ex-Pro Ted King's new diversity in training

Training
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If pros and pro teams start coming to gravel races, I think it would be great to see separate podiums treated with equal fanfare as the amateurs.

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I agree. Race together, score them separately as you would with local amateur races.

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The impression that I got from the video is that Ted spends a lot of time in his car. :thinking:

OT
Iā€™m definitely for pro participation. Attracting higher levels of talent and dedication are part of the healthy life cycle of any race event IMO. Personally I find it very motivational and inspiring to be able to race in the same event as a pro and I would want them to take it seriously! Also, letā€™s not forget that being a ā€œproā€ is not a binary state but more of a spectrum.

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There are some nice brews out there maple syrup including this Powerful stout

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I think the higher the caliber, the better the race. Iā€™d much rather come in 3rd versus proā€™s than win a local race when you have a good chance of winning.

  1. the harder race will make you faster in the long run
  2. you have a chance of beating people better than you and shocking everyone
  3. winning when you know you might win is more of a feeling of relief that you won something that you should win versus extreme excitement that you actually won!
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SB is indeed a cool race, but Tro-Bro LĆ©on takes the top spot in the ā€˜Gravelā€™ cat.

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(p.s. ā€“ notice the guy with the jumbo beard leading the pack? Total hipster gravel race!:laughing:)

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Yes. The Strada Bianche :slight_smile:

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SB is road with some ā€œgravelā€, Iā€™m not sure Iā€™d call it a gravel race.

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Alright, yā€™all - Colin Strickland just beat the World Tour riders at Kanza, so, do what you will with that datapoint.

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Gravel specialist beats non gravel specialists?

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specificity is king?

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Is he?

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If itā€™s the same Colin Strickland Iā€™m thinking of, he is much more than a ā€œgravel specialistā€! National level criterium rider. Red Hook Crit overall GC champ and team champ (fixed gear) with Specialized. I think he won Gravel Worlds as well in the last year or two.

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Back to back gravel worlds winner 2017 and 2018

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True, definitely more than a gravel specialist. My point was more that itā€™s not like he was a random guy winning :slight_smile:

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What he said :smiley:

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Separate Pro class like the Crusher In The Tushar has. Not sure if these other races (BWR, DK, etc) have this but seems to solve the problem.

I think its cool that the pros want to enter a race that I enter. It has ZERO effect on my result, as well as 99% of entrants.

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Iā€™m actually wondering if Raphaā€™s gets the intended marketing effect. I donā€™t really see the point of sending the guys there. Many people are opposed to this. Most people probably donā€™t care at all. And I donā€™t know how many people find this really cool.

And this all invites so much speculation: did they really race full gas? Or did they get the order ā€œnot to winā€? Who knows. For me itā€™s all a little bit silly. I want to see world tour pros racing world tour races. Gravel becomes more competitive and weā€™ll see more gravel-pros in the future. All fine with me but as of now I just find it slightly silly for world tour pros to show up there. Especially when showing up in bulk as part of a marketing campaign.