(bell rings)
- Ah, lunch time.
- Yeah, favorite time of day, Henry.
- How are you getting on, bud?
- Oh good, I've got chocolate today,
quite looking forward to that.
- Oh, lovely.
I'll tell you what Chris,
did you see the other day,
that video on GCN
where Dan and Si kind of laid into mountain biking a bit?
- Yeah I did actually
and I was really surprised,
I thought it was really good.
- Oh I mean,
- [Both] It was so good because it was so.
- True.
- Ridiculous.
What?
- Oh.
- Your big mountain bike's
even got road wheels on it these days.
It's not a mountain bike anymore, is it?
- You don't know what you're talking about.
(slapping)
- You'll do anything Cannondale guys do.
- I don't even know what that means!
- You just love Taylor Fitty.
You love him so much.
- I'm here in the beautiful Cotswolds
with the unabideable Chris Opie.
A few weeks ago, we had a bit of a falling out.
And I just thought, "This isn't right,
having friends divided over something so silly."
- I am here at these spectacular hills around Striage
to settle a score with the unbearable Henry Quinney.
You see, a couple of weeks ago, we got into a little
disagreement and I thought it was such a shame
to fall over something so arbitrary.
- I arranged something of a peace summit.
And Chris, even as a guest in my humble abode,
couldn't help himself, and we quickly
got into a heated discussion.
He had a rage in his heart,
that not even my homemade moussaka could quell.
And what was it, what was the cause of his ire?
Well, it was a committal to a dangerous ideology:
Gravel biking.
- I offered something of a peace summit, but Henry,
even as a guest in my family home for dinner,
kept on trying to stick the knife in,
and we got into a fierce debate, driven by anger and hate
that not even my homemade lasagna could quell,
- As I pragmatically suggested that
all bikes are indeed gravel bikes, he became enraged.
He threw his wine into my wife's face,
grabbed his jacket off the hook,
where I so carefully left it to dry,
and stormed off into the night.
- As I gently suggested that gravel bikes
do indeed have their place, he became enraged.
He threw his cheap lager into my wife's face.
He whipped his jacket off the hook,
where I so carefully left it to dry,
and he stormed off into the night.
- I naturally was both shocked and appalled,
but I'm not interested in indulging his menace.
- I naturally was both appalled and shocked,
but I'm not going to indulge in his petty nitpicking.
- I want to heal some wounds and bridge the divides.
So, we're going to go for a ride.
We're going to have a nice ride.
- I'm here to heal some wounds and bridge some divides.
We're going to go for a ride.
And it's going to be a good ride.
- Not even Chris and his gravel biking-
- Not even Henry Quinney can get in the way.
- Oh, what are you doing here?
What you filming?
- Oh, we're doing the How to Get
legs like Chris Opie GCN video.
- I thought we said we'd will be here at 10 o'clock.
- Well you didn't.
- How to cope with Chris Opie's unabideable ego.
- It's pretty big. I'll see you back here at 10.
- 10 o'clock.
- You bring some big legs, Henry.
- I'll bring any legs I've got.
One hour later.
We decided to the climb together
before getting our ride underway.
- Check out my drop handle bars.
- So, let's get this ride started in earnest,
we've already got our route planned.
It's all downloaded.
- Yep.
- Just start the engines and away we go.
- The record's an hour and 40, Henry.
- Oh good god. Don't know about that.
Don't you guys just drink soy lattes,
isn't that the deal?
- No, espresso.
(laughter)
- A bit narrow over here, but after you.
- No, I insist, after you.
I don't know if your tires are going to fit,
it's that narrow. You better go first.
- That's a very clever joke. After you.
- No, no. You know all about World Cup down hills,
you go first.
- He's just such a nice man.
Can I just say that choice of your bike.
I mean, it's not a road bike,
but I think it's very sensible to bring
something that is a road bike,
even though it's not a road bike for the,
for the hills. It's perfect.
- It's a lovely color, isn't it?
- It is indeed.
- Just like your foot on downhill rig there, Henry.
I mean it's perfectly suited to
the terrain we're currently riding on.
And it's red!
- As someone as wise as yourself,
I have to take that Chris
because you're a very sensible man.
- That's my middle name.
Chris Sensible Opie.
- Oh, is it? I thought it was Gravel Grinding.
(laughter)
There's, um, a lot of doggers about today.
- Well, it's quite normal in
this part of the world, Henry, actually.
- I heard it's a bit of a hot spot.
I mean there's Labradors, sausage dogs, everything.
- Uh, yeah.
I think you may have misinterpreted some of that, Henry.
- Well, they got dogs and they're dog walkers.
It's slang for dog walker.
- If that's what you want to believe.
- Okay, I just heard it's really, really popular.
- I think you're missing something, mate.
Did you ever collect dog eggs, Henry?
- Dog eggs, what are they?
- Dog eggs, they're like, uh,
chocolate festive yule logs.
- Oh wow.
- Yeah.
- Are they sourced locally?
Oh skills.
- Right, you go that way.
- Low life, I'm taking the moral high ground.
(music)
- Great brakes on the gravel bike.
- Well, I tell you what mate,
it's a good thing you're not on a road bike.
- You know what I was thinking just that
because this road is out.
And this is where this will probably get scary.
- Basically an ATV. Incredible machinery.
- I don't think even Jeff the Jeep Blake's one
could get done here.
- No, I think you're right.
I mean it's good job that I've got this.
This is to road biking what Jeff the Jeep is to cars.
- Sacré bleu!
(music)
- I tell you what, mate, I'm actually,
dare I say it, having a lovely time.
- I told you gravel was amazing.
It's really nice to be swinging around,
oh bit of a bridge here. After you, mate.
- Well, you're going to have to walk,
your bike won't fit. Insist, after you.
- No, no, no, Chris. Come on now. After you.
- What, no, no, please. Dismantle and carry on.
- Honestly, I wouldn't, I wouldn't allow it. After you.
- The only way to settle this-
- The only way.
- The only way. We'll just go at the same time.
- Yeah, I'm happy with that. Right.
- Ready? 3.
- Breathe in.
- 2, 1, Go.
- Let me just get my handle bars in there.
- Yeah, you got big wide bars on you.
- Easy does it, easy does it.
- I feel like I'm going to hit this thing in a minute,
- Oh my god.
- Putting my hands in to the middle.
- Oh yeah, okay.
- Mate, I'm nearly hitting the patch.
- We're going to do this.
- Oh my god yes.
- Yes!
Woo!
- I'll tell you what the one bit
of a gravel road riding cold truck
I can really get on board with
is all the coffee and cake. How does that sound?
- I think right now it'd be the perfect time to stop.
- Straight to the bike rack.
- Right, I'm just going to go and pay.
- No, no. Let me go and pay.
- No, no.
- Honestly-
- Henry, please.
- Sit, sit down.
- No, you sit down.
- Why are your quads so strong?
- It's all the squats I did.
- Outrageous. Let me pay. My treat.
- How about we split the bill?
- 60-40. We'll call it 60-40.
- Henry, it's good of you to pay
60%, but I left them a 30 quid tip.
- Oh, you piece of sh-
- Where are we going, Gravel Grinder Opie?
- Up hill.
- Oh. Smash it.
(music)
- Henry, I'm so glad I gave you coffee.
It's really kicking in.
Let's climb. Let's go.
- I'm, you know, you know, struggling for traction myself.
- Yeah, I was going to say, how gnarly
do you go on gravel bikes?
- Well, this descend is probably the limit,
to be honest if you want to go fast.
- It's still pretty cool to be out in the open.
- It gets you out and about, eh?
- I mean those flats, how they're working for you?
- I love flats. Flat pedals TID.
- Absolutely love them.
(music)
- So, you're obviously, predominantly, avid cyclist.
- I am, Henry.
- Now, what's your- do you do much gravel biking?
Is it something you enjoy?
- Well a little bit.
I quite enjoyed my day out with
Steve Jones back in May or June.
- Oh, yeah.
- EMBN vs Gravel.
- Yeah, that was pretty cool.
I've seen you guys get up to some
pretty cool trips to Iceland and all sorts.
I think even Neil joined you for that one of those.
- Uh, yeah. Didn't he go with Si?
They did some bike packing and
a little of off road gravel riding.
- So cool.
- I think the thing about these bikes is, it's a gateway.
A gateway drug to actual mountain biking.
(laughter)
Because I'm on this and it's really cool,
but I know that I'm a lot happier
if I had a full on mountain bike.
- Yeah.
- I mean that should take for some gnarly trails.
- Yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean cross country,
I think both to us it's a form of riding
that we actually just really, really enjoy.
- Yeah, 'cause you go places, you see stuff
that you don't see if you're doing just
runs up and down a hill.
Or if you're out for a walk or
stuff because you don't go very far,
but on a cross country mountain bike,
you can do 40, 50, 60 miles.
And you see loads of stuff and
you hit hit those really cool trails
that you just don't get to otherwise.
- Exactly, exactly. I do like this as well.
Not too shabby, eh?
- It's not bad, is it?
Oh, car park.
- That was your poundcake.
- A lot of dogs turning up in this neck of the woods, eh?
- Yeah, well I guess it's rife basically.
Rife in this part, part of the woods.
- I mean I've seen all sorts of
nice little fellas and, lady, lady dogs, I guess.
We've seen Spaniels, we've seen Labradors,
we've seen all sorts.
- I wonder where you go with that.
I still kind of feel like you
don't get the point about dogging, Henry.
I think we need a little chat.
- Okay.
- Some good trails there. Should we get going?
- Yeah, let's get going.
- It's a bit more mountain biking,
a bit more your terrain and a bit less this.
'Cause I kind of feel we've done a lot
of gravel-esque riding.
- Mm hm. Right, let's get into it.
- Come on.
(music)
- Right, you've mentioned dogging
a few times today.
- Yeah.
- And I, as much as I've enjoyed you talking about it.
- Right.
- I kind of feel you've gotten
the wrong end of the stick.
- Have I?
- It refers to something else.
(whispers)
- They do what in their cars?!
- Yeah.
- And what do the dogs do while they're in there?
- There are no dogs, Henry.
- I don't get it.
So, is this like a club? Do you pay display?
(music)
- Oh, Henry. That was phenomenal.
I felt so economy, you looked so business class.
(laughter)
- What a smooth operator.
You going to make me blush.
- I reckon we can find some more of that.
- I reckon we can, let's do it.
- Oh, what do we have here?
Oh, more single track.
- Oh my god.
There's nothing to see here!
Get out of here.
Running British countryside.
Doggers! What are they like?
Here with their Labradoodles and Spaniels.
Outrageous.
(music)
- Come on, Henry. Allow me to assist you.
- They said chivalry was dead.
- God, that's light for a downhill bike,
isn't it, Henry?
- Not quite a downhill bike,
but I like your enthusiasm. Thank you very much.
- Come on, to the right.
(music)
- See? It doesn't have all to be extreme-
- Extreme, right. Check out my air!
- Oh my god. This guy.
- We seem to be working our back on the road a bit.
- That's what this thing's built for, isn't it?
Just with knobby tires, really efficient.
A bit like a baggy trousers they look great on the road.
- Oh, well, not so quick but a bit more modest.
- Are we cracking on up there, bud?
- That's it. The final push to the very top.
- Oh, lovely.
- Your climbing's looking excellent today, Henry.
- Oh, such a nice man.
- Oh, the grip levels.
- So, you got a pedaling platform on that bike?
- A pedaling platform?
This is fully rigid, Henry.
- Oh my word.
- The ultimate pedaling platform.
- This is sabotage.
- No, I've got a grip.
- Now we're doing cyclocross.
- No, gravel. Strictly gravel.
What's this, you're pushing? That's cheating.
- How many workout can my quads get?
- I'll buy you a coffee if you
get straight up to the top.
- Straight up?
- Straight up.
- See, you cyclocrossers or gravel riders,
think you've got monopoly on carrying
your bike up horrible things.
But in mountain biking, there's no school at the old school.
Sometimes, you just got earn our turns.
- Yeah. I'm just happy that whatever
goes up, must come down.
Looks like a wall from here.
- It does look like a wall.
(music)
- King of the World stuff.
Literally on top of the world.
- I'm not sure if that was gravel
or mountain biking, to be honest with you.
- I don't think it had anything
to with riding a bike at all.
(laughter)
That was just a scramble up climb.
- Oh look, almost at the top.
- That is literally the highest point of the ride.
- Let's do it.
- You first.
- Oh, what a nice guy.
(music)
- There we go!
- Nice!
- Cheers for that. That was a really good ride.
- Check out that view.
You can literally see for miles.
- It's unreal.
- You know the best bit about this?
- Go on.
- It's downhill all the way back.
- Exclusively downhill?
- Almost exclusively downhill.
- A part from the up hills?
- Yes.
- And the flat bits?
- Yes.
(laughter)
- You know what, Chris?
Gravel biking doesn't actually seem that bad.
- No.
- I'm sorry for the fight.
I'm sorry for talking about you behind your back so much.
I'm also sorry for running the website Chrisnopie.com,
but that we take it down with immediate effect.
- I didn't know about that.
But, Henry, honestly, actually
I'm the one that should be sorry.
Not only for my hurtful comments,
but also for running, and subsequently
monetizing the Instagram page about how stupid you are.
It's a spiteful action. I'll stop it immediately.
And also, actually, I love riding any bike.
It doesn't matter how knobbly,
or how slick, the tires are.
- Well, I was actually thinking,
you know, you're always going to be
faster than me with the climbs,
but maybe I've got more experience
riding tactical descents.
So maybe I should be on the gravel bike,
and you should be on the full bouncer.
- That sounds like a plan
because actually deep down,
I love mountain biking.
- Where are you going?
- Swapsies. See you at the bottom.
- Uh, yeah.
I mean some of this is actually quite steep.
Could we maybe hit the pub?
Just when I start to like the guy.
- I'll tell you what Chris,
there's nothing like a stiff shandy
at the end of a good ride.
Thank you very much for coming.
- Thank you for having me.
- Yeah, it's been really, really good
and I think we've demonstrated, that maybe
there's some harmony between bikes.
- Yeah, I mean ultimately we're just on bikes.
- Yeah.
- And that's all that matters.
- That's all that matters.
If you enjoyed this video, give it a big thumbs up.
If you want to stick with GBM right now,
check out my little video that went out in September.
- And if you want something maybe
in a similar sort of thing,
and watch me enrage the e-bike community,
click down here for that one.
Don't forget to like and subscribe,
and we'll see you next time.