Sleep
07/03/24 • 78 min
Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP
In this week’s episode of Life in the Peloton, I’m learning more about one of the most important parts of life; sleep.
When I retired from the professional peloton a few years ago, we were already wearing sleep tracking devices and starting to tap into how we can improve our sleep and, therefore, our performance. Since then, professional cyclists have stepped it up another notch and are hunting out those 1% gains to help improve the quality & quantity of their sleep.
I spoke to Dr. Ian Dunican - an expert on the topic - to find out more about how important sleep is, what we can do to get better quality sleep, and what happens to us if we neglect it.
Dr Ian’s a keen ultra distance swimmer and practices jiu jitsu, so he understands the importance of recovery and sleep better than most. We spoke about the increased societal awareness of sleep, and how humans today are so much busier than they were a few decades ago - stretching themselves even more thinly and putting even more onus on getting good quality shut eye to keep ourselves healthy.
Sleep science is a relatively new discipline, and Dr Ian talked to me about the different phases and cycles of sleep, various sleep disorders that a huge percentage of the population struggle with, and seemingly minor environmental factors that can have a massive bearing on how well we’re sleeping.
I also wanted to know about sleep and pro cycling. Sometimes you’re so tired from a stage race that no matter how long you sleep for you never feel truly wide awake. Dr Ian gave me some great tips about optimizing sleep around competition, and debunked a lot of popular myths around wearable devices and biohacking - which I found super eye opening.
Next, I spoke to my old team mate; Lawson Craddock. Lawdog currently rides for Jayco AlUla and is one of the first riders I remember seeing pick up a wearable sleep tracking device and look more closely at his own sleep and what changes he could make to improve it. We spoke about how much things have changed in the pelo’ in just a few years, and how things Lawson was doing earlier in his career have become the new normal amongst other pro riders.
I was blown away by how much there is to learn about sleep, and what a massive difference it can make. I’ve always been someone who thinks they can get away with 5-6 hours sleep a night and still function pretty well throughout the day, but, after chatting to Dr Ian and Lawdog, I need to rethink my sleep schedule.
Cheers!
Mitch
This episode is supported by our friends at Pillar Performance.
The Life in the Peloton book is OUT NOW! Get your copy now exclusively at maap.cc! Can’t wait for you to read it.
Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP
In this week’s episode of Life in the Peloton, I’m learning more about one of the most important parts of life; sleep.
When I retired from the professional peloton a few years ago, we were already wearing sleep tracking devices and starting to tap into how we can improve our sleep and, therefore, our performance. Since then, professional cyclists have stepped it up another notch and are hunting out those 1% gains to help improve the quality & quantity of their sleep.
I spoke to Dr. Ian Dunican - an expert on the topic - to find out more about how important sleep is, what we can do to get better quality sleep, and what happens to us if we neglect it.
Dr Ian’s a keen ultra distance swimmer and practices jiu jitsu, so he understands the importance of recovery and sleep better than most. We spoke about the increased societal awareness of sleep, and how humans today are so much busier than they were a few decades ago - stretching themselves even more thinly and putting even more onus on getting good quality shut eye to keep ourselves healthy.
Sleep science is a relatively new discipline, and Dr Ian talked to me about the different phases and cycles of sleep, various sleep disorders that a huge percentage of the population struggle with, and seemingly minor environmental factors that can have a massive bearing on how well we’re sleeping.
I also wanted to know about sleep and pro cycling. Sometimes you’re so tired from a stage race that no matter how long you sleep for you never feel truly wide awake. Dr Ian gave me some great tips about optimizing sleep around competition, and debunked a lot of popular myths around wearable devices and biohacking - which I found super eye opening.
Next, I spoke to my old team mate; Lawson Craddock. Lawdog currently rides for Jayco AlUla and is one of the first riders I remember seeing pick up a wearable sleep tracking device and look more closely at his own sleep and what changes he could make to improve it. We spoke about how much things have changed in the pelo’ in just a few years, and how things Lawson was doing earlier in his career have become the new normal amongst other pro riders.
I was blown away by how much there is to learn about sleep, and what a massive difference it can make. I’ve always been someone who thinks they can get away with 5-6 hours sleep a night and still function pretty well throughout the day, but, after chatting to Dr Ian and Lawdog, I need to rethink my sleep schedule.
Cheers!
Mitch
This episode is supported by our friends at Pillar Performance.
The Life in the Peloton book is OUT NOW! Get your copy now exclusively at maap.cc! Can’t wait for you to read it.
Previous Episode
The Race Communiqué - Episode 6
Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP
This episode is supported by our friends at The Escape Collective.
The Tour de France is here, and this week’s Race Communique podcast is our Tour preview with a difference!
I’m joined, as always, by Luke Durbridge and Tom Southam, who’d literally just got their fresh TDF haircuts, to discuss our takes on the race.
Luke will be on the start grid of his 10th Tour in a row, and Tom will be hopping into his air-conditioned team car and directing what will be his 8th.
The two of them have a huge amount of experience in and around the race, and we get right in behind the scenes as a rider and a DS at the big show!
Before we got into the details of the Tour, there was plenty of action to catch up on in recent races, and I asked what their take was on the performances they had seen at the warm up events in France, Switzerland and Slovenia.
Luke also took us through what it takes to get ready for the race and how it feels to make selection for the Tour, which is something every rider wants but not everyone gets to do.
Meanwhile, Tom explains how this process works from the other side of the fence, what influences decisions and how it is to make the calls on who is at the Grand Depart and who isn’t.
As well as our Tour tips and a hint of our tactics for the Escape Collectives Fantasy Competition (which we will be hoping to smash the armchair pundits in!), we also bring you the Communi-quiz, where Tom managed to find a board game to help him out as quiz master.
We recorded right before we all hopped on flights to the Tour, so it’s as fresh as the boys Tour haircuts!
Have a bit of fun with this one, and get involved in the Escape Collective Fantasy league here.
Cheers!
Mitch
The Life in the Peloton book is OUT NOW! Get your copy now exclusively at maap.cc! Can’t wait for you to read it.
Next Episode
Talking Luft Top 6's! Tour de France's Most Influential with Dan Jones
Life in the Peloton is proudly brought to you by MAAP
It’s time for another Top Six! This week, I’m joined by my old mate - the creator of Greenedge’s infamous ‘Backstage Pass’ series - Dan Jones, and we’re talking about the biggest race of them all; the Tour de France.
It doesn’t get bigger than the Tour. I’ve been watching it since the 1990s, but its history dates back to 1903! There are countless memorable moments from the race's history, and Dan and I do our best to whittle our favourites down to just six each.
Our Top Sixes don’t need to be the most famous riders or most controversial stories, they just have to be moments of the Tour’s rich history that matter to us. It could be the first year we remember watching, a friend of ours from the pelo’ getting a result, or a small detail of a specific edition that makes the race stick in our memory. I bet everyone listening would have a different Top Six, and that’s part of what makes the Tour so amazing!
I never raced the Tour as a pro, but I’m out in France as we speak getting involved with the race from the other side of the barriers with the journos for the 3rd year in a row. Although he was never a rider, Jonesy made his debut at the race in 2005 and has covered 13 editions with Fox Sports, SBS, and Greenedge. We’re both massive bike racing fans as well so, between the two of us, we’ve got plenty of Tour de France memories to sift through as we each sum up our top six moments.
With Pogačar heading towards a historic Giro - Tour double, Vingegaard proving he’s recovered well from his crash in the Basque country, and young Remco Evenepoel making his Tour de France debut, it’s safe to say there’ll be plenty more memorable moments added to these lists over the next couple of weeks!
If you’ve not heard one of these ‘Top 6’ episodes yet, I get together with an old mate from my time in the pro cycling circus and run through our top 6 editions of one of the biggest races on the calendar. Most influential editions, best riders, historic wins, we cover it all to give you a personal insight into our most memorable editions of the races we all love.
I’ve covered the top 6 editions of Paris-Roubaix with Matt ‘Gossy’ Goss, Milan-San Remo with Dave ‘Macca’ McKenzie, and the Giro d’Italia with director and creator of EF’s original Rapha ‘Gone Racing’ series, Harry Dowdney. If you’re new to the ‘Top 6’ episodes, go back and give those a listen - I’m sure you’re gonna love them!
Get your ears around this one, guys. It doesn’t get bigger than the Tour and there are some amazing moments that Dan and I dive into.
Cheers!
Mitch
This episode is brought to you by our friends at Zwift Ride. Throughout the Tour de France and beyond Zwift are running rides across Australia and Europe.
Sign up here to get your free ticket to one of the events listed below.
Australia Zwift Ride Events:
Thursday 11 July - Melbourne
Europe - Tour Fever Events
Nice - Saturday 20th, Sunday 21st July - BrewDog Nice
Rotterdam - Sunday 20th, Monday 12th, Tuesday 13th August - BrewDog Rotterdam (Witte de Withstraat)
This episode is also supported by our friends at Pillar Performance head over to pillarperformance.shop and use the code LITP for 15% off your first order. Or for USA listeners head over to thefeed.com/pillar.
The Life in the Peloton book is OUT NOW! Get your copy now exclusively at maap.cc! Can’t wait for you to read it.
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