Gravel Vs Road | GCN's Big Autumn Bike Ride!

[Music] wild is the music of the autumnal wind among these faded Woods why is it all like epic rides have to start with poetry the last time we ran a one who did this too Psy give it a rest so here in the UK Autumn is well and truly here and if you're not reciting Wordsworth then this season does invoke strong emotions for many of us it's the time of year when we used to start training again ready for the Race season long rides but you know no pressure yeah it's perfect time a year to go on Epic ride with your mates so that's exactly what we're going to do today epic Road ride a what road ride what's a gravel ride what no it's gravel how much gravel is there 10K out of how many 100. brought my road by almost the gravel Rider isn't it you finished have you finished doing your poetry and where are you going on that on a gravel Rider Alex said so yeah gravel ride 10K gravel uh how many 100 oh Jesus what's up guys what have you comments what a robot girl we'll type anyway I spoke to a mate of mine and he recommended Matt Who Matt Vanderpool of course Matthew from the pool well Matt because that's what he's known as with his closest space anyway he told me to ride a road bike with thin gravel tires and that's what I bought so I guess this is Road versus gravel this is uh Hank all right come on let's go let's go yeah can you share this uh gravel ride with me then yeah so do this within the app yeah yeah you can do yeah well you can share with all of us so if you go into Roots yeah and then you click share and then you go public and now all of us anyone in fact within 2K radius I think that's gone already lovely thanks mate I still haven't sent it to ollie he does definitely don't give him the route okay no hope he doesn't realize yeah [Music] less than uh one minute into the ride off he goes drops us already in the UK incredibly vibrant autumn colors and I was told it's because we had such a hot summer which is rare for us and it's changed something to do with the chemical composition of the leaves and that's why we've got such crazy colors so we're making our way into one of the longest tunnels in the UK there we go very oh my God it's dark I actually can't see a single thing no one can see anything so that there is the longest cycle and footpath tunnel in the UK at 1.6 kilometers long tunnel number two so our ride today has started in the beautiful city of bath in the south west of England uh it's actually Britain's only UNESCO world heritage uh City so yeah beautiful place it's got its natural Hot Springs Roman Antiquities and uh Sublime Georgian architecture at the buildings made out of bathstone watch out for the drop at the end Alex thank you we're making good Pace the sun is shining we've had out a bath and we're heading due south towards Westbury now these are Alex's commuting roads ones that he knows well but near Westbury you've got the iconic white horses now we're going to the oldest of several now the interesting fact about this is that over the top of it we've got our first segment and I have a feeling Ollie's not gonna enjoy it especially aboard that skinny bike and skinny tires and skinny riding on it anyway let's hit it shall we got ah yes the segments to add a bit of spice we thought we'd have a little race or two along the way points are on offer at the Finish Lines to try to work out which type of bike is best road gravel or the Hank and bike [Music] crap yeah no mate did that do you think that little bit of mud in the lane counts uh I mean there might be a bit of gravel on there okay let's call it 300 meters okay yeah yeah um just wondering when I sat on your wheel yeah you've got a really good knobbly Tire up front yes it's grippy when it comes to muddy stuff mate what's what's the deal with the war on the back which is completely slick in all seriousness I just couldn't fill it on the tire just wouldn't go in the rear that's yeah [Music] we're already 10K in and um soy's already getting quite peckish so tuck it in to one of his bars brought along what are you eating that chocolate fudge does anything ever get better in a chocolate fudge that oh my I've never seen that before in my life not loud it's right back on the road [Music] Simon what do you love most about water bro wow it is one of the most Bountiful seasons in terms of Nature's Harvest this is nothing I like more than foraging in hedgerows for berries perhaps wild mushrooms you know what I drifted off there I for one absolutely love cycling 100 meters behind are they it's more like 200 now 200 250. okay hold up hold up right my Wahoo just told us that this is the start of the first sector of the day right so this is the first of three where we're going to decide who is going to be the banker of the day Vancouver it's a French word it means it means winner anyway so master first to the farm was about K yeah okay ready steady go [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] bike one gravel bike two and then whatever hangs on third place never you're right mate maybe it is all about the key sectors of the road foreign [Music] I've been waiting to try and tell you all about this part of which we're riding on so this is they're in the rains Perimeter Park oh nice runs around the edge of Salisbury Plain now inside Salisbury Plain is the original Village of imba which is now a military training area but if you go all the way back to 1943 I think it is that was when the military just came in and said to all of the villagers and residents right see you later you gotta move out really just claims the village and used it as a training area and it was to prepare for the war that they were fighting and they only gave the local residents and villagers 40 something days notice to evacuate so that was it no no say in the matter thank God for that [Applause] [Music] oh look at that there's a shot how's your lunch Hank yeah so we just stopped off at this beautiful Farm Shop Cafe tuck it in some salad look at that athlete it's all good enough please I mean Christmas [Music] oh off we go or Cafe legs [Music] foreign [Music] and our legs feel pretty rubbish Proper Cafe legs but as one of us who is ejected out the bunch and that's Holly flying up there isn't it I think you take this bit personally thank you I think uh I don't think he likes me Hank [Music] yeah another win for the gravel bite we might be on tar mate but he's spinning Auntie RPM I need more gears well we made it so thanks for waiting right it's our front tires costing him two Watts at least minimum um I don't know if you care or not but at 18 miles an hour so about 30 kilometers an hour yeah 30 watts of rolling resistance there about 24 on the tires inside you know what it's not all about the tech and how fast actually that is 11. just over 10. yeah yeah right that's probably why you got the top a lot quicker than us [Music] oh gravel section now is is where my bike choice is at a disadvantage but I didn't even know there was going to be gravel today um I'm not the best bike Handler in the world and yeah my my tire's struggling I'm trying to oh nurse it but I think I'm gonna form a grappetto with man on um she's up ahead I think it's basically me and man on struggling and also bizarrely Hank's back wheel [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] we're just entering longleat Safari Parkside um fun fact for you this was actually the first safari park outside of Africa opened in 1966. all right yeah so another fun fact for you I mean there's loads of animals here but but one of the animals that have is hippos and hippos can reach speeds of 30 miles an hour when they run which means they have a hippo to a 10 mile time trial it would beat you on a road bike well I'll tell you what it would have been close still it would [Music] [Music] [Applause] the sun dropping low in the sky the fault of an overly long lunch quite frankly we were fortunate enough to be nearing our final destination Froome not Chris just through the final segment a short steep cobbled climb a flandrian Burg with a dicey running but all still to play for we're on our last sort of stretch the home run into proof which means approaching our final climb a cobbled climb nonetheless which is going to be quite interesting because we've got quite the mix of bikes here will the road bike sort of Triumph with his speed agility and lightweight and fast Rolling Tires or will the gravel bike with its big chunky Boy Tires low gearing and more sort of comfortable relaxed geometry help Simon and I climb to the top we play Victory with double points oh I will be revealed in a matter of minutes right Ollie the last segment at the Cobble Kai to race for the top and you know what you know Ollie I think this is your moment to shine road bike yeah I mean you can do it Roblox no pickles a bit of pickle juice would sort me right out right now but do it for the Roadies come on Ollie oh no it's going on the inside wow foreign what we'll do is we'll redo it in the last kilometer we'll redo it as a time trial individual time travel the whole route yeah no right we've reached our final destination in Froome what are the conclusions then of this of this epic ride gravel versus Road well I think if we top up the points from our sort of competition throughout and base it on gravel bikes versus road bikes versus Hank uh my very loose and quick calculations sorry I think we've claimed a victory yes what about the climb that I destroyed you all on yeah but that's only one out of all of them was that a second was that a segment yeah I didn't race no I didn't race oh that's convenient isn't it I did race I just definitely wasn't near the front anyway I've I feel like I put up a good fight but I had the worst of Both Worlds okay so Hank's not impressed with Matthew vanderpool's tip man on when you've gone with a gravel bike or your road bike I was pretty happy on my bike you know pretty comfortable I'd keep it really yeah 90 of the ride was road because I want a road bike obviously gone Alex what about you well I bought the correct buy for the job grab a bite every time you brought the correct bite for 10 of the job now I'd agree with Alex I was super happy with my gravel bag all right and I particularly enjoyed the gravel section so I guess what we're saying then is gravel bike all road bike it doesn't really matter we all had a good time the only person who didn't get it right was Hank who tried to have the best of both worlds and ended up with the worst I'm amazed that you're backwilled in overtime it was close yes yeah don't do what I did they do what I did right that was a cracker of a ride thanks Alex for planning it that was a mint route mate I hope everyone enjoyed it if you guys at home enjoyed it well let us know in the comments section down below and we'll see you in spring for the next one yeah big thumbs up ciao for now

Channel: Global Cycling Network

Views: 223,506

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Id: vTFYGJT1vuI

Length: 17min 20sec (1040 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 06 2022