BreckEpic

Love this. Thanks for sharing. We're pulling for you, Amiga. In everything. Always. Best of luck to you for the remainder of the season. - MM

@ACree: 4th liner's mentality. Always. Gotta outwork, outgrind and outbleed everyone just to stay on the roster. Thanks for the kind words, Anthony. It was so cool to see your face this year.

Hey folks - I've been reading these comments with interest and wanted to jump in with a few thoughts. First, a HUGE thanks to Betsy Welch for penning such an immersive and thoughtful article. Many of us still fondly remember the old days of cycling coverage where you could piece together race narratives by visiting multiple outlets. Today, those outlets no longer exist or have dedicated themselves to other topics or disciplines. In this case however, Betsy was the lone journalist who published anything at all about this year's historic event and we're VERY grateful for that. She also did that on her own, which speaks volumes, especially considering the sheer volume of her output these past few weeks. Pinkbike itself stands on merit. So amazing. In a general sense tho, they pursue and cover not just what they love, but what draws eyeballs. As they should. Because their house was built on gravity, the site is in many ways a reflection of that. Endurance racing doesn't land neatly in that circle and its coverage here is mostly crowd or promoter-sourced. This too is understandable. I mean, how lucky are we to even have this community when all others have for the most part disappeared? My sense is that Robin's vision of PB serving all aspects of mountain biking is in many ways at odds with the budgetary realities of the enormity of that task and also not in complete alignment of Pinkbike's editorial roots. All of that is OK. In this dynamic tho ("Send us a report!"), the public is often left wanting for the journalistic chops that someone like Betsy brings to the table. Again, it is how it is, and it's on us, not PB, to figure out how to cook with the ingredients we have in the kitchen. The process of user-submitted content is very much part of the structure at PB. We get that. We also don't always have the time or resources to produce those things, or deliver them in a timely manner. When I hear the phrase "marketing department" in relation to race producers not named Sea Otter, Leadville or SBT, I giggle (laugh maniacally?) in my head. Bless the heart of anyone who believes that we have a marketing department. In many ways, Epic is still eking out its existence without the support or resources of some of our larger peers. I am the marketing department. And also the porto-potty cleaner, the permit application guy, the web person, the complaint/suggestion box and everything in between. Our staff is pretty incredible across the board. but we tend to devote our efforts towards taking care of our athletes on site and only then do we focus on marketing efforts. We have to make sure that all of the other high-priority boxes have been checked and there are only so many hours in a day and dollars in a budget. Could we do a bettter job? Oh hell yes. In a thousand different ways. And if Pinkbike is the MTB race outlet of note, then maybe we need to focus on meeting them where they are. That too is a sign of progress. I'm optimistic. Again, I'm grateful for the coverage, especially in this instance because it was so thoughtfully produced. I'm also encouraged by the sense of, "Hey...maybe we should take a look at that next year," from the PB crew. Progress is made in small steps sometimes and this year in many ways is just a stopping point on the way to next year. Reading those words was/is pretty cool for me. This feature was amazing and such a fun read. Thanks Betsy and PB for giving it space and oxygen. Thanks also to the PB editorial team for chiming in with some perspective. All data is good data. Thanks to all of you as well for sharing your thoughts, and in many cases, some very kind words. Reentry after each Epic can be disorienting, and this year even more so. Your kindness is very much appreciated. If some of the folks here would like to see daily race recaps, please visit BreckEpic.com - we've got 6 days of them loaded on the main nav. In the meantime, thanks for joining the conversation here. With respect - MikeMac

@chrisclifford: The BC Bike Race is awesome. We're just different flavors of ice cream, which we can all agree is amazing.

I would like to marry you right now. I don't know who you are, or where you are, or how you identify. But at a minimum, we're best friends for life. Thank you for the kind words. I'm also deeply grateful to Betsy. This was lovingly and well done, and we're incredibly grateful. MM

Holy shitballs. Thank you. MM

4 stages. 2 per day. It rained on Friday night until about 10pm. The dirt on Saturday morning was incredible. Most of the pros commented that it took them 3-4 turns to trust it because it was so ridiculously grippy. Just one of those lucky days.