Mountain Biking The Oldest Road In Europe | GMBN’s Ridgeway Epic Ride

The Ridgeway is the oldest road in Europe; stretching 87 miles from the stone circles of Avebury, through the Chiltern Hills, to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. Join Blake and Neil on their epic mountain bike ride along a section of this chalky drovers road.

Subscribe to GMBN: http://gmbn.eu/subscribe
Get exclusive GMBN gear in the GMBN store! https://gmbn.eu/1tq
Follow us on Instagram or Facebook! @globalmountainbikenetwork

Do you have any epic rides planned for the winter?

#gmbn #mountainbiking #mountainbike #mtb #bikelife #cycling #epicride #crosscountry #gravel #fitness

If you’d like to contribute captions and video info in your language, here’s the link 👍 https://gmbn.eu/1tp

Watch more on GMBN…
📹https://gmbn.eu/planepicride
📹https://gmbn.eu/Patagoniaepic

🎵 Music – licensed by Epidemic Sound
Almost Friday Night – Kick Castle
Dirty Boots – River Run Dry
Drum Hit Rim Shot 2 – SFX Producer
Heart Goes Boom – Zoe Goodman
Hidden Track – Staffan Carlen
In And Out Of Love – The Eastern Plain
In the Gutter – Pearce Roswell
Silk Road Caravan – Constellate
Step and Stomp – View Points
The Great Big Sun – Constellate
The Longest Roads – Trabant 33
Under the Hood – Benjamin Carey
What I Can’t Recall – Constellate

Submit your content here:
https://upload.gmbn.com/

Click here to buy GMBN T-shirts, hoodies and more: http://gmbn.eu/GMBNShop

For all of our Epic Rides, Routes and Adventure Plans, follow us on Komoot here: https://gmbn.eu/GMBNKomoot

The Global Mountain Bike Network is the best MTB YouTube channel, with videos for everyone who loves dirt: from the full-faced helmet downhill mountain biker to the lycra-clad cross country rider along with everyone and anyone in between.

With the help of our pro and ex-pro riding team we’re here to inform, entertain and inspire you to become a better mountain biker, including videos on:

– How to ride faster with expert knowledge
– Fix everything with pro know-how
– Ride anything with world-cup winning skills
– Dial in your bike with bike set-up advice
– In-depth entertaining features
– Chat, opinion and interact with us on the Dirt Shed Show

Welcome to the Global Mountain Bike Network | Covering Every Angle

Thanks to our sponsors:
Canyon bikes: http://gmbn.eu/Canyon
Nukeproof: http://gmbn.eu/nukeproof
Park Tool: http://gmbn.eu/ParkTool
POC helmets and eyewear: http://gmbn.eu/POCsports
crankbrothers pedals: http://gmbn.eu/crankbros
Ergon: http://gmbn.eu/ergon
Vittoria Tires: https://gmbn.eu/Vittoria
FSA: http://gmbn.eu/fsa
e*thirteen: https://gmbn.eu/EThirteen
Topeak: http://gmbn.eu/topeak
Garmin: https://gmbn.eu/Garmin
Muc-Off – https://gmbn.eu/Muc-Off
crankbrothers seatposts: http://gmbn.eu/8b
Douchebags: https://gmbn.eu/Douchebags
Komoot: https://gmbn.eu/Komoot

YouTube Channel – http://gmbn.eu/GMBNsubs
Facebook – http://gmbn.eu/GMBNFB
Google+ – http://gmbn.eu/GMBNGplus
Twitter – http://gmbn.eu/GMBNTW
Instagram – http://gmbn.eu/GMBNIG
GMBN Shop – http://gmbn.eu/gmbnshop
GMBN Tech – http://gmbn.tech/subscribe
GCN Tech – http://gcntech.co/subscribe
EMBN – http://embn.me/subscribe

Leave us a comment below!

– Well, new year, new me Blake. – Yes that’s the saying, Neil, that is the saying. – Or, same old me. But, what I do like to do this time of year is actually try and ride myself fit. – Yeah. – I don’t really like doin’ whole trainin’ regimes that much.

I like just gettin’ out there and doin’ some big winter rides. So I know your up for doin’ anything pretty much. – I’m a yes man, Neil, when it comes to you askin’ me to go for an epic ride. – So I was inspired by somethin’ I saw on Instagram

Of this place down in the south of England. It’s called the Ridgeway, this ride. – [Blake] Yeah. – Never been here. Thought, “Let’s go and explore it.” – I’ve never been here, either Neil. – [Neil] It’s 70 K, or around so, Blake. – [Blake] 70 Kilometers? – [Neil] So it’s decent ride.

– That’s definitely new year new me. – It’s not crazy, but it’s quite good. – Yeah, I like it. – [Neil] January, although it’s not too muddy. – If you say so Neil. – All right. – So, following you. – Let’s do it, let’s ride ourselves back to some fitness.

– To the White Horse I heard. – Yeah. – [Neil] If there’s anywhere I know I want to ride, but don’t really know much about it then that’s when I get on to Komoot and start to do some investigation. This is the fun part of getting into the nitty gritty

Of the potential ride. Startin’ to work out just how hard it is. And, actually, if’ it’s going to be possible. Also pluggin’ in our start time to Komoot gives us the predicted weather forecast. A nice little tail wind and the rain is comin’ late in the afternoon.

The Ridgeway National Trail is a route in a surprisingly remote part of southern central England. It’s Britain’s oldest road. For at least 5,000 years, and maybe many more, people including drover’s trader’s and invader’s have walked or ridden the high ground of the Ridgeway. – [Blake] Pick your rut Neil. Pick your rut. – Look at how horny that thing is. – That’s spooky it is lad. That’s spooky. – [Neil] Check out the views. – It’s insane bro. – [Neil] Now I know why they call it the Ridgeway. ’cause we’re right on top of a big ridge. I saw horses down there, yes. I see all the chums.

There’s a big hill climb, which you see ’em goin’ up. 15 K in. Still a lot to go, but so far so good. – Big manual down here Neil. – [Neil] Yeah, we been climbin’ for a while now. And this is our first little descent. Your face is muddy.

– [Blake] That’s ’cause I’ve been followin’ you. – I’m going to speed. – [Neil] Used since prehistoric times the Ridgeway starts in the town of Avery and travels in a north-easterly direction for 87 miles or 139 K. I always feel a bit of, sort of an extra motivation surge after Christmas to get ready for the new year. – (laughs) Yes, Neil.

– I think ’cause I look at the event’s I’m going to do and I really need to be fit for those things. – Yeah. – What about you? How do you find motivation? – Neil, you’re my motivation. You know why? Because if I’m not fit enough

To keep up with you on an epic ride or any ride out there throughout the year, also a race, it’s just going to make my life so miserable, sick, and I don’t like doin’ that. – Yeah, I definitely like, these things area always hard. Those races we do.

But, I enjoy ’em so much more if I know I’m in decent shape. It can really beat you down mentally if you’re not fit. That’s why I like this time of year. It’s just gettin’ out there and, sort of clockin’ up the miles but not really goin’ hard. Just riding. – Tips Neil.

– Yeah. – Don’t think about ’em. But it’s called “time in the saddle.” – [Neil] Oh yeah. Is that it? – [Blake] That’s it. – Love gettin’ on a bike in the middle of winter. It’s so easy to sit inside and watch Netflix or YouTube, whatever. – So easy.

Or just flick on there X-Box or PlayStation and play games all winter. I’ve done that. – Well, we are 22 K, almost in. And, got about 50 left. So, it’s still a big ride. – Look at that. – The big red kite up there in the sky. – Wow that’s big red kite.

Is that the White Horse Neil? – You going to be a bit disappointing when you see the White Horse, maybe. – Okay. Okay, for those of you in the UK just to show you, and give you a bit of perspective of where we are. That in front of us is the M4. The M4 goes from London all the way into Wales. Bypassing Bath, Bristol and all that.

We’re going to go over it and follow the Ridgeway that way. To the Thames. Yes, and the Thames runs through London. How cool is that? I didn’t even know this was here. God! Let’s get on this hill, Neil’s waitin’. – [Neil] Barburry Castle Country Park. There’s loads of these really old hill forts all along this route. This Castle was builtin 1972. That’s not very old. – [Blake] That’s not very old. – [Neil] I was jokin’ of course. It was 1972 when Swindon Council started managing the site.

The hill fort is just a bit older than that. From the iron age, about 2,500 years ago. – [Blake] Wow! These gates are horrible. Oh now I’m in a big hole Neil. I’m in a big hole. I’m out, I’m out of the hole. Oh my gosh. Those ruts are scary at speed. – Hey Neil. Do you know what? Blue sky over there. But look what’s comin’. It might be a wet end of our ride, Neil. – [Neil] Komoot gives me the trail services and the weather for the ride. But the risk with doin’ this sort of riding in winter

Is you are always going to over stay at the trail. And this can really be the downfall of your plans. I plan from west to east. Because in this part of the UK the prevailing wind is west as confirmed on the day by Komoot. We were lucky, after a dryish week

The trails were fairly firm and the going was good. Much muddier and deeper and this ride might have been just too much to try and pick off on short winter daylight hours. – [Blake] Oh what! I thought the White Horse was a Pub. Not a chalk thing on the hill. – [Neil] I chose to ride my Canyon Lux. A hundred mil of travel on the back, 120 up front. Brand spanking new Vittoria Mezcal tires. And Pursuit for fast rolling. It was nice to just have that bit of suspension when you’re out on the bike for a long time to keep it comfy.

But it felt like a great choice. Super fast and efficient at covering the ground. Using my Garmin 1030 for navigating with a Komoot app. The big screen makes the route super clear. I fitted an extra bottle cage and packed my bumbag with spares, a tube, and as much food as possible.

A pump and multi-tool attached to my bottle cages so we could be self sufficient with any bike issues. – [Blake] And I’m on Neil’s Nukeproof Reactor because I wasn’t organized enough to sort out my own bike. It’s a 29er. 130 mill travel. Maybe a bit too much for this trail.

But it’s still a carbon frame and pretty light weight. So well capable. I only have one bottle cage for me, so I plan to fill up on route. – Blow, yes nice. – Push it. I just through away my water. – [Neil] Oh yeah, you can’t always rely on previous trail information. Because this tap didn’t work, and Blake had to rely on me to share a bit of water to get to the end. – Whoa look at that heard of deer. – [Neil] We’ve seen loads of deer.

– [Blake] We have haven’t we. It’s like Netherland, like- – I do like venison, but it is deer. On we went through some of the finest English countryside. We didn’t see any more deer, preventing me from giving my venison joke one more go. See if I got any more laughs the second time around. I’m not sure who decides on name places. But we past, and also Foxhill Motocross track. Where they held the 1998 Motocross des Nations. – (exhaling) Neil. – Almost there, dude. – Almost there, we’ve done 67 km. How you feelin’? – I feel alive. I’m gettin’ that, like, achy leg thing

From doin’ a long mellow day. But we’ve only got, like an hour of light left. So we’ve just about done it, I reckon. – [Blake] I’ve got that achy feeling. I’ve had that achy feeling probably like, 7, 8 km’s ago. And I’m feeling it now. – Yeah.

– I think I’m starting to feel it even more because I know the end is coming closer. So you feel like it’s going to get, you know, it’s ends comin’. So your body starts going into, like relax mode. – Yeah, it’s not likely to know it’s near it’s end.

‘Cause I definitely feel like I’ve been sat on a bike for a long time. But it’s been good. Hopefully at some point we’ll see the Thames that’ll appear into view and the finish is at the Thames. – [Blake] ♪ The Thames are singing. ♪ The Swan, that looks like a good pub Neil. Tappin’ out. – [Neil] That is it. – That is the- High five Neil. High five everyone. – You feelin’ fit already Blake. – Yeah Neil, I’m feeling very fit. I think I can ride a marathon. – I’m glad to get off the bike now, to be honest. – I am. My legs are done in Neil. – [Neil] But it’s worth it. – It is worth it.

I enjoyed it. Thank you very much for dragging me along. – Cheers dude. Now I need a good dinner of protein. – I think I need a good wash before we can get in there. ‘Cause we won’t get any food. – We just made it before dark as well. – [Blake] Perfect.

Now if you want to stick around and watch another epic ride, click just in the bottom corner. – Yeah over there for how to prepare for an epic ride as well. Don’t forget to subscribe and hit that notifications button as well so you know when we do an upload. – Exactly.

Give us a thumbs up. Like if you love riding in the mud. – Right, time to get cleaned up. – Yup, 100%. Do we have to ride back? – No.