I was the guy in red & black riding with Hank for 70 miles. Massive kudos to him for commentating while in the break. He was courteous and kept encouraging the group. Class act! -Tyler
@@gcn Paris-Roubaix ... noone will be angry, if You will skip the first thirth of race ... 🤪. . . . . Joke, of course, i personaly hate paved ("cathead's") sections, where i always loose ... 😬
30 min recap of how Ollie went from being the donkey that got dropped by the GCN retirees a couple of years ago to this thoroughbred effort would be great! and Hank... class is permanent!
Hahahaha we wouldn't be surprised if he headed out on another 100 miles - 300km is nothing for him now 👉ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wMFthWMOBEo.html
We loved having you guys in Tucson! It’s a ripping-fast race, and it’s the closest thing us mere mortals have of a Tour de France-type experience. People are lined-up all along the route with cowbells cheering you on. It’s an amazing day! Thanks for being here!
I was there this year, finished in 4 hrs, 19mins. Such a fast race and the weather was perrrrrfect! No wind, 70 degrees at the finish. I averaged just over 23.1 mph, not bad for 55 years old 😊 The key is to stay in one of the two fast groups that form after the Pistol Hill climb.
@@gcn I’m doing the Dawn to Dusk 12 hr mountain bike race in two weeks in the solo category. It’s up in Phoenix on a super smooth 16 mile course with about 1000 ft of climbing per lap. Hoping to complete 8 laps 🤞
We would love to do more of these community events! Always so cool to get involved in grass-route events, are there any other big cycling events that we should be visiting? 🗺
Absolutely brilliant coverage of America's largest mass start cycling race! The fact that you both participated made it even better. You should be sure to do more local events like this in the future because it really promotes and ramps up the enthusiasm for cycling. Well done!
NO WAY!! The el Tour de Tucson is what got me interested in cycling in the first place. There was a year the route went right in front of my house, and I was so excited when my mom brought me out to see the riders. From then I started riding my crummy old bike longer than I ever had. That following summer I watched the Tour de France for the first time, and saved up enough money to get en entry level road bike. I have been watching you all for years, and earlier this year I told myself I’d get back into it after being inspired once more from a few key videos. I signed up for the tour and started training again. A few years later since the first few times I road in the el Tour and now with kids, I was much slower, but enjoyed being able to be part of such a wonderful event again. I’m glad you all got to enjoy it as much as I did, thank you for visiting our old pueblo home!
Kudos to Hank and Ollie for finishing Platinum in the 40th. El Tour de Tucson. As a Tucson area resident, I'm stoked to see our area on GCN. I've personally ridden the El Tour de Tucson 10 or so times and it's always a blast, though I've never finished under 4 hours. I certainly hope you all also had the opportunity to ride up our scenic and famous Mt. Lemmon highway, 40 km of climbing. It's an iconic ride in these parts. GCN should also consider sending GMBH riders out to ride the 24Hours of the Old Pueblo race, another epic event.
I guess that is the result of Hank always being up for any tourture that you throw his way! Adversity builds up strenght and character and he showed that in this race. Well done lads!
ollie has become one of my cycling heroes & inspirations over the past year - "class is permanent, form is temporary" from the lead break in full breath. what a stud, 🎩 to you both!
Awesome accomplishment. Amazing to not just ride with but to finish with current and former top pros. Props to the video editing. I wish this was an hour longer… couldn’t get enough of it.
I was so excited when I saw on IG you were here in Tucson last week! And 100 miles in 3:41, omg 🤯I've done el tour 3 consecutive years, only the metric century in double the time, but I love it! One of the reasons I moved to Tucson from San Diego 3 months ago! My friends from San Diego (20 people) came for El Tour this year! We all had a blast! So happy you enjoyed Tucson! It's an awesome place!
Hey Ollie it was fun hanging out with you in the front pack!! Sad I wasn’t in some of the climbing shots :(. Nice to see you finish with us in the front
My 70 year old father rode in this for his 30th time. Thank you for coming and not only enjoying but sharing the beauty and hospitality that is Tucson AKA The Old Pueblo. You and your crew are welcome back any time!
I just want to say the video quality, camera work, sound, and editing are amazing. Congrats to making a top class video! Oh yeah, the speed of Ollie and Hank was beyond amazing.
Watched you guys taping at Gates pass and the Mercado market the weekend before the race while visiting Tucson. Props to you and your crew for all your hard work.
I have to give it up to GCN presenters Hank and Ollie. It’s something when you can show that you not only enjoy sharing your content and knowledge BUT can hang with the big boys too when it counts. 🚴🏾♂️ Top guys! Well in.👏🏾👏🏾
You guys can ride,i watched your channel for a 2 years now and this is your best video so far.Magical watching James and Ollie commentate as they ride with top riders,telling us what’s happening ect👍
🩵🩵🩵 Thank you guys SO MUCH for covering El Tour!! It has become a family tradition starting with my father-in-love/law who has been participating since its inception. I have done it twice but now have the role of SAG for our 15 year old son who just completed is 5th full 100+ mile El Tour. This video allowed me, his mother, to experience El Tour from his lens, and for that I am forever grateful 🩵 I loved seeing him right next Ollie in his bright blue kit bib #375 🤩 and getting to watching him through the finish with the Peloton 🤩 Thank you again! Super impressed y’all were able to ride that fast while talking and navigating course/peloton! I totally agree with others, try to make it out to more road cycling events in USA to prevent it from fully dying! We have some good ones coming up in the Southwest: Valley of the Sun, Tour of Scottsdale, and the only multi-day stage race Tour of Gila 🙌🏽 Cheers to next time 🤩
Thanks for showcasing this event. As a Tucson resident, and one who rides these roads regularly and has rode in this event multiple times, I found myself smiling the entire video. Awesome job GCN!
Way to go Ollie! I was so impressed following your training and diet to improve your riding and what a result! I am inspired to keep working at 63. When i follow the outline of your training and diet -- and can stay well (respiratory issues have plagued me the past 1.5 years), i do well. Enjoyed it. Impressed. Inspired.
BTW, Hank and Ollie are great people and it was great to meet them in person. BTW, the ride almost sold out at 10K riders! This is across the four riding events. Hank with the second place rider is a sight to see.
Absolutely amazing fair effort guys you smashed it. That is one of the best videos hanks ftp testing, italy gravel racing, headwind training/race and Ollie’s tour de station and Taiwan KOM training paid off for you guys just goes to show training in one event can sometimes allow you to perform well in another unexpectedly
Our Cape Cycle Tour race in little SA (110km - very hilly) has over 35 000 participants each year - the worlds largest individually timed cycle race. The coastline scenery is stunning - GCN should visit and enjoy it
This is a huge event in Tucson now. It has been held for 40 times know and I would say it is the new El Tour de Tucson. It is flatter, faster, and is bigger. There are shorter options to ride and it is a charity fundraiser event as well. Loved your video, and thanks for making it so much fun to experience it again. The medals are well done as well.
My brother and I grew up doing the tour de Tucson. Lived in EU in 1978 to 80, rode 100's of miles a day there. My daughter has done the ( 75%) about 75 to 80 miles three times and other rides in Mesa, Gilbert Az. Glad to see you came all that way to do. Video missed the foothills up/ down sections. Time limit of course. Fun thanks
That was incredible! 3h41m!?!? 🤯 What I loved, besides seeing the beautiful Arizona landscape 🧡⛰️, was the guy shouting “2 minutes?!” 😂 Super human job guys! Y’all earned those medals!🏅🏅 One thing missing though, was a burrito report 🌯
@@gcn - My favorite thing to eat to refuel after a big ride is a giant burrito, my fav being a chorizo breakfast burrito with some spicy green chili sauce (and a coffee). When I find myself in a new place, I like to see how they compare to the gold standard TX burritos I used to eat every week. The new place I’m living has some pretty good ones, and the green sauce is way better here, but they’re still a notch or two below TX imo. There’s still a place I haven’t tried yet that’s apparently the best, but the line of cars is always down the block when I ride by…Anyway, awesome video, thank you! 💜🥇🌯😁 :edit: …oh, I’m an idiot, I thought you were asking “what’s a burrito report?” 🤦🏻♀️😅
Nice Video! Tucson is one of my favorite places. Great desert scenery and over 100 miles of bike trails. Probably as much or more than any other city in the USA. I was there riding the 100km ride. The bonus was Mexican food at Mi Nadito 😋
Phenomenal video. Hank and Ollie both put in massive performances, but Hank's time was bonkers. He's still got the goods to hang with the best. Ollie has come so far, it's amazing. Super fun video. So well done.
I used to ride El Tour each year when I was in law school at the U of A a long time ago. Super fun day, and having to ride through a wash and sometimes stopping to wait for a freight train added an extra layer of chaos.
"There are some hitters here and Ollie's not one of them".... absolutely savage Hank. Very solid effort and Hank being in the break for 120k at 40kph is amazeballz. Particularly when he admitted Ollie was fitter. Outstanding effort gents!
A wonderful race! The guys are in good shape, and they have performed with precision tactics of the competition. Fought like lions! At the very beginning, Hank said that he was not trained enough, but he had compensated for it with his cast-iron will!
Wow, how amazing must it be to be able to ride with some great riders at the front like that. The GCN presenters had to ride and present at the same time. These guys are amazing both on the bike, and on camera. Thanks for bringing us onto the journey with you.
Loved this video! Do more videos like this please! Absolutely loved watching you guys chase breakaways and attempting attacks. Such great content. The attack towards the end was my favorite hahaha. Love the enthusiasm. No fear!
Super cool to see you guys out there. Always tough to compare different riders, so it’s nice to see y’all are legit and know what you’re talking about. I finished in 4:28. Didn’t get to start with the platinum group though, as it was my first official bike race. Next year I’ll start with platinum. Not sure if my goal will be sub 4 or sub 4:15.
Love it! This is my hometown race and you did it justice! Might've mentioned Matthew Riccitello is also from Tucson. Nice of you to mention him of course.
If only the entire GCN crew was in the race then it could be more tactical than just Ollie getting in peoples way. And it's good to see Ollie and Hank shouting their secret tactics really loudly at the camera bike, hoping their tactics catch everyone else by surprise.
Thank you for coming to our neck of the woods! I am from New Mexico, and it was so awesome to see the kind of terrain I am accustomed to on your channel. What did you think of riding it the desert? Well done guys! What a beautiful ride!
I have ridden both the El Tour de Tuscon and Mesa. Both were very fun rides. The GCN Crew needs to come up to Colorado and try the Iron Horse Classic at the end of May.
Tucson was misspelled at around 59 seconds into the video in the elevation box. I did the 38th edition of the Tour de Tucson but not as rapid as Hanks and Ollies time. Well done boys. Great to see video on where I grew up on the GCN site.
At 5:10 you’ll see a huge airfield with lots of military aircraft. That is Tucson’s rather famous “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base where the US Air Force has retired over 3,000 military aircraft and (interestingly) over 6,000 aircraft engines. They use D-M because Tucson has a very dry climate that helps preserve the aircraft. It’s quite a sight and a mute, sobering testimony to the dedication America has made to airpower in the past century. Ollie and Hank rode by a lot of aircraft history. 😊
Wow, never knew El Tour de Tucson was the biggest bike race in the US despite having tried it a few years ago before the pandemic. Ended up being Lantern Rouge for the Gold group which I thought was pretty cool since I'm such an average rider, but that also made this video more fascinating to see what it's like on the sharp end of the event.
It’s probably noted somewhere in the 680+ comments, but in the elevation profile 1:00 in, “Tucson” is spelled wrong. The ‘c’ and ‘s’ are reversed. Great job with the video. I’ve ridden this 7 times now (6 under 5 hrs) and the video captures it nicely. I met Hank at a coffee shop and could tell them, they were in Tucson to do a bang up job. Kudos Hank, Ollie and the GCN crew! 👍🏻
That was just incredible. GCN commentators are bad ass that was so good. I can’t believe the speed you guys are riding at and to ride with those stars. Thanks so much for making these videos. Congratulations.
HUGE for us native Tucsonan cyclists to have GCN here. My wife and I are opening a 4-bdrm/2-bath (w/pool) VRBO soon, that is perfectly located on the far eastside of Tucson for access to all the premium eastside riding, the Loop, and Mount Lemmon. Watch for Casa de Mesquite VRBO, LLC. Thanks for coming to Tucson, and please come again!!
Congratulations to the both of you on an amazing effort. So good to see GCN on this side of the pond lately with this ride, Big Sugar, and Unbound Gravel. I hope there will be more content here soon, especially with GCN+ closing down.
stellar performance documented in a stellar video. It's content like this why I luv GCN. Hank and Ollie both showed why they were allocated to start in the 1st bunch!
That was a wonderful performance gentleman. You accomplished your goal and proved to everyone that you are both legitimately excellent bicycle riders. ❤ You have terrific jobs, you are already getting paid to do what you love. That means that you can relax and enjoy it. That’s a whole lot better than having to worry about the next race and when the next crash 💥 is going to really test your toughness and resiliency.
To see you guys finish in 3:42 versus my first attempt at century ride on the same day same course in 6:53 at 64 young, is f’n awesome! Thank you lads!,
Loved the fact you guys came and did this. Unfortunately, I had to skip it this year (have done it multiple years in the past). I plan to be back next year....I hope to see you back.
