I dont really understand what you mean by extreme. But cycling isnt the same as what it was. I dont think enduro/downhill counts as cycling, its bullshit, you dont need any training, you just have to practice your tecnical skills a bit and not be scared. XCO/XCM/XCT/ road cycling /track. Thats what real cycling is, my brothers ftp is 280 and his 16 years old. His max whatts on the wahoo is 1600, but nowadays the kids with coaches and shit win the races and do good, only people with money do good with races, and its important if you have a structured training plan. Im sorry but my mom doesnt have R2500 to waste on a coach.
Sorry guys I think you missed the point about comments made at the Mike Hall inquest. What you should be concerned about is that the driver has admitted to be being distracted by a vehicle parked on the side of road before hitting Mr Hall. No blame has been placed on the driver rather that Mr Hall was wearing dark clothes as well as a rear light. Would it matter if he was wearing hi -vis if the driver is not looking at the road ahead? I think not ! Driver inattention kills cyclists no matter what they wear.
Extreme corner of the wheelie riding guy reminded me of an accident I had many years ago. In 1984 I was in the US Army stationed in Germany. After a field exercise, I loaded up my duffle bag, jumped on my bike and headed off to the laundry mat on my newly purchased road bike. While heading back from doing my laundry I came to a big intersection with many cars around. As I lifted my front wheel, to hop off the curb, my front wheel left my bike and kept rolling. Now, with no front wheel, my forks hit the ground with a thud and I must say the braking was superior! This happened so fast that I was still holding on to the handlebars when they came in contact with the ground. In that split second I lifted my chin and allowed my chest to hit the pavement. About the time I thought I had done the right thing by raising my head and allowing my chest to hit the ground, the duffle bag on my back slammed into the back of my head and pushed my face into the pavement.. I thought for sure I would get up and all the people around me would be laughing. But I was wrong.. In Germany their good Samaritan rule is real (was when I was there). I got to my feet, saw my front wheel spinning a slow death in the middle lane of the road to my right. People were out of their cars asking if I was ok, picking up my bike, and handing me my front wheel.. thankfully i was ok and I gathered up my stuff, thanked everyone, and walked to the other side of the road. I needed those wheelie skills for sure on that day. Not sure the skill would have helped on this day but would have enjoyed having the option. :) I do hope the people that were in that intersection allowed themselves to laugh after that incident.. I know I laugh every time I think about it...
I don't think those rampage guys are doing it for fame and fortune. I think the main drive is just the same as in ultra endurance: to push your own boundaries. I mean, how great is it to be able to fly like that?
Hi GCN Team, I've recently got in to cycle again - commuting to work here in Thailand and your video's have really helped me to learn new things as a beginner cyclist and making my rides more enjoyable. Thank you for posting great videos! By far the best cycling channel online! Warmest regards, Al
Getting caught up in the nature of extreme events is potentially doing Mike Hall a disservice and runs a risk of feeding the culture of victim blame when cyclists are involved in vehicle/cycle collisions.
Riding a bike 2,000 miles across a continent is no more dangerous or extreme than riding 5 miles on a commute. It’s other road users not looking out for cyclists or not educated on how to drive near vulnerable road users that’s dangerous.
not the case. you will find most wrecks are caused by the bicyclist. every thing from running stop signs and light to not being properly lighted at night and riding in the car lane when there is more then ample space on the side of the road or not riding on the bike path when there is one.
@@678friedbed - here is one report that refuses your comment. What proof can you provide? theconversation.com/amp/cars-overwhelmingly-cause-bike-collisions-and-the-law-should-reflect-that-78922?__twitter_impression=true
Back in '92 a friend I'd been at college with was killed by a drunk driver during a 24 hour race; the driver literally ran over him and just left him on the road to die. Some years later I came across an archive of the local newspaper article, which included local reaction. There was almost a sense that the *cyclist* was the one at fault here. What was he doing riding his bike at night? People tend to look down on activities they don't understand or participate in themselves, whether it's playing Dungeons and Dragons or getting on a bike and riding for hundreds of miles. It's deviant, not because it hurts anyone else, but because it doesn't make sense.
I'm reminded of some older videos showing the difference between modern gymnastics and those at the turn of the century, there is no comparison between the two other than the bars involved. While there is much more risk now, it is not life-threatening for the most part and when people have tried to do those sorts of things it was banned as unsafe. Maybe there should be a committee of representative riders who could make those decisions each year. No matter how entertaining it might be to watch when things are going well, it isn't worth it if I have to watch someone die however rarely.
I think the biggest come back of all time is Greg Lemond in 1989 - win the Tour de France and the world championship after two years off because of a shot gun shot in the back!
It’s not hard to trace the history of modern extreme sports to Warren Miller Entertainment and the 1980s emergence of radical ski movies. Coupled with the California skate scene/BMX, and we find ourselves at X-Games and what we now see as the most high-risk, high flying showmanship sports. It’s hard to quite square up bike racing in this continuation, but the culture of pushing to the edge of capacity, and for some beyond, is built into modern expectations in this 24-hour news cycle, instant video world. Then marry GoPros, video self-publishing and every aspiring amateur has the basic tools to reach nearly instantly for what was once the domain of sponsored pros.
The birth of extreme bike jumping can pretty much be blamed on Evel Knievel and our skateboarding friends. Evel because he achieved fame and fortune for his ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps and the skateboarders because they figured out that an empty swimming pool with its vertical walls was great for getting air. Put that together and soon enough freestyle legends like Bob Haro were dropping jaws by flying straight up on big ramps and getting big air for the cameras of BMX Action magazine and soon enough that became a craze of crazies doing their thing on BMX bikes and it was a beautiful thing. And it still is but yes, there is a limit and that limit is personal and it is pretty much when you get injured badly enough to say, you know, it is time to call this a day. And the end of my big days of bike stunts came in '81 in Frankfurt where I was stationed as a young soldier and rode my bikes a lot--and I had spent my high-school years in Frankfurt so it was like my second home, California first and then Frankfurt. And in the city itself in '81, there was an undeveloped patch of land with a huge drop which overlooked a parking lot for a supermarket--I think it was a supermarket but it was a popular store with lots of customers who could look over and see some crazy stuff on BMX bikes and motocross motorcycles. And I had a red-and-gold Redline BMX bike and I had that drop dialed like a big-wave surfer--I'd fly over the ledge, land on the rear wheel just about at the bottom, slam the front down so hard that the bars would jerk back a bit, force 'em back up at speed, and ride a loop back up to the top and do it again and again. And it was great to have a crowd of shoppers and groms on their bikes watch me. But one afternoon, a guy on a motocross bike was coming up like a hillclimber as I flew over the ledge and I had no idea he was there. The groms didn't warn me. And I would have centerpunched him if I had stayed on the bike. So I kicked out and dropped like a stone down the drop and cut my forehead open and tumbled to the bottom and that was that for me. But I healed--just have a couple of scars--and I was fine with that ending. I had been a big jumper. And from there I got a Batavus road bike and started romping up and down the Taunus Mountains. And I was an extreme descender. It was too much fun.
I think in organised events/races there should be periods of time where no competitors are allowed to ride. Depending on where the ride is and it's daylight hours, it might be no riding from 9pm-5am for example. That would force sleep and increase the safety of such endurance events.
I’ve been a fan of ultra endurance cycling since the RAAM started some decades ago In the eighties we lost the first and only competitor who attempted it 100% unsupported and the race made mandatory a follow vehicle. I love the idea of riding transcontinental and I might do it someday But not in eight days That’s nuts
Call them extreme events or not, but with regards to the inquest it wasn't the actual event that killed him. It was a vehicle, wasn't it? Shouldn't the focus of attention still be on road safety and not any events in particular?
Yes it has. Blake Samson understood it too after he made the ftp test GCN invited him to do :-) (joke) Honestly no I think bike riding is mush about safety thinking an example is disc brakes for make the bike riding more safety. Great show again made by the two GCN legends the unbeatable team number one. To the other GCN presenters I can say you are good but still not legendary but keep on going!
If you look at all sports, then you see the boundaries being pushed. Whether it's football with the skills that the players have now compared to 20/30 years ago eg. Ronaldo and his patented step-over move. Or climbing, the ultimate risky sport!!! things like the fastest ascent of Everest or speed climbing on indoor climbing walls, or free climbing (without ropes). It's just us as humans, we will always strive to go bigger, higher, faster! It's in our DNA!
might be better to steer clear of economics...my understanding is that the tariff is paid by US consumers on Chinese products, thus making US products more attractive to the home market.This may have the knock-on effect of making Chinese products cheaper in EU as the Chinese try to sell their excess stock to us. Old joke... put two economists in a room and get three opinions! Saying that, i will bow to an economics scholar's opinion!
Actually, I think it was ten economists in a room and eleven conclusions (Churchill). The tariff on imports will impact on the US domestic market making Chinese goods more expensive; this will, in turn, reduce demand (one assumes) thereby potentially either resulting in spare capacity or lowered production or (possibly) "dumping" - selling goods at an uneconomic level simply to either win market share or ensure economies of scale are achieved. This could potentially impact adversely on the Chinese market, reducing their income and investment and in turn harming global markets as the Chinese are a major world player. A butterfly flaps its wings...or, in the case of the USA, a weird-haired loon makes some rash decisions... On the upside for the US industry, it does make US-made goods (and those imported from other areas) less expensive in relative terms, thereby allowing substitution for Chinese made goods (assuming other imports are not also subject to tariffs). Simples.
Actually, I stand corrected: "If you put two economists in a room, you get two opinions, unless one of them is Lord Keynes, in which case you get three opinions." The Lord Keynes referred to was John Maynard Keynes, economics legend www.repeatafterus.com/title.php?i=3529
Chinese, specifically Taiwanese, have been leading the way in carbon production for years. Made in China is no longer a pejorative for consumer goods. For carbon, it implies the best quality, generally speaking.
Caption Quote: On Victory, you deserve beer. On defeat, you need it. Napoleon B. Mind Thoughts....Please let the comity allow me to keep this bicorne. It makes me feel so thin.
Caption: it appears one just needs to win a race to get a beer, unlike Lloydy who insists on waiting for that wheel of fortune to stop at the right spot.
The most offensive thing so far about the Mike hall inquest is the victim blaming - focusing on whether he was visible enough, not the lack of care and attention of the driver or the fact his car wasn't roadworthy and had a faulty headlamp
Well done guys, keep it up. Boredom setting in, folks finding more time on their hands, and improvements on technology makes everything and everyone go more and more extreme, to include wanting to feel that super "high", which has much more to deal with on the psychological realm than anything else. Extreme events will not dim anytime soon, even though there are more risks involved than just doing the average, i guess as long as people are aware of what the ultimate end result "can" be, they are their own judges.
Drink up, it's arsenic-laced beer, you'd be Mads not too OR Eurometronapoleon caught napping OR Eurometropoleonic style finally defeats Sky's metronomic method
Tah Si, you dont need a cyclocross bike to trekk through the woods, live for the moment and take that road bike straight on through those woods! Very Free Spirit moment, now thats a picture.
Yes Si, the 100m IS the 100m. but that's not an endurance event - there are ultramarathons for extreme running. cycling does not own extreme endurance sports.
And since we're at it, try crossing the English channel swimming as many have done. That is dangerous as hell, no question about it, and ultra endurance at its core.
caption competition" England expects that Mads will do his duty, no captain can do very wrong if he places his bike alongside that of the enemy, thank God I have done my duty"
Simon, I will have to go with the black Bondcush soft! It's the only color that will go with my spring yellow and black Cannondale CAAD 12. Your my go to channel if I need to know anything about cycling, Thanks GCN your the BEST!!!
A great photo of Adrian in Poland but having just watched Crash Detectives I couldn’t help but notice the linear scrapes in the asphalt coming to a sudden halt at what appears to be a fire damaged road surface. A welcome bit of perspective after the earlier discussion about the dangers of cycling. This juxtaposition couldn’t be more picturesque.
When are we going to see a GCN - Jens Voigt Zwift rematch? I'd like to see that only with Jens getting to pick a mystery teammate that you don't know about until right before the race.
Caption: Napoleon is defeated again in Belgium, this time by Loydies delicious selection of craft beers. On a more serious note if the young driver of the car who or which killed Mike Hall is not to blame, lets not just call it a freak accident and forget about it. The road infrastructure should be held to account, in the UK it is senseless how the law considers my bike a vehicle while all the drivers of rolling death see me as a speed bump. Then cyclists are victim blamed for not being seen. My son is an eight year old budding bike rider, we are not doing enough.
Caption: the pain of getting your monobrow waxed! Caption: 'I said do a Napoleon impression, not Prince Charles!' Caption: 'Swallow! Swallow! Swallow!'
Extreme racing is what the original Tour de France was supposed to be all about. Didn't Henri Desgrange say the ideal race would be so hard that there would be only one finisher? I do agree with Dan that it isn't the extreme nature that dictates our level of interest but I do think the Tours should cover a lot of distance.
U forgot ultra marathon running Si.. There are events of distances varying from 50Kms all the way upto 100Miles and more. Its in sense similar to Ultra endurance cycling but saying only cycling offers ultra endurance events wont be entirely correct
The 100m is the 100m just as the kilo is the kilo. Of course there are ultra endurance running events. Marathon des Sables, anyone? And as for cycling being more "extreme" than other sports, what about things like snowboarding? I reckon even gymnastics has had the same happen to it over the years.
