Si: Have you ever wondered whether one rider on a TT bike would actually be faster than
two riders on road bikes who are working together? Hank: Well, we've been wondering this too,
so we're going to test it. Si: Who will complete a set course faster?
One aero-optimized rider on a TT bike or two road riders? Two against one.
[music] Hank: Stop talking and start peddling. This
is life or death. The moment where we beat Si. Come on.
[background music] Hank: Get my breath back. Hit it again. It's
not far now. [music]
Hank: I think I'm going to be sick. Well done, mate.
Is: Now, unfortunately, no aero types were available for this video. I think they were
all busy calculating their pacing strategies using complex algorithms. Stepping into breach
you have, well, me. Obviously. Don't worry, I have got quite a lot of experience on time
trial bikes. I've ridden one several times, in fact. As recently as 2011. Quite frankly,
if this brand new Orbea Ordu escapes unscathed from today's video then that in itself will
be a minor victory, let alone trying to smash Hank and Connor. Because this is brand new
actually, we will be diving into the tech a little bit later as well.
[music] Hank: Right. There's a lot of pride at stake
here. If Si beats us, well, we'll never hear the end of the day. It's be bad enough, he
beat us one-on-one. If he topples both of us, mate, I can't even think about it.
Connor: I don't want to think about it, Hank. Anyway, to settle this score we have mapped
out a course that's just under 10 kilometers here in the beautiful Cotswolds. We're going
to be doing a timed effort. All-out best time wins. Si will have all the advantages of those
improved aerodynamics, whereas we, well, we'll have each other. We'll be able to share the
workload, do more intense turns on the front and then shelter behind each other and recover,
whereas Si, well, he'll be battling the course all on his own.
Hank: Two against one. Who's going to win this battle, mate? It's going to be a good
one. [laughs] Si: Thing is, Connor, who needs friends when
you have every aerodynamic device known to humanity? I have got no one to miss turns,
no one to get in the way, no one to let me down.
[music] Connor: Si has got a seriously fast bike there.
We're going to really need to work together if we're going to topple him, okay, Hank?
Hank: Okay. On that note, you got any experience in team time trials that you can share with
me? Connor: Well, seeing as you mentioned it,
I did actually come top 10 in a team time trial in Vuelta a Espana.
Hank: What? Fancy dropping that bombshell then, don't you?
Connor: Well, you did ask. Anyways, seeing as we are doing a team time trial, I thought
I'd give you some tips. Don't pull through really fast. Keep it smooth. Easy. Easy. 30-second
turns at the front, then easy come back. Keeping it smooth. Don't push through as hard as you
can. Hank: I did actually get a bit of advice.
It is actually said that the less effort and the less you suffer, the better result you
get. Smooth is fast. Connor: You can only hope for same today,
Hank, I think. Hank: Right. Enough chatting. More peddling.
Let's go. Let's do it. Connor: Warm the legs a little bit.
Hank: Here we go. Si, watch out. Connor: You did do this training I told you
to do, didn't you, for this? Hank: No.
Connor: Well, that's a good start. Si: All right, boys. Are you ready to lose?
Connor: It starts already. Come on now Come on.
Hank: Very arrogant. Si: To be fair, I genuinely don't know the
results. Personally, I'm not confident of my own abilities as a time trialist. At least,
in terms of the wind and stuff. I haven't got a clue who's going to win this.
Hank: Nor do I . I don't have a clue how much shelter you're going to get either. We're
going to give it a go. Connor: Well, I did raise this when we were
talking about our attempt. I'll cope with it, I'm sure.
Si: Who's your money on? Connor: We've got to go with ourselves, haven't
we? Hank: Yes. Come on. Look at us. Stallions.
Who's your money on? Si: Well, probably you as well if I'm honest.
I'm going to give it a good stab. Go on then, do you want to go first?
Hank: Yes, we'll go first. Connor: Yes, we'll go.
Hank: Speed dress. Connor: You brought baby oil, did you? Nice.
Going to need that. [music]
Si: Are you ready? 10 kilometers as fast as you possibly can. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Hank: This is it. Wait, James. [laughs] [music]
Connor: Hank, I need to get on. Hank: Right then.
Connor: Hank. What? This is [unintelligible 00:04:56]. [music]
Hank: Fall back. Stop talking. Get to peddling. [music]
Si: Whilst the guys are out on course, I thought I would talk you through my kit. When I say
I borrowed a load of kit, I really have borrowed a load of kit. Starting with this brand new,
Orbea Ordu TT bike. They've claimed they've reduced the drag on this bike by 11.5% compared
to the previous model. That's as a result of two-and-a-half thousand hours of calculations.
I'm hoping it's from a computer and not a team of people that really need to get out
more. Quite a bit of that reduction in drag comes from the front-end. Orbea say this new,
redesigned, integrated fork and stem knocks 2.1% off the drag. A lot of it, you'd think
as well, comes from that post mount for this extensions there.
That's super cool. It's obviously not a head tube. I guess it's technically a stem. There
is also a reduction in drag from the down tube and the built-in storage. Something for
the tri-athletes. That's 2.9% reduction in drag. Technically, that onboard storage under
the down tube is probably not UCI legal, but we haven't noticed any people in blazers knocking
around so I'm going to run it. I've also got my victory snack in there. It's a duo, so
I will share with James and Connor. They can have half each and I'll have one.
Connor: Inside 2K to go. Si: The down tube has also been redesigned,
interestingly, to optimize the bike for 25-to-28-millimeter wide tires. Meaning that you can run the fatter
tires, benefit from the low roll resistance, but then not get any aerodynamic penalty from
it. Now then, I've also got the full kit. Castrelli very kindly lent me a new speed
suit. I'm assuming they won't want it back, knowing they've lent it to me and I'm going
to do a max effort in it. Anyway, I'm prepared to relinquish it at the end of this. I've
also nicked a Giro Aerohead TT helmet from the GCN Studio. I promise I will put that
one back. [music]
Connor: [unintelligible 00:07:31] [music]
Hank: We cannot let Si beat us. The great thing about having Connor, I get some good
rest so I can go home and [unintelligible 00:07:46] Hold it there now. Dig in. This
is more important than the Vuelta a Espana. Connor: I think I'm going to be sick. Right
on, mate. Bloody. Hank: Oh God. I can feel that taste of blood.
Connor: You were on fire. I was doing 400 watts just holding your wheel.
[laughter] [music]
Connor: Okay. You ready, Si? Si: Just about. You say 55 K an hour on that
first straight? Hank: We're not going to tell you the exact
speed, but it's fast. Simon Richardson, are you ready?
Si: Yes. Hank: Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Off you
go. Come on, come on. Connor: He's going for it.
Si: I'm going to stay off the extensions for this first corner. Right. Now then, here we
go. Some of these corners are coming up pretty quick.
Hank: Solid effort. Si: Oh, man.
Connor: You all right, Si? Hank: It looks like you went quick.
Connor: He does look like he went quick. Si: Guys. Excuse my pursuiter's cough. You
got your results? Connor: We do, we do. Who's going to reveal
first? Si: You went first, so do you want to reveal
first? Hank: That's fair isn't it?
Connor: Myself and Hank completed the course in a time of 13 minutes 40 seconds.
Hank: [laughs] Oh God. No. What have you done? Connor: What have you done?
Si: 12 minutes 55 seconds. [laughter]
Si: Oh. This is my aero-dance. [cheers] [laughs] Hank: Are you kidding me? How did he go faster
than us? Connor: I genuinely didn't think he'd do that,
actually. [laughter]
Si: Wait a minute. It's time for the trophy. Conor: I was already feeling embarrassed for
him. Hank: [laughs] I genuinely thought we had
taken the bag. Si: I cannot believe that. Can we just have
a moment just to salute aerodynamics because that was not me.
Conor: To be fair, that is actually true because I was really doing some intense turns there.
I think 30 seconds, my max watts was 567 watts. I was going hard.
Hank: I got to say I wasn't holding back either. If I was a betting man, well, I wouldn't have
bet on you. Si: Well, you did bet me. You said, "I bet
you 30 quid that we win." Hank: [laughs] Looks like I'm paying for your
lunch. Oh no. Si: Let it be said though that I've not ridden
a TT bike for nine years, not properly. I cannot believe, I was nervous beforehand because
it is windy, and that is a bit twisty. I was thinking I'm properly going to struggle around
the corners here. Actually, I didn't really. It goes like it's on rails that thing.
Connor: Fair play. That is actually incredible. That's incredible because, genuinely, we went
hard as we could. I was just struggling not to throw up throughout the course. [laughs]
Si: Well, there we go. It's been settled for all time. One rider on a TT bike is faster
than two roadies doing through and off. So, why did we see those results? Well, it takes
a certain amount of power to ride at a given speed. We all know this. What that power is
depends on several factors but the most significant is wind resistance. When you ride with another
rider, you get the benefit of being able to shelter from the worst of the wind when you're
in second position. A saving of up to 30%. In practice then, you can ride harder when
in the front position because you can then recover slightly when in second position.
In Hank's case, he had to push over 400 watts when on the front and under 300 watts when
in second position. However, if you make yourself, your bike, and your clothing more aerodynamic,
you reduce your drag coefficient, and it, therefore, takes less power to ride at that
given speed. Significantly less, in fact. What we saw was that the drop in drag coefficient
from the TT bike and equipment allowed me to ride at a power that was that much lower
than on the road bikes, that it became sustainable for the duration of the effort.
In my case, just 360 watts, but yet I still went faster. Right. Can I just say, by the
way, there is one cherry on top of this amazing victory?
Hank: Is there? Si: Yes. I took a KOM down there.
Connor: Really? Si: Yes, off [unintelligible 00:13:11] .
Hank: [laughs] Connor: [claps] Brilliant.
Si: This day doesn't get any better. Shall we leave it there?
Connor: Yes. Good shout. Si: Let us know in the comments section whether
this was the result that you were expecting. Did you think that one rider on a TT bike
would be able to roll two riders on road bikes? We didn't think that was going to happen,
did we? Hank: Absolutely not. Don't forget to give
this video a big thumbs up. Connor: Thanks for watching, everyone. We're
going to go hang our heads in shame. Hank: Off we go, mate. We better go now.
Connor: Good effort there mate. Good effort. Si: I'm just going to sit here and glow gently.
[00:13:45] [END OF AUDIO]