So one of the biggest, easy gains that you can make is by jumping on the aero base layer band wagon if you haven’t already. Some people/brands call them “aero bras” as they are like crop tops for dudes and women can wear them too (over their sports bras of course - these are definitely not a replacement for normal bras). I have a couple of links here below. The first one is the rule 28 which is one of the better tested aero base layers on the market. See Nero Show Episode 155 on YouTube (the first 10 mins of the show breaks down the results) to see the data on this. The second link is an aliexpress one which I’ve bought before and I wouldn’t think it’s far off in terms of aero savings. These things definitely help save time. But you need to be hitting 40kph regularly in order for it to be worthwhile. Usually the faster you go the more of a difference the aero equipment will make - but on the Nero show they found the aero bra to be equally effective at both 40 and 60 kph in terms of watts savings (cannot remember what it was but it was the same amount of watts saves at both speeds) which is pretty unusual. As a percentage that means it’s more useful at 40kph but still definitely worthwhile (so not equally effective as I said in the last sentence 🤓 but still very useful!). Especially during long distance events where you could save tonnes of time for zero effort. It’s probably the most cost effective upgrade you can buy. Way faster than buying a new bike unless you are riding a gate, but for most people it would make a more significant difference to get one of these things. 2 situations where they aren’t worthwhile: If its really hot then you are best not to wear an additional layer despite how light this thing is. If heat could be an issue in any way then I would ditch this and focus all your energy into heat protocols like ice, slushies etc. and don’t bother with the extra layer of kit. If it’s so cold that you are wearing jackets and that then you won’t be receiving any aero benefits from the aero base layer(shockingly 😔). The grooves of the aero base layer sleeves need to protrude under your jersey sleeves to obtain the aero benefits ( I don’t really know how to articulate that point but have a google if you’re confused and it’ll make sense). So if you’ve got too many layers on then you will not be availing of these gains. Prioritise staying warm though in this case of course. Everybody else will be cold too so it’s not like you are missing out on something compared to everybody else.

Few more points from EF camp over the last few days. I’ve a good few other interesting things but I’ll try space them out so I have content ideas over the next while. Also feel free to message me to arrange a call if you haven’t already! Just plugging it here quickly. Not sure if you have heard of the game called “Traitors”. It’s been a big game show in Ireland and the UK over the last couple of years. Most nights all of the riders come together and sit in a circle. Everyone closes their eyes and the moderator chooses 2-3 people to become traitors in secret. Each round people try and figure out who are the traitors and who are the faithfuls. So everybody has an opportunity to speak and interact with each other. Every round one person is voted off until either all the traitors are caught or else all the faithfuls are eliminated and the traitors win. The traitors also discuss who they wish to kill off after each round so they pick one extra person to be eliminated. (The traitors have to lie and pretend that they are innocent and try to spin the narrative to take the heat off of them and try and play the crowd. Hope this has been explained somewhat well enough to understand the concept at least). Anyways all of them have been playing a few rounds of this game every evening and I think it’s a good one. I think it’s good to help the quieter people speak up and communicate without the loud people controlling entire conversations and so on. Especially with people coming from different backgrounds and a lot of people not speaking English as well as others. So yeah this has been a pretty good team bonding thing that the men’s and women’s teams have been doing every night. Better then everybody scrolling through Instagram or something anyway! Recovery pyramid: The riders were shown this recovery pyramid thing this morning which unfortunately caoimhe doesn’t have a photo of. But I know the headlines. At the base of the pyramid was sleep. So that’s the most important thing in order to improve recovery. The second most important one was drinking water. Next was food. So these were the three standout things where over 99% of the recovery gains are. (Obviously theres caveats to this like if you are really stressed out then this could absolutely be the most important factor affecting recovery for you - but this pyramid is referring to recovery tools as opposed to things that can affect recovery. Hope that makes sense!).