How is Keegan Swenson so fast? His coach Jim Miller explains
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- Опубліковано 11 січ 2024
- Santa Cruz gravel and mountain bike racer Keegan Swenson was on a tear in 2023, winning seemingly on command across the United States. He won Unbound Gravel, SBT GRVL, Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona, Crusher in the Tushar and Gravel Nationals on gravel, and Sea Otter Fuego and Leadville 100 (in record time) on the mountain bike.
How does he train to race at such a high level in such long events throughout the year? That is the primary question I put to his coach Jim Miller, who is also Chief of Sport Performance at USA Cycling.
Jim's job for years has been to identity world-class talent in American riders and then help them achieve their best, often with a focus on Olympic medals.
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Exceptional work ethic, attention to nutrition and hydration, takes bike setup and equipment very seriously and of course great genetics. Keegan is an expert at controlling the variables he can control.
Keegan passed me on his inbound portion at the LT100 this year and the dude looked like he was on a YZ250!!!
Caught him at Whiskey 50 in Prescott, AZ this past year. 2/3'rds of the race complete, his pro-level riding was a joy to see, 2:30 mins up on his competitors, he went into an aero tuck as soon as he hit the gravel road. 2nd and 3rd came through and sat up to catch their breath. His commitment to the craft was awesome to see.
What a cool year to get into watching gravel racing('23). Keegan putting a clinic on was really fun to watch. As I'm sure you are aware he's always on his bike on IG. The guys a machine. I'm pumped for this next year of racing.
Excellent interview with some awesome and mindblowing insight! Thanks!
Great interview. Jim is a Legend. Great to hear from him.
Super interesting content, such an insightful interview! Great work, as usual! 💪
Fun interview. Thanks, Ben!
exceptional interview, exceptional coach.
Always wondered what Keegan’s training looked like outside of Strava data. Thanks for the interview
Great inerview with Jim about the professional side of racing for someone like Keegan. Nice job Ben. Smart questions.
Great content Ben!
Great insightful video
I'm happy for these top gravel guys and gals that they are making a living from the sport, and I'm enthusiastic about the sport of gravel for all, everyone from elite racers to those just aiming for some good times on the long and gravel road. And thanks, Ben, for this chat, and I'll watch it a couple of more times so I'll be ready for the Lifetime series. Or maybe just Unbound. And then my name won't get picked, so I'll just wait for next year, faster than ever, if only in my imagination. 😀
Awesome content !
Really enjoyed this one.
Great interview
This is one of the best interviews in sports, in general, that I have ever seen. You just don't see this level of number monitoring and honesty in sports. Great interview questions to drive into the details. Maybe not, in film quality, as something like Michael Jordan'
s documentaries, but it is impossible to express how much I, and the world, appreciates this level of insight on this particular topic.
Great chat
Damn great interview very informative
Big fish/Big pond for sure. So impressive and fun following Keegan. Regardless of how he stacks up with the worlds very best, there’s a certain exciting element for us in NA having him.
Great video
Wait, I thought Keegan followed a mid-volume SS base TrainerRoad plan?
Keegan’s secret weapon is his discipline to follow the program his coach set up and execute the strategy in races. He had a great gravel worlds race as well.
Oh wow, follows the program, no other athlete has ever done that, that is the secret!
😂😂😂
Great interview overall. Definitely some insights and quite a bit of backstory to be gained. As someone focused on my own training to do some big gravel events this coming year I was kinda hoping for more specifics of what type of workouts seemed to make a difference for Keegan's development and maybe some unknown information about how Keegan integrates his strength training as several have pointed to that as a difference maker for him. I did however especially appreciate the clarification on the interest for/from the World Tour teams and the story about training with Matteo Jorgensen was cool. Again, however, that's kind of reiterating that Keegan is really strong and maybe not as much giving insight on how he got to be that way.
I like your comment and yes, specifics on training are what I prefer, too, yet understandably some cards need to be held close to the vest, especially for a pro in the glorious sunshine of a career peak. Yet so much is available about training and nutrition and tactics and tech, and I'd say use it all to craft your own plan and perhaps make surprising personal discoveries along the way. And my one main tip, just me as a lifelong rider, would be to be wildly enthusiastic about whatever training you opt to do. Make your time and conditions count and call it perfect 'me time" because it is just you and your pursuit of strength and stamina for speed on the gravel, making the pretenders eat your dust. And I grin bit nothing wrong with being fierce and focused to the checkers with plenty of time to cheer the later arivals like me, but hey, I might be first in the over-60 class. Just tell me where I can get my trophy. I'll set it on the dash of my custom Chevy van with a fading mural of a sunset on the sides. 😀
Just ride 300w for 8hrs 😳
It is effective to put a chainguide to prevent chain drop?
Keegan is just a cool dude on top of being an amazing athlete, he’s just a guy who loves riding bikes, and so am I….
Jim❤
Best descion he ever made coaching Keegan .
It’s been fun to watch a strong American cyclist race in America and lift up the caliber of the discipline in the process
It's more fun to watch more American Cyclist Race and compete at the European tour
I think Matthew Riccotello is faster than Swenson, and about 9 years younger, and they both have ridden and trained together in Arizona before.
While now the new fashionable number is FTP. But the reality is VO2 max. Keegan is probably somewhere in the high 80’s or low 90’s for VO2. From what i heard from friends in Utah is that as a 12-14 year old he was beating grown men in mountain bike races. So, he was just like Lemond at an early age. Probably a wattage monster like Bostick or Frey. (I was in the room when both of them were tested. All about where Keegan wants to make his money. To have such talent.
Truth, I’m an SLC local and Keegan regularly rides 3-5 times over guardsman pass during training rides. To be specific, 3-5 times over the top and down S a part of a much longer ride. Pretty normal day on the bike for him from what I can tell
I’m curious why the reality is VO2 max? Oxygen consumption doesn’t make the pedals turn - watts do.
I would be interested in what he eats macro wise and how many calories he is taking in!
The short answer is all of them. All the calories.
he CHUGS the sugar.
Just gave the video a thumbs up and it registered as like #0
🤷♂️
Interview was alright...8 hrs at 300w is a bit discouraging...unbound bike check in the credits was the highlight for me!
when they say he can ride 6.2 or 6.3 are they talking about ftp, lt2, vo2 max or something else?
Watts per kilo.
@@K-lu4nc well yeah I assumed as much I'm just wondering if there referring to the watts per kilo of his ftp or vo2 max.
Typically those numbers are like 20 minutes to 1 hour power. Vo2 max would be even higher.
Keegan finished Gravel Worlds in +6:48 in 5th. Wout was held up for over 10 minutes after a group crash, puncture and mechanical and finished +8:24.
This was also a race without MVDP and Pidcock.
Anyone needing further context for fish-pond ratio needs only to look at what happened when Kasia raced Big Sugar and not only wiped the floor with the top ladies who were all racing but made Sofia (who thoroughly dominated the GP) give up while trying to hang with her.
Also, how well did Keegan do when he raced XC in Europe? Right.
You are comparing apples and oranges. 5th in the worlds is not bad. XCO is different then long distance 100k races. He is not training for XCO races. Just like Nino is not training for marathon races. Also you are looking at 1 gravel race.
Plus cycling is so much bigger in Europe than USA.
@@harizavdic4893 Well, top Europeans have no incentive to leave their leagues and go do Lifetime stuff, but keep watching Keegan try his hand in the Gravel worlds and see what happens. Or when Kasia or others go and make mince meat off of the GP dominator.
@@PtWhiteBelt seems like Keegan did well with a 5th finish. What more do you want from a athlete who is not used to competing in that environment.
Kasia is a world class athlete. She dominates in Europe of course she will in the USA. She is a WORLD champion.
Plus Sofia finished 25th that race. She didn’t even really race. Plus she just happens to be good. And is not at the European level like Kasia.
I don’t you are giving enough credit where it’s due. Plus Kasia said it was a very relentless course, much more climbing than expected. Also it’s less likely for them to chase an athlete that’s not in the GP.
Like I said cycling is much bigger in Europe and it’s just starting to pick up steam here. The GP has only been around for few years.
That’s almost like comparing the English premier league with the MLS.
@@harizavdic4893 Sofia raced until Kasia put the hammer down after the detour. Until then she kept trying to compete. When that happened, suddenly she was just having fun - lol.
Re Keegan, it's not about him but his fans who are delusional and keep insisting he has world tour/european XC level. He doesn't, but he isn't less of a beast anyway.
@@PtWhiteBelt I’m not a fan of ether really. I’m just saying I don’t think you give Keegan enough credit. He went and completed at the highest level and did well. I think he is capable of completing in Europe and he proved it. But at this point in his career I don’t think it’s worth it to him to go to Europe. He only has few years then he will drop off due to age.
The results didn’t affect Sofias standings in GP. Still finished 1st. She could have at least competed for 2nd. Coming 2nd to a world champion wouldn’t be a bad thing. Lol
But the women here, I think only Hannah Otto competed in Europe. Not sure how she did or what events. I wouldn’t really say Sofia is that dominant here. I don’t think she is the Keegan of women side. I’m not sure that she would be even top 15-20 in Europe. I don’t really follow except XCO, marathon, downhill and enduro. Lol
I’m just happy to see my country Bosnia 🇧🇦 represented in the UCI marathon distance by Lejla Njemčević.
But come man be a little fair at least. Kasia is on a different level. She came in wearing a UCI champion jersey.
It would be like Nino coming over here to do some XC racing. Lol
But I do think in the future is the GP grows you will see more European athletes participating in more events.
Interesting video. Why not try the world tour for a couple of years. If you don't like it, return to racing gravel in the USA. I would think that winning the same races every year would not be challenging, especially for such a gifted athlete.
Fuego XL not Fuego. Fuego is a much shorter course.
I have a feeling that his volume will need to decline if he’s going to be successful internationally
He finished 5th at worlds. That's definitely success. He also improved a lot the last few years doing this volume
behind a 43 year old, retired alejandro valverde
@Eramsay121 A 43yr old that EVERY world tour team would sign if he were up for it🤡
@@Eramsay121 Are you really minimizing a 5th place finish at Worlds? Valverde got an 11th place start and Keegan had to fight from 90th on a course not set up for passing. Keegan also had to fight back from a crash. Good chance that if he had a decent start position he gets a podium.
Sadly close to no actual information about his training or anything specific.
Closely guarded trade secrets. As well they should be while actively competing. They will probably be revealed one day in his best selling book after retirement😂
Nutrition plans?
Wonder how he would do in Europe
Hmm… that coach didn’t really give anything away did he?
Big volume works,and you got to build into that slowly.
Ok Keegan is fast and trains hard, we get it BUT the real question is how do we become as handsome as Ben Delaney in our silver fox era? Asking as a millenial....
😀
How is Keegan Swenson so fast?
It's due to pushing the pedals hard for a long time
And not braking too much.
There’s no medals without meddled blood work
I hope to see him with the likes of sepp kuss, to see how he stacks up against European best. I know he rode the gravel world championship but was a disappointment
Theres no dope testing in the high lifetime events.
Who is the World Champion? A road cyclist.... 😀
Yes, how was any other cyclist in history much faster than his competitors?! Better just to enjoy the show without asking these question.
Why dont they just make a class of racing that allows performance drugs? Let those who want to race against others who juice.
And I stopped watching halfway through the "coaches" explanation of the relationship with the rider.....sorry dude. Not your best content ✌️😎
i would not like my coach going on a podcast and talking about me for 20 minutes
There's ZERO dope testing at these events. Is this the same VP of USA Cycling Jim Miller who was there from 2001, all through the US Postal / Discovery / Armstrong days, and then fallout, and avoided any cleaning of house. Or is it a different one?
Ya know ive known and worked around Jim for
20 plus years he aint about that at all!!! And KS is subject to testing via usada
Jim was running T mobile
Womens in 2001 i believe, Jiri and others were the heads of usac at the time Jim was a director and coach more on the womens side of usac during that era
@@matthewfallon1635 In 2001 maybe, later not. He was a part of USA Cycling's stone walling policy when the revelations came out. He didn't resign, as the entire leadership should have done but didn't. Re: testing, neither USA Cycling nor USADA release records of who has been tested, when, and how many times, for amateurs or pro-ams (he's essentially the latter). Since that's the case, I think you can assume it's close to zero for everyone except UCI-WT pros in the US. Also no blood passports.
@@pmcmpc hey all i can speak on is my experience with the man and ive never seen Jim partake in it, in any form. You can allege things all ya want and that is your right and i support it, im just saying from my dealings with him as a usac mech i never saw or even heard a rumor about Jim helping cheats. I cant speak to what happened when i wasnt present. Just saying as a guy who was there i didnt see any doping with usac. Now proteams thats where most of the issue was and yea i saw some stuff but never with JM. Also as far as testing athletes my girlfriend who was on the national team (track) and on a proteam was tested a 5-6 times a year at our house and even more when racing and travelling….not sure whos getting tested or how often theu are nowadays but i hope they still get tested. And if you have a pro license you are open to testing at any time i believe
Keegan dope tests regularly
He got beat by a 40+ master.
Haha who happened to be named Valverde. But yeah when I saw that he was 5th at worlds, it was a wake up call for US vs international talent
@@MorganBrownMuch shorter course in Europe than in the USA!
A guy that could still potentially podium in a monument/classic. It's not like there haven't been +40yr old Olympic medalists in other sports that favor youth even more than cycling does.
Starting 200 wheels back in a race that was strung out from the gun. How many matches would you burn navigating a pack of that caliber? And then to even be in the mix for a podium? Give it a rest
😂hillarious how you say "40 + master" as if referring to Dave the bike shop owner who can still take pulls on the weekend group ride. Valverde is still tearing legs off of young Euro's in grand tours my man. Geezus. You should be saying Keegan almost beat a legend.
So fast 🤔🤔🤔🤔 where there's smoke...😬 there's missed tests
Great discussion, but honestly hard to watch two dudes chatting for 20 mins. Unless you were both on a bike. Like Oss and Sagan. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the feedback.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney You're good Ben. Plenty of people out there have the attention spans to listen to 3-5 hour podcasts. If anything, more long form stuff is well appreciated. You were great to listen to on Ted King's podcast.
"Old guys and gals on bikes, in the cold, getting coffee." I'm thinking of former pros, CEOs, artists, etc...
I just put the phone in my pocket and gad on my headphones while doing chores and it was 👌. (Music at the end was a little bit loud though if any constructive criticism to be said)
300 watts for 8 hours. Bro, that is so insane. I had to work my dick off to even do 290 watts for an hour at 73kg.