Do you prefer the shorter 1hr format of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast that we did today (April 14, 2022), or do you prefer the longer ~2hr duration? Also, was today’s podcast less of a “morning talk show” as it’s been described here on the forum, and did you prefer that?
What duration do you prefer for the AACC Podcast episodes?
Less than an hour
1 hour
2 hours
More than an hour
Duration doesn’t matter to me
0voters
Related poll:
If the AACC podcast was 1 hour or less, how many episodes per week would you prefer?
1 episode per week
2 episodes per week
3 episodes per week
0voters
To be clear, our intention is to deliver a high ROI for your listening time no matter the length, and our intent is never to make it a morning talk show focused on the hosts’ lives. The objective of the podcast is to make you a faster cyclist by answering your questions. We also know the personal connection with the hosts is important and we shouldn’t actively avoid sharing our personalities, but that shouldn’t cause us to lose focus on the main goal of helping you, our listeners.
Apologies for being repetitive/appearing so much on the same topic.
I really liked the energy of today’s Pod, though need more banter . If it requires dropping the duration for you guys to be able to maintain with how busy you are I fully understand. I could get behind two a week 1hr Pod’s.
I feel passionate about it as the AACC Pod is the highlight of my listening week and a refuse when I am feeling anxious.
I loved it when the goal was an hour of focused information, and then you would end the “podcast” but continue to record yourselves answering listener questions. Best of both worlds. Everyone gets the main info in an hour, but those who like longer episodes can hang out and hear the more repetitive or user specific questions and answers.
I’ve only had a single pass through the show (out of my usual 2-3 listens), but think the short format is fine and can work. To a degree, the 2hr shows can drag on and belabor points to little benefit, IMO.
I know some love the deep dives and looser flow, and I admit they have their purpose. But honestly, I tend to tune many of them out until the final takeaways. I think the DD’s could end up as their own sub-cast and be better in a way, on a different level but parallel to the Science of Getting Faster casts.
Could be my current progression in the life of training research and such, but I am in the “less is more” phase where I don’t care much about the hidden features, I just want the functional aspects that I can actually leverage vs the finer points that lie beneath.
There is value to that deeper understanding in general and it matters much to some listeners, but considering the tendency of TR to try and get down to the nitty gritty ( without users needing to take on that level of intricacy ), I think a more refined and/or minimal approach to the regular cast makes sense.
It’s like their limited analysis tools and such that are deliberately restricted compared to other options. TR sees those as potentially distracting from the core elements that actually make the biggest differences and impact on their typical user’s training. This cast could well be different by looking to blend information and entertainment, so I can sure see more than one way to pull it together.
And just to note my vote above with respect to my comments, 1 to 1.5 hrs, 1 time per week.
I’m in agreement with @mcneese.chad: I don’t think the question is how long is the podcast so much as how well done is it. At least for me, I’ve become less and less looking forward to the podcast, as lately it has tended to perseverate on topics. That is: everyone has given their opinion, and then the shows just keeps going around and around and around on these same points without any new info being presented. Or everyone being asked / feeling like they need to contribute to every topic, where they are just restating what someone else has stated.
I think it would be a useful exercise to do an analysis of:
How many topics are covered in each episode, and how this has (or hasn’t) changed over time
The amount of time each person speaks per episode / per topic
My perception, without any data, is that the number of topics covered in each podcast has been steadily going down, and there is a large variance in the % of time each person speaks. This last point isn’t necessarily bad, if it is more tied to expertise. That is, if an episode is focused on coach Chad doing a deep dive on a topic or two, I would expect the % of time he is talking in that episode to be the highest among the presenters. But a lot of time, it feels like too much is being said that doesn’t add incremental value, and that @Jonathan as the “host” needs to be more assertive about cutting discussions off when nothing new is being said.
I haven’t listened yet, so apologies if I am jumping off on the wrong foot, but if it’s a permanent format change to one-hour podcasts, and it’s because of a few people whinging about it being too long I’ll be pretty pissed.
There’s a flipping pause button for those who need a break, there’s no continue on, or extend podcast button for those who love it.
/Rant
If it’s because Jonathan and crew need to claw some time back for themselves, I’ll be gutted, but fully understand. I’m hoping it’s just a one off change…
ETA: (Just started listening - @Jonathan I think my preference is clear, but I will completely understand if the team needs/wants to do shorter pods, I think that over an hour is better - especially as we get more and more banter at the start as racing returns to the crew, but I appreciate the effort and entertainment that goes in and comes out however it comes.)
I listen via youtube day of on a slight delay at work so for me the 2 hour format is great. If I was listening on a commute or on the trainer I’d maybe want closer to an hour.
Staff needing more time for other things I respect the desire for an hour on their part.
If the shorter format eliminates some of the banter, especially as we start racing again as noted above, or the deep dives become too shallow because of time constraints I think the podcast will suffer. I’ll still listen but it won’t be the same.
Do they put the “shorts” out on any of the podcast apps or is that just the YT channel? I really like being able to easily replay just a specific topic if I wanted to relisten to that part. For those that want smaller bites that seems like a good middle ground, keep it long but make sure those are easily accessible to people. But again if the staff needs that hour back for training, family, other work, whatever, then it is what it is and I respect that.
No audio “shorts” posted on the sites I follow. The audio versions are full length. However, some of the sites & their files get chapters which allows for some ability to bounce around between topics as desired.
I have not followed that closely to know which ones get them or not, but it seems present from comments I saw recently.
I think they’re done by Maxine or Sean…? But it seems all the podcasts have the chapter links since the Spotify push started. I assume a process was made easier at that point (but still requires effort from the producers).
I prefer to download files vs streaming. That likely impacts results as I don’t get chapters via the files on Podbay, but the streamed version seems to have the chapters. So it might extend to all streamers, but there are many and I have not checked them all.
Makes sense. I just noticed the change recently on Podcast Addict. I also download them and a lot more of my pods now have chapter links in the description.
I guess you are entirely correct, it must still depend on the App of choice.
I will be gutted if the new format sticks, 2 hour plus is the best, as someone said above, if it is too long, pause it and come back for a second listen!
I have been a long time user, listener and lurker of TrainerRoad, its podcast and these forums. I have specifically registered on these forums to support the 2 hour podcast train, or to have 2-3 podcasts per week. I look forward to these every day and do not have a ton of “pure cycling” friends, so in many ways, this podcast is my way to feel like I can relate to the others who love the intersection of physiology and cycling mixed with some high quality (most of the time ) banter. For me, the podcast is a rewar where I can to listen Thursday evenings and Friday mornings during my runs and bikes after a hard week of work. I get the sads when the podcast ends and would be sadder should it be switched to 1 hour per week (this week hurt me right in the feels after a hard work week). That being said I get that there are 24 hours in a day and these podcasts take time and can take away from potentially all the other great stuff you are working on and creating, so I understand where this question might be coming from.
I’m good either way. A more focused/efficient flow appeals to me and the shorter runtime would probably see me listening to the whole thing more frequently, but mostly I listen to it in shorter bursts or by pulling out specific topics, so total length isn’t something I’m particularly concerned about provided it doesn’t come at the cost of quality.
IMO a more directed segment covering the main topics followed by a “happy hour” would a good way of doing things.
. If it requires dropping the duration for you guys to be able to maintain with how busy you are I fully understand. I could get behind two a week 1hr Pod’s.
) banter. For me, the podcast is a rewar where I can to listen Thursday evenings and Friday mornings during my runs and bikes after a hard week of work. I get the sads when the podcast ends and would be sadder should it be switched to 1 hour per week (this week hurt me right in the feels after a hard work week). That being said I get that there are 24 hours in a day and these podcasts take time and can take away from potentially all the other great stuff you are working on and creating, so I understand where this question might be coming from.