Shortly after setting a new Everesting record — obliterating Alberto Contador's time by 20 minutes — Ronan McLaughlin reached out to Josh with some remarkable news: Silca Products and the Marginal Gains podcast had been an important piece of his extraordinary accomplishment. Needless to say, Josh immediately set up this interview to talk about Ronan's incredible accomplishment.

We've asked you to ask Josh anything (kind of meta, we know), and you do not disappoint. In this episode, however, we completely lose track of the "ask" thing because we are SO GEEKED OUT on Ronan McLaughlin's new Everesting record. If ever there's been a full-circle Marginal Gain moment, this is it. Listen and you'll understand. Eventually, however, we do get to your questions, including: The most reasonable way to measure your wheel circumference The best bike positions ... if you take aero OUT of the equation (hi Zwifters!) Whether new pavement means you should start putting more air in your tires How nearby barriers affect your time trialing We love our listeners' questions. Keep them coming.

Sean Small of Ruckus Composites is our guest for this episode. This is going to be a great interview for any listener who has spent any amount of time on a carbon bike. Sean is going to reveal a frame’s strong spots and the areas where it is most vulnerable. We also talk about the importance of torque, which company is making the best product and at the very end of the interview, Sean has some great tips on how to spot a problem before it happens. Ruckus is considered the premier composite repair company in the country and next to Calfee, one of the first one of the first to launch a business devoted to fixing Carbon frames.

Tom Anhalt was one of the first to turn conventional wisdom regarding inflation on its head. He is a smart guy. No doubt. But his true talent is curiosity. In this episode we learn that questioning the norm and having an open mind can lead to more than just marginal gains but to revelations.  Tom Anhalt runs the blog site, blather ‘bout bikes where he does deep dive posts on tire comparisons, bike aerodynamics and most importantly: rolling resistance. He is also a regular contributor to Slowtwitch.com.

Andreas Klier has been focused on competitive cycling since his early teen years. He became a pro in his first year as an adult and went on to become a spring classics specialist. He’s only win in those early season races was the 2003 Gent Wevelgem but he did come close at Flanders on a couple of occasions. Some believe he has a better understanding of Flanders than the Belgian racers from that region. If there was a wheel to follow while squeezing down the narrow roads of the Tour of Flanders, it was Andreas Klier’s.  So when EF’s Alberto Bettiol won Tour of Flanders in 2019, it was no surprise that the man calling the shots from the team car was Andreas Klier. 

Everesting — riding up a single pitch enough times to match the altitude of the summit of Mt. Everest — is a massive challenge with an elegantly simple set of rules. Which makes it a perfect candidate for a Marginal Gains conversation. Josh, Hottie, and Fatty talk about how the obvious, not-so-obvious, and downright bizarre strategies racers could employ to set a record in this socially-distant challenge.

We are happy to report that we continue to seek questions Josh is unable to answer, or at least unwilling to try. We regret to announce that we have so far failed, in spite of the fact that in this episode we expanded our universe of acceptable questions to include how to make electric scooters more aero. Josh was, in fact, distressingly excited by this question. We (or more to the point, you) also asked questions about: Silca's new Super Secret Lube: To be honest, we spent a few minutes asking about this lube, and then about half an hour talking about lubes in general, the importance of lubing, and the proper way to lube.  Pressure calculator vs manufacturer specs: What should you do when the Silca tire pressure calculator gives you one pressure recommendation, but the tire manufacturer gives you a much higher minimum recommendation? Pressure calculator and tube type: Does the way you keep air in your tire (latex tube, butyl tube, tubeless, tubular, etc.) matter in the pro tire pressure calculator? If so, how much? And if not, why not? Tire hysteresis and contact points — we have some followup questions for Josh about his recent conversation with Path Less Pedaled. 

Jordan Rapp is one of the true greats in triathlon. You may know Jordan as a 5 time Ironman Winner, or maybe as and ITU World Champion.. Or maybe as a US pursuit champion on the track. Nowadays, his claim to fame includes the fact that he designed the Alpe du Zwift (and much more of the gameplay on Zwift, for that matter). Enjoy this episode as Josh and Jordan discuss all things bike-related, and how they both played important roles in each other’s careers.

Josh, Hottie, and Fatty talk about problems in data quality, sampling bias, confirmation bias, cherry picking, and more (including a little detour into baseball). it’s great when data bolsters your beliefs or arguments, but it’s often times way more exciting and enlightening when they don’t!

This was not the episode we intended to create. Josh, Hottie, and Fatty sat down to record an episode on confirmation bias and how it can undercut marginal gains, and instead found that what we want to talk about — and think you might enjoy hearing — is the good things Josh is seeing during a very difficult time. So this is a "stories" episode: stories about good things other companies have been doing to help Silca, good things Silca is doing for its employees, good things Silca employees are doing to help keep the company going, and good things Silca is doing to help the community at large.  It's an accidental, unscripted, feel-good hour of stories. We think it's exactly the marginal gain episode you might need right now.