Conor: It's that age-old question which pretty much every cyclist has asked themselves on
a cold day, "What am I going to wear on today's ride?"
Hank: I do remember actually, it's that question that was asked amongst teammates every single
time, "What are you wearing?" Conor: Anyway, I think we're going to try
and put this question to bed today. We're going to try and find out if you'll perform
better if you wear too many clothes or too little.
Hank: I'd rather not be wearing this, but all in the name of science.
Conor: Now, to try and answer this question, we've planned out a 5.6-kilometer course here
in the Wye valley on a wintry afternoon in Southern Wales.
Hank: We're going to head out on the course at first in neutral clothing, clothing we
would choose to wear in what is one-degree temperature. We're going to put down our initial
times. Conor: Then we're going to repeat the effort,
except Hank, he's going to be wearing shorts and a jersey. He's going to be totally underdressed
whereas I on the other hand, I'm wearing every single item of clothing that I own.
Hank: I've drawn the short straw here. Conor: I'm going to be totally [unintelligible
00:01:11]. Hank: We're going to put two runs down and
we're going to find out the results. What are the effects and what is going to affect
us most in the cold? Being underdressed or being overdressed? Oh, no. Here we go. My
first run in adequate clothing. I guess I should count myself in. Five, four, three,
two, one. Start, clip in and we're off. Build up speed.
Conor: Whilst Hank sets off on course, I thought I'd explain to you why we are doing this in
the first place. It's long been a source of debate among cyclists, what you should wear
on the bike. I remember when I first started if you didn't
wear a base layer when you're out riding, people would look at you in amazement wondering
what on earth you were doing. Some nations are even famous for wearing more clothes than
others when they're out riding. I remember being on the start line of races in Northern
Europe in quite mild conditions, seeing riders from Italy or France or Spain wearing absolute
crazy amounts of clothes and I used to wonder, "They must be so hot. How could they even
peddle in so many clothes?" Today we're going to try and figure out if
those riders were right after all, or are we better in a controlled effort in cold temperatures
to strip down to the bare necessities? [music]
Hank: Come on. As time trials go, I wasn't too bad. I am definitely sufficiently dressed.
My hand is still cold, which worries me for the next effort.
Conor: Hank finishes his effort in a time of 8 minutes 25 seconds, setting his benchmark
time which we'll compare later. Now it's my turn to put down a marker in my sensible clothing
choice. Long sleeve jersey, ghillie, legwarmers. I'm trying to see what time I can do. Let's
go. Three, two, one. Hank: As Conor is out on course, I'm going
to be honest, I'm pretty nervous about this one. I'm bringing it down to my shorts and
jersey. The temperature now is one-degree Celsius, that's 33 Fahrenheit. Then if you
think about the wind chill that I'll be experiencing, we're looking at -7, that's just 12 Fahrenheit.
I'm going to be absolutely freezing. Then, of course, for science, someone's got to do
it. I might even surprise myself. Here it goes.
Conor: I can feel the cold a bit. It's a freezing day but I'm good. I think I'm just where I
need to be really. 4.2 kilometers here, 06:15. Average heart rate around 1.5. All done. Managed
08:07, eight minutes, seven. It's a tough effort. I felt good that I was able to breathe
well. Temperature is about where it should be, didn't feel too hot or too cold. I was
able to tuck in, get out of the wind a bit, keep my speed high. It's important on such
short effort as well. Now it's time to see how my time could compare anyway when I wear
way too many clothes. I finish my first effort in a time of eight minutes, seven seconds.
That is 08:25 for Hank and 08:07 for myself. How will we fare in our next effort, stripped
to the minimum and wrapped up to the extreme? It's time to get changed.
I've got two really warm winter base layers. I only got a jersey, a short-sleeve jersey.
I've just put my long-sleeve jersey on. Now, I've got a few tricks, so I'm getting warmer.
I've got three snoods on as well as a winter hat underneath. I'm basically trying to cover
every single part of my skin. There it is. I'm going to put a bit of a homemade sweat
bag on as well. This is called a bin liner. I'm just going to add another layer of insulation
to really get the sweat going. Four snoods. I am on the top of the [unintelligible 00:06:12]
A cotton cap to finish off the wardrobe if I can fit it on. I don't think it will fit
at all actually. I will leave the cotton cap. Then the rain jacket over the top.
Now, there is a bit of science around our experiment today. The ideal body temperature
is 37 degrees Celsius. Our body has methods for maintaining this. We sweat when we get
too hot and we shiver when we are too cold, for example. These processes use up energy.
When we are hot, the heart has to work harder to get blood to the skin in order to cool
us down. When we are too cold, our muscles have to use up precious energy to contract
in order for us to shiver and warm us up. Hank: I've sufficiently undressed. No undervest.
I'm absolutely freezing. My heart rate shot up to 100 all in the name of science. I'm
not going to stop here chatting. I'm going to get going. Five, four, three, two, one,
set off, green light. Let's go. Oh, my gosh. That wind is hitting me. Oh, my gosh. [screams]
Conor: Now, obviously, Hank's body is going to be working harder to keep him warm in his
minimal clothing, but once he gets to an ideal optimal temperature, his body will be working
more efficiently. Hank: [screams] I can't focus on the pain.
The cold has just taken my breath away. Nowhere near the power I had before. My body's just
trying to go in shutdown mode and look after the vital organs. It's not wanting to put
out power. That's for sure. This is next-level cold.
[music] Oh, my gosh. I don't have the energy to shiver.
I'm absolutely bolting. I need to change gear now. Heart rate, 180. I'm going as deep as
I can. I'm absolutely frozen. I'm frozen to the bone. I can't feel my hands. All up here
is cold and it's going to my lungs. I definitely wouldn't advise doing this. Now, I need to
get a coat on. Oh, thanks, mate. I just couldn't get the power out. I was so short of breath.
As you can see, even now, I just couldn't access the proper power. Conor will start
off all cozy and warm, his body ready for an effort. His body is also going to be working
hard if he overheats in all his clothes. [music]
Conor: I'd never wear this on a normal ride or in a race, but in the interest of science,
it's going to be an interesting experiment. I already feel myself sweating. It's quite
hard to breathe as well with so many neck scarves on. I actually feel really restricted.
Hard to breathe. Definitely feel like I'm working harder. Waves of sweating.
I've absolutely sweated up a storm under all these clothes. It's actually a lot harder
again than I thought it would be. I thought I'd be doing a comparable time, a comparable
speed. I felt so restricted with all the layers on. I felt like it was harder to really go
deep. I could probably push on, but to really go hard, I just felt too restricted in my
breathing. I probably have to go back and toss up the times a bit and see how the differences
compare and cool down a bit as well. Hank: Which clothing choice though will make
the biggest difference to our performance? It's time to find out. Before we hit you with
the results, we thought we would give you some top tips. Didn't we, Conor?
Conor: Yes. Obviously, we have worn slightly ridiculous outfits for our ride today. We
wouldn't normally wear this. If you are going for a ride any other day and then you think
about what to wear, what's best to wear, what I would say is really try to make the most
of those different layers, things like arm warmers, leg warmers, those accessories which
really make a difference in how you feel and how comfortable you are on the bike really.
You do start that ride a little bit too warm, then it's not a bad thing because when you
have those layers on, you can always take them off and adjust your temperature. That's
my advice I'd give to anyone deciding what to wear on a ride.
Hank: What I would say is best thing to do is feel a bit cold before you start, and after
five minutes of riding, you should be at perfect temperature.
Conor: Aberdeen University research has actually found that the ideal temperature for endurance
exercise is 10 degrees. A bit warmer than today.
Hank: Yes. The wind chill was hitting about -8, so a little bit warmer. The results are
really interesting. I did my first run with a time of 8 minutes and 25 seconds with a
norm power of 335 watts which I don't think was too bad. Then I got undressed and I went
out in just shorts and a jersey. I added 20 seconds to my time and I loss 30 watts to
my norm power which is a 4% increase. Yes, it was as hard as it felt. I did go slower.
How did you go on? Conor: That's really interesting, Hank. I
actually did 08:07 for my first run. Hank: For your first run?
Conor: Yes. Then once I had fully dressed up in all my clothes and managed to bake myself,
I actually was a fair bit slower than you. Hank: Really?
Conor: I was 50 seconds slower. My power dropped at about 30 watts from 420 down to about 390.
Quite surprising, isn't it? That's a 10% difference. Hank: Interesting results though, isn't it?
Conor: It is really interesting. I thought for sure that I was going to beat you. I thought
you'd be miles down on me. Serves up some interesting kit choices for any cyclist out
there. Obviously, don't go as extreme as us, but if you are looking to decide what to wear
on a cold day's ride, then I'd say it's best to start a bit warm, layer up, and then strip
off when you do start getting too hot. Hank: For sure. Enough talking because mate,
I'm still freezing. My skin is starting to turn blue, so I'm going to go and get changed.
Is that okay? Right. See you, mate. Conor: Get a warm shower, Hank. He's looking
pretty cold, isn't he? He's looking a bit blue. Anyway, if you did enjoy this video,
don't forget to give us a big thumbs up and let us know in the comment section below,
how you do like to keep warm on a bike? What's your strategy for deciding what to wear when
you leave on your bicycle? Do you ever get as cold as Hank? [chuckles] Thanks for watching,
everyone. See you soon. [00:13:58] [END OF AUDIO]