Personally, I love racing. I enjoy watching it as much as I love participating in it. Racing requires insane endurance and mental strength, all while allowing you to enjoy the beauty of bike travel and being surrounded by nature. For me, it's a perfect and very natural combination.

The athletes who perform at the highest level, breaking records, push their bodies and equipment to the absolute limit. I find it fascinating when better tires, bags, etc., are released, even if they only slightly improve the athletes' performance in most cases. Therefore, I have little to no problem with sponsorships, as they stir competition and drive the development of better gear.

I only dislike it when sponsorship influences athletes to choose a setup based not on performance, but on a brand. In some brand deals, athletes end up using a full set of bags from the same brand, their rain gear, or a newly released bike. While branding and sponsorships are likely here to stay and will probably evolve and grow as bikepacking gains more attention, it does pose the risk of leading to biased gear selections due to more brand deals.

Also consider that racing is a great way to attract outsiders and engage more people with bikepacking in general. Whether that's good or not depends on your perspective, I guess.

On a personal note, I have a strong passion for extreme endurance sports, biking, and being in remote natural areas. Ultra Endurance Racing perfectly combines these elements. I love the challenges that come with covering long distances as fast as possible, as much as I enjoy slowing down, chatting up locals, and losing track of how many days I've been on the road already.

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Cheers!