Video: Gwin, Minnaar and Atherton Pursuing Perfection - presented by Saint
Words by Richard Cunynghame
The points start collecting from the very first beep of the season at round one. The pressure of their presence sits on riders’ shoulders all year. The ticking clock may stop after each run but the abacus never stops, it only pauses between races to coil the riders springs even tighter. Until eventually the chips are counted at the final round.
 |
Greg Minnaar knows they don’t accumulate themselves, “It’s hard, the sport’s really tough, to keep coming back, stay uninjured and to be consistent.” The last two seasons his count has been short and left him in second, missing the series by an expansive 465 points in 2011, he’s closed that down to only 98 points at the end of 2012’s seven events.
84 points behind Greg in 2011, Gee Atherton has closed in too. 2012 saw his count stop just 39 shy of second place in the series, “You have to review what you've done. The years you don't win are the ones you learn the most from. I've learnt a lot this year and I'll be putting that into place for next season.”
 |
Riders travel from one side of the planet to the other, surroundings change from nation to nation but the battle for every single point remains constant and the frustration of them slipping through a riders fingers is evident, “I need to sort something out,” says Greg, “I don’t think there’s much I can change. I think what I’m doing works, I need to just figure out those race runs a little more, I didn’t really challenge Gwinny as much as I’d like.”
And that’s the man who’s had his race runs sorted out, Aaron Gwin. Well mostly – there’s always imperfections in a masterpiece. There have been lows as well as the highs in Aaron’s last two seasons and he’s aware all the other riders will pounce at any chance. Even when he knows he’s done a lot, he’s never quite sure if it’s enough right down to the event when the series is clinched, “All weekend the pressure of the overall was playing on my mind. As usual Greg kept it close, as he always does, rider after rider came down and I kinda didn’t want to watch. For me the overall is the number one goal. It worked out all right, so I was stoked.”
 |
Aided by the fact the riders never duel it out to each others faces, there are connections through common sponsors and friendships off the track. It is more the terrain that is overcome. Despite that, the fight will only ever become more intense. The margins are minimal and the challengers strong. That’s what will entice those that won to dig deeper and those that lost out to search for that perfection. When looked at in hindsight, a perfect season is so completely unattainable. The challenge stays true to the terrain, uneven, ever-changing and exhilarating. Every rider’s campaign will contain imperfections, it’s just a matter of how they minimise them and how few they can get away with.
ridesaint.com
Music:
"Got No Time" by Fractal
Simplify Recordings
Posted In:
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024
41716 views
41716 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
unless i am the 0.01%
He then went on to win Olympic gold in possibly the most stringently tested event of all time. A place where it is almost impossible to cheat (Unless of course you are a genetically engineered Chinese swimmer! But Bradley Wiggins didn't go and set a time faster than s speed boat at the age of 16 so he's pretty safe on that count).
Lance Armstrong doped better than everyone else, that is why there is such a problem with him. Bradley Wiggins trained harder, deployed better tactics, devoted a serious chunk of his adult life to winning possibly the hardest sporting event on earth. That is why he is a national hero. FACT
Secondly Team Sky was founded on the promise of no drugs or doping, and to win with integrity. They have kept their promise.
Finally it's no use comparing Tour times from different eras, because they use different routes, and there was that whole doping thing you might have heard of... All that matters is the fastest man on the day(s) won
The doping thing is a load of crap anyway.
What is doping? Taking something that is on a list of banned substances. Who writes the list? Who gets to decide what is on it and what is not?
Why is something which occurs naturally in the body, such as testosterone, human growth hormone or cortisone, banned; and non-naturally occurring things such as caffeine (which is clearly a performance enhancing drug) not banned? Why is training allowed? Why is living at altitude allowed? Why are disc wheels allowed? There are hundreds of things that enhance performance that all athletes do which are normal. Just because they are not on a list for whatever reason, no one's getting on their moral high horse about it. And all the journalists who think they wouldn't have done that to win, suck my c0ck. Grow some balls and don't write sanctimonious shit about a professionals who are doing what it takes to finish a race. A race that's going to put food in their kids' mouths, clothes on their back and a roof over their heads.
And how the fook can taking your own blood out of your body and putting it back in again be doping? It's your blood!
Level the playing field. Stop drug testing. You're never going to stop people doing it so get it out of the media. It is hurting our sport.
As for why is injecting your own blood wrong? Well Lance Armstrong and his crew (some of whom he bullied into it, which for me is the worst part) were taking enhancing drugs before races then immediately after having full blood transfusions to wash them away. The only way you could catch them would be to stop the race and test everyone.
Level the playing field indeed...
Danny Hart, Gee Atherton, Josh Bryceland, Marc Beaumont, Matt Simmonds, Jo Smith, Sam Dale, Steve Peat, Brendan Fairclough Rachel Atherton, Manon Carpenter, Tracy Moseley
are you as fast as all of these BRITISH professionals? if so, continue with your poorly structured rant.
if not,
shut the f*ck up
Check out the usada website to get the established "facts". Blood transfusions of over 500ml are not mentioned.
I have read every single one of the affidavits on that site and I did so with great interest. For me, the only thing that I hate is that lance got away with it for som long because he was rich and well connected. The poor people got caught, he got away with it.
Cheating is rife in life. People will do things to get an advantage. My point is, if you fall foul of the doping list you are branded a cheat, but the list in itself is a bit of a joke. There are a lot of things not on it that should be if you really want a fair competition. As for getting the best doctor, get real. Why is having a doctor cheating, but having the best team director, masseuse, trainer, coach, nutritionist, manager, bike, shoes, weather conditions on your run; all aceptable to you? There are so many variables. The fairest way is to just let them get on with it like they do in pretty much every other sport.
As for attracting sponsors, there would be no problem if the doping was hushed up like in the NFL and NBA. A good proportions of those guys are on banned substances but no one's talking about it so it's not a problem for the sponsors.
I too believe in fair play, and the only way to make it fair is by stopping the drug testing. Dopers will always be one step ahead and as such are impossible to stop.
A race on who has the best doctor? Isnt it a race on who has the best coach, manager, masseuse, nutrition specialist?why not add a(nother) doctor to the bunch? Should testing in wind tunnels be forbidden? It's as stupid as regulations with dropped bars in CX, or the one when they wanted to ban bunnyhopping. Wanna take that chemical shit? Be my guest!
The thing I keep saying and most people don't seem to understand is that everyone IS taking "THAT CHEMICAL SHIT" but it's a chemical that's not on a banned substance list, so they don't get branded a cheat! The list is a joke! And why are only chemicals banned, surely training systems, equipment, and diet are also cheating?
If some drugs aren't on the list and the list is arbitrary so what? Rules are rules. Are some people allowed to have the finish line 200 metres closer than others? No! The distance may be arbitrary but it's the same for everyone
the amount of training, hard work, and as others have said, blood sweat and tears that goes into making these riders even slightly well known, to even give them a chance of being on the podium, is immense. Just because certain riders haven't been first all the time doesn't mean that they are in any way "past their prime"
do you know how many times gee and hart have been on the podium this season?
you are so unbelievably arrogant
The word "cheat" is used too easily by the media. The social ramifications of being branded as one are immense, and yet the difference between being one and not being one is tiny. Indeed, it changes from one year to the next as the list of banned substances and practices changes. If it is acceptable within the rules one year, the media and the sheeple find it acceptable also. If the rules change, suddenly that athlete is a cheat and deserves to be banned. Even if they didn't do anything differently from one year to the next.
I don't agree with the way the "cheat" name is attributed to athletes. Usually it is done by holier than thou journalists who also lie and cheat in any way they can to get a story. They are no different to the athletes they are bagging out - trying to maximise their earnings by doing their jobs aggressively. Look at the News of the World scandal - tell me those journalists were honest and honourable. Hacking into phones to get a scoop about someone's terminally ill child is the lowest of the low, and yet the ringleader is untouchable because he has too much dirt on the politicians. Six months later, everyone's forgotten about it and Murdoch's still got 38 newspapers and money coming out of his every orifice. Lance must be ruing his decision to be a sportsman, not a journalist.
So true man! Especially since he won one of the only WC's this season that Gwin didn't AND is world champion!
Get your head out of your ass!
It is true that Greg and Gee are past their prime. Compare Gee's results to three years ago and try to argue that one.
Minnaar won the worlds, and a home race that was made for him. Second overall isn't bad but he's riding with his head. Experience is worth a lot of points and points win prizes. There are quite a few guys who are faster than him now tough.
The young guys are fast but inconsistent.
Anyone else find it ironic that they used a great shot of Gwin and Monkey looking at those silver proto brakes on Gwin's bike?
Did anyone ever get to the bottom of Gwingate? What really happened at the world champs to Gwin? How many races has he gone without a win now? 3 or 4? Gee killed it three years ago and hasn't won since. I predict the same to happen to Gwin next year, with Hart or Smith stepping up to fill the void. And look out for Bruni too... he's not shit. Number one at Lapierre next year I bet.
my $.02
Gee's not past his prime? 2008 - world champ. 2010 - world cup overall. 2011 - nothing. Not even national champion. 2012 - national champion. No top level race wins for 2 1/2 years. 7 top level wins before that. Try again smarty pants.
Greg - still there but I can't help feeling he is there because he's so experienced and a lot of younger guys are tripping themselves up. McDonald and Smith have race wins this year, Hart last year, all three better bike handlers that Minnaar, but all inconsistent. Hill is a better bike handler than Minnaar, so is Brosnan, so is Blenkinsop. The reason Minnaar looks so good is because he's strong, fit and smart about racing and training. He's a man racing against boys. Sport is 90% mental and that's why he is still doing it. On their day, those guys I named would take Minnaar to church. On his day, he'll beat them, but he won't wipe the floor with them (except at PMB which is basically made for him to win on - I regard it as cheating to be honest given that everyone hates that track and they keep haing it). He is an expert tactician, fast in the right places, good at pinning the bits that suit him. I'm not saying he's sit because he isn't, but I think he's past his prime. He's taking a lot of points through consistency, not outright speed. His tactic is basically ride at 90% on the tech bits and 100% on the easy bits and wait for the young guns to crash, or blow up because they don't know how to train, which they usually do. Look at val D'Isere - none of the young guns crashed, there was no pedaling, and he finished 6th. I rest may case.
Peace :-)
So we're back at square 1. How can both brakes simultaneously fail? Sabotage must be the number one suspect on everyone's list. Two brakes do not simultaneously fail for no apparent reason.
Will White, on the other hand. Well, at least he washes, conditions and blow dries his rapunzel-esque locks ha ha!
Props to the riders though, unbelievable talent and determination.
deficiente /defiˈtʃɛnte/
1. (carente) una dieta ~ di ferro a diet deficient in iron
2. med. retarded
My fav is "ritardato".
I need to learn to swear in French, grow a mustache - smoke a Galouise and say: Amérique - quelle merde!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfnmkgmUDW4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcmktJEKCvE
I thought more of: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc78yPv_ztM
Got No Time" by Fractal
"Words by Richard Cunynghame"
Richard Cunningham and Richard Cunynghame are two different people. And Richard Cunynghame wrote this article.
But I bet you will continue to pollute the world with the "Speak first before you know facts" way of life.