What impressed me was watching the watts and heart rate on those short climbs. I obviously don’t know your zones but your heart rate stayed fairly steady and lower on those short sprints and typically went up when you started descending again. I would love to have that level of fitness. Overall very impressive performance.
Holy Cow, Macky! 8th place in your first Megavalanche! Hugo and Kilian will be looking in their rear view mirror next year. I’ve followed this race for several years and am amazed you did so well. A clean start and who knows what may have happened. Massive congratulations!!!!!
I Just did La Onza in Creel Chihuahua, I got 17th place, i didnt expected this, watching your vidieos and following your advices, I really have improved my self, and my rides are more awsome!!! eat win races, thank you Syd and Macky!!
Once I saw that u were doing the Mega I knew u had a really good chance. Of all the TH-camrs I watch you’re by far the best pedaler lol. Your mega video from this year is the best of them all.
The biggest factor this year was definitly the start not taking place on the glacier, it's a whole different race,not only the snow but the singletrack that doesn't allow much opportunities to pass. You've got do it again! I've done it 7 times and hope to come back someday.
Honestly, when you have a solid diet, train for wind, and all kinds of tech that comes with XC - you can translate to anything and everything. You guys are wonderful, great video, content, and achievement. Top 10 at Mega? I mean - sooooo awesome!!! Proud of you Mackie!
As a basketball coach for 25+ years we had a saying...As you practice (or train) so shall you play (or perform). It also reinforces the basic concept of cross-training. Nicely done, the race POV and vlog were both amazing to watch!
Kilian Bron is a top contender on Mega who posts videos with some text commentary. He's good at the climbs and he also mentions that he needs to pace his efforts to stay mentally focused and avoid catastrophic mistakes on the downhill parts. After watching him it's no surprise that a good descender with great cardio does well in the race.
I honestly believe you can win the race next yr as long as you have zero mechanicals. I’m also riding a lot again thanks to your channel. I’ll start my XC race journey again next year. Going to spend a yr training and then will get back at it! Thanks for an awesome channel!
Cardio always wins especially when the rides get long like Mega avalanche! Lots of folks were gassed at the end. I’m sure some of us have friends who ride only mtb bikes and others who have road and mtb bikes. The uphills hurt some folks a lot more than others.
Another Great Video Sid & Mackey… I’m stoked you finished in the top 10. I’m wanting to go and watch next yr and wanted to know where to fly in and and hotels. Again Congratulations on Rocking it Mackey. Dave
Great vid series and great results despite the unlucky days before the race. Also, "42hr descending" slip of the tongue (around 18:18) was...brutal, but big smiles say it all.
You bring up some really awesome points that I think can be applied to any format of mass start type races is knowing when and how to pass safely and effectively to prevent to yo-yoing which can be a pull in confidence if nothing else, I am glad you did this video and as a NICA coach think it will help the kids learn not just about preparedness for the sport in fitness but learn a better understanding of race time scenarios in dealing with traffic. I am as always super impressed by both of you and definitely inspired to do better for myself> you are also an inspiration to my kids for sure! Great job and super finish!
Best Megavalanche advice video I’ve watched, just a shame I’m seeing it after the race! As a moderately fit 69yr old living in Singapore (so riding flat ground at sea level), lack of fitness was my biggest challenge. So frustrating to have hordes of fit young things zoom past on the many pedally parts 😥. I’d not ridden downhill MTB plus this was my first MTB event, so I stressed about the technical stuff, but it wasn’t where I lost the time. As a novice riding unfamiliar terrain, I’d run inserts both ends if I did it again because I punctured in the qualy race. So glad I did Mega24 and recommend everyone do this amazing event. BUT first watch your video a few times and follow the great advice! Thanks.
One aspect you haven't touched upon is altitude. Even with prime cardio fitness, dropping in at 3,500m/11,500ft will quickly deflate you if you live and train at sea level! Congrats on making 10th. A truly amazing result given the -- shall we say -- suboptimal start!
Such an insightful video, on so many levels! Thank you for sharing your experience so thouroughly. 👍 And congrats on your amazing catch-up race, that was so breathtaking to watch.🥳👏👏👏👏 We have been screaming at the screen round here and scared the cats!... 🤣
The GoPro effect is so deceiving. I watched the race video and could not distinguish climbs from flat. I actually had no clue there were any uphill sections at all. It was really amazing to see you progress through the field. Really a fun watch!!
Hi Syd and Macky. I watch yours and many others peoples videos of this years Megavalanche. I thought that you would have been it the top 3 places if you had had a good start. But you did a fantastic job. Looking forward to next year.
Firstly, great job. Secondly, I'm not surprised by how well you did, but a little that you didn't know how much climbing it involved😂. Power to weight is where it counts. You have some good numbers! Look at people like Tom Pidcock and MVP. They would kill this race if their contracts let them race it. Keep up the great content
1st thing I noticed from mega avalanche winners video last year. He was running a grip1 damper with lockout and using it on the climbs. Maybe he had custom shim stacks but it was interesting.
I have never been faster on the descent... I used to have really good legs. In non race scenarios I would wait for my buddies at the top of the hill, try and follow their lines on the descents so as to not get dropped too badly, then chase on the flats, catch them at the bottom of climbs and motor past them up the hill. This was a huge advantage because it meant by the time they came up the hills I was no longer breathing through my eyeballs... so I had more mental capacity for the downs. Basically I was at my best mentally where I was weakest, and they were at their worst where they were strongest. Net net on our local trails I was faster than the guys who were better than me on a loop. That said I was a sprinter to middle distance runner in high school, and used to run cross country at a decent level in Kenya, so my cardio was insane. I didn't have (and still don't) have any actual skill.
Great analysis! I imagine if don't have long 40 min descents could practice riding rocky trails on a rigid XC bike with high pressure in the tyres! That would get the arm pump fitness up. Does not need to be downhill so could even lap some relatively flat rocky loops. Would hit arms as if going much faster.
Have you ever tried the Epic Enduro? It’s arguably the toughest enduro race in the world: 115 km - 5.000 m climbing - 11 technical stages (the first two by night) - riding blind. It’s held in the mountains of Caroux in France. I’m sure it would suit you! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
@@sydandmacky Yes, it is! A bunch of world class riders are in attendance every year. Damien Oton, Theo Galy, and Greg Callahan were there in 2024 amongst others... 😜
People don’t think ‘enduro’ or ‘downhill’ needs a good physical preparation. I used to race XC worldcups as a junior and u23, but never sufferd like I did @ Mega. I know why I train like before on my roadbike and Xc bike. 💪👍
I'm interested in doing Megavalanche just for the experience. However, my current fitness level is trash so it's going to be a couple of years before I could even be able to do it just from a fitness perspective. I don't know if it's realistic to think that I could ever make it to Megavalanche. There's a lot of logistics to figure out.
I feel like the XC prepares you for Downhill in some way...in XC you have to be on your game...make quick decisions and pick decent lines..and when that uphill came up you had an advantage because you do XC alot..you were able to pass alot of people on that uphill...that made alot of difference..imo....you did an awesome job placing top 10.
Any advice on cool events near Cortez/Durango? Open to anything from road to enduro mtb. Did my first event at 39 - iron horse in Durango this year. Really enjoy all forms of biking but prefer off road. Looking mainly for events under 75 miles as anything more would require a fair bit of training lol
@@sydandmacky thanks! I've seen your videos of it and definitely thought about checking it out. Lived in Farmington for 2 years a while back when my wife was working in shiprock. Fell in love with sw co so on our way back that direction :) will probably venture out quite a bit further for other events around CO but most of the stuff on my radar are gravel events. Even Leadville seems more like chunky-ish gravel mostly.
i was definitely going to say you were passing most people on the flats and during the big climb, most downhillers don't have that sort of physicality, following some top downhillers on instagram i've notice a lot of them do a lot of training on road bikes in their stories...
The base of Alpe d'Huez is about the same elevation as our house and we regularly ride up to 10000+ feet (3000+ meters) so it didn't bother me fortunately.
Coming from a guy with less than stellar fitness... Fitness is OP in mountain biking, in a race 4k down and 1k up I would bet it's tight between the great descenders and great climbers.
I wonder if you decided to do again would you do anything different ? Interesting the thing you don't consider a strong point in xc racing was problem the most dominant in this race
Hey Mackie sorry to put you on the spout but wanted to ask you why didn't you have your wife fix and set up your bike for the avalanche race just wondering like I said I hope I did not put you on the spot😮😮😮😂😂😂😂
You are obviously a skilled rider but you also got lucky and got smoked by the guy in yellow. I’d be pissed if I was him as well. Sorry but it’s the hard reality. More skilled riders should have prepared like you did. Bragging is fine but let’s see next year
I think that you have shown that sound technical skills and great fitness will translate to success in mountain biking. Nicely done.
What impressed me was watching the watts and heart rate on those short climbs. I obviously don’t know your zones but your heart rate stayed fairly steady and lower on those short sprints and typically went up when you started descending again. I would love to have that level of fitness. Overall very impressive performance.
Wow. top ten is huge. Just finishing that race is an achievement. A top ten finish is amazing. Congratulations!
You guys are both very inspiring!
For sure👌
Basically... Macky's a frickin ANIMAL!! 🤙
Holy Cow, Macky! 8th place in your first Megavalanche! Hugo and Kilian will be looking in their rear view mirror next year. I’ve followed this race for several years and am amazed you did so well. A clean start and who knows what may have happened. Massive congratulations!!!!!
I Just did La Onza in Creel Chihuahua, I got 17th place, i didnt expected this, watching your vidieos and following your advices, I really have improved my self, and my rides are more awsome!!! eat win races, thank you Syd and Macky!!
Congrats, great result!
Once I saw that u were doing the Mega I knew u had a really good chance. Of all the TH-camrs I watch you’re by far the best pedaler lol. Your mega video from this year is the best of them all.
The biggest factor this year was definitly the start not taking place on the glacier, it's a whole different race,not only the snow but the singletrack that doesn't allow much opportunities to pass.
You've got do it again!
I've done it 7 times and hope to come back someday.
Honestly, when you have a solid diet, train for wind, and all kinds of tech that comes with XC - you can translate to anything and everything. You guys are wonderful, great video, content, and achievement. Top 10 at Mega? I mean - sooooo awesome!!! Proud of you Mackie!
As a basketball coach for 25+ years we had a saying...As you practice (or train) so shall you play (or perform). It also reinforces the basic concept of cross-training. Nicely done, the race POV and vlog were both amazing to watch!
Great insight to the training I need to conduct to race the Mega avalanche in the next two years. Really appreciate the tips guys. Love the channel
Kilian Bron is a top contender on Mega who posts videos with some text commentary. He's good at the climbs and he also mentions that he needs to pace his efforts to stay mentally focused and avoid catastrophic mistakes on the downhill parts. After watching him it's no surprise that a good descender with great cardio does well in the race.
I honestly believe you can win the race next yr as long as you have zero mechanicals.
I’m also riding a lot again thanks to your channel. I’ll start my XC race journey again next year. Going to spend a yr training and then will get back at it! Thanks for an awesome channel!
Cardio always wins especially when the rides get long like Mega avalanche! Lots of folks were gassed at the end. I’m sure some of us have friends who ride only mtb bikes and others who have road and mtb bikes. The uphills hurt some folks a lot more than others.
Another Great Video Sid & Mackey… I’m stoked you finished in the top 10. I’m wanting to go and watch next yr and wanted to know
where to fly in and and hotels. Again Congratulations on Rocking it Mackey.
Dave
I flew into Geneva and stayed in an Airbnb
@@sydandmacky Awesome. Thanks for the help. I can’t wait til next yr.
Yall Rock. Keep living your dream.
Cheers Dave
that is a bad ass result, congrats man
Great vid series and great results despite the unlucky days before the race.
Also, "42hr descending" slip of the tongue (around 18:18) was...brutal, but big smiles say it all.
Congrats Macky! Thx for breaking down your training for us Syd & Macky
You bring up some really awesome points that I think can be applied to any format of mass start type races is knowing when and how to pass safely and effectively to prevent to yo-yoing which can be a pull in confidence if nothing else, I am glad you did this video and as a NICA coach think it will help the kids learn not just about preparedness for the sport in fitness but learn a better understanding of race time scenarios in dealing with traffic. I am as always super impressed by both of you and definitely inspired to do better for myself> you are also an inspiration to my kids for sure! Great job and super finish!
Best Megavalanche advice video I’ve watched, just a shame I’m seeing it after the race! As a moderately fit 69yr old living in Singapore (so riding flat ground at sea level), lack of fitness was my biggest challenge. So frustrating to have hordes of fit young things zoom past on the many pedally parts 😥. I’d not ridden downhill MTB plus this was my first MTB event, so I stressed about the technical stuff, but it wasn’t where I lost the time. As a novice riding unfamiliar terrain, I’d run inserts both ends if I did it again because I punctured in the qualy race. So glad I did Mega24 and recommend everyone do this amazing event. BUT first watch your video a few times and follow the great advice! Thanks.
Wow, congrats! Can't think of a much different place to train than Singapore...
Congratulations on the great result Macky. Really enjoyed the deep dive.
One aspect you haven't touched upon is altitude. Even with prime cardio fitness, dropping in at 3,500m/11,500ft will quickly deflate you if you live and train at sea level!
Congrats on making 10th. A truly amazing result given the -- shall we say -- suboptimal start!
I saw Syd and Macky at the Downieville classic in July. Can't wait for the video!
Such an insightful video, on so many levels! Thank you for sharing your experience so thouroughly. 👍
And congrats on your amazing catch-up race, that was so breathtaking to watch.🥳👏👏👏👏 We have been screaming at the screen round here and scared the cats!... 🤣
Can't wait until you race this again! I wonder how many will heed your advice about fitness.
53 years old now, lifelong cyclist, many disciplines... I couldn't agree more. Nice job Macky, congratulations! Sooo glad you didn't flat! 😂
Wow badass dude! Nice work!
Thanks for the insights into your regimen and process!
The GoPro effect is so deceiving. I watched the race video and could not distinguish climbs from flat. I actually had no clue there were any uphill sections at all. It was really amazing to see you progress through the field. Really a fun watch!!
Well done : ) It is impressive how structured your training regiment is and how effective it has been for you both.
I love your attitudes!
Hi Syd and Macky. I watch yours and many others peoples videos of this years Megavalanche. I thought that you would have been it the top 3 places if you had had a good start. But you did a fantastic job. Looking forward to next year.
Macky could actually win this thing.
Hope you enter another one. With a good start, you could have a real shot.
Wow this is very inspiring and makes me want to workout more on my bike I’m 47 years old and starting to feel it on my body
I found this really helpful
Firstly, great job. Secondly, I'm not surprised by how well you did, but a little that you didn't know how much climbing it involved😂.
Power to weight is where it counts. You have some good numbers! Look at people like Tom Pidcock and MVP. They would kill this race if their contracts let them race it.
Keep up the great content
1st thing I noticed from mega avalanche winners video last year. He was running a grip1 damper with lockout and using it on the climbs. Maybe he had custom shim stacks but it was interesting.
Awesome!
Very inspiring video as I’m aiming at doing Megavalanche next year. I better start my fitness training!
I had a wrestling mentor who used to say, "Cardio is the great equalizer"
I have never been faster on the descent... I used to have really good legs. In non race scenarios I would wait for my buddies at the top of the hill, try and follow their lines on the descents so as to not get dropped too badly, then chase on the flats, catch them at the bottom of climbs and motor past them up the hill.
This was a huge advantage because it meant by the time they came up the hills I was no longer breathing through my eyeballs... so I had more mental capacity for the downs. Basically I was at my best mentally where I was weakest, and they were at their worst where they were strongest. Net net on our local trails I was faster than the guys who were better than me on a loop. That said I was a sprinter to middle distance runner in high school, and used to run cross country at a decent level in Kenya, so my cardio was insane. I didn't have (and still don't) have any actual skill.
Great analysis! I imagine if don't have long 40 min descents could practice riding rocky trails on a rigid XC bike with high pressure in the tyres! That would get the arm pump fitness up. Does not need to be downhill so could even lap some relatively flat rocky loops. Would hit arms as if going much faster.
Kabush is going down this year at Downieville, yes? Best wishes for a great race!
Have you ever tried the Epic Enduro? It’s arguably the toughest enduro race in the world: 115 km - 5.000 m climbing - 11 technical stages (the first two by night) - riding blind. It’s held in the mountains of Caroux in France. I’m sure it would suit you! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
That sounds awesome!
@@sydandmacky Yes, it is! A bunch of world class riders are in attendance every year. Damien Oton, Theo Galy, and Greg Callahan were there in 2024 amongst others... 😜
Awesome man!
Any plans of going back next year Macky? After this year, id say that you'd be one of the favorites to win it. 👍👊💪
I'd like to, but we're still figuring out our race schedule for 2025.
@@sydandmacky Awesome. I hope ya get to go. 👍
Great job 🤙 I split 3 Huffys and a Mongoose chromolly in half back in the mid 80's🤣🤣
130 BPM for the first 30 minutes 😂 🤦♂️ absolutely insane! Just a machine.
Dude, Great Ride! Really appreciate this series and all that went into it. Here's my Question; now with a top ten, are you going back for more?
I definitely want to, we had have to see how next year shakes out 🤞
People don’t think ‘enduro’ or ‘downhill’ needs a good physical preparation. I used to race XC worldcups as a junior and u23, but never sufferd like I did @ Mega.
I know why I train like before on my roadbike and Xc bike. 💪👍
Can’t beat fitness with superb bike skills when the superb bike skilled aren’t fit.
Now you need to try the opposite end of the spectrum and race unbound. That would be madness
More videos like this ❤
I'm interested in doing Megavalanche just for the experience. However, my current fitness level is trash so it's going to be a couple of years before I could even be able to do it just from a fitness perspective. I don't know if it's realistic to think that I could ever make it to Megavalanche. There's a lot of logistics to figure out.
Any plans to do the Cape Epic?
That fence though ..gonna haunt you for a while! 👻
I feel like the XC prepares you for Downhill in some way...in XC you have to be on your game...make quick decisions and pick decent lines..and when that uphill came up you had an advantage because you do XC alot..you were able to pass alot of people on that uphill...that made alot of difference..imo....you did an awesome job placing top 10.
hy..i'am from indonesia ... good luck 🤗
Any advice on cool events near Cortez/Durango? Open to anything from road to enduro mtb. Did my first event at 39 - iron horse in Durango this year. Really enjoy all forms of biking but prefer off road. Looking mainly for events under 75 miles as anything more would require a fair bit of training lol
Check out the Road Apple Rally in early October. It's a great XC event in Farmington area.
@@sydandmacky thanks! I've seen your videos of it and definitely thought about checking it out. Lived in Farmington for 2 years a while back when my wife was working in shiprock. Fell in love with sw co so on our way back that direction :) will probably venture out quite a bit further for other events around CO but most of the stuff on my radar are gravel events. Even Leadville seems more like chunky-ish gravel mostly.
i was definitely going to say you were passing most people on the flats and during the big climb, most downhillers don't have that sort of physicality, following some top downhillers on instagram i've notice a lot of them do a lot of training on road bikes in their stories...
100% cardio is always the secret, how else will those muscles recover?
Despite downplaying it, I can confirm that macky is also unbelievably fast on the downhill.
Macky needs the race that turns around at the bottom and climbs back to the top. Or climb it first, which way would be harder?
😂 now that would be a race!
On the passing. Sure, big risk to maybe pass 1 on the downs. Or pass(ed) multiples per effort on the early climbs.
WTG!
How much was the altitude a factor, does living where you do help with that?
The base of Alpe d'Huez is about the same elevation as our house and we regularly ride up to 10000+ feet (3000+ meters) so it didn't bother me fortunately.
Coming from a guy with less than stellar fitness... Fitness is OP in mountain biking, in a race 4k down and 1k up I would bet it's tight between the great descenders and great climbers.
"Pedally parts"....😆
I wonder if you decided to do again would you do anything different ?
Interesting the thing you don't consider a strong point in xc racing was problem the most dominant in this race
I'd try to get a few more park days to be more up to speed on the descents and then I'd work on my start 😂
Sure making a lot of content of one race
How could would it be if people started to train similarly to you because of your result? You might literally have changed the game.
So, are you going to give it another crack?😉
Hopefully 🤞
But... How fast would you have been on the xc bikes and aspens? lolol
😂
Hey Mackie sorry to put you on the spout but wanted to ask you why didn't you have your wife fix and set up your bike for the avalanche race just wondering like I said I hope I did not put you on the spot😮😮😮😂😂😂😂
Syd and I share most of the house work/bike work/editing/cooking and she was working on editing a video so I built up my bike.
Interesting, but I'll take a pass. not very many 70+ year olds I'm guessing.
Definitely not. You Don’t want to break a hip 👴🏼
You are obviously a skilled rider but you also got lucky and got smoked by the guy in yellow. I’d be pissed if I was him as well. Sorry but it’s the hard reality. More skilled riders should have prepared like you did. Bragging is fine but let’s see next year