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The E-word thread. EWS

Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,594
6,495
UK
Anybody watched Moi moi TV's race day vid?
Love how when Jack takes a digger in the middle of a stage he pioritised sorting out his gopro for us before looking to get back on his bike.
At least someone in the EWS understands the importance of decent coverage for the audience.

losing 10minutes to 2 punctures, cheering on his rivals from the side while fixing one, just laughs it off confronted with spectators diving out of the middle of the track when he gets going again and he still has the motivation to grab a new wheel and smash the last two stages for back to back stage wins!
Pure class! The boy's a fucking Legend!
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,594
6,495
UK
Imagine how good enduro could be if they got rid of the stupid mechanical asistance penalties, stupid climbing climbing and just had a races from the top to bottom on mountains accessed by some sort of lift system?
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,888
5,254
Australia
Gary said:
Pure class! The boy's a fucking Legend!
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He really is. Imagine being dumb enough to drop him from a factory ride.

EWS Sugarloaf looks to have been a rider favourite for the year so far. I don't really dig EWS events the past couple of years, but both Tweed and Sugarloaf this year have made me wanna get some quali points to go make up Masters numbers (or just enter the 100 or 80)
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,888
5,254
Australia
Gary said:
Imagine how good enduro could be if they got rid of the stupid mechanical asistance penalties, stupid climbing climbing and just had a races from the top to bottom on mountains accessed by some sort of lift system?
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The mechanical penalties are super harsh hey. I wish they'd tone them down a little bit, especially for a wheel change or whatever. 5 and 10 minute penalties basically kill it for anybody. That's basically a DQ really.

FWIW, the climbing to the stages isn't the worst part, although I agree if lifts are there - why not use the bloody things. Climbing for the sake of it is stupid, especially under pretty tight liason times. If super fit world class athletes are saying sometimes the stage time cutoffs are hard to make, how stupid are they making them?

Climbing in the middle of stages though can fuck right off. Either neutralise it, or split it in to two smaller stages if you need a 50m ascent to link two descents. Short sprint climbs like they do in Top of The World aren't the worst, but they're losing the plot with some of the crap they were putting in to the stages. World Cup XC doesn't have climbs that long half the time.
 
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,594
6,495
UK
toodles said:
Either neutralise it
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Not being the biggest follower of Derp I dunno how that's generally done or if it's even been done at all in EWS. But it yeah. seems a good idea.
Local Enduros here (TweedV) often try to include a lot of variety by linking up various trails to make one v.long stage. Some Enduros included hellish fioreroad climbs or long flat pedals in the MIDDLE of stages to link up two awesome technical descents. Nevermind it being stupid. It's just plain fucking dangerous dropping into a tech section while blowing out your arse from a redlining a climb. More recently I've heard of organisers putting a reasonably mellow time limit on a long flat section of fire road so the riders can chill spinning their legs between the two trails instead.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,888
5,254
Australia
Gary said:
More recently I've heard of organisers putting a reasonably mellow time limit on a long flat section of fire road so the riders can chill spinning their legs between the two trails instead.
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Yeah thats how they neutralise them. Race the descent, pass timing beacon and then roll up the fire road and drop into the next descent through another timing beacon. Usually a marshal there to make sure they're not stopping and messing about in the neutral bit. Or the organisers will specify a relaxed time to get through the neutral zone.

Could just split into two stages, which works just as well really.

Eddie Masters once said something along the lines of "the enduro aspect should simply be the 20-40 minutes of on-the-gas racing, you don't have to make it artificially harder by chucking in mid-stage climbs or setting shitty liason time limits" and I 100% agree. I've done a lift-accessed gravity enduro with less than 300m of climbing all day and I was fucken blown by the end of it just because you're on the limiter for so long on the stages.
 
S

shirk007

Monkey
Apr 14, 2009
532
412
You pair of muffins would love the Hill Climb stage I added into our final enduro race of the Fiver World Series. Yep all climb stage.

Stages two and three for that one also happen to be the worlds only Chainless Enduro stages.

So after puking your guts out on a climb stage you had to try and pump and smooth your way through the next two stages.

When the EWS was launch their the manifesto said the idea enduro stage is 80% down with 20% climbing/flat pedal. You don't like that? Go back to downhill.
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,207
21,800
Canaderp
toodles said:
The mechanical penalties are super harsh hey. I wish they'd tone them down a little bit, especially for a wheel change or whatever. 5 and 10 minute penalties basically kill it for anybody. That's basically a DQ really.

FWIW, the climbing to the stages isn't the worst part, although I agree if lifts are there - why not use the bloody things. Climbing for the sake of it is stupid, especially under pretty tight liason times. If super fit world class athletes are saying sometimes the stage time cutoffs are hard to make, how stupid are they making them?

Climbing in the middle of stages though can fuck right off. Either neutralise it, or split it in to two smaller stages if you need a 50m ascent to link two descents. Short sprint climbs like they do in Top of The World aren't the worst, but they're losing the plot with some of the crap they were putting in to the stages. World Cup XC doesn't have climbs that long half the time.
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There's been stages with 50m of climbing?
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,888
5,254
Australia
shirk007 said:
You pair of muffins would love the Hill Climb stage I added into our final enduro race of the Fiver World Series. Yep all climb stage.
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Great XC stage race bro

shirk007 said:
Stages two and three for that one also happen to be the worlds only Chainless Enduro stages.
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Chainless stages have been happening for awhile

shirk007 said:
When the EWS was launch their the manifesto said the idea enduro stage is 80% down with 20% climbing/flat pedal.
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EWS rulebook

"All Special Stages must follow a predominantly descending route and focus on testing the rider’s technical skills. (EWS-E Power Stages are exempted)

As a guideline for course designers, Special Stages should aim to contain a maximum of 10% climbing and at least 90% descending. (Example: 2 vertical meters ascent for every 20 vertical meters descent)"

canadmos said:
There's been stages with 50m of climbing?
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Buckle up
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,207
21,800
Canaderp
toodles said:
Great XC stage race bro



Chainless stages have been happening for awhile



EWS rulebook

"All Special Stages must follow a predominantly descending route and focus on testing the rider’s technical skills. (EWS-E Power Stages are exempted)

As a guideline for course designers, Special Stages should aim to contain a maximum of 10% climbing and at least 90% descending. (Example: 2 vertical meters ascent for every 20 vertical meters descent)"




Buckle up
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Barf... and oh yeah I do remember watching that.

That'd be called xc here. :rofl:
 
S

shirk007

Monkey
Apr 14, 2009
532
412
We did our first full chainless enduro in 2018. One Eddie Masters even graced the podium in 3rd.

Possible they updated the rule book on just 10%?

I remember it as 20% max.

 
SuspectDevice

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,216
439
Roanoke, VA
aaronjb said:
Think the popularity of the event will do anything to accelerate lift-baser access at the 'loaf? I can't keep hauling over to Highland, almost 4 hours from my house.
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Yes, next year by mid summer a more comprehensive bikepark will be open-
not off of the summit, but the lift that had the euro-holders installed for Shakedown/Prostage.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,888
5,254
Australia
shirk007 said:
Possible they updated the rule book on just 10%?

I remember it as 20% max.
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Not 100% sure what they mean by 10% / 20% in that bit. Like metres up vs down? Distance? Time? Climbs vary quite a bit depending on how they're done with approach speeds, duration and pitch. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure the summary is that they shouldn't be the deciding factor (hence the rulebook's mention of technical skills etc). There's nothing wrong with a bit of undulation in a stage, but when professional, Olympic level athletes are running their bikes up a climb its time to ban course assessors using e-bikes.

The pros might grumble a bit about it depending on whether it plays into their strengths or sponsors (not everyone has Live Valve/Flight Attendant) but its worse for the amateurs/privateers who have to pick and choose events. The courses aren't released until days before, so you don't know how stupid they've decided to be till you've blown your holiday fund getting there.

Either way, its easy to see which venues and course selections are favourites among the riders and spectators. Hopefully that gets taken into consideration for the future. I know when they were trying to make XC more viewer friendly they put an emphasis onto splitting the climbing up into bite sized attacks so as to make the pace and intensity less crappy.
 
B

Bike078

Monkey
Jan 11, 2018
599
440
toodles said:
He really is. Imagine being dumb enough to drop him from a factory ride.

EWS Sugarloaf looks to have been a rider favourite for the year so far. I don't really dig EWS events the past couple of years, but both Tweed and Sugarloaf this year have made me wanna get some quali points to go make up Masters numbers (or just enter the 100 or 80)
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Do it, old man. Toodles TeyVey - Just Roiding Me Boike.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,224
22,258
Sleazattle
Enduro is a sport designed to market bikes and not a pure racing endeavor so it is going to have a bunch of contrived rules to make it look like what chubby dentists do on the weekends. Not necessarily a bad thing but it is going to dissapoint those looking at it for the purity of sport.
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,207
21,800
Canaderp
A

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
Last edited:
Gary

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,594
6,495
UK
aaronjb said:
What happen if the Spirit of Enduro and the Spirit of Gravel (sorry, "GRVL") meet in the same room?
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Been a thing here for a good few years now.
TBF Enduro for 90% of the entrants is exactly the same deal as a Road Sportive anyway.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,888
5,254
Australia
aaronjb said:
Outta here with this reasonable take!
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Fine fine. I'll try to fit in better. Goddamn everyone doing anything except riding a 26" uplift serviced dual crown DH bike with 20mm front axle. Better?

Actually - screw those people too! Damn trails getting too crowded.
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,833
5,666
Ottawa, Canada
toodles said:
Flat pedals winning again is what is right

www.enduroworldseries.com

Charre and Rudeau win on flats at EWS Loudenvielle while Courdurier and Melamed are crowned 2022 champions | 25 September 2022

Charre and Rudeau master the slippery Pyrenean tech to win the day and Melamed and Courdurier finish the season as 2022 EWS champions
www.enduroworldseries.com www.enduroworldseries.com

Must have been looooooose
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and they're running a DHI there next year.... at the same time as an EWS. Wonder if some of the retired DHI racers will throw their hat in the ring?!? :brows:
 
HAB

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,593
2,029
Seattle
slyfink said:
can't remember the last race he did tho... you?
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Lourdes, Fort Bill, Leogang, Lenzerheide, Vallnord, and Les Gets (World's) this season. So a good chunk of the total calendar.

Edit: and he was at VDS but missed the cut for finals.
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,833
5,666
Ottawa, Canada
HAB said:
Lourdes, Fort Bill, Leogang, Lenzerheide, Vallnord, and Les Gets (World's) this season. So a good chunk of the total calendar.

Edit: and he was at VDS but missed the cut for finals.
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Really?! I thought he missed a bunch of those... Maybe I'm just tired...
 
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