Si bets a five-hour gravel race on short, brutal VO2 max intervals
GCN's presenter skips the long-hours-in-the-saddle plan for 30/15s on an indoor trainer, and the comments want the exact workout.
Global Cycling NetworkStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 95,652 views a day, 11 times a normal first day on this channel (8,748).
Is Focusing On My VO2 Max A Mistake I’ll Regret?
Si's plan for a five-hour gravel race sounds backwards. Instead of piling up long rides, the GCN presenter is building his preparation around VO2 max micro-intervals, the short on-off efforts known as 30/15s and 40/20s, ridden mostly indoors. The video asks the question in its title: is that a mistake he will regret?
It has found a far bigger audience than Global Cycling Network's longer videos usually do. Close to 70,000 people watched it in its first 13 hours, on a channel where such a video often ends its whole first day under 10,000. It also came out of a week spent on very different things: Slovenian bikepacking shorts and a GCN Show about Spain's new road rules and the Road World Championships in Montreal.
The chapters run from what VO2 max actually is, through the research on micro-intervals and why they suit riders short on time, to his basement setup and a talk with coach Simon Jones about VO2 max against cycling economy. The description calls the sessions brutal, and nobody below the video disagrees.
The most liked comment wonders whether VO2 max is like grip strength: linked to a long life, but not a lever you can pull. Others ask what percentage of FTP the efforts are and how long the rests last. A few explain why 30/15s fall apart on open roads, between junctions and other cyclists. Several wish Si luck at the gravel worlds, and one viewer notes that he and Dan seem to be trying different approaches.
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What viewers say
I feel like VO2 max might be one of those things like grip strength. It might be correlated with lifespan but training your grip strength isn't going to make you live longer 😂
@oatmonsterSee it on YouTubeWait, you’re going to the world championships? We had no idea 😂
@AndyBKaySee it on YouTubeI found it completely impossible to do these 30-15s in the real world. Even if there wasn't a junction or traffic. And even when I did get to do a few uninterrupted ones, I felt incredibly silly because I kept surging ahead of other cyclists, and then slowing down to a crawl because I couldn't catch my breath, repeat.
@klaxxon__See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- Global Cycling Network
- Subscribers
- 3,640,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 3,178,981
- Channel views, pace per day
- 570,462 (on a normal day: 486,270)
- Video published
- October 2, 2026
- Video views so far
- 67,574 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 95,652
The numbers
A training video that ran far ahead of the channel's usual first day, while its comment section kept a normal pace.
💡 Test your knowledge
Unbound Gravel, one of the best-known gravel races in the world, starts and finishes in Emporia in which U.S. state?
Unbound Gravel, formerly Dirty Kanza, is held on the gravel roads of the Flint Hills around Emporia, Kansas.
