The PRO Gravel Thread

[Jbr]

interesting

[Gnarly]

36 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Or he doesn’t want to go Pro Tour cause it limits then what he wants to do racing wise which is MTB and Gravel while making more than most WT in a year payment wise. 
Which case it’s understandable  

Kinda like Axel Hodges I guess, sure he makes more money having fun over racing mid pack. And is living his own life, a jol. 

[J Wakefield]

22 minutes ago, Gnarly said:

Kinda like Axel Hodges I guess, sure he makes more money having fun over racing mid pack. And is living his own life, a jol. 

Or having to be a domestique when you can ride for yourself and have a jol doing it 

[Jewbacca]

It's so weird that we live in a society that just has to poke holes and be negative about everything all the time.

Gravel world champs.... The racing was awesome to watch, coverage brilliant, big names present..... ALL the negative things to say everywhere.

Matt Beers, 17th overall, people questioning his life choices and not taking his coach and friend's word that it's what he wants....

I use to work for a massive global corporate. The work on the outside looked rad. I was at every olympics, rugby, soccer, cricket world cup, F1's, TDF, Common Wealth games, ATP tennis, Ryder cup golf, The Open and many many more.

It sucked. The pressure, 100+ hour weeks, 50 weeks a year travelling, my schedule planned years in advance.

I now work for myself. I earn way less, but I have a quality of life that kicks ass. I get to live now, spend time with my family now, not work now so I can live later when I'm tired, old and riddled with cancer or some other horrible thing brought on by stress.

I fully get why you wouldn't go and race in a pro team as a domestique if you get to live your life how you want to now.

Go Matt

[Jbr]

4 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

I fully get why you wouldn't go and race in a pro team as a domestique if you get to live your life how you want to now.

Go Matt

Hell yeah

[Shebeen]

On 10/10/2022 at 7:54 AM, edgarblount said:

Gravel '22 = MTB '90

If you compare mountain bike courses\routes of the early 90's to todays courses you can agree they are 'worlds' apart. Yes, I was disappointed when I saw the gravel worlds route but had to remind myself that this is only the beginning. Hopefully with more WT pro's also wanting to ride and the popularity increasing the UCI will take the races to different parts of the world with different difficulty. 

Hang on.

Are you saying that in the early 90s mtb races were similar to the course on Sunday?

You must have spent the 90s in your room listening to vanilla ice and mc hammer, because it sounds like you didn't get out much.

 

It seems like the real limiting factor here is if they make the courses more gnarly so it isn't dominated by road bikes with gumboots on then you will also see more mechanicals. There's no possibility of team vehicles on the route, so a Roubaix style wheel change allowance at the pave sections is a solution that would be very difficult to actually offer in reality.

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:

Or having to be a domestique when you can ride for yourself and have a jol doing it 

To add to this.

I'll admit I really hoped Beers was going to move into WT once he got the foot in the door. It's funny we're talking about this now as he seems perfect for the Daniel Oss type role that so many teams need.

If anyone is wondering why it didn't work out like that, Matt has probably told his story so far on about 5 different podcasts. It's always worth a listen so get your Google out.

 

[Paul Ruinaard]

3 hours ago, Jbr said:

interesting

Yep. Just put fatter tyres on road frames, used compact rings (2 x ) and a 34 cluster. Ran 35mm rear tyres. Gravel bikes are neither fish nor fowl. Until you have ridden one over a bad stutter bumped dirt road and shaken your eyeballs out you wont know this. an MTB is better on SA's roads every day of the week. especially on stutter bumps which we have on the majority of our roads. never mind thin tyres on loose sand.

 

[edgarblount]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

Hang on.

Are you saying that in the early 90s mtb races were similar to the course on Sunday?

You must have spent the 90s in your room listening to vanilla ice and mc hammer, because it sounds like you didn't get out much.

 

It seems like the real limiting factor here is if they make the courses more gnarly so it isn't dominated by road bikes with gumboots on then you will also see more mechanicals. There's no possibility of team vehicles on the route, so a Roubaix style wheel change allowance at the pave sections is a solution that would be very difficult to actually offer in reality.

 

On 10/10/2022 at 7:54 AM, edgarblount said:

Gravel '22 = MTB '90

If you compare mountain bike courses\routes of the early 90's to todays courses you can agree they are 'worlds' apart. Yes, I was disappointed when I saw the gravel worlds route but had to remind myself that this is only the beginning. Hopefully with more WT pro's also wanting to ride and the popularity increasing the UCI will take the races to different parts of the world with different difficulty. 

Hang on.

Are you saying that I said that in the early 90s mtb races were similar to the course on Sunday?

Not what I said.

All I am saying is that if you look at 90's XCO races and compare them to todays races they were so easy to ride that a 3 year old on a balance bike can ride it. Well done Bart B on your Olympic Gold medal in '96. The course looked very very technical. (

Gravel as a sport is only starting to find its feet and hopefully with all the interest from WT pro's, bike manufacturers, sponsors, you and me, it can only get better. Like XCO got better from '96 to '22. That is what I said....

As for V-Ice and The Hammer, not really my type of music. But it seems you were a fan of them or maybe still are. Much preferred sitting in my room listening to the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Korn, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains.

[Shebeen]

50 minutes ago, edgarblount said:

 

Hang on.

Are you saying that I said that in the early 90s mtb races were similar to the course on Sunday?

Not what I said.

All I am saying is that if you look at 90's XCO races and compare them to todays races they were so easy to ride that a 3 year old on a balance bike can ride it. Well done Bart B on your Olympic Gold medal in '96. The course looked very very technical. (

Gravel as a sport is only starting to find its feet and hopefully with all the interest from WT pro's, bike manufacturers, sponsors, you and me, it can only get better. Like XCO got better from '96 to '22. That is what I said....

As for V-Ice and The Hammer, not really my type of music. But it seems you were a fan of them or maybe still are. Much preferred sitting in my room listening to the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Korn, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains.

Seems like you're confusing yourself further, by both saying it is about the course comparison in isolation and at the same time not the course at all.

Main point really being that gravel worlds was not really a reflection of the gravel scene in general. or maybe it is the inflection point of a totally new direction. Since it is the same course next year, so not much will change for this, pog vs wout vs pidcock vs mvdp if they all wanna do it. At least it was a CX guy winning, but you might find he doesn't find much of an occasion to wear these rainbow stripes. 

 

[jcza]

I thought Matt Beers could be more than a domestique but happy to file this under "none of my business" 

 

 

[J Wakefield]

On 10/11/2022 at 1:16 PM, jcza said:

I thought Matt Beers could be more than a domestique but happy to file this under "none of my business" 

 

 

One can understand that but then it would be best to understand the overall level in World Tour and how deep it goes.

[stringbean]

This here is a huge problem in SA.Too many youngsters ( and even older SA ‘pro’ riders) just don’t understand the level needed to ride WT.And even if you do have the ability it does not guarantee a job.And even if you get a job it might not be long term.Too many SA coaches  lead their students to believe there is a chance that one day if they work hard enough they could turn pro(John is one of the few coaches  around that are direct and honest right off the bat as to your ability.Often sometimes what parents don’t want to hear.)

Fly by night coaches are for another thread,don’t want to open that can of worms until it’s a Friday.

[BMCfan]

On 10/13/2022 at 11:30 AM, stringbean said:

This here is a huge problem in SA.Too many youngsters ( and even older SA ‘pro’ riders) just don’t understand the level needed to ride WT.And even if you do have the ability it does not guarantee a job.And even if you get a job it might not be long term.Too many SA coaches  lead their students to believe there is a chance that one day if they work hard enough they could turn pro(John is one of the few coaches  around that are direct and honest right off the bat as to your ability.Often sometimes what parents don’t want to hear.)

Fly by night coaches are for another thread,don’t want to open that can of worms until it’s a Friday.

Its A friday ....

 

i am watching Langkawi reruns, so no spoilers please, but a link to that another thread please 😉

['Dale]

After the inaugural event of 2022, here are the 2033 updates. Cool stuff:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmM_2sgOy95/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

['Dale]

Cool and inspirational