Rower Vs Cyclist - Who's The Fittest?

[@gcn]

Who did you think would take the win? Did any of the results surprise you?

[@JoeyBaby47]

I think swimmers are the fittest.

[@JohnLumapaskeith]

you guys should've started with rowing.

[@davemellor4697]

How long did each event actually last? i understood that the fastest zwift was 11.51 fastest row 5.58 and how long did the shuttle runs last? Some guy thinks you only did a maximum of seconds on the shuttle runs and rower and also zwift

[@Star14trek]

Expected rower to do a bit better on bleep test and take the win LOL may be points should have scored on time as opposed to position? Think rower may have taken it?

[@ViveSemelBeneVivere]

I was surprised. I thought the rower Ward Lemmelijn would win with his pumped arms and legs, he has the perfect sprinter's physical form factor. So for a short fast cycle, rowing, then sprinting, he was outright favourite in my guesstimate.

[@TrkJustin]

If youre not a rower its hard to understand how fast the 2k from Ward was on the rower. Most rowers could train their whole life to get a time under 6minutes and wont be able to do it. Ward did it after a 13minute zwift race, while on a pretty low stroke rate and still feeling ok after he was done.

[@justabean1455]

Thats exactly what I thought. The idea of seeing a 1:29 at that stroke rate, in the middle of a 2k is insane to me

[@lamboboySV]

The most brutal part of this whole test is doing a 2k row without any rowing experience and Ward knowing the pain it causes and having to do a 2k 'just for fun'. Also 5:58 is still crazy fast.

[@evigvandrare]

2k is no short row, even when you're experienced! Brutal.

[@toomuch9762]

@@evigvandrare it is probably the worst/best exercise ever. Its torture.

[@cibbicale1164]

Looked like he was going to break his spine near the end. glad he didn't, but he was definitely rowing spine first at the finish lol

[@neji2465]

5:58 is hella fast that’s a 1:29.5 split for 6 minutes

[@the_guy_who_asked__]

A 2k test strikes fear into the hearts of rowers around the world😂. I also was surprised, how good everyone was! Not just in the indoor rowing but also in the other events.

[@kidsafe]

I’m impressed by how little Richie perspired during the Zwift TT. Campenaerts was like a human waterfall.

[@toutingthomas]

Looked like they didn't have fan!

[@kylehagertybanana]

he just like me

[@baker2niner]

the more training you do, the easier and quicker the water comes out...

[@derfx89]

Always love me a good cross-GCN interaction. Well done Richie and the others.

[@alecbockius2742]

looking forward to see more from Richie on gcn. A battle with the uk presenters would be soo cool!!

[@toomuch9762]

7:22 is an excellent time for a first go at 2000m. I’ve recently bought a rower and 2000m for time is honestly the most hellish exercise ever

[@jonfarmer7914]

It's frankly shocking that GCN pay so poorly that their presenters cannot afford shoes whilst Dan Lloyd sits in luxury and sups the sweetest beers from around the world.

[@brody5211]

I’ve run competitively , cycle most of the time now and row regularly on concept 2 -I genuinely think they are all equally as hard and very hard to call which is the hardest - however rowing 7:22 on a first go is a natural - be interesting to see what richie could do with some training

[@cameronogilvie3364]

For someone that's already strong I don't think I'd call a 7.22 a natural

[@GHWMR]

As someone who has been a professional rowing coach for over 20 years I say 7:22 is about what you can expect of a lightweight man who is in decent general shape but with no rowing experience.

[@FabianBecker]

Doing it with that poor form is definitely impressive.

[@MrErico12345678]

@@GHWMR Then you have little experience with people who doesn't have talent or interrest for rowing. 7.22 is much faster than what decent shape light man does first try.

[@brody5211]

@@MrErico12345678 exactly

[@rnghwdbcs]

Funny thing is, the word "rower" in Polish means "bicycle" :)

[@The_Normalised_Cyclist]

Tez zgłupiałem na początku xd

[@SupercarAlex150]

Lol

[@remixland7768]

lol :)))

[@taufikabidin412]

Rowing bikes are made

[@Flameb0]

in english it means "person who rows"

[@chrisridesbicycles]

Wow, good job Richie. Interesting video from start to the end. Incredible how much energy Victor can push through his body on the bike. I‘d like to see that with a GTN presenter and a professional XC skier added to the contestants.

[@Saladh_Olivier]

Great idea actually! I bet a pro XC skier would win - they are just more versatile and light enough for cycling uphill, plus some incorporate rowing into their training

[@chrisridesbicycles]

@@Saladh_Olivier I‘m not sure because pushing with the poles is quite a different movement from rowing. In terms of FTP and VO2max they are top notch.

[@lesreed1635]

Brilliant more of this please.I like the mention of Dan Lloyd when they were having their beer.

[@eyelovelil]

Great video, GCN content just keeps getting better. I love how you guys/gals are using different presenters from different areas to cover a topic it really speaks to your whole audience that everyone one is included. What an awareness of diversity. 👍🏽 👍🏽

[@chrisbaum998]

It's nice to see other presenters from the different countries of GCN. We need a USA presenter!!

[@nstrug]

There is, Jeremy Powers!

[@chrisbaum998]

@@nstrug He only does CycleCross play by play but is not a presenter like he was when he started.

[@robbybeauchamp]

I've raced my bike and also raced on the rowing erg. The 2k erg race at a big indoor regatta will take more out of you than any bike rice, and do it in under 7 minutes. No contest which one is the harder event. But measuring fitness of elite athletes from different sports is arbitrary at best, even when those events are fairly similar in power output/physiology required. In order to get to world class level so much specialization is required that fitness for most other activities will be sacrificed. That being said, the current E-Cycling WC is a lightweight Olympic rower who also trains on the bike.

[@_PATRlCK]

Richieeee jetzt international! Killer

[@ryan_the_red_4907]

Awesome to see elite endurance athletes crossing disciplines for fun, thanks!

[@sosoki638]

Funny how this video was just made when I got deeply into cycling. I used to do rowing for 3 years as a teen and the last two years i got into cycling. Honestly the vo2 max from rowers are extremely high and their overall fitness is impressive.

[@JensiW79]

Yeahhh Richieee goes international :) Good Job!

[@charlesphilli]

Really enjoyed this one. There is a huge crossover between rowers and cyclists (Dr Hutch for example, James Cracknell). I tend to watch GCN videos while I’m on the concept 2, they are the perfect accompaniment and I don’t have zwift. Also, great to see GCN presenters from other countries, makes you feel part of a genuinely Global cycling network. 👍😃

[@tomm1413]

Belgium represent 😁 we're a small country, but we're proud of pur athletes!

[@biglegcatluvr]

Richie absolutely snapped, 7ish mins on the row and the mad beep test. I feel like has high potential in rowing if he did that row completely untrained.

[@Chreeeys]

Nice to see Richi on this channel as well!

[@lindabodewes7824]

Got to love the exact diction of someone speaking English as their second language.

[@SignorLuigi]

@Richard weinzheimer Your English is incredible! Bravo! 👏👏👏 Also, great job on this video and in the competition. Hope we see more of your work on this GCN channel. 👊👍

[@andythomson3379]

Surely for an rowing simulator, the screen should be behind you?

[@prestachuck2867]

What a great video! Three great athletes suffering, and having fun together afterwards. All classy guys!

[@richcrompton6891]

What a great video. Well done Richie, when I saw you without shoes on the final challenge, I thought we were about to see a winner! So glad for the outcome though. Very honourable ending. Made me want to get the connectivity module for my old Waterrower!

[@richcrompton6891]

@Richard weinzheimer Victor and Ward looked more gone on the bleep test! For a first ever row, your time was awesome!

[@martinhayes8490]

Great video! A nice to see Dan Lloyd getting a ‘mineral water’ a shout out! 🤣

[@markricketts6957]

7.22 for an absolute beginner is impressive. For the first time on the erg his form was not bad either.

[@oranjetoeters1]

Seriously impressive by Richard.

[@ViveSemelBeneVivere]

Dan would have won the beer competition if it had been part of the challenge. 🍻

[@jasonchubb8604]

Best gcn video in ages

[@Dramboli]

On these levels you can only be on the top in one sport, since every sport is very specific… Jason Osborne did a lot of cycling during his rowing career, much more than most of the rowers do. But rowing gives you a massive engine and it‘s easy to adapt for cycling - the other way around is quite hard as you need some years to get a very good technique which is needed.

[@paulim8703]

Surely road racing has a lot of technique too? Descending, bunch riding, climbing, sprinting, TT position, timing. You might not need much on Zwift, but real life is quite different!

[@Dramboli]

@@paulim8703 yes you are right. Specially TT is a discipline for it‘s own. I think the difference is just that you sometimes see cycling pros with some bad skills already in a pro team, like Michael Woods for example, he had some bad descending skills. In rowing you have have more ore less one technique, but if it‘s no very good, you don’t even get the chance to start at a worldcup. Also most of the people can already ride a bike more ore less but not the other way around.

[@the_shadow_11]

Cycling is actually one of the most common cross-training exercises for rowers to do. It's true all the way from club level to international competition.

[@srolchi]

Hope to see Richie in more videos of the main channel. He is doing a great job! 👍

[@coachg4810]

Love this, reminds me of Superstars, a UK tv show from years ago, really needs to come back with international athletes!

[@ericlanegen]

The description of the pacer test had me dying laughing because it made me realize how ridiculous a whole gym class doing it looks

[@vivek_v]

Was thinking the same 💀

[@matthewbaynham6286]

I'm surprised Ollie didn't do the rowing after all he does have some aquatic experience.

[@rpungello]

should’ve had Connor do it, height is a big advantage in rowing.

[@martincornish1737]

Great video once again, and wel done to all who took part. Just out of curiosity, what were the final results for the shuttle run test, ie, how far did each person get in terms of levels?

[@charlesjungclaus]

And VO2 max please?

[@GrouEEf]

Victor just couldn't get airo enough when rowing.

[@strangnet]

I'd love to see a comparison with a cross country skier.

[@chrisridesbicycles]

Me too. Maybe they muscles used for pushing backwards are not exactly what is needed for rowing but at least better than cyclist‘s toothpick arms.

[@paulim8703]

I don't get how Roglic converted from ski jumping. Where's the parallel there?

[@invisiblescout6335]

there isn't much except full body explosive power, flexibility (easier to get aero) and having low body fat. Roglič just had insane natural predispositions for cycling and was in good shape from running every morning since he was a kid. He did his first VO2 test in 2012 after probably less than 5000 Km on a bike and did 81,6 ml/kg/min and 7,14 w/kg at 64 kg

[@nstrug]

Have a bunch of ex-rowers in our club and can confirm they are beasts.

[@kieransweeney6010]

As an overweight (working on it) newbie cyclist im happy to see i can row a faster 2k than Victor..... Gives me more confidence on the bike fore sure

[@MrMattie725]

On Belgium television they did a competition with all kinds of sports. Endurance, power, coordination, ... Ward won both the student and prof ranking :D This was against Van Der Poel, Evenepoel, Campenaerts, Declerq, Van Aert, Koppecy, D'Hoore...and numerous non cyclists.

[@jofitness9373]

Richie‘s accent is so German. His English is really good though! It‘s cool you had him on here:) Nice video, I always enjoy discipline comparisons

[@Evil2born]

EXR is King... ♥️

[@General_Crock]

If a top cyclist takes off their shirt at the beach everybody laughs. If a top rower takes off their shirt at the beach everybody goes googly eyed. 'Nuff said.

[@stefanba2029]

That's why I do both. And swim. I also run and do weight training as well.

[@aho4fun]

Sehr gut Richie...gerne gesehen, keep up the good work, respect to Victor and Ward.

[@nielswillems967]

That rower is an absolute beast

[@NikolausLim]

That Ward guy' arms are bigger than Rich' and Vic' legs combine...😬

[@martinbacon847]

I haven’t looked yet, but my experience says the rower is the fittest.

[@stiffjalopy4189]

Why limit to indoors? Race on bikes to the boathouse, and then get on the river! Then we’d get the added bonus of seeing which cyclist is the best swimmer…

[@gcn]

It's Ollie.

[@stiffjalopy4189]

Vids or it didn’t happen.

[@askmeaboutmattweiner]

5k erg would probably have been a better test of aerobic capacity. The cyclists did it like an intensity cardio effort and the rower did it like the long anaerobic sprint that it is.

[@engineerjmd3]

Agreed, the 2k still has a large pure power component. The 5k is long enough you can't ride that pure power (anerobic) output. But it aligns with a shorter 9k bike element, which is a sprint effort as well.

[@gimmethatbuff9582]

Gute Arbeit Richie läuft ja fast besser als auf Deutsch ;D

[@TheKen712]

@Richard weinzheimer Neee, schön hier geblieben Kollege! ;)

[@sportbootjo]

@Richard weinzheimer Das ist ein Problem in Deutschland: Die Besten wandern aus ;-)

[@jefferinokaplanerino1823]

Victor at 12:25 thinking to himself: “no that’s not quite correct but I’ll keep that to myself to not look like a nerd”

[@wojciechjasiak5572]

fun fact: in polish "rower" means "bicycle", so I've had to take a moment to understand what this clip is about :D

[@captainmidnight4262]

Me = Hears beep test. Also Me = *Flashbacks to Vietnam.

[@gcn]

Do kids even still do the bleep test? Ours was on a cassette...

[@captainmidnight4262]

@@gcn I asked my nephew...they still do apparently. Probably done via a phone app these days.

[@mrworldwide1213]

Lightweight rowers are pretty much cyclists with biceps

[@Aeronwor]

But biceps are not aero.

[@liamkaloy]

no, completely different set of skills (and muscles) is needed for rowing and for cycling.

[@mrworldwide1213]

@@liamkaloy no shit

[@jordanmeanes4464]

@@liamkaloy Not really, quads, glutes and big lungs, hence rowers make such good cyclists.

[@stiffjalopy4189]

Lol lighties have biceps.

[@afterthesmash]

8:24 Epic chain flutter!

[@robertcatuara5118]

How evil was this test you ask? Final score:666

[@kylehagertybanana]

Richie is great! more of him!

[@thefucrew9865]

This was an AMAZING contest, with AWESOME contestants !!! Thank you, Gentlemen !!!

[@galatians22122]

HUNT Wheels! The best bang for the buck! Amazing!

[@shamancredible8632]

I liked this channel more several years ago when I went to college before someone stole my bike

[@christianklein446]

Richard, du geile Sau. Geile Show, geile Performance. Weiter so. Macht Spaß dir zuzuschauen 👌🏼

[@aliancemd]

Before even watching this, it's the rower - it's a full body workout basically.

[@JamieSmith-fz2mz]

I do both. 40 minutes on my single scull is 100x worse than anything I can do in 40 minutes on the bike. But it’s my Nordic skis might be the hardest thing I do.

[@wenttogloucester]

Skate-skiing, heart-attack country...

[@markhaneklaus282]

watching ward on the bike makes me buy a "Ridley" frame - it will last forever

[@gratedcheese123]

Actually very impressive performance on the erg from both perspectives. A first time 2K in the 7:20's is very fast... and then we have this absolute animal going sub 6 after a bike race...

[@Heretic84]

Rowing is beautiful fitness training.

[@matthewbaynham6286]

Rowing is good if you get backache on the bike.

[@benpereira8431]

Great vid, but what were the stats on the bleep test please? Loved the fact he ran it barefoot!

[@ili4707]

Richie: How do you run Barefoot!?!

[@Josh_Roberts]

Rowers are a whole new level of strength

[@Star14trek]

Just imagine Olie doing the rowing or running challenge..... Would be nice to what Hank/Sie/Conner/Olie/Lloyd times would be? Next Vid?

[@ljsense]

The rower beat a 2019 pro cyclist at bike racing by over a minute in a 12-minute race. That's the only story here.

[@swites]

Ward must be pulling some incredible strength through that rowing machine considering his stroke rate isn't that high.

[@tomb2289]

Some big efforts there, good work lads. Time to make Duvel my recovery drink of choice for sure 🍻

[@JohnLumapaskeith]

My Money is on Richard.

[@cdcaterham]

Had to watch the bit where the rower was explaining how to use the rowing machine about 50 times.... purely for educational purposes of course...😂

[@shuycg]

His rough accent goes well with his phisique.

[@JoHaNnEsKuX]

Danke Richie!

[@daskanguru140]

Ah yes, the good old "beep test", a German PE classic

[@MrPilberg]

Tolles Video Richie! Can you please do a review of the oreka O5 in English please? I can’t find one anywhere

[@jigglypuff4227]

Super gemacht Richie :)!

[@mattao01]

this presenter is way too good wtf

[@douglaspate9314]

How good was that!

[@tomvandermeersch6600]

How to get the lotto soudal jersey in zwift? Thnx!

[@galenkehler]

Ward putting out some big numbers on Zwift, must be a big boy weight wise!

[@gophersam]

The office in Bath must’ve run out of carrot cake for Hank, they had to go to Belgium.

[@bleckb]

Greta to see some of the other presenters and a great challenge!

[@neilbardsley]

As a runner and lighter biker I hated training on a rowing machine

[@SimsH1985]

What a monster that Ward!

[@mlbody1234]

Throwing in a skierg element would also be am interesting addition.

[@zacschiff5082]

I LOVE GCN and liked this video but you all NEVER give us enough data! Please tell us how many watts they averaged on the zwift ride at least! (and if I really had my DRUTHERS, we'd also know their heart rates, but I know that's probably a bridge too far.) THE DATA IS WHAT REALLY HAS MEANING! Thank you for the vids you all are terrific!!!!

[@D4D22]

Was the bike event weight adjusted? The rower did some crazy watts.

[@bryanqueme996]

That was a great video!

[@Bradbajc]

What app was used for the row machine?

[@proximityroars5149]

A lot of fun watching

[@Dr.Schlitz]

I don’t see how you can compare rowing, where a 2K race lasts 6-8 minutes, depending on the type of boat, to road cycling, where the events are much longer.

[@andrewcarter761]

Fantastic video!

[@callumthorsen5474]

The rower should have Done 7m 20 haha just need to win for 3 points save every for shuttle run

[@Mdgfievf]

Would have been a better comparison getting a lightweight rower like Jason Osborne

[@jordanmeanes4464]

I was thinking the same thing. Interesting they chose the hilly route for the cycle as well.

[@bowlst12]

Very hard to do well on an ergo without proper technique but 7:22 for a first time is decent. Bloody hell though sitting at 1:30 splits for 2km is insane!