- That's right,

you ask us anything,

and we will do our best to answer it.

First up, Tom,

we got a question that's borderline awkward.

This is from Jeremy Emilio, who has asked

how to I get my sister, girlfriend into cycling.

Now the awkwardness is there for all to see.

Smale Rider points it out for us,

"Wait, is she both?"

To which Luciano Namo says,

"You need to figure out some things first, Jeremy.

Why are you dating your sister?"

And I don't think that's a question we can answer, Tom.

- It's okay, it's okay.

Because Jeremy did get back

to all of you concerned commenters,

and say "Nope, separate."

- That's a relief.

Alright, well, in terms of how to get your sister

into cycling, Tom, you've probably

got more experience

because you have a sister and I don't.

And yours is an exceedingly talented

and accomplished cyclist.

And she's also younger.

So you must have done something right.

- Younger and faster than me.

And has been for a number of years.

- I didn't want to point that out, but yeah.

- It's sort of a fact, isn't it?

- Yeah.

- How did Annie get into cycling?

I think Annie just got into cycling

because we got in cycling when we were quite young,

probably ten or twelve.

And it was just a family thing to do.

So if your sister is young enough

that you're still riding with your parents

or something like that,

just having fun on your bike is a pretty good way to start.

If they're a bit older

and you think that they just need to get into cycling,

I don't really know.

Cafe ride?

A cafe ride is a good way to introduce cycling to people.

- Yeah, I think, probably,

it's all about making it fun, like you said.

And then trying not to demoralise them,

don't take them up any stupid hills

and drop them and leave them on the side of the road.

Quiet roads, that's really important.

No one likes traffic when they're getting into cycling.

I don't like traffic now, actually.

But yeah, so there we go.

Hopefully those will help you out, Jeremy.

Alright then, next up, we've got this question.

Oh, I like it.

From Jukka Pakkanen.

Do you guys save your old beloved bikes?

What do you do with the old ones

when you decide to get a new one?

What do you do?

- If I own the old one, I'd probably sell it.

- Yes, you don't like saving stuff, do you?

- No, I've got one bike that I've kept.

I've got a couple of bikes

I've kept over the years

that I like riding now and again.

We're in such a fortunate position

with GCN,

with the bike partners,

that I haven't felt the need

to replace my own bike so regularly.

- Yeah. Well I've kept one frame

from my mountain bike days,

because the complete bike took up too much room.

And it's now technically out of date anyway.

But the frame is special.

And then I kept two bikes from my racing days,

just in case.

Basically, if I didn't get amazing bikes from GCN,

I've still got two of my own.

They're not beloved, as such.

Well, I do love them quite a lot.

- I wonder how Matt's getting on?

Because he found his 2000 Giro D'Italia bike.

Or, his 2000 Giro D'Italia bike was found

in a bike shop in Italy.

So he's after that.

That is truly a beloved bike

because of a lot of great memories attached.

- Probably not that many great memories from that race.

He had a pretty tough time with it.

- True.

- Yeah with the crash and the injury.

Alright then, next up.

Should I be worried about using

my carbon road bike on a turbo trainer?

Will the frame crack under a heavy load?

Basically, this is a common myth about carbon fibre frames.

That you shouldn't use them on turbo trainers.

The fact is, from what we can tell,

we've talked to manufacturers,

is that none of them seem

to say that your warranty is void

if you use it on a turbo trainer.

So that, to my mind, tells me that it's safe.

And then, if you try to actually look

for anyone who has experience of a carbon frame cracking

as a result of a turbo trainer,

you can't really find them either, can you?

- No, you can't.

I guess the concern probably comes from

having the bike fixed,

and then the sideways motion.

But I've never heard of it.

- There are many very old bikes

that have been on server trainer for long time,

and they are not showing any signs of stress.

Going back to myths about carbon fibre though,

we've got a video about that, haven't we mate?

- We have.

- It's there.

It's the seven things

you didn't know about carbon fibre.

A lot of misconceptions are laid to rest in that video.

Check it out.

(rock music)

(buzzer)

- The suitability of a component,

in general,

doesn't depend on the material.

Every part should be engineered

with a specific load case in mind.

Admittedly, there is a risk with carbon,

as with any frame material,

that you can push the limits of it

in order to hit a super light goal, for example.

But problems only arise

if it hasn't been engineered correctly.

- That is an absolute cracking video.

Next question comes in from Sam Running who says,

Does chain length affect the speed of your bike?

What do you reckon, Si?

- Well, we're talking tiny, tiny,

adjustments of speed aren't we.

Like, one or two watts really.

But it could,

if you get it vastly wrong,

it definitely could.

If it's too tight,

that it could potentially

put more resistance on the chain.

And then if it's too long,

there's more chain to increase drag.

We are talking tiny, tiny.

But basically,

you need to get it right for your shifting, principally.

And then, also, to stop your chain

from flapping around and being all baggy.

So yeah, get it right for those reasons,

rather than for making your bike quicker.

Alright, Tom. Can you answer this one?

When you all travel abroad to film,

this is from Ryan Donnelly, by the way,

do you bring a translator with you,

or do you just wing it and hope for the best?

What could possibly give you that impression?

- Well, Ryan, we don't travel with a translator,

we don't have an awful lot of fluency in languages

apart from English.

Some of you may debate whether

we're fluent in English or not.

We know a few key words,

but many of the places that we do go to shoot

receive a lot of English or foreign cyclists.

So the locals often speak English as well.

But, it's definitely worth learning

a few key words if you're travelling somewhere.

And I think with that,

we'll learn in this next video,

which is,

"Five Mistakes You Shouldn't Make

When You Go Cycling Abroad."

(funky music)

- If you're heading somewhere a little bit exotic to ride,

a little bit off the beaten track,

it's definitely worth doing your research.

Consider the local cuisine,

what are the roads like,

is there a hospital nearby,

is there a bike shop close to hand?

- Yes. Doing this will give you peace of mind.

It might relieve a bit of stress as well,

and it could definitely get you out

of a difficult situation.

Actually, this is not a bad rule to adhere to,

even when you're close to home.

- Right then, straight into another question.

This one comes from Tommy L3.

"Hey I'm finding riding a little bit boring now,

how do I get back that same motivation

and hunger for riding

that I used to have when I started?

Tom, what do you think of that one, mate?

- That's a difficult one, isn't it?

'Cause we don't know whether, Tommy,

you're getting kind of bored and demotivated

off the bat of riding every single day,

on the same roads,

or something like that.

I'd suggest,

if you are finding something a bit boring,

a bit demotivating,

take a break if you can.

If you have another means of transport to get to work

or something like that.

Take a couple of days off, freshen up,

and then see if you can find some different roads to ride.

I always found when I was a bit demotivated,

my favourite thing to do was

to throw in a gravel section

or an off road section

just to keep things fresh

and make things a bit different.

How about you?

- Well I find that sometimes,

if I don't really want to go for a ride,

for whatever reason,

if I force myself to go for a ride,

I tend to enjoy it when I'm out there.

So actually, as well as the whole,

listen to your body and your head,

and do what you want.

Sometimes, a little bit

of self-motivation

can actually work wonders as well.

But, not long term, I have one off day in 30.

Where I kind of think, well I don't want to go out,

and then I do it and have a good time.

That might work!

We also, surprise surprise,

have a whole video on the subject.

This is basically like relationship counselling.

Dan and I talk you through

how to spice up your relationship with your bike.

And, yes.

It includes dirty weekends.

(funky music)

- Riding solo can be great.

But it can also get quite boring.

After all, you've only got

your own thoughts for company for hours on end.

So why not try riding with others?

Now a lot of people choose

to just ride with one other partner,

sometimes you can go out as a three,

that can leave somebody awkwardly left out,

or you can choose to go out on a big group ride.

It's an obvious tip, but it really does work.

The time is going to pass a lot quicker.