Fast Talk Labs + Zwift have spun up a new weekly ride series featuring Fast Talk Podcast cohosts Trevor Connor and Chris Case, with a new special guest each week.
Ride Schedule and Distinctives
- Each week features a different guest expert answering your questions (see below)!
- Events are every Tuesday at 2pm UTC/9am EST/6am PST
- Rides are 60 minutes long
- A different route is chosen each week, to keep things fresh
- Rides are banded, so you can ride at any pace you’d like without being dropped. As long as you keep pedaling, you’ll stay in the pack!
Sign up at zwift.com/events/tag/fasttalklabs >
Guests and Routes
February 10: Fast Talk Labs + Isaiah Newkirk Q&A Ride
- Special guest Isaiah Newkirk is a former professional road cyclist and USA Cycling Level 1 (Advanced) Coach. He is Performance Director for the Project Echelon UCI Continental road cycling team, one of the top-ranked teams in the U.S.
He has served as a data scientist for the Human Powered Health World Tour team and for riders on Jumbo-Visma and EF Education First. He was head coach of the Stanford University Cycling Team and for Boulder Junior Cycling.
As founder of Training Edge Coaching, Newkirk is known for his experience in athlete development and data analysis. He coaches road, gravel, and mountain bike riders and hosts The Training Edge podcast.
Learn more about Isaiah Newkirk at trainingedgecoaching.com/about. - Route: R.G.V.
February 17: Fast Talk Labs + Dr. Stacey Brickson Q&A Ride
- Special guest Dr. Stacey Bricksonis is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, and strength and conditioning specialist with over 30 years of experience. Dr. Brickson has worked in clinical practice and academia, serving on the faculty of UW-Madison in the Department of Orthopedics and in the Human Performance Lab, researching the relationships between sleep, mood, and training load with injury and illness in athletes. She worked with professional bike fitter Colin O’Brien at Cronometro for 10 years and is a certified bike fitter with Serotta International Cycling Institute and Bike PT. She is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Advanced) certified coach, a NICA Level 1 Coach, and a member of the USA Cycling Coach Development program.
She’s also pretty fast, so it’s a good thing this is a no-drop ride! Dr. Brickson has completed 6 Ironman races including the Ironman World Championship in Kona and has top 10 finishes in a variety of endurance races including Haute Route Norway, Unbound 100, Big Sugar 100, Chequamegon, Wausau24. She’s also earned her belt buckle at the Leadville 100 MTB.
She is founder of BrickO’s Drafters, a grass-roots cycling club with over 150 riders of all ages.
Learn more about Dr. Stacey Brickson and see her Fast Talk Labs here. - Route: Greater London Flat
February 24: Fast Talk Labs + Brent Bookwalter Q&A Ride
- Special guest Brent Bookwalter is a former professional road cyclist who raced for 16 years in the WorldTour, mostly with BMC Racing Team and Mitchelton-Scott. He earned a reputation for being a versatile rider with strengths in time trialing and served his teams as a road captain toward the end of his racing career.
Today, Bookwalter is an Olympian, Tour de France veteran, and NBC Sports analyst who helps endurance athletes, performers, and leaders strengthen their mindset, optimize their habits, and unlock their potential when it matters most.
Bring your questions for Brent about sport psychology and mental performance!
Learn more about Brent Bookwalter at brentbookwalter.com. - Route: Countryside Tour
March 3: Fast Talk Labs + Dr. Stephen Seiler Q&A Ride
- Special guest Dr. Stephen Seiler is the groundbreaking researcher of the polarized training method and a professor at the University of Agder in Norway. He served as research consultant and scientific advisor for the Norwegian Olympic Federation, which contributed to Norway’s strong performance in recent Winter Olympics and influenced the Norwegian training method now in widespread use among elite athletes in track and field, running, and triathlon.
Over the last 15 years, Dr. Seiler has become internationally known for his research publications and lectures related to the organization of endurance training and intensity distribution. This work has included both descriptive and experimental approaches, investigating cyclists, rowers, cross-country skiers, orienteers, and distance runners. His work has influenced and catalyzed international research around training intensity distribution and the “polarized training model.”
Dr. Seiler has published over 100 peer-reviewed publications and written over 100 popular science articles related to exercise physiology and the training process. He has also given scientific lectures across Europe, the United States, China, South Africa, and Australia. He is also a founding editorial board member of the International Journal of Sport Physiology and Performance.
Join this ride to ask your questions about polarized training and Norwegian training. Learn more about Dr. Stephen Seiler and see his 50 articles, videos, and podcast episodes at Fast Talk Labs here. - Route: Watts the Limit
March 10: Fast Talk Labs + Dr. Scott Frey Q&A Ride
- Special guest Dr. Scott Frey is a cognitive neuroscience researcher and mental performance coach with 33 years of experience in the field. Frustrated with the “neck down” focus of endurance sports training, Dr. Frey embarked on a journey of original research and clinical work with endurance athletes, including leading two brain imaging research centers and a PhD program.
His coaching business, Cerebral Performance, focuses on brain training for higher endurance sports performance.
Join this ride to ask your questions about mental performance and brain training! - Route: The Fan Flats
March 17: Fast Talk Labs + Ben Delaney Q&A Ride
- Special guest Ben Delaney is a veteran bike tester now devoted to reviews of the best gravel bikes, races, and destinations on his popular YouTube channel, The Ride with Ben Delaney. Delaney has tested hundreds of road and more than 100 gravel bikes over his 25-year career as a cycling journalist.
Writing for premier cycling media like VeloNews, Cyclingnews, BikeRadar, and Outside, he has ridden the gnarliest gravel courses like Unbound Gravel, Belgian Waffle Ride, SBT GRVL, and dozens more. He has tested bikes and other gear while reporting on cycling’s marquee road races like the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, road world championships, and Tour of Flanders.
Through his YouTube channel, Ben Delaney offers in-depth and technical reviews of gravel bikes, road bikes, saddles, shoes, helmets, bike racks, and tools, shedding light on characteristics like ride quality, handling, comfort, climbing and descending, and rideability in varying terrain, surface, and weather conditions. He also interviews cycling tech experts to understand what makes the best gravel cycling gear so good. - Route: Rolling Highlands
March 24: Fast Talk Labs + Dr. Paul Laursen Q&A Ride
- Special guest Dr. Paul Laursen is an exercise physiologist and founder of HIIT Science, a catalog of high-intensity interval training courses for coaches and scientists, and Athletica.ai, an AI-powered endurance training platform.
Dr. Laursen is a globally recognized sport scientist and adjunct professor of exercise physiology at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and University of Agder in Norway. Currently based in Canada, Dr. Laursen led the physiology team at High Performance Sport New Zealand, focusing on driving performance in Olympic sports before the London and Rio Olympic Games.
Dr. Laursen is an endurance athlete himself, completing 17 Ironman triathlons (including a sub-10-hour performance) and two team Race Across America (RAAM) events. - Route: Watopia’s Waistband
