Really, No Epic 2023 Thread?

[DieselnDust]

17 minutes ago, dev null said:

There is a difference between tough and unnecessarily dangerous. Have you ever ridden a descending Single Track at the end of the field in such conditions? I did and I can tell you they are not rideable for the majority of riders. The mud is too soft and deep by the time you get there that any time you just think of touching the brakes your wheels lock up and you slide uncontrollably.

And the helicopter can’t get there in this weather so good call to trim those areas out. Everything today was reachable by 4x4

[DieselnDust]

So OLSCR had their mishap about 1.5km after the tech zone and had to double back along the course to get back to repair the broken derailleur.

I hope they don’t get a time penalty for that. That would just ruin the race that shaping up for tomorrow 

[dev null]

4 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

So OLSCR had their mishap about 1.5km after the tech zone and had to double back along the course to get back to repair the broken derailleur.

I hope they don’t get a time penalty for that. That would just ruin the race that shaping up for tomorrow 

Yes. I wondered about that. AFAIK, with XCO you have to go to the next tech zone. You are not allowed to double back. But probably the distances are way shorted also in XCO between tech zones. With this the distances are so much longer, so maybe different rules.

[SwissVan]

7 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

So OLSCR had their mishap about 1.5km after the tech zone and had to double back along the course to get back to repair the broken derailleur.

I hope they don’t get a time penalty for that. That would just ruin the race that shaping up for tomorrow 

According to the rules it’s allowed:

8.3 Doubling Back. A rider is allowed to “double back” on the route at any time in order to re-join his/her team member or for the purpose of requesting or obtaining assistance (medical or technical), provided that he/she does not endanger any other rider in doing so.

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, SwissVan said:

The bike shops providing maintenance packages will make a killing….recommending replacement to all their customers.

 

 

Mark has 16 bikes he service ....

 

Going to be a long night rebuilding 16 bikes ...

[DieselnDust]

19 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

According to the rules it’s allowed:

8.3 Doubling Back. A rider is allowed to “double back” on the route at any time in order to re-join his/her team member or for the purpose of requesting or obtaining assistance (medical or technical), provided that he/she does not endanger any other rider in doing so.

shot thaks for finding that. In the past it was not allowed so there appears to have been a revampof the rules👌

[ChrisF]

43 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

And maybe access for medical rescue at the higher section would have been to difficult.

 

 

 

This was noted as the reason for shortening prvious Epic stages.

[Lexx]

6 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Mark has 16 bikes he service ....

 

Going to be a long night rebuilding 16 bikes ...

Damn. That's alot. 

[DieselnDust]

surely he has a few mechanics with him because banking on 1hr per biike thats going tobe zero sleep which cant be good for quality

[ChrisF]

39 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

Watching the live stream Gerald said they put in a tube, when they showed it again I saw a tire liner but could not see a tube anywhere, wonder if they had one? 
 

The Iive coverage is fantastic imo, must be quite difficult from a tech and logistics point of view

 

 

At the start of that clip, on the live feed, they were busy inserting a tube.  That bit not shown on the highlites

[J Wakefield]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

Then it's not the untamed Africa 😀. Thought it was the Tour de France of MTB. Supposed to be tough. Oops.

Yes cause I remember seeing the guy Blackie Swart from Potch in his mid 40's having a mid life crisis enter the Tour de France so he can ride with Tadej

[J Wakefield]

10 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Mark has 16 bikes he service ....

 

Going to be a long night rebuilding 16 bikes ...

Should also be able to fly in his private Heli to next year epic 

[ChrisF]

4 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Damn. That's alot. 

 

Jip, and he did a total rebuild of each of those first week of March.

[J Wakefield]

1 hour ago, dev null said:

There is a difference between tough and unnecessarily dangerous. Have you ever ridden a descending Single Track at the end of the field in such conditions? I did and I can tell you they are not rideable for the majority of riders. The mud is too soft and deep by the time you get there that any time you just think of touching the brakes your wheels lock up and you slide uncontrollably.

If you don't want those conditions by the time you arrive, ride faster before. 

Little like "I want to ride the most "hardcore" event in the world and be called a real mountain biker with possible epic tattoo but only with certain T&C's"

[Lexx]

5 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Yes cause I remember seeing the guy Blackie Swart from Potch in his mid 40's having a mid life crisis enter the Tour de France so he can ride with Tadej

Was only stirring a bit . Saw the footage from this morning. Felt bad for the back of the pack riders. Looks flippen dangerous and slippery. 

[J Wakefield]

2 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Was only stirring a bit . Saw the footage from this morning. Felt bad for the back of the pack riders. Looks flippen dangerous and slippery. 

Got that was doing the same considering I feel it's rather high on my list of insults to riders and staff doing the Tour other than the okes in the mix.

Edited March 25, 2023 by J Wakefield