Well damn. That was a bad (and anonymous) race by Robin. I hope that his form will go upwards to the races which should suit him more.

So uhm, maybe it's better to cancel the NES for next season? I always see it as a bit of a speedbump on the CX highway. New riders either stay or jump ship after couple of races, so the NES isn't really needed to integrate them or give them results later on.

Gotta say i agree that it isn't really needed to give young riders a boost, when a number come from strong Junior/U23 backgrounds and/or make Top10's and impacts pretty much straight away.
On the other hand, it's only 3 races which is a pretty small part of the calendar overall. I also quite like it. Perhaps it could become a touch more of a development ground. Continentals and Worlds have some U23/new riders popping up, perhaps some could rock up at NES events as well.

If it was to incorporate a deep look in the "real" youth scene on continental level eg, I'd actually find it interesting. Each nation can select some riders, however whilst new created riders can always do other competitions and just not appear in the NES.

Decided to properly introduce Chetout as I spoke with Ian about before the season as he at least wants to race Alpe d'Huez.

You reminded me i needed to introduce Chris Young! Thanks

Intersting discussion about NES. Also looking at the startlist and seeing almost entirely non-active riders, I couldn't bring myself to write a full-length report on it. So a shorter report so we can move forward to the bigger races again


Johannesburg report here!

But seriously, great report Ian Van Dyck really showing that he could be the next big thing...

And Pierre having a quite a good race , despite Louis shadowing him.

Yeah indeed Van Dyck could become the strongest NPC in the game easily, but it was bound to expect. After all I think he was mentioned as a big promise already in the first season? Portugal up next should be a goodie for the Superprestige aka All Against Vague'.

Awesome from my riders there And good to see you churn one out with som good quality anyway Hopefully I can do some rp today, but would regret it not being Milan with the timing

Like brother like brother. Some things just never change, they are constants in this ever-moving world, methinks

Lisbon Preview has arrived! Which means, Superprestige Rush!

Too much sand, I don't expect no. 4 ;(

Bam! Lisbon has arrived.

One of my better reports I've written in a long time. I owed it to you after all this delaying

Good start for Young, hardly the easiest race to begin with and making it the finish is impressive enough it seems. Lets see if he can replicate that good riding!

I know right

Epic report of an epic cross Ian, that sure made my afternoon. Thanks for that, will take some time I'll get to react to that though. Matt can have a go at Superprestige as well and he's proven that quite in style I'd say. This is the first race he wins twice if I'm not mistaken!

Also cool work with the scope, always a welcome dossier.

Great report indeed, possibly one of the best too, and the race was both tactical and pure cross.

Loved the scope!!

Wow, That was some report, was almost out of my seat cheering for Sylvain there. And people call him not aggressive. Would rank that as one of your best reports. Thanks Ian.

More importantly, that gap to Listerjin!

And that scope was pretty cool, Sylvain has as many thirds as Vague has wins.

Also, is it alright for Chetout to start on Alpe d'Huez?

Scope was amazing Lisbon was great report, but, ffs

This is probably going to end up overly long and convoluted so sorry about that but...



I don't think created riders should be totally banned, maybe it should just be that there is an option for us to plant an under 23 rider into the game world to take part in a reduced schedule that could include the NES.

It would leave the option for a calendar similar to what Forcellini has done this year, or allow us to give the under 23's some more backstory like Chris Young got thanks to TMM picking him up.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that it might be nice for us to have some input on what kinds of guys are coming through the under 23's, be it for us to pick up later when they turn pro, or for someone else to then pick up, or even just to give the future NPC's a little more character and individualism which could help when talking about an NPC teammate or help the get picked up after a few seasons.

Also allowing us an input into the under 23 scene could both help expand it and also give any new characters we bring into the game a bit more of a slid backstory.

Thinking about it if there was an Under 23 race result list posted with every senior race report and a list of all under 23's and some rough personality traits and/or favoured weather/ terrain for them then we could help out by doing interviews with some of them. e.g. I post a interview with Under 23's X and Y then Shonak builds under 23 X's personality further and des something with under 23 Z aswell then if anybody likes the way a certain rider is developing and wants to claim them then they can and if not then we've all helped build the base for the NPC characters so if we need an NPC to step up to cover a gap from guys and riders going missing for a bit the NPC riders stepping in will feel just as much a rounded character as the player controlled ones which would probably make the game stronger as a whole if developed right and stuck with but I could see problems getting it off the ground a little or if people are too busy to help build up he under 23 riders personalities and traits.

hmm... I'm starting to think I might have ended up talking about something different from the top of that by then end of it, I hope that makes sense as it's gone 2AM here so my brain might have stopped working a little by now.

On an unrelated note I'm starting to really like Van Dyck, I hope he continues to do well and that someone picks him up end of season, if not then I'd be a little tempted to but I doubt I'd be able to handle three riders. so would rather see someone else do it who could do him justice and build him a great character and keep him active.

In other news it was nice to find this had started up again with quite a bit of action before I noticed meaning I got to read through a few reports and reactions. I got a couple of game thread posts up earlier this evening, hopefully I'll have time to keep up with the speed the game seems to be back at but I think I'll be a bit limited on spare time until mid April due to work and College.

Thanks for that input, sammy. Will think on it.


Anyway, it's nice to finally see some stability in the game. Halfway season 3, I think we've got our players for this game.
Seeing many drop out, I believe we can finally build on what we've got for now. My current plan includes a cyclo-cross scene with the following top/subtop riders:

Active
Vague
Lipawsky
Mazzarelli
Listerijn
Dubois
Goldenberg

And in a lesser extent
Markson
Power
Young
Bauer
Forcellini
Welling
Visconti

NPCs
Van Dyck
Gormley - sand races
Schiltz
Eldfjallsson
Dao
Soucek
Etxeberdea
Bollinger

Special Case
Cook - depending on Smowz, a potential return.

All others are filler and won't matter as much, I won't spend any special attention to them in a race, either, except when it's important for the race.

Now that's a good list. A nice amount of active riders, but not too many so we can have a top of 3-4 riders and a wider subtop.

That NPC list could change, depending on your input. I wrote down the names that have value to our fantasy CX world, but feel free to give your input and shorten the list. For now, I'm liking the Van Dyck and it doesn't bother me he's NPC.