Loïc Bruni Vs. An Average Rider - How Is He This Fast?

Have you ever wondered how much faster a top level World Cup rider actually is? Well, I have wondered quite a lot actually. I've been filming the Mountain Bike World Cup for a few years now, and I've seen those guys pass me at warp speed. And I always wondered, how is this possible that they go so goddamn fast? So I did try to figure out how much faster those guys actually were by starting the series Average Rider vs World Cup Rider. Which started with Ace Avermett, the winner of the first round of the UCI Daniel World Cup in South Korea, and followed by an episode with Vernon Dunn, who is unfortunately injured. But those first two episodes had a slight flaw. They weren't filmed on the World Cup track. They were filmed, sure, on a hard track, but I reckon the difference would be even bigger if they were made on a hard, tough World Cup track. So to rectify this, I drove to Andorra to race with the current GOAT of mountain biking. But as usual, I've rented a Daniel bike, because what fun would it be to ride a bike that I actually knew versus the best Daniel rider on the planet. But wait, what am I hearing? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, I think it's... All right, so as you've probably guessed, I am here today with Loic Bruni. Loic, how are you doing? Really good, thank you. Good. Okay, so we're in Andorra. Loic is cheating a little bit because it's his home track, but we've done a bit of a trial run this morning and the difference is staggering. Let's put it that way. Come on. It is quite big. Yeah, but for your defense, the tracks you did before were a little bit easier, flowier than this one. I do agree. That's why I wanted to try with you on a track that's actually harder. I think the harder the track gets, the bigger the gap with the average guy, really. Yeah, and put it factually, this is a World Cup track. It is a World Cup track. We raced a few years ago, so it's not just a bike park track. I know at the start of your career, you were a bit inconsistent. I know there was a lot of crashes and you weren't sure the pace was there, but you wouldn't win because you'd crash a lot. How did you get to that point of being super consistent, but as we're going to see pretty soon, super fast? It's what I did the realization myself too. I was like, I cannot be consistent. I was a little bit struggling with finishing or even racing the whole season with injuries and stuff. So I had to find a way mentally to put myself down and then have a bit more like smaller peaks through my season. And it's difficult because I had to change how I approach things and stuff. But with the right surroundings, I found a way to be a little bit more consistent and try to have a better day on the days where I felt really bad or felt like it was not for me. And I worked a lot on my weaknesses and I tried to be smarter mainly and use my experience, which is only getting more and more useful now because the young guys are coming with insane amount of talent and speed. What do you think was the main two things that you changed from the old Loic when you used to crash a lot and not win and a new Loic? I think it was, it had a lot to do with the look and the judgment from other people, you know, like the, it could be from random journalists, photographs telling me, oh, you look so fast today or whatever, or even random people on Instagram or Pinkbike comments. Things that you'd go through and you read Pinkbike comments. I used to, I stopped, I stopped because... People stopped being mean on the internet. No, but most people are fine. It's just like one comment that hits you personally and that's a little bit more difficult to swallow because you're like, why is this guy saying this? You know, like, and we're just humans. So when you're a human and you see something negative about you, it hits you and you think about it. And then I was just like way too vulnerable to these kind of things. And I would just, that's why my confidence would go like this and my commitment too. And it would be like just a big blur of things. And then I started to cut away these comments and these things so I could protect myself and just do my own thing. And I think that's when I started to do what I had to and what I knew what to do. Going back to topic at hand being, you know, average rider versus pro rider. Do you ever ride with normal people? To be honest, no, no, no, no. In testing, we are usually alone or with the team people, like it's pretty closed. And when I ride downhill, maybe in summer, some people want to ride with me, but they're already like fast guys because random guys that don't ride a lot, they don't dare to say, can I ride with you? It's like a bit, the gap is big for them. So I don't really do, but you ride, you're not that average because you ride quite a lot. I do ride quite a lot. I would say I'm on the higher end of the average. Average plus, and I think you're really good. The only thing is when you do a full run like this against people like me, it is a job to do that. It's difficult just physically to hold on your intensity all the way down, you know? How many times a week do you go to the gym? Three times. Yeah. Last time I went to the gym was in 2010, I believe. Lloyd gets down the track in three minutes 40. We've timed it this morning. How long do you think you can give me and catch me or not before the end? How long do you want? Like three minutes 40. I reckon you gave in the past to Ronan and Asa. Yes, I gave them 23% of time, but I reckon you could do better than that because it's a walk-up track and it's long. Yeah. So if you want, we can give you a minute. Yeah. That's a proper margin to play with. That is so demoralizing. So that guy's going to start a minute after me. It feels confident. He can actually catch me. I'm like... After Lloyd towed me on some of the big jumps to make sure I could clear them, we then agreed on a race line for us both. Then we got to work. Yo! The first section is really fast and leads to a nasty rock garden, which Lloyd flies over. As he gets in way quicker than me, it allows him to jump into the flat section of the rock garden, then jump out of it, lighting him up perfectly for the jump and only touching the ground once. You can see here that I'm getting bucked by all the rocks and lose a ton of speed trying to keep the high line in order to line up for the next section. On GoPro, the difference is even more staggering. While he barely touches the brakes and jumps into key sections, I freak out and slow down, which doesn't allow me to skim over the rocks like he does. And that's four seconds in a bank for Lloyd Bruni on the first four corners. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this section alone was at least five seconds. Section two is roots galore, but it doesn't really affect Bruni as he doesn't bloody touch them much, gapping a whole section. We actually start pretty similarly on this section, but while I brake to not get bucked by the massive root up top, he accelerates in order to gap the entire section. Once that's done, it's basically game over. I've lost a ton of speed in the rough section while he's gained many seconds skipping it and accelerating on landing. On this section, we actually get to a point where Loic is 50% faster than me. That means he's running at 1.5 times my speed. I'm not even sure how his eyes are keeping up. Might just be pure muscle memory at this stage. Getting those pro riders to work for that video. Can't have the easy life all the time. How does it feel to walk up the track, Loic? Section three is a nasty rock garden finishing on a root garden that, for some of us, can be gapped. On the first rock garden section, Loic isn't afraid to keep the highline and skim the tree, keeping him away from the roughest parts. He then proceeds to jump the whole root section while I have to brake in order to not get bucked off the first root as it gets steep and rough behind. This jump alone is probably worth a couple of seconds. The most impressive part is that he doesn't really brake for anything that's not necessary. He will pull on the lever only if there is an absolute need to slow down. But at no point braking happens because he isn't in control or doesn't know what to do. All right, Loic. All right. So... This is it. We've done the track a couple of times. I've managed to pick some of the line you're taking which I was doing wrong, so I'm going to use some of that. Do you reckon you can catch me if you leave me one minute knowing that the track is about 340, give or take? It's going to be tough because I think with the laps you're getting a bit faster and faster and me not because I know this track already. But let's give it a minute and see if I can catch you. Yeah, one minute. Okay. Also, no pedaling. Okay. You're going to get three pedal strokes here. And you, what about you? I saw you the other day. No, no pedaling for me. Maybe I'll cheat. I saw you just there. You were putting cranks in. I was like, how am I supposed to compete with a guy that's putting cranks in the middle of his run? But no pedaling. Okay, no pedaling. All right. Charlie in the gate. Five, four, three, two, one. Go for it. Come on. Can you stop pedaling? All right. Pressing his leg pretty here. In power in Salandora. What track are you guys riding? Oh yeah, it's good. That one is the best. After filming him and watching him ride, I know there's going to be some sections that are going to be very tough for me. However, it's given me some lines. I've done a few laps and I'm in a relatively good form. Okay, 30 seconds in. Half of the gap is happening. I had time to make some friends. Still rental bike as I do. It's just kind of what I do. But he just gets into stuff way quicker than me. Also, while Loic lives here, he's cheating a little bit. Charlie is probably on the Blanc of Canberra by now. I'm a bit stressed. I don't. So you notice the track, like the bottom of his head. We're up to a high line there. I wonder what he thinks up there. He's like, oh, maybe I've left him too much time. But he's a confident man. He's won four, I believe, World Cups, World Cup championships and a good bunch of World Champs as well. That's 55 I put in the pocket. Charlie, I'm coming. Okay, five, four, three, two, one. Let's go. Flying up, can't see anything. Got a bit loose there. There's a 23% difference between me, Asa and Ronan. But I think on a World Cup track, it might be more, yeah! That jump is huge. I'm not used to jump stuff that big. Okay, we're in there. Oh, that's the wrong line. Losing the rear. Okay. We're still on. Charlie, I'm coming. Charlie actually did those sick jumps. Look, I've done some power track before. Like caught me to the heart like that. My brakes are fading, especially the rear. That's not good at all. Okay, I don't know which line he's going to take here. Oh, I've got to pop my brake. Okay, okay. We said no pedals. And I'm slow. He gave me that line to go there. And just be patient. Come on, come on. No pedaling, no pedaling. I'm respecting the rules. That's kind of unlike me. Okay, no pedal. My leg starts to burn already. All right, okay. Straight jump into this. I can't hear him, so we're still good. Okay, okay. Oh, bloody hell. I still got this. Come on, come on. The high line, I think he took there. And good job there. Okay, I still can't hear him. Wonder what Charlie is. Okay, oh my god. My hands and my arms are starting to tire pretty bad. It's been about, I would say, 15 years since I've stepped foot into a gym and like ready for it goes every week. This is like a section where he's going to put so much time into me. I know that already. It's just gaps here, which is absolutely bonkers. Nice. I can still not see any dust, which is worrying. I'm losing. I'm losing strength. God, mate. This walk of track is so different from a normal track. It's demanding. It's so quick. Oh, I can see someone. Perfect. He's picked up some speed for sure. Oh my god. My wrist really bloody hurts. Oh, there's someone yelling behind me. Maybe it's Rudy. Maybe it's not. It's a public track. I really hope it's not him. Oh, it's going to be hard for me to pass him from now on. The boy did not muck around. There wasn't much space for a pass. And yet, maybe watch out. 10 rogs then, because like Bruni, I am at 20, 27. Maybe that's a thing. Oh god, this is a sketchy section. My arms are absolutely choked. Try not to cook myself. That's for sure. I'll hide again. Not too bad. Holy crap. That was hard. There's so many fast guys here. All the fast guys are here.