EWS EBIKE test event

[Kangr]

 

[Gary]

making full use of the negatives and positives of the gravity part of gravity enduro.

no thanks

 

[mark.ai]

People are going to want to race e-bikes, so it's good they're trying out different formats. And to differentiate it I guess they are thinking to focus on the area e-bikes are better at than unpowered bikes, i.e. going up hill.

The trouble I see though is that going uphill with power restricted e-bikes should favour lighter riders even more than going uphill on unpowered bikes does ...

 

[Kangr]

How will they implement battery usage and battery capacity?
I expect there will some sort of limit like ~500wh and only one battery.
Will they leave it to the participants to manage battery life?
Will they implement a set weight so a rider and a bike must equal ????grams? with weights being added to bikes to make it all equal.
I guess also there will have to be some sort of anti-cheat software lock in place as well. will all participants have to give access over to the race organisers for the duration of the event. the organisers could log into each bike and set there own password and access would not be given back till after the event.
If i was the EWS i would look into giving each bike a gps tracker and broadcast chips so they can show live where each rider is and what power level and such they are using.

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

It's a nice idea, but i just don't see how they can implement it. I've already given up with Strava, because you can't compete with people in turbo the whole segment or those with unrestricted bikes. So timed sections are ruined.

 

[Gary]

the trouble I see though is that going uphill with power restricted e-bikes should favour lighter riders even more than going uphill on unpowered bikes does ...

The entire idea of an uphill time trial on bikes with motor assists of differing support as a stage in a timed gravity event is completely retarded.
A DH timetrial with flat and uphill sections and Ebikes restricted to 15mph and different amounts of drag between the motors above that restriction is also just as stupid.

TBF holding this Ebike Enduro race at EWS level seems more of a manufacturers sideshow to try and get their Ebikes more widely accepted than anything to be taken too seriously.
I don't think Chris Ball has thought this through very well at all so if it does go ahead as a series I'd expect it to change fairly drastically in both format and ruling as it evolves.

 

[Gary]

I've already given up with Strava, because you can't compete with people in turbo the whole segment or those with unrestricted bikes. So timed sections are ruined.

Don't know what your local terain is like but most of the genuinely steeper DH/Enduro descent segments here aren't really affected by having a motor so I still compare my times on those to the normal leaderboards and my own previous times on my non-Ebikes. I haven't ever even looked at a strava Ebike leaderboard. I doubt round here there'll even be many Ebike segments or riders (you rarely see another Ebike on the trails)

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

I've already given up with Strava, because you can't compete with people in turbo the whole segment or those with unrestricted bikes. So timed sections are ruined.

Don't know what your local terain is like but most of the genuinely steeper DH/Enduro descent segments here aren't really affected by having a motor so I still compare my times on those to the normal leaderboards and my own previous times on my non-Ebikes. I haven't ever even looked at a strava Ebike leaderboard. I doubt round here there'll even be many Ebike segments or riders (you rarely see another Ebike on the trails)

Mainly Cannock chase. We don't have much vertical, so quite a bit of pedalling.