Race Across London - Bikes vs Public Transport - video Dailymotion

Cycling Weekly

What's faster across one of the busiest cities in the world - the bike or public transport? James and Rupert use pedal power to try and beat Will in a race from Herne Hill Velodrome to the Lee Valley Velodrome in Stratford.

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00:00We're here at Hearn Hill Velodrome today and we're going to ride to the Lee Valley

00:21Velodrome in London, two iconic London cycling destinations to show you the

00:26merits of riding your bike in the city. Now to take on this challenge I'm using this

00:31the beautiful Rivel Hybrid ALE, something with a little twist because it does use a little motor.

00:38And I've chosen Cannondale's Topstone Tiagra as my bike of choice here and we're going to be using

00:43Komoot to plan our route from Hearn Hill all the way to Lee Valley. Well we'd better go on with it

00:49really haven't we? Hang on. What are you doing here? There was a memo last night did you not see it?

00:56The boss said we're going to spice this video up and make a race of it. I'm going to use my two

01:01legs and you guys are going to use your two bikes and we're going to see who gets to the Velodrome

01:04first. There is a catch though. The memo clearly stated that you guys have to go via the third most

01:09iconic cycling destination in London, the Mall. Alright well that's not fair because that is so

01:14out of the way. To make this fair again you have to take three different types of public transport.

01:21Okay, alright you're on. Sounds fair. Sounds fair. Three, two, one, go. Oh he's got a headstone.

01:26Come on. Oh, he's got a headstone.

01:32Come on, we're in good time. Let's go.

01:34Come on, we're in good time.

01:41Come on, we're in good time.

01:43Come on, we're in good time.

01:47Come on, we're in good time.

02:00So we've just arrived at Hearn Hill station. Just checking the live tracking here. They're

02:22already about to cross the bridge so they're getting really close to the Mall. We've got

02:26about 10 minute wait here before we get going up to London Bridge so I think this could be a tight race.

02:37For today's challenge I've chosen to give myself the best chance of winning as possible by using

02:44an e-bike. This is Ribbles Hybrid ALE and it looks like a beautiful sleek hybrid bike but with a

02:51difference it uses an e-bike motion system that's tucked in the rear hub of the wheel. Now that gives

02:58me 250 watts of support in three different levels which means you can tune the ride to exactly how

03:05you want it to be. It comes with all of the other fittings that you would expect on a commuter bike

03:10including mudguard mounts on the front and rear, a pannier rack to carry all of your goods and wide tyres.

03:16The Ribble Hybrid ALE is going to give me that lick of speed I need to win today's race.

03:31Well James we've just crossed over Vauxhall Bridge which is just over there past the MI5

03:44building. Oh very exciting! It is! And we're about to go through Parliament Square,

03:50um beautiful but notoriously a very difficult place to cycle. Yeah however we've got this really cool

03:57blue super highway. Can't miss it can you? No, no. We've just been on CS5 which has brought us

04:04down from Hearn Hill and then we've ridden that through Vauxhall and now we're on to this one going

04:09through Parliament Square. Yep!

04:21James where are we? Well I think this is quite a famous

04:51building here on the left, Buckingham Palace.

05:01Well we're here, we're at the Mall. Main to the Mall, so the third iconic cycling

05:06landmark of London. So we've achieved our challenge, now it's just time to crack on,

05:11but what a journey we had down here. Pretty good actually, you know obviously riding in London is

05:17quite an experience anyway, lots of traffic, but the cycle highways are so good. They're just really

05:24well marked out and actually navigating was good and we saw some great sights as well. Wait a minute,

05:30what's that? Oh I've got a message from Will. Oh yeah? Yes. Where is he? Hi boys, you can see him at the tube,

05:38second mode of transport. Where are you guys at? I think I think I'm in the lead right here. Here comes

05:46my train. Oh he's on the tube. So Elephant Castle. He's quite far along. Yeah, yes. We better actually go there, haven't we?

05:53We better go.

06:08Could there be a more perfect bike to take on the streets of London than Cannondale's Topstone Tiagra?

06:19It is a gravel bike, but it's way more than just that. A gravel bike is actually perfect as a

06:24commuting weapon, purely because it's got such great versatile features. The first feature that

06:30makes it great as a commuter is the riding position. It gives you a much taller, much more commanding

06:36position when you're riding in traffic. And it's also got what Cannondale call their out front geometry,

06:42which puts the front wheel further forwards than on a normal road bike, meaning it's way more stable.

06:48Now with the road surfaces that we have around here, that is definitely a plus point. Then going hand in

06:54hand with that geometry, you've got those tyres. There's big chunky tyres on this bike that are still

07:00fast rolling, but they'll take on the potholes and all of the cracks and everything that the roads can

07:05throw at you. With the DNA of a road bike, this bike is definitely fast and nimble. And we'll make sure

07:11that today we will come out on top.

07:31Right, so we've made it to London Bridge. I've got to find another mode of transport, but I've got an idea.

07:37Come with me.

08:07Let's go.

08:20Tower Bridge! Tower Bridge! We were coming by and we just felt like we had to stop really. Yeah, it's not an iconic cycling spot,

08:27but it's an iconic spot altogether really. It is, isn't it? Oh, hang on. I've got a text!

08:34Hiya boys, hopefully you can hear me okay on the boat. I think to level the playing field,

08:39you guys should take on another challenge. You keep banging on about how good your commuter bikes

08:44are and how they're so versatile. How about you try some off-road on the way to Stratford? Let me know

08:49what you think. So we need to hit some off-road before we get to the velodrome. Some off-road? In London?

08:56Is that possible? Yes, on the canals. So East London's full of canals. I see these are at Tower Bridge.

09:03We should be able to... We're pretty close. We can cut up through

09:06Limehouse, I would have thought, and onto the Regent's Canal. Cool. Program it in, mate.

09:11Let's plot it in. We're just coming under Tower Bridge. I've got a sneaky suspicion on the live recording.

09:17They're just over there. There they are.

09:33We've just seen them go by on the boat. We better get going. Yes.

09:37Go, James!

10:07I think we should go and ask the captain if he can put his foot down.

10:21I think the captain got a message. Full, full gas. Full gas.

10:37All right. We're almost there.

11:05Right. We're almost there. So literally just there.

11:26I think he's just round the corner. He's coming round the corner. Look, there he is. So there's us.

11:33Oh yeah. And he's right there.

11:39Welcome. Easy. How did you do that? How did you do that?

11:45Uh, we have these. Bicycles, my friend. We don't have to then rely on other forms of transport to get here.

11:53We could do it all ourselves. London transport's like the best in the world.

11:56Yes. No doubt. But no transport is more efficient than the bicycle.

12:01Well, well done, gents. Well done. Well done.

12:03Fair and square. I'll give you that. It was a good challenge.

12:06It was not bad. You weren't too far behind, but it was still second place, first loser and all that, isn't it?

12:13Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, guys.

12:14Yeah. Well, sorry, Will. It was a good challenge, but here we are, iconically Valley Velodrome behind us.

12:22And that's a, that was a good challenge.

12:24It was. And I think the one thing that stands out more than anything else for myself

12:28is just how small London becomes when you're on a bike.

12:32Definitely. It's just, everything is just so close.

12:34Like all of a sudden, one minute you're like, oh, we're here.

12:37Yeah. Yeah. So good.

12:38So I've just been thinking the cost of this trip versus what you can get one of these bikes on the cycle to work scheme.

12:43It's really quite impressive. I think within, you know, say you're commuting five days a week,

12:47within six months, you could, you know, you could get your money back really.

12:50It's really impressive. Easily. Yeah.

12:52But that does end this challenge and what a challenge it has been.

12:56But if you've enjoyed it, then please do like and subscribe to the Cycling Weekly YouTube channel.

13:01And if you have any tips for riding in the city, do let us know in the comment section below.

13:06And likewise, if you're interested in the route that we took across London,

13:09we'll be putting a link to that in the description box underneath this video.

13:13But until next time, we'll see you then.

13:15I'll have to get a Boris bike.

Race Across London - Bikes vs Public Transport

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