Why has no one won an EWS on a Santa Cruz Nomad?

they simply don't have a team
and they don't have any athlete racing the full EWS capable of it

Santa Cruz does need to step it up a bit on the enduro scene. The Nomads throw a great party, but they're not winning races. Same with Cedric. There's so much local talent there in town. And in Denver too of course.

Yeah, I figure it's mainly talent at this point. I wish we could put Richie on one and see what happens. Ha, ha...but Santa Cruz has already hurt Yeti enough, haven't they?! It might be too cruel to swipe the best Enduro guy in the world right now. Still...

Mostly I was curious about one thing, more of a technical issue: You need to be able to pedal a lot to win just about any enduro stage. The threat of snipers clipping my rather low-hanging pedals has me somewhat tentative to always give it. I had a nasty OTB at Crested Butte on the first day just throwing a crank into a section that looked relatively clean. Problem is, at race speed, you're already WAY into the travel and the bike is squat. My head was bouncing along the trail like a rock skipping across a pond and apparently, I put my hand out at just the wrong moment: almost yanked my finger off. Is every bike having this same issue these days? Or is the Nomad particularly prone to pedal spiking at just the wrong times? In four enduros, I've had two major issues with bottom out, one OTB, and one where my pedals were fine, but I turned my sprocket into a taco. Not sure if I need to clean up my riding or think about a Bronson?

As a tall guy, I'm hyper sensitive to crank angle and pedal placement as I've always had to run long cranks and deal with short person geometry. I'm aware of the pedal strike danger and yet I like the feeling of BB drop and being "In the bike." Again, being tall, if I'm This high and On the bike then the handling goes out the window. Know what I mean? Optimal cornering is achieved with the outside pedal at full bottom, putting maximum weight on the outside pedal. But full bottom is not always the optimum fit for the turn. Think with your pedals and love your Nomad. 100% flat out is not always the fastest way through a section... A well timed pause can mean everything...

I just saw the Vital slideshow on Finale Ligure. Something about Richie and Jared not being on the same team next year. I have no idea what that is about, but it's been fun to see these two riding around some of the local spots thanks to the Yeti sponsorship. Would be a bummer to no longer have that connection to elite-level racing. But if one of them turned up on a Nomad or Bronson and started crushing...that would be cool too!

I'm only 5'8'', so I'm definitely looking forward to dropping down from my 175mm cranks to 170s or even 165. Also, I'm looking forward to experimenting with a more adjustable suspension next year, probably a Vivid Air instead of the Monarch Debonair. Maybe a beefed-up front fork: if that lyric gets a Pike overhaul, I'd love bigger stanchions and a bit more travel!

probably try and set you suspension better , making it more progressive with the tokens and rubber spacer's on the back
i own a transition patrol which is also fairly low and slack, and i only hit the crank's some times on technical climbs
i rode a nomad 3 and didn't had that problem

both my bike and the nomad were L sizes with pike and monarch + debounair, i'm 5/10 if i'm not mistaken, 1.80m

Because a bike doesn't win races, a rider does. Not that the Santa Cruz is necessarily the best bike out there...

165's and a propper shock (monarch is not enough for the nomad imho) will make a big difference with clipping your peddles, plus a bit of technique... going from 175 to 165 you loose a bit of toruqe at the low end but everything else is better.

Didn't Nicoll race the first year on the old one - privateer style. Got some decent results if I recall.

Because they are still selling them like hot cakes at full pop to you Joeys.
Too much bike for for the hammer-fests of the EWS.

cuz they suck!! lol

Pretty sure that's because Santa Cruz bikes are now only ridden by middle-aged men who don't race EWS

@lawn dart, I hope I am in your situation at 43. A santa cruz might look good to me about then

I remember distinctly at 15 years old, my riding buddy Matt saying, "you're not going to be riding when you're 30". I was puzzled and wondered, why not and I hope I will be?! Well, I'm a good several years past that now and have no intention of stopping anytime soon! Going to have to get a dual suspension bike again one of these years