In this Super-Compilation video, we’re combining the ultimate collection of rides which have really pushed our limits. Time elapsed, Metres climbed, Overall distance, Average Speed and even brutal weather conditions can add up to create epic rides. But when we’ve gone out in search of many of these factors, and often in combination, you know we’re in for some of the most difficult rides of our lives!
⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
00:00:00 – Can Simon Break A 220 Mile Gravel Record? – In association with Lauf https://www.laufcycling.com/
00:35:16 – Can Manon Survive A 225km US Gravel Race? | SBT GRVL – In association with Ribble Cycles https://gcn.eu/Ribble
00:54:14 – 575km Gravel Epic In One Go?! | Hank Vs Old Chalk Way – In association with Cadex https://gcn.eu/CadexCycling
01:16:15- Riding 59 Classic Cycling Climbs In One Day | Flandrien Challenge – In association with Visit Flanders https://gcn.eu/CyclingFlanders
01:36:51 – Race Against Time: Hank’s Epic Ride Across The UK!
01:55:21 – Hank’s Most Brutal Challenge Yet?
02:09:17 – I Tried To Qualify For The Gravel World Championships! – In association with Argon, Hunt and Redshift – https://gcn.eu/Argon18, https://gcn.eu/HuntWheels, https://gcn.eu/RedshiftSports
02:23:47 – My Brutal UNBOUND Experience – Mud, Gravel & Carnage – In association with Alchemy Bikes, Reynolds Cycling and Redshift Sports – https://gcn.eu/AlchemyBikes, https://gcn.eu/RedshiftSports, https://gcn.eu/ReynoldsWheels
02:47:17 – The HARDEST Challenge We’ve Ever Done! | Tour Des Stations Ultimate 1000 – In association with Tour Des Stations, Trigon & Reynolds – https://gcn.eu/TourdesStations, https://gcn.eu/Trigon, https://gcn.eu/ReynoldsWheels
03:11:26 – We Tried Cycling To The Most Remote Pub In Time For Last Orders – In association with Yoeleo & Gore Wear – https://gcn.eu/Yoeleo, https://gcn.eu/Gore
3:33:43 – We Tried To Beat Ineos’ Mallorca Lap Record! – In association with Abus – https://gcn.eu/ABUS
03:53:24 – Can A Beginner Survive The USA’s Roughest Gravel Race? – In association with Lauf, Humango and Forge & Bond – https://gcn.eu/Lauf, https://gcn.eu/HUMANGO, https://gcn.eu/ForgeAndBond
04:16:07 – Can Simon Survive A 400-Mile Ultra Race? – In association with Shimano
04:48:34 – Hank’s Toughest Challenge | Lands End John o’ Groats Record Attempt – In association with Argon 18, Nuzest, Lupine & Chamois Butt’r – https://www.argon18.com/en/, https://www.nuzest.co.uk/, https://www.lupine.de/eng, https://www.chamoisbuttr.com/
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I’m really really up my li It I uh I blow my daugh so I’ve gone into this kind of dark very introverted Place as the agony of my first Ultra endurance race faded into distant memory I began to convince myself that I had actually enjoyed it so then inevitably a question began to surface what next lph had a new gravel bike and I had unfinished business on King Alfred’s way England’s Premier long-distance gravel
Route so a challenge was set at 220 miles could I do it in one go and could I perhaps even attempt a fastest known time or fkt something like this needs to be done responsibly these are public Trails which definitely not a race but as a challenge this would definitely
Rank as one of my toughest ever this is the story of my attempt and it starts here the statue of King Alfred in the center of Winchester in the south of England ready for a lap that takes in half the country well perhaps a quarter maybe a fifth anyway tomorrow at 5:00
A.m. I’m going to roll out from here and the clock is not going to stop until I return honestly my biggest fear is just how long it’s going to take cuz I really don’t know but for the record the fastest known time is Matt Page in 17
Hours and 20 minutes Matt pige is really rather good yeah so see you tomorrow big fellow don’t be late it’s weird you can see up a tunic isn’t it right Morning Alfred here we go it’s game time I’ve got to say for once I’m just feeling unbridled excitement at the prospect which I hope is a good thing normally I’m really just super nervous but today has the makings of being a great day so fingers are firmly crossed
Now one one of the great things I’ve just discovered about trying for an fkt is that whilst the clock won’t stop until I get back here it also doesn’t start till I leave which is just as well because I’d have missed my start by 15 minutes once again I’m reminded that I
Am no Mark Bowmont having uh faft around instead of actually just get off and leave and as you can see the sun’s pretty much come up now but still here we go it’s 4 de it’s a bit chilly I’m also having to make some sacrifices on what I’m wearing because obviously as
Soon as I get hot I’m going to have to carry with me for the entire day so no overshoes but long finger gloves so I think that’s it I think it’s time to try and ride 220 Mi Offroad and get back here before it gets too
Antisocial this is good I am excited see you later buddy whoop who This isn’t the most perfect morning to go for an exceedingly long bike ride don’t know what Is an fkt well it stands for fastest known time and it’s actually I think of it like a giant straa segment basically it comes from running and they’re normally over really long distances so like a minimum of 100 miles of and over like famous Trails like the Appalachian Trail
In the states is probably the most famous it’s like 2,200 mil or something and the fastest known time for that running is like 45 days you have to to show that you’ve done it and the modern day and age of GPS it’s fairly easy to establish whether you have or you
Haven’t done it but back in the day you had to prove that You’ done it um and then it’s something that’s kind of grown in popularity there’s an official website it’s a bit like the everesting website really um and then I think it really took off in cycling during
Lockdown when all the events got cancelled so all these grally dudes and mountain bike dudes would then start heading out and do these fkt on really famous mainly American Trails the clock doesn’t stop until you get back obviously but it’s your total time so not riding time it’s your total elapse
Time so any faf time is in there and any time that you spend going wrong going the wrong way get a mechanical it all counts um so you’ve got to be efficient not just whilst riding but also for your whole day basically Been riding a few kilometers now I’ll be honest with you starting to get a cold feet about this I mean literally I’ve got cold feet sorry in my head that sounded funny now we Haven talk much about pacing it other than to say I’m not really sure
How fast I’m going to be able to do this so I was looking back okay the times and the average speeds that Hank and I were doing when we tackled much of this route a couple years ago I’m fully laden moving time or moving speed rather was about 22k an
Hour so hopefully I can go a bit quicker Well I’m feeling all right 2 hours in the bank making decent progress it’s absolutely just the most perfect War for B ride it is incredible m only slight thing in the back of my mind as am I going easy enough or am I pressing on a little bit
Hard and getting all excited so I’ve been doing a lot of zone two training right and I’m not entirely sure whether it’s made me fitter it’s definitely made me better at not going fast on Hills which is probably useful here the cheese is uh GAA like literally GAA Show that for later memories are flooding back I know this one this is quite a tough little climb this I was getting to ride a very exciting bike don’t you can see it behind me um so uh so laugh just launched uh a new gravel bike called the
Seagler and uh and when they said they were launching this and could we make a video I was like yes and I know exactly what we should do with it um because although you can totally get a normal gravel bik around King Alfred’s way and
It’s great to do it in one go adds another element and so the previous people that had done it quickly before would all use mountain bikes but I don’t think a mountain bike is the fastest tool for the job R there mainly because those massive wide handlebars so for
This to have front suspension and then extra compliance built into the frame and then a normal gravel position so you’ve got you know your normal Road handle bar so that little bit more aerodynamic and then the handling is a bit more responsive there’s there’s still some good sections of tarmac in
There and so uh so it was a real treat actually to be able to ride that and then unlike my previous longdistance grally exploits I knew that I wasn’t going to be sleeping in a hedge this time so I traveled as light as I possibly could perhaps a little bit too
Light maybe I could have done with another place to stash some clothing but um but yeah so I I didn’t have much with me so as you can see topu bag I don’t want to say giant saddle bag cuz it’s not but it’s it’s a fairly
Large saddle bag um and then and then yeah my back pockets were bulging full of stuff like winter gloves and food and whereas when I’ve done stuff before I’d taken mainly like normal food and not much Sports Nutrition i’ got a bit more Sports Nutrition this time and I wish
I’d taken more actually cuz cuz that was what my body was craving by the [Applause] End smooth I’ve just attempted something that I’ve not done pretty much since I left the prop pellaton which is going for a Wii whilst riding uh basically I figured that stopping to go for a Wii would ruin my average speed so found the perfect stretch of road only to find was like
Something out with David Aton BR Wildlife program I dodged pheasants and rabbits the whole way down and it was remarkably sketchy I’m not going to lie but everything survived intact you’ll be pleased to hear the riding is so good on this route at this time of year I don’t think I’ll
Ever rid and gravel anywhere else in the world that’s like this not to say that this is better there’s just something about the combination of trails and scenery it’s just so mellow it’s absolutely fantastic I’ve actually stopped for this very solemn moment I wouldn’t want you
To miss one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Stonehenge can see it what you me somewh impressive zoom in yeah you go right G on it’s like straight out of Kansas proper USA style gravel no disrespect to USA gravel but it’s not quite as engaging as some of
The like narrower more single track star Trails there’s also a nagging headwind which I knew I was going to get on this section I got about 100 km of headwind and then it does mean that I’ll finish with a ta so I think it’s probably the right way around but it
Feels like slow going up here Say it’s quite desolate up here it’s a bit Eerie with all the military stuff going on and to know it’s a bit Bleak for my taste give me a nice blue wood any day of the week we go bit of civilization for you it’s been some dark times mate Dark
Times a little update so we got just 100 miles on the clock just under and I’ve been on the road for 7 hours so 6 hours 40 ride time if I carry on at this pace then I’m well up on my sort of schedule that I’d Loosely pieced
Together so uh so that’s good I’ve been motoring through my nutrition I’ve eaten most of my science and Sport Sports Nutrition already uh but I thought at this point with 100 miles on the clock I’d have a ceremonial bake well at the Epic ingredients list I noticed last night included
Titanium so uh titanium’s never been is it especially not in a bake well TI please shut the gate it says you know why cows F Cows and these ones look mean as well like really mean so okay Right they’re all staring they’re ey me up whether that’s cuz they think that I’m breakfast or just cuz they’re aggressive and they want to fight I hate cows think I might have got away with it this time Though there is a bit of controversy around fktsgi about who had the quickest time around King Alfred’s way and there was an awful lot of Internet forums saying that you should not be attempting it and I and I sympathize because you know I’m all too aware of the damaging effects of
One cyclist acting like a dick on the trails you can have 99 people being amazing and well behaved and one person can ruin it for all of us but then I was thinking well that one person that rides like an idiot is probably going to be riding like an idiot whether they’ve got
A stopwatch or not you know whether you’re trying to do the whole thing in one or you’re trying to get stra segments on the way around and so my own approach to it is just be nice courteous sensible pedestrians take right away you’ve got to shut all Gates
You take all rubbish with you you you just you’re just a a normal responsible human being like a member of society and actually that takes precedence over a stopwatch and actually I suppose the other thing that I was thinking of is that if I was to go and ride a section
Of King Alfred’s way you know as part of a normal 2hour bike ride I would probably inevitably going a lot quicker like you go slow when you’re riding 220 miles and so each section I was doing less quickly than I would do if I was just out riding normally so I was
Thinking well in that case I’m not actually going to be doing anything that’s detrimental to other users of the countryside or for the future security of a route like King Alfred’s I am still on the Ridgeway which it’s taken its toll a bit I’m starting to feel pretty tired now I’ve
Been riding for 7 hours done 10 70k to nearly halfway which is great but I think I’ve forgotten how much of this route is the Ridgeway and uh I suppose when all said and done it’s relatively easy kilometers but it’s just not terribly inspiring after good few hours of it
Maybe on a nice Summer’s Day s for a picnic maybe if you got hang for company making them eat slow berries but today I just want to get it done mentally I’ve set a little marker for when I hit the river temps so I think I’m just counting down the kilometers till then
I think I’ve made it I think I’m off the Ridgeway at last and I think I’m now oh in the safety of the temps Valley the main thing at the moment is starting to get really sore of triceps which will probably surprise you given the size of my triceps the bucolic River Temps ah I’m so so pleased to get here oh that last 100 km is really draged I’m not a fan of rid if you’ve not worked that out yet already or rather I’m I’m not a fan Ridgeway today anyway this is cool we have got to streetle which is a lovely Village by
The temps there is an amazing Cafe there I know it’s amazing cuz me and Hank went there a couple years ago got 176k on the clock so it’s almost exactly halfway and I’ve been riding for what’s that coming up I’ve been riding 7 and 1/2 hours but 7 hours 50 is elapsed
Okay so we’re still doing all right we’re ahead of schedule but I can’t dilly dally so uh I’m going to crack on leg warm is coming Off delightful GL P bread with Bea cheese Bea cheese is not does not what it do what it says on the tin it’s not that GE see a Bit to run into reading now I’m actually craving sugar at the minute and I can’t find the gel that I’m taking out of my saddle bag this precise moment it’s in one of four Pockets I can’t work out which one his Testament to both the city of reading and King Alfred’s way root
Planners that they’ve mostly get you through a major urban center without riding on roads that’s incredible but all those hard earned kilometers there’s also a feeling of frustration now that making quite a lot of Wrong Turns there it is Ah no hang on a minute oh making quite a lot of Wrong Turns as you can see I’m trying to adopt a fairly uh calm mentality which is that each section just takes as long as it takes and if it’s slow for me it’s slow for everyone else so that’s that fingers
Crossed I uh I blow my doors I wasn’t entirely sure whether I’d already blown my doors or not now I definitely know that I’ve completely blown my doors uh I’m in desperate need of sugar so um my second treat which actually the first time around didn’t feel that much of a
Treat my titanium oxide Bak well tart is coming out um I just see something really sweet and I’ve run out of gels and bars so all I’ve got is water and P of breads with cheese oh God anyway get into some civilization soon so I can stock up There I’m really relieved actually that so much tarmac you know it’s you know it’s getting bad when you start preferring Tac to gravel I’m at that point Now Okay first first Smash and grab uh I’ve got 100K left to do just about and I think you can see from what I’ve bought what state I’m in so we’ve got sugar uh sugar and fat and sugar fat and potentially some complex carbohydrates but not very much so uh yeah I’m going
To get it down me get in my pockets and crack on time is time is Ticking Like that was amazing like I might have been very rude about the Ridgeway but I am a big fan of sorry riding like it was a lot of fun Sandy single track it was mint but dragging myself up here all the way up to the top of hind head or
Devil’s punch bever we are oh I feel broken and I’m broken to the point where I haven’t actually managed to eat anything so I stopped at a garage bought a load of sugar and then it’s just sat in my back pockets so um I think I need to buy some salt vinger
Crisps but the trouble is I don’t know what else I want so uh also I’m at that point where every time I get out the saddle I go like like an old man getting out of a chair He so bit of an update you can probably tell it’s getting towards evening now just got past 7 got 3 hours got 54 km to do so still doable got three monster climbs coming up this is the first to get onto the southbounds the good news though man to
Start eating again so that’s Cool there it is the wall now don’t you say it doesn’t look that much that is Savage Hank had to get off and walk when we came up here a couple of years ago and I have a feeling I might do the same which is going to wreck my average speed
And it could well be the End [Applause] The wall is conquered now I imagine the question that some maybe many of you are thinking is why on Earth would you want to tackle a beautiful route like this steeped in 10,000 years of history and peppered with fantastic country pubs and t- shars and just miss all of that and it’s a
Very good point I would definitely definitely definitely recommend anyone to tackle this or similar with friends and family and take your time to see the best of what the country has to offer basically but then there’s also something else this is different this is a different Challenge and it’s enjoyable for completely different
Reasons I like pushing myself and I am pushing myself but also there’s just a real joy to moving efficiently and there’s also a joy to having a reason to ride fast and not dilly dally it’s it’s been cracking good fun whether I make it back for Quast 10 or
Not probably a bit annoyed if I don’t make it there’s no two worries about it the sun has definitely set it’s getting done dark and my lights are going to have to come on for the first time since I switched them off 15 hours ago maybe so I’m really really up my
Limit for the first time this ride I thought how nice it would be just not to be doing it just to make it Stop the last few hours where my body was kind of shutting down I was dehydrated but I just didn’t want to drink anything I didn’t want to it’s something I’ve experienced a few times it was like I just didn’t have the mental capacity to look after myself
Anymore so i’ gone into this kind of dark very introverted place where I knew I could just keep my pedals turning and um so the last 4 hours I was completely blown I was dehydrated I was sore and I just knew that the Finish Line was there
The Clock Was ticking and I had to get there somehow and it was uh it was dark it was really dark right I any know you can see my rather tired grizzled face but I think this is the last proper climb of the route now you can hear how much I’m breathing
I’m barely turning the pedals but I’m just just running on fumes now I stopped looking at how far I’ve got to go I stopped looking at the time didn’t want to see I wasn’t going to make it but that has left me feeling slightly anxious that I’m
Not I feel like I’m St between a rock and a hard place There mentally I’ve just gone into that place like not a trance but just kind of like withdrawn into myself I’ve still got that double espresso caffeine gel in my saddle bag it’s going to go untouched I just can’t be bothered to get my headphones out and have a little cry
Just just want to get it done now head down man get your head down you done it less than an hour easy it’s weird I just want to go to bed just really want to go to Bed there’s Winchester I’m going to do it well I’m going to get back I still don’t know I’m going to get it Time ow oh my God what’s the time I actually can’t tell the time what is the time is that feel like fliest fog in Around the World in 80 Days uh 10 ah 10 13 I made it yes now I need to celebrate not anyone on the bus ah totally meaningless but incredibly
Amazing Personal Achievement ah oh my goodness me I thought it would never end genuinely I thought it would never end that was absolutely Savage so yeah what’s that 16 hours and about 50 something minutes I take that oh my god well I guess all is left for me to say
Is thank you very much for watching thank you very much to La for Lending me your new seagler I genuinely I couldn’t have done it without it these Forks oh my word there’s a video over on gcn Tech that’s what I meant to tell you uh where I talk
Through all the tech on the bike and also my equipment that I’ve Ed as well so yeah make sure you go check that out Link in description I’m going to Bed I honestly have no idea if I’m going to finish I don’t know whose idea this [Applause] was yep that’s me completely cooked 100 miles into the longest ride I’ve ever undertaken what on Earth was I thinking my brother just said why the are you doing this I’m praying for you
Roughly 3 months and 2 days ago I threw my name into the hat to try and ride the steamboat gravel race in the heart of the Rockies and it wasn’t just any of the four Loops that you could choose from but the longest one 224 km gravel Loop up until now my
Longest ride is 180 km a massive 44 km shorter but lucky enough I have had some help with my training along the way plus when we mention this to mates a Ribble they were super Keen to get involved too so with training in hand and a bike in
Another I have very little reason to back out now half an hour before the start of the race bike is all prepped I’m all prepped got so much food in my back pockets that’s all I have to do now is eat the food and ride my bike I physically can’t
Fit anymore food in my back pocket so yeah so final little preparations now to get ready and then head to the start line Yikes starting to feel real now it’s all got quite a while to the start but I’d line up Early 3 2 1 and it is going to be absolute pandemonium after the neutral section ends the start I got quite a good position on the grid I got there I’d say it was maybe like 150 people back from the start uh which was quite good and
Then we had the first bit which was neutralized which it was okay there’s just a lot of people everywhere and when I get in that situation I get very competitive I’m like oh I need to get to the front I don’t know why I needed to
Get to the front in the neutral section but I felt the need so I kind of got quite close to the front um and then as soon as we hit the gravel that was like yeah it all just started to string Out so I knew it was going to be dusting St gravel but literally after that first gravel section I was covered in dust my bike was Filthy keeping my heart rate a little bit higher than it should so I found myself quite a nice big group to sit in now so just trying to wheel suck as best as I can but less than 200k to go that’s Good nice job have good ride So the kilometers are slowly ticking down 45 km in I’ve just stopped at a uh feed Zone thought I better get some water just in case but yeah everybody kind of split up the feed so kind of on my own a little bit now but yeah 45k
Down can’t do the mass to however many are to go but just going to keep pedling the kilometers are going to tick down Slowly Just had some single track that was very bumpy and fun almost like a cycle cross race but back on the smooth car Mark now but I can’t believe how like disgusting it is already so much like dust I mean look I sit at the bike already Yeah 100 miles to go wow you do need to keep on checking in with yourself like sometimes you can forget how far you have to go so yeah I mean two 2 hours 38 minutes in already um just need to keep on riding at my own pace it’s quite hard to be
With a group and they’re pushing a little bit out of your comfort zone you’re like oh if I could just stay with them a little bit longer it’ be good but you’re better off just going and ride in your own pace slow and steady definitely wins the race in this Case now you probably wondering what is this bike I’m riding well you can’t actually see because of all the dust so and plus I haven’t got the energy to tell ride now so here’s something I prepared a little bit Earlier yep I knew I would be a little bit too tired to tell you about my bike but this is ribble’s pure gravel machine the Ribble gravel SL it’s fast it’s responsive it’s light it’s pretty much everything I need for this event it’s got a carbon frame another really cool
Thing about Ribble is that all the components are completely changeable so if you want a different size stem or different size handlebars you can do that where as a lot of other bike brands you kind of get what you given so that’s another really cool thing I’ve also got
650 B wheels on here with 47 mil fast tires the bike you can get it with 700 C Wheels but I’ve opted for 650 the size of the frame is extra small uh what else have I got nice flared handlebars for a bit extra comfort so they’re going to be
Really good for this long ride I’ve got Shram rival group set one by with a nice big granny ring on the back which I’m going to be very thankful for and I’m definitely going to need going up those Hills this bike also has a load of
Mounting points to put bags on if you’re going adventure riding you want to strap your tent on your sleeping bag which hopefully I’m not going to need hopefully it’s not going to be an overnight job but I’m actually going to count how many mounts there are so 1
2 20 21 mounting points you can fit your whole kitchen sink on this bike if you wanted to and the last little cool detail I’ve got my ties setup tubeless and you might have seen these nice little cool flashy pink muck off valves do you like that
Very nice but now back to feature man on suffering in the race God help you man On F on halfway and I feel like this is really where where it starts that last 100K was in my comfort zone from here on in not in my comfort zone and I can feel it Already do you eatting a grasshopper I haven’t eaten one I really don’t want to they’re so big they’re evil they’re like little birds they’re absolutely everywhere and when you’re suffering and you’ve got your mouth open oh it’s not it’s not a good combination add one in my ears hole
Then all right save your energy no Screaming black horse black course right there black [Applause] course a oh that’s so good one more yes please thank you Oh oh that’s good right I’m ready to Go so I’ve just come out of the feed Zone and the plan was you know to take a minute go to the toilet have some snacks s my back pockets out what did I do I just grabbed some water and ran I don’t know why but I just panicked I said oh
My God I need to go but on the next one make sure I stop oh this turned out to be a bigger mistake than I first thought this is a really hard bit of gravel road and I feel like I’ve almost hit a wall and it’s still a long way to
Go a little bit worried there was a point I was like I’m not going to make it to the Finish um I was really struggling every single pedal stroke hurt I didn’t want to pedal and it was all like a really gradual uphill there was that one bit of road that just
Killed me off and I don’t know what it is it wasn’t anything steep it was just a really draggy Gravel Road and I found it really hard my head was falling off my legs were falling off I couldn’t sit down I just needed to get off the bike
It’s really starting to kick in now and it’s getting to that point where I just don’t want to eat I just I just feel sick and it’s like shoving food down you it’s not pleasant but if it gets me to the Finish Line it’s what I have to do but
I’m full on in survival mode now just pedaling I can hardly keep my hand up to hold this camera it feels like it weighs a ton I’m going to have to turn it off I could not wait to get to that feed Zone and every other feed Zone before that I
Kind of stopped for like a few minutes got some water and got straight back but this one I was like I need need to get off my bike I need to have a sit down need to re-evaluate the situation and then go from there oh my God whose idea was [Applause]
This yeah I honestly have no idea if I’m going to finish do we water I actually quite like pickles so I’m hoping this is going to give me I don’t actually know what it’s meant to do but everybody raves on about pickles and pickles juice and gravel so here we go oh
M hi Kuma Before that feed stop it was very touching go you know when you’re just pedling so all you want to do is stop and every single pedal stroke hurts and every bump in the road really makes me angry I do feel a lot better now I definitely needed that
But until the last 40 miles oh God I hope I can make It the weather has just all of a sudden turned it’s got very gray very cloudy which is actually quite nice because it was so hot before I wouldn’t mind a little bit of a a shower it’d be very welcome right Now [Applause] Oh I know she made [Applause] it I finally got my pickles is it really weird that I really like them so finishing stretch now so I’ve got a pickle in my mouth but going to get going so don’t stop for too long on my legs or my legs will stop oh that Pickle I’ve now officially made it past the longest I’ve ever ridden 193 km in the bag not too long to go now but um this might be a little bit too much information but my bottom is very sore wo multitasking um this gravel thing is not for the fainthearted you have to be hard
Strong you can tell I’m now cuz I’m talking absolute officially into the last 20 km and it’s tching go one minute I feel okay the next I’m like wow my head’s like I’m going to go for this bike right now oh oh and every single little link line so Painful it was probably like the last like 6K of the race I realized that I’ve actually I am going to finish this and I am going to actually do it I don’t think it like kicked in until then and I think like coming into this race I had a lot
Of worry and doubt just because it’s the unknown I’ve never done anything like this before at this distance especially on gravel um so it was it was quite emotional finish I was quite proud of myself um and yeah it definitely an achievement it just goes to show that
Our bodies are a lot more capable than we think and we shouldn’t doubt ourselves all my worries iare for something new whatever it was that held me back I’m sure it wasn’t [Applause] True 6069 again good job [Applause] Oh um the event for me in a sentence it was an emotional roller coaster but a very enjoyable one and now that I finish and I’ve had a little bit of time to recover it’s been some very good memories and I’d like to do it again 576
Km 358 M long 19,000 ft of elevation in total it’s Britain’s oldest highway from the English Channel to the North Sea and I’m going to attempt to do it in just one go this is the old [Applause] Chway [Applause] 6:00 a.m. and the wind is well picking up we’re on the coast here and the start of my adventure now last time I did an adventure like this was a few years ago back with Sai when we took on the king Alfred’s way my first bik packing gravel
Adventure now this time I’m going to try not to crash lose my phone and eat a bit of car cake slightly more politely but I absolutely loved it there say we took our time we had a sleeping bag and bottle of wine and we enjoyed it and I
Loved it but this time I want to do it light and fast I want to see if I can go do 576k in one go now I’m not racing anyone or anything but the beauty of crossing a massive chunk of the UK in one go all without
Traffic has lured me in now I’m at the start line of the old chalk way behind me is the English Channel and I’m starting from a small town called lime reges now between me and home next to the Sea lies 576 km and I’m following an
Old chalk spine now this is going to be a mammoth ride and uh I reckon one of my hardest challenges yet all done on my own there’s no going back now winds behind me it’s time to get going here it goes the great thing about starting by the
Channel is that I’ve got a Tailwind to start with I’m just hoping this CH Tailwind carries on now I’m going to make it out and then I’m going to tell you more about what bike I’m riding and what wheels are am as well which is also pretty important to this epic ride
FR now I’m settting into a bit of a rhythm I’m like 15 20K in now there’s some climbs on this route and some tough ones at that it’s in total 19,000 ft of climbing and it’s meant to take you around four to six days this route if
You’re going to enjoy it but I’m trying to do it in one Ride and just like that the heaven Heavens are opened and I am absolutely soaked I don’t know whether to wait out because it was blown over pretty fast or continue Trucking away in torrential rain I’ve still got a slight smile on my face so I still enjoying
It on some proper rough stuff now and this is quite slow Going I think it’s time I take a quick break and I tell you more about what I’m riding and the wheels I’m riding too now don’t forget there’s a indepth look at exactly what I’m using over on the tech channel right let’s uh well cut to Meow
In a break oh I needed that break now haven’t take fast and light to an extreme with the minimal kit I’m taking but it’s also the equipment that I’m riding on now I’m riding on the pinell greville equipped with with campag noo ecar group set but my secret weapon are these the kex
Ar35 wheels let me give you some of the headline stats we have carbon hookless rim with an internal width of 25 mm meaning you can run everything from 28 mm road tires all the way to 45 mm chunky boy gravel tires we’ve got carbon spokes ceramic bearings and as I
Mentioned they weigh just 1270 g a pair that’s lighter than loads of the road wheels I’m also using kx’s GX gravel Tire in a 40 mm width this is one of two gravel tires kex make I won’t go into every detail by all the bikes set up now
Because Alex is hitting it over on gcn Tech and you can see all the nerdy details about my setup right it’s enough talking about this I better get on and ride it a oh I needed that break so this is a lot harder than I was expecting now you probably already
Noticed that I am uh wearing Road shoes with a car and sole yeah story behind that is that my uh mountain bike shoes or my uh sbds and off-road shoes were lost in luggage so I only had these shoes left now I’ve got to say it’s made it really
Tough because I can’t get off my bike and there’s some stuff back there that I had to walk up and then you spend 10 minutes effing and blinding trying to get mud out your [Applause] Cleat this what I call a proper gravel Trail it’s fair to say it’s pretty slow going you tell how bump it is not doing too bad not doing too bad Still getting strong H Yeah just coming Salsbury off the route and I didn’t know when I was going to find a coffee stop or a cafe and I haven’t stopped and it’s 12:30 i’ only had three bars and two bottles of water so saw this amazing Bakery and I couldn’t help myself look at these
Recently it’s just been up down up down hence why it’s been so slow [Applause] going it’s been hard though first 70 miles it’s been Tough [Applause] uh just hit the military firing range on play and they tell me if the red flag is flying well they’re firing so uh I need to find a big loop around balls no one likes turning round and going a longer way especially when you got all
Massive ride to go anyway rather not get Shot so I’ve just pulled over jumped in the front seat while we stopped here for a minute cuz I was feeling a bit dizzy to be honest cuz I just haven’t eaten enough but there’s been a few moments where it’s got a bit Twitchy and the puddles because there’s been so much
Rain the puddles are just so deep there’s a few moments where I didn’t any deck it I’ve been soaked about 10 times it’s like shower on shower off shower on shower off shower on shower off we love it though we do love it I’ve done 220k since 630 and it’s now 4 I’ve
Been riding 10 out of P that’s pacy that because if I did another 220 in 10 hours that would take me to 440 yeah we’ll be done by breakfast so I couldn’t find any lube and this is a hack that I haven’t done before but I’m using olive Oil a lot of it there you go just for good measure now as we ride across this beautiful Ridgeway with well beautiful scenery and these chalk tracks I should probably tell you what route I’m following now I’m following the ancient Trails now they’re made up nowadays of four
Ridgeways so it’s the Wessex Ridgeway the Ridgeway the I path and and the ped’s way now they all make up what’s known as the greater Ridgeway got to say it is absolutely stunning but today the riding’s been tough oh it’s God going this it’s just so boggy need find the chalk bits there
You so much easier when it hits chalk but as soon as it goes to this bog it’s just so slide slide over so we’re coming into the golden hour on the Ridgeway I’ve been going 12 hours around about 240 odd K so beautiful though I’m not going to
Lie had some rough moments early on where it was just boggy it was the elevation was hard and it was so wet but with a good Tailwind blue sky and some unbelievable views it’s kind of turned my mindset around and I’m starting to enjoy it starting to love it
Actually could to say but I’m going to crack on into the darkness and uh hopefully I can make up some good Headway before having a quick K look at that Sky the sun’s going down it’s around 8:00 this be a long long day I’ve made it to Henley on temps and it’s
Beautiful I wish I could enjoy it with a nice Pub dinner but not Today so tonight is actually the first night ride on my own riding through the night I am going to take a little nap though at some point foot long yeah yeah yeah something just quite nice about just being able to eat what the hell you want because he burnt so many calories
You got almost get in there day one of the old chalk way has been biblical the reason I say biblical is because the weather has genuinely been biblical the scenery has been unbelievable but it’s long I’m pretty tired now has to be said so I don’t think I’ll do much Longer right still riding it’s way past 12 but I’m making really good progress I’ve hit a road section which has been well a bit of a lifesaver because I was struggling on the dirt so wet and boggy and I just can’t see where I’m going depends why I’m filmed I’ve just
Been trying to keep it rub side down but I’m still going I don’t think I’m going to make it to Cambridge that’s for sure all right here I am I’ve gone till pretty late say it’s about 4:00 a.m. well no 3:00 a.m. 3 4: a.m. anyway I’ve lost count I made it
Past I think it’s uh roson anyway I’m getting a bit Delirious now been riding for a solid solid chunk of time and I’m feeling absolutely nailed I found this golf course cuz it always has nice grass don’t know if I’m allowed to be here but I’m going to get a couple hours
To skip because I’ve absolutely smashed it and uh I’m feeling pretty tired now oh that’s hot that was hard right that night good morning you beautiful people I don’t feel beautiful at all I slept like absolute rubbish about 2 hours 2 hours and I was just so cold feeling definitely worse for wear
My knees are saw and my ankles are s but it’s just the continuous riding that I’m not really used to doing right I better get going because I’m getting really really cold and um I just want to get this done now morning it’s sometime in the morning I’m back on a bik
Riding knees a bit soft a little worse for where well broken the back of it now so gets flatter now but I want a coffee ASAP nothing’s open yet before the sun got up I needed to have a rest although I didn’t think I could complete this in one go without
Sleeping so where did you decide to stop stopped in a nice golf course I did she lovely except they had the bloody Crow scarers on there bom we’re heading north towards Cambridge we’re in Essex I was so lost where I am I’m just following my navigation right on the bike we go New
Market coffee let’s go bum it’s tough going today but I’m going just do what I can keep plotting on and eventually we’ll hit the all see this is this is the dream hot food quasa and a coffee made by these lovely guys right here we go food baby oh yeah
Nothing like a good bit hot food in the morning I literally didn’t mind what it was just hot food it has to be said this route has been pretty unrelenting it’s been you kind of never get a rest bite from being on the pedals but you are rewarded with
The most incredible bits of scenery for me wasn’t racing anyone just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it on my Own quick update I’m 71k from the Finish oh it’s so beautiful here but I’ve just gone through an absolute downpour um but yes 71k to go just plug it just plug away 71k I can do that 40 almost 40K from the finish I’m really suffering now ah everything’s Hurting now norick’s known for being flat and I’ve got to say that’s why I love it cuz the great thing is to come to the end of the ride or the last 100K and it’s all flat yeah baby dors it horrific Now I’m on home straight there’s about 25k of just long straight road and I’m on it this is what I was looking forward to about 14 hours ago it’s been over 32 hours 588 km and I’m finally getting to see the North see oh what a
Journey I’ve loved it and hated it all the same time it’s been brutal weather’s been hard terrain’s been difficult but it’s been an amazing experience and an eye opener at that but here we are we’re going on to the Beach my first Sola Ultra Insurance epic off-road on gravel completed and I’m so happy about it I’m not one to normally ride on my own but I’ve got to say I’ve loved every minute of it just no music nothing just me in the open outd doors and this great route so
The old chalk way is finally completed it took me 33 hours to complete in total that’s all my lapse time so that’s with my rests short ones at that what was the hardest bit the hardest bit was the Relentless terrain uh gravel rides and off-road Ultras are just so hard because it’s just
Unrelenting that would be one of them hardest bit also the weather was not on my side the only thing that was on my side was the wind and that really did help me a lot I had tail wi the whole way across the country what would I
Change well for starters I wouldn’t wear Road shoes that was a big error so if you’re taking part on a gravel ride I would not wear Road shoes but unfortunately I didn’t have a chance because I didn’t have any of my mountain bike shoes with me the bike the
Wheels I mean it speaks for themselves doesn’t it it was uh a joy to ride and yeah it was amazing to be able to take this thing from lime reges yesterday all the way here what a ride would I do it again probably not in a
Hurry so here we are the sof Fest is over 32 hours later from the channel to the North Sea the old chalk way is complete I hope you enjoyed it and let me know in the comments section below what you thought of this Epic Adventure massive thank you to kex wheels for
Helping make this video possible and I hope that I’ll see you in the next video but it might be after a while because I need a rest anyway if you like this video give a big thumbs up and I’ll see you Sometime Flanders with its Rich racing Heritage in numerous cobbled climbs or burgs as they’re known in Flemish is an absolute must bucket list destination for any cyclist so naturally we’ve come here to see if I can ride all 59 Bergs in a single ride can we complete
Flanders in a day whose idea was this [Applause] To make this ride possible we’ve teamed up with light-skin likes and Flanders tourism cycling INF I don’t know why we’re doing that you actually have 72 hours to complete the challenge you click a link on their website which connects your straa and then as you complete each segment of
Each Berg it ticks them off if you do them all within 72 hours then you can come here to the Centum rondan flerin where they will engrave a cobble with your name on it and put it in the Wall of Fame how cool is that cycling in Flanders suggest doing the flandrian
Challenge over three or 4 days and have roots that you can download on on their website however to do it in one ride our route starts in garad Bergen where we will tackle one of the most infamous Bergs the mure before heading over to the Bergs around Udin and the likes of
The Fearsome cinberg and Oda qum from there we will make our way towards cite and on to kemel to include the burgs from gent vevel gam and hopefully finish our ride it’s 290 km long with over 4,000 M of climbing and if you’d like to
Have a go at it yourself well the commo link is in the description time to get cracking it’s 6:00 a.m. about 3° and we’re in gedsb for the start of this ridiculous challenge just over there behind me is actually the Remco venol fan club uh you you couldn’t make it up
Anyway we’re at the bottom of the mure the first of the big burgs that we’re going to take on without any warmup straight in that’s going to hit it and then well that’s going to be followed in quick succession by the bosberg so let’s uh well let’s let’s get going it’s going
To be a long [Applause] Day so I’ve just started the first official segment and by doing that I’ve started the countdown timer 72 hours has started now for me to complete all of them hopefully it won’t take that long because we don’t have that long I’m hoping for more like 12 hours but let head Cracking one down this is it climb number two the bosberg and these two climbs coming in quick succession is often a feature of omloop Head News blad and also tour of [Applause] Flanders take SP on your Zone every [Applause] Day it back along the way we Came This is berg 3 the Vonberg K’s about 58 seconds I’m going to be double that but uh the sun’s starting to come up what glorious Sunrise yes I love it when you start in the dark and you get Sunrise it’s great Come now what’s done is dark blazing yellow eyes you’re my rising star and somehow you have me come onpp honey you are my ring this is what epic adventure rides are all about like you get up in the morning it’s dark it’s a bit Grim but then you get sunrises and views like
This look at that amazing beautiful cloud inversions in the trees can’t stop for long though cuz I’m only three burgs in I got 56 to go got to uh never going to get it [Applause] Done So every time you reach a Burg cycling in Flanders is marked it out out on the road and there’s a corresponding straa segment I’ve got them all on my Wahoo it’s quite funny cuz it’s useful for navigation and knowing where you’re at but I’m about double the time on each of
These burgs compared to what the pros do but this isn’t a race if I was to race up them as hard as I could go I mean I probably wouldn’t finish it’s a real endurance task so I’m pacing myself is it my first Rodeo about 65 km in at this point done about
12 burgs although I’ve lost count and uh at the moment I’m feeling all right but I do need to press on and there’s a lot more Burks to [Applause] go [Applause] so when you’re doing a ride as long as this in terrain as challenging as this and having to contend with a northern
European climate which doesn’t always behave itself the bike and kit you use is incredibly important and you might have noticed that I’ve got a rather intriguing front light on and that’s the front light that we’ve been provided by light skin it’s called the NAA Road and uh well it’s intriguing shape is because
It’s Arrow you guys know how much I love Arrow just by saving a what or two here or there over the course of a 289 km ride I’ll take whatever I can [Applause] get The route has just taken us through Udin uh and past the Centum Ronda van vanderin so there’s a cafe here I’m going to get myself some local Delicacies have a quick pit stop look at this Eddie M old team car it’s all cool right so for my pit stop I’ve got a hot
Chocolate with this chocolate Olive pop and this local delicacy rat um the best way to describe it if you not had one and you absolutely should is it’s kind of like a sort of pastry case with a sort of rice pudding Center kind of a bit like a custard tart but rice anyway
They’re Great this challenge is as much an eating challenge as it is a riding one I got plenty of be fuel get all the carbs [Applause] In The cobbles are coming thick and fast now this had like four sectors almost back to back oh God this is tough it really takes out of you in ways that just other roads don’t and I’m not even [Applause] Halfway the burgs were coming thick and fast I was constantly ticking off iconic climbs many of which I’d only ever seen before on TV approaching though was one that scared me one of the big ones perhaps the most fearsome and Infamous Berg of all the cinberg This is it the copperberg the segments let’s go oh man this climb is often a pivotal moment in the tour of Flanders and when the tour of Flanders is on it’s just lined with screaming fanatical Belgian and flandrian fans not today it’s just me but that that’s kind of one
Of the coolest things about cycling and why you’d come here and do this mad challenge is because you know you can’t go and as easily go and play a game in Madison Square Garden or have a game of football in Wembley or whatever your sport is
That you like but you can come here and ride these burgs although I am questioning that particular live choice at the moment this is Savage Oh man and if you want to watch these climbs in amazing races then you can do on GTM plus but also we’ve got some good documentaries
Such as how to win the Tour of Flanders that’s on there too oh God it’s bloody hard that’s all you need to know what a wall This is a this one This is the tyan BG and there’s a picture of Tom Bonin there also known as the bonber the tanberg actually translates as just well tough Hill but it’s also known as the bonen BG because it’s where Tom bonen launched many of his race-winning moves in E3 halbeck and
Uh well one time he dropped his chain on this time as well but hopefully that doesn’t happen to me but oh it’s like 15% and like cobbles and horrible oh it’s tough It’s only 530 M though come on yeah a tough Hill y so the K on this clim is 55 seconds
And it’s taken me more than double that 2 minutes 5 Seconds bloody H humbling can really feel it in my legs now got about 100 km to go but we’ve had a load of really steep burgs in quick succession and the cobbles just take it out of you oh it’s hard This is the ud qum now one of the final burgs in this area before we head over to the Gent bevel gam sort of region towards quarri about 90k to go on this ride broke in the back this is going to sting [Applause] [Applause] Hopefully about 2 and 1 half hours left riding oh done well over 200k it’s going to be about 295k ride I think feeling it but Home stretch having completed 50 burgs it was time to cross through the city of quri and head West on an incredible bik path along the river Leia this would take us towards the Bergs of gent vevel gam so we could tick off the remaining nine plus 50k come on let’s have it Just coming into the last 30 km of this ride now I’m absolutely cream crackered but I know I’m going to get it done this has been amazing all I can think about right now is waffles and beer and panag and all the other great Belgian Treats this is it I’ve arrived at the final Burg the xand BG right going to smash it out and then I’m going to head to the Flander Center and get my prize my engraved Cobble to show that I’ve completed Flanders yeah let’s do It oh what a ride that was I’ve synced it up onto my phone connected The flandrian Challenge on stra and I’ve completed all 59 segments so I’m here at the Ronda van ferin Center to get my uh my Cobble with my name engraved on it so I can put it
On the wall of fame and to give you an idea of like oh that ride right I just have had a look at the stats 7,250 calories of it yesterday like it was big day out and uh if you’re interested it was 11 and 1/2 hours
Moving time and 13 hours total so yeah big day but what an amazing experience let’s go get that Cobble I’ve got my engraved mini Cobble so all it remains now is to stick it on the wall of fame and at the moment only around 720 people have completed the challenge and only a small handful of those have done it in one day like we
Did so where should I stick it a look here we go go here right in the middle There you have it the flandrian challenge Flanders completed and uh what an amazing ride that is and as mentioned this is something that anyone can do doesn’t cost you anything you can come here do the challenge and if you complete the segments then you can go
And get a cobble engraved like like I did which is fantastic and although we did it in one ride I’d probably recommend that you do it in three or four days over several rides which is what cycling in Flanders recommends on their flandrian challenge website and
They have roots that you can do and uh and take part in yourself you fancy it so if you’ve enjoyed this video and like to give the challenge a go yourself then give this video a thumbs up and subscribe if you haven’t already for more content and more videos of this
Nature and uh I’m going to go go now um exia Dak that means I Love You by and Flemish this video is not about me it’s not about the challenge it’s about the power of sport it’s about bringing people together for a bigger purpose for a
Greater goal doy Weir is one of Rugby’s most recognizable personalities and after being diagnosed with m andd in 2017 he was driven to help fellow sufferers and fund Research into this incurable disease his vision was a simple one he wanted a world free of M andd unfortunately doy is no longer with
Us but we continue to keep his dream alive 550 mi in 48 hours including all stops this is no mean Feats we had to earn our sleep earn our breaks because there is definitely no delay for the start of the match ultimately we’re a bunch of amateurs riding in the middle middle of
Winter this is an extraordinary challenge taken on by Ordinary People Mark and I are back but this time we’re doing a challenge with a purpose aren’t we Mark we are indeed it is early doors at the principality stadium for those not on British soil this is Cardiff Wales the capital and we’re going to Edinburgh yeah and this time I’m not
Actually wearing gcn kit no um I’ve actually gone and got myself some do AIDS Tartan what do we think it’s uh well I don’t know I’m sure gcn viewers are going to have a strong opinion on this lra I mean it’s divisive but I have to say it really sort of
Strikes quite an image when you’ve got a Pelon of what is going to be 200 Riders going through the British Countryside dressed like this yeah and it’s not just us s principality we’re heading 55 miles towards Edinburgh to murrayfield which is kind of the home of Scotland rugby
Isn’t it yeah yeah exactly so 5 years ago Rob way right that guy um approached me and said look shall we do something for his great late friend doy Weir to raise money for research and to look after those who are suffering with motor neuron disease and he said why don’t we
Carry the match ball for the big rugby match between Scotland and England between the stadiums between Edinburgh and London and I said great could possibly go wrong middle of February 500 miles in 2 days sounds great and uh we did that there was four or five Riders
And now look at it there’s 200 Riders here today and we got haning Bol which pretty Exciting here’s to what’s going to be an epic ride look forward to it Sorry and just like that we are underway a sea of bright yellow and blue tartans spread across the Welsh Countryside I was excited nervous and determined this is a challenge that means more to me than any other I have a personal connection to this horrific disease and
I am determined to do my bit well we finally escaping Cardiff it was a bit of a Ramy but uh rather than having angry toots of horns with this peleton it was actually lots of uh encouragement lots of people sort of waving and peeping away and it shows that the
Message has got out and this pelaton that’s now sneaking its way up through Wales and England and Scotland has really captured the hearts and minds of so many people the firefighters were out there clapping as fast with school kids coming out early days early days but
It’s a great feel in the peleton so Far One thing to be said from uh bike riders teaming up with rugby players is that they uh they cut a good shape uh a pelaton of uh rugby Riders it really is a scrum and little Hank Meister here look at him I’m the smallest of the lot
What’s going on tuck tucked in behind some of these prop forwards I saw you this morning riding with Mr Rob Wayne R ex Scotland rugby captain Bri line what’s it like teaming up with these robt rugby guys they’ve got a big engine I feel like we got proper the
Brotherhood I feel like you know I feel in the trenches with uh some some pretty big Burly men which is no bad thing I feel safe actually it’s good why are we at a rugby pitch I hear you ask on an Epic Journey from Cardiff to Edinburgh and it all stems from this
Jersey here and The Tartan Livery it’s all for doy who was a massive rugby player um ended up getting M andd motor neuron disease and raised insane amount of money there isn’t a cure for M andd and there needs to be so we’re raising as much funds as humanly possible so I’m
Not wearing my usual castelli kit I’ve been given one of the charity jerseys and uh doy was pretty loud character um he unfortunately passed away uh last year so uh it’s all in aid for him really and rugby was a big passion of his hence why we’re riding the Six Nations ball
From ciff to Edinburgh and we’re all wearing this very bright kit um which is actually quite nice cuz at the moment it’s not a challenge that me and Mark are doing and we’re not making you know it’s not about us it’s about a much bigger picture and so many people on
This ride have got incredible stories of why they’re doing such an epic challenge but for me it’s important to to you know do my bit and um and I hope I can do that by raising some funds anyway from rugby pitch the Sun is going
Down and then we are th into the night shift which is going to be pretty long I reckon anyway back to the riding the reception we got wherever we went was unbelievable and it really kept all of our Spirits nice and high And just like that we’re in the night shift the sun’s gone down mood is still good in the camp and uh yeah it’s quite nice going back into night riding R still here the temperature dropped but we’re still [Applause] going big Martin Johnson leading us up for K quick update Mr way right where are we how are we got on 155 miles in yeah possibly at touch more we’re at Newtown Rugby Club it’s it’s dinner time yeah and uh it’s got cold isn’t it it’s it’s pretty chilly it’s what is it we’ve done
10 hours 30 minutes 10 hours 30 minutes so you know we’re getting good we’re tapping away AR we we’ already got 400 miles left the spirits are really high we’ve managed our nutrition we’ve kept together we worked as teams and uh now we need some
Grub food fuel up fuel up let’s fuel up let’s go see you on the road as the night Drew in and the temperature plummeted the 30 Mi to our next stop for the night was a real struggle So that’s end of day one good old Martin Johnson sticking it in the Big Ring up the top there it is cold now it’s time for a quick Kip and then back on the road in the morning 180 miles done yeah not one and good morning 500
A.m. 180 m in Long Way To Go everyone’s ready lights are on balls ready right by the time we get going 200 miles plus planted day so uh another long day in the saddle ah yeah let’s go Moon still shining Bright after an early start breakfast was planned for us about 40 Mi down the road at rexen football club some fast roads and a cold start but ticking down the miles Before Sunrise years the sun brings a new day and two centuries ahead before the next proper
Stop what more do you want let’s go know what he’s doing it’s good to have Mr Chris Hoy joining the core group what on team led by team captain good old rust put in the front but we seem to be stopped at a train station anyway um hopefully it will take a
While still going strong though still loads of miles to go we’re slightly behind time a couple hours behind time so it looks like we might be missing our sleep or two I’m just hoping we not have to ride nonstop for the next 300 and something more
Anyway just keep pedling so quite a way through now it’s 4:30 on a second day um hit tallington and Ollie told me to get Crips chips and chips and gravy so um apparently it’s a yor thing anyway chips and gravy well just what the doctor ordered another Rugby field and plenty of rain Perfect here we are into the night shift Still rocking it into the York your Hills oh you faded the hills and Deals you got to love them especially in the night Tailwind quiet could be worse Last day we got to get the ball to the match and um it’s 12:00 and we’re basically running through come on team let’s go more cycling to come as if 370 Mi was enough let’s Go big stin done just arrived how you feeling Rob big stin done there yeah brilliant that was really really good we were actually flying along uh the A1 and here we are at anic and still a fairway to go just under 100 miles there yeah we got um 90
91 91 brain is now beginning to see function uh let’s get some so we’ll get some food we’ll get a big welcome from the fine fol an who up in the middle of the night looking after us there are people as crazy as we are that is very
Reassuring I can hear some bag pipes as well bag pipes oh [Applause] God 450 miles in and uh just under 100 miles to go so feel like we’re on home stretch we’re into Scotland been welcomed with some bag pipes what more you want um we’re not in Scotland yet are we we’re not in Scotland we’re not in Scotland yet yeah
We we’re under 100 miles day to go uh and team’s been cracking on on nicely um we picked up the pace uh through newcast and making our way up North Edinburgh is Insight but we still got a fair way to go and we got some TI bags Among Us and
Um little to no sleep for a few so doing well but the game is nearly there and uh we’ve got the match balls so we need to make it and I’ve got some grow to keep me going So it’s the morning and 70 M from Edinburgh the sun is coming out beautiful sunrise managed to capture still loads support as we get closer to Scotland but there’s nothing better than having a good sunrise and then it rejuvenates you even though you’re tired you still feel like you’ve got
That extra push all good and support from everywhere it’s been incredible oh I love it so good to have this guy back what a hero how you feeling what 400 mil in 400 miles plus still smiling still smiling I think we got some tired legs there but everyone’s doing bloody good so can’t
Complain and there is the [Applause] Border we are in D and what welcome uh so all the kids have come out to see the ball see Rob support what we’re doing here and the game is yet to commence this afternoon so I think everyone’s getting pretty excited about this big Scotland Wales game but uh the ball is
Getting a lot of attention so it’s just so good to see everyone out and support it I mean what what more do you want B knackers sh as we roll into Edinburgh the end was in sight all of the pain seemed to leave our legs and the atmosphere took over it
Took me back to tour Britain or riding toward Yorkshire the crowds lined the streets what a ride what a Ride [Applause] wow here we [Applause] are wow what a ride everyone participating in this ride and the widest Circle managed to raise an insane £700,000 now that is the power of Sport there you go we made it to Scotland to morfield the home of rugby here in Scotland we’ve delivered the ball the match ball for the Scottish Wales game the mission is complete all for doy wear and the M andd foundations amazing and uh I’m just so happy to be a
Proud of it if you enjoy this video hit that thumbs up button and if not just for the amazing sport everyone’s uh done for this incredible incredible charity and uh not much else to say some getting a bit emotional so I’m going to see you
Guys later I can’t wait to get in there and soak up for all the uh atmosphere love you all wet I’m wet I’m wet says tell you what getting likes on YouTube is far harder Nowadays I’m about to head off on a 200m ride on a 200b bike what sounded like a great idea back in a warm dry GCM Mega base is now looking a lot less appealing I’m preparing to set off at 5:00 a.m. from a dark cold and very wet Peak
District in the middle of the UK and try and make it back to bath before nightfall this isn’t just another attempt by my gcn colleagues to test my endurance we did genuinely want to see how a budget bike would Fair on an epic ride and as luck would have it or not we
Have some epic weather to deal with as well So within the first 20 minutes and that’s never good for any big ride let alone such a long one as this so I’m hoping I can punch through this Cloud but the weather has said to be headwind
The hallway and a lot of rain I mean a lot of rain about an hour in 15 miles down this is the wetest I’ve been in a very long time and think I’ve got around about 14 hours to go I mean I’m not going to
Lie this is not what I want to happen just 25 miles in on the main is Road been a bit of an adventure so far started at 5:30 it’s been pouring rain absolutely pouring it down head wi Relentless climbing through the lakes and a puncher but I’m going to grab some
Breakfast and while I do so I’m going to rewind the clocks so you can find out how on Earth I got here why gcn set me up to this and how I got hold of a 200 bike before my next challenge I enlist in the help of Alex because I need a
Little bit of advice on what bike to buy so here’s Alex all right all right you ready buddy and let me pop my bike up yeah it’s always difficult buying a bike secondhand but I’m hoping Alex has all the answers okay right talk to me I’ve
Got a challenge 200 M on a 200b bike I need to purchase one and then I need to ride it but the first step is purchasing can you help me 200 miles well I can do it kilometers I guess it feels like a cop out that doesn’t it yeah um okay so
£00 we can roll out new bikes can’t we First Things We Should immediately gravitate to I think eBay Facebook Marketplace maybe even local newspapers or um cycling groups you know local shops clubs some bike shops have secondhand stuff so you got quite a few options I mean that seir is massive goto
For ease Simplicity and the reach of what you get I think you got to go online I think Facebook Marketplace be the place to start for me okay Facebook Marketplace and then what am I trying what am I trying to put into the search box so I would literally just be
Searching small road bike so I’m riding through the peak so I’m hoping for an 11speed bikee you if you get 11 speed bike I’ll be amazed why but I think well you that’s not going to fit into the budget really the most important things that come to mind are making sure that you’re
Not buying something that’s damaged or it’s got really worn out components right okay I think I got it so I got my work cut out yeah I’ll see you back in the office hoping I’ve purchased a B that is going to survive I was hoping you might have got me a
Coffee here we are we’ve come all the way to Oxford because I’ve just met online well on Facebook Marketplace NASA who is whole kind of treasured Trove of of bikes and uh what did you do how come you’ve you’ve had so many bikes I was told by one of our fellow villagers
About a year and a half ago yeah look if you have a bike problem come to me right and take you to the shops if it’s cheap buy a bottle of wine and we drink it together yeah if it’s over like 10 or 12 20 I charge you discounted prices and it
Money goes all to charity I thought that’s a good idea keep me busy now I have spotted okay this is going to be absolutely perfect for the challenge and I think this is the one that we might shake hands over and hopefully I’ll be riding this 200 miles see how far I I
Get on it really but for now n thank you so much for your time appreciate pleas to meet you it’s lovely to meet you too H why is it got trials on it this is my new bike where’s the cover for the shifter it’s a giant
Elux SL meaning super light it’s got the you know what you’re talking about the try bars which is kind of that’s kind of what allured it to me f in the first place because I’m thinking I’m doing 200 miles on this I feel sorry for you yeah
One of the most important things I think is to get a bike that fits you and when you’re Buy in secondhand you want it to make sure you’re Buy in the right size because you can’t change the size of the bike you can replace the components but
Also to make sure that the stuff isn’t damaged or worn out good points to you for buying a bike which looks to be in good condition good set of wheels and a bike really help the performance of it and in terms of the gears well we got Shimano reputable brand it’s all that
Like entry level stuff this is going to need add dress in first what’s going on with this back brake feels okay front brake will be okay once we’ve adjusted it little cover oh it’s got a carbon Fork oh no way yeah there you go I’m concerned by the size but I think
Generally the bike we’ve got the tiniest little bit of easy maintenance jobs which most people should be able to do um if you’re unsure about maintenance jobs maintenance book is what people should check out one thing I wanted to do was thinking about slamming it there’s loads of spaces here which we
Can flip and put on the top all I need to do at home is to to change pedals into my own pedals yeah and I’m going to change the saddle just because I’m going to ride a saddle I’m used to because riding 200 miles that’s you know you
Don’t want the do you all right let’s get to it you’ve joined me post breakfast and the rain has stopped I hope I don’t talk too soon and now you must be caught up no there we have it you say when you buy cheap you buy
Twice second punch of the day I only bought one extra tube so now I’ve got to try and figure out how to sort this one out this is not good this is really not good let’s hope I can fix this and get back on the bike
Because otherwise I’m in for a hell of a long day how do you lose one your energy Han um I had to pump eight punches up let’s get packed up let’s get on the bike and let’s see if I can get without another puncher never give up never give in no
Matter how much is against you I’ll tell you what no matter what bike you’re on doing a long endurance ride across the country like this it’s amazing what kind of Adventure it takes you on you’ve got to be spontaneous and you you’ve got to just take the plunge
Because just running through a farmyard met a nice farmer R up a farm track yes I’m on a 200 crib bike it weighs a ton 25 mil barely get off it but yet I think for me that’s what Adventure is all about doesn’t matter what bike you’re riding it just means
Getting out no matter what the weather wind rain or shine and just take it for what it is 10 m at a time I’ve hit town worth 85 mil in and to be honest I’ve just given up on these tires I’m just getting continuous punches so I’ve G and bought some
Cheapest the cheapest tires I could find got for 60 quid which is go for my budget but anyway I think it’s I had to It so I’ve been so lucky in my career to ride some of the best bikes money can buy but this has really done an incredible job nonetheless yes yes it’s more sluggish yes it’s harder on the climbs yes the wheels aren’t so good it’s not so stiff it’s not so light but
Having said all that it’s doing the job I’m 100 miles in all I’ve changed is the tires so whatever your budget a budget shouldn’t stop an adventure I guess rather the opposite it makes an adventure I’m saying all this with still 100 miles to go and a lot more rain to push
Through and a lot more hard griffy roads to forge through so I guess I should check back with you in a few more miles so here we are how in Earth did I get here we’re inside in sester and uh well I had multiple punches in my wheel
And bought on the water and as much as I tried to fix it I just couldn’t fix it with patches so I managed to wave down a car and I’ve jumped basically 15 mil to siren sester to a bike shop which was actually closed but I asked the owner
Dave Evans to open it so he could give me an inner tube so I can get back on my way so 40 miles to go but I did miss 15 mil by catch a lift which I guess is cheating but I had no other choice every single Bike Shop was closed and I
Couldn’t fix the puncher so there’s not much I could do anyway back on the bike torrential rain what more do you want in life let’s Go I’m back on the bike and back into a lot of rain and a big headwind 40 miles to go let Go we’re straight all way to the main road through Oak see 165 miles on the clock if only I had a rowing boat I probably would have got there quicker the bike’s definitely starting to get heavy and I can feel every single Incline [Applause] 45 miles to go and I’m really battling into H now it’s a real test of your minding power when you’ve been soaking wet for 5 or 6 500 a.m. and you go past your home with 25 miles to go now I just got to fight on
So here we are I’ve made it to Bath the iconic Cresent I managed to ride from haage in the Peak District on a 200 lb bike I got off the internet I’ve got to say I’ve had an amazing time actually no I haven’t it’s been tough It’s been torrential rain I’ve had multiple
Punctures I’m freezing cold and the wor of it all is I aimed to do 200 mil and I’ve done 195 mil I’m ending the ride now I am not going any further I’m not wanting to do the extra five miles just to the secret because I’m so cold I’ve been riding
Since 5 a.m. I’ve averaged 17 M an hour I’ve got a ride time of 11 hours and to be honest I’m ready for bed the one thing I am GNA say though is I did have to Hitch hike from Borton on the water to siren sester at 15 mil so I did get
In the car for that so take it or leave it you can’t win them all anyway I hope you’ve enjoyed this video I hope you’ve enjoyed watching me suffer I’ve survived the bike survived and I got to say a massive thank you for you guys to watching let me know in the comment
Section below if you would try something mad like this anyway I’m absolutely freezing so I’m going to go and get warm now I’m going to attempt to qualify for the gravel World Championships yep you heard me can an xpro track cyclist qualify to race at the World Championships how hard can it
Be well I’m going to find out and it’s probably going to be very hard a few months ago I wanted to set myself a challenge something that will get me motivated and whilst I was searching for an event to do someone at gcn meab base said man on why don’t you
Try and qualify for the gravel world championships do you know what I was like yeah that’s a good idea now that I decided what my aim was I need to to find a qualifying event there are races all over the world from France Poland us and Australia that Riders can take their
Pick from that are part of the gravel World Series there are 17 races in total but I’ve chosen to do this race in Denmark why did I choose this one well there’s only one reason because it was the flattest it’s 160 km long and is a pan flat course I’ll be honest after
Completing the steamboat gravel race in Colorado 224 km at altitude I thought this was going to be a walk in the park so now now that I’ve chosen my event it’s time to get the hard work and the training in and if you want to know how
I trained for this event then there’s going to be a whole video coming on everything I did to the channel very soon so we have touchdown in Denmark we actually arrived last night I’ve picked up my argon 18 bike for the race which is an absolute Beauty but I will show
You that later but we’re just on the way to the race now going to sign on this afternoon get all my number get everything prepped but feeling quite scared nervous we’re not far out from the race and it is very flat and very windy possibly the windiest place I’ve
Ever being the trees are like on the slant okay so I’ve arrived at the start area and this is the Expo there’s a few different stores going on but I’m going to go and sign on now I’m not taking my hood down because it is so windy and
Quite cold so this is going to be me is this where I sign um get my start number oh cool um I am number 364 I wasn’t expecting it to be so windy it is pretty windy yes not used to this a little bit more more less tomorrow tomorrow
Hopefully yeah perfect thank you very much okay I got my uh start number in my little bag with some time and chips number and all the details now that’s all left to do is get myself ready for the start tomorrow now you might be wondering what
Bike I’m using well I’m on the Argon 18 Dark Matter a pure racing machine and the perfect bike for the job now this bike has got a lot of cool equipment on it I’ve got the hunt 42 limited Arrow gravel Wheels got pelli tires and you might have also noticed that I have
Suspension yes I’ve got the red shift Pro shock stem and seat post and hopefully that is going to smooth out all the bumps so I’m not going to get any fatigue in my upper body cuz that is something that I have struggled with so hopefully it’s going to be nice and
Smooth on the gravel but if you want to find out all about this bike in a lot more detail then head over to the gcn tech Channel where I’ve done a video on all my equipment my nutrition my clothing everything that you need to know the course is three laps of just
Over 50 km long and the course has a little bit of everything in it you kind of start on gravel you go to the coast you hit really loose sand then you’re on the Beach and it’s really hard comact sand and then you go into the woods
Where there’s just loads and loads of gravel tracks and I’ve never actually I’ve never been to Denmark before but the gravel rideing out here is actually really good okay so it’s less than 24 hours to the race now I’ve signed on I’ve got my numbers I hope I’m ready but this is
Possibly the windiest place I ever been but also the most beautiful place I’ve ever been the sand is so white I just just wish the Sun was shining and it was less windy that would make it even better so it’s now time for my pre-race meal and of course I’ve gone for the
Classic spaghetti bnise can’t go wrong with that but this afternoon I was actually planning on going out and doing a bit little bit of a Recon of the course or some of it but I feel pretty bunged up which I’m actually quite gutted about doing all this prep and
Then getting to RAC there not feeling 100% but there’s nothing I can do about it now so I’m just going to put my big girl boots on and crack on with it as best as I can just going to eat this and have an early night and hopefully I’ll
Feel a little better in the morning so just got to the start and I didn’t think it was going to be raining but it has been pouring down overnight it it’s freezing cold but thankfully the guys that are gun 18 have let me standing of a shelter underneath their
Tent but yeah I was not expecting it to be this cold but yeah not long about half an hour till start now so might go and do a little bit of a warm up but not sure how warm I’m going to get in this weather I’m a little bit scared but also
Nervous all the emotions why do I do this to Myself start line always feels a little bit nervous and I always get like flashbacks when I was racing everybody looks very professional I feel like I’ve entered a pro race I mean there is quite step Pros doing it so it pretty much is a pro Race so I’m at the start line and I’m grided in the first top 25 don’t know if that’s a good thing or not um around a lot of pro riders which is quite scary but I think the start is going to be absolutely Carnage there’s like nearly a
Thousand Riders behind me probably me but yeah wish me luck hopefully see you out there So the start was neutralized and once the neutralized car pulled off we hit this really loose gravel and it’s kind of like gravel that I’ve never really experienced before it was almost like just chipping Stones it’s just lots of really loose Stones absolutely everywhere and because it had rained a
Lot the night before and the morning of the race there was just massive puddles of rain everywhere and you couldn’t quite figure out how deep the peddle was when you hit it so that was quite Scary I thought this is a really long race I’m not going to get carried away like I have done in the past so I kind of like rode at my own Tempo quite a few Riders overtook me and then I kind of settled into my own pace we didn’t go onto the beach
Immediately but we hit quite a Sandy section it was kind of in the dunes and then we hit the Beach just on the beach section now of my word it was basically like battle on the beach but 160 km of it especially when you’ve got nearly a thousand Riders all come to this one section that is probably wide enough for two Riders we had to get off and walk so
There was a little bit of of walking involved I’ve never been so Sandy muddy and gritty in my life it was literally everywhere I think I had half the beach in my mouth at one point and I’m so glad I had glasses on because my eyes would have been
Destroyed so it was about 25 km into the race and we hit this really long straight Gravel Road that seemed to go on for absolutely ages my God oh the wheel and I just couldn’t hold the wheel Riders were coming past me I was dropping the wheel and I felt like I was
Giving everything but my legs were just going backwards so that was um a little bit um heartbreaking so all your effort was going in but you just couldn’t keep up story of my life really but I have to say um because I rode the red shift stem
And seat post I felt such a big difference when I hit the really bumpy stuff like my arms or upper body did not hurt one bit I never felt like it was too bumpy and some of the roads were really bumpy there was like proper not sure what is but it was
Pretty bumpy and I could see no Riders around me like their whole upper body was shaken but mine actually SM felt pretty smooth so then we hit another part of the beach and it was a really long straight section and to get onto the beach we had to go through quite a
Lot of loose sand and I know my sand riding skills and it’s not very good so I got off and I did a little bit of a run until I hit the hard Sand there was a rider that came past me and literally went head over heels cuz his front wheel just hit the deep deep sand and face full of sand so I’m glad that wasn’t me at least yeah so a little run and then onto the beach which was a
Really really windy section and it felt like it went on for a long Time [Applause] and then there was riders coming past me and saying you know come get off my wheel get the wind and I was trying to get on the wheel but I just couldn’t stay on the wheels which was yeah not good for the morale let’s say
That at this point I was really feeling it I felt like i’ done well over 100 km when really I’d only just done over 50 km and I had my head down down I was just pedling getting on with it and I missed the turn I don’t know what to say this is
Not going to plan I’ve just had to stop cuz I somehow went the wrong way cuz I’ll be honest I was just and my head was down and I missed the Turning so um yeah but I feel like poop I don’t really like Quitting okay so I’ve just come to stop I am 72 km in and I’ll be honestly don’t know if I can carry on I have nothing left in the tank I just feel like I’m going backwards the whole time and it feels like I’m swallowing razor
Blades everything in me is like I should carry on and just get around but then I’m like I’m just going to put myself in a hole cuz I feel absolutely awful it is a really tough decision to make because you’re like oh like I’m going to
Be a failure and this and that and then I’m like no like I wasn’t feeling great I put myself on the start line I gave it my all I I just couldn’t do it I think it’s really important to show this on video because a lot of our videos especially
I’ve done in the past where I’ve done events and they’ve gone quite well and you you kind of you know you can finish the events and it’s all rainbows and sunshine whereas this kind of happens every now and again and I think it’s really important to show that because it
Doesn’t things don’t always go to plan and that’s okay cuz that’s just life one thing that definitely didn’t hold me back though was my equipment I just want to say a big thank you to argon 18 hunt and red Shi for being involved in this video because I
Definitely can’t fault anything on that bike this time it was just me and my legs so the top eight male finishers were all Danish and that kind of shows you have to be a true Danish Viking to do well in this race the winner of my race was Tessa naphis from live
Collective racing that did it in a rapid time of 5 hours and 9 minutes but out of all the starters in my age category only 17 finished the race it wasn’t only me that was struggling with the brutal conditions today and even current sudal quickstep Pro Casper ASG green could
Only finish 27th after suffering a tubless valve problem as well so to answer your question no I didn’t qualify for the gravel World Championships and turns out it’s actually really hard to Qualify but if you did enjoy this video make sure to give it a big thumbs up let me know what you thought of it down in the comment section below even though it didn’t go to plan and I most definitely didn’t qualify for the World Championships but if you want to find
Out more about my bike head over to the GCM Tech Channel where have them an in-depth look at everything on the bike but now I’m going to find some strep s some LM zip and get him to bed and probably stay there for the next few days It’s go time 4:00 a.m. alarm was worth it we’re all set we’re packed ready we’re heading to the start line we’re about to take on Unbound 200 I’m so excited it’s going to be Mega I’ll see you later okay all right have a good ride cheers enjoy the day
Thanks yeah you too thank you okay take it easy know 200 mil of gravel Awaits we’re [Applause] Together I’m in America at arguably the biggest gravel race in the world Unbound 200 and I’m lining up with the pros thanks to Alchemy Reynolds and red shift I’ve been set up with a dream gravel bike to take this beast on I’m nervous I’m really excited and I’m also very naive and
Apprehensive cuz I’ve got no idea what’s ahead of me can I get a cheeky results or will this turn into a battle of survival I guess there’s only one way to find out this year’s edition of Unbound is 205 Mi long with 99,100 ft of climbing it’s
Known for its Tire slicing Flint heavy mud if there’s a sniff of rain Punchy climbs and Rocky gullies starting and finishing in Emporia Kansas the route takes one big anticlockwise loop on mostly gravel roads there are two points for water refills and two checkpoints we can receive help from a support crew
Outside that you’re on your own and I’ve actually managed to rustle up the best support crew going in the form of my dad Thanks Dad if you can try and find some lube what sort of lube any lube any Lu and this is the setup I’ve gone for Alchemy have sent me their lcos frame set out of Colorado Alchemy known for their custom handmade titanium and carbon frame sets the like is actually their first production model which retains all the quality that they’re known for but brings the bike to a more
Affordable price point renolds decked me out with a top speec gravel orientated Black Label ATR wheel set perfect for what’s ahead on this route the beauty of them are is that they’re designed to be run on road gravel or both red shift completed the build with their shock
Stop Pro suspension stem and this is something I’m really going to need to rely on because in a recent fkt attempt my arms were totally shot so I need this for the comfort in my upper body which I really believe is going to translate to extra speed completed the bike with 45
Mil wide tires wider the better in my opinion I’ve gone for inserts enough sealant to sink an army of elephants and two small bags here and there for my food and Spares total weight 9.4 kilos of this bike so light enough to really rock on and Unbound and it’s got a
Banging paint job too so I’m going to get the duster out and you can enjoy that well I leave it there and get ready for race day ha come on everyone once I give the bike a bit of polish off don’t forget you can head over to gcn Tech
Channel now to get a much deeper dive into everything I’ve used kit bike equipment hydration nutrition to get me through Unbound because it has been one heck of a plan and Mission so there we go made it to the start line about 10 minutes and then we’re all off feel rather competitive being right at the front with the Pros we together Together Right Bit of an update the start was absolutely unreal so cool so good to be back just went straight into that like Bunch race mode loving it sunrising chipping away and then we’ve just hit the mud of Doom I’ve never seen mud like it in my life most people are just running with their
Um I’m having to kind of run on the grass otherwise your wheels just G up I’ve had this broken kind of nearly broke my chain got jammed stopped and got that done even the even the Moto can’t get through it that’s what it’s all about Though and I’m definitely getting to the finish it could turn into a bit of a bit of a battle to get there at this rate 20 m in over 2 hours to start this race is just insane but this is what it’s all about Unbound so this has turned into a different sort of race than I was expecting reassessing the goals a little bit and trying to keep on pling on make it to finish now I’ll be Happy Welcome to the Unbound bike wash so I’ve just been washing down the bike and I need to do it because it’s been so grimed up and I’ve just got in there got much of the M as possible hopefully things go A bit smoother after that one but I’m thankful for this River
Oh this race been harder than I thought it would be not going to lie about a quarter of the way in now 50 mil just passed through the first water Oasis my body is absolutely shut already mainly just from that muddy sector I was carrying my bike and heaving it through the
Mud it was like bit on the set of Ninja Warrior like a muddy Ninja Warrior wow big first experience of [Applause] Gravel call it a ea moment I’m looking for the point where my dad’s going to be with some much needed water food and then try and get back on the bik hit the road that’s been a wild ride so Far I need a load the chain loop we don’t I think I forgot to pack the chain loop huh I think I forgot to pack chain loop oh if you need it I really need some okay I need a oh I need my uh my I need a hydration pack filled up
Dad up up thank you cheers for that yeah thanks um right I’m going to keep on going yeah you’re doing good um okay I’ll see you in a bit your bag’s okay yeah okay all the best okay take care okay look out yourself yeah yeah yeah in a bit
Yeah going for a rough patch feel uh pretty crap actually not sure what happens cuz felt good get into the checkpoint and then as soon as I got going again I just got a headache and feel just really rubbish just like this real big cramp in my stomach starting to really
Realize how tough this event Is Met a guy called Paul who’s kind of got me out on his wheel and then T me around a bit so good for morale just to ride with him I don’t want to get going and get with him again cuz he was like he was proper optimistic
I had a real tough moment just like felt sick and uh stomach cramps and the heat just getting on me so yeah I’m uh I’m in the pain cave now but I’m uh committed so my next thing is just getting to the water races keep rolling all right Thank can’t hold the camera anymore I’m uh really really bad thrown out of water mouth’s dry feel so so ill just hoping I can make it Oasis should be any any second now I’m in nearad way I’m not sure I can make it to the Oasis I’m starting to get a bit
Scared can’t find the Oasis I’ve had to stop under the shade and um um a bad way actually I think uh I’m going have to call it in unfortunely guys I’m generally uh little scared of continuing like this ging the mix my balls and got no
Water I’m going have to put someing mix on my head oh not finishing I’m not letting this beat me not I’m not bowing out of this one okay Connor what’ you say see if we can make it we’ve been in worst states before come on Conor can’t get up come on
Come on 7K 7K that’s what the man said here we go oh it’s rain feel the Rain That’s thank you so much thank you got pickles and Pepsis and everything how is it not far we got roaring Tailwind I need to try and make it and see what happens just like starting to be on the edge of throwing up thank you man thanks I really appreciate that
So get get to the Oasis yeah I’m going Try You got this oh man mhm going be a long Stop Somehow I’ve made it to the feed station I’ll tell you why I’ve made it because everyone in this race is so kind it’s just insane and everyone was asking me how I was doing trying to give me some water and this absolute Legend of a man
Came to the feed station rode back with a bottle of water and gave me a sip so thank you so much for that cuz honestly I was um about to just curl up in a ball in the Hedge and call an ambulance got about 10 Doritos packets water which was like drinking
Nectar from the gods I’m feeling like I can get back on my bike 120k to go 80 miles to Go riding again see it guys than see It wash it away and see what stays around and round we go now I lay my eyes at you live by my side radio loud yeah we get with with the top down but I don’t care I’m back up and running everyone I’m on my bike in a bin
Bag riding into a thunderstorm on the Kansas Prairie so of all the dumb things I’ve done in my life this one it’s definitely up there but I got a big smile on my face it feels good to be moving again I’m getting to that finish even it
Means I have to wear a bin bag Oh nice oh okay Jesus Jesus you’re doing well thanks I’ll take my time with this stop no rush need anything I’m all good H let me get the camel bag your the you’re the I must admit I didn’t think it’ be this Savage I be Savage but this is next level
Outrageous a better okay y all right yeah go for it go for It soaking up the last 30 miles got pizzza in my pocket got water in my bottles got mud on my face mud on my legs mud up my bottom got mud in my ears and I got a bush in my head oh my Jeus right I’m going to enjoy my little sunset walk jump back on my saddle finish this bad boy off badass ridiculous insane crazy awesome event and race I think I’ve ever done [Applause] More Buy keep going cutter got I’ve made it to the outskirts of Emporia I’m going to do it last little climb up through the university now and then it’s the Finish Line last mile or so Highlands Hill to go and then we’re home and dry that’s some feeding that’s honestly been one of the
Most mental days of my life there we go 200 miles a lot of mud thank you I thought I was done dzo at one point that is what it’s all about that’s some sight some feeling going to save it now Unbound wow bringing it home great job to Conor from Germany from Apple Dy man ride [Applause] On earth have I just been through 17 hours 11 minutes little uh little behind schedule from what I predicted didn’t know think I make it at one point I thought I was really really dumb and so I made it home finishing second last in 85th position in the
Elite a long way from the front with a whole heap of mad respect for what those who are up there are capable of but what an experience and to have Dad there made it even more special in fact it was the people that ultimately made this race so Unforgettable the camaraderie spirit and
Community without which I definitely wouldn’t have made it home to all who shared the road with me at some points thank you for getting me to the Finish big thanks too to Alchemy Reynolds and red shift for getting on board and helping get to the start line to begin
With the tour daion ultimate 1000 one ride 1,000 km long 26,000 M of elevation the equivalent of three times up and down Mount Everest this is without doubt the most painful ride I’ve ever done as you aim to cycle every major pass in Switzerland in a single stunningly beautiful but
Ridiculously tough ride well in the last 28 hours I’ve about 45 minutes sleep having never done anything longer than 380 km about 7 months ago I decided that this would be a good idea can I complete it only one way to find Out this this is this is ridiculous this is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life I’m struggling to hold my head up cuz like my neck muscles have gone my knees hurt my lower back hurts my shoulders and neck hurts and I’m just for the longest 5 km of my Life previously on gcn you may recall Connor and I taking on the tour to stasion on separate occasions the standard event a 250 km route taking on the height of Everest is absolutely Savage on its own it destroyed both of us and I had a spectacular Bonk on the final climb
However the organizers have invited us back for more and have two new even harder events I’ve never done anything this hard or this long with this much climbing but I want to find out what I’m made of this is the route throughout it there are reboost stations where you can
Sleep and get support support Elsewhere on the course is forbidden so this event is semi- supported if you want a shorter challenge there’s also the 555 km route the original taion and some shorter Grand Fondo options all set in the beautiful valet region of Switzerland this beautiful bike I’m riding is a
Trigon ar ar standing for all round which is ideal because I’m riding all around Switzerland as quickly as possible we’ve also got these beautiful Reynolds Black Label 46 Pro disc brake wheels absolutely superb the latest topof the range wheels from Reynolds which are also helping supporters in
This event they weigh just 1397 g a pair now I’ve got a full video of the bike and kit set up over on gcn Tech so be sure to check that out there’s loads of useful information in there about the bike setup and the kit choice for Ultra
Events like this and I explain the choices I’ve Made I’m on the start line I’m off in about 5 minutes I’m nervous but I’m excited this is by far the longest thing I’ve ever done to give some context but the longest ride I’ve done before was 380 km this is way more than that can I
Complete it the very only one way to find out AI their goal and now on stage I call riding for gcn Oliver Bridge Roo One This is it the first climb heading up to shampe laak climb I’ve done before in gravel epic and uh well it’s a beautiful little ski resort the top it’s it’s uh known as Little Canada now this route is incredible and I can’t wait to show it
To you because is it goes to some of the most beautiful places on Earth uh in Switzerland when we get around that grindle valve and stuff on the goard path it’s in Unbelievable one of the things that appealed to me about this event as well as the amazing scenery is the semi supported nature of it so Ultra endurance events they’re going from strength to strength they’re getting more and more popular you know things like the Transcontinental and Race
Across America and stuff but with the Transcontinental it’s it’s a pretty big step cuz it’s completely self-sufficient whereas for me this is I guess maybe something of a gateway drug to something like that on the second climb they called the lane now the bottom section of this oh my
Days so steep pacing plan just went out the window I mean I had to do about 250 WTS just to get up it it’s that thing is it you know the best laid plan doesn’t survive contact with the Enemy so PL Example the first REO station’s quite a jump it’s 180k and it’s at idler where the UCI base that they uh ironically don’t have any jurisdiction here so uh yeah I’m just going to ride right past them but at that reboot station I’m planning to just take on some supplies not have a
Proper start up my plan and it’s well it might change I’m going to try and get to uh what’s it called grindle Val the third Rebo station and I’ll have a sleep there I think I’ll be like 24 hours riding nice so looking at the clock about an
Hour from Sunset and then I’m going to be riding Into the Night and uh well in the mountains I’m excited yeah never done it before but that’s time for is there going be [Applause] Good how you doing yeah I feel all right it’s going to be uh it’s going to be tough hitting it out but yeah we’ll be all right right crack on come see you in a bit nice one see you Later all right Yeah I’m struggling a bit okay my uh like from on that climb after the first reboot yeah start to feel my right knee okay and since then it’s just been like ah it’s all I can think about it’s just my knee just hurt okay and so well
I’m going to I’m just limping limping like this whole like leg I’ve just been limping all right and like people have just been like reeling me in and coming past me it’s so demoralizing okay but like um I’m going to just get to the reboot reboot and just have a rest get
Some food have a proper stop there yeah have a little like sleep and stuff yeah and then crack on yeah but um I stopped and like move I stopped and like dropped my saddle a little bit Yeah I think that’s helping okay but yeah just so you’re Aware you’ve had 45 minutes just let you know what you had 45 minutes sweet do it all Again this is without doubt the most painful ride I’ve ever done parts of me hurt that I didn’t know could hurt my wrists hurt my knees hurt my lower back hurts my shoulders and neck hurts and I’m just my tummy hurts too this is all the stuff I’m trying to eat oh man
Man this is I’m not going to forget this one in a Hurry this is um torture it’s just so much like different pain I’m experiencing it’s like aches like everywhere yeah this is something else this ride oh man my plan changed rather than sleep in the day and ride through the whole night I decided to try and push on to the
Andat reboot station and sleep there I’ll see you all in a bit catch you later good luck This climb we’re on now is the gr shy and it’s one of the most beautiful parts of Switzerland it’s absolutely stunning Valley and to the right up here when we get to the beautiful ski town of grindle you can see the Iger The North Face of
The Iger on the right up here imposing Itself in the last 28 hours I about 45 minutes sleep [Applause] I reached andat and treated myself to some proper sleep a luxurious 4.5 hours with an alarm at 3:00 a.m. but not before stuffing as many car as possible into my face basically going to bed it was G sleep put an alarm on and then was blacked out and then the
Alarm alarm woke me up so I definitely uh definitely would get more sleep if I set and laugh bit There first climbing Descent of the day done chilly feeling better today after some actual sleep and there’s an absolutely stunning Cloud inversion coming off the clim it’s it’s Dawn so there a little bit of light Sun’s about to come up oh feeling much better still feel like I’ve ridden 500k though all things
Relative right let’s crack On oh yeah like honestly that sleep having that 4 and 1/ half hour sleep I got Jesus Christ that’s made so much difference um so we’re making good progress two big climbs now two of the biggest climbs in the event gotard and Burker I’ve done them before I know them
They’re beautiful so I feel quite positive about them um but they’re monsters and then it’s it’s kind of like Long Valley Road descent sort of thing down to visp visp is the goal we’ll get to visp then we’ll get another good quality sleeping before we hit the final leg [Applause] Tomorrow I’m just hitting the lower slopes of the San gotard pass um this is one of my favorites it’s a stunning pass and one of the best things about it is it has very little traffic on it because there are actually two roads up to San gotard
The one for cars which is like a dual Carriage Way and then the one we’re about to turn off onto which is the old Old Road you know you’re in Switzerland cuz everything has order even the cobbles are really ordered and patterned like a like a mosaic French cobbles no put them anywhere We are now halfway up the FKA pass the highest well the Summit is the highest point of the race the 2,450 M it’s a monster this one but I’m feeling good the perk past is pretty famous if you don’t know it it was in the film golden eye so you might have
Seen Sean connory and his dv5 on here not golden eye gold finger sorry it’s been a long day and um also it’s been used in grand Tours and the iconic photo on the fur Capac on the other side where there’s the uh empty Hotel beler on the corner Woo At visp I set my alarm for Just 4 hours sleep this would give me a wakeup time of 11:00 p.m. with the aim of completing the final 260 km and 9,000 M of climbing in one big hit I’ve just woken up oh my god oh I remember I I yeah it’s 2:00 a.m. we’re 800 km in and I’m in absolute agne my back and my neck are killing me D this is making me feel like I never want to ride a bike ever again I just I just got to keep Going the sun’s about to come up feel like it gives me a lift every time third time now this has happened on this ride that’s Absolut that’s nuts woo right come On beat Fel lots of beet fuel ah sorry man you go I arrived at the final reboost just seconds behind two other Riders I’ve been gaining on them all day and now with just 60 km to go I decided this had to be a quick Stop just left the final rest station I’ve got 53 km to go and three all category uh climbs left and I think I’m up into sixth place [Applause] [Applause] Overall I’m struggling to hold my head up that’s why I’m looking down all the time cuz like my neck muscles Gone and just wary of the time Gap behind I’d really like to hold on to my top 10 that I’ve currently got I know there’s Riders close behind I’ve got nightmares of this climb when I did the event before I got to the bottom of this climb and and I was in 16th
Place and then I lost 10 places on it the lights went out and I just was getting past and I honestly it’s suffer nightmares and I’m just worried I’m going to do the Same yeah it’s 400 m see it on my on my Wahoo they’re not behind me are they I can’t look behind [Applause] [Applause] Me upon reaching the summit of the quader I crossed the final timing mat completing 1,2 km with 26,900 M of elevation in 71 hours and 54 minutes and sixth place my neck is all that remained was to descend to verbi to the neutralized finish you did it
Buddy you did it that is without doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life that is the hardest thing I’ve ever done I made it and it was about several times where I never thought I was actually going to be able to finish this ride so
I’m kind of in a bit of shock but oh kind of lost the words but yeah big thanks to uh the organizers at the tour staion and uh also to Trion for brilliant bike and Reynolds for the wheels cuz on either of them skip to beat and
Um also like if you want to give this video a thumbs up don’t do it for me do it for the amazing crew that have filmed this because they’ve had probably less sleep than I’ve had and uh it wouldn’t have been made without them and they were
Amazing and they helped me through it and I I wouldn’t got through it were not for them they’re the unsung heroes yeah I’m going to go and have a sleep now for more than like 3 hours can we go where cars can’t to where a fair or a helicopter is advised
The mission is can we get to the most remote Pub in the UK my question is who put a pub here It’s getting glier and [Applause] Glier this is proper remote this is a proper challenge even though it’s just a day I mean I can see why we got warned that this was wasn’t to be taken lightly still a long way to go man to the Pub our journey starts here in Scotland home to world record holder but more importantly good friend Mark Bowmont the UK’s most remote Pub is located in invery a small coastal town in the Scottish Highlands and thanks to YOLO and Gore we are headed there for a pint
To get there we are taking a route we have never seen undertaken by bike starting at Fort William and traversing through the legendary no dark Peninsula at only 75 km how hard can it Be We set off on the 4-Hour Journey up to Fort William where our adventure would begin we found a hotel and got some sleep ready for an early Start chilly start in an early morning isn’t it Mark yeah I think the early start will pay off though because uh it’s a bit of an unknown as to how long this is going to take um so right now we’re by the Sea this is in the highlands on the beautiful west
Coast of Scotland and this is lo heel we’ve got the highest mountain in Scotland shrouded and Cloud behind us and the first bit looks pretty straightforwards following the Caledonian Canal as if we were heading up towards in veress but then after about 20K head off into the rough stuff
And the noart peninsula has quite a reputation I’ve never been there before so uh I think we should get going yeah it’s going to be a long day and that’s I guess why we’ve packed a lot on the bikes as well because we just don’t know
How long it’s going to take us and if we’re going to be staying the night so we’ve got bivy bag sleeping bag etc etc but more on that a little bit later and it’s about time we hit the road the gravel let’s do it you got It this is the start of a good Adventure isn’t it mate no complaint we got a headwind but uh it’s nothing it’s nothing honestly no dark is legendary in Scotland so uh you know I can’t help that this is uh lulling us into a full sense of security [Applause] it’s so utterly beautiful going up the Caledonian Canal this is not the sort of scenery where you want your bike computer beep beep beep beep be at so we both turned our notifications off and uh went the wrong direction so can’t blame our Wahoos but uh they were screaming at
Us if they if we hadn’t turned off notifications but can you blame us look at it absolutely great this road happens to run out and we’re now going to have to do a u-turn so um yeah there’s a there’s a cautionary tail in there somewhere beautiful scenery slightly
Distracting we might have gone the wrong way what’s an adventure that getting Lost Well we’re getting on for about halfway in terms of distance but I don’t think we’re anywhere close to halfway on time this this is the first bit of tarmac Al be it probably one of the smallest roads you’d find in in the UK so far we’ve been treated to gravel along the caronan
Canal some amazing single track which was a bit of a surprise so really needing bikes that can cover pretty much any terrain yeah now the bikes we’re using the YOLO g21sf gravel tires but I’m going to explain more of the detail of this very bike in a tech video as well as the
Clothing we’re wearing we’re not wearing our gcn kit no Gore have sent out some of theirs and so we’re pretty excited to get wearing it and uh also I’m going to go into the technicalities of that very kit in that video but for now I think
We’re going to enjoy some of the nice smooth asphalt So we’re we’re skying alongside you can’t quite see cuz the trees here lockas and you know whilst as soon as we left Fort waram where we’re definitely leaving the last Big Town the bit that we’re heading into now really is one of the most remote parts of the British
Isles the road literally runs out in about 20ks time and we’ll be on to the the off road walking route really and uh if you think out there there’s over 200 islands in the west coast so we’re still very much on the mainline but you just forget even without leaving the main
Line how utterly utterly wild it can get and um you know I think that’s why so few people ever ever bring their bikes Here we’re well into it now and at some point up here the car the the film crew are going to have to leave us because there is no Road there is no way to get the car in so the fact that we can film this amazing but from some point up the
Road here we’re going to be on our own and that’s where it gets all exciting yeah it’s awesome look at this view I mean freaking Paradise So this my friend that’s the end of the road is where the road ends and the hike begins or the track now it has to be said we have taken proper precautions because we are going into the Wilderness where it gets even more remote than where we’ve just been so even PL
Planning a a deer ride like this um we’ve opted as you should to carry kit just in case the weather got gnarly and uh we ended up a lot later than we planned so out here in Scotland we’ve got midgy Nets the insects can be bad uh don’t
Think I don’t think they’ll be too bad with the with the wind today uh We’ve brought a a little sleeping bag sleeping roll and um just a little tarp because do you know what if you injured yourself or you had a major mechanical and you were stuck out in the Hills there it’s
Just good to know that you got that back Up Plan and there’s no phone signal up here so I’m even carrying a satellite phone and the crew are going to be able to track US and see where we are so you know it’s a ton of fun until things go
Wrong and all that so uh it’s good to it’s good to think ahead yeah and it’s not just overnight kit we’ve got we’ve also got plenty of clothing too just in case we are like Mark says just stuck out longer than we would have liked so
This uh this road from here is normally a a hiker’s trail and uh yeah there’s a couple of big passes before we get to the end of our day on the map it doesn’t look very far let’s find out let’s get it oh this where it gets gly Mark Mark yeah it’s getting Nly this is the first big climb 3 3 and 1/2 km up I mean no complaint so far we got the world to ourselves that’s what it feels Like [Applause] It’s getting hard Now we about to resort to walking first big climb done woo and now I know why everyone said it’s going to take it could take 10 hours to do 20K cuz that it’s slow going but nevertheless it’s good I love It So boggy look at that right all right go on get your foot Out oh no should a long way to go man The route was incredible take your bikes of a Terrain that might be Untouched by two wheels now with all the Epic scenery it was really easy to forget that the riding needed our full Concentration no broken legs we’re good we good it’s getting late into the day now the time is coming up to 7:00 as you can see the sun’s going down behind me and that is our Trail so it’s a proper kind of hi or bike bike on the
Shoulder jobby cuz there’s no chance you can ride this we are conscious that time is getting away from us we still got about 13k of this to go I mean I can see why we got warned that this was wasn’t to be taken lightly because it’s tough to bring bikes
Here this is proper remote this is a proper challenge even though it’s just a day look at that look for that beer it now turned into a battle against the rapidly Setting Sun safely navigating in the dark just wasn’t an option so we had to keep moving second to last
Pass down there over that silhouetted mountain and the Pu weights it really doesn’t look far it doesn’t look far w it doesn’t look far in terms of that hill but given what we’ve just been over the last 2 3 hours I think we’re going to be dark or pretty close to dark before
We get [Applause] There it’s uh it’s nearly 9:00 at night and um it’s going to be a beautiful beautiful sunset just just over the back of the Hill we’re not going to see it from down here but hopefully get it drone up and capture that so it’s taken us about 4 hours to
Do the last 11 km often carrying the bike pushing the bike bog I mean just some of the hardest Trin I’ve ever taken a gravel bike over and um it’s about 15K from here and the prospect of doing that in the dark even with lights is is uh
It’s kind of Next Level we knew it’d be early and we did plan for the worst and it just shows you it’s it’s unbelievable when you’re out here what an amazing day but I didn’t actually think we’d get stuck Out what’s going on Hank I mean it’s got pretty gnly we’re in the bogs but we’re cracking on what’s the plan mate So the plan is to find some water find a stream and find somewh to Camp what would your on a serious note what would your disclaimer be on this
Route for anyone watching this I suggest you don’t try this with a bike that would be that would be the disclaimer don’t and don’t do this on your own cuz it’s proper in the middle of nowhere it’s Gnarly so we have got to 10:30 and uh we’re calling it a night we to be honest I’ve massively underestimated this journey I I was along the road traveling at 35k Mark going how on Earth can it take us 9 hours but let me tell you the terrain
That we’ve just tried to take our gravel boat gravel bikes over has been one of the toughest terrains I think I’ve ever encountered it’s tough to walk across let alone take a bike across so we’ve uh we’ve kind of got to use our contingency so we’re going to Camp here we buy
Running water um we’re going to cook some food and then at the Cracker Dawn we’re going to head up the mountain but let me tell you this is B off more than we can chew I think We’re kooking we are kooking and it’s a it’s a nice mild night we got food we got a river we got a breeze so we can keep the midges away life feel good I mean we couldn’t be more in the wild if we tried right alarm for 5:00 oh I love an
Early morning Mark thank this one’s going to be quite we just got a mountain to climb in the morning that’s all that’s all we got to do no night No good morning good morning it is 5:00 and uh time to get up and out first thing pack away and walk across the river so we got about 6K more with hike and bike before we can get riding again luckily we’re all kitted up because it’s pretty chilly this morning so I’ve got
My leg warmers transition shorts the long sleeve my gortex jacket and my gortex trousers on just to keep nice and warm bik’s packed up do a job we’ve not done is put on these Beauties the first thing that we’re going to do is walk across the river so
We’re just going to get wet again but uh Grim Grim Grim Big Mountain climb has started it’s quite a treacherous Route And we’ve made it to the top oh that was tough so keep in mind we had alarm call at 5:00 this morning that’s taken by the time we uh packed up camp 2 and 1/ half hours to get to this point and uh you know down down down that’s good news but
Oh ah I mean I think it’s going to be another absolute epic whilst Mark took the sensible option of walking I was dying to get back on my Bike I’ve had more crashes on this ride than any other ride I’ve ever been [Applause] on made it down onto track yes we can now ride to the Finish Thank God now to the P for an early morning Pike how good does that feel and there’s the SE woohoo hard hard hard fought hard one ah I genuinely thought it would be a really really hard route it was harder than that and um we took contingency to stay out cuz you always should but you know it didn’t I just thought oh we’ll we’ll get over we’ll get over that Hill
Not a chance here we are 10:00 in the morning day two rocking up no doubt Peninsula you have delivered it’s been awesome and that’s Inverie what a journey the Old Forge Lodge or Old Forge Pub I should say we are very late for the planned pint we’re very very early because it’s not open yet uh but well done buddy survived another adventure I hope you guys enjoyed it I don’t think I’ve ever
Worked quite so hard for such a short bike ride if you look on a map we’ve not gone very far but from the canal riding up following the the lock and then of course the Epic double pass over the top I mean that is a walker route let me
Remind you a Walkers route we know that now it’s definitely not a cyclist route um massive thank you to YOLO for supplying us with their gravel bikes make sure you go check out the the tech video and so you can see an in-depth look at the bikes and also massive thank
You to Gore as well who kicking us out in this epic gear we needed it more than we thought we would cuz we ended up sleeping out in the wild yeah exactly that let us know in the comment section below if you enjoyed this video and if
You want to see more of Mark and myself and also give this video a big thumbs up if you enjoyed it right we need to shoot because uh we need to get a ferry we do see you later while on a training camp in 2019 team inos grenadiers including G Thomas
Cameron worth and Dylan vanala decided to ride an entire lap of mior 312 km just for fun and they did it in 8 1 half hours averaging 36 km per hour that distance and pace is mindblowing olle and I want to see if with the help of
Modern kits and careful planning how we would compare how close could we get could we perhaps Ms go even faster well it’s time to find out this is going to be Tough I’m Ready I’m scared to do a fart just in case it’s a poo this route is tough starting and finishing in Alcudia it’s 312 km long with nearly 4,000 M of climbing it’s a beautiful route that takes in the UNESCO world heritage site of the tramontana mountains and many stunning Coastal
Roads many of these roads are cycling bucket list material now we will be uploading our rides to straa so if you fancy riding the route which is also the OG 312 route then you can actually download the GPX from our stra activities try it yourself and see how
You compare to both us and inos this stunning any time of the year and inos Managed IT in 8 hours 37 minutes moving time their total time though was 9 hours 18 so they average just under 36k an hour and it appears they stopped for sandwiches just after Palmer it also
Appears they were just on a Zone 2 endurance training ride but the question is if we ride absolutely full gas can we beat the inos grenadiers yeah can us two Chumps going flat out beat the world’s best riding Zone too it’s kind of humbling actually yeah and we don’t if
We don’t stop for sandwiches as well then we I think we’ve got a chance it felt like a good idea yesterday and I’m incredibly apprehensive well let’s get cracking wish us lot energy energy you take some of my energy energy yeah let’s go right we can do it come On just coming past Port palena now oh it’s so beautiful it’s going to be a tough day and we’re going to need every bit of help we can get if we’re going to do it fortunately we’ve got Abus on board who’ve uh kindly agreed to help
Make the video possible and sort us out with their game changer 2 helmets you may recognize these as being worn by uh the likes of M Star Alney and World Champion mat Vanderpool and uh well this is a a size medium it’s 265 G but these Arrow helmets are going
To give us an advantage today we’ve tested them in the Wind Tunnel more on that later in the vid cuz now we got to crack on a [Applause] bit it’s got bloody tongue isn’t he well good job we prepared with spars thing is I put my stuff in the van
The tube is in my uh is in my rock sack yeah mine too I didn’t I didn’t inos probably had a team car with him with a spare wheel G we’re stuck here like a pair of lemons we desperately need an in tube that’s that’s the
Ticket Boys Roll in a good Eno your ride probably best thing about it is m hugely popular recyclist like actually saved our day saved our bacon quite Literally so we’re about a kilometer in to our first climb of the day The cold of fena it’s about 7 kilm long with an average gradient of close to 5.4% 5.7 5.7 it’s steeper than I said yeah but it’s still a fast time now in EOS according to straa averaged 18K an hour
When they did this on their ride we’re currently doing about that bit less but it does speed up this climb towards the top so we feel like we’re on Track [Applause] just hitting the top of that first climb we managed to go about the same speed as inos but I think they were taking it a lot easier than us mate so nutrition is going to be super important on this ride now when inos did
It looked like they mostly did it in zone two but we’re definitely riding quite a bit above that yeah so we’re going to need to fuel we’re going to rip calories aren’t we yeah so the basic strategy is for us to try and get in
About 120 g of beer fuel every hour it’s quite a lot yeah for people that aren’t used to consuming that amount of food and energy on the bike is something you need to build into your training what also helps is the type of food that you’re eating products like that are
Developed to try and be easy on your stomach and easily absorbed yeah so hopefully it’s another little trick of Our Sleeve that help us out we need everything we can Get so as you’d expect we’re using all the the tech marginal games we can you know wax chains all around but in terms of the difference an arrow helmet like the game changer 2 can make to you on a ride like this well when we’ve looked at Arrow
Helmets in the tunnel it’s going to vary depending on the helmet that you’re switching to uh and from and also you as well because aerodynamics is always system dependent that being said we feel confident in saying you T typically observe a sort of ranging CDA reduction between 05 and
0.01 and C well I tell you what for those of you that don’t speak nerd like Ollie that equates to a difference of between around 3 to 6 minutes over the duration of the long ride that we’re doing today so if it comes down to the
Wire it could be all that makes the difference yeah Quick little update on progress now so we have 234 km to go and we’re actually on this beautiful Coastal park on the north of the island just past day where the roads are much quieter we got a 6 km climb ahead of us I think we’re doing
All right ol you good y yeah all good this is one of the best roads in the world I’d say that is fantastic so we’re currently averaging 29.1 km hour which is a lot slower than the total average time we’re aiming for but this route is front loaded with lots
Of mountains and so inos in the first 140k averaged 29. four so that’s kind of the ballpark we’re aiming At I’m just wondering why you seem to be on a different bike marginal gains to the max mate it’s what the pros would do we’ve done most of the climbing now so I’ve gone for a a bike change like what the pros do work for Primos where’s my other
Bike s lent me his AOW bike and some 858 of course for the flat section whatever yeah it’s going to be good is it R on We got 100 miles still to go 162k 175k in we’re really struggling now was really slow going past Pala quite a bit of traffic and now we just got Savage headwind it’s really like killing our average speed it’s hampering progress yeah I’m going for a bit of a bad patch it’s over 30° it’s hard The section of the ride is getting faster now really flat nice roads and the choice to go to the airrow bike is uh what I’m glad I’ve done we’re 100K to go mate and speed is creeping up yeah but my ability and energy is falling rapidly is it I mean oh man I’m
Struggling but I’m hanging in there hang in buddy not long oh man your motor long I love it just think of the of that pudding trolley at at the zapiro palace hotel that endless pudding trolley the more you eat the more they just replace and bring back out onto the buffet
Pudding trolley it feels like bottomless pudding trolley just think of that your favorite thing go so far away it’s some random villagey town I’ve been suffering for the last hour and a half now I don’t want to put a downer on it it feels like the wheels are coming off of our
Bus I can’t pretend I am bloody struggling you got 80k to go right now the thing that I’m finding the hardest is the heat it’s like 30° today and uh we’re just drinking water constantly but oh man it’s it’s the state like shorts it actually salt yeah very
Salty and your top do you know what I uh I’m somewhat regretting our decision to do this now yeah I am yeah to be fair yeah honestly all the yeah yeah go without me it’s fine I just can’t be doing with like fast time now I we just need to get it
Done and like I just even if I I just set off slow I just need to keep moving [Applause] what these guys little like the sort of people I want to be riding with right now baskets they’re doing it right aren’t we we’re idiots I mean if we stand any hope of
Beating any us we got 40 minutes left I don’t think I’ve got it in me we have oh it breaks my heart saying it 58k come On ah Alex you it’s one of those things like when you do something this long you don’t know what’s going to happen you you’re going into the unknown yeah May I’m there oh I’m think think I’m just dead 8 hours 40 that was our time goal that’s an antic climax isn’t
It I got nothing left me I know about Help going to stop for a minute yeah be best Alex what you need what a so bad I’m really pissed off look at that State of me got to just get moving again was so fun is I I’m the exact person that would be like oh come on crack on yeah have with
Yourself right yeah right I’m going to [Applause] [Applause] move we’re on the home stretch about 16 km left and I think it’s fair to say that Alex is currently experiencing the biggest bunk of his life it’s start there with the best of them you mate you you’ve got this that is a truly impressive amount of
Salt that’s all over your uh just all over you basically but yeah we got it man this is home straight it’s going to we we’ve got it I feel like I’ve needed a poo for the last 5 hours it’s got to the point where I’m scared to actually have a fart in
Case it’s a poo a I don’t strength well it’s getting cooler temperatur more comfortable now cramping Man my ears are like echoing Ah so i’ uh sit down and wait in the shade finish is just down there do you want to just roll down a bit and then we’ll come to a stop yeah get it done it’s like literally in sight come on thank you I feel so bad in such a bad
Way thanks manate you’re all right good riding where just here by Burger King did it Well Done mate give me a high five crossing our imaginary Finish Line we managed to complete the ride in 10 hours 1 minute and 24 seconds with an average speed of 31.1 kmph although
Slower than inos overall we did go slightly faster than them over the first 140k in the mountains oh and uh Alex well he was 6 kg lighter well done having met you you’ve absolutely smashed it that’s right I am a I mean that’s a rival for like one of
Connor’s Bonks that is yeah I’m so bad my ears have gone funny and they’re echoing we’ll get back to the hotel the pudding trolley awaits we didn’t beat the time no we didn’t but I’m uh I think this is a perfect opportunity to pull out my big
Book of cycling excuses so one we got a puncture two we had a we had a headwind it was warmer when they did it it was in like a colder time of the year so it wasn’t 30° so we had that you also had to wait for
Me they had they had a full team it was just me and you and um they’re quite a bit better than us I think we can be proud but um well if if you like well if you think we’ve done a a good job today then um and you’re impressed with Alex’s
Bonk I mean just for your salt stains they should give the video a thumbs up I think I’m just hugely dehydrated from this salt and um yeah let me know show you respect for for uh my efforts I think we I think it’s fair to say
Helmet’s travel a lap of the island now yeah big thanks to abz for making this video happen and um we’ll see you in the next one share it with your friends if you’ve got any I don’t think I’ve got any your left now right come on
Alex let’s go I don’t want to cycle back Come On You’ got it just around the Corner am I going to win big sugar let’s face it probably not am I even going to finish well I guess we’re going to find out This is my wife Chloe and for the last 6 months she has been riding and training with the help of hango an artificial intelligence training platform to take on the toughest event of her life big sugar we have flown over the big pond to the birthplace of gravel riding the USA
More specifically Bentonville in the state of Arkansas right in the middle of the Ozark Mountain the course CL and myself are taking on is the 104 mile version with an elevation gain of almost 2,000 M we have two checkpoints along the routes where we can stock up on food
And drink but other than that we are heading into the unknown to see if beginner gravel Rider Chloe can complete this race and if so where in Earth will she Finish I big sure got is the last event within the lifetime Grand Prix series and pretty much wraps up the 2023 gravel Race season but with the likes of newly crowned gravel world champion cassan new adoma racing it’s still very much an all guns blazing race but this video isn’t
Really about me head of my first ever gravel race I do feel nervous just the anticipation of what’s to come ahead of us but yeah mostly excited I can’t wait to get stuck in chlo and I have got two absolutely mega bike setups to use thanks to the support of the kind people
At Alf and Forge and bond wheels and I’ll tell you more about our bikes later on because seeing as this is an actual race we need to go and get signed On oh wow r F after signing on it was time to get our feet up fuel up our bodies and get an early nights as the alarms were set for 4:30 a.m. feeling good I don’t know we’re probably like an hour and a half out all we need to do is
Go get changed get sorted last minute toilet stop yeah if I’m going to need like 10 Wei stops stash our pockets full of bars and gels yeah we haven’t got anything else to do no smile be happy enjoy it yeah make sure we eat and drink
Yeah sounds easy when we do it like that just ride yeah what you feeling I feel a bital I feel calm now I felt a bit sick when I first woke Up rolling up to the start line you could really feel the atmosphere starting to build everyone was getting ready in their pen trying to find their space close rolling the route up final prep in terms of who’s going where what’s happening um just getting real I was actually just really looking forward to
Like starting and just getting on the bike and going CL we’re a few minutes out we better we better get on our bikes get DED in our game faces on it’s business time let’s do it let’s do It The start of the race was mad with a police roll out which was so exciting my adrenaline was going my heart was pumping so fast all these people around us trying to getting in position Alex even made us like ride right up to the front so we saw the front of the race
For a short while but I was just really excited to get on the gravel and get Going when we first hit the gravel it was chaos there was people everywhere it was so dusty you could barely see in front of you everyone was trying to find their spot in the the race rocks flying everywhere I just tried to stay calm but we were going we were going pretty fast
We were trying to stay with the front group for as long as we could s in now close tucked in behind me the hustle and bustle of the race start is just starting to fade out we’re lining out into little groups sun’s coming up we’re in for one hell of a [Applause] day
So close struggling to eat on the bike is pretty tough with all the bits of gravel change the terrain the pace eating now is what’s going to fuel up to the end I just find it really hard to eat yeah I just yeah I’ve got to beat but I’m not
Remotely hungry course for feing food on you it’s not fun on gravel but it’s good in terms of the have ring what’s the atmosphere what’s the Vibe feelings amazing everyone’s really happy and supported yeah and uh yeah gravel’s really Good times this yeah not too gravy so there’s ones back there that were like steep but like like thick gravel that you can’t really get a to of line in yeah I struggle with well this one’s pretty much over now ni got a downhill one of our major climes of the day I
Think that was at least elix on the profile 1 hour 45 minutes down or in you know what I Mean yeah yeah rack bikes up yeah that actually went way quicker than I thought you got so much dust on your nose Scrabble having reached the first checkpoint we headed off to restock our supplies for the miles ahead and while I do that let me tell you a little bit more about our Bikes so we’re using the seag glut from La which is an Icelandic brand and they’ve been in the game of making gravel bikes pretty much ever since gravel has been a thing and what kicked that all off was this absolutely nuts looking Fork it’s called the grit this
Is actually the third generation of the fork and it provides around 30 mm of vibration absorbing travel and suspension at the front of your bike L say this design is ideal for the high frequency vibrations that you get when you’re riding over gravel not only is it
Helping improve the comfort that you get they also say it’s going to speed you up and increase the traction too comfort and compliance is a theme which la you through the frame and up at the handlebars with something called ice this stands for integrated compliance Engineering in case you didn’t speak
Loud um they say their smoothie handlebar offers twice the compliance as what other carbon handlebars do and then the seat tube there at the back the ice that’s implemented there is allowing for up to 15 mm of flex and compliance Under full load when you’re going over the
Rough stuff now following on with that idea that making your bike comfortable and compliant helps make it faster the guys at Forge and bond have hooked us up with their 25 gr Wheels now the way that they’re going around approaching the idea of comfort and compliance for Speed is through their
Fusion fiber technology in the carbon fiber Wheels not only is it going to help speed us up but it also has an environmental impact too because it uses longchain nylon polymers instead of the traditional epoxies and resins which you used in your traditional carbon fiber manufacturing Forge and bond say this
Allows the wheels to absorb impact through microscopic flexing in those carbon fibers it also means that when these Wheels come to the end of their usable life they can then be recycled into new forged carbon fiber parts not just once but multiple times over Unfortunately they can’t be recycled
Into a brand new set of wheel rims though now I know I’ve only briefly spoken about some of the setup of our bikes we’ve also got some bags holding on our snacks and Spares big water bottles so we don’t get dehydrated and thirsty but there are far more exciting
Details and bits of information and Tech to go through so much so that over on the gcn tech Channel I’m going to have a video where we going to a full Deep dive on the whole kit and the setup that is hopefully going to allow us to get to
The Finish Line um so go and check that Out coming up to the first feed at Mar 38 I was actually feeling really good the time had gone really quick quicker than I was expecting which gave me a bit of a morale boost we’re riding pretty like hard in zombies and I was like I
Need to just chill this out Alex had been telling me reminding me to keep eating I was kind of struggling already at that point to get enough food down I’m really trying to eat bring it back I feel good I just the eating is making me feel sick I don’t know if that
Makes any sense I’m not hungry I’m having to eat every half hour can access really trying to force food down you is not very it’s the same thing and I’m trying to have something saory banana and I’ve got some Doritos I’m trying to drink some water because when we get back on the
Bike it’ll be bars Che gels so all quite sweet all Jes together in my brain trying to take my time and not rush I think if I Rush it’s going to make it worse just I I just wasn’t feeling hungry but I knew how important it was
So I Wasing looking forward having a bit of a break from the bike having something Savory just taking a minute to reset feed Zone one completed on to the Next uh you win the prize for best Jersey of the race thanks that’s the big one good job the first few miles after the feed Zone we were on a real high and feeding really good but that feeding was Shortlived hello I just I just I did just feel sick what’s wrong with me like I’m making a drama over nothing here just to eat that’s okay it’s just one of these things to overcome like we can just keep chipping Away [Applause] struggling a bit it’s just my eating I can’t yeah it’s hot but I’m TR it positive halfway yeah not lie I’m funny a little Bit what I’ve learned from this race is that there’s going to be lots of highs and lots of lows and that’s the same for everyone I think having the support of Alex really helped me to bounce back from my Lowe’s we’re smashing it so far CL we’re at the stage
Where like everyone’s going to find it tough yeah don’t don’t think that it’s just you find it tough everyone is that’s true everyone’s St nice aren they friendly and everyone put a brave face on it we stopped just about there t be and every’s like you’re right you didn’t eat
Anything so yeah it’s good so as we as I started to bounce back we actually made up loads of good time on load of the sections we actually took loads of people we were on a Roll tell me we got right back out There until progress was halted I did Cur it I’ve got a puncture I guess that’s where it is you yeah he’s got to find it there he is Che yeah back in the game with over 5 months worth of training complete the hard work was done but there’s still time for some last
Minute tips and advice for Chloe from none other than current gravel world champion cassia neph dama I think that um yeah there’s no point of stressing cuz I feel like everyone comes here just like wanting to experience the gravel scene uh me included I just want to soak
It up and I feel like definitely you want to make sure that after the Finish Line you feel like oh I gave my best whether it’s like for 10th or 50th or 100 position whatever but as long as you know that you had fun and you gave your
Best I feel like it’s the biggest achievement and also I would say that you know crashing or puncturing is a part of the game and that does worry me a bit we’re crashing yeah but you know like we all crash so many times and at
The end of the day you have a cool story to tell you know it might hurt but then it’s it’s not a big de deal you Know So have you felt better than since the last stop I did struggle for a bit after that um but then yeah then like got through it and came around that have been feeling really good the last last like an hour and a Half right we got this come On [Applause] these are some incredible views look at that open stuff so open absolutely beautiful we are genuinely flying we come out of the second feed Zone in good shape Chloe’s gone through a bad patch we’re on a good run again now so make hey well the sun shines as they Say Can You Feel The F mayy this is more than what we asked for this is more than what we asked for yeah before you go you glow Can You Feel The far we are this is more than we can handle we are more than we can
Handle rolling out of the second feed with 30 miles to go and it was at this point that I think it both clicked and we were like we we’re going to do this and we’re going to finish strong we’d actually ridden really smart the whole race we hadn’t started off too fast or
Too hard we’d preserved enough energy to make sure that we were going to enjoy the last bit of the race maybe for the last She W know I’m saying this but she’s so much better than she ever will realize how do you get someone to realize they’re quite good at cycling I don’t know up in the air will you hold my hand when we fall I don’t think I dare the secret racer
Inbuilt in Chloe is starting to come out now 15 miles no 12 miles to go and Chloe’s going come on more let’s go faster push on I think we’re going to get this thing done in under 7 Hours come on let’s do this oh before you go behold Can You Feel the Fire
Baby this is more than what we asked for this is more than what we asked for before you go you glow Can You Feel the Fire we are this is more than we can handle we are more than we Can coming into the Finish straight it just suddenly hit me that like we’ done it together I was just really proud of myself and I was just feeling really grateful to have this opportunity to to do this it was incredible and having Alex by my side was like an amazing
Feeling there’s not many people that could say they could do that with their other half and and it was you know really also down to Alex that got me to the Finish I couldn’t have done it without him I was feeling really emotional I feel like we’ve truly captured the spirit of GRA yeah the spirit of grav is like well like literally it’s for anyone anyone can do it you can ride anything like any age there was people on tandems people on single speeds yeah so all in
All 104 miles 7 hours one puncture a few shed tears but we had a smile on our face the whole way enjoyed it like I we took it right and on that note huge thanks to everyone that we saw out on the course that shouted cheered I hope everyone’s
Had a brilliant day and big shout out to the support we’ve had from L for and bond and humongo for keeping us fit strong and healthy and getting us under that sub seven hour mark got us to got us to this point if you want to see more
Details about our bikes kit and all the setup head over to gcn Tech but otherwise please let us know in the comments section down below and please like if you’re thinking about doing a challenge if you’re thinking of fishous about your comfort zone like do it
Please and let me know yeah let share it in the comments how proud everyone is of right we’re going to go get a beer I love You all right well you get all the attention one more round of applause chlo [Applause] pack There’s been people going down left right and Center still going guys going through a real bad patch if I’m totally honest cracked Earlier this year I accidentally entered an ultra endurance race I mean it was done so casually a quick message on Instagram and boom there it was my name added to the start list now as time went on my entry seemed to be an increasing bad idea however by that point I
Mentioned it to Shimano who thought it sounded great and wanted to make it happened because with their grx group set this kind of thing is right up their street so I couldn’t really back out anymore and so it is that I’m less than 24 hours away from what is almost
Undoubtedly going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted on a bike 400 Mi 640 km self-supported on Ax mix of Road and gravel the clock will not stop until I reach the Finish Line if I can reach the finish line and if I’m completely honest no matter which way I
Look at this I cannot quite work out how I’m going to be able to finish anytime I got to the end of a 200m ride before this I’ve been completely and utterly ruined and it’s not escaped my notice that that is only half of the distance
Here now I am mildly terrified but also incredibly excited about this I’ve not been able to think of anything else for the last couple of weeks almost literally as you can see I’ve got all the equipment I could possibly wish for I could just probably do with a few last words of
Wisdom hey s hey Mark how you doing I’m doing good I’m doing good what you up to well I’ve done something a bit stupid if I’m honest mate I’ve entered a 400 mile unsupported bike race and I honestly haven’t got a clue what I’m going to do
Or how I’m going to finish it so I thought maybe you could give me some tips I can confirm your concerns it is a lot lot harder it is it is next level hard I would my my top recommendation is to ride on map not on data because
Otherwise you’re just going to stare at those numbers and you’re going to be going why can’t I ride faster I was recently told a brilliant line which I tried to remember throughout gbgo which was Ultra endurance gravel races are ever won at lunchtime so when the sun is
Shining you feel good that’s not the time that you win or lose it’s in the graveyard shift it’s when everyone’s tired so those first miles in the middle of the day that’s kind of the bit that will take care of itself it’s uh it’s the grittier end when you’re you know
Sleep deprived and you’re trying to push on through that’s that’s what really sort of splits the field the top of your decision making Matrix is I’m going to do this safely I’m going to get through without having a crash or an injury and then below that I am going to finish and
Then realize that there’s points in a 400 mile you’re just not going to be in a happy place but that’s not a reason not to finish what I’m most nervous about is I’ll actually see what I’m made of in this all those times when I’ve watched you doing stuff and Hank
Recently and Jenny of course and then now I’m actually going to see whether I can do it you’ve got this buddy you’ve got it remember top top of the list stay safe middle you will finish right at the bottom is is try and have some fun along
The way but first and foremost stay safe and uh get to the end great stuff thanks Mark as always mate the race further east is the brainchild of Camille McMillan a photographer cyclist and a part-time sadist the root comes from former transcontinental winner Josh ibert himself also a sadist and a
Masochist too because he’s racing this event as well now it starts near Cambridge a few miles north of London here in the UK and then carves its tortuous 400 m line around much of East Anglia touching the North norfor Coast and then back to the starting point
Camille was Keen to stress that this is a relaxed Grassroots event the race St is in a wood and you’re not allowed to drive There there we go pre-race accommodation sorted I’m not going to take this tent with me I just didn’t fancy bivvy out the night before a 400 100 mile bike ride but sleep is a really good point actually tomorrow the fast Riders won’t basically it will just be a 30-hour bike
Ride just the question is do I feel confident enough putting myself in that bracket because if I don’t that’s going to have implications about what I have to take a sleeping bag a bivvy bag and so forth the answer is actually that I just don’t know I do not know whether
I’m capable of going through the night I have no way of knowing cuz I’ve never done it before so this is the proper Adventure might take my arrow bars off and fashion another tent pole just to make it slightly bigger oh that’s actually not bad when you’re in
It don’t know which GCM present to use this last but it’s got a certain um hum to It and I’d probably advise stopping and Topping up with enough food if you plan to ride through the night by about 7:00 cuz there’s lots of shops there’s loads of Supply but quite a few of them are small village Village Shops and they kind of shut early so don’t get you have
Arrived it’s nearly game time I think there’s about 30ish people have signed on they all look remarkably normal so I don’t quite know how this has become super human and ride through the night but we’ll see we’re going to go turn in for the night tonight get an early one leave the
Campfire be very boring right then here we go ready to rock and roll it’s 454 this is the remains of camp Richardson and uh yeah there’s no hiding it just tried to have some breakfast I feel really a bit nauseous I think that’s nerves or it could be the fact that it’s
5 to 5 and I don’t really want to be up and awake but it’s a beautiful day it’s mild and I’m about to ride 400 miles of brilliant terrain so I’ve got to be excited at that okay let’s get Going that first section in the dark down that bit of greasy single track down the Roman Road and there was just noises everywhere I it was just I was just completely disoriented and people sort of like slipping off cuz it was greasy and whatever else anyway once we got out
That and the the sun came up then it was it was great Cambridge here we Go still going guys this is mad it just feels like feels like I’ve gone abroad this isn’t the UK this is like my world shrunk so much this now feels like the most exotic place I’ve been to in 18 months right first stopping off point no
Idea where I am but this Village shop has just sorted me out with some more water which is cool um felt a bit weird stopping and saying goodbye to uh to my group um well which was actually just me and a very nice chap who uh I don’t
Think I ever got his name actually um anyway enough jibber jabber I need to crack on Again Got to say it’s incredibly beautiful around here I feel very lonely all of a sudden and a bit daunted again it was so nice cruising along meeting a chain to a new group of people and then here I am now on my Todd having stopped early for some water and
Uh I don’t know it’s exciting I might I might be a little bit lonely but I’m I feel so incredibly fortunate to be here I know that sounds a bit knobby but I do and uh I’m going to try and hold on to this M for as long as possible and
Remember it at 400 in the morning this is me conquering my fears ladies and gentlemen these are Britain’s most dangerous animal Rich dancing on the pedals and I am quite bricking it quite frankly one of them actually mooed at me in a very aggressive Manner and uh
Well I didn’t take kindly to being mooded At particularly when I can’t do any full gas efforts and Escape but think I might have got away with it this time freaking cows tempted to stop being a Vegetarian Again Smash and grab number two 11’s is uh that’s simp I didn’t mean to get that plus that dodgy white powder remember is the end of it that was a stupid bag to put in wasn’t It We’ not had an update for a little while been ticking the kilometers down I haven’t been looking at uh how far I’ve done or how far to go as per recommended but um fatigue is creeping in if I’m totally honest um I’m really hungry I’ve been eating and
Drinking but uh definitely getting ready for some kind of lunch um in terms of an update on dare I say the competitive aspect turns out we got slightly bit of misleading info there is one Rider ahead of us I’m going to set us that there is
My main man Rich who uh we’ve just been chatting away happily for the last goodness knows how many kilometers and uh we’re making an effective team right now so uh struck up an alliance and there’s a definitely a sense of security after I stopped earlier and uh
Fortunately I managed to catch back up on a flat bit of Road using my aerob Bars right then I uh just smashed and grabbed found some more gluten-free Pitter breads which is fantastic uh cuz I lost my second pack uh somewhere uh somewhere before Cambridge at halfast 5 but uh anyway it’s all good um I’d actually earmarked this spot a place
Called Harolds 190k in I’d ear marked it cuz there’s a fish and chip shop over there for uh for dinner basically um and we’ve got here at second lunchtime which is flipping amazing I’m absolutely Ed um as you can tell by my hurrying i’ I’ve got into the competitive spirit so
I’m oh God it’s awful um we’ve just had a really slow 20K like in some kind of like Maze of fields with like oh God we went took a wrong turn ended up in a plowed field it was Bloody annoying but um anyway game on we’re here now uh and
Yeah yeah this is cool right this is bloody great this Is our rapid average speed has plummeted as we in ing our way around a field you know I Ste off today and I was like ah I going to leave it in the Big Ring all day cuz it’s flat and I have been in my
31 little ring more often than I care to remember but that said there’s a lot of far stuff and it’s been nice sticking it in the 48 and just rolling along but yeah right Now just trying to make progress I’m going to put the camera away Now airrow bar update going through a real bad patch if I’m totally honest this is uh this is really tough um I think rich in same kind of place still putting the same effort in but just not going anywhere near as fast the trails have been slow
The road slow just it’s a big old headwind I just had some zom vinegar crisps to try and reset my stomach a little bit cuz I uh I just didn’t fancy eating anything else um yeah I’m I’m pushing my bike up a hill it’s a very Steep Hill still didn’t expect that today it’s kind of like um like I think of it like time trials in the old days like hundreds of years ago when they all used to wear alpaca and uh it’s all a
Bit so it it’s a it’s a spirited group ride that’s tracked with spot spot trackers bringing a looser idea of what bike riding can be I want to sort of like break away from categories like this is mountain biking this is gravel riding this is road
Racing they’re all bikes let just R ride bikes and enjoy riding Advice look at that feel the weight I think there about 4 kilos of chips the large one she peas I’m so glad that last bit was fast but I am kicking myself that I didn’t get any liquid beforehand what what a noob basically what a noob so um do you
Want to I eat my Chips give me a fried potato any Day as you can see it’s getting kind of Dusky now so my thoughts are very much dominated by what’s about to come night time so I packed a lot more than everyone else I packed a sleeping bag and a bivy bag and a warm jacket and so
That was my saddle bag basically um and not that many other people had it I didn’t want to be that guy that was overconfident in my abilities and then came unstuck and didn’t finish I had to scratch at 4:00 a.m. with hypothermia and stuff so that was why I thought it
Was a good idea to just give me the best possible chance of finishing but I hadn’t made up my mind about whether or not I was going to bivy out um I was quite interest did to to try and go for 24 hours I just want to see what happens
As much as anything I don’t want to tell myself I’m going to stop I want to see if I can do it and then if I can’t I have a lovely sleeping bag to curl up in and I tell you what unless the scenery changes dramatically this is uh it’s campsite
Heaven around here there’s Hedges there soft grass the amazing you’ll wake up to a breakfast of blackberries oh not to mention cheese pits hi did what’s up Hey see you later Guys And to begin with it was great it was a really warm evening we’re riding around Rutland which is this kind of very gentle English County it was all very Safe oh my way hi I’m so discombobulated but still moving yeah Get some [Applause] Water Ah there’s these like Savage sections up on the dikes where it’s really slow bumpy grass and that was the point at which after the first one of those really felt like it had taken out of me and then I got tired I started yawning and things uh we caught Josh at that
Point that perked me up a bit gave me something to kind of I don’t know it wasn’t like I actively chasing him I just felt better when we caught him and then we went through Kings ly where there load of street lights and that made me feel better um
And then I think at that point though I sort of made the decision in my head that I was going to sleep right I don’t suppose you can see anything but hopefully you can hear me it’s currently 3 a.m. got 460 km on the clock that’s the sea this is Hun
Stanton uh and uh yes we’re riding through it at 4:00 in the morning I out of my tree right now I have covered 300 miles which is ridiculous not ridiculous good ridiculous just ridiculous I mean why would you do that um anyway Josh is carrying on cuz he’s going to do 400 miles
Um but I need to stop I’m going to kill up and sleeping bag for a little bit basically I’ve let myself get cold I haven’t drunk enough enough I haven’t eaten enough I just I just completely shut down and I’m really sore I’m cozy my legs are literally like
Shaking which I don’t think is a good sign uh anyway I’m going to have something to drink and then get my head down not Night H it’s 6:00 and I really really should get T uh and I will it’s freaking cold Take Sh woohoo look at this oh yeah I cannot tell you how much better I feel than just 2 and 1/ half hours ago the sun’s up I’ve got some power back in my legs not much but more and this is just absolutely Magical very interestingly about Mass I reckon if I’m going 5K hour faster then actually I can make that time back between now and the Finish question is how much of a lift everyone else has got from the fact that the sun’s come up and in fact can I sustain this pace but
It’s weird so weird I might be feeling better but I’m obviously completely ruined it was a couple hours do watches and oh they’ve got me going again I was like oh hello and I turned away and just start started welling up I don’t know why I think it’s just a sign
Of being on the edge but yeah what a roller coaster what a roller Coaster I’ve cracked I’m going to have cheese sandwich I’ve just been riding down this I’ve got that to go and uh yeah I just need to have a sit down so I thought I’d be uh make myself useful make a cheese sandwich take my uh hat off that kind of jazz so there we
Go my God this is right I got go some YouTube Gold there so one of the lessons that I’d learned from the previous day was if you think you need to stop and you see somewhere but go ah to stop stop because you never know when the next one’s
Coming so I saw somewhere and ah and then he stop and I was like no no so I stopped and it was this little cafe and so I I had to fill up both my bottles and then I thought well you know buy a coffee I’ll treat myself to a
Coffee I needed a treat I uh well no to start with actually I just needed some water and then when I went into the cafe uh emotions is clearly still running High nearly nearly had a little cry when ordering my special treat which is a coffee um and an enormous bag
Pick me UPS something many near crisps right nearly Done and then the final thing is I remembered that I had packed headphones so I never ever ride with music never I’ve never done it and um but I was like I think it could be good um so so pack a headphones and made up a really rubbish playlist of
Um songs I would never normally listen to but I figured might hit the spot you got to fly like an nigle oh yeah Mama oo I see a little silhouette of Scar Moosh scar Mo will you do the Fango love is brilliant love is pure this is how
Ruined I am I got tears streaming down my face list see James Blunt cing I don’t think I’d ever better do this again and I don’t just mean listening to James blunt Uh find c hey check this out this is uh my crisp dispenser I got a giant bag of Sal many a crisp down There [Laughter] [Applause] hey cheers come here pleasure and so it was that I did indeed manage to finish further east all 398 Mi of it in a time of 33 hours 13 minutes and 6 seconds of which 27 hours 52 minutes were spent moving the rest was baffing getting water eating and an
Hour and 45 minutes of it was spent sleeping under a hedge now incredibly though I didn’t just actually manage to finish further east I also finished third the winner Neil Phillips tore around the course and won with a comfortable margin and indeed finished in time for breakfast on Saturday
Morning Josh ibert stayed well clear and took second place and Rich Rothwell the man that I had spent much of day one riding with had a GPS malfunction almost literally within sight of the finish line and ended up doing a second lap until I snuck through for third place
I’m as surprised as you are if either of us feel we all feel everything feel right now it’s pain and wanting to go to bed I was just in such a dark place when I got off the bike and I’m sure’ll be in the dark place again in a few hours when
You’ve got no idea what’s going on carry on You can feel it in the legs now and I’ve got 20 hours to go L’s end and Jon o GRS are Great Britain’s geographical extremes Southwest and Northeast to travel between them from end to end is 1,348 KM it’s a classic longdistance cycling route and a rout of passage for
Many a good Rider could take 8 to 10 days to cover the distance but we’re going to try and do it in just two or that’s the aim anyway Mark bowan and I have set ourselves the challenge of being the fastest ever twers relay is 1,400 km in less than 40 hours Within
Reach with Mark’s history of ultra endurance and my background as a pro cyclist we’re hoping we stand a fair chance but it’s going to prove to be one of our toughest challenges yet the plan we have is a simple one riding 1 hour on and 1 hour off from start to finish it’s
Tried and tested tactic but one that will push our minds and bodies to Breaking Point fatigue sleep deprivation and a Relentless schedule that offers little room for mistakes or moments of weakness we have helped though argon 18 has supplied us with two bikes each an e118 time trial bike for the pure speed
And a Krypton superly inurance road bike for the Hills and we also have quite the team behind us so we’ve driven to the edge of the world well it definitely feels like the edge of the world we’re at the most southern end of the United Kingdom at
Land’s End first time I’ve ever been here before and it’s the start line to our epic Challenge and one I’m actually pretty nervous for the good thing is though is that I’m not starting first so um I’ve got an hour just to see how Mark
SS in see what the pace is like and uh before I get my skin suit on and uh do my first my first section the good thing is though is that the sun is shining there’s Blue Sky out but even better than that is that the wind is coming
From a southerly point so that basically means that we’ve got a uh a Tailwind uh for the first section or it’ll be on our right hand shoulder I’m jumping into the unknown here I kind of don’t know what’s going to happen um so I’m I’m pretty
Nervous but it’s only it’s got to be expected isn’t it I’m pretty nervous because of the last year’s Mayhem and lockdown and travel it’s a while since I’ve been on the star line of anything that’s major you know throughout my career I’m used to doing something you know at least
Every year every six months which scares me and uh I’ve not had that fixed for the last year so it’s strange to be back in a position where I’m I’m excited but I’m nervous about what lies ahead and it’s um it reminds me that I’ve missed this I’ve
Missed this I mean this this nervousness the butterflies uh is a perfectly normal thing to feel at the start start something so massive um it means I’m ready and uh you know definitely in the right head space for it I’m kicking off I’m starting and uh we’ve got an hour to
Go Mike has recruited some of his own performance team from his 80-day round the world record to give us every chance of completing this epic challenge first off we have Mike Griffith a man with a military background and a stickler for details Mike is the team leader and will
Be in the follow vehicle keeping us up to date with the route timings and supporting us on our hourong stints we then have Laura penal our performance manager a vital member of the team she’ll be looking after our nutrition our bodies and helping us mentally to
Push past our limits she’ll be in the second support vehicle that will travel in the hours we are off the bike and jump ah head ready for our next stint now every challenge that I take on needs a mechanic and Alex glasgo is the perfect man for that job he’ll be
Sorting out any issues we have on the road we then have Ian our second support team driver bridgie the chef and Dave our paramedic that hopefully we won’t need fingers crossed 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 let’s do [Applause] this it’s now time to get my head down and start covering some ground our Coach P Brian and the performance team have set a target of 19 mph for the entire route but it’s not necessarily that simple through the hills of Cornw 33 km had been covered and the time had come for my first stint There’s No Looking Back Now so here it goes yeah 30 33 km for the first hour so I was hoping anything north of 32 to be good it’s pretty hilly few times to get
Through but um average 239 Watts so I was trying to trying to set on 240 so yeah I mean obviously I’m fresh but bang on the numbers for first [Applause] [Applause] hour before I knew it my hour was up and Mark set off on his second stint it’s so much fun because it’s on such fast roads and we got a Tailwind so I finding myself sitting like 70 G hours like what the it’s um I know I love
Like getting back into like a challenge though it’s like just gets exciting getting on the road and having a team around you but um I mean for that segment I average 42k an hour quick and my Max is 40 73 I was just saying it’s crazy how like
How long it feels when you’re on the bike and then when you stop and you get in the car you just literally go that before you know you’re think thinking about getting on the bike again 1 our Pace was way up the fast roads and the wind on our back was giving us a helping hand but how long would it last we all know Hank loves speed and sometimes he can get carried away sitting at a Tempo that isn’t sustainable when they were looking at a
48h hour effort the team was getting slight worried Han was going to burn out you all right yeah it was alongside him chatting with him yeah he just he’s just want to try to match some pairs but you know he’s going a little bit quicker but he will do in
All his life but just tell him to ride his own ride I know that’s why keep we all saying the same thing I’m not I’m not trying to keep track with him no and you shouldn’t so it’s coming up to 4:00 and uh we left l z bang on midday and we’re
Already in dein so uh these big rollers they’re fine at the moment legs are fresh but I’m just trying not to burn too many matches because it’ll be tomorrow this time tomorrow and uh you know heading for 48 hours that will really hurt it’s strange
Because I’m not going to get to see Hank on this whole ride except for the odd cheer at the roadside so yeah it kind of feels like quite a solo effort although I’m relying on him to make his hours count and vice versa so if either of us fail we all feel but
Out on the road you know it still does feel like a proper time trial Do you know what you can feed it in the legs now either that especially on them times you like and I’ve got 20 hours to Go As the lights started to fade we decided to jump on our endurance road bikes complete with lopine lights if you want a full rundown of our equipment you can watch a video over in gcn [Applause] Tech the miles were taking down but our first big test was still ahead the night shift I normally love night riding when you’re alone on the roads and it’s just you and the bike but this is something different can we keep the temple that we set during the day through the
Night yeah came through Worster there and uh bit of stop start again but um yeah feel okay that’s 12 hours in so to stay on schedule that would be as quarter the way through but I think in terms of distance we’re over a quar of
The way so long long long way to go but I have no idea how hanst do is so weird just doing these handovers and he looks strong but I’m going to try and get some sleep now I guess I don’t want to sleep for more than 20 minutes half an hour cuz
Then you go into deep sleep and then it’s hard to get going again but um yeah back on the bike in an hour’s time sleep food repeat everything was going pretty smoothly until I came out of Wester and was met by an unforeseen rope block the team quickly found a detor but precious
Time was lost and extra kilometers were added to the route yeah a massive Hammer blow to fragile morale in the middle of the [Applause] night God tell you what though I hate waking up but like when I’m when I’m out I just like suddenly feel good again so takes me like half an hour to get into it we on Roll Here we go Again was that Mark yeah it was good shift uh 2:00 in the morning and uh man it hurts the neck but um made it through Stafford and we’re piling up England yeah this is the graveyard shift and this is only night one so uh I’m
Trying not to think too far ahead cuz um yeah clearly we need to do this all again tomorrow Night I’ve just lost count how many how many how many hours I’ve done there uh where you been six seven eight eight hours nice [Applause] So we’ve been going and they will he nearly 24 hours pass so done what 10 or 11 hours on the bike at 40K hour done the hard bit we just getting through that first night and now we’re just cracking on but it’s weird to think we’re like and then the
Other thing solid way out the country now pretty Crazy heading for 24 hours in and I don’t care how conditioned you are the backside does start to hurt I Chang changed from my skin suit into bed shorts in the middle of the night just for some fresh kit and um away from frying eyes and cameras I’m going to uh
Get some more shami butter on the night shift was over but I was faced by another challenge some of the biggest climbs on the route lie ahead and in my 11th Hour it featured the shap climb it’s a climb that averages 3 % with a Max gradient of 8% but it’s not
The steepness that stings the legs it’s the length at 14 km long winding its way out of Kendall with an altitude of 420 M it’s a tough one this is definitely where the lightweight road bike comes into its own might be quite a fast transition this one just waiting for Hank to come
Over the hill and uh the wind is picking up beautifully it was forecast too and uh by the time we got out past Edinburgh today it’s uh it’s meant to be 20 25 mph I hope it is that would be extraordinary the wind always dies down during the
Night so you kind of left your own devices but um halfway through the morning now and um yeah that’s perfectly with us yeah that was a big just to be fair sorry j average went down to 27 every time we change over it’s a race for the sport car 2 to Jump Ahead ready for the next transfer but sometimes traffic makes it really difficult especially through the builtup areas like carile we were held up by traffic and lost sight of Mark for a good while
But Mark being Mark he knuckled down and kept going I didn’t know what was going on there I was just uh my radio was down so I couldn’t speak to the follow vehicle and uh there was no Hank but um got 51 km in there so that was a big stin got
Through carile um and yeah when you’ve got no idea what’s going on carry on with carile behind us and 774 km ridden we were over half distance and on schedule but I was starting to feel the bite the lack of sleep lack of recovery and lack of energy was really starting to
Show 23 hours in and we crossed into Mark’s homeland of Scotland a milestone undoubtedly but we still had 563 km of brutal terrain to go whilst it was 25° in Cornwall in true Scottish fashion I was welcomed home with Gusty winds and rain right I was so excited when I got
Scotland for obvious reasons and it started raining so un like it it’s good h the teal wind is very nice very very nice and uh soon we’ll be on the E9 love the A9 it’s not the best cycling route in the world let’s face it but uh it is fast and
Um the peegs are sore the backside sore the neck is very sore but we are ahead of schedule and um yeah it’s exciting uh just been going nonstop it’s 12 yesterday basically everything I feel right now is pain and wanting to go to bed but I know that’s not going to happen for
Another 200 miles fantastic well this is the long slog got the A90 having more in the iness it’s a a necessary evil I’m afraid it’s not a delightful cycling Road it’s big du carriageway for most of it but going into the evening hopefully F down I’ve I’ve driven this road
Hundreds of times but it’s not until you cycle it you realize it’s actually quite hilly what’s happening now is potentially your body’s rhythms are all a little bit out of whack yeah and you can tell cuz you go into like Goose pimples and you’re getting really cold when actually your your Skin’s quite
Warm and all that sort of stuff so so basically my body’s going to overdrive yeah your body’s just not quite sure what the hell’s going on it hasn’t slept you keep asking it to do exercise so it’s going up and down the key thing is just keeping consistency
With some fueling even when you don’t want to okay but we just need to keep drip feeding it in Burge is going to go and get some of that sweet potato stuff and so it’s a bit softer but we need to keep those carbs coming in because the
Thing is you get into the cycle where you then start to feel sick cuz actually you haven’t got enough fuel in the tank and then but you don’t want to eat anything then it’s like it starts to [Applause] Spir it’s always apprehensive getting you know waiting waiting for Mark to come around the corner and then it’s m turn to just put in a shift my shift is meant to be a really hilly one now so uh I’m going to set it into a nice
Rhythm not bust a gut keep them wheels turning that’s my plan that was a hard hour rain yeah that kind of surprised me slowest hour since the start okay I’m not my precious But went through some horrible patch and I didn’t want to tell anyone cuz I don’t want to be just now on the bike no like I went through a horrible bit where I was just puking and I was getting like a fever cuz like Laura was saying like
Your body’s just not used to like working out every freaking Hour Find that section then that’s just amazing the difference in AR can make anyone who’s ridden Ultra endurance before will know what that is like you can just be in the pits and the only thing that’s certain is change if you’re feeling great you’ll feel terrible if you’re feeling terrible the Assumption
If you were complete novice at the this game is that if you start to feel bad the only way is to get worse but actually the amazing thing about endurance is your body’s just got an amazing way of um of of of bouncing back I mean it’s fueling it’s hydration it’s mindset small
Changes cheeky teammates but it is it’s amazing like I was just in such a dark place when I got off the bike and I’m sure I’ll be in the dark place again in a few hours but I mean right now all good [Applause] as we settled in for a second night
Jonah groz was nearly in our sights and the mood in the team was High um I reckon it’s less than 100 miles to go so I reckon it’s five shifts five shifts from here so I’ve just done one from iness so basically uh yeah I reckon I’ve got two more Hank’s got three if it works out then uh Hank will have the final shift
Which is fair cuz uh I got the first one just nuts I thought best case scenario would be riding in there tomorrow lunchtime it’s uh4 to 11 at night we’re we’re going to be there in the middle of the [Applause] Night I’m uh more than ready to get to JN o gr that’s what I’m thinking right now it’s just gone midnight and according to the plan we still have 12 hours riding to go but uh I don’t know how with our lack of experience doing time trial efforts like
This but we’ve just had the perfect conditions but quite a stinging the teal this last section it’s quite Lumpy and uh yeah I’m sure I’ll look back very fondly but right now I want to get off my bike we just passed the sign for 50 mil
To go cannot believe it we left L’s end at midday yesterday absolutely nuts two more two more hours of pedaling so it’s all good I reckon we’re going to do L and Jonah GRS we just two people in under 43 hours which is quite Something my final stint oh this is my least favorite part it’s Freezing I can’t even get on on the drops otherwise I PE I need I don’t feel too well mate it has to be said I was really starting to feel it the position on the bike was making it almost impossible to digest food leaving me depleted and with really
Painful acid reflux the team were getting really worried but the Finish Line was getting closer can’t say in the best shape so I actually enjoy it but it’s been a hell of a long journey and I think we’ve done it and potentially under 40 hours there’s quite something hi can currently see the
Sea which is a nice sight and I think I’m not far away now what a journey hold on guys soft effort that was suay oh nice work team couldn’t done it without you What a ride hey buddy oh give me hug dude oh what a ride well done Prett you mate tough effort buddy hang on time check 3:46 you all right yeah got some bad acid reflux me going on man oh what a ride 1,348 km the entire length of Britain in
39 hours and 40 minutes averaging 34 km an hour job done
38 Comments
❤ Happy 2024 ❤
Come down to Australia to do some riding!! Alpine Shire of Victoria is sensational 🚴♂️👌 and perhaps you can do some filming on some tracks up in Northern Territory
Thanks GCN, looking forward to another year of great videos and having a laugh
What a blessing! Perfect for longer turbo sessions 🤗
The old kings road once a popular route for the traveling community.
To all of the GCN team …THANK YOU for the inspiration , information , and showing me the cycling world . Happy New Year !
Thanks GCN🤗
Which has been your favourite challenge of ours so far and what would you like us to try next?🗺
Let us know in comments below!💬
I can't ride a bike anymore but still happy watching others do the sport.
just checked and the flandrien challenge is available on Rouvy – albeit map only, no AR
i’m going to watch all 5 hours sat on my peleton. let’s go
Any idea where Americans can watch all the former non racing GCN+ things? Was planning on getting a subscription this training season for trainer rides.
Thank you GCN toppers for all the great content 🫶🏽…the channel has it all…(epic) challenges, tech talk, maintenance.. looking forward seeing the content in 2024
What a compo! Gcn please release stats on how many watch this all the way through!
THANK YOU! My 2024 already just got immeasurably better (and more convenient!)
i love you GCN.
GCN Pushing Hank's limit (Feat. Other presenters's challenges)
Ultra-endurance cycle watching 👀
Love watching your challenges. Warts and all. So inspiring – more this year please!
You are fantastic. So fun and inspiring to watch. I have a suggestion – why not participate in the Vätternrundan in Sweden? Vätternrundan or Vätternrundan 315 is a 315-kilometer long cycling race for enthusiasts that usually takes place the weekend before midsummer every year. The race starts and finishes in central Motala and goes clockwise around Lake Vättern. With up to 23,000 participants, it's the world's largest recreational cycling race.
Sick with COVID. On couch with the loveliest rides. Thanks GCN
Wow the Flandrien Challenge was amazing!!
Way to go Ollie!!!
Cows will never bother you unless you have burger breath then watch out. Lol
Keepemcoming
Just watched from start to finsh
And have seen most of these previously but what a watch
Unbeleivable that this is on YouTube and not broadcasted as programmes to the nation
The achievements and mind set of the presenters and teams behind the scenes is remarkable to me
I have just recently recovered from sepsis and have been off the bike for 9 months and started back 2 weeks ago
I have planned glasgow to Paris for may time
And this is just giving me so much emotions and direction to make my challenge reality
Thanks to gcn ❤️🔥
happy new year
Bone conduction headsets mate, safety first.
Only 11 Minutes in but already GREAT !!! Thanks alot for those nice cuts and music and the main actors <3
The old chalk way and some of the old kings roads where on ridges etc because most of britain was covered in dense forest so the raised ridges where natural roads which kept you away from the bears and wolves of the forest.
Saves me the trouble of manually playing these one by one. Thanks!
Maybe you’ve done it already but I’d like to see a guide for riders with limited time due to family commitments etc to prepare for a big one day ride like Etape du Tour. Love all your videos btw.
Pushing mediocre youtubers (except Si of course) is hardly the same as «pushing the limits of cycling» 😂
is this from gcn+ or just a compilation of old youtube videos?
Love this, on my second watch now
Wish I had this for #Festive500 😂. Great upload! Thanks ❤
Dry well done. What model of shorts did you use???
As a guy from Kansas I’m used to those long long long dusty or muddy old country roads – they ain’t no joke Conner you’re the best !! ❤🎉
Mega!