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Charles Ouimet on becoming an elite cyclist, content creation around sports, photography, school of YouTube, gear breakdown and race strategy
173 Plays2 years ago
I’ve heard people say “do what you love” time and time and time again. But how many times is that actually the case? Where we do what we love, follow our passion and can actually make a living doing it.
Today on Just In Stride I caught up with elite cyclist, pro photographer and YouTuber, Charles Ouimet.
His first love was actually skateboarding but also enjoyed taking photos for skate brands, which gave him access to the latest and greatest gear.
Over time his willingness to try new things has allowed him to grow both professionally and as an athlete. Today it’s high speed road cycling that has his full attention. While he creates video YouTube content covering all aspects of the sport to help others learn the same way he did years ago.
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Thanks for tuning in to the Just In Stride Podcast. I truly appreciate you taking the time to listen and I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Please take a minute after this to rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts. With your feedback we’ll be able to make the show even better and it’ll help us reach new listeners too. You can also find us on Instagram @justinstridepod and YouTube @justinstridepod for all the latest episodes and updates. Glad you came along for the ride with Just In Stride!
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Mission
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Justin's Drive podcast. I'm your host, Justin Puleze. If you love endurance sports, you've definitely come to the right place. On this show, we'll talk to athletes, coaches, and professionals who can help us reach our true potential.
Justin's Running Journey and Interviews
00:00:21
Speaker
Being a student of distance running for over 10 years and interviewing people in the sport for the last five, I've learned a ton, but there's always more to discover. Everyone has a story, and I know you'll resonate with each of our guests as we embark on this new journey together.
00:00:36
Speaker
Join us at home, on the road, or while you run. Together, we'll have some fun.
Engagement and Sponsorships
00:00:42
Speaker
So follow along on Instagram at justinstridepod and your favorite podcast platform and prepare to be inspired. Come along for the ride with Justin Stride.
00:00:53
Speaker
This episode is presented by our friends at Exact Nutrition, a tasty and healthy way for you to fuel your body before, during, and after a solid training session. I can't leave the house without a few fruit bars in my pocket and they never make it back home. Exact is offering you 50% off your order when you use the code justinstride. So head to exactnutrition.com and fuel your goals today. I've heard people say do what you love time and time again, but how many times is actually the case?
00:01:21
Speaker
where we do what we love, follow our passion, and can actually make a living doing it.
Meet Charles Women, from Skateboarding to Cycling
00:01:27
Speaker
Today on Justin Strad, I caught up with elite cyclist, pro photographer, and YouTuber, Charles women.
00:01:33
Speaker
His first love was actually skateboarding but also enjoyed taking photos for skate brands which gave him access to the latest and greatest gear. Over time his willingness to try new things has allowed him to grow both professionally and as an athlete. Today it's high speed road cycling that has his full attention. While he creates video YouTube content covering all aspects of the sport to help others learn the same way he did years ago.
00:02:02
Speaker
Hey Charles, welcome to Justin Stride. Thanks so much for coming on. Hey, it's been a while, Justin. Yeah, a little while. Yeah, absolutely. I was thinking about it before we were chatting and I actually know you primarily as a photographer. This is how it was my introduction to Charles, some sick shots and shooting different sports or meanwhile I'm running kind of thing.
00:02:28
Speaker
You know this this podcast came about because like I saw you you're doing some crazy race race stuff too.
00:02:34
Speaker
Yeah, I sort of now multiplied with my offerings, I would say, in terms of what I do. Of course, like a refined moment, my production companies, what's got us to meet a couple of years ago, especially with all the Lululemon activation back then and the events that was going
Transition to Cycling Content and Sponsorships
00:02:52
Speaker
on. So I got introduced to the running world a little bit as a photographer, never as a runner. And now I'm also doing content before myself into the cycling world.
00:03:04
Speaker
And how's that going for you? So I'm like, well, you're posting a lot as a creator. You know, like I said, I know you as that and maybe a lot of people do, but now you're doing cycling and kind of combining those two passions, which is pretty awesome.
00:03:19
Speaker
I mean, I've found a way to make a living off of it. I think content is something that is, you don't see quite a lot of full-time content creator into the cycling world. So I found some sort of a niche, found a way to
00:03:37
Speaker
to do things that i like to share with everyone and turns out brands want to associate with me and brands want to pay me to use their products and i can do more because i got the funds to do it and which one came first the photography or the
00:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, photography way more, that started like 2010, so what already 13 years old now, I've been doing it. It's just, photography was a way for me to have skateboard photos, because that was my past sport. It was just a way to try to find sponsor skating with my friends, taking photos of each other.
00:04:18
Speaker
slowly and surely evolve into taking photos of friends' businesses that they started and then took full-on commercial work. So sick. You were getting into sponsorships even as a young age. How did this come about? It worked. I feel like I've
00:04:42
Speaker
discover what was like influencing before influencing was. So like in 2011 and 2012, like the word influencer did not really exist, but I was reaching out to skateboard companies saying, hey, send me free gear and in exchange I'll get you photos for your company and photos online of me using your products.
00:05:01
Speaker
And I've looked up Google Trends and the word, as I said, the word influencer did not really exist back then. So it's really what got me first into understanding how content can lead to working with companies.
Content Creation and Inspirations
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah. And that's crazy that you were ahead of the game that way. Did you always have that entrepreneurial mindset? Do you know where that's coming from?
00:05:30
Speaker
I don't think it was my first, let's say, attempt at it back then. I mean, I was just fresh out of high school in Sijep here and then just trying to find a way to do my passions more cost-effectively. So just for me to receive a box full of gear that I could use to skate, it was big for me back then. And then I just realized the power of photography that every single company in the world needs content, needs photos,
00:06:00
Speaker
videos and I turned to doing more of it as a commercial photographer, commercial photographer as well, as well as my personal brand. Any inspiration for like content? I know like Casey Neistat is a big guy in the space and like anybody that you followed kind of pioneered the way and that you got inspiration from?
00:06:24
Speaker
I think, yeah, I mean, back then, initially, on Instagram, when I was focusing on photography, it was more of a street-style photography. It was just going in urban roof-topping and urban explorations. I had quite a few photographers back then. I can't really recall some names, but I've always been a true YouTube fan, like a YouTube user, which kind of inspired me.
00:06:54
Speaker
I want to give one day a shot at YouTube, like I was following all the tech YouTubers like MKBHD, so like always super high-end quality reviews. And that was probably my biggest inspiration is when I launched a few years down the road into cycling.
00:07:09
Speaker
I wanted to have a good quality production as well as a good product review, something that this industry was sort of lacking. Like if you were looking at product reviews on YouTube for cycling gear, I was usually botched video, not that good at quality audio was not great. And I really tried to elevate that field and it worked well for me.
The Shift to Competitive Cycling in Montreal
00:07:31
Speaker
Okay. So fast forward to your cycling.
00:07:34
Speaker
down the road and you kind of have this creative background too. So you can kind of do both at the same time. So what was your, how'd you go from four sets of wheels to two and get your introduction into cycling? I think the transition from four wheels to two came throughout 2017. I mean, I've been onto the long boards, the skateboard scene for a long, long time. I was sort of like, I think like I've done,
00:08:04
Speaker
Everything I could, I've raced on the World Cup for a few years. I travel everywhere. I've skated the best place in the world. And then you get back to Montreal and it kind of sucks. Like here, I was in the Alps. I was skating in Europe for the whole summer in California, and then get back in Montreal and it was not like as exciting. And I just needed a new challenge for myself. I just need a sport that you can compete at home.
00:08:30
Speaker
a few times a week, um, that you can do whatever you want. And cycling was the perfect match for me. There's races, two races per week for the whole summer. It's a, the coming T's absolutely incredible. Um, there's it's, yeah, there's not much adult sports that you can compete and race that much. So was there a race in particular that drew your attention and like, you know, normally when you start like get into a sport,
00:08:58
Speaker
like, Oh, I'll get like maybe a beginner bike or I'll get like a lot of great pair of shoes or like, so how did you enter this? I went, I went all in right away. Like it's, um, there was the, those famous races. It's called Marzi Lachine. Um, it's a race series in, in Montreal. It's been running for like 48 years. It's crazy. It's like 10 race during the summer. And like, I think.
00:09:24
Speaker
I bought my road bike and then like two weeks after I was racing the machine and I was getting destroyed by all the pros and the elites that was there. But every week I was gaining speed. I was doing more laps before getting dropped until I was able to finish them and then just be now a couple of years later and be able to compete for the podium.
00:09:45
Speaker
Yeah, and that's, I mean, I haven't actually witnessed this live. I think mainly because I'm scared of seeing these crashes. I don't have the stomach for it because everything's super tight, right? As I understand it, it's like you're doing laps.
00:10:01
Speaker
around and around and around and it's like it's like high speed high intensity on these roads in Quebec that are questionable and you know and whoever comes out on top whoever doesn't crash or whatever takes takes the win you know like this is like madness and like I don't know how you guys do it it's like
00:10:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's got a crit, a criterium. These are my favorite races. I come from an explosive background. I played soccer all my life. I have quite a good sprint. So those hour-long races are really tailored a bit more for me. Whenever it finished into a bunch sprint, it gets so crazy. It gets hectic. In the last few laps, rubbing elbows at 55 kilometers an hour, 20 guys, like super, like we're starting 100 guys. And then at the end of the race, there's always
00:10:52
Speaker
half of the field that has dropped because it's too hard. So cycling is probably the perfect sport
Strategies and Mindsets in Cycling
00:10:59
Speaker
for me. It's challenging. It's high speeds. I love speed. I've always loved to go fast and then lots of competition and racing here. So like, you know, my brother-in-law is getting into this too. And he's, as I understand, like when you get dropped, that becomes difficult because you have no one to ride with. And so much of it is like this drafting, right?
00:11:22
Speaker
It is. Yeah. Um, in, as soon as you go over 30 kilometers an hour, the draft effect matters a lot. And especially when you go up to 48 kilometers an hour, which is the average speed of those Mars Lachine 48. It's mind blowing when you think about it. Uh, if you're not in the draft, you're, you're suffering. 30 to 40% more just to go at double speed, which is not sustainable. You cannot write at that pace with a by yourself. So when you're dropped it's game over.
00:11:51
Speaker
Okay. And do you exit the race at that point or do you continue and just like, you know, leisure? Yeah. When you get catch by the car, which is like leading up the front of the race, you have to get out of the course. Your race is done. Okay. So does that make things difficult? Like, you know, and I don't know how to compare this to like, like running, let's say, cause I don't know, like, you know, normally in a marathon or whatever, like.
00:12:14
Speaker
You don't give a shit about like getting dropped because you're like, Oh, I want to finish this marathon. Um, even in track and field, I could say maybe like people just finish, you know, in whatever time they finish in. And, but like, I mean, in terms of running, it's, it's kind of like just, I know it's not really a thing, but it's just an hour long, let's say you take a hundred guys or girls, you put them around the 400 meter track and it's an hour long race and it's the last to win. Right.
00:12:42
Speaker
And if you get a lap, you're out. It's basically the same thing. I don't know if this exists, but it's. Yeah. Well, that'd be kind of cool. I think maybe they should, maybe you should introduce that concept, you know, with your influencer ways, maybe you can make it happen. Like run style. Yeah, exactly.
00:13:01
Speaker
Well, you would need tight corners that would make things a little bit spicy. So when you entered into this this type of racing, this type of sport, like you said, I got dropped every week or whatever, like. Is it is it a deal you make when you're with yourself when you enter this sport that you're you're just going to stay committed, you're going to keep showing up like I'm just trying to get in the mindset because, you know, if someone shows up every every week and they get dropped for a whole season,
00:13:31
Speaker
it might be hard to come back and, and I don't know, you know, like what that does to your, to your mental game because you want to play the whole time. You don't want to play 20% of the time. So what's the mindset and how do you like, you know, how do you keep making improvements so that you can. Progress, even though you're not, you know, making it through a whole, whole race at the start. That's a very, very good point. I feel like, like,
00:13:59
Speaker
from my experience and from seeing other friends who started those races. At first, you just have to accept that you will get dropped. You have to accept it that you will not finish it because it's impossible when you don't have the experience, you don't have the knowledge on how to navigate yourself through the Peloton and save energy. And it's just a matter of time until you blow out. So I feel like the first point is you need to
00:14:26
Speaker
to be okay with being dropped and then set achievable goals. So when you, let's say you start your first race, okay, I'm gonna do five lap with the Peloton and then five lap by myself, that'll be 10 laps and then I'm out. And then the week after you have to come back and say, okay, this time will be seven lap with the Peloton, seven by myself. And then just like that, you can sort of come build up that confidence, but it is also a thing that,
00:14:51
Speaker
You might reach a point where your physical abilities are reached. You cannot go any higher. And then you're sort of forced to either be dropped every single race or you don't race. You just, um, then your personal goals can then be more throughout, uh, mileage every week. You can reach a, um, a mileage goal, uh, average speed goal, some other goals than racing. It's erasing is not for everyone.
00:15:20
Speaker
You, there's a lot of great cyclists, probably some of the best in Quebec in terms of fitness, in terms of entrance that they don't raise. And they find their own gold into other space of cycling. And so what did they, like, what did they go into? What did they do? They just ride. They just do it for the pleasure of being outside, being in, reaching this mental state of
00:15:47
Speaker
You know, when you're in the zone, you're just in, you're by yourself, you're riding for three hours, either slow or fast, you find your fun. And this is what's great about cycling is the ability of, um, having quite a lot of challenge by yourself, but also with friends. So there's a lot of people who for them cycling is.
00:16:05
Speaker
a community-based sport. So they will not really go by themselves to train, but they will go to all the coffee rides at 6 a.m. by the mountain or to the Sunday group rides out in Bromo or whatever. So you have to find your own way of
Enjoying Cycling: Individual vs. Community Activities
00:16:23
Speaker
enjoying the sports. And there's no best or wrong or different way to do it. It's just people find what's good for them. Yeah. And I mean, being in triathlon when I was like,
00:16:36
Speaker
That was the best just going out for these long rides and just thinking about whatever. I used to go out by myself because you can't always get training partners and training the heat and training tromblah or wherever it is and just be with yourself on the bike. It is a cool kind of feeling, a great feeling. How do you train for this specific type of racing that you do laps in your neighborhood?
00:17:06
Speaker
I feel it's, it's, it's a little bit more, I think maybe like running for me from wrong, but you have to first do like, let's add the services and you do a shitload of zone to writing. You need to, you need to go slow to go fast later. Uh, it's the, I think it's the same philosophy. Um, if you just, if you say, okay, I'm, I'm a sprinter, I'm only going to train sprint thing. The problem is you're not going to reach the end of the race. Uh, cause the racing is so hard as an endurance sport that
00:17:36
Speaker
Even though you have Olympic sprints, you can't, you will not be there at the finish line of the race. So that is a challenge with cycling is, um, the, the way that races are made is they're so difficult in terms of endurance, but if you want to win it and it's a bunch sprint, you need to be a sprinter. So when you're a sprinter, you're not an endurance guy. So you have to be sort of a jack of all trade at that point.
00:18:01
Speaker
Personally for me, as I do have more of that explosive fiber in my muscles, my weakness is the long endurance sustained effort. So a lot of zone two, a lot of tempo work, a lot of training that allows me to reach the finish line fresh to launch a sprint. Cause that's where you're going to like, it's like your kick at the end. You're going to, I saw that like, like last week you came in, was it?
00:18:31
Speaker
top 10 or something. And you have this camera on your bike and that's such a cool first person view. I feel like I was in a video game. Yeah, it's the way I do it. The way I repurpose my content from racing is I try to bring people through my eyes of racing. I have some
00:18:52
Speaker
some other videos at the end of races, it's all the decisions that I took to be leading up to the final sprint. So whenever I was moving up the field, whenever I was letting someone pass me, cycling is also, there's so much tactics and strategy that it's what I share on my socials. People quite like those race, end of the race breakdown.
00:19:16
Speaker
Um, especially they kind of feel like they're with me here, uh, sprinting for trying to get in top 10 for me. My goal is always just do a top 10. And, um, yeah, it's, I bring you guys with me. Yeah, it's so good. And I mean, it's a view that, you know, you get in, like when you're watching F1 and stuff like that, you know, like in the, in the car, it's like, with all the data, the speed, the power output, um,
00:19:41
Speaker
So yes, to wrap up your question, like the power output that you see at the end of sprinting at the end of races is so much lower than what I can actually do when I'm fresh. So yeah, it's a matter of putting as much wattage or at the end of a race as possible, considering that you've been racing for an hour full gas. And it's a lot of it too is, correct me if I'm wrong, racing
00:20:09
Speaker
not necessarily like racing yourself but like more racing to the competition because you want to stay in the pack.
00:20:21
Speaker
When you talk about strategy, that's coming into play. You know how much you have, you know these guys, you see them each week, their strengths, their weaknesses. A lot of it is how these races play out versus yourself as an athlete. It's where you are within that race, that specific race on any given week.
00:20:42
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I mean, we pretty much the same 50 to 70 guys every week that shows up to the same race. So we kind of know each other. We know which team are strong at what. Some riders or cyclists don't have a sprint. So for them, they want to finish in a breakaway. So they want to get away from the field. So they kind of have a reduced amount of people to win the race. Because if it finishes into a bunch sprint, they have no chance against guys like me and other sprinters.
00:21:12
Speaker
So they want to make the race difficult for us. So they try to get up the road and get away so they can secure themselves a top five or a top 10. So the racing is also very dependent to the rest of the field. Who's there? Who's want to work? Who's want to get away? And who's going to catch these guys? Who's going to sacrifice themselves for their teammates? Like in cycling, there's
00:21:40
Speaker
We see it in the tour of friends. There's so much team. The team tactics are so important. So if you want to bring your sprinter to the line, there's four guys you have to sacrifice themselves for him to be at the
00:21:51
Speaker
the right position. So it gets quite interesting. You see that at the end of a race too, which is interesting. You see all these like, Oh, back as a sprinter, that guy pulled ahead early. Cause he, you know, like you're saying, that's his strength. And I think that's really, really cool. All the strategy involved in that. So what's the end goal of this? Like you guys show up every week. So is there like a points as you're trying to get onto a bigger event? Is it like, how does that work in the world of cycling?
Amateur Cycling Goals and Balancing Life
00:22:20
Speaker
It's a good point. I mean, at the level that I'm racing, so the IS level in Quebec, the S1 it's called, the angle for the younger guys, I would say is hopefully get noticed and then try to make it into the level above, into a semi-professional team. I would say those are some goals of all the 20 years old, early 20 years old, and all the rest who
00:22:49
Speaker
have regular jobs and just to cycle. They're just great at cycling or they're ex pro cyclists. Uh, they just do it because they love the sport. There's no like you win the race. Yeah. You have fame for 15 minutes and then everyone forget about it. And it's, it's sad to say, but you stand on that podium, you get, get, there's those fake pictures. And then next week, everyone forgot. There's no point. It's just right.
00:23:16
Speaker
I'm high level amateur racing. That's the way we call it. So personally for me, my goal is just have fun. I like to race, create content around it, share my experience. And then that allows me to find more partners, more sponsors, and then I can make more revenue out of it and then race even more. So for me, it's like a snowball effect. Cause that's quite impressive too. You know, the fact that you're able to make a living out of it. Like you said, a lot of these people have
00:23:46
Speaker
They don't know how to do that. So they have fortunately fortunate for you, the photography and contact creation is how you make a living. And then you can kind of intertwine the two things and you know, you see how that could work. But a lot of people have these day jobs that they do, plus they do the training plus they got the kid, you know, or whatever. Exactly. And make making money in cycling, which just being good in terms of fitness is barely impossible. You'll see guys who will.
00:24:15
Speaker
Like make it as a semi-pro all their life. They will spend 40 hours a week on the bike. They will give everything they have and then to a $12,000 salary per year. Or if you barely make it into the world tour, you could be there at 50K a year. It's brutal for the amount of time, work, investment, but then yeah, it's so difficult and there's no way I'm going to make it pro. I've accepted that a couple of years ago. So my way of making it pro.
00:24:45
Speaker
was through what I know how to do well in this content. Okay, there you go. Amazing. It's my exit door. Yeah, I mean, you got a backup plan. I mean, that's what most athletes need to do. They got to figure it out and say, if this doesn't happen, then I need to find a way to pay the bills. Yeah.
00:25:08
Speaker
You were talking about these divisions. Are you invited to the next division? Because you said we get recognized. Or is it up to the individual to decide, hey, I want to be an S2 or I want to be an S1? What determines these divisions and how you make it and qualify? And is this Canada-wide? Is this globally? How does that work? Great question.
00:25:33
Speaker
Quebec has a solid racing scene. So we're very, very fortunate to have a federation that oversights everything that there's so many events. But in terms of ranking and category, it starts at senior three, which is category three. And this is the bottom of where you start racing. And you're a senior, so from 18 to 34.
00:25:58
Speaker
Once you start to be comfortable racing that S3 pack, you start to do some podiums, you're strongly recommend to move up to Senior 1. There's no Senior 2. It's just one other layer of adult racing. And then in Senior 1, you'll have guys who work
00:26:19
Speaker
regular day jobs and you'll have semi pros when they're back home in Quebec. Let's say they spent half the year in Europe and the other half in Quebec, they'll be there racing here into our category. And then the next layer is UCI races. So UCI is the International Federation. And there is races that to be able to do it, you need a UCI license and you need to be on a team that pays that license, which is very expensive. It's like a
00:26:48
Speaker
$50,000 a year license just for the team to be able to raise those UCI races. So if you want to, as I said earlier, some young guns want to be recognized and go on those team who have that license so then they can raise the one level up of elite here in Quebec. And in the States, it's a bit similar, but for them, they have five categories and you have to start
00:27:16
Speaker
category five, and then you make points and then you move up cat four, cat two, and a cat one, uh, until you, you raise the ideas level in the States. So what does it mean for you to be in the division that you're in and what's your, you said you won't go pro, but like, what's your aspirations with all this? Um, yeah, for me, there's, I don't think there will be any way for me to go to move up, uh, that would need
00:27:43
Speaker
me to commit 40 hours a week to cycling, something I'm not going to do. I have a house, I have a kid on the way, and I have a girlfriend that I love and I like to spend time with. I will never do those sacrifices. So for me, right now, it's just to be able to do good at the elite level.
00:28:04
Speaker
Um, just make the sponsor proud, make good content and, uh, have a good time. Basically we do it cause we love it. It's so fun and it's the longer I can do it. The longer I'll be in the game for as long as I can. And did you enter into this community knowing a lot of people or was that something that you, you know, grew over time and, you know, how is that community? Is that like, you know, I know the run community very well.
00:28:34
Speaker
People are welcoming, you're invited to their group, so you can find a run any night of the week. What's it like in the cycling space? That's a good point. When I started, I knew two friends who was doing it more, like start doing crits and races. And it's just a matter of, yeah, you get introduced a bit like running. So you start to, you go to the, first you go to watch your race, you go to watch your body race, and then your body hangs out at the team tent. And then you kinda like,
00:29:04
Speaker
join them and start to hang out at the same team tent as your buddy. So then you meet other his buddies and then like, Oh, you get invited into that Sunday group ride from the team. Okay. You start to make good friends. And then at some point, uh, if you, you stick long enough into with those guys, they might invite you into the team. If you have something like you, if you show motivation, you show you want to compete, you show you want to go up the ranks.
00:29:29
Speaker
That's the way, my route I've done is just hang out with team iBike and then until I got a proposal, hey Charles, you want a jersey? Yeah, I'll take that jersey and then start to race with them for a couple of years. For other people, for them, it's just from the community group rides, the coffee rides, the 6 a.m. rides at Le Club Espresso Bar, it's called, or the Messarème ride on Thursday nights, where you just show up to a place where
00:29:59
Speaker
the ride start, you start to ride, you meet people and you grew like this, but it's also very welcoming. Racing is maybe a bit, what's the word? Like a more exclusive club, I would say. Like if you don't have your leg shaved, like you will get called out. It's quite elitism in terms of the racing scene. Like as much as we don't want it,
00:30:29
Speaker
I'm also the guy who like, if I looked next to me on the storyline and there's a guy with like no, like short socks, like I stay away from this guy. Right. Because you know, like it's potentially dangerous. It like, Oh yeah. Cause he's not experienced. Basically it's, it's a, it's a, it's just showcase. You don't have the experience. Okay. The way you, the way you dress, the way your kit looks, the way you put your numbers on.
00:30:54
Speaker
your helmets, traps, glasses, just the whole kit. It tells a lot about your abilities. Okay. Let's talk crazy. I want to know, I don't want to know what this, this, I've never heard this. So, and I'm the guy that, you know, trying to, you know, triathlon, like we don't wear socks. You know, with transition and stuff like that, you know,
00:31:17
Speaker
So like I don't get the whole long sock. Okay. Okay. I'll get you a run down of it. So I would say red flag number one in terms of, uh, in terms of, uh, racing. So this is how Charles did your cool. When you, uh, when you race in Quebec, you have your, your yearly license, your, your numbers on your back are white. When, when you're a one day license is you just sign up for the race and then you pay for the one day license.
00:31:45
Speaker
You have yellow numbers. So that's red flag number one. If you have yellow numbers, I'm staying away from you. I'm not like, I'm not riding behind you because it's just prone for you to not know how to corner, how to handle people's because you don't have the experience. And there's nothing wrong with starting. Don't get me wrong here. It's just as an elite, as a lot of us, we'll just put chances on our side to avoid crashing because it can hurt and it can cost a lot of money for a crash.
00:32:14
Speaker
Personally, if you have yellow numbers, stay at the back of the pack, hang in there, get experience, but don't get into the mix of the faster guys. Even if you have the fitness, you need the experience. Not red flags, it's not the right word, but yeah, short socks, it's just a matter of
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, if you have short sight, you're a triathlete, most probably. And triathletes, they just know how to go in straight lines. They don't know how to turn. Again, I'm generalizing. Yeah, no, I get it. It's a joke. It's a joke in road cycling. It's a triathlete. Even if they can output incredible numbers as a steady pace, they don't know how to handle their bike. They don't know how to take corners at 55 kilometers an hour. So again, you kind of want to stay away of those guys in terms of into the pack.
00:33:03
Speaker
I feel like I'm walking on eggs right now. No, no, no, it's okay. No, no, no. I do on purposes. What else? Shave legs. I mean, it's a commitment to the sport of... If you don't have shave legs, maybe you don't take enough intention into the sport. And it's correct, again, to not have shave legs. It's just when you reach that elite level, it's proven that shave legs are faster. And if you don't go for those,
00:33:32
Speaker
gains or there are not even marginal gains, there are true gains. It means that you maybe spend your attention to other things, which is correct, but then I'm staying away from you. Okay. That's it. Those would be the three main categories. I heard too, like if you fall, it's a bit easier to deal with caution, right?
00:34:00
Speaker
Yeah, if you also have shaved legs is, uh, road rashes, uh, they get less tend to get infected. Um, and it's also better for when you get a massage and, uh, it's just more comfortable. It doesn't hurt when you have, uh, you have them shaved. Yeah. Hairy legs and stuff. And in terms of styling, also some, maybe some, I'm not too sure about the running side of the world, but in cycling.
00:34:23
Speaker
The style that you go for, the brands you ride, the colors, your kit, is it all matching? It's a very big aspect of the cycling community. You'll have guys who only have this one very boutique, niche, expensive cycling brand. And if you don't have that brand, you're out of the club. You don't ride with them. It's a big aspect that for some people, it's their way of cycling is to
00:34:52
Speaker
to involve fashion into your writing. Was that easy for you or have you always been that way or with the kits and stuff like that? Since I've always been more on the performance side of the racing sides, a bit less, I don't really care about
00:35:14
Speaker
going out on a training ride with a jersey that don't really match my, that's not the same brand as the Bibb, right? For some people, it's like, it's a sin. If you have no, it's a different brand of the jersey. It's like, what are you doing? For some people, not for me. So since my goal is all mostly performance oriented, that's where I mostly put my energy. And yeah, I don't really have any issues with in terms of kit. Okay, so let me ask you this.
00:35:44
Speaker
Do you think the sport is accessible because you mentioned, and it is expensive, biking gear is expensive, kits and socks and shoes and helmet and all this stuff. Do you think it's accessible for people? Can they enter at a, is there a lower barrier to entry? How are ways that people can get in if they're interested, but they don't have the funds?
00:36:15
Speaker
It's a very good question. Yes, cycling is a money pit. It's a never ending place that you're going to just throw your money at and never see a return on it. Because the thing is, if you want to do it on a budget, which you can totally do, you can buy a $1,000 bike on Marketplace and have
00:36:39
Speaker
have a good time by yourself, but as soon as you start to ride with guys with super fast bikes and super fast kits, you're just not in the game. You just cannot hang with them because bikes makes a difference in terms of the speed you can get and the average speed of the ride.
00:36:59
Speaker
I would say the minimal investment for a decent bike would be the $3,000 to $5,000 to have something decent to be able to compete with the $10,000 bike close enough. But then after that, it never ends. As I mentioned, shoes, kits, bibs, quality stuff. A pair of shoes is $500. A good bibb is $300. A good jersey is $200. And then nutrition. Also in running, nutrition,
00:37:29
Speaker
It's important it is, but in cycling it's the same and they get quite expensive in terms of the gels. When I go out, I eat four, five, six, seven, 10 gels and two or four hour rides. If you, three bucks each, that's $30. And then you stop at the gas station. There's a way to do it on a budget, but the way I do it is, yeah, it's expensive. Yeah.
00:37:56
Speaker
Yeah, it's just the nature of the sport. I think, you know, it's, uh, it's not an easy thing. And you know, these, these things cost money. Like I did a, when I first got, I got my first bike, I think I got it for like 1100 bucks on liquidation. Uh, it was enough for what I needed and got me introduced triathlon at least. And actually I still have the bike today. I think it's, it's, you know, but you know, and you also have that thing with, um, with gear that it's like,
00:38:25
Speaker
you can have the body, but if you don't have the engine, like there's that kind of philosophy too, you know? Like you must see the reverse of that too, you know, like where, you know, some guys that don't have the best equipment cause they can't afford it, but they have crazy engines and they're super talented,
Impact of Gear and Mechanics on Cycling
00:38:41
Speaker
right? Oh yeah. We see that all the time. And the reverse is someone with a $15,000 bike, very expensive kit shoes, and they can't, they don't have any legs. And I feel it's, it's, it's,
00:38:54
Speaker
It's also funny. We have this expression when someone has a dentist bike, like a dentist, like the guy fix your, your teeth. Uh, it's, this is like the, it's a, this is a running joke. Like if, if someone has a $15,000 bike and he doesn't ride it properly or to the level of that bike, it's always a little, uh, funny. Yeah. Right. I mean, and you see, like, you see that in triathlon too, right? You get guys.
00:39:20
Speaker
kitted out, they play the part. Like you're saying, you know, if the guy shows up on the line, you know, you might avoid him because we need those guys because they fund like that. We need those guys because they fund the industry. Well, that's true too. Yeah, I guess so too. But like also like what you were saying before about avoiding certain people, I think this is smart way to think about it too. Because like you said, when one little
00:39:48
Speaker
blip when you don't know how to handle properly. And then you take five guys out of the race and could be, I'm sure you've seen some pretty nasty crashes, you know. Oh, I've seen, and I've seen some very expensive crashes as well. Like I have friends a couple of weeks ago, there was a crash of the race in Bruma. I think, um, four bikes framework cracked a couple, maybe a couple set of wheels. So like a, a
00:40:16
Speaker
A crash is quickly 20, 30, 50 grand of damage value. So we're lucky that at the elite level, most of the peloton have some sort of a cost price or a broad deal. Not much people pay everything full price, but some do. And when you pay everything full price, it's expensive for sure.
00:40:45
Speaker
I want to ask you, where did you see your greatest improvement in the sport? Is there a moment where you, you found something that worked and then excelled from there? It's a good point. I think this year, even though I'm, uh, I might have, uh, this sort of the same power numbers I have last year, I changed all my equipment. I have like a new bike partner, have faster wheels. I took more the attention of details into all the marginal gains.
00:41:16
Speaker
into like a arrow speed suit, arrow socks, arrow everything. And I've done all my best result in like last year and the year before I was barely maybe cracking the top 10 one, two, three times a year. And now this season I have like seven or eight or nine top tens with the botchum five place finish.
00:41:38
Speaker
I would say that it's because of my new bike, the wheels, the bigger wheels that I got and the skin suit. So I took a bit more attention to details and I also took more attention of the mechanical advantage. Before every bike race, I almost like take the chain out. I clean the whole thing. I re-grease properly. I make sure that it runs smooth because you save, there isn't a watts and energy to be saved. And it does make a difference at the end of a race.
00:42:05
Speaker
And like expensive stuff, right? So you want to take care of it and make sure it's like say Perfectly fine and you'd like take apart the bike yourself and you know how to put together a bike too I feel like this is a skill that most cyclists need. Otherwise they could run into the shop every two days. Yeah Learning bike mechanic is such a skill. I recommend everyone to it's not that expensive to get some decent tools and like
00:42:34
Speaker
And if you can do most of everything yourself, you will save thousands of dollars. And also, it's not only the money that you save when you bring your bike to the shop, it's the time. Because sometime when shops are busy, they say, yeah, we'll fix it, but your bike is ready in a week. Like, I cannot let that happen. I need to fix it by myself. I need to know how. So over the last year, I've built pretty much all my bikes. I know how to do 99% of the mechanical work. And once you sort of understand it, how to do it properly, you can also optimize it.
00:43:04
Speaker
as well and make sure it runs smooth. When you have a problem, you know how to fix it. And it saved me a lot of money to just know how to do it, learn how to do it, buy the tools, and the tools last forever once, right? So it's worth it to invest into that part, and in the long run, it will be worth it. And did you learn that on YouTube as well? YouTube, everything YouTube.
00:43:30
Speaker
Yeah, I've learned pretty much everything in my life on YouTube from photography to cycling to bike mechanics. Once you know how to search properly and the right terms to use and you're curious enough to learn over there, it's an amazing platform. Everything's free. And myself, I've gave back to so many people doing videos about mechanics, about reviews, about techniques.
00:43:58
Speaker
Use YouTube and now I give back with my channel and people appreciate all the tips and everything I'm giving over there. What do you think is the most popular thing or the thing that people in cycling are most interested in? About what I do or in general? Yeah, about what you share about tips and stuff. What's the most common or the thing that garners the most interest? It's a good point.
00:44:26
Speaker
I'm sort of like a generalist on the cycling YouTube space. I'm not the guy who only do reviews or only do bike films. I kind of do a mix of everything, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Some people start to follow me for the film I've done in Hawaii or the film I've done in Iceland, but then they don't really care about me reviewing a pair of shoes.
00:44:48
Speaker
Right? And vice versa. So it's personally for me, YouTube reviews has been incredibly good. Millions of views over there. It generates a lot of affiliate sales as well. So that was one way for me to fund my YouTube channel is a few links in the description of products that I'm using, that I'm testing, and I'm just giving my thoughts on it. But yeah, people are curious about those and
00:45:16
Speaker
mostly the adventures too. So the films that I've done that blew up quite a lot. And it allowed me to do very incredible projects that I would not have been doing without YouTube.
Cycling Film Projects and Balancing Careers
00:45:28
Speaker
So tell me about these projects. How did you get into them? Yeah, the biggest we can talk about is probably like when someone like meet me in the street, they're like, oh yeah, you're filming why I watched it. All right. Everyone loved that film. So I
00:45:44
Speaker
It was like 2021, September. My girlfriend really wanted to go to Hawaii. And then I was like, okay, let's try that too. Let me try to find a way to business expense this trip. All right. So at first I said, okay, we're going to go and do a bikepacking tour around the island. So that was our initial plan. Then I said, oh, there was this very, like this one climb, it's called the impossible climb. It starts at sea level. It finished at the top of the volcano. It's like five
00:46:13
Speaker
thousand meters of elevation straight, like one, one climb into off-road very, uh, like four wheelers, uh, trails, very accidentally roads. It's, it's really one of the toughest. Climb in the world. So slowly, like I started to send emails to the partners I've been working on and say, Oh, I'm going to do a vlog, uh, just going up this climb. Right. And then like brand started to pitch me money. Oh yeah. Well, here's a,
00:46:41
Speaker
There's a few amount of money here and there. And it turns out I had quite a lot of budget for this trip. So I brought in a filmmaker that I've a good friend of mine that I worked in the past with. And we made this kick-ass hour-long film about this whole climb. The movie generated, did like 200,000 views on YouTube, which is incredible for the cycling space. And it brought me a lot of new followers and new audience.
00:47:10
Speaker
potential partners. So for me, that was pretty much my biggest cycling project to date. And it was an accident. Yeah. And you got to go to like a new place and discover something. And I mean, that's the, that's gotta be one of the more rewarding things where you can combine two things that you, you love. Like, I guess my question though, is how do you not keep everything? Like, how do you, how are you not working all the time?
00:47:39
Speaker
I mean, I am working all the time. I'm an entrepreneur. Running a production company and running my cycling home brand as an athlete is either in life I do one or the other. There's no switch that I can put off everything. It's always on. And even it's the weekend. I need to train, but I still want to ride my bike.
00:48:08
Speaker
I'm not only writing from between nine and five in the weekdays. I still want to do it on the weekend. And then on the week, I have content to edit from the weekend that I film or the race that I've done. So I'm working quite a lot. But to be honest, I would not do anything else. I do very cool commercial work project with Refine Moment. And then when we don't have shoot for a week, I do YouTube or cycling stuff. And then the week after, we have commercial work.
00:48:35
Speaker
I'm just constantly switching between both, which are super complimentary. So for me as a content creator and a photographer, it's perfect match for to do both at the same time. And were you always able to do this full-time or did you have to have a job before and then be able to do this, you know, do it part-time and then move into a full-time gig?
00:49:03
Speaker
Good question. I feel for me, when I was in university, I studied IT engineering, but I was already doing or running my photography business on the side. So I was a student and I was doing photography gigs on the side. Little Lemon, my whole four, three years with Little Lemon with them in Montreal, when I was still in university, when all those shoots happened. And when I graduated, I already had a good
00:49:31
Speaker
bank of clients working with me as a photographer. So I just decided to pursue that just photography and probably the best decision in my life to don't go work in it as an engineer. Um, to be honest, I don't think I would make anything close in terms of money, uh, to what I do right now being an engineer and definitely not a hundred percent close to the amount of free time that I well, free time that I have, uh, right.
00:49:58
Speaker
Like just like for me going on a bike ride on a Monday afternoon, it's, it's sort of work. I have to stay fit for my, for me to go racing and to be able to do good content while racing and be in the top finishers. So, so training is also part of the jobs for me to create content. I need to be able to be there at the races. And then of course, if you perform well, that's always a bonus. It's a bonus. And even though like it's not my, as a,
00:50:25
Speaker
as an ambassador for felt bikes, like my, I have a yearly contract with them. I have a salary with felt and it's my, my goal or my task is to create content. But if I do good in races, it's a bonus for them, right? It's a, it's a, it's not my job to win races, which is great. It takes like a lot of stress off my, my shoulders. It's other people's job to win races. But for me, it's good enough, but then create good content or story around it. What would you say to people like,
00:50:55
Speaker
you know, looking to get into a sport like cycling or, you know, looking to make improvements in either their sport or their hobby. Because, you know, you do both so well and I hear somebody that's like not only passionate about something, but is really a student of what you do. And I think there's probably some good piece of advice you can give to people.
00:51:21
Speaker
I would say the best thing about it is just to sort of learn where to put the priorities in. It's a bit difficult to explain. It's just that it's easy to catch yourself doing something not productive.
00:51:39
Speaker
You're on the couch, scrolling TikTok. You have to know when to stop and do something productive and put on the shoes and go ride your bike. I feel like I've met so many people in my life that what they do in their free time is just wasting time. And for me, that doesn't quite cut it. I'm always doing something that produce results or help grow into a direction of my end goal.
00:52:09
Speaker
So after dinner with my girlfriend, she goes and watch something or she do something in the house and I go back on the computer and then I work on my next edit. For me, it's find where there's time that you're not productive and replace that with something that brings you towards a goal. Would you say you've always been this way?
00:52:32
Speaker
I think so, yeah. Yeah, I think so.
Continuous Improvement and Handling Criticism
00:52:36
Speaker
It's been with me all my life when I was a higher level soccer player when I was younger with my dad bringing me everywhere, every bike race, every soccer game. It's just analyzing, like we get back into the car and instead of listening to radio, we were just talking about the game and thinking about what could have been improved.
00:52:58
Speaker
Oh, you remember when I played this move, I should have done this. So it's always like talking and thinking about improvements and to be better at something. And it's the same in sports and the same in my photography business. It's the same with cycling. Just be able to open up and accept to do better. And do you think that
00:53:24
Speaker
There's things in photography that help you in other aspects or things through sport that help you in other aspects. Like I find that the more we learn and the more we grow, we kind of have this better foundation for what it is we want to do and like how we go about life and how we break things down.
00:53:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's a that's a good question. I think so. First, what would help I feel that would help my photography a lot is my engineering degree, surprisingly, is the engineering degree brought me the skill set of professionalism and work ethic and be be a great consultant.
00:54:04
Speaker
But I apply it to the photography world, right? So then it works great with commercial work because I'm a professional. I'm never late. I'm on time. I'm sharp. And that's why the slogan of my company is, we're sharp, not the photos. It's like we're sharp as individuals behind it.
00:54:22
Speaker
And again, the background of skateboarding sponsor seeking, well, it helped the sponsor seeking of cycling a couple of years down the road. So basically, what I believe my life is, is just I'm accumulating a bunch of skill set throughout the years that I always reapply somewhere else. And I reuse what I've learned in photography in 2016, doing photo shoots for Lou Lemon to now some work with
00:54:50
Speaker
doing photography in cycling for when I'm going out for my YouTube channel. So yeah, it's just utilizing past skills to grow newer skills. What are some of the greater challenges that you faced? Is there anything that stands out to you, like a major, maybe, lesson that something that happened that maybe taught you something quite valuable?
00:55:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I believe it took me a while to accept it that whenever I do, let's say I do cycling content now, like a lot and it's not not everyone's going to like it. All right. Some elite cyclists, like they sort of don't get the point. They don't get it. They they talk shit in my back. And I like I've heard a lot of echoes, like people don't some people don't like what I do. And it's totally fine. And it was difficult at some point to sort of
00:55:49
Speaker
Accept it like i had some i had some more time like i saw at some point i sort of stop it for a while i was like why am i doing this if i'm i'm getting like. Not everyone like it but it's impossible any and i have to accept that i'm disturbing.
00:56:07
Speaker
other people, uh, like expectations of what it's just cycling. I'm, I'm not here for just a bike racing. I'm here to create content. And some people, they don't like it or some people, they just don't get it. And for me, it just, it was just to, to understand that. And then just at some point, just realize I don't, I don't give a damn about your opinion. I'm just going to do what I feel is funny when I feel I like to do. And since I took that approach, it grew a lot more. Yeah. Because.
00:56:38
Speaker
I think that's a good point that the more you let yourself come through in the content, the better you're going to do probably. But I think at the beginning it's tough because you don't know like starting this podcast. Are they going to like my new podcast? Are they going to like my new guests? The new logo, like it's so much about what you think people are going to like.
00:57:04
Speaker
And finally, what ends up happening is, well, for me anyways, you got to go with your own intuition, it's your own thing, and just put it out there and see what happens. Absolutely. And something that took me a while also to realize is,
00:57:25
Speaker
95% of the people who actually love what you do, they will never leave a comment. They will never leave a like. They will just watch and listen. And I'm that person. I am a YouTube addict. I watch YouTube every single day and I never leave a comment or a thumbs up. And I still enjoy the creators that I follow.
00:57:45
Speaker
And it's a bit the same with cycling. There's people who see me at the racetrack or at the bike races and they say, oh, Charles, I absolutely love what you do on YouTube and Instagram, but that person never interacted with my content. They never send me a message, never drop a like, but they like what I did. So once I sort of understand that 99% of
00:58:08
Speaker
people who enjoy what I do will never say a word about it to me. You just have to keep going and keep doing it. But it's always nice when you get those comments and those likes and those reshares. It's super gratifying when a video goes viral and there's a lot of comments and all of that. But in the end, the majority of the people who enjoy it are silent.
00:58:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's the truth, I think. And I get a bit of what you're saying too, like, you'll be out for a run and someone I'll never met will be like, hey, you're the host of that podcast. You know, they know me, I don't know them because they've been listening to my voice for who knows how long, which is kind of creepy, but I'm happy. I'm happy. But it's like, it's really nice to get those comments, you know, and they hit home big time because
00:59:01
Speaker
You know, that's the interesting thing about if it's not a like or not a something you can't see, you know, some people just pass through and like you said, they're just there, they're just listening and they're there every week, but they won't say it or they think they're bothering you or whatever reason, who knows what that might be. But when they do speak up, it's quite rewarding.
00:59:28
Speaker
How do you keep pushing yourself or pushing your limits as a creative? I would say, how do I keep pushing my limits? Yeah. How do you not get stale with your content? How do you keep doing the next best thing? I think it's easy to fall into a rhythm of just the same.
00:59:55
Speaker
It's a good point. I mean, I think I'm sort of blessed in the word that the cycling is, there's so many subject possible. It's an infinite amount of potential content in terms of either, like it's so vast. Like if you look at my IG Instagram store reels,
01:00:16
Speaker
It's either a story about a ride, it's either the tandem with my girlfriend, it's a bike mechanic hack, it's about a new kit, it's about a new pair of shoes, it's about the race last weekend, it's about, you know, like I keep going like this on and on and on and I feel like there's, it's a never ending topic of content for me to say. The challenge is
01:00:40
Speaker
which one to do and which one gets me excited to do. Lately, I've been doing a lot less YouTube reviews in the last six months. I don't know. I don't feel like doing it right now. I don't feel like I've been less active on YouTube. I don't have any, I'm a bit in a creative pitfall of YouTube right now. I haven't posted in a while. I don't know what to do. I film videos that I've never edited. I don't want to put them out.
01:01:06
Speaker
But I've been putting out a lot of reels and I've had fun doing reels and I just put them also on TikTok. I have fun. I just keep doing what I find. So until I, like, I'm not going to force myself to do a YouTube video if I don't see the fun behind it, but it will come back. I'm not, like, I'm not stressed about it. I'm just taking a little YouTube break right now. And at some point I'll find a new format and a new way to do things and it'll come back and I'll push then
01:01:35
Speaker
YouTube into another, bring it to another level with another endless amount of topic. And what are your goals for the bike season, for where you want to take your athletic career? I would say, for the next years, if I can just keep up with where I am right now in terms of fitness, be able to compete into the Cat One here back home.
01:02:03
Speaker
That would be my fitness goals in terms of, I love to do that, to ride the Velodrome. We have a Velodrome now in Bruma and I absolutely love it. So this winter, I think one of my goals is to focus on the Velodrome a lot.
01:02:19
Speaker
hopefully get some results over there. But other than that, it's just keep writing, keep having fun and keep creating funny content piece of advice, reviews and stuff around what I do and just share what I do. Is there this urge to do longer and stuff? I know in running, you get that where it's like 5K, 10K, half marathon.
01:02:46
Speaker
Do you get that too? I know exactly. Yeah. I know what you mean. There's some guys who are into the ultra cycling and absolutely not. I find it pointless. It's not for me. I've done quite long rides. I've done 250 kilometer rides in one day, but I'm not looking forward to do a week of bike backing across the country or something like that.
01:03:15
Speaker
I'm a racer, I like speed, I don't like to be in my head for 20 hours by myself riding through the night when it's raining or whatever sort of scenario some people put themselves into. Yeah, just stick to what I'm good at, stick to what I love and it's speed and it's cycling races. And what would you say that sport has given you in terms of
01:03:42
Speaker
you know, to your life, you know, to your own being.
01:03:47
Speaker
I mean, first is being super healthy. It's crazy the amount of energy I have. Even though I train so hard, I get back, I have energy to do so much other stuff. I'm productive in my production company. I'm productive in all the spheres of my life. So first of all, cycling gets you very in shape. I would say the advantage out there, if there's runners listening that are injured, cycling doesn't injure you.
01:04:16
Speaker
compared to running. I know it's not a joke, but every time I talk to a runner friend and then I'm like, all right, so are you injured or are you currently recovering from injury? And it's always one of the two answers. It's a beautiful, running's cool. I've done a few times, but the amount of injuries, it doesn't appeal me that much.
01:04:42
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Well, that's why I'm thinking to start getting back in triathlon because I need some cycling in my life. I was going to ask you about the injury thing, but it seems like.
01:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, unless you fall and break your leg or something. Yeah. If you crash and you fall, of course, you can be injured pretty bad. But in terms of doing it, you cannot really injure yourself, other if you have a very terrible bike fit, but that's easily fixable. I know you're tied to some brands, but can you give a top review of a kit?
01:05:18
Speaker
for us. Can you do that? What do you mean by bike? Like, could you say like, like top helmet, top shoes, top bike, like maybe in the, let's, let's keep it to like the introductory. I like that. Maybe not like top top, but like if you want to get into cycling and you need a, you need gear. Could you do that for us or no? I will. Yeah. I, I could, uh,
01:05:42
Speaker
I could get you that. So first, okay, let's say you get into cycling. First of all, never look under a Shimano 105 crankset, groupset. So in terms of the groupset, if you're buying anything used or new, there's five layers of quality. You have the top is Dura Ace and then Ultegra 105 Tiagra Clarisse. So you want to avoid those two down. Okay.
01:06:09
Speaker
and start with 105. So that would say be rule number one. I would say if you start cycling, avoid a brand new bike. I would say go to buy something on Marketplace. There's incredible deals over there. It just find the right size, which is important. But in terms of bike brand, they're mostly all similar in terms of that budget starting price point, like when you have
01:06:39
Speaker
$2,000 to $3,000, $4,000. Every major bike brand will have some sort of the same product. So if you don't have any personal
01:06:53
Speaker
preference in terms of branding. I mean, cycling is all about branding, but some people like Specialized, some people like Trek, and some people like me like Felt because it's my main partner. So that would be it. I would say start with anything, any good deal that you can find. Brands doesn't really matter. Just stick with one of the main big names.
01:07:18
Speaker
In terms of Elmet, anything with the MIPS technology, that yellow sticker, it's pretty safe. It's pretty cool. Every bright brand helmet have something with that. In terms of kit, there's so many brands. There's a million cycling kit brands in terms of jersey and bids and socks.
01:07:43
Speaker
I don't have any to recommend, I would say. It's pick the one that aligns with your branding. So if you look at their Instagram page, how was their photos like? Are they well shot? Are they cheesy looking? Are they whatever?
01:07:59
Speaker
Find a brand that looks like you, I would say. And shoes, shoes. Shoes is very personal. Some people will be only with this one cycling brand shoes and the other can't even wear it. Because the way carbon is made into the soul, it's make it or break it. Some people don't, like for myself, like the brand I run for the last years is,
01:08:27
Speaker
It's boned shoes, but boned are a very aggressive carbon way of doing the bath of the shoe. And some people just cannot fit inside of those. So shoes are very personal. It's about trying them out, trying different brands. So again, not much recommendation there. And that pretty much covers wheels, tires, anything that looks fast, and it's carbon. And some long socks.
01:08:55
Speaker
And some long socks. Not too long. Not like triathlete, like long next near the knee. It has to be mid-chaff. That would be the proper size. Okay, mid-chaff sock. Okay, cool. Find some good colors. Matchy, matchy.
01:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, matching. It's always good. But if you don't want to go wrong, white shoes, white socks, it's always looking good. This is like, I don't know, like 90% of the belt on rocks, white shoes, white socks. It just looks clean. It looks the best. Clean, clean, man. White until that first fall, and then you get bloody socks. Yeah, and then you buy another pair. So are you ready for the biggest challenge of your life, which is fatherhood?
01:09:43
Speaker
I'm not sure if I'm ready, but I mean, can you be ready yet? I don't know. Everyone told me you're never ready. So I accept that. And I don't know much. I know, like we did some research. I did some research, but definitely not enough. Yeah, YouTube. That's going to start in October.
01:10:04
Speaker
Just, uh, just great timing in terms of this, the bike season is the end of the season, the one more races, and then should be technically back in shape for, uh, the next racing season in August, 2024, April, 2024. You have the crib next to the trainer. I can see the setup there. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There will be, uh, there will be probably some content around that.
01:10:27
Speaker
Again, as I told you, there's a million ways to do content with YouTube and cycling and maybe having my baby somewhere in there could make some viral content ideas. I've seen some. What do you like? Yeah, go ahead. I say like a guy, he's on this trainer and he's just feeding his baby that's on the chair next to him.
01:10:51
Speaker
That was viral. Amazing. Last words here. What do you most love about your sport, about cycling? I think what I love the most is it's something I mentioned earlier is the fact that
01:11:11
Speaker
There's so much races as an adult here in Quebec. There's no other single sport that you can race two to three times a week against good competition and do it from six months, seven months. And now a full year around because there will be races at the Belgium this winter as well. So.
01:11:35
Speaker
Try to find me another adult sport that there's such a big competitive scene and I don't think you can find one. Yeah, so it keeps you on that. If you're at that level, it keeps you on edge, on your feet and engaged. And also what's great is once you turn 35, you then get into the master category. And then master is another ballpark of there's so many masters. There's master races.
01:12:03
Speaker
big pelletons as well. So you can literally race from until you're from like 13 years old to 60, 70 years old. There is a pelleton for you up to your ability and you can have fun and enjoy it. So. And you see these guys, there's some legends in the sport or what?
01:12:20
Speaker
Yeah, sometimes some masters sometimes sign up for S1 races, but usually like the master category one, they're like an hour before the senior one race. So we watched them race as well. And then we race after them usually.
01:12:38
Speaker
Nice. So I like pass down the torch kind of thing. It's nice to see you can still do that at an age and some, some like older guys are so fucking strong. Like, especially like on the track, like you'll find like some 45, 50, 55 years old that beat my, like can beat me out of, uh, I don't know how to do it, but that will, I'll be, I'll be that guy in 30 years. That'd be amazing.
01:13:07
Speaker
Charles, thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and your passions with us. You're a great photographer, a great cyclist, and we know you'll be a great dad, too, in a few months here. And yeah, thanks for taking the time. It's been a real pleasure. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for the invite, Justin, and for some people who had fun and learned something. Absolutely. Talk soon. All right, bye. Take care.
01:13:33
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Justin Stride Podcast. I truly appreciate you taking the time to listen and I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Please take a minute after this to rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts. With your feedback, we'll be able to make the show even better and it'll help us reach new listeners too. You can also find us on Instagram at JustinStridePod for all the latest episodes and updates.
01:13:58
Speaker
Of course, this show wouldn't be possible without a solid team behind me. With logo and design by Vanessa Pugliese, as well as audio, music, and editing by Forest McKay, a huge thank you goes out to both of them. Guest outreach, social media, writing, and advertising are handled by me, your host, Justin Pugliese. Finally, we'd like to thank you, our listeners, for coming along for the ride with Justin Strad.