EPIC NEWS |
Steam from Te Puia's Stage 1 start.
Ahead of Volcanic Epic 2024's launch, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our ebike category for the event.
We love ebiking, and appreciate all those who came and made the first edition so special. Combining ebikes and non-ebikes was always going to be an experiment. Globally, it's not common for ebikes to be included in stage race events, but we wanted to give it a shot.
Ultimately, it threw up challenges that we’ve not been able to find satisfactory solutions for, including timing and seeding, medical and logistical resources, and the fairness in the range of ebikes and modifications. As much as we wanted it to work, we refuse to force it at the expense of everyone's experience. I wanted to also reassure riders that there was no anti-ebike sentiment from our survey participants, a positive trend we hope continues.
We’re ebikers ourselves, and this isn't a reflection on the community. We’d love to host an ebike only stage race, but the market isn’t there quite yet. In the meantime, we’ll continue to host the largest group of MTB ebikers at the Whaka 100’s 25km and 50km events, as well as May’s Highlander MTB Challenge. ​We hope to see you at one of these events in the future, fully charged and showing the best sides of ebiking to all.
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