00:09This 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
01:14of 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?
01:36How can the computer really get it right for both a 60 kilo rider and a 8 foot 120 kilo
01:44rider?
01:44It's a big ask. The answer, as with anything these days, is of course, well, apparently algorithms.
01:51And Ruvie says that whilst without a fan, they can't simulate the wind in your hair,
01:55they can, with the help of some clever physics, make sure that they get as close as possible
02:00to the differences we see between riders in real rides and races. Now, a big part of that is your
02:06height and weight to work out your surface area. So I just need to go through and make sure
02:12that they're right. Yep. I still am that high. Route found. Let's load that up. And I think
02:24we're ready. Well, I mean, Ruvie is. I'm not sure my legs are. But let's go on with it.
02:35All right. See it at the top. Here goes nothing. Oh, my avatar's moving. That's weird. I'm winning.
02:57I've been number one. It's neck and neck. I've overtaken someone. I'm Ruvie.
03:18Good thing is, I literally can't lose.
03:33I have 100% overdressed. This is warmer than an indoor session.
03:55Oh, my avatar's just gone around the corner.
04:24No cars on Ruvie.
04:34Okay. About three quarters of the way there. It's still close. It can't be more than 200 metres
04:41between us. It is still ahead. It seems to pull away slightly on the flatter sections. And then
04:51exactly the same on the steeper bits. It's probably because there's other avatars on there.
04:56I forgot to turn them off. They're real life people and some bots as well.
05:04And, yeah, I think they're dragging my virtual self along. Also, where are all the banners in real life?
05:13Like, there's so much interesting stuff going on on here. Here, I mean, the views aren't bad, to be fair.
05:31We've got the split coming up. I've got to remember which way to go.
05:52We would've got to remember which way to go.
05:56Bye.
06:03Bye.
06:50God, I hate climbing.
06:53Alright, that's paused, I'll get my breath, then we'll go through some results.
07:02Well, scores on the doors.
07:05As 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.
07:17So I'm quicker in the virtual world than I am in real life, so there's a claim to fame.
07:22So, 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 Alptures, for granted, but the hairpins, they're slightly flatter, and there's a few
07:41bits where it's more like 4% instead of like 10%, and on those, my virtual avatar was just going
07:47away 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
07:54going green, and 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
08:06seconds.
08:06It's not going to be a whole heap because there's not much drafting advantage to have whilst climbing up a
08:12mountain, but it's fair to say that there's probably a little bit.
08:17Now, obviously, I could and probably should have turned them off, but actually, I mean, that means that the Ruby
08:24algorithm is pretty damn accurate, which I think seems very impressive.
08:29So, 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,
08:43or a pro's time, then why not jump on Ruby 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
09:00want to climb up, and we'll see you next time.
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