Bike riding gets underway here today in Raon l’Etape for the first round of the 2016 French Enduro Series, we’re here in the picturesque region of the Vosges surrounded by green rolling hills. Today was the first time the riders had been able to see the trails, and the format is run as a race. Each rider had a time slot to practice each trail and then the final run of the day was a race run on stage one. This was to help seed the riders for racing on Sunday.
Jerome Clementz took the first stage in the men’s and Cecile Ravanel in the women’s.
MENTIONS: @BWinder
It's not about the mode, it's about the likely closing of trails due to user conflicts "generated" by more people on bikes that don't have the investment of time or effort to understand the diplomacy needed to keep trail access. Since hikers and equestrians can't tell the difference between e-bikes and non, closure to all bikes is a likely result of the inevitable conflicts caused by faster equipment with more uninformed or don't-give-a-shit riders.
And @nicolai12 , all bikes are mechanized. Regulating is probably necessary, but enforcement will be increasingly difficult as the units become more difficult to detect. The bottom line is any d-bag who spooks or injures another trail user - especially one on foot or horse - will be lumped into the same category, and kicked off the trails. E-bikes make that MUCH more likely to occur, both in the speed of the instrument, and in the lack of understanding (or concern) of the pilot.
For an enduro race where you have to ride to the start of stages it seems an unfair advantage to allow ebikes. It's like getting a lift to the top.
Sorry Nico but you've just lost every last bit of respect I had for you.
Same here and I'm not sorry
Motorsport is not bike racing. Period.
Maybe just maybe Nico knows something you do not? ??
Oh and it is practice still, smart move by using an ebike to pre ride. Save energy for race day.
I watched French E-bike racing from up close and it is every bit as hard as racing without an engine. They ride up extremely technical uphills, which takes lots of handling skills and balance with a bike as heavy as that. These guys still have to make the difference by pedal power. Downhill, the weight does not help either. Each their own; as long as they race in their own category, I'm fine with it.
You've got to see this in its context. The French truly embrace risky outdoor sports, motorized or not and their downhill/enduro racing culture is second to none. When racers like Vouillioz or Jonnier ride an E-bike, it's not just literally worlds apart from the image of the fat, trail blocking, trail destroying U.S. rider without skills some seem to have in mind.