What Happens When We Put A Mountain Biker In A Road Race?

What would happen if you took a mountain biker with a powerful sprint and chucked them into a road race? The noise is intense. It's like loads of bees everywhere. Would he survive? Everyone is on gas, man. Would they win? Oh my goodness me. This is where he pulled hammer. All right, I'm going to stick with Hank. Always concentrating. Always. Blake Sampson, presenter on GMBN, spends most of his time doing epically big jumps and backflips, but Blake also has a serious sprint. Yes, a sprint we've seen before. The question is, can Blake make it to the end of a road race and unleash that sprint? Can he beat all the roadies? I think it's about time we answered that question. We have arrived at Karlskrona race circuit. This is an event that happens every Thursday evening. There's two races. There's the elite race and there's the cat three four race. That's the race we're in. It's not a very technical circuit, but it is fast and flowing. The thing is, it's quite exposed to the wind, so racing smart is going to be imperative. The circuit is just under three kilometers long and we'll be racing for an hour covering around 42 kilometers. Now, I genuinely believe that Blake can win this because I've seen his sprint and it's absolutely devastating. He needs that quick fire acceleration to get off all those berms and jumps, stuff like that. It's valued in mountain bike racing, but on the road, I think it's going to translate into a weapon of a sprint. The key though is going to be teamwork. He's going to need me and Hank to guide him through this race. My fitness isn't what it used to be, but I was lucky enough to race in some of the biggest races around the world, so I'm going to hopefully rely on that knowledge, guide him through the race, and me and Hank give him a proper lead out, deliver him to the line, and hopefully make the impossible happen. The scene is set. I'm our self-proclaimed team leader, Conor Dunne, wind pusher, a.k.a. the barn door. Then we've got GCN's adrenaline junkie and speed demon, Hank, on lead out duties and our very own mountain bike sprinter, Blake. This could get interesting. Blake, this is the plan. Don't be nervous. I'm a little bit. I'm chewing my legs. I'm nervous. You're in good hands. Don't worry. I think a good plan here, because you are an absolute weapon when you're sprinting. Especially with those half-dead legs. I don't actually want to touch it. I've got hair all over my hands. Go on. Basically, we need to get you in the last 200 meters and deliver you there to do that sprint. To get there, you need to draft a lot, you need to save your energy, you need to stay in the wheels. That sounds easy. It sounds easy, but I think with the limited bunch experience. I've never ridden in a group. Let's keep it real simple. Drafting is the aim of the game here. You need to keep your powder dry. You need to stay in the wheels until at least 100, 150 meters to go, where we'll do the work and we'll bring you to the front of the peloton. The key is to stick to us like glue. Got it? Got it. Got it. Then in the last lap, I'm going to start shouting. Communication is everything. Communication. Shouting. The last lap will be fast and I'll be like, go on, Blake. I'll be like, go on, Blake. You got this, man. You got this. You got this. Come on. You got this. I'm nervous right now. I don't know what to expect. I don't know what to expect. Shaving my legs and everything. You ready? Let's go. Let's go, Hank. Oh, gosh, golly. Oh, gosh, golly. It's quite hard. It's scary. All the noise. I've been told it's fine. First impressions, everyone is on gas, man. I thought it'd be chill. It's not. I've conserved my energy. I've already done a lap and a half. I swerved. I was in the bunch. I didn't like it. The noise is intense. It's like loads of bees everywhere, but I'll stick behind Conor for now. Literally can make or break you in a pack. It's so easy to get squashed to the back as well. I've watched Conor's training. FTP one. Swift. It's good. Relax your upper body. Relax your shoulders. Everyone starts going for leather again. I can see the patterns. I can see the pattern. If I get into that pattern, it'd be good. It's good riding with them though. Riding with Conor, absolute legend. Riding with Hank, another absolute legend. If you don't know road cycling, these two are pretty handy. That's for sure. We're a quarter of the way through. The sun's going down. It's picking up a bit. The speed is picking up. How's that? Are you all right? Hank now. I don't know what that means. Touching someone on the bum. What does that mean? It's a sign of I've got your back, mate. We might have to jump around and bring these brakes back because we want it to be a fun sprint. What? Are you going up? Yes. We're just going to keep going and- I'll follow you? Yes. No, just chill here. Okay. Always concentrating. Always. I'm so focused on the back. Everyone's seat post. I don't know what's coming up. We're on it now. We're just following. With two-thirds of the race complete, Blake was hanging in there and looking good, but the attacks were starting to fly. It was time to get into the mix and follow some moves to keep his victory hopes alive. Two laps. Two laps to go. I feel like I've fallen a lot this time, mate. Okay. This is where we put the camera? Yes. All right. I'm going to stick with Hank. The sound of the last lap. Attacks neutralized, we'd managed to keep the race together for a bunch finish. Blake was doing a cracking job in his first race to stay in contention, but now it was time to try and set up our mountain biker for the win. Would he have the legs to follow our lead out and sprint to the line? Oh, that's hard work. Oh my goodness me. That was horrible. Oh, that race is done. That was fun though. I'm so proud of you, man. Because that's not easy. No, that is hard work. I thought it would be easy. No. I don't know if I want to do that again. I think we're a bit more like working on that 20-minute power. Yes. You've got the 15-second, you've got the minute power. Yes. For that 20-minute power, the FTP, where you kind of- I need to get that. I need to work on that. You can cruise on the wheels a little bit easier. Yes. But you did a great job, mate. If you've never done a road race before- I've never. Thank you very much. And you're in on the wheels and hanging there till the end, you got stuck in. It was so like, now I know what I've watched Tour de France and some racing, but you can hear the team talking and I'm like, what are they saying? But it's literally like you do this, doing over here, we're going to charge, we're going to bring the group back and you're like, oh my gosh. Lots of communication. Then imagine with the radio as well, you can have that extra layer. Oh, confusing. Concentration in that group. And imagine nine riders or eight riders all working together. Blake Sampson, everyone. Mountain biking wizard, all-round nice guy, and as it now turns out, road racing addict. Whilst we came away from the day without a result, finishing towards the back of the bunch, Blake did an insane job of hanging in there until the end. I think our biggest win was showing someone the joys of racing bikes on the road. Plus, for a first try, I think we've learned plenty of lessons to bring Blake up a notch for next time. There we have it, my debut road race. Mate, you did amazing. You did do well. I stuck in there. I stuck in there. I think what we can take from here is you've got the max sprint. You've got that 15-second power, but where we're lacking or where we could probably put some effort into is that 20-minute power, meaning you're going to be able to get to that finish because it was only when we started to light it up last lap, you started to not be able to put out the sprint. I think we've learned a few lessons, but it was an amazing start. I think you just got straight in there. You stuck in. You did your best. You got the adrenaline flowing as well in a different way. I dodged some moments. I'm proud of you. Yes, I'm so proud. Well done, Blake. You're a legend. Good work, team. Good work. It was good fun. I loved it. It was so much fun. If you want to see more of mountain biking people on GCN, let us know in the comments down below. Don't forget, thumbs up like and thumbs up to these two for keeping me safe. Yes, guys, give this video a thumbs up if you want to see Blake back on the channel because we love having him. See you in the next video.