(explosion)
- I'm here at the beautiful Sa Calobra climb
(soft music) in Majorca,
because I've set myself a challenge
to try and ride up this 9.6 kilometer,
7% average gradient climb, in under 30 minutes.
I'm about to ride down and set off
and I'm feeling pretty nervous, but before I do,
allow me to explain what's brought me here,
why I've decided to do this, how I've prepared for it
and also what I think I need to do
in order to pull this off.
Seemed like a good idea at the time.
(changes to techno music)
(changes to soft music)
I've been coming on pilgrimages to this small island
for years, and every time I come here
I try and ride up this piece of stunning road
as fast as I can.
Every year, I try and flog myself to bits
up this serpentine tarmac in the hope of riding it
in under 30 minutes.
Why?
Well, to be honest I don't really have a good reason,
I guess just as cyclists we all have a climb
that we want to be faster on, perhaps you have a target
in mind for that particular climb.
Well, this one is mine, and I've also kind of worked out
that 30 minutes or sub 30 minutes
is a really, really big challenge for me,
it might well be the physical limit of what I can do,
and if you're gonna pick a road
to try and find your physical limit,
then you can do far worse than one like this.
This beautiful, snaking, serpentine tarmac
that goes through this Balearic, Mediterranean landscape
is absolutely spectacular, and it even features
a 270 degree hairpin, it's an engineering masterpiece.
(changes to upbeat music)
Where does my target of 30 minutes stand
within the all time pantheon of Sa Calobra times?
Well, it's nowhere near the KOM.
A quick look down the official Strava segment leaderboard
and you'll find many professional cyclists,
and at the time of making this video
Sebastian Henao has the current KOM
with the ridiculous time of 24:54 which he set
at Team Sky Training Camp, but rumor has it
that the fastest time was actually set
by Bradley Wiggins in the winter before
his Tour de France victory, and he's rumored
to have done 22:30, which is ridiculously quick,
but I mean, if it's not on Strava then did it really happen?
I'll let you decide.
But my current best time is 31:06,
meaning I'm gonna have to try and shave
just over a minute off to meet my target.
I haven't just turned up to Majorca
with the hope of winging this challenge,
I've been preparing for it for just over three months
and I've been training with the help of Opie
who's been setting me sessions and intervals to do,
and helping me structure my training,
and has been monitoring my training load,
and it's been working really well,
I've been seeing good power numbers for me
and they've been increasing so I feel
like I'm in good form for the challenge.
I also contacted aerodynamics expert
and performance consultant, Xavier Disley
of AeroCoach, and he performed some course modeling
and did some maths.
Now this revealed some interesting data
which helped me choose equipment
for the challenge, but also suggested
the kind of power that I'll need to put out
in order to do it.
The base calculation suggested that I would need to produce
around 350 watts while weighing 73 kilograms
on an eight kilogram bike on a still day.
Now I've managed to lose a couple of kilograms myself
and I've also made some modifications
to my trusty blue Canyon, and managed to get the weight down
to six kilograms.
It's a seriously light machine,
I've got a single chain ring on there and everything.
I've gone full-on tech nerd on my bike,
and I'm actually gonna do another video
separate to this one to go into all the detail
about the modifications I've made to this bike,
so we'll post that, a link to it,
at the end of this video, so you can watch it
if you want to.
That considered, with the modifications
and weight loss, it's been calculated
that I need to produce around 320 to 330 watts,
now that might not sound like much to some of you,
but it's a lot for me and it will push me
to my absolute physical limit to do that.
I'm gonna have to turn myself completely inside out.
Now interestingly as well it's been calculated
that if I were to do the whole climb
out of the saddle, that would create a seven to nine watt
AeroDrag penalty, which could be the difference
between doing it or not doing it.
So I'm going to have to try and remain seated
as much as possible.
Also, pacing is gonna be absolutely key,
so fitted a power meter to the bike,
it's a power2max NG Road.
There are some lighter, single-sided,
non-drive side crank power meters out there,
but I didn't want to compromise on accuracy,
I'd rather have a slightly heavier
spider-based system that measures total power
rather than one that measures it on one side
and then doubles it and estimates it.
(birds calling) (changes to soft music)
It's the day before the challenge,
we arrived in Majorca this morning,
and I've built my bike and gone for a ride on it
to check that everything's working OK
and also just do a warmup ride and get the blood flowing
through the legs.
Physically, I'm feeling pretty good,
the numbers are there, but I'm still nervous
and the one thing I can't control is the weather,
and it's not looking great.
Tomorrow it's quite chilly, about 10 degrees,
the air pressure is pretty high
which isn't good for fast air,
and also there's a 14 mile an hour headwind,
which isn't ideal.
But it is what it is, and I'm just gonna absolutely
bury myself and try my best, whatever,
whatever the weather, and just see how I go.
(changes to dramatic music)
To save a bit more weight off my bike
I'm taking my bottle off, and my bottle cage,
because I've done a lot of sort of time trials
over this duration and I know that
I don't need to drink in a 30 minute effort,
I can drink before and I can drink after.
There you are, that'll save me some weight.
Also, right, bar tape adds loads of weight,
I don't need bar tape for a 30 minute climb, do I,
well I hope I don't, so bar tape's coming off,
I'll put it back on at the summit.
Although weight is the most important thing
on a climb like this, aero still matters,
and we also get reams of fan mail here at GCN,
mainly from one guy, actually, called Michael McDermott,
asking the same thing, why can't we see
the GCN presenters, mainly Ollie,
wearing the ASSOS skinsuit more often.
Well, who are we to disappoint the fans?
We should give them what they want
and this seems like a perfect opportunity
to break out the ASSOS skinsuit.
All right, I'm ready, enough of my yapping,
let's do this.
(changes to intense drum music)
- Right then Ollie, you ready?
Five, four, three, two, one, go!
Good luck Ollie!
- [Men] Go, go, go!
- [Ollie] I was able to pace the first part
of the climb well, I knew roughly
what I was capable of and set off out averaging
over 320 watts, I was feeling good
and I was able to remain seated
which was crucial to beating my target.
At the halfway point in the climb
after the wooded section, I was 40 seconds up
on my previous best, I felt OK
and I told myself, it's on.
- Just made it.
- (panting)
(changes to soft music)
- I certainly have emptied the tank,
but according to my timer, I was a minute off.
But, I did do a PB, so every cloud,
which there's a lot of them today,
(laughs)
yeah, I did a PBA, I did PB power,
for this like last sort of year,
so passed more than that, but I think
the conditions were against me a bit,
but I'm gonna keep trying, this isn't the end of this,
I'm gonna be back, I mean, you know, Rocky didn't win
the first film, did he?
So, I guess I don't have to, I'll come back
make another film, and I will do it,
I'm gonna keep trying, I'm gonna keep trying,
I'm getting closer, ahhh, I'm knackered.
I've just had a look at my power output
and I've averaged 325 watts for 30 minutes
which for me is, well, really good (chuckles)
and I couldn't have really done more than that.
And it was right where we sort of thought
it would have to be in terms of power output,
but it just wasn't to be on the day,
but I'm determined to come back and give it a go,
I know I've got it in me and I'm gonna keep trying.
But I hope you enjoyed this video,
if nothing else just for the sheer number of clips
we've managed to add to the unflattering pain face
clip library that the GCN editors
love wheeling out at every available
embarrassing opportunity, and if you have,
then please give it a thumbs up
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in the future.
And to watch a video on my amazing geeky bike
in all its tech glory, then click down here.