tom danielson
@tomdanielson • 48,254 subscribers
Former World Tour professional cyclist. Cycling coach. Founder of CINCH Cycling.
Videos
I really loved this winning attack from Jonas Vingegaard to distance Felix Gall and win stage 9 at the Giro d'Italia. There are some key concepts worth sharing that you can add to your training to improve your race craft. 1. Follow Your Rival and Let Them Show You What They Have Jonas did a good job following Gall's attack and not showing anything until he felt like he saw what Gall had in the tank. This is hard to do. When someone attacks you like that, you can get emotional and want to immediately attack over the top to "show them" how strong you are. It's better to sit tight and let them put as much out there so you can really see where their level is.
tom danielson47,474 views • 1 month ago
I made this quick video to show his actions while losing the front which I think is more “stunned” rather than seat dropped and cannot push. You will notice he does not even get out of the saddle to try to follow like the others around him. This was the race defining moment. If, say, the seat post was too low and the power was there, he would stand (just like he did to drop Healy later in the race) to create a solution for the low seat.
tom danielson171,716 views • 9 months ago
Hi Lufthansa I’ve been flying your airline for professional cycling for 22 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. You somehow crushed my bike vertically, snapping my frame, and destroying my crank driving it through the bottom of the bike box while bending the bikes axel. Unreal. I can’t even imagine what kind of force or weight would have to be applied from above to do this. I have successfully used this soft case from Scicon (as do 1000s of other cyclists) for all of my flights since 2003. There was nothing in the case and the frame was wrapped with protective foam. Super frustrating to pay for a trip, pay extra for my bike to travel, and then have my bike show up crushed on arrival. There are a lot of cyclists like me who travel from Denver to Europe to ride who would think to use Lufthansa . Should they expect their bikes to show up broken like mine?
tom danielson190,800 views • 1 year ago
Pidcock waited for Tadej in the seconds before he was caught, but did not “wait” for more than 3 kilometers after the crash. Much of the media coverage is so matter of a fact about this comeback of Tadej. Sure here are lots of images of his wounds and there is a lot written on him overcoming the crash. But the effort Tadej did after the crash is quite spectacular to say the least. It is far from what has been said or written which in summary is “Tadej crashed, Pidcock waited, they worked together, Tadej dropped him and won.” Which has led to the “why did Pidcock wait?” discussion. I found this video below that shows the significance of the gap Tadej had to close before his bike change. Then I went back in and looked at the video as I wanted to get more detail. When I watched it live it sure didn’t seem like he waited, but he said he did after and the media said he did so… From what I found, Tadej’s crash cost him about 30 seconds from when he stopped sliding to when he got going again. With Pidcock blasting the turn and not hesitating I think this cost Tadej about 40 seconds. Then the bike change cost him another 10, so all in all he had to make up 50 seconds in his chase. Now let’s look at Pidcock. At the time of the crash he had 1:24 on the chasers. From the time Tadej crashed to when he was caught, Pidcock increased his gap to the chasing group (behind Tadej and Swift) to 1:30 in 3 kilometers. Now that doesn’t sound like much, but he went from holding this gap with Tadej sharing the pace, to now solo and gaining ground. When reviewing the footage I also noticed they went over a climb in dirt sector 11. Both were visibly riding hard despite appearing to go extremely hard, Tadej only closes 11 seconds. So clearly Pidcock was not “waiting” here either. The “waiting” finally occurs as Tadej gets him in sight and the gap is 10 seconds now. Now why is this worth looking at? Well in my opinion the effort Tadej had to close the gap was a race winning effort. Something like 470w for 6 mins AND THEN had to redo the effort again to win the race in addition to 44 more kilometers while bruised and battered. Did Pidcock do the right thing keeping the pressure on after the crash? Absolutely as he didn’t know if Tadej was injured or out and he was in the lead. Was it tactically a good call too if Tadej was ok? Yes, it forced Tadej to use precious glycogen resources to catch back. Overall I just saw this video and wanted to dive more into the chase. There definitely was a lot there and sheds light on how strong Tadej is riding right now.
tom danielson169,613 views • 1 year ago
The high torque acceleration and durability with this effort is really shaping and defining how modern cycling is won. The shorter and repetitive steep and cobbled climbs on the World’s course really showcased this and how one of the innovators, Pogacar, is in a league of his own.
tom danielson82,556 views • 9 months ago
Tadej vs Seixas: Three Key Differences at Strade Bianche’s Decisive Moment In today's Strade Bianche, we saw another dominant performance by Tadej Pogačar, but we also saw a fantastic ride from 19-year-old Paul Seixas, who was able to follow Tadej the longest during his attack over the Monte Sante Marie. As Seixas looks to close the gap to Tadej over the next years, we can compare the two riders in this decisive moment (what I call the moment of urgency) to see some areas that were possibly part of the separation Tadej was able to get.
tom danielson27,753 views • 3 months ago
To go high, you have to low. And let me tell you, I’ve been through some real lows. I watch old videos like this and I think, wow, why did I stop taking care of myself like that. I gained 30 lbs, drank most days, ate crappy, didn’t sleep, and let stress live rent free in my body. How could “once a pro athlete” treat themselves like this and justify it? The answer is because I wanted to hate who I was before because it seemed like everyone else did. I thought the solution was to trash myself to help to forget about who I was and focus on helping others becoming great. If I was the farthest thing from me, then people would accept me more right? Well the answer was no. The same people still did the same things. Well, getting cancer and half my hand amputated sure showed me what’s important to me, and that’s my life. I have built an absolutely incredible world around me. I have the most amazing family, a thriving business, and the most warm and supportive community. All this time I felt like I have to suffer in order for others to accept me. But in reality, the people who are in my world do accept me. I lift them up and they lift me up. Sure it’s tough going out and crossing paths with people who have gone out of their way to misunderstand me. But I’ve been doing it for years and I am getting better at it. For an example, this past weekend at Big Sugar I spoke with, stood next to, even shook hands with people who tried to destroy me and my business. I felt nothing. It’s wild when you think about what I have survived to get to this point. But you know what, I own all of it. I also own the change I’ve made to become better from it. So why am I making this post? To be honest, I don’t know. I just felt like sharing this. It’s been over 8 years since I last raced and I feel it’s time for me to get out there again. Not to win the race, but to challenge myself to return to a physically and mentally super high version of myself. I’m well aware people will criticize me, but they will do that whether CINCH is winning or if I am. To be real, both will win. I also will share my path, struggles and successes, all transparently. 2024 let’s do this!
tom danielson135,660 views • 2 years ago
Here is the moment when I see my hand for the first time. I was pretty shook honestly. I then felt sadness come over me. I felt weird for the rest of the day and found myself avoiding even looking at it. After doing a training session I found the strength and confidence to look at it again and took a photo I will share with you on slide two. It’s going to take sometime to get used to this. But today I feel much better and excited that it is out of the cast. I’m not allowed to do anything with it yet, but I am moving my fingers and that’s big progress. I have to say Dr Donaldson did an incredible job and I am so happy I have a path forward. I just want to be open how that path feels. I am focused on the opportunity I have ahead and I am motivated for this new challenge. But it did hit me how different my hand looks, and even how it looks nothing like it feels. Going to take sometime before I am comfortable with this. However, I know I did not choose the comfortable path. Instead I chose the winning one. Just like sport, to win in your personal race it requires overcoming massive adversity.
tom danielson145,045 views • 3 years ago
Figured I’d make a little different post as I did some racing myself last week! I’m coming down off an incredible week Tour of the Gila where I raced in the cat 1 field. I won a stage (yes crazy!), finished 5th overall (also crazy), and won the masters cat 1 40+ overall over Italian legend Fortunato Ferrara. Now after having sometime to reflect I want to share some of the thoughts I had from the race. 1. Family made the racing experience so special for me. I’ve done a lot of bike races, but this one was so good having much of the family together for it. @kourtneydanielson was there keeping me on track, @stevedanielson237 was there grinding in his race at the same time, @alpha_zulu_6 was in “no-fail mission mode” running the race logistics, and Sarah was there inspiring us to dig deep. We just need @stelladdanielson for the next one with the little ones and watch out world! 2. To win you have to be ready to lose. I’ll be honest, racing has so much trauma around it for me I have a long ways to go to really enjoy it, but I am getting there. But what I did “re-experience” was how if you are worried about winning you will often paralyze yourself and not be able to give what it takes. I did have moments where I completely locked into “racing” and just enjoyed going for it. 3. You don’t have to feel well to do well. As a coach I preach this one all the time but man, I really felt it this week. I got that gnarly sinus virus going around and wow, does it bite hard. I really struggled each day on the bike and off the bike I spent wayyyyy too much time worrying about what was going to happen in the bike. Kourtney came to the rescue to keep sending me back out there despite me trying to negotiate with her to sit it out. Wow, I was so glad I did listen to her! 4. The future is bright. Let me tell you, there is some big talent out there coming. I got to race with a lot of the young pros and I also got to hear about the talent coming from my son’s field. There were 5 riders I saw in my race that were all u23 and absolutely could make it to the World Tour. This race always brings talent out, but I would say there is more than in the past this year. I hope these riders keep working hard and team up with someone who actually knows how to get to the world tour. There’s so much to build and the right progression is everything. 5. I’m not done yet. This week was just the beginning of a new chapter for me. Back to work!
tom danielson11,804 views • 1 month ago
I think standing ability is one of the most under-coached areas in cycling training. People are so obsessed with their current state of efficiency that they lose sight on long term performance potential. I made this video to teach a standing technique I call “bike swagger.”
tom danielson32,995 views • 7 months ago
In 2002, I climbed Mt. Washington and set a record that changed my life. 7.6 miles. 4,500 feet. 12% grade. Time: 49:24. I was 23. A former MTBer from East Lyme, CT. That day I beat Tyler Hamilton’s record, he set right after he finished 4th at the Tour de France. It launched everything. My first pro contract with Saturn. A call from Lance. And eventually, my first WorldTour contract with Fasso Bortolo. A lot has happened in the 24 years since. My career was launched and lost. The identity that came and went with it. Cancer. A partial amputation. Lost fitness. Years of not knowing who I was without the bike. I’m not sure I can do this. That’s the truth. Sub-49 on Mt. Washington has never been done. There are so many reasons I’m not the guy for it. I’m 48. Dad of 5. Partial amputee. Business owner. Coming back from 11 years away from hard training. But the audaciousness behind the attempt is the whole point. And this time I have something I didn’t have in 2002. My own TTM Performance Model. Now as a coach I’m putting my money where my mouth is. My TTM doesn’t sugarcoat anything. It lays out the gap between where I am today and where I need to go in stark detail from to power, zone duration, durability, weight, mental strength, technique. Every facet and milestone, each point on the progression is mapped out. My hope is that it takes me somewhere I stopped believing was possible. For me, that place is becoming a world class climber. See you August 15, 2026. 🌙
tom danielson19,187 views • 3 months ago
No more content to load