GCN Presenter Challenge – Who Can Win On ANY Bike?

The producers are shaking things up to find out who the fastest GCN presenter really is, without the influence of expensive bike tech. We’ve been given an array of bikes, including a downhill mountain bike, a Brompton, a gravel bike, and a tandem BMX – to battle it out over five brutal laps of the Glasgow Crit Course on Zwift. With chaos, questionable tactics, and surprising power outputs, you won’t want to miss this chaotic indoor race!

🤝 In collaboration with @Zwift 👉 https://gcn.eu/Zwift

Chapters: ⏱️
0:00 – Intro: Finding the Fastest GCN Presenter
1:42 – The Producers’ Twist & The Rule Change
2:15 – Bike Reveal! Who Got What?
3:52 – The Full Lineup of Ridiculous Bikes
4:53 – Setting Up for the Zwift Race
5:18 – The Glasgow Crit Challenge
7:08 – The Race is On: Early Attacks & Chaos
11:17 – Mid-Race Updates and Power-Ups
14:24 – The Chaotic Final Lap Sprint
17:57 – Post-Race Debrief & Analysis & The Real Winner

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If the producers swapped your high-tech bike for a ridiculous one, which bike would you get for the Zwift race, and why? Let us know in the comments! 👉

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Ace-High – Splasher!
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📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images

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Cycling, as everyone knows, is all about the bike. Whoever has the best, fastest bike gets the upper hand. So, how do we find out who the fastest GCN presenter really is? The GCN producers want to level the playing field, swapping our usual bikes for something tailored to our strengths and weaknesses. This is bike racing as it should be. I do think once I get going, I’m in a quite comfy position on this bike. Okay, Dad, we need to talk team tactics here. Coming up towards the last lapy, I’ve caught you, Lloyd. 145. We maintain our position with Scythe and absolutely batter him at the end. Welcome everyone. I hope you’ve brought your Aames because today is a big one. Who is the fastest GCM presenter? Alex, you hit your heights this summer. Unbound sub 9 hours. Only 74 places lower than your target for top 10. All right. Ollie was kind of cruy robbed of a world record, but he was flying. Robbed. They basically fell down like a sack of spuds at the first hurdle, didn’t you? Yeah, that Yeah, that did happen. Dan though qualified for the World Championships. 14 years since he last rode one. 16, but yeah, an FKT. Yeah, but that was on a route that only one other person had ridden. No. Fast. Have you Have you finished crying about the Pimeir Highway yet, Connor? I wasn’t crying. Yes, you were. I wasn’t crying. You were at the end. Oh, it was so hard. Oh, it was a headwind. Oh, it was dusty. It was dusty. It was high altitude. You know, it was hard. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, my form’s good now. You used to say your form’s good every single time we do anything. As good as when you nearly died at Unbound after 18 hours. Arguably, arguably even better. I’m in a good place. I’m in a really good place right now. Watch out. That’s felt it riding over here. Anyway, GCM producers have spoken and they’ve decided that what the viewers really want to see is who the fittest GCM presenter is without the influence of bike tech. And to that end, they’ve supplied us with an array of different bikes hidden under those blankets. The question is, who gets what bike? Sigh. Okay. Thanks, mate. Dan got one for everyone. That’s mine. Go, Alex. Right. All right. Okay. Sigh. Because we know how much you love mountain biking. Enjoy. Good. Connor, because we know how much you love gravel riding. Enjoy. Uh Ollie, you’re a massive bike nerd. You like bling bikes, right? Uh Dan, because we know that despite all your recent efforts and diligently training almost two hours every week, you still need some help. Alex, sorry. Oh. What on earth is that? O a downhill mountain bike. You’re going to be quick on that. What are we even doing? That looks slow, doesn’t it? Has it got a motor? And the bike does as well. It’s not got a motor. Oh, I like the color. Mine. Are you sure? Are you guys sure I’m going to fit this? This is your size. Oh, it’s got a pad. Got quick release seat post clamp. Look. To be fair, mate, you might get on that. Well, that is a Brmpton Gine. Okay. Well, it is a gravel bike. It looks cool. I want to see what I’ve got. Go on then. That’s your go that. Of course you have. Good luck losers to Didn’t they say they were choosing to level the playing field? I’m going I’m going to smash this. Wait a second. Wait. I don’t see anything. I haven’t seen Alex yet. Don’t you see anymore? There’s only one left. I don’t know if that’s entirely fair. Well, I mean my thing did say sorry to be fair. Alex is running. Maybe it’s sorry cuz you haven’t got a bike. Oh. Oh, no. You’re I vow never to ride this again. What’s it like riding this thing? All I’m going to say is good luck. What? I reckon the stick holding it up is worth more than the bike. Are you claiming the front or can I have the front? We’re riding this. It’s you and me. Well, I won’t have a bike otherwise. That’s ridiculous. It’s got a Wahoo mountlet. Yeah. This remains the best £40 I have ever spent in my entire life. It brings me flashbacks to when you put those melons up your jersey. How much fruit we got left? I got it all. We lost one melon. Can we still make a fruit salad? Yeah. I’m actually surprisingly like excited by this. I mean, it’s not quite as good as Ollie’s bike, but we can give it a nudge, can’t we? Should we put some pedals on and find out what on earth we got to do? Yeah. Right. That’s a big gear. I keep trying to stay. Instead of a hill climb challenge or a time trial, you will be taking your bikes to the main streets of Zift. The title of the fittest and generally best GCM presenter will be fought out over five laps of the Glasgow Course. A 3.3 km lap with a brutal sharp climb each and every lap. Oh, and the race starts in 5 minutes in the studio down the hill. 5 minutes. Good luck. Will these even swift? Mine will. See you later. Right. Three, two, one, go, Alex. Go, go. Come on. Find out. I got a bell. Right. Straight down. I’m not clipped in yet. There we go. For me, right? Right. Free wheel. Freewheel. Where are we going? You do the you do the clicks down. All right. Will you hurry up with that one? On chopping cassette on mine. You all got cassettes? Yeah, we got cogs. Oh, girls. Stitch up here. Oh, son’s on already. I might nearly nearly open the back slightly. I’ve been going to gin. You want me to do a bit? No. You go. Oh, they’re on our Jeepers. Change gear. Is it working? Yes. 4 3 2 1 go. Ollie Ollie, what are you doing? He’s still messing around with his cassette. A Don’t worry, guys. My bike’s the best. I’ll be fine. The tandem’s way ahead. How many watts are they doing? They’re doing 350. Thing is, S, they can’t keep this up. As I’ve learned with this tandem, they can’t keep it up. Welcome to this week’s Monday Maintenance, where I’ll be showing you how to put a cassette onto your trainer. Oh, I’m still wearing my helmet. I’m I’m a jumper. Ollie hasn’t got his bike on yet. Will it swift, Ollie? Will it swift? Will it swift? We’ll do when you’ll do when you get on the trainer. Absolute clowns. Damn. We need We’ve got an arrow boost. We need to use it. Well, here. Press Y on arrow boost. Here we go. Arrow. Arrow. Oh. It’s like It’s like Andy Schle in 2010. Come on, Ollie. You can do it, mate. How many watts are you are you doing over there? I’m doing 340. We’re doing 300. What you screw in? That’s so tight on my ready two. I don’t like how sort of close it was your ass towards my face. Please never do that. How are you still 7 seconds ahead of me? Lloydy, I’ve caught you. Lloyd, have you? I know. Oh, damn. He’s actually caught us. I think he caught you. He caught you first and then me. Oh, hold on a second. It’s telling me that Ollie Bridgewood’s at the front now. Oh, I’m going to get laughed. Oh, that’s what it is. We We’re catching you up from behind. I haven’t put my mouth around it yet. Okay, you get it right in your mouth yet. Are we all together? Are we still at the front? No. No. Size attacked. Size attacked. Right. We should do an out of saddle cheat again. Right. Out of saddle. Hard gear. Two. One. Out the saddle. How many watts? 600 800 800 900 was kilos. Have we caught him yet? I’m just about to catch him. Let’s see. Look. Watch this. Here we go. Can you see him? Yeah. There he is. There he was. What? I was thinking to myself, this feels harder than 110 heart rate. I didn’t realize I’d linked up to Connor’s heart rate monitor. What’s their weight? 74. You adjusted your weight. No, you need they need to adjust their weight. Well, that’s the whole point. We didn’t. 74. Is that what you two weigh combined? Yeah. Yeah. Dan’s 50. I’m 25. That’s 75. How can I even catch Connor? You’re a minute 30 back. All right. Size at one sec. Oh, he’s size caught us. He’s caught this. Right. Should we get out the saddle? Three, two, one. Oh my god. You’re certainly on doing 11 watts per kilo. Achievement unlocked. Premier power. You’ve hit 1,000 watts. I’m holding my own. I’m definitely getting dropped to my side in a tandem. Holding off Bridgewood for now, but he’s closing the gap. Ollie, how far are you from Connor? 104 of a minute. How close? 42 seconds. Okay. I think we can sit tight at the front. Feel like this is the worst time tri I’ve ever ridden. Come on, Ollie. What sort of power you doing, Ollie? 300. 300. That hair is on point, though. Look at it. Two. One. Yeah. I just don’t like being this close to your to you with my face. You can almost get some water from his bottle there as you go. Oh, they’ve gone again. Very late work on my Brmpton. Ollie’s closing the gap. It’s under 30 seconds now. Well, Sai is currently leading the Clyde Kicker K with 34.57 seconds. Uh we’re on 35.3. So point4 of a second behind Sai Richardson. How long’s the climb? 33 seconds as I just mentioned. Okay, nice. Ollie Ollie’s about to catch me. Here he comes. He’s 2 lb. System weight 75 kilos. Not system weight, rider weight. Yeah. How many riders you see on the screen? Ollie’s made the catch with me. I’m going to sit on his wheel. See if he can tow me back. All right, here he comes. Get ready for the biggest sprint you’ve ever seen on a Brmpton. Here he comes. All right, guys. What are you doing? Getting on his wheel. 178 W. That’s what he’s doing. Yeah. Oh, I don’t think my power meter’s calibrated correctly. 178 watts. Gone on a Brmpton. Oh, he’s dropped me. Go. So, I set a PR in the sprint. Sprint. Oh, we catch inside. Yeah. All right, let’s keep going then. Ah, damn it. We recovering on the downhills. Is it downhill now? Is it? I can’t tell. They’re tiring. Yeah, they’re struggling. They’re tiring with the position. They are. I knew this would happen. I’m back in the lead. I think this is a a threeman, two horse race. Are we on the last run? Almost. I’d be happy to finish at this stage. Right. I put a minute into Connor after him having a minute 45 on me at the start and then Lloydy and Alex have maintained the lead on me. There’s a sprint 10 watts per kilo. You’re joking. We got an intermediate sprint to win here. Hold on a sec. Ow. Okay, I’m on the last lap. Oh, it’s all together for the last lap. Ah, go outside. Dig deep. They’re struggling. They can’t maintain it. They can only sprint halfhazardly. Why are you working against us? Because you cheating. You’re cheating. You’re not 75 kilos. You’re cheating. Your bike’s set to a canyon arrow. One of those arrow in the game. And you’re on a mountain bike. You should have a mountain bike in game. You can ride on any bike in Swift. Okay, we need to talk team tactics here coming up towards the last lap. We maintain our position with size and absolutely spatter him at the end. 800 m to go. Okay, sit tight. Where are we spreading from? Wait straight guys side. They’re together actually. Just wait for him. Do 400 watts. Sit down and then we’ll give it a big one. Use your power up side. Use your power up. Oh, we’ve only got a feather power up. Let’s use it. All right. He’s coming now. 500 m. 400 m. When are we going? Whisper in my ear again, Alex. No. Right. Wait. Be patient. Be patient. 300 m. Yeah. Keep the chain tight. I can see him. Blure him in. Sprint. Ready. Steady. Go. Come on down. Bring him the grapple world champ. 1,400 1500 words. 1.21 gawatt it says here there mate. Love that. Oh, good work, boys. Sprinted up. That was like a grile sprint. That was so hard. Our power fierce battle for the disappointingly low considering there was two of us. Come on, Ollie. Finish it off, mate. I’ve still got 3 and 1 halfk to go. I’m not surprised. How long is home by the time you finish? I don’t want to sound patronizing, but are you aware of the concept of how a race is meant to work? Well, I am. I was trying my best. Yeah, I can tell. I’ve been enjoying the ride. Couple of laps. Come on, mate. Good try. Well, no need for the slow clap. Great job. Yeah. To think what it could have been, Ollie, if you’d not been fumbling with your cassette. Yeah. Conor’s up to 130 beats per minute. It’s honestly at races like this, you got to give it to the people that make up the numbers, haven’t you? Yeah. Yeah. Finished. There we go. Smashed it. Don’t know where the others are. Right. Then where’s our trophy for what? Cheating. For winning. We won. But your weight wasn’t set at 150 kilos, was it? There was only one rider on Zift. I’ve never seen anyone put out that much power before on Swift. And then I look across and there’s two of you doing it. I think we established, might not have been caught on camera, but we established before the start of this race that the BMX Tanm is such a handicap that we only need to have one of our weights represented on Zift. I think the producers underestimated how strong Alex is. Quite frankly, I think that’s what it comes down to. So, I suppose when all said and done, so Alex, so the answer, who’s the who’s the fastest GCM presenter, the answer is Alex is what you’re saying potentially, but we’ll never know cuz he cheated. So, so I’ll take the credit instead. There’s an asterisk on the but you didn’t have the right bike in game on Zift. Well, that’s the beauty of it. So, you can ride whatever you like on the trainer and then you can dream on Swift. So, I have my Canyon Arrow. The beauty is you can input any weight you want as well or height. You say like you can dream what weight you want to be. The thing I think we need to discuss is how at the start of planning all this out, Connor said he was absolutely flying. Yeah. He finished miles behind all of us. Yeah. You said you were in great form at the Oh, I am. I am in good form. How are you still sticking to that? How are you going to die on that hill? You just not He’s not recovered yet. Oh, who’s that? Producers. Yeah. So, I’m questioning Conniey’s Connor’s form. So, yeah. Have you just not recovered from Palmet yet then? Is that the problem? I think it’s just a bit of an off day, that’s all. I’m still on a good trajectory. Yeah. Well, I think we’ve established also that you actually thought the heart rate you were looking at on your screen was yours, but somehow we’d swapped it. So I had your heart rate and you had mine and that’s why you didn’t have this mental calibration between power and heart rate. I had no reference point. I was on a Brmpton. I’ve only ridden that point of your pen. You’re a former professional scientist. You’re not on a Brmpton. Yes, me. Brmpton’s are great. You can’t I know they’re great, but I’ve never ridden one before. Surely the fact How do you know they’re great? Surely the fact that you’re doing 200 W and you’re not sweating should be all the reference you need. Yeah, but I couldn’t get it out. I couldn’t get it out. You just got 1,000 watts out when you needed to. Yeah, that was a sprint. Anyone could do a 1,00 watt. The biggest then the heart rate on my screen did go up a little bit. The biggest surprise for me actually out of all of this was how quick Ollie actually managed to put a cassette on his track. Yeah, fair play, mate. That was quite good skills. Yeah, you you impressed me. He can’t even think of a way of being humble. Look, that is a very good point. It was quick. What should I say? All right. Well, in that case, I think we should leave it there. So, I won and uh well, bring on for the next one. I think the only conclusion we can come to is who didn’t win. Connor definitely didn’t win. He didn’t win. Neither did Ollie, despite his quick set changing. No. So, potentially then it was one of the three of us. It was one of the three of us. Uh but not you. We can have another appointment at the National Hill Climb Champs coming. All right. Sounds like a plan. You’re not doing that, are you? No. You guys find out yourselves. How come you’re not doing it? I’m going on a special project mission with GCN. going to somewhere exciting instead. Anyway, gymnastics, not gymnastics. I mean, technically it’s a swimming competition that day. Anyway, hit the thumbs up button if you have enjoyed this video. I mean, I think we’ve all quite enjoyed this video, haven’t we? Apart from possibly you, Connor. I enjoyed it. I was party pace. I think if this video gets uh what should we say 10,000 likes, then Sai and Dan have to ride the BLX tandem like 12 hours. No, we haven’t agreed to that. No, I think we need 100,000 likes before we even get back on the BMX tandem. Anyway, do your worst.