent can still make a difference because sprinting can often result in wins by fine margins. So I think there's there's there's there's hope for everybody. D do you know what? I reckon I reckon also, ⁓ maybe one reason that I really not good at sprinting is one thing that I took from both of them is they're both very patient. And this is a little bit what Emma was saying as well about how like using using energy earlier in the race. I think mentally I'm like a race should be hard. So I'll do too much work on the front. I'll, you know, I'll Yeah. I won't I won't just I won't just sit in and save energy and be like, I'm happy if I'm doing a recovery ride effectively in a race because in my mind doing that that's not what I'm doing. That's I'm doing a race. I'm not doing a recovery ride. and I get impatient, so I'm like, this should be harder. I'm gonna go and do some work. ⁓ and I'm just I'm I'm a very impatient person. So maybe maybe maybe I need to learn. My road race that talked about at the start of the show way way back and and and my sort of thoughts on it. You know, I literally Just did too much. I was the strongest person there. I was making the moves. I was doing this. I was doing that. I was playing with everybody. I was I was having great fun. But was I there to race for fun or was I there to win? Because clearly I didn't win. And I did have a lot of fun. And actually that that clearly cost me because in the end, didn't have the the let I'm, you know, take away some of these tips. Yeah, one of the other things I think. That's one of the really interesting things there. Yeah, but one of the other things I think there's there's something there between what Maria said and what Dorrency said to go out and try. Because Dorrency was talking about get into position at the five hundred metre to go, find the right wheel to follow, sit in the draft at two hundred to go, start to lift the pace, but don't smack out. When you get a hundred metres to go, then it's eyeballs out to go. So that's obviously what works for her. Marius was talking about staying in the bunch, staying in the bunch, staying in the bunch, and at four hundred metres to go, absolutely burying yourself till you can go no harder. Those are two quite different strategies in terms of sprinting, but they both obviously work for the individuals. ⁓ and I think it's it you know, it would I think that the the thing there is to you can have a go and try either way. Yes, and I th but but that also then comes down to that sprint practice and doing those those reps and the more you and both of them said more you do it, better you're gonna be. But I'm a bit with Haley, the patience thing from Dorrensey. Get into position at five hundred meters to go, sit on the wheel till two hundred, at two hundred meters. But you that from Mammy, she sits there and waits to the end of the race quite often. And he's his mission, he his mind is occupied not by making the race, but by being As efficient as you can. I've decided what I need to do. I need to meditate to calm down before I start sprint training. Okay, so Emma's on meditation. That's Emma's take home. First of all, Emma's gonna stop the meditation. Hayley, what's the f so Emma, seriously, what's the first thing you're gonna do to improve your sprinting? First thing you're gonna do. ⁓ I'm going to integrate one session a week into my training. One what? Cadence, strength, sprint what? Come on. Confuse me. ⁓ what am I going to integrate? I'm going to integrate a specific sprint session in ⁓ that has some cadence in it in terms of focusing on. I have to say, see, now I'm thinking about it, I'm trying to think about what I actually do. I am a big gear grunter. I'm not a lighter gear spinner. So actually I think that might be the first place to st when I actually do a sprint, think about not being in such a big gear, but lifting the cadence. ⁓ and doing some repeated efforts. Okay, so Emma's first training session, at the end of all that, cut all the waffle. I was nearly saying something else that was unrepeatable on air. All the hedging, all the politician fill. Basically, let's cut this down to Emma is basically w let's take it as read, we're all gonna go do some sprint training. The sprint training that's gonna happen from Emma is some cadence work in repeated cadence efforts. Yes. Brilliant, fantastic. Don't say another word. Haley. I got away with that. Haley, what is your first thing you're gonna work on? Right, so I have a session tomorrow that has six, six second sprints in it. So, in tomorrow's session, I'm I'm going to try out some of the some of the cadence tips. That's that's what I'm gonna do. and I won't stress if like, you know, the first one, the power's not very good. I'm just gonna Just keep trying. There you go. Well done. In that in that case, I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do. No, excellent. Don't let's move on. ⁓ well, ⁓ if you are like Hayley and I and you've ⁓ got your plan in place, go on, Matt. What is your plan? What are you going to do? Well, I'd nearly said meditate to put up with the fact that you're not interested in what I'm to do and just be you know, my my co host interest is non existent. However, what I'm actually going to do is I'm going to go out and I am going to do some really l what are for me, long efforts for sprinting, but short efforts for everybody else. So I'm gonna go out and I am gonna do fifteen second sprinting intervals. if only so that I keep your both your backsides for not giving a monkeys about what I'm gonna do. Well, thank you so much to Marius Fossid and Dorancy Gonzales for joining us on Inside the Race. It has been fabulous to have them here to talk about sprinting in those races. Well, next time on Inside the Race, we will be bringing you a review and discussion of the September finals on the Montreal course, along with, of course, that added team competition. Don't forget, if you've enjoyed the show, tell your friends about it. Get a megaphone, stand on the corner, go to speakers corner, and stand there and proclaim that the Inside the Race podcast is well worth a listen. Please give us do give us a follow. ⁓ follow us on social media. It's at MyWoosh Racing for the Podcast. And don't forget, download the app. Get your sprint training in. There are sprint specific training sessions on MyWosh. It's at MyWosh on social media. It's www.mywoosh.com. Let's go online, download the app, and download the latest version. Don't forget that you can also get out. And ride on the world championship routes as well. That world has landed. ⁓ subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcast. ⁓ and tell your friends, thank you, everybody, who's done it so far. Keep on going, keep spreading the word. We're heading into October, can you believe it? and we're gonna have the UCI Cycling Esports World Championship semi-final race coming up on October the second. We're then, of course, going to have ⁓ SRC throughout October. October is a four Sunday month, so there's going to be three qualifiers and then of course the monthly finals. In addition, Cycling Esports League starts on Tuesday, October the sixth. ⁓ so of course we'll be catching up on everything that's going on there too. But until then, until we get into October, stay safe. Enjoy your riding. Goodbye.