- Just how fast are the Enduro World Series pros?
Well, I've come here to Whistler
right in the midst of Crankworx and Giant have sponsored
this video and today I'm racing
their EWS pro rider, Josh Carlson,
all aboard the brand new Giant Reign 29er.
(uplifting music)
(boom)
Josh is currently sat in 19th in the series.
He had a great result just yesterday of sixth place.
I used to come third here in the past, in 2106.
So he's definitely got the pedigree at this place,
I'm just hoping he's feeling a little bit tired
'cause the race was only just yesterday.
(uplifting music)
So what about the new bike?
Well for this test, we'll both be riding the same bike,
the brand new Giant Reign 29er.
Yes, 29 inch wheels have come to the Reign
for all-out enduro bike.
What about the numbers?
Well it's got a 65 degree head angle,
so nice and slack.
76.8 seat angle, again getting steeper.
146mm of travel on the back of this bike
with a 16o mm fork up front.
There's also a bike park Slayer version of this bike,
the SX with a 170 fork up front, and of course,
shock on the rear.
The reach comes in at 455mm for a medium size frame,
so definitely on the larger size of things nowadays.
- [Announcer] Giant say the Maestro Suspension linkage
is designed to be active and efficient.
Giant are a huge bike manufacturer and a benefit of that
is they've got their very own, state-of-the-art
composite manufacturing facility to make super complicated
parts, like this top locker above the shock,
out of carbon fiber.
- [Announcer] A floating pivot point gives you a vertical
axle path which Giant says makes it both
super-sensitive and efficient.
(dramatic music)
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- Right, so this is the day after the weekend
so you've had four big days of riding.
- Yeah, it's been a big week.
- How are the legs?
- Legs aren't too bad, the body is definitely tired
today, yesterday was brutal with the rain
and the long stages, it was a tough one.
- I mean that is the challenge of racing enduro,
it's such a combination of things.
You've got to be really fit but you've got to be able to adapt
to trails as they come out, 'cause you're only
going to practice those trails once.
And you're riding this weekend in Whistler
but next weekend, or two weekends away in Tahoe,
where it's completely different trails, you've just got to
be able to ride everything and be good at it.
- Yeah, completely different.
We're literally going from the humidity, moist, wet slippery
routes to next weekend we'll be in moon dust, rocks,
alpine Californian dirt.
- And you riding the 29er?
- Yup.
- Is that something you like?
- Yup, on the new Reign 29er, I think being a bit bigger,
like I'm over 6 foot, and being on the bigger wheels
is definitely, makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
I'm stoked to be on this bike and it was definitely
a huge advantage this weekend, here in Whistler, for sure.
- XL frame is it?
- XL frame, yup, with a 45mm stem,
170 in the fork and a coil shock in the rear.
- Right so we've seen the trail, we've just ridden up
actually one of the climbs, which I'm not looking
forward to, that is pretty punchy near the bottom of this.
I think it's time to do a sighting lap.
- [Announcer] Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on.
Josh is EWS shredding machine,
Neil doesn't even stand a chance.
To even out this race, we've given Neil
a 30 second head start.
The guys will be racing down Whistler EWS stage 3,
all 2 kilometers of it.
The track drops 206 meters in elevation with a mix
of techie trails, littered with roots, rocks,
spiced up with a punchy power-climb to really wring
out the legs before the final section.
It should be a good all-round test of fitness
and technical ability.
So let's see if Neil can hold on.
(beeping)
(dramatic music)
(beeping)
(dramatic music)
(singing in a foreign language)
- So times are in.
Yesterday you did 5:29, was it?
- Yeah, I think it was a 5:29 yesterday.
It was pretty spicy in the mud and all the rocks
at the top were--
- [Neil] I can imagine.
- Diabolically slippery.
- It was kind of slippery today, even though it's been rad
hot today, it's dried out a lot.
You went 80 seconds faster today,
did it feel faster?
- It didn't, 'cause then I definitely didn't pedal
as hard on the climbs.
Didn't feel like I dug as deep as what I did during the race
but in the bottom section, and in all Roam in the Loam
I think I knew it a bit better and the dirt was a lot
drier, a lot, lot drier, so you can commit
a little bit more.
- I was a little bit slower, 6 minutes 20.
A minute slower.
(laughs)
- Same, same.
- And I feel like I'm dead.
Like that was one of five stages you raced, or six stages.
- Yup, yup.
- And I hit that climb in the middle
lunch like be going brrr
And just absolutely done.
So I feel sick now, I don't feel like I could do
anymore stages, so I am definitely an ex-enduro racer.
How do you approach a day like that,
when you know you've got to go fast on every stage
and it's going to be such hard work?
- Man, you just have to take it each stage as you're going
especially with the weather yesterday in particular.
The first two stages, I tried to keep reasonably smooth
and calm and collected and not make any major mistakes
'cause you could really, really bleed some time yesterday.
And with the big stages in the afternoon,
they just got gnarlier and faster and all the above.
- And you just got to do what you can do.
- And you got to do what you can do.
You're not really worried about burning too many matches
or being unfit because everybody's fit
and that's just what we're used to.
So you're used to those max efforts, three, four, five,
six times a day.
So there's no real holding back on a stage like that
and especially with those pedals.
Those pedals are so short and sharp, it's full gas,
as hard as you can go.
- [Neil] Stood up the whole way.
- I just got my seat up, just as I crested,
but otherwise it's seat up as long as you can stand up
and sprint (mumbles).
You know, probably it's only a minute long,
so you're probably looking at anywhere
from 7 to 900 watts for that minute if you can.
- Some people say 29ers might make it feel easier
but you're always going to ride as hard as you possibly can.
- Yeah, of course.
- Do you feel like it's faster than the 27.5 bikes?
- I feel like it doesn't feel faster than 27.5 bike
but it definitely is faster.
For sure, and especially for me, I'm a little bit bigger
and carrying that kind of momentum through the routes here
this weekend, the 29er wheels had a huge advantage.
So that definitely helped me a lot in the racing
in the wet, in the big, long stages.
And with the high speeds of the bike park,
having a bigger wheel with more inertia
and higher speed capability, it was really, really good.
- Well thanks, Josh.
And well done for not just beating me, obviously,
but for coming sixth at the EWS Whistler.
- Yeah, thank you.
- If you want to see a video where myself and Blade
get absolutely beasted by Nino Schurter, click over there.
And if you want to see me get beaten by cross country pro,
Titouan Carod, click over there.
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