(intense music)
- We're back out in Lanzarote on one
of our favorite climbs, Tabayesco.
Now I've lost count the amount of times I've ridden up here,
I've even raced up it too.
- Well I'm quite opposite to you, Mark,
I hardly even recognize these views
and I must say I very rarely ridden it.
- Well one thing we do have in common, Heather,
is that neither of us have run up here before.
- That is true and we have noticed quite a few trail runners
taking what looks like a short cut,
they go straight up the hill and avoid the switchback
and we thought it shouts a race.
- But not just any old race,
a runner versus cyclist.
See, we've done a bit of research here
and with 3K to go on the road,
the trail starts and it goes directly through the roads.
(upbeat music)
So, here's the route we spotted.
Tangled through the middle of the switchbacks,
there is an off-road run trail.
Although, neither of us actually know what it's like.
But one of us is going to find out.
But how, you ask, between a bike and runner
possibly be a race or at least a fair one?
Well, let us explain.
- For the bike, which is 3K up the hill,
Kamoot predicts is should take 14 minutes.
- Whereas the run route behind me
cuts straight through those roads
and brings the overall distance down to 1.4 kilometers
and predicts a time of 15 minutes to the finish point,
the same finish point at the top of the hill.
- Now we've got that route sorted,
I think all that's left to do is to decide
who runs and who cycles?
Right Mark, I'm not putting excuses out there
but I think you've got a little bit of an advantage.
I know that neither of us are familiar with the run route,
but you definitely know the bike route better than me
and I'm trying to work out which is going to give me
the best advantage, I'm not sure.
- Oh hey, look, I am going to be a gentleman here,
and let's be honest, it doesn't happen very often.
I'm happy doing either,
so why don't you go and check them both out
and then you can choose whatever one you prefer.
- Oh, that sounds like a deal to me.
- Deal.
(upbeat music)
Right, whilst Heather heads off to check out the routes,
let me run you through a few of the stats and metrics
that I've pulled up on this one.
Starting with the bike course.
So we've got a three kilometer section
that we're going to be racing over on the bike,
with 170 meters of elevation gain.
And from the start point that we're using
which is part way up Tabayesco,
we have five switchbacks to do,
with an average gradient of 6%,
finishing at the cafe at the top of the hill.
- Now earlier when I said I'm not
very familiar with this climb.
That's because I've realized I've only ever come down it,
so it looks a little bit different from this direction,
definitely feels a bit different.
The smooth tarmac and there's some nice sweeping curves,
although suddenly, 3K does seem quite a long way
when it's all up hill.
It's a tough one.
- Now for the run route, this is obviously slightly shorter,
it's 1.4 kilometers because it more or less
cuts straight through the bike course.
In fact, it actually crosses over the road on two occasions.
But with it being shorter, it's obviously steeper
with an average gradient around 11 to 12%.
Now it is clearly off-road, how off-road?
I don't actually know at the moment.
But then with 300 meters to go,
we join onto the same road that the cyclists will be on
and it's a sprint to the finish line.
- This looks like the run route.
Well I think, from what I can work out,
this looks like the run route.
So as you can see, pretty rock underfoot
and of course, it's rather steep.
But it's hard to tell at this stage just how steep
and whether my legs are better suited
to go up a short hill and running
or if kind of smooth but much further road?
I do like off-road,
although I'm not sure you're going to get a rhythm on this one.
(upbeat music)
- Having checked out both routes to the top,
which is more than I had done,
Heather returned to tell me her decision.
Alright, here she comes.
Let's see what the verdict is.
Alright, how was it?
What's the final verdict?
- Oh, I'm still trying to make that decision
'cause there's just quite a lot to take into account.
Like genuinely, if it was earlier in the year,
then I would 100% go for the run
'cause I was really running fit
and the trail looked quite nice,
I think you'll enjoy it if you end up doing the run
but then the bike,
'cause I've only just finish on the descent,
and it's like smooth tarmac, lovely sweeping corners,
not sure I'm going to feel the same on the way up.
Yeah, I'm genuinely torn
and I kind of want to do both myself
but I think I'm going to stick with the bike
as I've got my bike out here,
I don't get to ride it very often
and I've never actually ridden up this hill properly.
Yeah, okay, I'm going to go with the bike.
- I'm happy with that. - Is that okay with you?
- I'm happy with that.
Yeah, I best go and get changed then.
- Yeah, okay.
- Well then, that was that decided.
Time to lace up and get racing.
In three, two, one, go.
(intense techno music)
- Oh, that headwind.
(heavy breathing)
So that is half a kilometer
and my legs
already,
I think I might have gone a little bit harder
than I should have done at the start.
Just trying to hang on now
for another 2.5K.
(intense techno music)
- [Mark] I just made it past the first milestone,
the first crossover of the run
and thankfully, Heather wasn't in sight.
(heavy breathing)
- 'Cause I might get him
coming to the first crossing point
which is (heavy breathing).
- [Cameraman] Mark's above.
- Unless he's crossed it? - He has.
- He has, oh bugger, excuse my language.
Okay, no more talking.
- Heather was currently struggling up this part here,
while I was quite a way ahead.
But while Heather continued on well paved smooth roads,
my route was getting more and more rocky
and more and more vertical.
(upbeat rock music)
♪ No time to worry ♪
♪ About the past ♪
♪ Await the future ♪
♪ To come at last ♪
♪ Heya ♪
♪ We reach our hands up to the sky ♪
♪ Heya ♪
(heavy breathing)
- Where is he?
(cameraman speaking faintly)
Oh my goodness.
He's all the way up there.
Geeze.
He's absolutely mad.
Miles, he's on the road?
(upbeat country music)
- It's pretty sketchy now.
On my hands and knees almost.
Heather's going to be catching for sure.
(heavy breathing)
- Come on guys, I need shelter.
Where is he?
How many is that, number four?
Two more.
(heavy breathing)
Now, I did spot Mark earlier,
but I can't see him now, I can see the trail
and there's no sign of Mark.
So I don't know what that means
but I can't waste any more oxygen right now.
(upbeat country music)
(wind blowing)
- Agh, damn headwind.
It's killing me.
- How close is she?
Ah man, it's turning.
Last 100 meters.
(dramatic music)
(heavy breathing)
- You know what?
I think I can see Mark.
I'm going to keep going in case I'm wrong.
But I think I see him.
Already chilling.
- Oh man.
(heavy breathing)
She's not far behind either.
That was really hard (beep).
(heavy breathing)
Here she comes.
(heavy breathing)
Well done.
How was that?
(laughing)
All I can say is I'm thankful
I packed my trail shoes. - I'm glad he can talk.
- Anyway, that was hard. - Did you just get
a lift up there?
I saw you once.
- I thought you were going to catch me actually
'cause I got a lot on the first part
'cause it was just straight.
- Well I chatting to the camera
and I was like, oh I think I've beaten Mark,
I can't see him.
'Cause he had gone so far.
- On that bit where the little switchbacks for myself,
you sort of caught me quite quickly there.
- No, I couldn't see you then
'cause I was just like head down
and then, I mean, still only took 10 minutes
and in my head, I was like 14 minutes.
But yeah, well done.
- Yeah, well done.
Right, we are thankfully back at the apartment chilling out.
Now that was a tough afternoon, or morning actually,
I should say.
It feels like a long day.
But yeah, I'm not sure we were expecting the result
that actually came out of that.
- No, I mean you did have a very convincing win
and so much so that I obviously thought
I was ahead of you at one point
and little did I realize until coming around that final bend
and yeah, my heart sank.
I was like, I'll still work 'til the end
and I can definitely feel it in the legs today.
- I'll be honest, I honestly didn't think
I was going to win that
and there were points where yes, I realized I got lead
quite early on,
but as it went quite technical,
I just thought you were going to claw it back so quickly,
so I had to keep pushing, keep pushing,
right up to the line.
That was tough.
It was an amazing trail but that was hard work.
- Yeah, I think in hindsight which should have been
a race to the top and back again.
- That would have been cool actually.
- I might have won then (laughs).
- That would have been fun.
Yeah, I don't back myself on that one.
- And also, we were kind of thinking
maybe we could swap round.
So many different options
but I think that leaves it quite open
and more ideas for other challenges.
So if you guys can think of any challenges
you want to see all three of us do, Fraser included,
do let us know in the comment section below.
- Yeah, that was absolutely amazing, great fun to do today.
Don't forget to subscribe to channel
if you don't do so already
and like this video.
And if you'd like to see one of our other challenges,
actually here on the island,
we did the Lanzarote Ironman challenge,
which wasn't quite so successful but quite funny to watch,
you can see that by clicking just down here.
- Yeah and if you want to see a video
when I actually took on GCN Espanol,
it was myself against Maya.
You can see that challenge just down here.