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Andrew Feather is one of the fastest climbers in the world, he's also a full-time solicitor and multiple national hill climb champion. He recently made national news when he 'beat' pro cyclist Tadej Pogačar, the world's best cyclist, in the Slovenian Pogi Challenge!
We sat down with Andrew Feather to discuss how he's found World Tour level performance whilst holding down a full time job.
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0:00
Have we finally hit the wall
0:02
No, we haven't. We're good, we're good. This is Andrew Feather, one of the best climbers in the world
0:14
He has mastered the art of beating gravity and pogacca as well
0:20
With a pinch of salt. Whilst holding down a day job as a lawyer
0:24
but can he hold down an interview whilst riding intervals on Ruby? For no good
0:31
reason! Today we're gonna find out! Don't worry Andrew, I do realize that this is a bit of an odd idea
0:40
Yeah, this is quite funny. So you're basically gonna ask me questions
0:44
Yeah, so we're just gonna do a ramp test basically and I was watching Jennifer
0:49
Lawrence the other day. She was on the Hot Ones. and I thought what is the cycling equivalent of this
0:55
So basically they do an interview eating spicer and spicier wings. And I thought, how can we recreate this
1:03
And I thought, who's the most liked Jennifer Lawrence in the cycling world
1:08
And your name came up. So you're Jennifer Lawrence. The Ruby intervals are the hot wings. Yeah. And
1:15
Sounds good. Yeah, right. Well, if you're ready, we're going to click start workout. Yep
1:21
and we'll see how this goes. Now, for those of you that don't know Andrew
1:31
he's a multi-time British national hill climb champion. I know you've been doing a lot with GCN as well
1:37
every time they need someone to go up a hill really fast. And then the other day, you made national news
1:43
when he beat Tadej Fogacar in Slovenia at his own event. So tell us a bit about that
1:50
So yeah, I think the story, there's a pinch of salt to it. It was a handicap race, so he started seven minutes behind everyone
1:59
The rules of the ride were that he was supposed to catch everyone before the line
2:02
And obviously I managed to escape. And I think I was around three and a half minutes waiting on the line for him
2:09
So good margin. He was about three and a half minutes quicker than me overall
2:14
Very nice guy. Very humble. Nice to speak to. So yeah, it was good
2:18
I guess it wasn't the best prep though. the National Hill Climb Challenge, because that was a really short climb this year, wasn't it
2:25
Yes, it's completely opposite to the National Championships this year, which was a two-minute climb
2:29
Now, me being a bit older, I feel much more comfortable on the longer climbs, and I still can create a margin on those longer climbs
2:35
but on the short climb, there's so many people in the mix kind of thing, and it often comes down to absolute pure power. Yeah
2:43
So a two-minute climb, I still did, you know, probably a power PB over the last, you know
2:49
since I started riding hill climbs, but at the end of the day, there's better riders coming through
2:53
who are able to push that bigger power over that really short explosive period. Yeah
2:58
So hats off to them. So what's next year looking like? Next year is looking better in terms of length
3:02
It's a long climb, which I prefer. The only thing is it's a very fast climb. So aerodynamics are gonna be a really important factor
3:09
I'm not a very aerodynamic rider. I know you love out the saddle
3:13
This is the longest I've seen you in the saddle. I seem to generate good power standing out the saddle
3:19
but being seated, I really struggle. So I have a year to think how I can adapt the strategy
3:25
to be more aerodynamic and still get the power down. So I don't know, maybe Pantini style riding the drops
3:33
riding out the saddle. So yeah, we'll have to find out. He managed it. He did, yeah, yeah
3:37
Well, they probably don't copy everything he did. This bike, I've got to ask about it because it's looking very pretty
3:50
It's not a brand that I don't think many of our audience will be familiar with
3:54
So do you mind running us through what it is? Yes. Well, and obviously how much it weighs
3:59
This is a Sui bike, so made in Italy. And it a unique monocoque build which means that there are no lugs in the frame Essentially the whole frame is kind of one piece so there nothing glued together Yeah Which makes the bike feel really
4:14
stiff and at the same time it's very light. I've got two versions this is the aqueous which is
4:20
the painted version of the frame which is slightly heavier than the hill climb bike. And the levee which I rode in hill climbs is even lighter so I think the frame weight for the levee
4:29
is around 630 grams so very very light complete build for the hill climbs was 5.4 kilos you know
4:38
for a disc brake bike dura ace di2 you know incredible weight really that's the same weight
4:43
as what i had my previous rim brake bikes when i first started the hill climb scene kind of thing
4:48
so it just shows how much technology has come on do you still have a soft spot for rim brake bikes
4:55
i do yeah and i think you know there's still most of the riders in the hill climb scene are still
4:59
using rim brake bikes so harry who won a couple of weekends ago he was on a 4.8 kilo rim brake bike
5:08
so it shows you know the top riders are still using them yeah so they serve a purpose they live
5:14
on they live on yeah yeah i guess next year when aero comes into it yeah we might see less of the
5:19
older rim brake bikes and more integrated everything possibly yeah i mean you know the average speed
5:25
on next year's climb if it is going to be down in poor lock is it's around 29 30 kilometers an
5:32
hour so yeah it's really fast i mean it's verging on tt territory so you might get a lot of guys who
5:39
are good at tts coming down and yeah you know you never know that's what i like about the hill
5:44
climbs every year it changes so next year it's likely to be a completely different top 10 yeah
5:50
to what it was this year where the riders are really strong explosive whereas next year there'll
5:56
be more pure climbers or you know maybe it'll be more of a time trialist kind of thing so
6:01
it just makes it really interesting right we've gone up a notch well mine has anyway yeah are you sure your resistance is working
6:14
because you're looking remarkably fresh still. What is your FTP up in the track
6:19
I did this physiological testing with X University this year and it was just over 400, they said
6:27
Oh, deary me. Which I suppose is quite consistent with what I did
6:32
on the Poggy Challenge, I think I did. Yeah. Pretty much bang on 400 for the duration of about 45 minutes
6:40
That is bonkers. There's a few downhills in there, so I lost a bit of average power
6:43
Yeah. and then i think what the really impressive thing about that is that cycling is not your full-time
6:51
job how can you possibly fit in enough training how much training do you do i try to be sort of
6:57
disciplined during around two hours a day yeah so just whenever i've got a window
7:03
nipping out but sometimes it doesn't work it just depends really i mean you've like everyone everyone
7:10
and it's got you know lots of different commitments that conflict of cycling really so
7:14
you just gotta try and seize the opportunity i think when you can and be disciplined to to do it really so yeah well i'm not that disciplined and it's showing
7:24
because i'm gonna blow up oh way before you oh dear i guess is there any tips you can give me please of what training i should be doing
7:44
if i want to be fast on the bike fast on the bike or fast going uphill
7:48
i mean i think if you want to be fast on the bike you have to be fast on the hill yeah yeah
7:56
because like the group rides that i go on yeah it kicks off on the hills yeah yeah all right
8:01
that's where I get dropped from races. So, yeah, any advice to help me go up hills quicker
8:08
I think you know it kind of doing lots of intervals on the hill so you know hill climbing is all about pacing and understanding what you capable of and kind of just riding below that yeah until the end so it not going
8:23
out too hard too early because inevitably if you do blow you're just going to hemorrhage time so
8:28
you've just got to control your effort really so easier said than done he's not even breathing ah
8:35
Ah, God's sakes. And obviously, we're in the Northern Hemisphere
8:46
Yep. It's getting pretty miserable outside. It is. Do you train outside all year round
8:53
No, so I try and train outside most of the time, but obviously this time of year
8:59
it is nice to do a bit of indoor training. And now I'm in complete off-season
9:03
so essentially i'm eating as much as i like and just enjoying it so indoor training is good in that
9:09
you're able to do quite a hard session quite quickly so if you haven't got a lot of time
9:15
and you want to concentrate on other things it's really perfect really so whereas outside this
9:20
time of year you've got to put all the gear on you've you know you've got all the gloves and the
9:25
the winter kit in itself you know that takes probably yeah 120 minutes really so washing the
9:30
bike when you get back washing the bike are you a are you a bike washer or are you a leave it
9:35
until it really needs to do it i definitely am a bit ocd about the bikes keeping them clean making sure they all look really nice to the extent that you know often i've just got loads
9:44
of clean bikes in the in the garage not used because i don't want to get them dirty well speaking of getting dirty little birdie told me you've been out mountain biking so all of our
9:55
off-road KOM is not going to be safe now as well. I've never done any mountain biking before this
10:00
weekend and it was a project with Schwalbe and Torque that we go and take this prestigious
10:07
Snowden KOM which goes up from Lamberis, you know runs parallel with the railway
10:13
so it's big leaderboard 8,000 people and we did a recce on Saturday I did it with a friend who's
10:21
he's a really good mountain biker and he was in all in fits of laughter watching me trying to get
10:27
out of these rocks falling over scratching my legs yeah yeah but yeah in the end we did really
10:32
well and we managed to get the KOM by two and a half minutes so it is generally my experience that
10:38
once you get a KOM it's out of reach when I was younger like we live in a fairly similar area
10:43
yeah yeah and I think you have stolen most of the KOMs around here I only had one or two but
10:48
once if i see that notification that said andrew feather stole it then it's not really worth going
10:57
back out and trying to be honest i don't know i think you've got to back yourself because
11:00
so many so many koms are kind of weather and wind orientated now kind of thing so
11:05
you know if you if you look at the forecast you get a you know for me including myself you know
11:12
if you get a decent tailwind and you go and have a crack at a sort of you know a long-standing kom
11:17
I think it's within anyone's reach really so yeah yeah which makes it fun yeah makes it part of the
11:21
fun really I mean I think I'm overcoming some sort of physiological disadvantage as well like we're
11:28
doing the same session and I am cooked and we were meant to be doing this until your answers
11:35
you both tell you didn't answer anymore and well I think we'd be here for hours what are
11:41
your favourite climbs in the world that you've ever ridden or any that you'd really like to ride
11:48
favourite climbs in the world I think you know when I went on to Scotland a few years ago
11:54
I did Beelac Nabar which was an incredible climb in itself but we just had absolutely
12:00
perfect weather conditions yeah it's 25 degrees it's sunny you had amazing pristine views all
12:06
across the sky and the outer hebrides is absolutely amazing i don't think you know if we went back
12:12
certainly wouldn't have those conditions again yeah i went you know i did a really good ride and
12:16
took the kom and did a good power and stuff so yeah it bleeding so what next focusing on next year
12:31
next year's national hill climb I think just like enjoying enjoying a bit of downtime really like
12:36
the hill climb season is so short it's quite pressurised dragging the family all over the country
12:43
they need a rest as well so it's nice just to spend some time with them
12:48
or more time then and not have to think about riding uphill as fast fast as i can
12:57
take my hat off to the professionals who do such a rigid diet and training for such a long period
13:05
of time yeah yeah the race season is getting longer and longer these days as well you know
13:10
in comparison to what they do it's nothing but i already find those six weeks of what i do intense
13:16
yeah put that for the whole year yeah you can see why some people burn out yeah we've seen
13:22
quite a lot of people like sort of retiring at 28 or 30 on numbers like that which i think riders
13:31
used to go longer but now because the level's so high i guess this is so high and it's so
13:35
so professional and i suppose you know you've got to keep the enjoyment of riding a bike
13:42
and I think as soon as someone loses that whether it be a professional or an amateur
13:48
yeah it gets much harder you lose your motivation and everything goes downhill so
13:53
I think as long as you keep that enjoyment and have the breaks that you need I think you know
14:01
you can have a long and sustainable career you know like yeah I'm now 41 in a couple of weeks
14:07
and I've still done well this year and sort of you know got peak power numbers on certain durations
14:14
that shows that you know yeah you can go for a long time if you keep fit although having said
14:18
that this is exciting have we finally hit the wall actually it's all right no no we haven't we're good
14:25
we're good we're good I think that was more distraction then the one thing I haven't done
14:30
actually which is interesting I've never done these interval workouts on Ruby I've only ever
14:35
ridden sort of you know courses and and climbs yeah at my own pace so maybe it's something I can
14:41
use this year and doing a bit of structure I know that there's all the uh little trek workouts uh
14:49
yeah Visma Lisa bike also yeah put some of their favorite sessions up exactly so um maybe it'll
14:55
help shift those 10 kilos I put on over the next four weeks now I know that for a rider like you
15:02
that does so much ysis like i i think by this point you you know what training you need to do to
15:07
be fast yeah but there's a lot of us that don't necessarily have that idea yeah yeah of what we
15:13
should be doing yeah and therefore like the structured workouts are a bit of a lifesaver
15:19
it's funny actually i've used ruby this year to do a lot of heat training oh yeah so
15:25
pretty much all my ruby rides have been with this huge heat suit yeah to try and sweat as much as
15:33
possible and it's incredible how much fluid you you lose just through sweat really like
15:40
yeah it's quite interesting so i certainly did that for the longer climbs this year i think that was you know power pb on that boggy challenge maybe it was because of the heat training
15:49
yeah i don't know but it was certainly helpful i think so Oh, that's me done
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16:26
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