Would be very interested to see guy #2 filmed as well as guy #1, I suspect the difference would be obvious.
Not to make excuses for a guy whose whole thing is descending kinda sloppily with lots of confidence but the whole point of this and the other two videos in this series is that he was traveling to do some cool descents that weren’t local to him. So not too surprised that he’s less familiar/fast on the road than a guy who’s a local.
Im way off the LB now, but I KOMed this segment in my 2nd ever descent of it.
https://strava.app.link/JjmMT1hiVeb
You don’t have to be terrible at descending just cuz you haven’t been there.
Edit: still 9th!
Oh for sure, like I say not trying to make too many excuses for the guy, just that I’m not surprised fast locals on a well-known descent were able to put up better times than a youtuber who’s made an internet career of riding fast & somewhat sketchy with good filming. I also wouldn’t be surprised if a World Tour pro was able to smash the KOM on that particular descent on their first go of it.
I watched a couple of Mr. No1’s videos, but he just makes some weird cornering decisions. Crossing the double yellow on a blind corner and then not hitting the apex? Weird flex, but OK.
I get it, though. When I’m putting down a timed run, I’m always fighting the urge to push harder or stay smooth. Not having the track wired just makes that more difficult.
Also #2 is wild. He passes a car only to get passed by a moto seconds later. Fuck that road.
Keep descending to off road - hurts a lot less to smash into a hiker or an off leash dog. Horses still hurt
message paid for by the red bull vape gang
We’re in Pauma Valley, California and it’s about, uh, 70 degrees and sunny. The area is most known for drivers and riders wrecking on these steep turns. It’s the most prolific tow truck service area in the world.
I’ve never participated in one of these Red Bull Road Rage races before. I’m super excited. This is going to be absolutely terrifying. We’re going to be descending approximately 4,500 ft over 16 miles and we’re going to probably hit speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour at the fastest point. I rode up this earlier today with Chaz and I hope to be close to him, because he’s going to be the person to beat today.
[cue dad rock soundtrack]
<30 seconds of action>
The competitors were absolutely great. Even the ones that didn’t qualify had loads of fun. But they’re all so friendly and it’s so rad to be so stoked with people.
[more dad rock]
I used to go hiking with the Boy Scouts in the mountains outside LA and saw more than one very dead motoboy and their very crushed motorcycles on the crest highway. also several close calls. I also once rode with a forest ranger guy once and he told me some really depressing stories for some reason. I believe president Clinton declared it one of the most dangerous roads int he country?
Pro MTBer does a head-to-head test of his gravel bike vs his trail bike.
Link to the actual runs:
Spoiler:
MTB is faster, even after getting slowed down by a bunch of people standing in the trial
The latest BQ has an article by a guy(not Jan) who realized that the chunkiest part of an all day gravel ride really slowed him down.
He went back and did it on a hardtail 29er with 2.2 tires and went significantly faster.
gcn has done a few mtb vs gravel videos. the conclusion seemed to be that any technical off-road stuff was handled so comparatively poorly by the gravel bike as to puncture the myth of the do-it-all bike.
Are we really surprised that a mountain bike is better than a beefed up road bike for light single track?
the gcn video is just one data point and they may have been hamming it up for the camera, but it was the extent to which a specialized offroad bike was better for anything at all technical that stood out to me. Canonical marketing bullshit about gravel bikes is that they are “plenty fast” on the road, but aren’t afraid to get rowdy after the pavement ends, duuuude.
footage of a retired pro anxiously picking his way through a mild rock garden does not do much to support this kind of marketing horsehockey.
Did they still do it all on the gravel bike? It appears that you drew the conclusion the myth was busted, but it might not have been. And if your idea of adventure is mostly gravel, road, and some buffed out single track, then grav grav could still be your ticket. If you are doing Kokopelli then it likely won’t be.
Also, GCN perhaps hamming it up for the camera? No way, they are super serious journos.
There have been weirdos since the dawn of MTBing who desired to have a more aggressive handlebar position and lighter weight at the expense of traction/compliance
The only difference now is that the weirdos and their kids got good at marketing
Damn dude was rocking shit on that gravel bike. Riding two vastly different bikes like that back to back is always going to favor the bigger tires and wider bars. He’d still be slower on the gravel bike but I bet if that was all he rode for two weeks he’d be a lot faster than he was the first time.
The “quiver-killer” was always to get dentists to buy another bike for when they ride the towpath, not to get enduro babies to give up their full-squish.
There is still a strong “5-foot drops” contingent out there. I haven’t been on r/gravelcycling in a while, but there used to be a lot of “hurr, I can drop MTBers. they r dum.” It’s kinda turned into an urban legend.
The dude in the video above was pinning it, however. He was outrunning his chase cam who was on a full squish.
The bromance <3
That looks more like a 00s MTB with drop bars than a road bike with fat tires. It must have at least 120 mm of travel up front.
