00:00This is the tumble,
00:02the hardest climb in this year's tour of Britain.
00:05And this is my mum. Today, we're going to have a race,
00:09not only up the tumble, but over the entire 140 kilometre
00:14queen stage of this year's tour of Britain.
00:19I know Jamie's chasing me down, so I've got to keep on it.
00:24Now I know what you might be thinking and don't worry,
00:28she won't be offended. Yes, she is a little bit slower than me on a bike.
00:32And that's why we've sourced her a new bike. This one, a Canyon Endure race.
00:40You see, on Saturday,
00:42we sat on the sofa and watched some of the best riders in the world
00:45tackle this very course. The likes of Geraint Thomas, Oscar Onley
00:51and Remco Evanapol, to name just a few. And whilst they made this route look
00:55pretty all right, the stats are definitely not to be scoffed at.
01:00A hundred and thirty eight point seven six kilometres,
01:04two thousand two hundred and forty six metres of elevation.
01:08And this five kilometre climb, not once, but twice.
01:12I suppose you could call us inspired.
01:15And not only will this be my mum's longest ever ride,
01:17it'll also be by far the hilliest.
01:20But to be honest, getting her to undertake such a challenge
01:24has taken a fair bit of convincing.
01:27My mum does like riding a bike, but doesn't overly enjoy hills
01:31and didn't for one minute think that she'd be capable of riding a stage like this.
01:36To be fair, she still hasn't completed this route,
01:39so we still don't know if she's capable of doing it.
01:41But we'll we'll know by the end of the day.
01:44And that's why this Canyon Endure race is no ordinary road bike,
01:48despite looking like a road bike, smelling like a road bike
01:52and feeling like a road bike.
01:54It's actually an e-road bike.
01:57Oh, yes.
01:57Hidden inside this frame is TQ Systems new HPR 40 mid drive motor.
02:03The German company's first system designed specifically
02:06for the needs of road cyclists.
02:09And what this means is that mum will have an extra 200 watts
02:13and 40 newton meters of torque at her disposal
02:16from what TQ Systems call the smallest and most efficient mid motor system
02:21ever to be found in a bicycle.
02:24So who will win?
02:26Well, make sure you subscribe to the channel.
02:27Place your bets in the comments below and let's find out.
02:48Well, we're well underway and we've hit the first climb of the day.
02:53This is what's it called?
02:54I don't know. It's out of Ask.
02:56It's out of Ask. That's where it is.
02:58So, yeah, we're about 30k in.
03:00No sign of her yet.
03:02So basically what happened was she got a bit of a head start
03:06because I put her bike together,
03:09got it out of the car, put the wheels on it.
03:10She was gone.
03:12She seemed pretty excited to ride that one.
03:16So then I sorted my bike out, had a puncture, fixed it, et cetera.
03:21And then now we're on our way.
03:23But I've come up with a cunning plan.
03:25I have found some assistance.
03:27Give us a wave, Will.
03:30I found Will from Cycling News who we've been working together.
03:34We're going pretty quick down the valley.
03:36So I feel like we should be catching.
03:40And normally I'd be catching on the climbs,
03:42but I'm not so sure about today.
03:45We'll wait and see.
03:56So now mum has been wanting to ride an e-bike for quite a while now.
04:03And to be honest, it's been my reluctance to get her on one.
04:08Now, I rode one a few years ago and to be perfectly honest,
04:14it didn't leave me overly enamoured.
04:17Like this was maybe eight years ago.
04:20Riding it felt like you were getting kicked up the arse by a horse.
04:24And it was only not quite unpleasant.
04:27Also, I think that's quite frankly a bit dangerous
04:30if you're someone who's not as confident at riding a bike.
04:36And so for that reason, and also, they're just damn ugly.
04:41E-bikes in the past have been, like, you can tell they're e-bikes.
04:47Which I think is one of the really nice things about this one.
04:51It's also got loads of really clever tech in it.
04:54So TQ Systems, if you read the PR,
04:58it's basically all about how it assists your riding.
05:03It's not a moped.
05:04You can't just sit there and let it do the work.
05:07But what it does do is assist your pedalling.
05:11And in the UK, that would be up to the speeds of about 25 kph.
05:16And I've been wanting to get mum on an e-bike.
05:21Because I like to go and ride in the Alps, for example.
05:24I go on a lot of group rides, sometimes with my dad and my brother.
05:29And mum rides her bike and kind of has to do it solo.
05:34Which seems a bit of a shame.
05:36Whereas with an e-bike, you can hopefully expand your horizon.
05:41And that's what today's all about.
05:44Because this is going to be one of the hardest rides she's ever done.
05:48We'll see if she makes it to the end.
05:50And we'll see when we catch her.
05:52Because we're now on Itton Climb.
05:54And we've still not seen her.
05:56So I'm starting to get a little bit worried.
05:59Either she's gone the wrong way and got lost.
06:02Or she's absolutely flying.
06:05Right, better crack on.
06:18Right, now we're on a climb.
06:21Now it doesn't feel like a normal bike.
06:24Because I would be crawling up here.
06:28And I'm having to work.
06:32It's not a moped.
06:37But it feels like I have a tailwind.
06:41And I do still feel in control.
06:44I thought I might feel a bit like I was just a passenger.
06:49But it feels like I'm still dictating what speed I'm at.
06:56I know Jamie's chasing me down.
06:58So, got to keep on it.
07:07Hello, hello.
07:12I thought we might catch you on that descent.
07:16Although, actually, I thought we'd catch you much earlier.
07:20Right, fuel stop.
07:27Well, you made it to Mamba.
07:30Can I stop now?
07:37Bloody hell.
07:41I thought, I think you're going to beat me up the tumble.
07:47When Jamie bought this bike home,
07:50I didn't really know it was an e-bike.
07:53It doesn't look like a conventional e-bike.
08:01Down here, in between my bottles,
08:04is where you charge it.
08:06There's a cover there.
08:10And on the end of this bar end,
08:15is where you change gear,
08:17engage the electric.
08:26I'm getting dropped again, Will.
08:29You're getting dropped again.
08:31Doesn't load well.
08:32One of the unique things about this TQ System's system,
08:36is that it's integrated into just about everything else on the bike.
08:41It can stream data, like range and battery light,
08:43to an amp-plus bike computer.
08:45That light on the front is powered by the e-bike battery.
08:48The light is down near the rear dropouts,
08:51powered by the e-bike battery.
08:52Even the Di2 on this bike is integrated.
08:55And that means that you can even program the hidden buttons,
08:59to change power assist mode.
09:01Luckily, no one had told mum this,
09:03so as we hit the bottom of the tumble for the final time,
09:06she was still in eco mode.
09:41That means that we can see what it is on the f
09:48at the end of this bike,
09:48But at the centre of the tumble for the true
09:49so thisgement has shownłam which will go
09:58has to engage ways quickly.
09:58No, no, no, no.
10:29Well, we did it 140 kilometers, over 2,000 meters of elevation, twice up that absolute
10:36beast. And I got to watch my mum ride away from me like she never has before. And hopefully
10:43that's going to be a once in a lifetime experience. And it's all thanks to this bike. I don't
10:49get to ride with my mum very much. And today I did. So for that, I'm very grateful.
10:56In recent years, e-bikes have been picking up plenty of strays in the Cycling Weekly
11:01comment section. Comments like this one, and this one, and this one. And to be fair, I just
11:10don't think they're justified because an e-bike is not the same thing as a moped. Ask my mum
11:17and I'm pretty sure that she is absolutely knackered. And the truth is, thanks to an
11:23e-bike, she has just ridden 95 kilometers further than she ordinarily would have. She's been
11:30on a bike for three times longer than she ordinarily would have. And she spent loads more time with
11:36me. The truth is that e-bikes are very, very different machines to what they were 10 years
11:42ago. They're not overpowering. They're not like an absolute kick up the backside. Yes,
11:48they're clearly very powerful because, well, I got absolutely spanked up the mountain. And I
11:54genuinely think that on a bike like this, it could bring some amateurs in line with riders like Tade
12:01Pogaccia. And that takes some doing because I don't know if you've heard, he's rather quick.
12:08There is just one thing that I would change about this bike. And that is that I wish it existed
12:1410
12:15to 15 years ago, because if that was the case, I think I'd have done a lot more riding with
12:21either
12:22of my granddads and that would have been nice. Then they could have ridden away from me up a hill
12:26as
12:26well. If you want to find out anything else about this Canyon Endure Race with the TQ system inside,
12:35then we'll pop a link to both the Canyon and the TQ systems website down below in the description.
12:40If you want to see more content like this, then please make sure you subscribe to the channel
12:44and we'll see you next time.
Comments