Back in the early 90s a duo from a popular UK MTB magazine had a crack at cycling the Channel, underwater. Frames and tyres filled with water and fully kitted out with scuba kit. Time to see if Hank and Conor on road bikes can do better?
Coming soon on GCN Tech - Alex shows us how to replace bearings in bottom brackets, headsets, and wheel hubs using Conor's Pinarello to demonstrate the process.
Hilarious! That clip of Conor going over and getting a mouthful of cold muddy water, with hanks manic laughter in the background, could well take over from Ollie’s water bike plunge or Si’s cyclo cross trip as the most replayed clip on GCN 😂
Next video. "Were sending hank out into the Atlantic Ocean with just his bike. Will he make it to America? Find out on the next episode!" Holy shit watching Connor go in at slow speed and just immediately get caught up made me bust up laughing. This video is so good. GCN go deeper, 1.5m next.
I want to see if El Alto allows Conner to conquer deeper waters. Ideally would like to see a scuba diving Hank next to Connor with his head above water.
So what I've learned from this expedition is that living in a part of England often under water that a Eurobike may be a better investment than a Pinarello. Oh and I thought the Atlantic Ocean would have been a realistic challenge for Connor's size 😜
Next to them I would look like Andre the Giant at 6ft, 80kg. I knew island dwarfism was a thing but I had no idea we are so much larger here on the continent.
When I rode the 'wet' Eleneth 300km Audax back in the late 80s (IIRC it took me nearly 19 hours because I spent so much time in cafés!) I was riding on the totally flooded A44 towards Leominster, in the dark with only a dynamo light for quite a considerable distance. There was no traffic so I rode right in the middle of the road where the water was least deep. One of my most memorable rides - thank goodness! It only rained once but it started at about 0800 and continued until I finished back in Kidderminster in the early hours :) Ordinary puddles are not usually a problem but I always avoid them if possible because you don't know how deep the pothole they're filling is - especially on a road I'm not very familiar with. I think you should think twice before riding through puddles.
Major props guys for doing this! 😂👏👏 I mean, it must have been late fall or early winter you guys are MAD!!😂 But now we HAVE TO see a follow up video in even deeper water! Haha Much love and happy holidays ❤😁
Next on GCN tech. Alex explains how to re-grease the bottom bracket of your Pinarello (and steerer) after you’ve wrecked it in 1.5 metres of cold, muddy water 😅
“Why is he just in his shorts and Jersey, it’s cold!” says Conner, later to be shivering in the only clothes he has being soaked through while Hank stands comfortably in his dry puffer jacket…
I know we all joke about the Eurobike, but it has been ridden for hundreds of kilometers, climbed some of the highest high mountain roads in Europe, and it has now been ridden through deep muddy water. Overall I would say that GCN's Eurobike has proven to be a very capable machine. What is next? I bet Hank could be talked into skydiving out of a plane riding the Eurobike!
When I was a kid in the 90s the deepest we could ride through was below our chest anything above that you start to float and you can't get traction with your bike.
A few months ago, my boss's two-year-old learned to ride a bike after pottering around on his balance bike for a month or so. He rode round and round the yard at work, all the while shouting for all to hear "I can do it! I can do it by myself!". That's who Conor reminds me of in this video. Great watch, and very entertaining!
That was absolutely hilarious, totally ridiculous and highly commendable. All credit to Hank, that steely determination and practised technique saw him through on both occasions. Conor on the other hand caused me to split my sides laughing on that pond entry. Keep it up lads, this is the spirit of true cycling. Happy New Year.
Another brilliant video to end the year on. Hilarious to watch, especially Hank's laughter at Connor taking a dive into the pond. 🤣 Definitely beats Ollie and the waterbike. Oh, and who'd have thought we'd see the day the Eurobike would beat a Pinarello? Thanks for everything this year GCN, and I wish you all a Happy New Year, when it comes. Cant wait to see what 2023 bring from you all.
watercrossings are fun. Did a bit of bike overlanding myself on a bikepacking trip where I went through a flooded area. Good fun but tought riding through beyond knee deep water with full camping gear. My panniers were 2/3 under several times. still bone dry inside
😂😂😂 This revived my school days memories. We would often ride through water logged roads. I'm from Guwahati, Assam, India, where we receive some of the heaviest rainfall. Being a River valley and surrounded by hill, water logging was a common issue in most of the area. A heavy bike is always useful in such situation. Nevertheless, this was a fun video.
Thank you for giving us a right laugh on New Year's eve. I haven't laughed so much in ages. Chapeau to Hank and Connor for taking on that challenge, in the winter too.
This was a real experience for me, back in 2012, heavy rains just flooded most of Manila. A lot of cycling commuters still cycled to work while the regular commuters used make shift rafts... The floods lasted for about 5 days, and submerged the headtube at it's deepest. First few days was kinda fun when the water was still clean, but the 3rd day the flood was just filthy.
At the end of a day of working on an oyster boat on Long Island Sound during a hurricane I rode my Humber 10-speed through knee deep water to get home. That was in high school, I probably wouldn't do either that work or ride nearly 60 years later.
Danny Macaskill - A Wee Day Out. Rides through a "puddle" completely submerged! Great video guys. Just listening to Hank laughing at Conor made my day!😂 Two complete nutters! Do this on the hottest day of the year! No no that's too easy. Instead they do a commuter film on that day. The depths of winter when it's freezing "let's go ride through some deep water!" 😂😂😂😂
On a particularly wet commute home I rode through a park which runs next to a river. It was pitch black (save for my front light) and there was a long puddle (25m+) that started shallow but rose over the bottom few inches of my pannier. Feet were totally soaked but it was close to home and it brought a childish smile to my face - until I remembered the office laptop in the back! Thankfully, the bag was Ortlieb and all contents made it home dry. Phew.
That's definitely an idea for a video, I would do in winter... Who thought: "Wow, that's the greatest idea of all times! Let's do it right now!" "Dude it's winter, the water is freezing cold!" "Ah, fuck it! Let's goooooooo!"
deepest i did was 29" as i didn't get out to measure it, but it was over the wheels on the mountain bike. was during the rainy season here & the rivers had overflowed. i could not see the road markers anymore but i did know the road well & it was pretty straight. i was quite relieved to make it to the other end that day.
this reminds me of the first year that i did the Ride London, in the middle of one of the storms - as I went through Richmond park it was raining so hard that both my feet were under water for a good couple of hundred yards! at least that was in the summer though!!
Fun! You probably have mentioned this before...the really important thing about puddles is not depth but the profile of it's bottom. A shallow pothole with vertical walls will make us plant face 😉
I've ridden through water over the handlebars on my mountain bike during a flood. It was and felt a little odd. Problem was completely disassembling my bike after.
This is all very well, but I had a really bad crash in May 2022 when I hit a large pot hole hidden undernearth a puddle. Glad they made it out alive!!!
Oh that was hilarious. Thanks for that! Deepest water I went through was nearly ti the top of my tires. It was on a flat well-packed woodland trail I bike regularly. But that year the spring lake levels were high and they flooded into the forest about 2 km. I didn’t think the water would be too deep that far inland but as I pedalled it kept getting deeper. Ahead of me I saw a diving duck usually found on open lakes. It dived and the water was deep enough I didn’t spot where it came up. That’s when I knew I’d better keep pedalling or risk a chilly spring dunking. I made it through and then back again. But later that year I had to replace bearings. Cycle shop guy just shook his head at me (he’d been smart enough to turn around when he saw the flooded forest and trail).
You guys are SOOOO crazy in an of course humorous way! I mean going through SUCH a mess with a PINARELLO DOGMA!!! Holy LORD I´d SOOOO refuse to do this - witgh that AMAZON bike maybe - not too much of a loss haha :P - You´ll both of course get my thumbs up for this one. It made me laugh SOOO much! :D
Definitely got a thumbs up from me. That was a brilliant video I would have bet against you as I didn't think that would have been possible. BIG WELL DONE GUYS 👍👍👍😂🤣
Hank is SUCH a mountain biker: "Send it!". Brilliant stuff - more of this sort of useful silliness, please. Also, Hank & Rich Payne on some multi-day death challenges please!
There used to be an old bike at the bottom of the sea near Adelaide, Australia and SCUBA divers used to ride it for a laugh - probably twenty meters or so depth.
I think it's fair to day that WE ALL want to see Connor attempting 1.5 meters. I'm worried that Hank will actually have his head underwater at that height though. However, perhaps even better would be to see Dan giving it a shot. It seems like the perfect water aerobics-like rehab for his recovery.
it depends how much you value your bike. i recall as a kid riding on long beach vancouver island. even an inch of water rusted my chain out from the salty air.
This makes me think of legs only wind tunnels and CFD. I would think it would get hard once you are torso deep, that being the draggiest part of your body. So yes, go deeper! Also, probably stick to ponds you don't want current to knock you over sideways before we can find the answer.
Very funny and much fun with you two aquanauts on bicycles. Conor's face plant will of course become the stuff of legends at GCN headquarters as will Hank's joy and laughter. Thanks for a very funny video.
I did this in a school pool. Ate the time we concluded what mattered most was keeping the rider weight above the water line. MTB tires would cause the bike to float without enough weight to hold it down.
Was like watching a dad (Hank) teaching his son (Conor) how to ride….You go first dad, go on Son you can do it, nearly there, you did it son, so proud of you 😂😂….funniest thing I’ve seen all year 😉
That so reminds me of the Danny MacAskill video where he cycles through a deep puddle with just his head above water. Great fun, Hank and Connor are such good sports.
