Walking Brokeback - Mont St Anne World Cup
 |
 And the theme in the pits today... great big nothingness. With many of the big team rigs headed to Whistler for Crankworx, the pits had the feel of a ghost town. SRAM's big rig has been replaced with a tent; Yeti is also in a tent, and Pedro of Marzocchi has surrendered his team support rig for a box van... and no customers to dampen the echoes of loneliness. |
 |
| Welcome to Canada... you'll be needing your massive truck from this point onward. |
 |
| The mostly desolate pit area is currently populated only by those in focused bike-build mode.... |
 |
| ...and those with more relaxed priorities. Walker and Kerr upset sensitive hearing with the unbearable clatter of touchscreens. |
 |
| Eddy Masters puts the Nike slogan into practice every day of his life. Spontaneous pirate-swim o'clock. |
 |
| A wee little bit of the red for Mr Luke Strobel in the Fox Racing Shox pits... |
 |
| Neethling's beast lurking in its cardboard cage. |
 |
| Gutierrez's ride nearing completion. |
 |
| Dave Garland whipping Hart's Boxxer into race shape. |
 |
| Nigel Reeves adding a bit of rubber tape to Steve Smith's Wilson frame, keeping the din of chain-slap to a minimum on the fastest track of the year. |
 |
| Track walk at Mt St Anne begins with what is arguably one of the most iconic start gates ever... |
 |
| That classic double-down. |
 |
| Why wheels were invented. |
 |
| The track here at Mt St Anne saw a massive amount of water damage at the start of the summer due to heavy rains. This forced track designers and builders to get to it with some well needed track modifications. By far the best modification was moving the track "in" on the very first corner from this old line, which had this massive rock smack dab in apex. Not a single rider was sad to see this corner changed. |
 |
| From that first corner it's business as usual: straight into this wide open motorway. "All you need on this track is balls, brakes, and stiff suspension," according to Pedro, the Marzocchi tech. "It's full gas." |
 |
| Always time for a quick selfie when on the pro-circuit. The chicks just need more and more proof of globe-trotting, top-flight athleticism these days. |
 |
| The course builders have been hard at work, grooming the hell out of the trail after months of quite severe erosion. Have they overcooked it...? Possibly because much of the track's looking tamer, but in 4 days the riders should be able to tear it back towards normality. |
 |
| That's tamer...not tame. She's just as likely to break wheels; Monk Dog getting on the program with a spare wheel-set in the truing stand. |
 |
| A good example of a little puncture just waiting the happen in the long grass, |
 |
| What once was a feared rock drop seven years ago has now been given reduction-surgery with a more than manageable corner below. Mitch Delfs showing how much bigger his balls are now with that corner smoothed out. |
 |
| Nonetheless it could provide good opportunity for airborne style... A new feature is cemented into downhill history. |
 |
| An fully grown anaconda is hoisted off the trail to safety by a giant tattooed man. |
 |
| Line choice: take the inside and beware the rock on the exit, or sneak past the tree, launch the rock and have a straight exit. |
 |
| Matt Walker verifies the 'roostability' of the open section under the lifts. |
 |
| The famous hip's looking a little different, but the views out over the St Laurence River are still classically awesome. |
 |
| That cheese wedge that upset Gee Atherton last year. The track is more high speed than ever before this season, aided by the new-found smoothness. |
 |
| You just need a bro sometimes man... Come on, St. Anne's a notoriously scary track. Walker and Masters find a moment of comfort in the cruel world of professional downhill racing. |
 |
| Luke Strobel of the Evil Vengeance tour wading through the massive rut in the middle of the last bastion of single track left on the DH track. |
 |
| Camouflage fail. |
 |
| Another decision with consequences... Riders come in at light speed off the motorway below the gondola into this: the entry to the rock garden. Left line leads to a straight line, but massive bomb holes; right light leads to not as direct a line into the rock slabs below, but zero bomb holes. Center line leads to a back board. |
 |
| One section that has certainly gone against the flow and gotten gnarlier, is this. Where there once was a bit of a step down, now there's a proper booter.... right into a rock garden. Count on Mont Sainte-Anne's wheel wrecking reputation to come to life here in fine form. |
 |
| One of the tricks the pros use: a shock thrust bearing will allow the spring to compress without any binding, allowing just that much more supple suspension action. Kinda key when the golfing green up top turns into a bombed out "rough". |
 |
| It takes a long walk down over all the freshly groomed topsoil to find that cliche St Anne terrain we know and love towards the final quarter. |
 |
| 'Ummm yah, if you could just go ahead and make sure you put the new coversheets on those TPS reports from now on, that will be great. And uhhh, I'll go ahead and make sure you get another copy of that memo. Mmmkay? Bye bye.' Working the forest-space 9 to 5. |
 |
| The top part of the track may have been dumbed down, but the bottom quarter? She's still a mean bitch who'll chew your arm off if you try and pet her. |
 |
| There's soil. there's rocks and there's amphibians just littering the course... Clearly the kids are still doing 'toad' in Canada. |
 |
| "I may as well have brought my BMX bike here," said Sam Hill when asked about the course grooming. Nor was Hill alone in assessing the changes in a negative manner. "It's really been dumbed down" was the refrain heard over and over again in the pits as riders came down off the hill. "Sure, it will rough up some more if it rains, but they've really taken a LOT of the rough edges off this track." But while some riders were lamenting the taming of the beast, others were licking their chops: case in point? Steve Smith: "Oh man, this is gonna be so fast. I can't wait!" |
 |
| Blue Steel by Wyn. |
 | They've tamed things down a fair bit. It's looking smooth up there, but it'll roughen up through the week. There's tons of soft stuff, seems like they pretty much took a digger down it and evened it all out so it's gonna be fast. You're gonna need a bloody good tuck on you to get down the big straights quick, so I'll be out practicing on my road bike haha. They'll be a few cases thrown off that end jump in the morning so I might have to go up and have a look at that haha!- Wyn Masters, Team Bulls |
 |
| Indeed, the last air of the course is a significant one with some real think time. All you sadists can anticipate some serious case-age tomorrow. |
 |
| To end as the day began... on route to the hill, onboard with team Pivot and friends. For certain it's road-legal if mounted sideways. |
 |
| It's a boy alright... Rob Warner's ink collection continues with a fresh tribute to the British Royal family. |
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Not sure why Hart wouldn't run it.
That'll explain it then won't it?! Haha. Not Danny's bike.
dirt.mpora.com/news/course-preview-talkie-helmet-cam-mont-sainte-anne-world-cup-2013.html
I look forward to bikes dancing and skipping down here with all the grace of a magical fairy
www.microbrasserie.com/produits/index.html
Just watched the pov course preview, that end Jump is gonna catch the slower guys/ all the gals out!! Maybe not Rach
Looks Huge
simplybearings.co.uk/shop/p9632/AXK3552+Needle+Roller+Cage+with+2+AS3552+Washers+35x52x4mm/product_info.html
only need one set per shock
Loads of info and some graphs (so it must be true) here
ride.io/news/what-is-a-shock
you maybe have to wind the preload out a couple of turns but its really thin and for £4.10p its worth a go
www.sram.com/truvativ/products/truvativ-holzfeller-direct-mount-stem