(upbeat music)
- So an email came in one day from Moots bikes,
would you like to go to Iceland
on a bikepacking tour with Si from GCN
and ride one of our lovely titanium bikes?
Well yeah, of course I do.
(smooth music)
So this is Iceland, we're just outside of Reykjavik,
getting set up for our ride that starts tomorrow.
We're at Icebike, so these people
guide mountain bike tours around Iceland,
got some amazing vehicles,
check out the tires on this thing.
So obviously they need trucks
that will get virtually anywhere.
We're going over sort of near the volcanoes,
over lava fields, we're just planning the trip now,
where we're gonna be riding.
Getting the bikes ready, getting the kit ready,
so check out what's inside 'ere.
So this is the bike I'm riding,
me and Si are sort of revisiting
the mountain bike versus gravel bike.
We're riding Moots bikes,
so I've got the Mountaineer, it's YBB they call that,
that's a soft-tail, I've never ridden one of those before,
that's gonna be great for this sort of adventure riding.
Plus sized tires, got all my kit,
we're trying to work out now what we need to take with us.
In case of wet weather, obviously food,
I've got a sleeping bag in the back of there.
I have shot a full kit this video,
that should be out already,
so check that you if you've not seen that.
Fallen in love with this bike, check it out,
always wanted a titanium bike.
- [Si] It's pretty different to what you normally ride mate.
- Slightly, but I sort of dunno,
the more I age, the more these bikes appeal to me.
Good times, innit?
- The tires are too big on that basically,
there's no way, at least it hasn't got a dropper post,
but 2.6 inch tires, no, so I've got,
my tires are so skinny they're measured in millimeters.
45 mil gravel tires on there, no suspension.
- Ever seen that Si? That is...
- [Si] I have mate, I saw one of those in 1998.
- Soft tail. - Yeah.
- I've never ridden one before.
- It's gonna be perfect mate.
- It is, adventure bike.
- Given how far we've got to ride each day,
I think having a little bit less rolling resistance,
something a little bit lighter,
is gonna definitely play into my hands.
(smooth music)
So where are we going to ride then?
Well we've plotted a 130 kilometer route,
split over two days.
I wanted more and Neil, well, wanted less.
We will be riding through the Highlands region,
which is in the south of the island.
Mostly on gravel roads, but with some simple single-track
thrown in for good measure
and frankly to stop Neil moaning.
We will be starting at the snowline
and winding through volcanoes and rivers
and glaciers to our overnight hut.
And then on around Iceland's most active volcano, Hekla
and back to civilization, or tarmac at least.
(smooth music)
- Lots of selfies going on in Iceland
Check out the rocks.
What are you thinking about gravel bikes, Si,
rather than a mountain bike?
- I dunno if I'm completely honest,
I reckon both are gonna be absolutely awesome,
I just can't wait to get started mate.
(dramatic music)
- Still driving towards the start of the ride
and we're at about 1,000 meters elevation now.
(dramatic music)
- Shall we?
- Let's do it mate, you lead on fatty.
- Where are we going that way?
It's plus sized.
- It's plus sized model.
(dramatic music)
I'm not gonna lie, if it was all riding on glaciers,
I think I'd probably go for that bike.
- Well that was fun, it felt a bit reckless,
like we're in the middle of nowhere.
(both laugh)
Sliding around, but it's unbelievable.
- Right, back onto gravel, come on then.
(smooth music)
- Some of the nicest sort of double track I've ever ridden,
all that sort of volcanic dust is just so smooth,
it's like, I dunno what it's like,
it's not like anything I've ridden before.
How is it on the skinny tires?
- Ah, well I'm not entirely sure I'm quite
as fast as Neil down those hills,
but it's still super smooth, like I mean it's incredible.
If you realized, well you were quite happy with the fact
that you were in the middle of nowhere
and if you injured yourself, you'd be completely screwed,
you could properly let rip, it would be mega.
Well it's mega anyway, but just being a bit cautious.
- And we've just ridden through some steam, what is it?
It's just like vent holes.
- [Si] Geothermal activity, I believe Neil.
- You can feel hot air and it stinks of sulfur
and ridden down to this most amazing stream crossing,
it's quite a big one.
Get rid of the riding shoes, I've got some Vans plimsolls,
gonna roll up my trousers (scoffs)
and gonna get very cold.
(water splashes)
- Wa hoo hoo, nice.
Aah, that I got wet feet anyway doing that.
- Yeah, not too bad.
- How are the toes Si?
- They haven't gone numb yet,
but I've gotta try and be as quickly as possible.
- That's actually not as cold as I thought it was gonna be.
- [Si] Go on Neil, ah he made it look easy (laughs).
Ah no. - Fail.
- Even worse than the time before, just one more.
- [Man] Again?
- He's doing it again.
- No (laughs).
- We shall continue.
(dramatic music)
- Epic is the word I think, unbelievable,
just can't believe how many times
I just sort of thought to myself,
I've never done anything so amazing in my life,
it just kept happening all day long,
until you sort of got used to it.
Just I can't believe how much the scenery changed as well,
there's volcanoes, amazing single tracks,
amazing gravel roads,
riding in sort of that black volcanic ash.
Check out this hut.
- There's nothing like camping food, is there Neil?
All of this obviously was in various different saddlebags,
handlebar bags. - He's lying.
(gentle music)
So we stayed in this sort of refuge,
out in the middle of nowhere last night.
Did about 70k of gravel roads and single track yesterday,
it was amazing, my legs are tired though.
And we're sort of behind the most active volcano
in Iceland, Hekla, we've seen volcanoes all day yesterday,
but what an amazing place,
it feels like we're really in the middle of nowhere.
(upbeat music)
(electronic music)
Well that's it, for a couple of days riding
in the Highlands up in Iceland,
it's been absolutely amazing.
We're back in Reykjavik,
I'm getting ready to pack the bikes,
we're leaving today for the UK.
Si is just round the corner literally at Lauf,
you know the people who make that crazy suspension fork?
He's checking out their new gravel bike,
so I'm packing the bikes up.
It's crazy the weather has been amazing
whilst we've been here, two days,
no rain at all whilst we were riding.
And that route we rode up the Highlands,
it's only passable for about two weeks of the year,
so we've been super lucky.
So it's time to go, time to head back to the UK.
Keep your eyes peeled for bike checks,
Si's gravel bike will be on GCN soon
and my Moots Mountaineer will be coming up on GMBN Tech.
Thumbs up if you love this trip to Iceland,
I've absolutely loved it.
If you wanna see a couple more videos,
click over there for myself
and Blake's bikepacking trip to Wales,
much more mellow version of bikepacking.
Click over there for a beginner's guide to bikepacking.
See ya later.