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 in South London to the Lee Valley Velodrome in Stratford in East London.
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. Come on. Come on. We've got time. Let's go.
01:38Let's go.
01:43Uhntil you.
01:46Let's go.
01:58so we've just arrived at hern hill station just checking the live tracking here they're already
02:23about to cross the bridge so they're getting really close to the mall we've got about 10
02:26minute 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 a l e 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 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
03:16tires the ribble hybrid a l e is going to give me that liquor speed i need to win today's race
03:31journey well james we've just crossed over voxel bridge which is just over there past the mi5
03:44building oh very exciting it is and uh we're about to go through parliament square um beautiful but
03:52notoriously a very difficult place to cycle yeah however we've got this really cool blue super highway
03:59can't miss it can you no we've just been on cs5 which has brought us down from herne hill yes and
04:06then we've ridden that through voxel and now we're on to this one going through parliament square yep
04:29james where are we well i think this is quite a famous building here on the left uh buckingham palace
04:59well we're here we're at the mall main to the mall so the third iconic cycling landmark of
05:08london so we've achieved our challenge yeah now it's just time to crack on but what a journey we
05:12had down here pretty good actually you know i obviously riding in london is quite an experience
05:18anyway lots of traffic but the cycle highways are so good they're just really well marked out and
05:26actually navigating was good and we saw some great sights as well wait a minute what's that
05:33i've got a message from will oh yeah yes where is he hi boys you can see him at the tube
05:39um second mode of transport where are you guys at i think i think i'm in the lead right here
05:45he comes to my train oh he's on the tube so elephant castle he's quite far along
05:51yeah we better actually go there we better go
06:14could 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
06:53hand in hand with that geometry you've got those tires there's big chunky tires on this bike they're
06:59still fast rolling but they'll take on the potholes and all of the cracks and everything that the roads
07:05can throw at you with the dna of a road bike this bike is definitely fast and nimble and we'll make
07:11sure that 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
08:07that's our bridge our bridge we were coming by and we just felt like we had to stop really yeah
08:25it's not an iconic cycling spot but it's an iconic spot altogether it is isn't it oh hang on
08:30i think i've got a text hi boys hopefully you can hear me okay on the boat i think to level the
08:38playing field you guys should take on another challenge you keep banging on about how good
08:43your commuter bikes are and how they're so versatile how about you try some off-road on the way to
08:48stratford let me know what you think so we need to hit some off-road before we get to the velodrome
08:54some off-road in london is that possible yes on the canals so east london's full of canals i see
09:02these are at tower bridge we should be pretty close we can cut up through limehouse i would have thought
09:08and onto the regents canal cool program it in mate let's plot it in we're just coming under tower bridge
09:15i've got a sneaky suspicion on the live recording they're just over there there they are
09:24there they are oh look that's so funny we've just seen them go by on the boat we better get going
09:36yes
09:44go james
10:06I think we should go and ask the captain if he can put his foot down.
10:20I think the captain got a message.
10:23Full gas, full gas.
10:36All right, we're almost there.
11:05So literally just there.
11:25I think he's just round the corner.
11:28He's here by.
11:29He's coming round the corner.
11:30Look, there he is.
11:31So there's us.
11:32Oh yeah.
11:33And he's right there.
11:35Welcome.
11:41Easy.
11:42How did you do that?
11:43How did you do that?
11:44We have these.
11:46Bicycles, my friend.
11:47We don't have to then rely on other forms of transport to get here.
11:52We could do it all ourselves.
11:53London transport's like the best in the world.
11:56Yes.
11:57No doubt.
11:58But no transport is more efficient than the bicycle.
12:00Well, well done gents.
12:02Well done.
12:03Fair and square.
12:04I'll give you that.
12:05It was a good challenge.
12:06It was not bad.
12:07You weren't too far behind.
12:08But it was still second place, first loser and all that, isn't it?
12:12Yeah.
12:13Thanks guys.
12:14Well, sorry, Will.
12:15It was a good challenge.
12:17But here we are.
12:18Iconic Lee Valley Velodrome behind us.
12:21And that was a good challenge.
12:23It was.
12:24And I think the one thing that stands out more than anything else for myself is just how small London becomes when you're on a bike.
12:31Definitely.
12:32It was just, everything is just so close.
12:33Like all of a sudden, one minute you're like, oh, we're here.
12:36Yeah.
12:37So 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.
12:44I think within, you know, say you're commuting five days a week, within six months, you could, you know, you could get your money back, really.
12:50It's really impressive.
12:51Easily.
12:52Yeah.
12:53But 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.
13:00And if you have any tips for riding in the city, do let us know in the comments section below.
13:05And likewise, if you're interested in the route that we took across London, we'll be putting a link to that in the description box underneath this video.
