- Stan's have got this new product
for fixing punctures called DART,
and the way it works
got me thinking about XCO racing,
in particular SnowShoe,
where Jenny Risveds and Nino Shurter
both had to change their race strategy
after puncturing
by visiting the tech zone.
What got me puzzled
was why didn't they just fix it themselves?
So I've teamed up with Stan's for this video,
and I've brought in
ex-Olympic racer and XO racer, Oli Beckingsale,
and we're going to have our own little race,
and we're going to find out
exactly what's fastest,
using a pit stop,
or me fixing it myself.
(upbeat rock music)
Okay, so the concept is pretty simple.
We've laid out a short, two lap
cross-country course,
complete with tech zone,
manned by Henry.
Now, part of the race,
and somewhere around,
both myself and Oli
are going to be receiving a puncture.
Someone is going to stop us
and puncture one of our tires.
We're not sure which one.
The aim of this is
Oli is going to have to get back to tech zone,
in order for Henry to fix his bike,
whereas I'm going to be using the Stan's DART system,
and I'm going to fix mine myself.
And then, hopefully,
beat Oli to the finish. But let's find out a little bit more
about how these tech zones actually work,
and what go on in tech zones.
Over to Oli.
(upbeat rock music)
- So XCO racing has gone through
some significant changes
in the last 10 years.
Gone are the days of two hour long races
and massive, hilly 25 minute laps.
The races have got shorter and shorter,
and now winning times are under an hour and a half
for both the men's and the women's.
So technical zones were the old feed zones
where riders used to take a water bottle,
but now they're able
to fix mechanical problems as well.
So an XC lap now
is about four to five kilometers,
and there'd normally be one tech zone,
which is visited from either side.
This is meant that teams can manage it far easier
so you only need a couple of mechanics
to run the whole race.
(upbeat rock music)
So the most common mechanical issue
an XCO racer's going to get
is probably going to be a flat tire.
So most of the racers are running a tubeless setup
with some sealant inside,
but they can still get some nasty flats
or rips in the tire on the way around.
With XC racers,
most of them are pretty weight wielding,
I know I was,
and the big thing is they're trying to use light tires.
Rotational mass is such a massive thing,
especially on the climbs.
The ever more common ones,
snapped chains,
that's got to be a killer.
The only thing you're not allowed to change is your frame.
That's the one you've got to start and finish on.
But everything else,
go for your life.
(slow music)
So the new fast paced XCO racing tech zones
have been a massive addition.
As we saw in the final World Cup race recently,
Nino Shurter had a flat tire,
or a slow flat. He was able to nurse it to the pit.
The whole tactic of the race changed,
enabling him to stay in the race,
get to the front,
and also to keep the overall title as well.
It's also a really good place as well
to give feedback to the riders,
so a bit of motivation,
even if at passing
they're not taking anything.
And I don't think it'll be too long
until we actually start to see kind of pit boards F1 style.
I mean, I find that will be the next thing coming.
- So the race track we have set out
is here at Ashton Court in Bristol,
starting with a bit of an old school start straight,
we dive straight into the supernova section of trails,
a red-graded, single track trail,
twisty and turny.
Whoever gets into this section of trail first
will control the first part of the race.
As it negates here,
the downhill section,
you're going to a few rock gardens,
so you going to have to be conservative through there
to avoid getting pinch punctures.
And then it goes out onto and out and back loop,
that, well though not that hilly,
is actually deceptively slow and taxing.
Once on the back of the trail,
you've reached the quarry wall descent.
I say descent.
It's actually you've got to keep it gassing through there
to maintain your power and speed.
And then you come out on the horrible rocky climb.
So this one is a bit of a lung burner,
and halfway up this climb is the tech zone,
so if you're going to have to use the tech zone,
that's where it is. And then all the way out onto the top,
and then dive back in for lap two
into supernova.
Now Oli's clearly a much faster cross-country rider than me.
He looks fast,
without even being on a bike.
But I've got some great new tech
that's going to help me out.
And I'm going to try and get past him
before he gets to that tech zone.
Now let's have a look
at the Stan's DART system
that I'm going to be using for this race.
Now running tubeless tires
is pretty much an effective way
of reducing your punctures.
There's a couple of different styles
of sealant available on the market.
You've got the regular ones
or so-called endurance ones.
They typically last a big longer,
and they're not quite as effective
at sealing holes.
Or you've got the race solutions.
Now those dry up a lot faster,
but they can seal much bigger holes.
Typically used by a lot of enduro-racers,
it is essentially a rubber worm
that's forced into the tire itself.
You pull the prong out
and it leaves the worm in there.
You would then slice the ends off,
using a blade of some kind,
and then hopefully it will seal that hole.
It's not guaranteed,
and the downside is
often these rubber worms
are quite a lot larger
than the size puncture you have,
which means you're going to have to ream the hole out as well.
So this is an effective system,
but it does take time.
And this is possibly why we've not seen
it in XC racing before.
Now this, really,
is the beauty of the Stan's system.
So you have here
a very handy to hold,
and more importantly,
put in your race jersey
without any chance of injuring yourself,
like other devices.
The system has got
essentially a dart on each end.
So you've got two in here for use,
and they're both covered
so they're not affected by dirt or moisture
in your pocket,
and they're ready to use within seconds.
The idea is you stab it straight
into the hole of the tire. It's got a barb on there
that holds it in sufficiently,
and it's also got a carbon rod
to help you push that through the tire carcass accurately,
and to the correct depth every time.
Now the really cool thing about these,
if that wasn't cool enough already,
is the rubber they're actually made from
infuses with Stan's sealants,
and it forms a near instant rubber bond.
So, really, if you can get this in fast,
you're going to lose minimal tire pressure.
Now it is important to say
that the CO2 doesn't play that friendly
with many tire sealants.
It can dry them out.
However, Stan's are very quick to say, also,
it is fine to use in a race situation
to get going again.
But you might want to release that air later,
and just inflate with a regular pump
just to make your sealant last a big longer.
(heavy percussion)
- [Male announcer] Three, two, one, go!
(intense music)
- Can't get past.
Just take it smooth
to get a little squeeze here.
I know this is a bit slightly hurting, man.
(upbeat rock music)
- How you doing?
- Just as I expected,
Oli's already started to create a gap between us.
What that's going to mean
is I'm going to have to fix that puncture
as fast as possible if I've got any chance
of winning this race.
(upbeat rock music)
- Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Let's see how you get on.
All right.
Off you go!
Round two coming up.
- Come here, come here.
Gimme the stuff, quick, quick, quick.
Where is it?
- It's just there.
(air hissing)
- Okay, we're good.
Nearly good.
A bit more pressure.
Force that free.
(air hissing)
All right.
Leave that be, boys.
I'm off.
See you later.
(upbeat rock music)
- Ha!
Tire fixed!
(upbeat rock music)
We couldn't get faster.
Oli's got no chance.
- Tire's holding.
We're racking on down.
10 psi.
Hanging left.
(slow music)
- I knew I was going to have to get past Oli
and keep him at bay
if there's any chance of winning this race.
But to be honest,
my legs have had it.
I just can't hack this pace.
This is ridiculous.
(upbeat rock music)
- Where the hell is he? (upbeat rock music)
- It's actually pretty nerve-wracking,
doing it when the race is on.
Normally when I've changed tires,
even on race weekends,
it has been kind of under part
from my conditions.
So let's see
what we've got. - There he is!
- Bike wheel!
- See you later!
- Battle stations.
Got to get thinking a bit.
Yep.
- There they are.
Those spokes get here.
- It's pretty low.
- All over the place.
Can't know if I'm near a pop.
- If I don't pull him back I'm never going to live this down.
- 15 seconds.
All right.
- Cool.
Super quick.
- You're feeling the pressure now.
- That was a quick one. - Ready?
I'll give you a push off, bud. - We're good.
- Go, go, go.
- I'm in the biggest gear.
- Forgot the leading clutch!
Ah!
Pressure, pressure, pressure!
- Ah, he's going to be on me.
I've got to get away.
(upbeat rock music)
- He's on me.
I can hear him.
(upbeat rock music)
(coughing)
- I am not built to do that.
- It was close.
Ah, man, it was good.
- Ah.
- Opened the lungs up?
- Sooner or later
it's a nap
we might find a computer.
- That was close.
Closer than I thought.
- It was closer than I thought it was going to be.
- I reckon,
so I lost 30 seconds when we changed the tire,
and we did a quick job.
I reckon a minute, maybe,
in all the messing around.
- What was your changed time?
- I don't know.
It was a bit of a fumble with the CO2.
I think maybe a minute.
Hard to tell.
But I got going pretty good.
It didn't feel like I lost much time when we were going
but we were still fumbling.
- Yeah, a bit like were we at that,
or like a minute and a half.
- Do you feel like it could make a difference, though,
with the right racer?
- It's worth walking it in, yeah.
It's not heavy.
It's a fair kit; it's light.
I mean, I always would carry a CO2 with me anyway,
just to get me to.
So if I've got CO2 in addition to that,
it can just get me through.
You've got two feed zones
in a 5K lap,
give or take.
You know,
and if you get it in the wrong place,
like we did today,
I had to do 2K,
a technical 2K...
- None of that's flat,
and it's hard going through there.
- Yes, that's a long time.
But if that was a big forest track climb
with a couple of tech descents...
- You're lost.
- You still have all that time.
So, yeah, CO2 and one of those would be a,
definitely a good show.
It was close.
- Well enough of that for me.
I'll leave that to you boys.
Well there we go.
I think,
well, clearly I didn't win
using the tech of Stan's DARTs,
but I'm just an office worker.
This is the actual pro.
I think it was pretty close, to be fair.
- It was pretty close.
Yeah, you gave a good fight.
- Yeah, and I genuinely still believe
that fixing it yourself
could be an advantage for a racer
and maybe we'll see this popping up
next year in the race season.
I certainly hope so.
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Cheers, guys. - Bye.