EWS Adventure 2022
- Thread starter muddybike
- Start date
Haven’t seen anyone on the stages. I’ve seen ews riders out on other, nearby trails though. But Seems like everyone is respecting the “only ride the stage when it’s your designated training” rule.
Be safe Kris.
Ride the Juliana like you stole it. Thanks for pics, great stuff.
Ride the Juliana like you stole it. Thanks for pics, great stuff.
I thought it was Henry 8 who started the war. But that's ok because Edward died in his teens and his sister Elizabeth eventually had Mary's head chopped off so it all worked out in the end.
KILL IT, KRIS!!!!
Oh I have seen this before...they use this configuration on the Shelby Cobra. Interesting that they chose a left hand drive setup.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
I wish I could leisurely google that well! LOL
But yes, KILL IT KRIS!!!
(did you check how haggis are done? If you haven't...don't).
I was enjoying excellent food for the first few days. I made the mistake of ordering pizza yesterday for dinner. the cheese was the runny cheese you’d find on nachos at a football stadium. And absolutely flavorless. Not a good combo.
i got “dirty” fries for dinner today - piled w veggies and mozerella cheeses- which sounds delicious, But someone poured mayo all over it.
i got “dirty” fries for dinner today - piled w veggies and mozerella cheeses- which sounds delicious, But someone poured mayo all over it.
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
@mattybfat i did not get a chance to see the eBike race. They did have to ride a lot though. they did 15 or 18 stages. They had to do 3 laps of the course w one stage a timed climb, I can’t recall if they had 5 stages or 6 total.
THATmanMANNY
Well-Known Member
How awesome! Represent! Good luck and have fun
I spent the morning running to a half dozen different pharmacies because the Covid supervised test I have to take Sunday night won’t accept the home test I brought, has to be some specific brand- only everything is closed because of the queens jubilee- and of the 2 spots that were open- neither had any in stock. So that’s super fun. Now I have to try to get to a pharmacy tomorrow between practice and the race. Or I’m going to have to change my return flight.
Pre rode stages 2,3,4,5
The main climb is long but good quality gavel road (well packed) and not super steep. I had great weather today, but even so it’s hard to prepare for the change in temps. It’s roasting in places that are protected by trees, and then it’s chilly in the windy/exposed sections and there’s a head wind, and then you pop out above the tree line it’s absolutely freezing. Beautiful, but you don’t want to hang out up there if you can help it. Going to be interesting w the stage start lines on Sunday.
The course marshals were super strict about checking each plate number in to each stage, and also out of each stage. You can stop and session but once you cross the end, your done. They were also strict about open/close stages for different groups. I was 8 mins early to the official opening of stage 4 for the pro ews (previously open only to the ews 100&50 classes) and they made me wait the full 8 mins before starting.
First two stages are quite fun- lots of tight steep berms. Couple rooty sections. Stage three just continues for a longer duration than 2, but very similar terrain. Trees are indeed tight in section. Lots of deep ruts that can catch your pedal and cause your foot to pop off.
Stage 4 is full of rock gardens and small drops. And tight trees. Very tight.
The climb up to stage 5 is totally different - and it’s miserable. It’s so steep no one can ride it. And it’s long. So it’s hike-a-bike for pretty much the entire duration leading to fatigued calves and triceps for stage 5. The stage itself is very rooty with a lot of erodes dips in between the roots. Plenty of steep berms and lots of tight tree sections.
So overall, no big surprises- everything that looks a little sketchy is totally rollable/rideable. Main focus is cornering and not clipping the handlebar on trees- which seems like it will be super easy to do at speed. Or, I could foresee the front fork bottoming out (and endowing) in the various eroded root dips if one’s timing is off at all.
after the pre ride I hung at the Santa Cruz tent for a bit and took advantage of the mechanics they had on hand (my Brake was rubbing again and my headset seemed a little loose). then I hit one more pharmacy but it was also closed and headed back to the hotel to refuel on pasta and chicken and hopefully pass out early tonight.
Not many pics today, but here’s what I got:
The main climb is long but good quality gavel road (well packed) and not super steep. I had great weather today, but even so it’s hard to prepare for the change in temps. It’s roasting in places that are protected by trees, and then it’s chilly in the windy/exposed sections and there’s a head wind, and then you pop out above the tree line it’s absolutely freezing. Beautiful, but you don’t want to hang out up there if you can help it. Going to be interesting w the stage start lines on Sunday.
The course marshals were super strict about checking each plate number in to each stage, and also out of each stage. You can stop and session but once you cross the end, your done. They were also strict about open/close stages for different groups. I was 8 mins early to the official opening of stage 4 for the pro ews (previously open only to the ews 100&50 classes) and they made me wait the full 8 mins before starting.
First two stages are quite fun- lots of tight steep berms. Couple rooty sections. Stage three just continues for a longer duration than 2, but very similar terrain. Trees are indeed tight in section. Lots of deep ruts that can catch your pedal and cause your foot to pop off.
Stage 4 is full of rock gardens and small drops. And tight trees. Very tight.
The climb up to stage 5 is totally different - and it’s miserable. It’s so steep no one can ride it. And it’s long. So it’s hike-a-bike for pretty much the entire duration leading to fatigued calves and triceps for stage 5. The stage itself is very rooty with a lot of erodes dips in between the roots. Plenty of steep berms and lots of tight tree sections.
So overall, no big surprises- everything that looks a little sketchy is totally rollable/rideable. Main focus is cornering and not clipping the handlebar on trees- which seems like it will be super easy to do at speed. Or, I could foresee the front fork bottoming out (and endowing) in the various eroded root dips if one’s timing is off at all.
after the pre ride I hung at the Santa Cruz tent for a bit and took advantage of the mechanics they had on hand (my Brake was rubbing again and my headset seemed a little loose). then I hit one more pharmacy but it was also closed and headed back to the hotel to refuel on pasta and chicken and hopefully pass out early tonight.
Not many pics today, but here’s what I got:
The venue was pretty quiet when I got there this morning. We only had a 1 hour time lot to practice stage 1 so I headed up early. The climb is a little over 1k feet, with a short section that is hike a bike right at the top. It’s a fun stage- a little long- but running really fast and similar to the other stages - rooty with divots between the big roots, tight steep berms, very narrow tree sections, some steep shoots, a road gap jump and it empties into the race village- there a big screen with video from some section on the trail streaming. The roots at the top were wet& slick and the bottom is bone dry and loose.
After my pre ride, I only had an hour or so before my race run so I grabbed a coffee and hung out in the car because it was too cold (being sweaty-wet) to hang around outside.
After figuring out that I didn’t have to do the “roll out” from the stage today (that’s tomorrow) I headed back up the climb a bit early. I chatted w the Icelandic version of @UtahJoe ie he chatted non-stop for the entire climb. lol- it was nice to have a distraction.
Once at the top I found the other women in my category and hung with them - we had a half hour to wait. I’m the only American. Couple of locals and some other international riders everyone seemed really nice and supportive of one another.
Finally it was my turn at the start gate. I had a great sprint off the start- right gear choice- and rode the first half seemingly well. I felt pretty composed and was enjoying the course. The further down the track the more spectators, media, etc are around and yelling. Mostly I was able to ignore them, But I started getting more tense. On the final turn before the Red Bull ramp out into the village my front wheel washed on a steep loose turn. Honestly I don’t really know what I did wrong but suddenly I’m on the ground and my seat is cocked to the side and my right brake is pointing straight down. I jump up, try to straighten things quickly (fail at both and immediately give up) and hop on and finish it out. Not pretty not pretty at all. No injury aside from a very minor scrape on my shin, but grrr was that frustrating. I’m sitting in dead last.
On the plus side- I’ve nothing to lose from here- so the pressure is off I guess? And , there is a LOT of racing left to do tomorrow, so not all is lost, but pretty disappointing start.
After my pre ride, I only had an hour or so before my race run so I grabbed a coffee and hung out in the car because it was too cold (being sweaty-wet) to hang around outside.
After figuring out that I didn’t have to do the “roll out” from the stage today (that’s tomorrow) I headed back up the climb a bit early. I chatted w the Icelandic version of @UtahJoe ie he chatted non-stop for the entire climb. lol- it was nice to have a distraction.
Once at the top I found the other women in my category and hung with them - we had a half hour to wait. I’m the only American. Couple of locals and some other international riders everyone seemed really nice and supportive of one another.
Finally it was my turn at the start gate. I had a great sprint off the start- right gear choice- and rode the first half seemingly well. I felt pretty composed and was enjoying the course. The further down the track the more spectators, media, etc are around and yelling. Mostly I was able to ignore them, But I started getting more tense. On the final turn before the Red Bull ramp out into the village my front wheel washed on a steep loose turn. Honestly I don’t really know what I did wrong but suddenly I’m on the ground and my seat is cocked to the side and my right brake is pointing straight down. I jump up, try to straighten things quickly (fail at both and immediately give up) and hop on and finish it out. Not pretty not pretty at all. No injury aside from a very minor scrape on my shin, but grrr was that frustrating. I’m sitting in dead last.
On the plus side- I’ve nothing to lose from here- so the pressure is off I guess? And , there is a LOT of racing left to do tomorrow, so not all is lost, but pretty disappointing start.
