Is This The World’s Toughest Group Ride?

Riding in a peloton is fast and furious, but which group ride is the toughest? Hank and Ollie are in Tucson, attempting to ride in the local “Shootout”, the American version of the Donny Chain Gang. Will they get dropped or manage to hold on until the last push?

In association with @VisitTucson 👉 https://gcn.eu/Visittucson

00:00 Intro
03:08 Ride warm-up
04:34 Ride start
06:11 Why is Tucson so good for cycling?
09:10 Long climb to the ride finish
09:48 Ride end
10:37 Presta coffee stop

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We’ve come to Tucson Arizona to join what many regard as the hardest group ride in America the shootout now this through and off fastpaced ride is the who’s who of American pros and hitters there’s no waiting around for stragglers and if you get dropped you get dropped question is can we survive

It he OD real OD there’s no high in it’s just as hard as you can go you’re really pushing 4501 everyone just takes off and if you’re not ready for it you can get dropped in the first 20 seconds so I’ve actually done the hardest group ride in the UK right takes

Place in my hometown the Donnie Chain Gang so I’m Keen to see how how this Compares now come here for a shootout a proper shootout with real men like Colonel custard Hank’s been watching Legend on the flight over here and he now thinks he’s Tom Hardy a shootout is a shootout like a

Weston nailed that oh dear oh dearo you ready for a shoot out oh dear anyway the route starts in Tucson and heads South and riders that do it typically average over 25 mph now we had planned to come ride the shootout this is regarded as the shootout however Virgin Atlantic decided

To leave our bikes in London they arrived too late for the Saturday shootout ride but one of the great things about Tucson for any pro or aspiring Pro is that there is more than one hard group ride every week so we’re going to take on the Tuesday ride a

Shorter route but just as quick it’s bright and early the ride starts here at 7:00 a.m. on the dot just by the university yeah we’ve got to get locked and loaded with sis cuz it’s going to be one tough ride and we don’t want to get popped we want to be on

Target and we don’t want you shooting blanks Jesus how are you not recoiling with laughter mate it’s funny you done no more it’s a shootout kill me now all right that’s Funny in the desert it’s cold when the sun is down and it gets hot when the Sun is up so I’m digging after all I can’t get dropped too early but this is the Tuesday ride and if this is as hard as I think it’s

Going to be I don’t want to know how hard the Saturday ride is but I’m excited to get riding with the group here and uh and see what tucon has to Offer now tucar Arizona is known for holding some hitters to World Tour Pros but also some epic triathletes and uh We’ve also got the winner of el Tor sitting in front of me a wheel watch most definitely and I have been told that if you win El tour you go down in

Tuca Arizona history yes it’s almost more Superior than winning the tour to France so here it [Applause] Goes first part of the ride just heading out of town there quite a few uh traffic lights and stuff so it’s just like neutralized people aren’t riding hard yet but I’m told there there’s a right turn out here out of town and then full Gas we come down this long road where we’re just kind of taking it easy out of town and then there’s a stop sign and that’s where the ride starts warm up done and now it’s game face so if you’re not alert at the stop sign everyone just

Takes off and if you’re not ready for it you can get dropped in the first 20 seconds and that’s what happened to me the first few times cuz I just wasn’t ready for it that’s it started no hold bar it’s as hard as you can go there’s no hiding it’s just as

Hard as you can Go it’s well and freely started here the pace is on people are riding hard that there in front of me that’s quen Simmons’s dad so first taste of some speed and it’s great fun it’s like being back in the prop pelaton watching the moves following the wheels and sitting at high Pace love

It bit of crosswind along here just blowing blowing from my right side Oh the shootouts are so beneficial for training and that’s certainly apparent like the best Pros that we have in the US come out and do the group rides every week just for me personally uh the first time I came to tcon and I did the group

Rides I got dropped and then I kept coming back and coming back and I got so much strong stronger than I would have ever gotten just training on my own well the Tucson area is is ideal for training um that’s why I move down here they have

So many group rides uh Triathlon wise there’s so many Pros that come down here in the winter uh they’ve got Mont lemon and and just like the roads are made for cycling so it’s just ideal it’s the mecca Saturday shoot out it’s uh I would say the biggest difference is that’s

Just a straight road there’s no turns it’s just uh kind of like zift on a zift on a road basically it’s about 40 minutes from the start to the uh the top of what we call Sprint Hill which is the finish uh about a 600 me long climb uh

And that’s the end of the way out of the shootout if you’re going to get dropped it has happens before that um and it’s just yeah full full gas all the way you’ve got world who are Pros attacking you’ve got normal people attacking it’s just a it’s a great experience of people

Just being able to ride you’re really pushing 450 Watts not easy about 2/3 of the way in this ride was absolutely rapid with speeds typically above 35 mph and there were several Rises throughout which with so many riders on their limit were doing lots of damage by comparison the Donnie

Chain gang is consider considerably flatter and there tends to be more through and off whereas this is just gloves off racing it was seriously tough and Riders were dropping like flies all around me including Hank who was starting to get distanced from the front group not before he’d done an amazing

Job of helping me stay with the leaders it’s hard real hard this is my race [Applause] over I’ll leave it to the climbing Specialist than through a valiant effort I’ve been dropped from the leaders I’m still hanging in kind of So we’re now just heading up this little climb it’s about 3K and that’s where it regroups Gates Pass I can see the leaders they’re about 400 m ahead I’m on my own I shamelessly drafted off the motorbike this is hard I got a headwind as [Applause] well 200 m to the Top hell come on Han come on good last little bit now Han has put in a valiant effort I wouldn’t have made it round if it wasn’t for Hank cuz go Ahad Josh he’s there he’s just such a good teammate go on Hank good work Hank smashing it Hank’s

Not in as like good shape as me now but Hank in his prime would absolutely destroy me but he’s still got like the group riding tactical skill and he’s got this like burst so when there were splits he was like getting across and there were times when he was pushing me

And getting me back in cuz I don’t have the top end but yeah he’s still a classy Rider are Han after the shootout Riders regularly stop off at prester coffee for a brew and the best donuts in Tucson so there you have it our ride is

Done and I am absolutely nailed that was Savage it was like being back in the race again yeah it was loads of fun though was it was so much fun it’s made me think though like I’m almost glad our bags got lost I don’t think we would

Have I think we would have been destroyed on the Saturday one yeah one day we have to come back and do the real shootout but a massive thank you to visit tuca and all the riders for making us feel so welcome and uh immersing ourselves in the cycling culture here in

Tuca it is wicked isn’t it we can see why like Americans love it right should we go get some um burritos yeah burritos with donuts right we’ll see you guys later hit that Thumbs Up Button let us know in the comment section below if you like this ride you like my 10th burrito

I know mate you got make the most of it while you’re here