I was amused by how Rachel kept describing Bernard Kerr as "a confident guy." I somehow imagine years of Kerr sidling up with a "Hey Rach, how about we..." and being met with "Not a chance, Bernard."
If I had 3 wishes they would be
Dan Atherton to design all World Cup downhill courses
Use the Hardline course or another by Dan instead of Fort Bill
My wife to let me have another bike.
Just want to say good job Dan and co. This is the sort of representation I want for my sport, not the shit that the UCI do.
Real talk, I know it's blasphemy or whatever but I'm kinda tired of seeing Fort Bill. Don't get me wrong, the UK should absolutely have a WC race but I feel like there's gotta be somewhere else suitable. And yeah, if Dan designed it that would be sick.
1) Where else in the UK has the infrastructure to hold a WC? The hill, the ski lift and the town to support such a huge event?
2) Fort Bill is actually really gnarly in real life. It looks easy because the pros are so good and almost everybody has ridden it lots of times - but that doesn't mean it's not a good track.
Third point would be even though Hardline is sick there's no womens field, junior field or masters field because the track is too difficult. Not exactly progressive for the sport. The injury risk is also super high. It's great as a spectacle but I can see why UCI tracks are not like this.
@ride-801: Emmm I don't think so. In Hardline the riders are overexposed, and a few years ago I read that some of them really dislike these kind of tracks. Plus, women and juniors would be even more affected.
@tom666: i would dissagree with third point. They are supposed to be the wildest of our sport. There's no point in loosening the criteria just because someone has to be in it. You are good enough you are good enough, you aren't you don't race.
The real "wildest" of DH are the Rampage and Fest boys, World Cup riders can sometimes be held back. Steve Smith was invited to Rampage many times, but his sponsors would not let him ride that event. The risk to reward on Hardline is not there for some riders.
@tom666: I'm not saying it's not gnarly. But it's pretty much the only track that's on the circuit every year with no significant visible changes. And I might be off base here but I never felt like it's set up for great live TV viewing... feels like riders are always crashing/losing time off camera while we watch an empty woods section and wait for someone to show up.
I have no idea what the DH infrastructure is like in the UK but I figure in a country that produces such a massive stream of WC caliber riders there's gotta be more than one legit DH track. They've held WC DH races without lifts in the past if that's the issue... Or just build something new at Ft Bill.
@tom666: It doesn't matter how great the track is, some variety would be nice. Let it be in the UK, not issues with that, but just like Leogang gets over used, so do Fort William, and Les Gets for that matter.
Schladming would be nice, Champery would be nice, though for the UK I don't know what other place would be suitable as it currently stands.
@tom666: You no doubt have a fair point. But I cant be bothered watching ‘boring’ same old riding when I could be riding myself. Where as today was actually good to watch because A) it was gnarly B) they had their ‘poo’ together with the cameras. At the end of the day the Scots might win a referendum one day so they need some form of income
@MysticMCyclist: Ally Pally have hosted BMX and Slopestyle events as well as the Soapbox race so you could easily build an urban DH on that hill, plus most of North London is super hilly but mostly Swiss Cottage and parts like that where there is far too much money for anything like that to get the green light. I don't really like urban DH so I hope they don't, but climb Ally Pally and then tell me there are zero hills in London
@flyingfox49: When has Alexandra Palace been moved to Notting Hill? If Red Bull have built BMX courses and Slopestyle courses on it, they could easily do urban DH.
@Radley-Shreddington: An urban world cup downhill race in London would make a mockery of the sport. there is not enough vertical. I agree with the original post and would like to see UCI prioritise interesting, difficult and fresh tracks. This could easily happen in the UK in addition to Fort Bill. As someone else pointed out above, WC rounds have been held without chair lifts many times before. Llangollen has a steep gnarly track with good uplift road and field space at the bottom for pits.
Ha ha Notting Hill (sarcasm) Hampstead Heath highest point .Did you see the vertical drop needed to do a 3 minute race on Hardline , never in a million years .@Radley-Shreddington:
@Radley-Shreddington: Your saying you dont like it but it would be possible in London I'm saying yes its not the best form of mtb but the main reason it would'nt work in London is in fact the lack of hills.
@bkm303: There are lots of good downhill tracks in the UK, you're right, but literally none of them have the infrastructure for a world cup. The track is a really small part of what it takes to host such a big event.
I think you nailed it - a new track at Fort Bill is what is needed to freshen things up. The venue is great, it's just that we see the same track a lot.
The recording of the event could be better for sure, but that isn't the venue's fault and that goes for most of the WC events.
Also lol at the guy talking about urban downhill in London. London is an incredibly flat city.
Best coverage of any race this year! Hand the controls to all DH racing over to the Athertons and we’ll see some real courses. Props to RedBull for all the great action too!
@steviestokes: of course it was. It was designed and built as a pr stunt by the sponsor. That's why the entry is so controlled. Imagine the winner o the podium. With a different drinks branding on their helmet
Awesome! Stoked for everyone this year. Brage really stepped up, I was not expecting that. Joe got robbed. I think Gee wanted it too much and was tense. The cool customer was Bernard! Those backflips too, wow! Really good event this year!
Take note trail builders and event organisers
The two best tracks of the year were Snow Shoe and Hardline. It would seem chaotic technical bits stuffed between step ups, jumps and janky drops is a winning formula.
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Every track with this much grooming is met with endless whining of being too “bike park-y”... yet here is a bunch of comments praising the Hardline course.
HOLY TOLEDO! What a show. Great result for Kerr, shame Joe got a puncture but at least he managed to finish on the podium. Honourable mentions to Brage, Brendog and Chaos. Also nice that everyone got down safe.
I was lucky enough to be there, awesome race. Big thanks to all the riders (and Rach & Dan & Warner) who were super cool with my 6yr old mini ripper who wanted your signatures, thanks for taking the time to talk to him even if he was a bit star struck and didn't talk back to you much!!!
Crazy that Laurie was over 10 secs back, considering he won a WC this season over the Frenchies and Troy. And then the opposite for Gee, not very competitive during this WC season but nearly won here again. Is it just the jumps or what?
i think the motivation to win is very widespread between riders at this event. Its just very different compared to a WC race. Gee obviously wanted to win, while Greenland wanted to have a good time, throwing in some one-footers. You can always argue weither Hardline is a proper race or more some kind of a redbull show. I think its both and i really enjoyed it this time. Its not so heavily overproduced like rampage or other RB events.
Laurie is not willing to take any risk. More freeride-oriented downhillers like Gee are generally better at avoiding injury so they can really race here.
You could really notice by Laurie's reaction that he just wanted to prove to himself that he can get down this without problems, in style and in confidence.
WHAT. A. RACE ! All final runs mattered so much for the last few races - super stoked for Bernard - was rooting for him to win all run through - nothing personal Gee, I just want to see you comeback and putting great runs again !
p.s. - rick, dude...... always the same questions..... switch them....... [insert random stuff] means to you........ rachel..... must have been hard to keep the dispair after bernard take it away - understandable, though...........
This is still a question... And for the record, they were not my comments. I'm just really curious of what happened. Or well, is there a censorship rule here I'm not aware of?
Fabulous result, Kerr and Pivot, the ultimate combination, I do think that they should invite Bruni at some point and Minnaar, still a fabulous event, and no Santa Cruz, Pivot is THE BIKE!
Should have time bonuses for tricks. Flip the huge step up like Gee did in the track preview? -5 seconds. 3 the road gap? -10. Make Hardline a mix of Rampage and a downhill race.
1) Where else in the UK has the infrastructure to hold a WC? The hill, the ski lift and the town to support such a huge event?
2) Fort Bill is actually really gnarly in real life. It looks easy because the pros are so good and almost everybody has ridden it lots of times - but that doesn't mean it's not a good track.
Third point would be even though Hardline is sick there's no womens field, junior field or masters field because the track is too difficult. Not exactly progressive for the sport. The injury risk is also super high. It's great as a spectacle but I can see why UCI tracks are not like this.
I have no idea what the DH infrastructure is like in the UK but I figure in a country that produces such a massive stream of WC caliber riders there's gotta be more than one legit DH track. They've held WC DH races without lifts in the past if that's the issue... Or just build something new at Ft Bill.
Schladming would be nice, Champery would be nice, though for the UK I don't know what other place would be suitable as it currently stands.
A) it was gnarly
B) they had their ‘poo’ together with the cameras.
At the end of the day the Scots might win a referendum one day so they need some form of income
Highest ground in London 134 m above sea level , not really a hill .@Radley-Shreddington:
Hampstead Heath highest point .Did you see the vertical drop needed to do a 3 minute race on Hardline , never in a million years .@Radley-Shreddington:
Bike park wales has much more length and better unlift access Even Revs would be more feasible. @haighd2:
The track is a really small part of what it takes to host such a big event.
I think you nailed it - a new track at Fort Bill is what is needed to freshen things up. The venue is great, it's just that we see the same track a lot.
The recording of the event could be better for sure, but that isn't the venue's fault and that goes for most of the WC events.
Also lol at the guy talking about urban downhill in London. London is an incredibly flat city.
Y’all need to take notes from the genius Dan Atherton
Highlights from this weekend
Respect Kerr after that injury . Well done
p.s. - rick, dude...... always the same questions..... switch them....... [insert random stuff] means to you........ rachel..... must have been hard to keep the dispair after bernard take it away - understandable, though...........