(yawns)
- Morning all.
Right, in this video we're going to see
how quickly we can pull this caravan with a bicycle.
(upbeat music)
Okay, we're off.
(grunt)
Man that's hard.
- [Narrator] Mark Beaumont is perhaps best known
for his epic feats of cycling ultra endurance,
most notably cycling around the world in just 78 days,
but today he'll be taking on the heaviest,
and shortest of his bikepacking adventures to date.
The fastest speed on a bike ever,
while pulling a 700 kilo caravan.
To have the honor of clinching
this unprecedented Guinness World Record,
Mark must hit 25 miles an hour, or 40 kilometers an hour,
which is pretty fast, even without a caravan in tow.
His speed will be measured between
two points that are 25 meters apart,
with his average speed taken from both directions.
Let's see how Mark gets on.
- I've just arrived in Birmingham at the NEC,
and well I don't have my Lycra on yet,
because I got told that
whatever I'm doing today was serious business.
So I thought I'd at least turn up in my suit.
But I was also told that it was something
that would take a man of my skill set.
I don't quite know what that means.
I'm excited, it's my first solo mission for GCN,
so I better not mess it up.
(upbeat music)
- We've managed to attach a road bike to a caravan,
which is a first for me.
But, well after having the technical issue
of not actually being able to attach it
through the rear axle, we fixed that,
that's taken the last hour and a half.
We hadn't thought that
it's going to be hard to actually support
the downward weight of the caravan on the front.
We knew the downward weight was about 30 kilos,
so I thought, well that's about the same
as putting a kid on the back of your bike,
and giving them a backy down the road.
But, we've got two pivot points,
so it doesn't actually support the weight at all,
and when this jockey wheel goes down,
the front of the caravan just hits the road.
So the only way that we can test this,
is by leaving the jockey wheel down.
Of all the stupid things.
That's all right.
- Works. - It's moving.
Wow.
Am I going uphill?
This feels like its uphill.
- [Cameraman] A little bit.
- That feels like its about five miles an hour.
- You're actually going- - I'm meant to go about 20.
So this looks flat, it is not flat.
One of the criteria is,
it's got to be an exactly flat road.
It'd be interesting to turn it round, and,
- Go down, yeah. - have a good down hill.
(upbeat music)
(laughs)
That is a problem.
(breaths heavily)
I did not see that coming.
Well the first attempt at towing the caravan
with a bicycle was an absolute disaster.
First of all, struggled to even get it going,
but then when I did,
the weight of the caravan ripped
the back wheel off the QR,
so the quick release,
because all the weight was going through that one point.
So going back to the drawing board completely,
and I'm heading off to meet a welder
who I've been recommended, who's also a keen bike rider.
Never met him before, and the idea is to try
and attach the caravan directly to the frame of the bicycle.
(upbeat music)
- Right, the bike that Mark's going
to be using in his challenge is an Orbea,
and its just arrived five minutes ago.
Right, I've got the Orbea up in the turbo trainer.
I've taken the back end of the turbo trainer off.
(welding and upbeat music)
Right, just another little update.
I've bent the bar,
and I've put old track tape on the top
to help protect the frame a little.
So, we'll get this on and see how it fits.
So, this is what I've done so far.
I've just finished welding and grinding,
and I'm going to do a trial fit
to see if it's distorted with a bit of heat, the welding.
So, this is what we've got so far.
(upbeat music)
(welding)
Right, so I finally finished the frame,
and I'm going to get it ready for painting now,
so this is what I've done.
All right, I'm going to paint the frame matte black,
to match the Orbea bike.
(upbeat music)
- Well we've turned up early doors
at a pretty secret testing center
somewhere in the middle of England.
You can probably just hear the cars
and motorbikes on the test track
over in that direction,
but we're not even allowed to point the cameras over there.
We're allowed this strip.
It's 1.7 kilometers.
It's as flat as it gets.
Apparently it just perfectly follows
the curvature of the earth, that's good enough for me.
But let's face it, the test run,
the trial run was a disaster.
That is a problem.
I mean, I'm trying to find the positives from it.
We kind of ran over a bike,
but apart from that, we had to go back
to the drawing board in terms
of the mechanism to attach the bike to the caravan.
I learnt that having 700 kilos thundering along
behind me is quite hard to slow down,
so the idea today is just not to brake,
but I don't need to fake this, I'm pretty nervous,
because this is both the trial run,
and the record attempt.
The guys are setting up the timing trap right now,
and hopefully we can get that caravan
to world record pace, with a push bike.
(upbeat music)
It looks strong.
I think in order of strength,
this amazing bit of welding
is by far the strongest.
Next the bike, pretty strong,
but, you know, this is welded steel,
and then the weakest of the three component parts here
I think is me.
So, if anything breaks,
it's going to be me, then the bike, then this.
This bit of towing mechanism's awesome.
I was just checking out all the welds were strong,
and it was, you know it hadn't slipped,
it was not doing any damage to the bike.
We're looking good.
(upbeat music)
(dramatic music)
I need like an old fashioned Speedos.
It's so light at the front.
(dramatic music)
Whoa.
Relax.
(beep)
Relax, relax, relax, relax, relax.
Relax, relax, relax, relax.
I can't even get going at the moment,
because there's literally no weight
on the front of the bike.
So, as soon as I start pulling off,
the front of the bike just feels like
it's going to completely skit out.
Starts to snake straightaway, so,
that balance point is kind of wrong at the moment.
I was hoping to be able to ride
with the jockey wheel up a little bit.
I'm trying to figure out how to get more weight
on the front of the bike.
Okay, let's try that.
Now, we've got a complete loss of traction.
Okay, that jockey wheel needs
to go back down a little bit,
because look, that's my problem.
Relax.
(dramatic music)
Okay, we're off.
(dramatic music)
Relax, relax, relax, relax.
(beep)
Okay.
Man that's hard.
First run, I mean...
Question again whether this is possible.
It's okay to get going, but then...
You could just feel the weight.
I mean it's silly to say,
but that's 700 kilos,
and I'm probably going walking pace there.
Guinness World Records have said that
they'd like the inaugural record
to be more than about, I think 20, 25 miles an hour,
but you know what, this has never been done before.
All right, let's keep practicing.
(dramatic music)
Okay.
It's getting easier.
(upbeat music)
Well, I might have only gone five miles an hour so far,
but sweating buckets.
I think that's the ultimate test of bike handling.
I've been practicing for about 20 minutes now,
and I am getting better.
I'm not sure I'm getting much quicker,
but like all these things,
it's as much about confidence as technique,
because the faster you go,
if you start to lose it and the caravan starts to snake,
I'm not sure I could...
Let's not crash again.
Hey Si, how's it going buddy?
- [Si] All right mate, how are you?
- Yeah, I'm trying to tow a caravan.
(laughter)
- [Si] I mean, good work mate.
Is this bikepacking, or um...
- Yeah, no it's sort of like,
you know in the last 10 years,
that trend towards ultralight.
I've got a bit of an issue with that,
so I just thought we'd go the other way,
and just try and take the full caravan,
kitchen sink, the works.
It's just an issue.
Well first of all,
I couldn't get any grip through the front wheel at all,
and now, I don't know, I've got it to walking pace.
- Okay. - But talk about
the tail wagging the dog,
this caravan is owning the road,
and I'm just trying to hold on for dear life.
Have you got any tips, mate?
- [Si] Is it a four berth caravan, or a two berth?
(laughter)
I mean is a case of just keeping
the power nice and constant on the bike?
- Well the target that's been set is 25 miles an hour,
but it's never been done,
it's never been done before,
so I figure if I, if I just set a standard,
I mean I defy any bike rider to do this.
- [Si] So you mean you'd get another world record,
just by turning up.
- Well that's...
You're learning, yes.
(laughter)
Actually, for once, being a big lad,
being six foot three might play to my advantage.
- [Si] Yeah, use that power, mate.
Get it out nice and evenly,
and then watch stopping.
I would have thought that's probably what gets you.
- No brakes.
All right. - Yeah.
- Where would I be without you?
Thanks for the wisdom, mate.
(upbeat music)
(dramatic music)
11 miles an hour.
Man that's sketchy.
So as long as the front wheel sticks,
you know classic, just trust the front wheel.
The back wheel is getting pulled left and right,
making a horrible noise across the tar,
because the caravan's just swinging it,
but it's a fine balance between getting
the traction to accelerate,
and just letting the back wheel skid out.
Right, we've got 25 minutes on the track left.
11 miles an hour.
(dramatic music)
(grunt)
I don't think I've ever worked so hard
for like 25 meters, which is all the time gap is.
- So Mark, you've managed 11.93 kilometers an hour,
with the aid of the wind.
And then amazingly, against this wind,
because it's quite strong wind,
you managed a time of 9 point,
sorry a speed of 9.861 kilometers an hour.
- Right.
- Averaging those two together,
and that gave you a time of 10.477 kilometers per hour.
- Is that kilometers or miles?
- That's kilometers an hour.
- All right.
- I can show you it in miles an hour
if you like miles an hour.
Click on the miles an hour.
- That's even more upsetting.
(laughter)
- Six point.
6.510 miles an hour.
- Wow. - I don't think
you're going to be toting it on holiday.
- Yeah.
- [Announcer] Mark may not have quite hit
the 25 miles an hour needed
to set the official Guinness World Record
for pulling a caravan by bike,
but he did set an unofficial top speed.
Now we just need to try and find someone else
crazy enough to try and beat it.
Perhaps with a little bit more training,
and better weather, Mark could smash it next time.
Maybe, just maybe.
- If you like this bonkers video,
give us a thumbs up.
Maybe tell us in the comments
how quick you think you'd go.
Actually, scrap that.
Please don't try this at home.
And if you want to see more GCN videos,
click on the caravan.