- [Reporter] Which world records are you going for?
- [Dan] Everything. - [Charlie] All of them.
- All of them (laughs)
I'm not kidding.
(upbeat music)
- I'm here at Derby Velodrome to tell you about
what I fervently believe
to be the most exciting story in our sport right now.
(bicycles racing)
It's a real David versus Goliath story,
about a group of underdogs who've been taking on
the establishment.
(bicycle racing)
HUUB Wattbike are a small cycling team
and they're based here inside the velodrome,
and they've been competing
against the biggest national teams
and winning, despite operating on a shoestring budget.
You may have heard of them already because
they've been making lots of headlines through winning
national titles, World Cup golds, Commonwealth medals,
World Championship Golds, and breaking world records.
Their success has been incredibly exciting,
because through defying convention and tradition,
they've completely shaken up the sport by
the application of science, maths, and logic.
And this approach has been likened to Graeme Obree,
who famously took on Chris Boardman
in British cycling in the nineties.
But, let's go inside, meet the guys,
and find out how they're taking on the world,
how they're so fast and, well,
how they arguably made the People's Republic of Derbados
the number one ranked nation in track pursuiting.
(indie rock music)
- I think at first they thought we're mad.
Right, we're throwing out the way it's always been done
and trying this tactic instead.
For him to break Wiggins? Am I allowed to say?
Can I say the number? - No.
- You look at all of these other guys sittin' in there,
and it's something Jonny keeps pointing out,
but they're literally unhappy.
(rock music)
- We're World Class at having fun.
- [Reporter] The team formed off the back of friends,
Charlie Tanfield and Dan Bigham,
having a go at the National Track Championship,
deciding they'd like to form a team and have a crack
at the team pursuit the following year.
- [Dan] I had to convince this guy to join.
He was training at Loughby Uni at the time, come along,
"don't have to finish mate, don't worry,
just do a long turn on the jets".
- [Reporter] The big national teams, how've they responded
to you rocking up all these events,
like from when you first started,
and how has that changed to now,
now you've actually started to have success?
- So I think at first they thought we were mad.
- Yeah!
- Genuinely mad - Yeah at the Italy one.
- Yeah, Italy just staring at us going around it,
like world record splits in a training session,
- [Charlie] Yeah, so like you go to these World Cups,
and you have generally three track sessions before the race
so we'll get familiarization.
And we're just like, "Whatcha do in them?"
So we, completely left field, we think,
"alright, what is the best thing we can do for performance?"
So we were like, "alright, cool, we're going to do
a short, race-paced effort, perfect taper, laugh it up.
We doing the same 2K, and lo and behold,
you've got fleepin'
Garner and Viviani standing on the rails.
So you're like, "okay, cool, I'm gonna kick through it."
- [Dan] So effectively, it used to be,
yeah, questioning, looking at us like, "these guys are mad,"
but now they've gone, "actually, they're on the something."
So it's like, the iPad they all copied.
The positions they're starting to copy.
Everyone runs, like the socks
Even the Meddi method they've tried.
- Yeah!
- We've seen those on different teams.
In fact, the Aussie junior team keep trying it.
They keep crashing.
- [Charlie] Apparently they tried it, yeah yeah.
- [Dan] It takes big commitment, I think,
from any national governing body to say,
"right, we're throwing out the ways it's always been done,
and trying this tactic instead,"
because it's something you've go to commit to
for months of training,
and it's something we committed,
obviously, committed to, from the off.
And how you optimize that?
How long does each rider go?
How much of recovery do they get?
So what order do you go in?
What turn strategy?
And you've literally got to dial it down
to the half lap of how weary you are
and far you can get and still get to the line.
I guess budget is GV.
Just in "UK Sport" for named roughly 8, 9 million a year,
plus all the commercial deals, so let's say they earn
10 million quid.
Most of that goes towards the track cycling team.
That's their priority, So they're spending upwards
of 100 thousand pounds per World Cup round.
Our first season, we are on 14
plus burning through credit cards.
This year we to just over 60 K, which is awesome for us.
So we were spending roughly 7, 8 thousand
on a World Cup round, which is tight,
but it's so much better than last year.
So enter 2017, champs, and generally we one-two'd the IP,
won the Kilo, won the team pursuit,
beat the Academy, and broke the competition record.
Team pursuit:
four thousand meters,
250 meter track,
16 laps,
standing start,
fixed gear,
four guys,
three to finished across the line.
What effectively that is just an optimization,
from a mathematical perspective, of how do you get
three guys across the line as quick as you can?
How do you reduce all your losses?
How do you draft efficiently?
How can you minimize time losses---the change
is obviously a big one?
How do get the riders as powerful as you can,
and getting everything out towards the line,
which is a big question mark because not everyone
can be on the front.
If you're not on the front you can't go any harder
than the person on the front is at that time.
What else really matters?
Being really aerodynamic.
So for us, it's kind of energy in, energy out,
and you work on both separately.
So in our case, we're trying to become better riders,
so bigger aerobic power and bigger anaerobic capacity.
That's a combination of different training,
whether it's in the gym, on the track,
on the turb, on the road.
Getting that energy in as big as we can,
and then utilizing that on the energy out.
So, whether it's equipment, skin suits, position,
even down to how you ride the track
can have a huge impact on that.
- [Charlie] The Meddi Method was introduced.
The first time it was unveiled to the public.
- [Dan] So that's effectively where we, or I, drop in
at man-three, instead of man-four, from first change.
So it just keeps another rider further back in the line
for longer, bit more recovery.
So in this case, we're utilizing it for Tipper,
just to keep him further back in the line until,
I think he hit the front with, like, three lap to go
for a half-lap turn.
- [Charlie] How fast were we going? 3:50?
- [Dan] 3:57?
- [Charlie] 57.
We've got one rider that doesn't get past 2 K,
another rider that does half a lap.
That's pretty impressive. Those are some stats right there.
- [Dan] So, yeah, we got to the bronze medal final
against France, who were European champs at the time.
- [Charlie] European Champions. Yeah, shiny jersey.
- [Dan] And, we were ahead, I think, until 2 K to go,
and Charlie - So I had done my hero turn,
and we were winning, because, you know...
hero turn - Charlie did his hero turn.
- And then these guys parked it at the end.
- [Reporter] The world record for the team pursuit
stands at 3:49.804,
and was set by Australia in 2018.
HUUB Watt Bike have a PB of 3:53.8, which they set in Paris,
marking Derbados the fifth fastest nation of all time
in the discipline.
The world record in the individual pursuit stands at
4 minutes, 7 seconds, point 251.
And was recorded by Ashton Lambie at altitude
in Aguascalientes in 2018.
Altitude provides an advantage of lower air density.
The sea-level record was set by John Archibald in 2018,
and is four point o-nine-five-eight-four,
and average speed of nearly 56 kilometers and hour
from a standing start.
But why Derbados? (cow bleat)
- [Dan] It's just be a colloquial term for Derby
for years as far as I know.
So Dean, who sets HUUB five or six years ago,
was born and bred in Derby.
Everything about him is supporting local,
whether it's schools, whether it's business,
or it's athletes, local is big for him.
And it just drops into conversation a few months back,
and we're like, "to right, we're racing at all these
UCI World Cups and we just get this nondescript UCI flag,
it's like boring.
We want something to ride for and represent.
- [Reporter] Although you are British, not...
- Not representing Great Britain.
Yeah, so we don't have to have all British riders---
Ashton, obviously an American rider, is coming.
- [Charlie] We're registered as a British trade team, so
- They get our points
- They get our points and stuff.
- And qualification, which I'm sure
they're very pleased about.
(Techno Music)
- [Dan] Iconic, love that. - [Charlie] Iconic.
- [Dan] The amount of Star Wars gifts we've had.
- [Charlie in Accent] "Da helmets, they are like
legal with the UCI?"
- [Dan] The UCI didn't recognize it, they're like,
"Guys, these helmets are nearly ten years old."
Whether it's a good old spreadsheet to give to the guys,
so they can actually just analyze their own performance.
We do a lot on the physics of track cycling,
and digging into it, so we've got some pretty cool
technology and actually measuring what's happening
on the track and analyzing that so we can optimize
and give good, objective feedback on
what happens in training, what happens in aero testing,
what happens in racing, so we know
- [Reporter] And this is - All our own software
- You developed yourself? - Yeah, ourselves.
We're working with Notio Konect on the sensor array,
which is great 'cause it just adds more
variables that we can... well, it measures more variables
that we can then control and account for,
which is great for us.
Yeah, there's a lot of little things, like equipment designs
like our own extensions that we've designed.
We work with Walker Brothers on the wheel,
with God knows how many different wheel shapes
and profiles and widths, just with that.
Working with tire manufacturer at the moment
on optimizing systems developed during test rigs
for tire testing, which I guess most of the people
are barely looking at, so we can dig down
and look for those small little gains.
Mind it will be a couple watts but we'll take it.
Low hanging fruit has been pluck in many areas,
but this is the stuff we can work on.
So just for now it's having to spend more
cash on better test rigs because then we can start
to dig into the smaller and smaller stuff
with more and more confidence about what we are doing.
- [Charlie] The big thing that I don't think
any nation governed body can actually do it,
is they can't enable the riders to the same extent
that we can.
So Dan has just said some cool, nerdy stuff,
but that's great.
But for me to actually go fast I've got understand
what he's saying.
He's enabled me to improve myself, and he's given me
basic spreadsheets to, "ah, I can use this"
And I use it every day.
We just did a session, and I'm going to use the data today,
I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna spend half-an-hour
looking at my data.
I just don't think other nations are going to do that.
They are not going to enable their riders
and give the information away like that much.
- Ya got to empower the athletes.
The athlete can make their own decisions
for the right reasons, so they buy into the process.
Buy into why they are doing it.
Why they're trying to get air?
Why do they need to hold their head position?
Why do they need to do whatever it might be?
If they understand the science, the maths,
the physics behind it,
they are going to understand it,
they are going to buy into the whole process
and get the gains.
- [Charlie] It goes back to morale.
Performance isn't just simply numbers on a spreadsheet.
At the end of the day, there is a human being
on the start line.
When I'm on that start line, I know that I've done
as much work as I can aerodynamically,
preparation, technique, kit wise.
I'm happy, I know what's going to happen.
It's just executing that.
That's not something you can copy, you've gotta live that.
And that's what we do.
(Techno Music)
- What's next?
Okay, so last year won a World Cup.
We're actually kinda at the limit of what we can achieve
as a trade team, and not being a nationally governed body.
We can't go to World Champs, can't go to the Olympics
without being selected, and that's something
we're pushing on in the background and stuffs happening
and things are going in the right direction.
But, because it's not a guarantee and who knows,
and we wanted to do something a little more outrageous,
and what else can you do than break world records.
So, that's the plan.
- Altitude IP record at the moment is by a guy
called Ashton Lambie, he's the guy with the mustache,
and obviously he came and spent a bit of time with us,
and... really (laughs).
- Well, we looked at his number.
Ashton gave us his numbers from that record,
and had a good look at it.
Good ride but we know, well...
originally we thought we knew what the advantage
of going to altitude was, and what we thought we could do,
which was somewhere in the region of 4:04 to 4:07.
But it's such a big sort of barrier,
but looking at it now and where Ashton was for that,
where Ashton is after working with us,
what he has done on the individual pursuit
before at sea-level, etc.
You can kinda start drawing all the dots together
and, honestly, it could be something outrageous
like in the region of 4:01, 4:02.
I mean, on a ridiculous day, 3:59, who knows.
Well, at the moment our planning is around Mexico.
Aguascalientes, where pretty much everyone else goes.
On the right day, probably the quickest.
From modeling perspective,
you could take the slowest pacer out there.
Aster Tallow is one of the major ones who's looked at the
aerobic power drop off relative to altitude
for both unacclimatized and acclimatized athletes.
And your talking at the level of Aguascalientes
roughly ten percent drop off.
But that's so specific to each person, which is something
that we're going to form a performance center,
and take advantage of people like Jamie Pringle.
Basically, pick their brains, do all the tests we need to do
to figure out, at sea-level, what we should expect.
(speeding bicycles)
So to break the world team pursuit at seas-level
on a good day, your lap one for man one is going to be
somewhere in the region of eleven-hundred, twelve hundred
watts for 20 seconds for lap one, alone.
Then, roughly speaking, man one gotta be six hundred plus,
four-twenty to four-forty at man two,
man three and man four are somewhere in the region
of three-twenty to three-fifty,
depending how aerodynamic they are,
how well they ride the wheel.
- [Reporter] Just for the first lap?
- [Dan] No this is for
- [Charlie] Steady state riding.
- [Dan] If you're just looking at lap one,
I'd say twelve-hundred, nine hundred to a thousand,
and then around eight hundred and eight hundred
for three and four.
Then yes, steady state, depending how aero each rider is.
When you're on the front, riding at world-record splits,
you are 39, which is... what's that off the top of my head?
65 K an hour?
Yeah, it's somewhere in the region
of just over 600 watts for us.
- [Charlie] About 120 RPM.
- Man two, sitting tight on the wheel,
hopefully within literally inches,
but doing four-twenty to four-forty,
which actually feels okay on the wheel.
But that's like (frustrated seethe)
Pursuit speed at the time you're just like,
"Get out of the way, I want to get on the front."
- [Charlie] "No no no, come back, come back."
- [Dan] But three and four are actually very comfortable,
as odd as that sounds.
It's roughly speaking around CP,
depends, obviously, where the riders are.
In John's case, he's probably one of the only guys
in the world who recovers in the line.
- That's below CP.
- Which is quite nice.
Yeah, John's the clear favorite for it.
Originally we were thinking Harry,
but Katush went and stole him.
- [Charlie] I think the big one that that will help
the record is mindset, and I think Jon's got that.
He's got that ability to put himself in that box
and just stay there.
- [Dan] He does a lot of long efforts on the track.
He loves his 6 Ks and 8 Ks.
So, yeah, on paper it's doable,
but a lot of people have said that before,
gone up to altitude, and fallen flat on their face.
- [Reporter] So, hold long to you think it's going to take?
- For him to break Wiggins?
Am I allowed to say. Can I say the number?
- No.
- No, I can't say?
(Melodic Techno Music)
- [Dan] Okay. John is hugely aerobic.
Very, very aerobic.
He thinks nothing of setting up 400 watts through
laser effects all day, every day.
- [Charlie] The classic one of John is on the track,
five minutes, he'll easily knock out 500 watts.
But his peak power have barely touched 1000.
So how many people in the world can do fifty percent
of their peak power to five minutes.
- [Dan] It's a balancing act, but it's just a way
of optimizing around the fact that we have a guy
who cannot stop quick enough.
He is full gas for that first lap, lap-and-a-half,
until he's on an secure.
New Zealand World Cup he went
- Oh Worlds is going to be so exciting!
It's going to be so many teams absolutely pegging away.
- And Poland. Fast track, good conditions,
it's been cleaned and all.
(back and forth banter)
Yes, we're excited for Worlds.
- Well I found that absolutely fascinating.
And I hope that you guys did to.
Thanks so much for HUUB Wattbike team
for taking the time to share that incite with us,
and tell us their story,
despite their busy training schedules.
And, well, I'd like to wish them all the best
in their up and coming world record attempts.
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