MY BRUTAL INTRODUCTION TO GRAVEL CYCLING!
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- Опубликовано: 13 янв 2024
- EPISODE #132
Thanks to my pals David and Helder for inviting me along on this epic adventure... this was my first serious bit of gravel cycling, and gravel bike packing for that matter too. We was off on a 375km 3 day off road battle to the death, well... that's what it felt like to me. It was seriously hard work, possibly even the hardest thing I've done on the bike to date. I was massively unprepared but I push through and try to enjoy the adventure the best I can, it was tough though... this one hurt a lot!
day1 - / strava
day2 - / strava
day3 - / strava
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Film & Editing: Thomas Martinez.
Intro Music: Press 1, Lukas Got Lucky.
Intro Film & Editing: Joe Simkins, Karl Kolecava.
Featured Music:
Does It Matter - Say3
ok go - Gregory David
Purification - Timothy Infinite 
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Riding off road is considerably harder than riding on road. If you enjoy a fast paced road based style of riding, it's even harder because in your mind you want to be flying along, whereas in reality you're crawling a lot of the time. Very hard on the morale when you're used to cracking out big miles. Great video! 😊
This is so true. I transitioned last year after moving to an area that had a lot more off road tracks than actual tarmac. I used to have an avg speed of around 30kph, now I'm lucky if I get 20kph. Most days I'm closer to 16. It's a bit of a mind fuck. You're asking yourself why am I this slow. Then I got a power meter on my gravel bike and noticed I'm pushing on average 20% more watts riding gravel
This is a fine example of how not to introduce a friend to a new activity. If you did the same ride again in twice the time in May you'd be raving about the positive experience. I think David and Helder need to make it up to you.
Hope you give Gravel another whirl. 385k first time out is pretty ridiculous but you did it. Maybe try some 50-80k rides for a couple of months. That is plenty for training builds and still fun! Then when you hit the road it’ll seem so much easier.
Well done Thomas, but that was painful to watch at times. Riding trails is very different to road, and being loaded for bike packing makes it even harder. There is no shame in hike-a-biking. It is part of the adventure. Great video. It was worth waiting for.
Kudos to you - Cycling can be hard and good to show that its not always a good day. Hope you are recovering physically and mentally
Walking tattooist - LEGENDARY!
Kudos from Slovenia
Spectacular, what an adventure. Hope you do more of these.
🙏🙏🙏
Strong work brother! That's some riding for sure!
The best video so far.. Continues to enjoy..
Danggg the last stretch of that awesome bike path was worth it :) Nice!
Kind of… 🤣
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I enjoyed your suffering. It shows we aren’t all superhuman, but the fact you did it inspires.. Since being hit bly a car a few years back I only ride gravel, but when you hit some tarmac it’s like flying. Looking for to yoir next Grvl ride maybe stick to 100km for a bit.
The Walking Tattooists 🤣🤣. I love the thought off gravel but feel the same as you, every now and then is great.
I now love having a range of bikes, but back in the day my old 531 steel touring bike did a lot of similar stuff crossing big miles and gravel, fireroad and bridleways. Best thing is to just enjoy.
Man this video is relatable. Struggling on a bike while your mates are breezing. Looked beautiful out their.
Amazing adventure guys 💪🏼 the crew are strong, another brutal video 👌
Awesome video Thomas. Love your content mate. Epic ride
Glad I found this channel. Dope intro. Well captured and entertaining 👌🏻
Looked absolutely horrendous. More power to you for getting through it. Respect
It was a struggle alright… 🤣
Love these vids with the little bits of review thrown in from the couch
Thanks mate! ❤️
I hate gravel cycling, especially multi days,but I absolutely love it when I have rested, recovered, and remember the fun bits..😎...I also think it makes me a stronger road cyclist.
What an amazing route. I really think your new riding buddies were trying to break you. This was a great share, thank you.
Hahaha I wouldn’t have it any other way… 🤣👍
Absolutely crazy ride, especially when you don't do much gravel riding but kudos to you for doing it Tom. Great way to see some of your new country as well
Awesome achievement 🎉 liking the commentary format throughout the vid 👍🚴
Ha ha! Yep, it’s a different ride for sure. I question my choices of gravel, bikepacking and touring sometimes but I love it. Would love a nice light bike and smooth roads now and then! Good on ya mate for giving it a go. I hope no one was seriously hurt in the crash ❤
7:12 had me cackling here by myself when I heard that. In the beginning of our far rides my friends and I are always excited to ride out then halfway through we shout out the same thing. Haha! We always have fun, though. Awesome video!
Well done, great video of your gravel adventure, something tells me you'll be back in that pain cave again 😄
Bit of an ask to do 365km in your first outing!!
To start with would focus on 60-100km rides and then progress up to 100-150km… oh… and tubeless at 25-30psi is the best way to spare your knees…
Definite type 2 fun at times. Always interesting to see how our heads cope with the pressure and discomfort. You did it! Nice one
Oh yeah type 2 for sure… 🤣👍
This video was extremely epic. 👏
Awesome stuff, keep doing these type of rides and the mindset will just improve. Better mindset = better spirit = beter body. The right type of nutrition is obvoiusly key as well.
Love your honesty.
Super awesome ride and a Hercules effort. your channel is getting pretty popular. 😃
🙏🙏🙏
Great ride , great adventure ! I believe that Elder and I work in the same place 😂😂😂
oh well done guys! what a brutal ride.. never tried gravel! will defo stick to tarmac for me. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
th0mas another great video
normally not that into cycling influencer-type content but really like your channel - keep the longer form stuff coming!
This was hard, this was epic mate. Maybe more gravel content :) ?
I love the square format, I always have.
What an adventure - looked amazing !
It was an adventure alright… 😁👍
This suffering is known as type 2 fun. It’s only fun when you’re talking about it after you’re done 😬👍🚴♂️
Nice video mate!! Just hope the person involved in the accident are ok 🤕
It looked awful. I did the London to Brighton off road on a £350 mountain bike. It was only 65 miles but battered humans and bikes were laid to waste along the whole route. As I crossed the finish line the bike and myself were equally ruined. The front and rear shocks had both given up by the 50 mile mark. On the long and very fast decent across the South Downes into Brighton I had no suspension at all and me and the bike were just smashing against the suspension stoppers and frame. As I rode the last 3 miles along the promenade on a bike that now looked like a lowered easier rider all the amazing views in the world couldn’t have persuaded me to do that ride again. The bike is still in my garage. Seized chain, 2 flat tyres and rider number still attached to the handlebars. I love the road and I love my expensive road bike.
well done mate, a massive undertaking. If you ever ride the mtbers you'll notice the superior torque in the legs on climbs they can push 40, 50 cadence quite comfortably. Now gravel is similar a bigger torque requirement than road, so I always plan around a 20 k/ph average for gravel, run a large cassette on rear and know that unless you stop you're always pushing a 1-2% grade load due to the rolling resistance. the other thing is run minimalist on the bike, go the ninja, if you need stuff buy it second hand in towns as more weight can kill the experience. chapeau to you.
🙏🙏🙏
Ahh.. The Infamous Walking Tattooist. 😁
I feel for you.
🤣🤣🤣
gravel in Portugal is amazing experience... Couldn't imagine riding again with trafic. Happy rides and feel free to contact for riding one of the best in world MTB enduro trails in Sintra ;)
Would love to hear mention of the towns and villages your routes take you through. Try Evora to Monseraz, include deviation to Estramoz, Elvas,
Redondo in the Alentejo.
Love your videos.
Great video bud, hope you do decide to do more adventures on the gravel bike
Maybe one day… once I’m over the trauma! 🤣
Road riding gives you a great level of fitness. Gravel riding (training) gives you the skills to apply your base fitness and practice the technical aspects. Being a good off road technician and a climber will place you higher up in the finishing order when you take on gravel racing :)
Oh I won’t be gravel racing that’s for sure… 🤣
Bro's even have a soundtrack, nice!
British bulldog spirit Thomas, you stuck it out and it looked brutal.
You looked so miserable and done in maccys 😂 great video as always well done
Ooh some interesting shouts. Im toying with doing Sobremunt next im there, and the extra spur on the lighthouse road to Albercuxt
Loved watching this Thomas! You'll have to come join us for Dirty Reiver now 😜
Not sure about that… 🤣🤣🤣
I didn’t see a lot of gravel… it was more clay ( dirt!) or tarmac! Well done grinding through that in mid winter.
yeah bit of a shit route and bad introduction to gravel!
Hi really enjoying the vids ,question the all black sleeve is a cover up ? Or work in progress
Chapeau! Pretty impressive achievement and well done for completing. Riding offroad is physically a lot harder than road riding which makes it even more impressive. I was interested to see that you were the only one of your crew wearing a puffa jacket for some of it which, I have found, makes it quite easy to overheat, making it even more physically demanding. It also looked like you were labouring a bit on the climbs, maybe your gearing was a bit too long?
No the puffer jacket was fine… in the attempt to pack light, I didn’t bring a my usual maap winter jacket and didn’t realise how cold it was going to be… school boy error! 🙈
2:11 Famous last words lol
Type 2 fun. Well done!
Now go and and treat your knees to some TLC.
Descending Serra DA estrela (not "De" estrela) in winter December during the night in foggy visibility...
You can pray 🙏 and pay debt to the gods of cycling .
After checking your video during my pre-ride breakfast i can say
You did a mixed terrain in gravel/ back-packed-bikes , that would have been more better in MTB.
But hey ! Gravel is fashionable.😅
Ride on!
Great vid
Not sure though if white shoes are the best pick for hike-a-biking
Always white shoes! 🤪
@@TheCyclingTattooist 👍
Watched this video.
ALL the mallorca videos.
And 2 random.
Whilst zwifting lol
this is why i sub, pain and pleasure.
🤣🙏
Does anybody know the brand of the bags? I really like the one on each side of the central tube for the bottles.
It's called APIDURA for anybody else that might be interested
First time is always rough. After 10 times you won't want anyting else, I promise!
Great video Thomas but I am sorry to say that I am not a fan of 'gravel' ride videos. Well done for completing it.
My knees wouldn’t survive that, they started aching just watching.
this course looks brutal for a gravel bike. Maybe a hardtail would have been more fun for this. But congrats on the achievement!
So glad to see another video from you. Was becoming concerned you might have had an accident. Portuguese drivers can be quite.....unpredictable.
Holy hell that car crash, bro if you guys were what, 20 seconds earlier? Could have been very different for the wrong reasons.
I know… doesn’t bare thinking about!
Thanks for sharing parts of 🇵🇹 we wouldn't normally see but, why all the bags? You weren't bike packing...no tent, sleeping / cooking kit?
How could you ride for 3 days without bags..? You obviously need change on clothes etc… if you was taking a tent n all that you would need a lot more bags than that! 🤣
@TheCyclingTattooist how? Simple. 2 sets of kit....done. People travel around the world with less bags than you had. Research travelling light
Don’t worry Glen. It wasn’t you carrying the weight of the bags. The good thing about this type of riding is everyone carries their own choices.
But we wanted casual clothes and shoes as well so we could go out for dinner etc… we’re not animals! 🤣
Were the people in the crash ok?
Those Portuguese boys don’t play around! Imagine if you had to camp out and didn’t have the luxury of b&b each night 🙈
You've just confirmed for me that gravel riding isn't for me, haha. Love the video, your production quality is getting better and better!
Should of added a day onto the trip really I reckon you would of enjoyed it way more
I recon so…
I live in a boring prarie environment in Canada. The roads are full of trucks and not much to see. I prefer gravel cause it is more interesting and fun.
What tyres were u running?
I don’t actually know think they were 40c… iirc
@TheCyclingTattooist also, for ur first time doing gravel plus a helluva lot of elevation, u did great my man! I can easily seeing the forecasted 50km ride turning into a 75/100km...obviously WITHOUT all those frame bags. Give er another go!
Not a single part of me ever wants to do Gravel but I am enjoying you suffer #GravelSnuff
Morning thomas....
Ill be watching this on my 100km zwift ride this morning.
Been looking forward to this 🙌
So your introduction was really gravel bike packing, not just a gravel ride.
Maybe try some shorter rides if you get into it again.
A little shorter than you would do on your road bike but on gravel.
Nice video though, keep up the great work.
Can us mere mortals get those FAAST stickers 🤷🏻♂️🤔🤷🏻♂️
350 watts going no where... yep lol
And u have suspension...
Bike packing needs easier gears.
Why not do something shorter to start with. Just a suggestion. 🙃🌈
What you mean do something easy… where’s the fun in that!? 🤣🙈
Is this clickbait? Why would your mates subject you to this torture?
🤣🤣🤣