- We probably all want to ride our bikes
a little bit faster, don't we,
but we don't all necessarily want to ride harder.
- Oh no, definitely not.
So can you get faster on your bike
without actually getting any fitter?
Well of course you can!
That is exactly what we are going
to be telling you in this video,
but we are not going to be preaching the obvious things,
like getting more aero or indeed
what supplements you might want to consider taking.
No, today we're getting a bit smarter.
- Oh that's right.
We are going to be taking about wind direction,
air pressure, momentum, drivetrain friction,
chain line, even the time of day
at which you'll be at your best.
All sorts of ways to raise the speed
at which you ride your steed.
First though we're going to have a discussion
about tyre pressure.
- That was awful.
(cheerful pop music)
- Now if you're really feeling the pressure
it might not just be your head.
It could be that you've been just a little bit
too overzealous with your truck pump.
Now having rock hard tyres might be fast
on the smooth boards of a velodrome,
but how many roads do you know that are that smooth?
Not many, particularly here in the UK.
Higher pressure feels faster, but it actually isn't.
So, lowering your tyre pressure
could not only give you more comfort,
but more speed as well.
Now recent studies have shown that rolling resistance
has two components and their effects
are independent of each other.
Firstly, hysteretic losses, the loss of energy though heat,
which is produced by the deformation
and recovery of your tyres.
And then suspension losses.
These suspension losses occur on imperfect road surfaces,
Paris-Roubaix being a real prime example.
Now lowering your tyre pressure means
that your tyres can deform,
roll over and absorb the cobbles,
rather than just bounce off them.
The pros in Paris-Roubaix will run their 30c tyres
at around 4 bar or only 60 psi.
These recent studies have shown
that suspension losses on ordinary roads
are really very significant at tyre pressures
that are commonly used, I 100 to 120 psi.
So, reducing your pressure, if not to quite that extreme,
will effectively do the same thing for you on normal roads.
So your tyres will absorb the bumps
and blemishes on the road, rather than bouncing over them.
Faster, more comfortable and free.
Now unfortunately we can't tell you
what your optimal tyre pressure will be.
That will depend on your weight,
your size, and also the road surface
that you happen to be riding on.
But also the benefit of having decreased tyre pressure
is added grip when cornering.
(cheerful pop music)
- Which bring us nicely, on to our next point.
Momentum is very much your friend.
The more speed you can keep,
the faster you are going to go, for exactly the same effort.
Now that might be having more speed through corners
cause you've got more grip.
Or it might also come into play as you start a climb.
- That's right, the faster you go into a climb,
the faster you will go up it, for the same effort.
The shorter the climb the more impacts it will have.
Now of course, there is a trade off.
If you lose loads of energy
getting to the bottom of the climb,
you will have less power at your disposal as you go up it.
But there is also a sneaky trick here.
- You're right Sy, there is a trick for this.
This was something I observed,
whilest doing a Sportive event last year,
because I ended up in a group of about 30 or 40 riders,
obviously I have kind of hovering
towards the back saving energy.
- Old habits die hard.
- My observation was that as you went
from a decent onto a steep climb
a lot of the riders towards the back of the group
weren't giving themselves any space
and so they were having to break
as the riders at the front slowed on the climb.
I was a little bit sneaky,
getting myself some room on the side.
And what that means is you don't need to use your breaks
and all that momentum and speed that you have
effectively carries you from the back of the group
almost to the front.
Not on the front, obviously.
You don't actually want to take the wind.
- No, old habits die hard.
Now it might sound a little bit like cheating,
but it's not, it's totally fair game.
It's just an intelligent use of your momentum.
(cheerful pop music)
Another observation I had at that very same Sportive event
was that there were a few riders
who weren't aware of which direction
the wind was coming from.
So you quickly learn as a new cyclist
that there is a massive advantage
of slipstreaming behind the rider in front of you.
However, far fewer people seem to learn
that that energy saving sweet spot
changes position when the wind starts coming from the side.
- So if the wind is coming from the left
you need to be sat just off to the right
of the rider in front and vice versa.
If the wind is coming from the right you need to be sat
just off to the left of that rider.
Now your exact position relative to them
does depend on things like the wind angle,
your speed, and also the wind speed.
Cause you might find that in really strong crosswinds
you actually need to be overlapping
the rider in front quite significantly.
- Yeah there's no numerical formula for this,
as far as we are aware, but through trial and error
you should be able to find that sweet spot in crosswinds.
And it is well worth doing cause it will save you
a whole heap of energy.
Energy that you can use to go faster.
- Laser on.
(cheerful pop music)
- Do you know why the likes of Tony Martin and Tom Dumoulin
have 58-tooth chainrings on their TT bikes?
And it's not just because they produce
far more power than us mere mortals.
No, that's only part of the story.
The other thing is that running
this humongous dinner plate of a chainring means
they can spend more of their time
on slightly bigger cogs on the rear cassette
and it also means their chain line is far straighter.
And that in turn, means less drivetrain friction.
Now, it's not a big difference,
but it's a power saving nonetheless.
So more free speed.
So for us mere mortals it could mean
that it's best to run a compact on the front,
rather than cross chaining on a 53.
Meaning we can go faster. Happy days.
(cheerful pop music)
On a similar subject, a clean drivetrain is a faster one.
Now drivetrain friction losses through dirt
or an over stretched chain are particularly significant.
And not only that, but the lube you use
can make a difference as well.
In fact, did you know, that a clean unlubricated chain
is far more efficient than an over lubricated chain?
Well, neither did I, but apparently it is.
And then there are some lubes
that are far faster than others,
in terms of reduced drivetrain friction.
Unfortunately though, a number of companies
claim theirs are the fastest
and have data to back up their claims.
So in some ways we're none the wiser,
which is just a little bit confusing.
So it's really worth doing some research
if you're looking for those marginal gains.
(cheerful pop music)
If you're feeling under pressure
that might just be your head.
But weather conditions can significantly
slow you down as well.
Now wind and rain, they're the obvious ones.
But did you know, that air pressure
can have a big impact as well?
Many of you will know that we're able to
ride faster at high altitude even though
we're unable to produce as much power.
But less obvious is that differing air pressures
and temperatures are an influence on your speed.
Small daily changes in barometric pressure
and temperature won't make too much of a difference at all,
but if you're riding after a heavy thunderstorm,
in midsummer for example, it can make a significant
difference in the air pressure.
How much?
Well, up to three percent gain in speed
for the same power.
(cheerful pop music)
Now it's not just the weather,
but also time that can influence your speed.
Researchers in Brazil have found
an improvement of almost seven percent
when a fixed distance laboratory test
was done in the evening rather than in the morning.
Admittedly that improvement was over just one kilometre,
but this evidence backed up other previous studies.
So we can safely say that you go faster
if you ride in the evening.
"Why?" I hear you ask.
They don't know the exact reason and neither do I.
But next time I go for a Strava KOM,
it'll be in a summer evening after a storm.
Now it's early in the morning,
the air pressure is quite high,
my tyres are just a little bit too hard,
my drivetrain is really filthy
and to be perfectly honest with you,
I think I've used the wrong lube as well.
I might as well just go to the caff.
Now for another video on speed, "How to Go Fast for Free,"
how about clicking just down here.
And don't forget to like and share.