00:00This is Alcduez, the playground for some of the most legendary battles in professional cycling.
00:17And today it's the battleground for another one. Me versus, well, me. You see, what I want to find
00:25out is if I'm quicker in the real world or in the virtual world. And so we've designed a cunning
00:31challenge. I'm going to ride up the 21 hairpin climb with a phone, an on-set phone I'm going to
00:39be running Ruvie, an augmented reality indoor cycling app connected to the power meter on my
00:45bike. But who will finish first? Real life me or my virtual avatar? Make sure you're subscribed and
00:52let's go and find out. Now, I've been wanting to answer this one for a little while now, because
00:58in about a month's time, the top half of this mountain is going to be under snow. And then even
01:03if you're lucky enough to travel with your bike a lot like me, there's some roads which are simply
01:08out of bounds for half a year or so. Now, I know that other riders really like to ride parts of a
01:14route before heading out on a training camp, for example, or perhaps riding a target race route
01:19before the big day. And Ruvie now has all the Ironman routes. So I know that they're popular
01:24ones to ride beforehand. But the question I'm asking is, are you wasting your time? Is the
01:31magnitude of effort or the time it takes to complete one of these routes actually accurate? How can the
01:37computer really get it right for both a 60 kilo rider and a 8 foot 120 kilo rider? It's a big ask.
01:46The answer, as with anything these days, is of course, well, apparently algorithms. And Ruvie
01:52says that whilst without a fan, they can't simulate the wind in your hair, they can, with the help of
01:57some clever physics, make sure that they get as close as possible to the differences we see between
02:02riders in real rides and races. Now, a big part of that is your height and weight to work out your
02:08surface area. So I just need to go through and make sure that they're right. Yep, I still am that high.
02:20Route found. Let's load that up. And I think we're ready.
02:26Well, I mean, Ruvie is, I'm not sure my legs are, but let's go on with it.
02:30Right. See it at the top. Here goes nothing. Oh, my avatar's moving. That's weird.
02:43That's weird. I'm winning.
02:57Have been number one and it's neck and neck.
03:08I've overtaken someone. I'm Ruvie.
03:13Good thing is, I literally can't lose.
03:34I have 100% overdressed. This is warmer than an indoor session.
03:43Oh, my avatar's just gone round the corner.
03:59Oh, my avatar's just gone round the corner.
04:11Oh, my avatar's just gone round the corner.
04:24No cars on Ruvie.
04:25OK, about three quarters of the way there. It's still close.
04:39It can't be more than 200 metres between us.
04:42It's still ahead. It seems to pull away slightly on the flatter sections.
04:50And then exactly the same on the steeper bits.
04:53It's probably because there's other avatars on there.
04:56I forgot to turn them off.
04:58They're real life people and some bots as well.
05:03And, yeah, I think they're dragging my virtual self along.
05:08Also, where are all the banners in real life?
05:12Like, there's so much interesting stuff going on on here.
05:16Here, here, I mean, the views aren't bad, to be fair.
05:31We've got the split coming up.
05:33I've got to remember which way to go.
05:43Okay.
05:44We'll see you next time, folks.
05:49All right.
05:57Bye.
06:05Bye.
06:06Bye.
06:10Bye.
06:11Bye.
06:12Bye.
06:12Bye.
06:12Bye.
06:43God, I hate climbing.
06:52Alright, that's paused, I'll get my breath, then we'll go through some results.
07:02Well, scores on the doors, as you can see, I won.
07:08Unfortunately, it was my virtual self that won.
07:12I'd say, well, it was about 20 seconds that they crossed in front of me.
07:18So, I'm quicker in the virtual world than I am in real life, so there's a claim to fame.
07:23So, why was I faster in virtual reality?
07:27Well, as I said before, I think it was because I was pulling away slightly on the flatter sections.
07:34Now, there's not many flatter sections up Abdues, for granted, but the hairpins, they're slightly flatter, and there's a few bits where it's more like 4% instead of like 10%, and on those, my virtual avatar was just going away from me a little bit.
07:48And when that happened, as I said whilst going up there, the little number next to my wattage was just going green.
07:55And what that means is that I was getting a little bit of a drafting boost.
07:59Now, I don't know the exact number, but I wouldn't mind betting that that's in the region of around 20 seconds.
08:06It's not going to be a whole heap because there's not much drafting advantage to have whilst climbing up a mountain.
08:13But it's fair to say that there's probably a little bit.
08:16Now, obviously, I could and probably should have turned them off, but actually, I mean, that means that the Ruvie algorithm is pretty damn accurate, which I think seems very impressive.
08:28So, in answer to the question that I asked earlier, yes, it is accurate to ride indoors.
08:36So, if you've got a favourite climb, or a training camp, or you want to try and beat my time, or a pro's time, then why not jump on Ruvie and give it a go?
08:48If you do want to do that, then we'll pop a link down in the description below.
08:51If you like this type of content, then please give it a like.
08:54Subscribe to the channel for all kinds of more bike stuff, probably involving me climbing up hills that I don't want to climb up.
09:01And we'll see you next time.
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