EP8 - Benjamin Perry - "The Unbound Mudfest, Traka Heartbreak & The Privateer Reality"

I'd always try to get myself in a position where I don't have to sprint.

And then in the single track, like I'd ridden that single track before, but it's really chunky and it's maybe two kilometers long.

So no matter what, I'm still going to lose a little bit to these mountain biker guys just because they spent their whole life doing it.

Where for me, it's a novelty to ride single track at all.

So, but yeah.

I wish we were able to see it on TV because it seems that a lot happened there.

But unfortunately, we haven't been able to see it.

It's a bit tricky also, this last part to follow with a motorbike.

So that's good that you can tell us what happened.

And it was, yeah, it seems to be something that has been challenging for you and for all the riders in this group.

Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

I mean, I wish, I kind of wish, I mean, this is me being biased, but I always think a lot of the best races end, like Unbound ends with like a road showdown.

Roubaix ends in a velodrome.

Flanders ends on like a long straight road.

Liège ends on like a flat finish.

I think it's kind of nice when you go through like the battle zone, the trenches for so many, so many kilometers.

And then it's like, okay, now it's just mostly intelligence who wins, not like sprinting into a single track that's all flooded and there's buried rocks.

And it feels weird to be like losing a position in a race because you're like, shit, And it's, it's not even, it's yeah, I would say it's almost not challenging single track.

It's just dangerous single track.

So, but gravel is very ambiguous still for what is, there's no right or wrong yet.

And talking about the gravel and the evolution of it.

So you've been playing a leading role on the European gravel circuit for several years now.

And how have you seen the dynamic tactics and sheer speed of that elite front group evolved since you started?

it's gotten a lot more just the pace is high all the time non-stop before you could hide a little bit you could race a bit tactically to get somewhere but now there's no there's really no hiding especially the big thing is the team dynamic as well like you see like pause racing last year at the at the track i had like a really specific team plan that really disrupted the race and then specialized at anything that they're at track as well they just kept the pace high the whole time.

There was no, let's see what somebody else does.