Cycling's speed secrets
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- čas přidán 17. 12. 2018
- In Olympic cycling the smallest of tweaks to the bike and the rider's position can make the difference between glory and failure. Discover how marginal gains have helped Great Britain's track cyclists repeatedly top the medal table. Film supported by @DXCTechnology
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Sponsored by DXC Technology.
Few sports test the limits of professional athletes like cycling but it's not just human endurance on the track that delivers the winning formula. It's human ingenuity off it. In elite sport, the difference between success and failure is often the finest of margins.
This is base camp for one of the most successful teams in global sport - Great Britain's track cyclists have topped the medals tables at the past three Olympic Games. And it's a team that keeps churning out winners.
In a sport where races are decided by as little as one thousandth of a second, Emily and her teammates are obsessed with one thing - marginal gains. And one of the best places to find those tiny margins is on the bike. The teams key man for this is an aerodynamics expert and ex-Formula one motor racing engineer.
Cambridge University professor of engineering, Tony Purnell, designed the world-renowned T5GB bike with manufacturer Cervélo. By dramatically reducing air resistance it helped the British team enjoy its most successful Olympics ever.
All-important milliseconds were shaved off performance times by making the tiniest of design changes - even down to the chain.
It's not just the bike where aerodynamic perfection is relentlessly pursued - it's also the person on it. The precise position of the rider can make all the difference. In 1996 Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman broke the one-hour world record. By pioneering his legendary Superman position. Today this legacy lives on at the state-of-the-art Boardman Performance Center in Evesham England. Today Jamie is helping professional cyclist Dan Bigham decipher his optimum body posture for an upcoming Team Pursuit race in the wind tunnel. Dan is battling winds of over 60 kilometres per hour to simulate the drag conditions he'll face on the track. His performance and ultimately success could depend on a series of almost imperceptible tweaks to his position on the bike. By moving his hand slightly forward and adjusting the gap between them by just millimeters Dan speeds up by nearly half a second per kilometer.
Come race day, subtle changes like this could add up to a big advantage for Dan's team.
Cycling's reputation has been damaged by doping but its pursuit of legitimate marginal gains still sets the pace for many other disciplines. Britain's world-beating cyclists face ever more intense competition from rivals who are quickly learning how to innovate. The pursuit of marginal gains is about to get even more marginal
In elite sport the difference between winning and losing often hangs on the smallest of margins. As coaches, teams and athletes press ever harder in pursuit of victory, this series reveals the latest innovative approaches they hope will keep them ahead. From data to design, science to psychology, discover what it takes to find the winning edge.
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This piece could’ve been a lot better. Not a whole lot of information was given, like how did they make the chain more efficient? Or how did moving his hands a few inches change his aerodynamics?
Good production, no substance. Expected more from The Economist.
a) don't really expect much from the Economist
b) I highly doubt that the British team want to freely give away their tactics and approach by allowing someone to delve into specifics.
Agree, very shallow coverage
I wouldn't expect highly technical information thru this medium. Most people would find the details overwhelming and uninteresting.
You're pretty much gonna have to read to gain detailed knowledge about aerodynamics and drive-train loss. Or take that professors class at Cambridge.
Perhaps the interviews where interesting, it points you to where we’re making improvements to a very basic technology that’s been around for well over 100 years.
You all really expected a 5 min CZcams video to discuss flow dynamics, pressure differential and all that? Get real
It isn't "The Physician" or "The Biologist"...
2:55 Graeme Obree invented the Superman position, not Chris Boardman. He used it in the individual pursuit at the 1995 world championships, after the UCI banned his previous tuck position. Boardman did not use the position until his hour record attempt in 1996.
Also Graham Obree's tuck position years after was studied in a wind tunnel and the findings were that it was the fastest position of them all on the track by a long way, the super man position was found to be only slightly faster than the normal tt bars currently allowed by the UCI, who banned both the truck and superman positions. Graham Obree came up with the fastest position in his mate's small bike shop workshop without a wind tunnel or a formula one professor lol. He himself got the hour record without the massive backing Boardman had, I think at the time he was actually on the dole and used his own training methods on the country roads of Scotland, he was the true hero. His old faithful bike crank bearing was lifted from a washing machine and the frame he welded up himself - class.
@@stevezodiac491 fascinating! News to me, so thankyou gor posting
J Dietrich there were a few other factually incorrect statements too.
@@stevezodiac491 So true, and the bike can be viewed today in the National Museum of Scotland - bit.ly/2SfQsAZ. Obree is a living legend to all cyclists, his story is by turns heartbreaking, triumphant and heartbreaking again. What he achieved, the odds he fought against is amazing, the only other person in my eyes who has achieved similar feats was Nicole Cooke - and its telling that Graeme Obree wrote the forward to Cooke's autobiography 'Breakaway'. Obree's autobiography is a must read also.
Coincidence that The Economist, with London offices, credits Brittish cyclist Chris Boardman for the superman position? Graeme Obree was a genius and one of the last great stories of a self made athletic hero.
as mentioned before... it was Obree who created the superman position, which was banned for a time.
The professor said that reducing the friction within the chain would make the athlete that much more powerful. I think he means that it would make them that much more efficient, therefore faster.
Biking is so much fun. In NY i could bike all day and had so much endurance i go run for 1:30 min on the treadmill because of biking. Biking will always have a special place in my heart
I just lost my 2km Strava KOM (from July 2018 riding on Bullet 50s) by 6 seconds to a man who did it in 2 minutes 10 seconds. On the same day that I lost it, I rode on Zondas (35mm) at 2 minutes 18 seconds, while my perceived effort was less on the Zondas I wasn't much slower. So, I wonder if the Zondas actually perform better with a tailwind than the Bullets.
Just fun to think about, since I love this kind of tech talk.
I have a pair of Zonda and indeed they are not slow to non-aero wheels. Consider the tires are just as important as the wheels. I use Continental GP5000 25mm.
Cervelo and Argon 18 both started in Montreal...
Obree developed the Superman position. He also developed the "Egg" position before it.
Caretfr
And the coolest one too: praying mantis
When your players are fussing over gains due to a slight difference in the place they put their hands, that's when you as a game designer know that you should incorporate more randomness in your game to make such trivialities become irrelevant noise.
Simply AMEZING
This is just an ad, not journalism.
Joe Hopfield yeah it was quite pathetic
😂😂😂
Let’s not forget the biggest factor: the boon of asthma
This biggest miracles happen in a cycling history is when a smallest cyclist ever Azizulhasni Awang won a Keirin World Cup. 👍👍👍
Not surprising, a smaller cyclist would weigh less and can travel faster for that reason.
@@DancingDeity a Keirin race is done on a velodrome where your power to weight ratio is much less relevant, as you're not going uphill. While a smaller rider would still benefit from being more aerodynamically efficient, this type of race is usually won by bigger, sprinter type riders, which is why it's a "miracle" that a smaller guy managed to win.
Epic race.
great .......
I am interested in that chain what is the design details that made it better?
There is nothing out there about this.
This bike is so cool I want this bike.
When you realize that a Colombian rider is appeared winning a race in the end of the video.. 😭👏🏼👏🏼 is beautiful ❤️ Colombia tierra querida himno de fe y alegría
*CHERVELO?!?* Makes it sound like Chernobyl... It's more like 'Sir Velo'.
Like every sport is challenging in many ways
Boardman pioneered the superman position? I thought Graeme Obree did that.
It was Graeme Obree
James Clear in his book ''Atomic Habits'' talks about this very phenomenon of Marginal Gains.
yes he also added the story of Britan's gold medals in cycling due to marginal gains
Cycling tests the limits of their Credit Card
Just a correction. Boardman didn't pioneer the superman position.
now moving to the banned Recumbents and Velomobile,
Feature road cyclists Tour de france and TT cyclist. Facing all headwinds and different terrain.
Cycling = proper sport 😉
👋hey
I never understand how the british manage to win at cycling but now I know. It's the bike.
Next Velomobiles
Thank you guys, for make all carbon fiber bikes expensive like everyone were sponsored
Economist - lack of journalism research there. It was Obree that pioneered the Superman position after Obree used it to break the world record. It was then subsequently banned by the UCi.
Could’ve also shown Obree’s extreme tucked position, which even today remains potentially one of the most aero positions.
"Cycling's reputation has been damaged by doping"
That's like denying that there was no one before and after Lance Armstrong who doped.
Voice in video: "But it's not just human endurance on the track that delivers the winning formula, it's human ingenuity off it."
UCI: "Now you can have saddle angle tilt by nine degrees maximum".
What about EPO???
Sports isn't a novel frame of reference for businesses, but how well do CEOs et al analyze the minute details of their people's performance, in order to carve out marginal gains against their competitors?
Que video top em
Chervelo lol. Someone did their research! 1:41
Haha, I thought something was wrong when she said that.
Chervelo?
Errrrr Graeme Obree please!!!!
As a cyclist did"nt get anything from this video
Same here. It's clearly intended for the mainstream public.
I thought the Superman position was invented by Greame Obree
Superman position is not a myth. Edmonda has done windtunnel testing
Graeme Obree pioneered the "superman" position, not Chris Boardman.
Obree invented superman position
「もっと多くの人が必要なので、このビデオをもっと
Thanks! Trek Madone is the fastest bike in the world
"GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE WORLD'S FINEST"
Von Stroheim
Same vibes
In the end the one that invested more money has the edge, doping with in the limits.
Here after watching Yowamushi Pedal
I think any hyper kid who just ate a bunch of candy and got on that bike would go like 100 mph lol
"damaged by doping" Shows only images of Lance Armstrong.
Lmaooo!!!😂😂😂
Yep, In a sport where most of the top contenders have failed a drug test, let’s just show the pic of the one guy that did it too without ever getting caught..somehow that makes the officials hate him lol
that something; major drag is from the rider
Bit biased towards GB Cycling and not really looking at the whole scene. I would be more interested in a piece on HUUB Wattbike team which is currently breaking WR's, winning championships all on a budget 10 times smaller than GB Cycling. Maybe look at the innovators not the status quo.
What size for someone 5’7”
54" i think
lol at "chervelo", say that in quebec haha
Haha made me chuckle
I came here to comment on that :-)
So it becomes more of a money thing?
Boardman didnt start the superman position.
Yea Graham Obree created the Superman position! Not the other guy
can anyone say to me what is the ratio of the the fastest bike?
28t with a 12t maybe
This is similar to Formula 1 without the engine though
Technically the rider is the engine
Doom Slayer also without downforce since if they focused on downforce for the corners there would be too much drag for the rider to work with.
@@theacrobat4123 you wouldn't need downforce on a bicycle
Aren't belt drive chains better?
3:20 there you go for the average rider spending and spending on their bikes
Its a shame you only showed Lance when you talked about doping knowing that sport has been dirty for years🤫. We all know it wasnt just him
Track cycling is a very small sport where money is everything . Oh that and drugs .
It would be even much smaller if it wasn't in the Olympics
Britain has realised that money spent on track cycling wins Olympic medals in a way that the same money would not do so in other sports . Low hanging fruit is the expression .
Just think how USA would dominate if they had a ' British ' attitude to Olympic medals . USA dominates in track and swimming which a lot of people actually do . Track cycling hardly exists anywhere . It was actually a much bigger sport just about everywhere 50/100 years ago . Mountain biking and BMX have taken over while road cycling has always been around
Britain has an attitude to sport based solely on medal counting . Just like East Germany and Qatar
Would you like some salt and vinegar to go with that massive chip on your shoulder?
Get everyone on the same bike then its fair game.
What...? Didnt the T5GB cracked and failed and they all changed back to T4?
Yes and no. The frame's carbon layup was too brittle for the sprinters but it was still good enough for the pursuit riders to use.
I couldn't even turn over a gear ratio like that once
They sometimes power their own house by spinning.
aero dynamic😂 Marketing snakeoil Sorcery
Oh 🤔 that's why now bike's comes for like this type sitting!!! 😳
That bit with Armstrong wasn’t even necessary in this video
I'll just stick with my mountain bike
Same here
Eric cheung
Do it for mtb!!!!
Should the Olympics not be purely about the physical ability/skill of the athlete as apposed to who simply has the better equipment on the day?
Ultan O'Brien...Agreed.Seems all cyclists should use same bike, at least.
Would you say the same thing about Formula 1?
@@DancingDeity no, because with something like F1 or even horse racing obviously the rider/driver is important but the sport is based around the pedigree or engineering respectively and always has been that way. With the Olympics the basis of each event has always in the past been about what can be achieved with the human physique in all events, this is very evident when they banned the ZLR Racer swimsuit etc from swimming comps as it was deemed to be too much of an advantage, evidently this shows they do value more what athletes can do "naturally" without excessive benefit from their equipment.
imagine what would happen if they allowed things like recumbent position. youd be making seconds difference, 10s of kph difference. hundreds of watts of energy difference.
its silly when people come up with a better way every one else either jumps on it or fights it to make sure they dpnt have to go against it
Battle Mountain USA IHPVA rules-enclosed streamlined recumbent bicycle reached 90 miles per hour with out any kind of assistance.Higher speeds possible with athletes with higher watts per kilo ratings.
@@edwardnowill4408 watts per CdA is what really matters
Boardman's Lotus bike is now illegal. UCI is silly.
Yeah... It is pretty silly on some of the regulations (like for road cycling, my cheap alloy bike could probably hit the minimum weight limits, which were set back when I was born...). With carbon fiber being 50-100x stronger than steel per weight (when used correctly, obviously only works in tension), then it makes sense to lessen these restrictions from back when CF was experimental before the massive amount of data and fabrication method was known like it is today. When you have to add weight to a stock production consumer bicycle, you have to question if its really for safety... Last I checked, lead weights don't make a bicycle safe!
Although, a velomobile would totally blast past these guys/girls, I'm pretty sure with my puny legs I can make a composite airframe even around a normal bicycle and out-race them! So it makes sense to categorize them for racing levels (just like any race, you've got stock class, modified, methanol, NA vs turbo/supercharge, pro series etc), but they don't need some of these silly rules (have a class with disk wheels and another without if you wanted, its not rocket science - one of my favorite expressions since I'm an aerospace engineer).
Also, at what point will we see riders with vortex inducers or laminar flow trip line separators glued to the clothing? I'm sure that's banned too, but since most of the drag is the rider (as seen by those stupid looking turtle helmets, LOL!), it makes sense for the clothing to finally get out of the stone age... If you're allowed the ugly turtle helmet apparel, I don't see why aero shoes are not a thing either... I think they are chasing gains in the wrong places!
She sounds like the lady in F1.
The secret is in the legs.
Do not forget the juice!!!!!???
I hate that sports focuses on the best of the very best. Sports isn't about some phony medals on most prestigious games in the world. Its about what you and regular people do.
True.
PRO tip : use Superman move
Add a chain guard. 1mph increase. Do I get a job?
I know xD
Did... did she just say Chervelo? It probably is pronounced that way but... no.
Thank you thank you now that way is a pleasure being of YER services makes sure starts now alrighty thank you very much oh I made an anonymous denounce make sure the cops take actions ass well thanks
Cycle is essential for Third world.
Yall gunna do Lance like that. Plenty of Euros who dope
Aussies breaking records while doing shoeys. Its not about marginal gains. Its all about heart and pain
cycling is a sport that depends on too much on equipment and strategy for winning. It's not really a "purely athletic" endurance sport. For the true test of speed, it is running.
Video
The rider is actually not a professional but an amateur!
I mean... shouldn't they all be using the same bike?
5:15 -- Wait, Cervélo is pronounced "Chervaylo" here? I thought "Servaylo". It's a Canadian brand, after all, not Italian (that and the é were clues?).
Exactly, the "cer" comes from "cerebral" and should be pronounced as such.
I gained speed by shaving all of my hair. These are literally dead weight.
So we won't know the secret. ok
The secret is to lean forwards and ensure your head and hands are in line.
My opinion would be to use all the science whilst training, but come race time do away with it.
What is cycling,it should be known to indians
"Our roided up guy beat your roided up guy" (Bill Burr)
LOL just had to bash Lance........SMH
Position makes all the difference.............that and gearing up. 😁
Gearing up just lowers cadence though. The only reason gears exist is so you can maintain an effective cadence at different speeds. Accelerating can only be done by pushing harder on the pedals.
Also, track bikes don't have gears
Fascinating piece.
But that’s not the worlds fastest bike.
All the worlds fastest bikes are recumbents. Faired or unfaired.
Because aerodynamics.
Recumbent bikes and rider postures are inherently more aerodynamic than those of diamond frame bikes.
Above 24kph, drag predominates over rolling and internal resistance by a wide margin.
And since power to overcome air resistance increases with the cube of one’s speed, the faster one goes, the more aerodynamics matters.
Is it farting🤣😂