Windham Day 1 Photos - UCI World Cup 2012
Jun 29, 2012
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 Jared Rando stopped racing for Giant after helping develop the Glory. Now he splits time between fishing for the big ones on his local creek and fishing for new talent amongst the Australian Juniors. He must be doing ok; one of them scored 24th at Mt St Anne--possibly the hardest track on the circuit. |
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| Most riders have a goggle selection of one. Danny Hart, however, has a different level of sponsorship. Rainbow stripes hath its privilages. |
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| Grinding away in the SRAM mobile tech support rig. Need an overhaul? Get in line. It may take a while, but it will be done in time for your next practice, regardless of your discipline. |
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| Aaron Gwin isn't the only gun in Trek World Racing's arsenal. Justin Leov's keen vision is not to be underestimated. |
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| This place is a lot rougher than last year. Riders are having fun on the track, but the slate that's worked itself to the surface is unforgiing on brake rotors, rims, frames... damn near everything downhill racing requires. |
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| Sam Hill is rapidly climbing back into the role of podium threat. Thanks in great part to this man: Jacy Shumilak |
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| Rag-dolling down the slopes of Mt St Anne has repurcussions. Gee-Man getting a bit of a tape job on his trapezoid muscles prior to practice. "I can still feel it. That was a HARD crash." |
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| Fox Racing Shox suspension guru Mark Fitzsimmons. This man has forgotten more about suspension than most mechanics will ever learn. |
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| Evidently the Syndicate rig has been located. Dougie Fresh giving the high sign... |
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| First woods section out of the gate and you were already into the loose east coast dust and rocks, sliding around the track and hoping to find some grip. |
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| Sabrina Jonnier has been fighting hard to get back on top since her hip injury in Africa. She is looking tentative so far on track, but hopefully she can shake the nerves and find her form again. |
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| The Bulldog is absolutely flying around this track. It's big, it's loose, it's rocky and Brook is having a grand old time. |
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| Send it! Rock drop to the loosest fastest chute you have ever seen. Grip it and rip it. |
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| The old school left hander in the open has mellowed out a bit as the outside line has a backside now and the berm at the bottom is gone. Only Aaron Gwin launched the middle line today, everyone else played it safe here, just like Ben Reid. |
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| It seems like the Aussie federation sent every kid with a downhill bike to the east coast to race. It also seems like every kid with a DH bike in Australia has style for miles. |
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| Brendog is hanging on and getting sideways everywhere, as you'd expect. However he's also put down some solid fast sections focused, and hungry for a podium. |
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| Marc Beaumont gets sideways heading into the stepdown and road gap. The absolute last place you want to get sideways.... |
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| Mitch Delfs and a rock garden. Pick a line and bounce your way through it. |
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| Andrew Neethling flats his rear tire as he exits the rock garden during timed training. 2 riders later, Brendan did the same thing. 4 riders later, another rider did the same. This track has already been brutal on rims, it looks like tubes are next. |
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| Minnaar on track. WIndham is unforgiving. It's short, and while it has it's challenging bits, winning here requires complete focus. It's too short of a track to recover any real bobbles. |
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| Tight trees make some sections of Windham-at speed a dicey game of big consequences. |
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| Loose. That't the one word Chris Kovarik had to describe Windham's parched track conditions... |
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| ...Yeti's Jared Graves can support that assertion. |
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| Rachel Atherton finding her groove in the upper section. More than one rider struggled here, but Rachel was silent and deadly. |
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| Definitely feeling it: Sam Hill is showing flashes of brilliance that have him as a definite threat here in my book. |
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| Pissed off. That's the best way to put it. Remi Thirion ain't a fan of front flats on a great run. Not at Mt St Anne. He was smashing the hell out of the track at Windham. Look for his overall ranking to drop a lot come Sunday afternoon here in Windham. |
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| Emmeline Ragot is looking for 2.73 seconds here at Windham. On a course short as this. that may be a tall order. |
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| She is no cupcake course. I know of very few people who have detonated a Mavic Deemax like this. Windham may be short, but she's got teeth. |
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| Dirty Marshy... this is one desperado mechanic you'd do well to avoid when he's got a new paintball gun in hand. |
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| End of a long hot one: Santa Cruz Syndicate sharing war stories with GT after today's practice. |
