So it looks like he's confessed. Is that a first?
g-boaf wrote: ↑Sun Aug 28, 2022 12:12 pm
The riders up the top of these events are ridiculously fast - they fly, both uphill and downhill (especially downhill).
Yes, I was constantly amazed by how fast the elite guys were on the descents at events like the Mont 24hr where you'd see them pass you a couple of times over the course of the race. It especially used to stun me how quick they were flicking between the trees on the singletrack, especially as they usually had a semi-slick tyre at both ends.
How they didn't wash out or whack their bars on a tree I could never quite get my head around, especially in the wee hours of the morning before dawn, when the fatigue really hits you.
And then one wet 7-hour run by WSMTB at Wylde, the mud was so slippery and sticky I abandoned the first lap at the halfway point, as my Scalpel had doubled in weight from the mud ball that had completely enveloped my bottom bracket to the point where pedalling was impossible and my back tyre was locked solid.
As I walked back to the pits from the bailout point at the 6km mark at Wylde, I was overtaken by the elite leaders completing their lap in a train of 4 or 5, making constant little micro-corrections as their front tyres slipped about on the greasy clay surface.
That kind of concentration when they were at smashing it at their aerobic limit ... I have no idea how they do that. I pat myself on the back when I catch one or two front wheel slips a race and keep it off the deck, at which point I promptly dial it back because it scares the crap out of me. These guys were doing it every 10 or 15 metres down this chute and they weren't backing off at all.