Pietermaritzburg World Cup 2012 - Day 3 in Photos

 Knowing Warner thats probably winning the bet

 No, no it doesn't. That's the XC.

 My gf says rob warner has as good or possibly better body than most girls.

 Is it right that the live feed is going to cover only the top 30 qualifiers?

 I wouldn't take that to be true, they wouldn't broadcast women's finals and then not do the lower qualified men's, that'd be silly on their part and would drop viewers in the gap.

 They're showing only the top 10 women (pre-recorded). Then the top men live, although I can't remember how many.

 Redbull has the rights to air and does their own production/ broadcasting,

They don't need Freecaster.

 theyre showing highlights of the men from 50th to 30th then from 30th on its live

 UCI mountain biking events should be shown IN FULL on all channels simultaneously! No escape from the awesomeness

 Everytime Gwin took a win an gave an interview afterwards he talked about mistakes.

 I recall last year after his 5 race wins he only talked about what he did wrong. Gwin is no way a gloating winner. I believe he can be characterized as an introvert, trust me, he's happy inside.

 Yea Gwin has a rare virtue: he is a humble man. According to all specialists of "business as usual" of image building it is a waste of potential that will not take you anywhere. They will tell you it is characterisric to loosers. You should go around and always say how great you are and how great it is what you do, it as actualy highly advised to lie overexagerating things a bit - you hear it every time you are about to write a CV - sell yourself!

So what were you complaining about? Truth, humility?

 Its like if i won a race and then right afterwards in front of all my opponents saying " wow, you guys must suck i crashed twice and didn't even pedal hard and i still beat you." That's the way i see it when gwin says that stuff, but thats just my opinion.

 Hey lads look at Gwins Twitter, he's not to happy about that quote https://twitter.com/#!/AaronGwin1

 You people should take a look at Gwins facebook/twitter status. May clear a couple things up, don't always believe what someone else typed out.

 I believe that's what true champions do, always look for ways to improve. That's how he got there and that's how he will remain on top. If he doesn't learn from his mistakes, others will.

 It's just a quote too. The question could have been- "you were within .008- is there any way you could have managed to pick that time up anywhere??"
It's up to the media to portray people however they want!!!

 Gwin always comes across as a champion, I love it. To get to the top of any sport you always have to push yourself to be better, that's why he is where he is, and why we're laying around at home talking about it.

 If you're at the top of your game then your head's above the parapet and ready to be shot at, with everyone ready to dissect your words and read more into it than there truly is. Throwaway comments suddenly take on superior meanings, tongue in cheek taken seriously. Gwin doesn't say the usual tripe and comes across as pretty down to earth rather than arrogant. Confidence and honesty can sometimes be construed as that affliction but in this case that couldn't be further from the truth. If you race in any sport then you can't ever be happy, there always has to be something to improve on, even if you've won. It's the competitive instinct and it's the difference between those who are good and those who are great.

 Unfortunately, you can't hear the regret in Aaron's voice when he was talking about sitting up; he'd put in a hard effort and sat up just a hair early. The tone that should have come across in the quote was regret, but you can't hear the tone of voice in a written word; that's why I selected the photo I did. The guy's a competitor, through and through; but he's also one of the most genuine individuals I've ever been lucky enough to come across.

 We are slowly and surely moving Mountain biking into this bigotry that football is. Interpretations of who said and did. Who cares? The stuff that roadies talk about is such a shyte, stupid unnecessary assumptions leading to accusations destroying good people's face. Please leave that away from MTB. If you need such tensions get a beer tell your wife or gf to shut up and watch a match to have some crap to talk about next morning with your buddies at the bookies. Fortunately Gravity mtb media havent yet descended to the shyte level that roadies have, though some XC reports in some papers smell beige

 They already have to deal with the uci, do you really want to add the olympic committee to the mix?

 Well said PLC07! RC

 @Biggups that's an interesting viewpoint, however you're missing the fact that there are hundreds of thousands more XC fans in the world than there are DH fans. XC (including Trail and AM) dwarfs DH in numbers. And that's a big part of what it's about. So while you and your friends and their friends may all want to watch DH, the numbers really aren't that great in a global biking perspective.

 Also, I know this might sound stupid/obvious but for DH you need a big ass hill to ride down. XC can make a lot out of only mildly hilly ground, but DH you really need vertical height! For London 2012, you'd have to travel quite a distance to get any hill worth using as a top level course!

 @Eyon precisely! We'd all love DH to be more popular and well known but it wouldn't work in the Olympics unfortunately Besides it's pretty cool saying you're a DH mountain biker and being able to explain it all to others, feels goooood

 I disagree with all above statements except the one about it being hard to find a real DH track in each city the olympics being held in. Like london for example obviously no mountains so they could go up north for the event. Thats what they have been doing in the olympics for many years. As long as the event still held in same country the committee will accept it. I been to enough UCI events to see the massive difference between DH and XC crowds. Dh events are like a party on the mountain with people yelling and screaming. Xc people are falling asleep with hands in pockets so you do the math. Biking relates to skiing in alot of ways. XC skiing is a joke in terms of viewers interest and I think xc biking will be no different. Somebody with no interest in biking will watch a DH race because of the action and risk factor. Can't say that about XC. Its just a matter of time so you going to see DH in there sooner or later. The committee is very antiquated but getting better with each olympics, specially with skateboarding and bmx being introduced. Not saying turn olympics into the x games but there are soo many events that absolutely nobody care about. Why not take a sport with huge world following that already has teams from diff countries.

 Another way to look at it, if they have the space for an xc event a DH track should take up less space. For it to be considered xc they have to be in the mountains already so the argument about finding a place to make a track is void. Any country that considered for olympics has to have some type of mountains somewhere in that country. If you can hold a xc race in the mountains why not make a dh track right next to it and get two races out of it instead all of that work for just xc. Plus covering a xc race is soo much harder than a dh because they covering much larger area.

 Indeed! Fantastic shots and a great summary of the action.

 Yeah so true, can't call this one!

 Seeing as Dan's not doing world cup DH anymore and Rachel's skipping PMB it out, it's just Gee who came 4th and Marc who came 15th, just behind Sam Hill.

 Dirt TV still have videos up.

 My dream is to photo bomb every shot at the world cups..

 if i were able to shoot world cups, every shoot would be a photo bomb i thought its kinda obvoious :E

 I got the rare oppurtunity to see a WC for the first time last year at Windham. The whole town is transformed into a big festival and the weekend is electric. Me and my buds were grateful . ( We had the Athertons in the condo 2 doors down from us) The buzz last year was that Windham lost it's bid for 2012 after there was no track in place to run the 4x discipline . Apparently the UCI was not happy and that was the last year it would be in Windham. Then next I know, the 2012 schedule was up, the 4x was dropped by UCI and the Windham venue was on schedule for 2012 , June26th-July 1st. I'm probably the only PBer that's grateful to the UCI for dropping the 4x's but If anyone at Pinkbike could offer another explanation how Windham, NY was reinstated, I'ld be interested to hear it..... BUT my point is ..... If you ever get an oppurtunity to get close to a WC location, don't pass it up. Seeing the World's best ride against each other with so much on the line, really charges the event and raises the Drama and excitement. By the time Gwinn made his final run it felt like the mountain top was gonna blow off. Everything is bigger including the crashes.... The level that these guys ride at , really needs to be witnessed in person. I CANNOT wait to get to Windham again this year and cheer GWINN on along with Gee, Hart ,Hill, Brosnan , Peaty on. etc... It's a huge effin party man!!!

 Having been at more than a couple of world cups, albeit always working of course, I would say that the festival atmosphere can be exciting, but if you really want to watch the race then watching on Freecaster or now Red Bull will show you way more of the race. When I shoot a World Cup unless I'm at the finish line I never even know who's won until I get down to the bottom. And I get to see one section, maybe two, during the course of the race. I'm saying that it would be better to stay home and watch on your computer, but being at a race and watching it the live feed on your phone would probably be awesome!

 Meanwhile, bromont built a 4x track and they lost the world cup shortly after if I'm not mistaken... Which is quite sad because 4x isn't very popular here so the track is left to rot pretty much.

 Ian is correct, you are lost to the results until you get down to the podium/big screen score board. From what I remember, though, what's being simulcast is also what's on the jumbo- tron at the finish. You're seeing what the cameras are seeing while Rob Warner is shrieking like an injured banshee. If you start at the top when the pros start and make your way down during the race, you get a sense of the speeds, and the difficulties and the awesome feats at the various obstacles along the way. If you time it right, you can see it all and still be at the bottom to watch/hear the drama of the last 10 riders unfold. By the time you get down, it seems all the mountain's spectators are amassed around the finish in a rip roaring fury. And if you're lucky enough to watch your favorite rider squeek out a win by 2 seconds during the final run of the day in his home country ...it's unforgettable. For those 6 other races this season, I will gratefully be watching live on Redbull.com

 That is a drag about Bromont. I have friends who are from Montreal . Guys who are bitter about Bromont not being selected for the WC. Ive always wanted to go ride there seeing it's only about an 8 hr drive from New England. I hear it is G-N-A-R-L-E-Y.and EPIC!

 It's the new Gambler not the Voltage. But I agreed, I think a lot of people are looking to see how it performs.

 You've got to love the life of the sponsored rider.

 They are probably the new 5.10 ravens. They look similar to the shimanos

 Not just any man, Rob Warner, living legend!

 Is that him? I did not recognize because of his fancy Bikini=)

 Thanks! Colin and Fraser killed it for us yesterday.

 Probably not at 4k

 Ya they not talking about Gee too much but always a threat at the podium. Thiking he crack top 5 at least. Perfect tires for this track would be 2.35 nevgal front with treads cutt down and a small block 2.35 rear. That would balance out the extra weight from the dropper posts. Surprised nobody using a smaller setup like a 6-7 inch bike. Seems like a giant reign with a boxxer would be a good one or scott voltage. They jumping over everything anyway, might as well have a light weight smaller bike to help with the pedaling section.

 calm down mate,

 Yamon they going to hear me yelling in africa. Big weekend of racing with SX Indianapolis tonight then maybe I wake up at 8.30 a.m. and watch this live broadcast with Chip Chereo reporting. Def going on the big screen this time.