Festive Fails Questionable Gifts And The Big Christmas Dinner Debate Dirt Shed Show 563

Welcome to this week's Dirt Shed Show. Merry Christmas. That's right, guys. Today, it's myself and James' first ever Christmas here at GMBN, so I thought why not mix things up with a Christmas special. James, I have some presents for you to get you in the festive mood. I have some lovely Christmas tree sunglasses. Amazing. Let me pop them on. This lovely wooden Santa hat. How does it fit? I reckon that's not looking too bad. Also, just so you guys know, there is another new presenter on GMBN. It is me. Well, Ferg, I've also got you a present. There you are. There we go. Cheers, mate. Cheers. One of those. What are we discussing this week, Ferg? This week, I wanted to mix things up and we're going to talk about some festive fails, some of our favorite festive fails of you and myself. Also, I want to talk about possibly the most important topic and something that's very close to my heart. Well, actually, my stomach, the Christmas dinner. Will it really affect my fitness? I guess we should just get straight into it, really. Christmas dinner, my favorite part of the whole of Christmas, it can be up to 6,000 calories in a day, especially when I do it. Will that really affect my Christmas? Because I've got a lot of big events happening next year and I want to stay in relative shape into the new year. What's your thoughts on it? I think the festivities only happen once a year. To be strict on yourself and restrict how much you can eat and how much you can enjoy your Christmas day isn't worth it for an event that's going to happen in three or four months. It's definitely worth bearing in mind not to go ham the whole Christmas, if you'll pardon the pun. I think you don't want to go crazy maybe for 12 days, 14 days if you're on. I think Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve only happens once a year. It's a time to be with your family. It's a time to enjoy some lovely food. I think you should just enjoy it. Yes, for sure. I think for me, certainly, same as you, we love to ride our bikes. Do you ride your bike on Christmas Day? Yes, I have a tradition. I ride my bike every Christmas Day with my mum and dad and my brother if he's home as well. We ride to the pub. It's not that far. It's probably an hour, hour and a half ride in total. Me and my brother might do a bit more than my mum and dad, but while the turkey is in the oven, we go for a quick spin to the pub. It's just a tradition. Nothing crazy. It's not training, but it's just nice to be out with the family. Yes, I'm similar. I really have taken up riding on Christmas Day, although I must confess, I have found this is where the e-bike is perfect because I can go out really quickly in the morning, get a good couple of hours in, and then get back in time to obviously pile on the pounds. Maybe that's making me a true e-biker. I don't know. Will you ride throughout the whole of Christmas? We're off work around Christmas. I normally actually ride probably a bit more over Christmas because I see a lot of my friends from back home, and the way I socialize with them is riding a bike. Also, when I'm not at work, I just love riding a bike. Yes, I'm the same. There's a lot of Christmas rides. It's a real nice time to get all the community together. Everyone gets out. We dig a few fresh tracks, and then we have a big race, big pile-up where everyone crashes out. It's a lot of fun. Do you partake in any of these festive challenges? Have you ever done it, like the Festive 500 and things like that? Yes, I've done the Festive 500 before. I've not done it in a few years because I've worked in retail and hospitality before. It's a lot. You're just absolutely slammed. I remember I did it with my brother a good six or seven years ago back when we weren't quite as experienced riders. It's hard work because it's Boxing Day, it's Christmas Day, and you're thinking about getting the miles in. For me, it was a good challenge to do and I really enjoyed it, but that was almost too serious. It took away from the fun of it. I almost just around Christmas, I wake up and on the morning just decide, I actually really fancy doing 100K today, or actually, you know what? I don't fancy riding at all, but I think when you've got a challenge to do like that, it almost takes the enjoyment out of riding a bit. I think so. I'm definitely on that side of things. I just want to ride my bike when I feel like it, but also, it's really important to spend time with your family. I think realistically, I agree with you. It's not going to ruin your training if you have a few days off, but admittedly, if you spend the whole of December full send, it might not be so good. You've got a few statistics right. On average, you found out that people put on between 0.5 kilograms to 1 kilogram over the Christmas period. I guess that isn't massive, 0.5 kilograms to 1 kilogram isn't massive. Performance-wise, that isn't changing a lot. To me, that's totally worth it. I think 1 kilogram on your cycling performance isn't going to ruin your year, is it? Especially not if you're racing. If you're just getting out on the weekend, what's an extra kilo between friends, or at least that's what I keep telling myself. I think it's like even if you are someone who's an athlete and you're racing, it's really important to enjoy these like deload weeks or rest weeks because you can't train really hard all year round. If there's one week to have a deload week, it is Christmas week, right? Right. That is quite enough from myself and James, but we want to hear from you guys. What do you do? Do you get on your bike at Christmas and ride, or are you one of those people who likes to put their feet up and chill with their family and friends? Let us know in the comments below. With it coming up to Christmas, it did get me thinking about the gifts I'd actually like to receive this year because we've all been there on Christmas morning, you open a present up, it's another pair of socks or another set of deodorant, and you're just thinking, God, I wish someone actually got me what I want. I was going to start off with products and things that I've used this year that I'd absolutely love to receive on Christmas. The one thing that's really changed my riding and a product I wouldn't live without now is the Topeak eBooster Mini. These are part of these new electrical mini pumps that a lot of brands are making now. This one has completely changed it for me. I don't carry a mini pump around with me anymore. That's a bit annoying when you stop, you have to pump it about. It's got a pressure gauge on it. It's a bit lazy, but it's so good. It can just reinflate your tires super quick with a gauge, exactly on the right pressure you got in. It has changed riding for me. What about you? I'm exactly the same. It's in the same vein as you really. One of the big ones for me is a Camelbak backpack. I was traditionally not a backpack rider, obviously focusing on downhill and trying to look cool and all that fun stuff. I was like, oh, not sure about backpacks. Got a Camelbak backpack and it's been unbelievable, game-changer. I can carry a pressure gauge, I can carry a pump, I can carry some tools. It just means, crucially, I can also carry some hydration, which I've been historically terrible at doing. It's been really, really good to have that and it's allowed me to enjoy my rides and be a bit more relaxed on my rides so much more. That's definitely something I'd like to totally agree. Another one from me, actually, I saw this earlier, it's really cool, is the Stinner photo stick. When we're out in the woods, often, we'll prop our bikes up for the videographers here at GMBN to take nice, beautiful shots of them. We literally are scrambling around the woods to find a stick to prop it up. It always blows over. It's always a faff. I saw this earlier. It just sits into your cranks. You can barely see it and it's what we need, really. It's perfect. You need to get that perfect Instagram shot of your bike. This is for you. It looks awesome. On my side of things, I love things that are shiny like this tinsel, and Crank Brothers have done the Bruni edition pedals. They've re-brought them out. I love the super Bruni ones. I had those on my bike for a number of years, but they've come out with a brand new set, which are a goldy bronze. I don't know what color exactly we're going to call it, but I think it looks golden. It just looks pimp. I'd love to have a brand new set of those on my bike for Christmas. My next one's a little bit different from riding, but as most cyclists and mountain bikers are into coffee, I thought this one was really cool. A few brands make these or a few different hub shells, but these are basically like a cycling hub shell made into a coffee tamper. Once you've ground your beans and you put it in the, what do you call it, into the hopper, this is a tamper, but it's made out of a hub shell. I just think this looks absolutely awesome. Anything that combines coffee and cycling, I am there for it. I completely agree. On another thing that I really like is the Hover Air drone. The self-flying one. Yes, the one that follows you. It's insane how much technology has come on in recent years and the fact that you can now have a drone that you just literally go like that up and you can go ride. For us, we obviously film a lot of our content and on the weekends as well, it'd be so good to film some of our rides. I think those Hover Air drones, they're a little bit on the more expensive side, but how cool would it be to have one of those? Yes, I've got something a bit cheaper next and maybe not quite as useful or depends on who you are, but this one I thought was really cool. I saw it on Instagram and it's a beer can holder made by Reverse Components. It just clips onto your frame, holds a little tin of beer or Coca-Cola or whatever you want to drink and it looks absolutely awesome. I don't know how much use many people get out of this, but I just thought it was a fun little gift. If I got that as a stocking filler, I'd be buzzing. For the Christmas ride, that would be amazing, just everyone carries a can and then they get to have a little celebratory drink at the end. I think I'd probably do with a break off the Christmas. You got any more? I have. I have one more. I have a bag of coffee. Obviously, this is amazing. Like we said, coffee and cycling go hand-in-hand. Anytime I get some different beans, I can try new coffees out with and that's amazing. PT's do their roosting grind, so that's a really, really cool, again, cycling collaboration with coffee. Yes, let us know what you guys think. There are gifts that we'd like to receive for Christmas, but what would be your dream gift that you'd like to receive for Christmas? We'd like to know down in the comments down below. Okay, now time for competition time. We've been running the FSA Wheel Set Competition and it was your chance to win a set of Afterburner i27 wheels. The winner is down here below. Drop us a message on Instagram and Facebook and give us your address and we'll get those sent out to you. Merry Christmas. Okay, so it's now time for things we like this week. This week, we're actually going to be doing it a little bit differently. Since it's been Fergan and I's first six-ish months on the channel, we thought we'd do a roundup of our favorite fails and crashes since we started. There have been a few, right? Yes, I'm going to kick things off with probably one of my favorite videos I did, which was when I tried to ride down the Leger Downhill World Cup course on a Canyon XC bike. I thought this video is all going great. I thought, actually, I'm going to really do this and I'm just going to prove that XC bikes are great. Little did I know, at the bottom, it gets really steep and muddy and I barely slid down the track. It was amazing. Your arms just folded in the compression straight over the bars. It was amazing. Obviously, I'm glad you're okay, but yes, what an amazing way to start off. I think it's all the more funnier for the fact I'm just totally fine and I'm sat there cracking up while crashing. So good. Then I want to bring up, I'm sorry to do this, another one of your crashes. It was one of our first ever videos together. In fact, I took you out riding, I think before you'd even been on the channel. We went and shot some Instagram clips and you'd never ridden a trail bike before. I'd never ridden a trail bike or this trail in a video. Ferg's like, I'll go a bit ahead, come over this jump, hit the corner and I'll film it. I was like, all right, it should be fine. And it wasn't. Well, I was fine. It was a hell of a slide out and I was so worried I'd broken you before we even started, but you were absolutely fine. What a way to introduce yourself onto the channel. It was so good. Yes, it looked absolutely epic, that crash, but I just was literally completely fine. Another one that I really enjoyed from this year was actually one of our first videos together from when Ferg and I went and raced Hard Rock Enduro, which was my first enduro race. A lot of firsts for me this year. This one actually wasn't doing anything big. Ferg and I, I'd seen on Instagram, you do a one-handed wheelie, you grab each other's hands, do a handshake and you spin in a pirouette. We thought, we're both good riders, this will be easy. Little did we know, we both looped out, landed on our ass and the cameraman had a great giggle about it. We very much ran out of talent on that one, didn't we? I think, yes, got a bit big for our boots and paid the price. I think, to be honest, the fail was better than if we landed it. Yes, for sure. Anyway, then one for me, this one was an amazing trip. We went up a volcano, Mount Etna, and again, I got a bit big for my boots. I thought I could rip a corner like I was on a motocross bike. It was really sandy and I was like, I've got this, I've got this, came in flat out, lent in, washed the front end and then just ate it into gravel. Luckily, I had a big backpack on so it took most of the hip but it definitely was like gravel rash when I got up. That one, I was actually a bit worried for you when I first saw it. You just turn around in the video and there's a big grin on your face and it's brilliant. My last fail isn't actually a fail from one of us, it's probably a cumulative fail actually from our presenter challenge that went live just a few days ago. This was an absolutely awesome day and it was great to have the whole squad out. We rode 300-pound bikes or in Eric's case, not a 300-pound bike. We just had an epic day out but some of the bikes were a bit ropey, right? Yes, they definitely were. I had a re-welded downhill bike and I think probably the biggest fail of the presenter challenge was my bunny hop. I don't know what went on but I'm not even sure you can call it a bunny hop. We've got a slow-mo right here of it. I thought you're going out the front door. I just don't know what happened. I think I saw you do your BMX bunny hop and I was like, I want some of that and I just didn't do it right. I just did a terrible job. Yes, I think other highlights include me laying on my back in a river after falling off in the climb challenge followed shortly after me snapping my chain and having to run the last challenge. If you haven't watched that video, make sure you go and watch it because it's definitely a highlight of my year. I'd be interested to know what you guys think. What was your biggest fail this year, either a comical one or one that's a bit more serious? Let us know down in the comments and send it to the GMBN uploader as well. Okay, right. It's time for the bike vault and we have a very nicely decorated supernice. First up, James, what do we have? We've got a Specialized S-Works Demo 2015 with Chris King hubs and Hope V4 brakes. This looks amazing. It's in your signature color, pink. It is indeed. I really like this. The photo's a bit questionable. It's the only issue though. It's a little bit blurry. It's non-drive side. Rich would be having kittens. The bike is amazing but we've got to hold the standards, don't we? We can't drop the standards. It's got to be crisper than that, but a nice bike nonetheless. That is a nice bike. Thank you very much for sending that in. That was from La Boyle. What have we got next, Ferg? Next up, we have a Trek Slash from Cape Town, South Africa. It's a 9.8 XT ride wrapped with some custom slick graphic stickers on the fork and shock, all done by himself. I think that is how you take a bike vault photo. Take notes, everyone. It's drive side, in the biggest gear, cranks at three o'clock, beautiful background. Full-top mountain in the background. That is a pretty- For me, that is picturesque, perfect bike vault. That's what you get. Yes. Super nice for. Next up, we have got a lovely Pivot from Michael Jakubowski. Sorry about the pronunciation. That is a really nice bike. It says, it's his absolute dream bike, XL, full carbon, Axis XO, fork custom painted, and the paint value went to support Adolf Silva recovery. Speed generator, indeed. That looks absolutely awesome. I actually owned one of these. Did you? They are amazing bikes. Really, really enjoyed it. Again, non-drive side. Guys, don't do it to us because we want to give these a super nice. The first thing you've got to do when you take the photo of your bike is put it drive side. What are we saying? I think it's almost got to have a super nice because of the it looks like the Tate Modern he's taking it to. He's taking it to an art museum. It looks cool. Since it's Christmas, go on. Oh, he's had one too many again. The altitude's got to him. I'm so sorry, guys. We're going to have to quickly dry this up. We've had a short interlude to clean up my laptop. I've finished what was the remains of my pint. I'm going to put that to one side now. Did we get to the bottom of whether we're giving this pivot a super nice or a nice? I'm going to give this pivot a super nice. You're not allowed near this anymore. Next up, we have Matej Belko. I'm sorry for the pronunciation on that. With a specialized status in a mini mixed wheel format. This is really, really cool. That's a lovely photo as well, isn't it? Yes, lovely photo. It's also been roared out so it looks really, really cool in the paint job. I've never tried a mini mixed wheel, like 26, 24. Have you tried one? No, I haven't either. I had a 26-inch bike, then I had 27.5, and now I run mixed wheel size, but I've never done a mini one. Yes. I feel like it'd be good fun. I feel like a normal mixed wheel size is so good, I don't know if I'd feel the need to, but I think that looks like an epic bike. It's a really good photo as well. For me, that's a super nice. Do you agree? Go on, go on. Be careful. Protect the pints at all costs. Okay, next up. Good luck with this one. I actually can pronounce this, so it's Samantha Kavang Lewandowski. I like the football. That looks good. Robert Lewandowski, any relation there? Who knows? We've got our only, well, I think it's our only Christmas-themed bike vault this year. This is a 2024 Otso Vojtech 2 with SRAM GX axis, SRAM Code Stealth silver brakes, multi-foot wheels, 4-inch tires. Wow, that's massive, isn't it? An old man mountain divide, fat rear rack, and of course, a Christmas tree. While this was a fun way to haul my Christmas tree home, I don't think I'll be doing it again as it made it quite difficult to pedal. That's an awesome photo. I hadn't realized they were dragging the Christmas tree with them. That's amazing. That is absolutely epic. That is probably up there with one of my favorite bike vault submissions of all time. That might be the best. The bike is so different as well. I've never even heard of it. You often see a lot of fat bikes around, but you never see them being used, what they're actually made for, like snow, sand, this sort of stuff. Samantha, that is a super nice from me. What have you got last up, Ferg? Finally, we have another downhill bike. Kind of Christmas-themed in a way. Big fan. This is Charlie Ul Ludvigsson. Nice pronunciation. I'm guessing this is in Norway or Finland or somewhere like that. Sweden. Propane Rage with full Ohlins. This is amazing. Wow, a birthday gift for his 15th birthday. Happy birthday. 15? Imagine having a bike like that at 15. If that's not a Christmas or birthday present, then I don't know what is. I think we have to end that as a birthday gift for Charlie. That's super nice. Amazing. Remember to send in your Bike Vault submissions down below in the uploader. It's in the description. We're looking forward to seeing some- I'm sorry. Download, uploader. It's in the description. Remember to send in your Bike Vault submissions to the uploader in the description down below. We love seeing your submissions and we're looking forward to seeing some of your Christmas gifts. Okay, time for one of my favorite segments of the show, the caption contest. This week's caption contest was amazing. It was a photo of you and myself at our Christmas party. Yes, we were a few lime and sodas deep at this point. Things have started to go slightly downhill. I think this was probably at the peak actually. From here on in, things went downhill, but that's lime and sodas for you. What can you do? First up, we've got some brilliant captions this week. We've got runwithscissors42, Ferg, I don't think those were electrolytes you put in my drink. I could have done with some electrolytes, to be honest. That's a brilliant caption. Well done, runwithscissors. Next up, we have rzvonthebike, that moment on a night out when you open your garment to find your way home. I needed more than a garment to find my way home. Ferg, my good friend, very luckily was there to look after me and he got me home. We did get home. Our sleep scores on our garment were not positive. No. Last up from CameronS52, caption contest, a Christmas carol featuring James as Ebenezer and his brother as the ghost of Christmas. Pissed. Another good one. I think, for me, it's between the top two. I think the garment one's quite funny because it's pretty true. I think I'm going to go with rzvonthebike. What do you think? Yes, I reckon that's the one. rzv, slide into our DMs, drop us a message on Instagram or Facebook with your address and you have won a prize up to the value of £50 to spend in the GMBN shop. Here's this week's caption contest photo. Nice one. Okay, things coming up this week. We have some amazing videos coming out on the weekend. First up is myself and my good friend, Dan Wolfe. I headed over to Ireland and we tried to put on some flat pedals and go for a proper enduro ride. Things got wild. Some things were said. Wolfe did some serious damage to some pints. Amazing time. You guys should definitely watch it. Thank you very much for watching. That's been our first Christmas show. We've only had a few minor mishaps. I think we'll be on next year, hopefully, but make sure you let us know what you thought in the comments down below. We'll see you in the new year. Merry Christmas.