Could I ACTUALLY turn PRO? Here's what the science says...

How does my cycling performance compare to the best riders in the world? I did a range of tests with WorldTour performance coach for team Bora-Hansgrohe, John Wakefield, at the Science To Sport laboratory in Girona, Spain to find out...
A very big thank you to John for his time in making this video happen, and also to Darrel Fitzgerald for filming all the additional footage used in this vlog.
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00:00 Intro
02:05 Explanation of the tests
05:35 Body fat %
06:58 TEST 1: lactate accumulation
07:59 Findings from test 1
13:45 Explanation of test 2
15:51 TEST 2: vo2 max and peak power
18:22 Findings from test 2
22:55 Final thoughts
This ride was filmed at the Science 2 Sport lab on Carrer Nou in Girona, Catalunya, Spain; a cycling mecca that has been home to many professional cyclists including Ben O'Connor, Jack Haig, Esteban Chaves, Ryan Mullen, George Bennett, James Knox, Dorian Godon, Jay Vine, and at one point George Hincappie, Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton. Girona is used for training for races such as the Tour de France, Volta Catalunya, Vuelta Espana, Paris-Nice, Giro d'Italia and more. Teams such as INEOS-Grenadiers, Israel-Premier Tech Pro Cycling, Human Powered Health, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team, UAE Team Emirates and others use Girona for team training camps and rider testing.

[@DavidK140]

Great video mate , super interesting and informative ! Look forward to more coaching content

[@Greg.Sutton]

Right up my street this video. Thanks. Look forward to seeing your training journey.

[@ccamire]

Love your work and great video. Very to the point and learning a lot from all the questions.

[@onlyonecjb001]

Another great video and insight Tristan. Tests looked savage. It will be interesting to see how you improve with John's coaching.

[@neilcockings8967]

Great video, no getting bored which so often happens on this type of video. Whole content interestingly presented, your stats insane, well done.

[@fhowland]

Your bike fit and pedaling look perfect! Very fluid and smooth.

[@justinafrika7860]

Thoroughly enjoyed John’s insights and empirical rigour and also the bants between all y’all.

[@antoniocasablancasvilanova2207]

Super interesting & informative. Maybe not Pro Tour (o casi!) but you keep the sport fun, motivating and down to earth. Gracias!

[@Oricottage]

Great video Tristan, very insightful 👌

[@rosssanelli]

Tristan - great to get a plain English explanation in the science and more importantly what is specifically required to improve areas of weakness

[@antspage]

congrats on the race results! obviously the testing and training package is paying off

[@lorenzoschofer6070]

Another ripper video mate. You certainly are the benchmark when it comes to cycling content in the KZbin space. Absolutely loved getting some of John’s wisdom over the last couple of videos. Keep up the awesome work

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks dude! 🙏🏼

[@kimwrinkle100]

Excellent! Very informative!

[@Richz2]

Enjoyed watching this one! And why is it when you are on the point of total exhaustion and gasping for life, everyone else is smiling and laughing!!! Seriously well done and chapeau for telling us your numbers, so many don’t for some reason. Hopefully you will document your training.

[@tristantakevideo]

Cheers mate! Always interesting seeing people hide their numbers. I understand the feeling of not wanting to be “judged” or not wanting to “give away” some secret info..but I find the talk around numbers interesting. Especially seeing what some guys are able to do with their numbers. As John says, there’s more to riding and racing than just what you can push through a power meter. More videos with John to come for sure. 🙏🏼

[@chuckfrizzell8668]

Great video - thank you for sharing!

[@Lemond75]

Another great video Tristan, and hope to see some more videos featuring John and training related content 👍

[@tristantakevideo]

Thank you! Let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to hear from John..got a few videos lined up but more than happy to integrate subscriber questions. 🙏🏼

[@_________4292]

Amazing Tristan result and congratulations on winning the race

[@PedroGonzalez-ef3zv]

Really good video, nice detailed information

[@danniboishufflerz]

Another awesome video and new to the channel. Ive recently picked up cycling and would love to know your take + hear from the pros on figuring out what type of cyclist you are eg would I be more suited to sprinting, climbing or grinding. Keep it up

[@maniastrat]

Wow that was brutal! Good job Tristan & great numbers. 😉

[@judd7699]

Cracking video Tristan .. you went deep 😳🕺👏👏

[@carlosroy7984]

Amazing video!!

[@n22pdf]

Wow awesome vid Tristan.. great channel always something worth a watch.. very interesting 👍🤩❤️‍🔥🚴🏅👏

[@kanst22]

On the indoor vs outdoor question, I wonder if riding style plays into it. Getting out of the saddle is super awkward on an indoor trainer. Especially the ones with a fixed back end that don't rock. If you're a guy who likes to stand up at high power, the indoor trainer kind of ruins that.

[@tristantakevideo]

Yeah this is what I have a hard time with indoors..my riding style is definitely a mix of in the saddle and out of the saddle, and part of why I dislike the trainer so much is that inability to replicate my outdoors riding style while on it. Hopefully John and I can put together a video about outdoor testing to give a more well-rounded perspective.

[@neilmckenna236]

Great video, very interesting 👍

[@swites]

You guys have a great rapport and look like you'll work well together :) Man those were impressive results! Was expecting them to be reasonably high, but not quite that high. 75 V02 max! Gosh!

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks man 🙏🏼

[@jacob.m]

That was a really good video Tristan! It would great to see more conversations between you and your coach to help athletes without a coach to see how the best athletes in the world really train! Keep it up!

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks man 🙏🏼 I’ve got a video coming soon with John, about training sessions every cyclist can follow. Hopefully it’ll be a good insight!

[@onlyonecjb001]

@@tristantakevideo Sounds awesome.

[@jacob.m]

@@tristantakevideo sounds really good!

[@jasonhopkins6357]

A very interesting Vlog, John Wakefield is amazing so knowledgeable. Your numbers seemed really good, also having John it will be interesting to see the improvements. Hopefully some training videos. What was with the unusually high testosterone numbers that you recorded that happened in the Human Health video you did ? I meant to ask before.

[@andyking8464]

Awesome Video, Tristan! Thanks so much for sharing this journey. I find it incredibly inspirational and motivates me to train in a more focussed manner. (I'm old fat and slow BUT I'm improving!) Cheers. :)

[@jurgenleofoley4270]

Very enjoyable video l, got test 4 times in Cape town, highly recommended 🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽

[@robp3431]

Man, it would be awesome to have a testing facility like this at one's disposal ..... truly professional

[@Borisboef123]

Great video!!

[@tristantakevideo]

Thank you! 🤝🏼

[@BobMcKerrell]

Man you’re a machine. ! Good go man !!

[@cyclotaur6315]

I love watching (other) people do VO2 max tests. 🤣😂👏👍

[@zaphod_beeblerox]

22:46 snubbed! 😂 awesome work tristan

[@tristantakevideo]

Hahaha he got my hopes up in the first part of his reply 😂

[@johnwakefield7942]

@@tristantakevideo Gave you hope and pushed you away!

[@designeddifference6907]

I bet you wish you’d done this 10 years ago Tristan. It’s all relative to where your at now. Enjoy the improvements.. your self motivated, I’m looking forward to the 6 or 12 month re testing results great vid mate..

[@scugno]

Great video Tristan don’t believe only the numbers from that test believe the results that you produce at the races which last time I checked you just won.

[@scugno]

I’m not telling people not to go get these test done, but anybody that believes that these test are the final verdict of your talent is crazy. If you’re watching the Giro today, they are talking about this specifically and how there’s so many variables that make great riders. Him telling you or anybody that these numbers determine whether you will be in the world tour is absolutely false and I would not listen to him.

[@shaneolivier1650]

Short time later I'm glad to see you are alive😂

[@bikesavvy3654]

You would definitely be a great addition to a pro team. A positive attitude, communication, a following and can definitely put out the watts.

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks man 🙏🏼

[@glennicol1361]

Super interesting!

[@shannonmeehan]

Is there anywhere in Sydney you can get this testing and coaching?

[@ashcameron7677]

Great video. Super strong

[@diverg3]

Hey, really interesting content! I’m doing my first test after summer (same testing protocol as yours) - but wanted to get some proper training miles in my legs before then. Did the suggested near threshold training make its way into your training plan? Would you call yours overall polarized or split otherwise? Near threshold sounds like sweet spot training to me… good luck!

[@johnwakefield7942]

What you have said is a common comment we here when someone needs to or wants to test "I need to train 1st" this is often incorrect as you want to test now in order to see where you are and what our need to do going forward. good or not so good numbers. Its not a pass or fail its a way forward. Why test if you in good form? Please don't use the word sweet spot there is no such thing from a performance variable.

[@timpattydaechsel5988]

Very interesting video , love looking at your numbers , I’d like to think mine would be similar at your age , now at 66 yrs young, am currently at 3.96watts/188 max hr. 172 threshold, 65 VO2. What I’m curious about that I didn’t see in your video was a heart rate recovery number. Most of my experience in racing is in mountain biking and I always thought that next to power/weight ratio , recovery was the next most important asset for good results . I think that one minute heart rate recovery number could be a good indicator of race results separate from the usual power and threshold numbers

[@dieterbierman9803]

That sadistic little laugh at 17.40 ;)

[@MichaelRideout]

Top notch content. Question, I watched the last part of the video a couple times and I think I’m gathering that the watts per kilo is based on the max power value at the end of the test? (not w/kg based on FTP)

[@johnwakefield7942]

Peak power and threshold value are concerted into WKG, both are reported.

[@MichaelRideout]

@@johnwakefield7942 correct but they were specifically speaking about one at the end of the video which was what? Max value of the ramp test?

[@tristantakevideo]

@@MichaelRideout Yeah, the 6.8w/kg spoken about is the maximum power reached during the ramp test. That is not my FTP.

[@MichaelRideout]

@@tristantakevideo thank you. I appreciate the time and effort you put into making each video. Keep up the great work!

[@qoolss]

This was awesome, thanks for doing it and sharing it with us novices struggling to get to 4 let alone 6watts/kg.

[@tristantakevideo]

What’s cool about riding is there’s always room to improve. We all have a physiological ceiling but from all the experience I have, I’d say most people are much further from that ceiling than they think. Glad you enjoyed the video! 🙏🏼

[@shuttles69]

Would more ph in body help buffer lactate? Eg baking soda in water?

[@johnwakefield7942]

While there is evidence that Bicarb does buffer to a point, it is not as big a variable as everyone thinks. You also need to load from 3hours before small g/kg of body weight in a protocol but it would make little to no difference here.

[@piccicacca]

Hey Tristan! Would LOVE for you to catch up with Jay Vine, fellow OZ, and do a video together!

[@wendysuperfan1014]

Thanks Tristan.

[@barrydunne78]

Just curious were you totally self trained for the last 6 months or greater leading up to getting coached from John? Where you surprised at your training plan, or was it organizing what you already did, or does he have you doing less but with more hard sets ?

[@tristantakevideo]

Yeah, i've been self trained for the last 6 years. I had a coach during 2016 but otherwise I've always set my own plan. The plan laid out by John has been more goal-specific, with more rest involved - so yes, less, but better quality and focus in general.

[@anthonyhomercycling]

Super 🎉good!!! 👏

[@gazr99]

Had the Bane look and sounds going by the end of that ramp test

[@tristantakevideo]

Haha yeah, not the prettiest sight or sound!

[@yetogoicolea586]

super as per yush hugs brother

[@docpewpew]

How do you work on lactic going down?

[@johnwakefield7942]

Training at a certain intensity and focusing on this. What you want to do essentially is improve your bodies ability to utilise lactate as a fuel. It is termed "metabolic" as it is improving your metabolic flexibility in terms of substrate (fuel) usage.

[@docpewpew]

@John Wakefield thanks! In general what would that intensity look like z4 or z5? Longer duration?

[@johnwakefield7942]

@@docpewpew While everyone is different, it will be around 80-85% of threshold.

[@conorgoodman5731]

How many milligrams of O2 do you utilise at peak power per kilogram of body weight?

[@tristantakevideo]

All the data is displayed at 19:24

[@Apostroph418]

Why is ftp from ramp 0,95% not 0.85? Isn't 95% for 20 min max power?

[@johnwakefield7942]

Yes 95% is different to .95 when analysing with a metabolic cart with respiratory gases. The .95 is the RER value and not a % that use to we identify the start of threshold for. We do not look at a power value and * by .95%

[@neilplatt1111]

Great insight, but top pro's are something else. Stay to and around your level and enjoy it. Set goals to measure your performance with stretch targets built-in. I believe the age appropriate advice is very sound one given by John, as for mine its about balance of being a good cyclist within and not over impacting the rest of your life. Pro cyclists have skills you (certainly not I) cant achieve, but you have skills outside of CYCLING that they can't achieve.

[@conrad6226]

You're actually a beast. 75 vo2 max and 6.5w/kg.

[@tristantakevideo]

Thanks man 🤜🏼🤛🏼

[@guillermomunoz5531]

3.5 for an untrained person? What a humble bath

[@kurthunsaker126]

I get the sense that this coach is far removed from real amateur recreational cyclists.

[@tristantakevideo]

3.5 is maximal power, not FTP.

[@guillermomunoz5531]

@@tristantakevideo thanks for clarifying, that makes more sense

[@jeancourcelles4936]

When doing such high intensity efforts, never stop pedalling that fast! Keep legs rolling with no tension just to let blood flow more stable! Very hard on the heart otherwise!

[@Saladh_Olivier]

Great video, thanks! Proves again if you aren’t a pro rider at 16-18, you’re not going to one. Enjoy your life, watching races is way more entertaining, haha 😆

[@IamCrocS]

DAMMNNNNNNNN

[@shaneolivier1650]

63 kg body weight 😲 I'm just over 1.9 and weight 87 kg,would like to be 80 kg 🤔

[@robertbankers8003]

Everyone has a dream.

[@ForwardLooking832]

Did they have a vomit bucket handy, coz I would have needed it after seeing that!

[@CycoWarriorx]

The opening scene gave me the feeling in about another 20 seconds there would’ve been a stomach launch… 🤮… 😬

[@endorfinswimmer]

The Pro rider he talked about that had not good results but win races.. maybe he has been tested when he is natural in off season. I read an article about un clean Guy saying he was the best of the team on the first test of the season but then...

[@johnwakefield7942]

No he was tested throughout the season and we had training and racing data to correlate it. He was as I said one of the best riders to read a race and this was able to put him in good position to do well when it counted.

[@diverg3]

Sounded like Willie Smit to me but perhaps not!

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

Before I came along professionals were aimlessly riding around trying to gain fitness riding for hundreds of miles. Then I came along and try to explain to everybody about structure, training and how important it is. I was laughed at and called the troll. For many years people would ask me where are your base miles and I would tell them I don't have any. All I do is efforts from 30 second intervals to hour and a half intervals. I was made fun of for close to 20 years and was blamed for using steroids because of the fitness my training would give me. The cycling world that was so dependent on gaining fitness through base miles couldn't understand how effective short intervals can be. 20 years later everybody is doing my workouts and has forgotten about our arguments. I was the one called a troll because of the ignorance that existed in the cycling world. My title is not because I'm the fastest person in the world. It's because my training was light years ahead of the professionals. My Strava is the proof to my words as far back as you go. The only thing you'll see is structure training using intervals.

[@burronorteno]

You won't turn Pro anytime soon but it was a good video

[@freebird61885]

Ahhh, his numbers aren’t that far off and they’re better than 99.9% of cyclists out there

[@igorpodlipnik7405]

I'm 100% sure I would have puked in that mask as soon as I stopped. They wouldn't be able to take it off fast enough. TBH such a test scares me. :(

[@johnwakefield7942]

It's not that bad honestly.

[@__marshie]

The words “ramp test” make me sick! Good job.

[@Paul-qb7lo]

“The science says” you my friend are at the age when pro level riders are looking to retire. Dreamers can dream

[@tristantakevideo]

Thankfully I know how to write a clickable KZbin title so I can earn a living riding my bike in a different way..😂

[@trdi]

There is no way that's 6.2% body fat. Calipers are terrible for measuring BF%, as they assume everyone is average. Looks more like 10%, which is very low.

[@tristantakevideo]

👍🏼