June: Good Month or Bad Month?

The path towards summer has included some notable events that weren't just out of the norm, but might actually never be repeated. Aaron Gwin's peers are likely wishing that his Leogang World Cup run isn't ever duplicated, at least by the American racer, and everyone out there was shocked to see neo-Nazi rioters throw a wrench into Bernardo Cruz's race run at the finals of the City Downhill World Tour in in Bratislava, Slovakia. We can't make this stuff up.








That's exactly what Gwin did, and while there was plenty of nonsensical internet banter about his Demo's suspension working better because it was freed from any drivetrain influence, that theory is ridiculous and insulting to the man's skills.

Two things happened during Gwin's winning Leogang run. First, he didn't even think about taking it easy. Most of us would have been thrown off our game by the disappointment of being robbed of what looked like a likely win, and we would have sat up in defeat. Not Aaron, though, which leads me to the second point: watch his body english and look at his line choice during that chain-less run and you'll hopefully realize that Gwin has more skill in a lock of his red hair than you and I will ever hope to possess.








The ShockWiz unit works by monitoring the changing pressure inside the fork or shock's air chamber (it doesn't work with coil-sprung suspension), which is an indication of how much travel is being used.

With this data, it knows how often the suspension bottoms out, how quickly it's rebounding, and whether or not it's doing anything weird, such as packing up. That data is then sent to a phone or tablet by way of a Bluetooth connection, allowing the rider to see what's happening and note any suggested changes. I predict that some snobby suspension tuning outfits might turn up their nose at the $239 USD ShockWiz, but I'm all for any reasonably priced device that is going to have people's suspension working better for them.








He's got that right. This is followed by a few minutes of Kirt riding his bike really, really fast, which makes the whole video a worthwhile watch.

The World Cup circuit is contested by a lot more racers than those of the Syndicate and Trek World Racing super-teams, most of whom don't have their own mechanics and a tickletrunk full of spare parts. The Vanzacs spend the European season living in vans that cost less than the retail price of a top downhill bike, likely consume more wobbly pops in a race weekend than Gwin does all year, and are very aware that they should just be thinking about having the time of their lives given that outright race wins are probably a tall order. We should all take note.















The run seen around the world surely has every single one of Gwin's peers realizing that his talents might be unassailable right now, which is a devastating thing in a sport where you have to possess insane amounts of confidence and belief in yourself before putting your body on the line. All that means that, in the grand scheme of things, Aaron's chain-less victory might mean a lot more than just one more World Cup win.







Racer's of Greg's caliber don't just sit around eating gummy bears and feeling sorry for themselves when they're hurt, which is just one of the many differences between us and them, so we expect him to come back even stronger than before. And maybe with some burly kneepads on.








The events that unfolded in Bratislava had nothing to do with mountain bikes, with the cause being blamed not on the anti-immigration and anti-Islamization rallies held nearby that are said to have drawn 14,000 people, but a minority group that reportedly turned violent when members of a so-called Nazi party turned their focus towards the race. It took tear gas and a large number of police officers to disperse the rioters.