Originally Posted by
gthomson
Can we get pictures? I always wondered if anyone considers doing these races on a drop bar conversion or even straight bar using 26" wheels. I mean, they did mtn. bike races on these things 30 years ago so I think they can handle it.
I would think you would have advantage on any of the dirt or technical part of the route but would have to hustle really hard on the road to catch up on any of the road sections. If anyone has any experience or knows videos or stories I would love to see more.
I have been looking for good photos, but the best i have found is at 40ish seconds here
And there is a quick mention on the reneherse blog about the clearance afforded by Kasper's mountain bike. That's what sent me looking around.
I agree with your assessment in general, but think that the mud hill was basically a random trial, essentially there was no predicting who would get through regardless of skill. From my (very limited) experience in other races, those in front (the better riders) were actually at a disadvantage because those behind (me and my fellow weaker riders) learned of the issue (I still totally lost the race). This effect would be harder to see in Unbound because of the strict segregation of non paying pro riders and paying amateur riders. There might not have been an overall learning effect among the riders. But that's another can o worms.
So a hash assessment of his victory would be: a bad section randomly eliminated the best. His equipment allowed him to get through that part, which literally ripped the derailleurs off of other bikes, regardless of who was riding them. Then there was no one left who could keep up with him, even if his equipment was less efficient.
But i don't know enough about the route. There could have been other places where his equipment was an advantage and that scratched other contenders. It could also be that the "inefficiency" of a modern 29er with no mud issues because of clearance and with a locked out fork is overestimated in relationship to a gravel bike caked with mud.
I don't know if anyone has really tested this. I know wilcox has run suspension when others haven't, to winning success. Sahili runs a mountain bike while others run gravel bikes and consistently wins, but he also doesn't seem to need to sleep. On the other hand, king just ran a mountain bike on the divide and scratched. Who knows?
But as an aside, this is why the UCI has tech rules--to try to control for equipment advantage and isolate rider performance. So maybe everyone on Unbound 2024 should be required to use a regulation cyclocross bike. But that's against the ravel ethos, i guess. But certainly fun to watch!
The other explanation is Kasper was just the best in the field. That is also an explanation.
My post was mostly make fun of the return of our favorite bikes
