bkm303

Nino's partner in the Cape Epic this year had some major chain retention issues too. Chain dropped like a dozen times in a single stage or something stupid like that.

Totally agree. Also huge props to the course designers for making a track that's technical AND still allows lots of overtaking. A few times in the past I've been hyped for technical XC courses only to be let down when the tech features aren't really a deciding factor, or they become such a bottleneck that the race gets strung out too quickly (MSA a couple years ago). Pretty awesome to see the front group(s) stay together through the whole race. Tactical racing is always more interesting than just seeing one guy ride off the front for 3 laps.

@WarOnErrorism: Matt Beers did one of the Lifetime races last year and is planning on more this year, and Blevins does BWR and some other gravely stuff. I think Specialized is pushing their atheletes to do some crossover/gravel stuff. Even some big names in world tour road racing are showing up occasionally (Kasia Niewiadoma won Big Sugar). I wouldn't be surprised if we see a little more crossover in the future. Especially from XCM type riders. But I do agree it's kinda small potatoes, and I would fully expect WT / WC pros to rip the legs off people in Lifetime races, provided they can avoid crashes, mechanicals, etc.

I get that the doping regs are kinda loosey goosey in the LTGP but the making accusations isn't cool unless you have some evidence. He's probably making way more money off his personal sponsorship deals + prize purses than he would if we gave all that up and joined a WT team as a 29 year old domestique/stageur on a newb's salary. And he gets to live at home. He's making all the right moves unless he's really dying to go live abroad and do the WT lifestyle. I also don't think there's much reason to think he's on par with the grand tour big guns. His numbers are awesome, but he was 7 min behind Mohoric at gravel worlds last year. Wout was like 2 minutes behind him even after a big crash and a puncture he struggled to fix. Keegan has raced XCO world cups before and never cracked the top 10.

I know of multiple bike shops in the US that have DIY'd lift systems for ebikes because the Park lift stand cost is hard to justify. The topic has come up over and over on bike mechanic forums/subreddits too - those BSO ebikes are heavy as shit. For $805 there are a LOT of shops that will be jumping all over this. Also the US (OSHA) lifting limits are basically the same as in Europe so idk what you're talking about.

Woom does make tiny hand specific cable levers, FYI. They have tool-free reach adjustment for small hands (in addition to the cable tension adjustment). They're also color coded to match the V-brake pad colors so kiddos can tell front from rear, which is cool. They're actually the main reason we went with Woom for my kids' bikes (that and the super low weight). Not sure if they sell the levers by themselves anymore but it's worth emailing them for those interested. IMO discs and big tires don't really have major advantages over V-brakes for the kind of riding most 3-5 year olds are doing. My kid was (mostly accidentally) doing stoppies and skids with his Woom V-brakes at 4 years old, and it's not like he's going to bend a 16" rim out of true. We looked at some of the kid-sized mtbs out there but the weight difference vs Woom and Prevelo are a pretty significant % of a kid's body weight in most cases. I probably won't seek out a disc brake bike until he's a little bigger and riding steeper trails - for now it's mostly pavement and pump tracks.

@PHX77: With those temperatures that's like a 7-9% change in pressure by the ideal gas law. Definitely enough to make a fork go from feeling great to pretty harsh IMO. But if you know what the high temp and current temp are when you're pumping up the fork you can definitely under-pressurize to account for the temperature shift. But holy shit how do you people go ride in those conditions....

@Xaelber93: from her post-race interview it sounds like she might just not be way too passive in the pack and gets pushed aside a lot. She basically said she's not aggressive enough to defend her place, then got stuck at the back for a while. She might just need to develop some sharper elbows.

She would have been at the front I think - she was ranked like 6th overall after VDS. From her post-race interview it sounds like she was way too timid about defending her position and got pushed aside a bunch in the first lap.

@vinay: yep, PB had a really cool piece about it: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/profile-pauline-ferrand-prevot-on-training-with-cecile-ravanel-depression-disordered-eating-and-more.html