Video: Hafjell World Cup Track
Riders: Mathias Jørgensen and Hans Petter Gjevik test the World Cup track in Hafjell Bikepark.
Filmed and edited: Anders Håheim
Music: Warp Riders - Black Widow
Author Info:
Member since May 30, 2011
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Why is a track that resembles a bastard child of crabapple, wind ham and a soccer field at the end, the last WC?
Why is there only one Canadian track, in Québec, which has been used, and reused time and time again?
Why are there no western North American stops, even though many of the top racers including gwin are from the west coast?
Why is 4X not a UCI series?
Why isn't the UCI dead already?
To answer a lot of what you just wrote, race series have to make bank, or they won't survive. The UCI makes its dolla through road cycling, it's a much bigger and more profitable area. It's not going to give lots of money to a niche cycling sport like DH out of the love of its heart, nor should it. Plus, the truth of the matter is, very few resorts or locations actually want to put on world cups, there's very little financial gain and a colossal possibility for loss (literally $100k+ could be flushed away if it doesn't go to plan). The result is that the few places that have a lot of experience in running World Cups do it again and again, because they know how to make it work - Fort William, Mont Sainte Anne, Maribor etc. If you want to know why there were no World Cups in the USA for years, google "What happened to Angel Fire?". No-one wanted to after that debacle.
And yeah MaxBerkowitz, most of your questions pretty much answer themselves. And quite honestly, if you're sick of Mont Saint-Anne you clearly do not get what's up with that place. Ride it once and then tell me you still want to see it gone. It's the track that separates the men from the children, it's been there since the beginning and people still find it's sketchy and tough as hell. And the reason why UCI can't get in to Western North American stops, it's because nobody there wants the UCI's business, which quite frankly is f*cking fine with me.
The saying, "it does no justice" can easily be applied here. How about you all hold off on the judgement and hate until we get reactions from the people who are going to race it. That sounds sensible doesn't it?
Both sides of the argument making good points. I will say that I've never seen a race I didn't like. I know that expecting every track to be like MSA in unfair but after all they are man made. Money drives everything though, I guess people want more jumps.
Again, wait until the best in the world ride it and give their opinion before you make absurd claims like you can ride it no problem. You just sound like an overly cocky rider, even though I doubt that was your intention.
Of course, A-Line is as smooth as it gets and manages to prove that 6" is more then enough for a lot of the jumps on that trail.
Hell! I'm at Snowshoe now and was tempted yesterday to bring my AM bike instead of my DH rig.
You're right! A DH course that can be run on an AM bike isn't a World Class/Cup DH track.
The video in the post looks a little selective after having watched a full headcam run!
And I've watched helmet cam footage of the entire track (like someone posted above) not just the edit. It looks like a fun course but like I said there looks like one tough steep section and not much else in the way of a challenge for World Cup riders. I don't need to be a world cup rider to see that.
vimeo.com/29048853
And please stop using the old "you've never ridden it" argument. Again it has nothing to do with my skill level or how hard it might be for me to ride. Do you watch the NFL or NBA or any other professional sports? Have you ever watched your favorite team and said that a certain player wasn't any good? I'm sure you have and it would be ridiculous for me to say that you are unqualified to say that since your not a pro ball player because you don't have to be a professional athlete to tell when a guy sucks.
Same here. It doesn't take a top level rider to see that this track doesnt offer much of a challenge for the best riders in the world outside of one difficult section. I've seen tracks that are difficult on video plenty of times and I can see this one. Big tabletops, big smooth berms, and long grassy speed sections are what they are, and are just not that challenging to the best riders in the world. I'm sure it will be a fun track and the race will be good because they always are, but the truth is that the track is on the soft side. I'm not sure why you are so defensive about it.
Hey Scary, I agree with you that the tracks are changing to highspeed motorways but I don't think they've necessarily gotten any easier. They're just getting faster.
There is, however, a definite trend towards smoothing out the trail and it's not a new one, it's just been gaining much more momentum in the past 7-8 years with improvements in suspension control and frame designs, as well as this new trend towards bigger wheels.
I guess it's true what they say about trends and how they tend to be cyclical. We're back to wide bars, big wheels and faster courses.
Honestly, 80% of DHers on this site can go fast over tables, berms and wide open speed traps, what separates us from WC is what these guys are able to do through the gnarly shit...
That doesn't mean it was the same for you in your area when the first ones were taking place so it is cool to hear about different people's experiences/stories about the early races.
One thing is certain, a place like Whistler is good for the sport because it has tons of smooth, rolling highway like trails. I see families there. Mom's with their kids, either following, or in tow. And plenty of older people that no longer want to ride the chop.
When I was at Snowshoe, guess what most people were riding. The flow / jump trails in Western Territories or Raging Bull (with those dumb wall rides) / Lucid. They all had bikes with plenty of travel, but the whole time I was there I only saw one other person riding any of the tech stuff.
Whistler wasn't that much different. I saw far fewer people on Upper Angry Pirate or Original Sin then A/B line, Blue Velvet, Crank it up, etc....
But whatever the case, I like all of it and we should make a point to keep it all. I like the idea of my kids riding with me even if it's just something like Powerline or B Line where they don't have to have that much skill.
1. The number of people who have just begun riding in the past few years greatly outnumbers the number of people who have been riding a majority of their lives. Its creating a new class of rider- the park rat. Its very similar to skiing and park rats in skiing. Its not an insult though, its just what people prefer to ride.
2. Although I prefer tech and fun I have to admit that fast flowy trails are incredible and more laps are possible on those so I wouldn't doubt if some people who can ride tech. prefer to spend more of their time on smooth/fast jump trails.
Dont get me wrong Norway, looks like a fun track to shred but nothing to make the top pros worry.
Not the greatest track to finish off a "a-line" worlds.
As for the track, it's proper fun and it wasn't like anyone complained when they hosted the european champs on the track back in 2010. The middle forest/rock garden is downright manly, and the lower one is also a bit b*lls to the wall. And I can tell you, the lower one gets slippier than free lube night at the Blue Oyster bar in the wet so rain would definitely shake things up.
All in all, even though it isn't the techiest or the gnarliest course on the circiut, we can expect some exciting racing and I am dead stoked to be there riding, watching and shooting pictures all of next week!
It's got a beautiful view over the whol valley and the photogs/sponsors/crowd/riders gonna love it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YFE_wxr_tc
I'd say it's 100 percent different in person.