Practice - Leogang DH World Cup 4
Alright, alright, apparently that title's taken, but it's the perfect summary of a World Cup practice day; it's the pure and simplest day of action we get. Highlights include the inaugural course cruise, the first on-bike chats in the woods and all the baptismal crashes in the tricky spots. Fridays are about finding your riding feet, fettling the machinery in the pits and riding off the clock... until the fairly relaxed timed training session before home time.
In the calm after the literal storm this afternoon, it was Gee Atherton who pushed hardest to stoke the racing furnace at a 3:31.5 and with Manon Carpenter less than 30 seconds behind. Quite a terrifying revelation for anyone at home who still thinks top-flight ladies are slower than them. Anyway no need to get all anxious about your crippled masculinity now, there's not much we can do to restore it today. Let's just enjoy the bicycles and the dirt and the interaction of those excellent things. Mountain biking... Yehoo.
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 The full moon on fire behind storm clouds... Friday the 13th was on it's way. |
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| ET phone home... just need the moon back. |
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| John Hall, Aaron Gwin's mechanic, putting a possessive hand on the number one plate. Interestingly enough, Troy Brosnan has the number two plate behind Gwin; a mere 88 points currently separate the two. Anyone care to place their bets on who will be on top after this weekend's re-shuffle? Keep in mind Gee Atherton is only 127 points adrift from Gwin and 39 behind Brosnan. |
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| Queuing is typically associated with the British. In Europe, everyone pushes, a particular problem in ski-lift ques in the winter...hence the coinage 'euroing'. Downhillers, though, are a different sort. They're all gentlemen, even the girls. |
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| Loic Bruni is looking on point here in Leogang. He certainly isn't having much trouble in tunnel-town, or the woods sections. He's looking loose and quick. |
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| Mick Hannah back in the pits today sporting some new hardware in his shoulder. If all goes to plan he will only be out for about 6 weeks, and will be more motivated than ever to turn last years silver at Worlds Champs into gold. Okay we used that one last year, but hey, it's a good un. |
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| Happy Friday the 13th birthday to Tracey Hannah. Perhaps she''ll have a some birthday luck and climb up on the podium this weekend. Let's order some balloons. |
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| Back plates are mandatory here at Leogang, and that rule left more than a few riders scrambling for protection that meets the event's criteria of a "rigid" panel. Amazing how Jason Marsh of Santa Cruz Syndicate's "Marsh Guards" can pull double duty... |
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| Other riders opted for slightly less 'rigid' back plate material... |
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| Troy Brosnan fresh off his win last week in Fort William and looking mighty fast through most sections although not completing a clean timed training run today. |
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| Luca Shaw was fastest in timed training today. He didn't have the run he wanted in Fort William, so he will be looking to make up for it here. |
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| #1 so why try harder? Well because Rachel and Ragot are gonna take this one down to the wire. |
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| Manon Carpenter counting sheep between the end of the Group B practice and the timed training in the afternoon. |
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| Danny Hart going outside to the inside line making it a bit harder to get through, but a clearly faster line down. |
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| Marc Beaumont blasting into the fast s-turn that leads into tunnel number 3. Beaumont is looking like he might have his mojo back, he was ninth in timed training today. |
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| It was one of those kinds of days for the mechanics... snip, clip, sipe, and custom cuts galore in the pits. |
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| With rain in the forecast, Chainsaw took a few minutes during lunch to load up a few tear-offs onto his goggles... "Rain isn't forecast until this afternoon, but I'd rather not be out on a practice run without them." - Steve Smith. |
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| Minutes before the timed training was to start, the threatening weather opted to go from threatening to full on raging downpour. Riders and mechanics at the base of the hill scrambled for the pits while those on the hill ducked for cover wherever they could find it. |
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| The more things change the more they stay the same. The jagged mountains of Austria couldn't be more different than the smooth hills of Fort William, unlike the mad weather that both seem to have in common. 20 minutes is all it takes for the weather to go haywire. |
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| With the pain and suffering of Cairns still so fresh in our minds as photographers, it's far too soon to see storm clouds like this overhead. |
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| Matt Delorme and Nathan Hughes take refuge in some already well-occupied and very classy outhouses during TT. |
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| After the storm, the mud turned the hard-pack back to sludge, and once again the roost was flying. |
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| Mitch Ropelato, the bulletproof edition, at one hundred miles an hour into another super-tube. |
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| Bryn Atkinson getting into the first woods section. This part of the track will get a touch rougher as the weekend progresses. There's still a fair amount of dirt here to get blown out which will expose more roots. That's what we need. More roots. |
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| Ratty Skidson taking the plunge. |
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| Cameras shooting cameras shooting more cameras of cameras being shot. |
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| Blue and yellow light at the end of the tunnel... CRC's number 1 coming through. |
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| Why watch the same old two dimensional footage when you can have the latest 3D kinda stuff from the World Cups? Follow Joe Bowman for more information... |
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| High speed corners and massive roots make for quite the balancing act through the forest. Rain or shine this corner caught out many riders all day long. |
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| Jill Kintner's BMX background sure taught her a few things about cornering. After a strong finish in Fort William, Jill will be anxious for another podium here in Leogang. |
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| Confidence is the only word you need to describe Manon Carpenter's riding right now. She isn't holding back anywhere and is giving it full gas in practice. After a huge let down in Fort William she is definitely on a charge this week in Leogang. |
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| It's hard to choose between shooting tight action or beautiful scenery here in Leogang, so often times you just have to go for a bit of both when Danny Hart is whipping his way down the track. |
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| Rachel Atherton is not too excited about the track here in Leogang. Both Atherton and Clay Porter tweeted today about their wish for more technical and raw natural tracks to be brought back to the World Cup. |
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| Mark Wallace had some issues coming to terms with the rooty chute after the rains came. |
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| Junior rider Laurie Greendland had a breakthrough race last weekend in Fort William and is looking to go a few spot better here in Leogang. Always stylish and smooth he is faster becoming one of our favorite riders to shoot. |
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| Can't express how good it is to see Eliot Jackson back racing. He still has little episodes of coughing after race runs, but it's no where near how bad it used to be. "Somedays I had to just go lie down. I couldn't move and I'd just cough and cough." Good on Eliot for fighting back into it. |
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| Joe Smith going for the more preferred outside line in the root ball section. |
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| The Chain Reaction Cycles/Nukeproof pinner getting debriefed on his run by his mechanic before gearing up for another lap. With the overnight soaking, the clay in the top layers of the track was shearing away from the hard soil underneath when riders were cornering hard, making traction somewhat unpredictable. |
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| Practice was a bit crowded at times today with many riders pulling off to get a second look at the many tricky off camber sections. |
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| Shimano's new Clip DX pedal: actually, Matthew Simmonds of Saracen's custom pedal pins. |
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| When every 10th of a second counts, it helps to study up and do your homework at the end of practice each day. |
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| It's sad Blenky didn't have the telemetry set-up on his bike at this point... It would be cool to see what it though of that bottom-out. |
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| Wyn Masters cleaning through the cuts. |
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| There's nice riding, and there's plain masterful riding. Wynston at 300mm. |
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| Eddie 'E-Bike' Masters relaxing a pressing the throttle button. |
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| This section would be cool on an E-Bike. Or a tricycle. Better yet, he and Wyn should just shred on a tandem for his next video Masters-piece. |
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| With riders dragging mud onto the the rocks, this new section of track caused quite a problems throughout the day. Rachel Atherton on the other hand wasn't bothered one bit. |
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| Best thing I've seen all week. Maybe this season. Brook MacDonald looks like he is getting back to his old self. Unafraid, brutal, and damn fun to watch. After getting buck wild into this corner, he nearly died six times in the following steep chute. Only to save himself six times. |
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| There were approximately 400 cases of the FMX kickers today, but much of cream of the crop had no trouble greasing them all. Here's Bernado Cruz trying his hardest to stay low and straight and managing a bit massive and a little sideways. |
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| Danny Hart doing some soul riding through time training. |
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| Droppin' into the tall dark trees of Osterreich. |
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| Myriam Nicole is always a threat on technical tracks, and if the weather keeps things slick expect to see her putting time into many of the top women. |
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| Attention to detail. Evan Warner of SRAM making certain that the brake levers match up on before sending another job out the SRAM pit doors. |
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| Mark Fitzsimmons entering GT's suspension settings into his notes. The laptop's encrypted and hand cuffed to Fitzy's hand at all times. |
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| Todd from SRAM re-charging Sam Hill's back up rear shock with nitrogen after a fine-tuning job. |
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| Rat boy getting set up to do a run with the new Shimano Sports cam... This little puppy isn't brand spanking new, but to those who've never seen or heard of it before, it's pretty interesting: it broadcasts a signal via wi-fi, not bluetooth, to a range of about 20 meters (roughly 62 feet). It captures video in 1920 x 1080 HD video format and has a battery life of roughly 2.5 hours. Is it better than a GoPro, etc? No idea. |
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| Overnight rain and slick corners had riders throwing all kinds of shapes. |
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| Last weeks winner Emmeline Ragot wasn't waiting about in the pits this morning and had two runs under her belt before many had even headed to the top of the hill. Don't forget that Emmeline also won the WC final round here last year. |
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| Guillaume Cauvin making his mechanic work for it this week. |
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| Kona Fearon, 14th at Fort William last weekend, scored a 10th here last year and he looks to be at the same or higher throttle level this time around. |
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| Stevie Smith pre gaming qualifications by putting down a pretty mean time today just behind Gee showing the he is back with some fire in his belly (or mustache for that matter). |
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| Smith throws in just a touch of style trying to squash the huge jumps that feed into the flat traverse about two thirds down the track. |
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| Troy is on a confidence high after his win in Fort William last weekend. He is definitely one of the riders setting the pace again this weekend, and looking to challenge his teammate for that number one plate. |
 | I've been asked a little bit who's the top dog on the team. Well we don't have a pecking order or a totem pole, all three of the riders get equal support with mechanics, product, kit... all the things they need are available to each of them. Do I think the relationship with Aaron and Troy is pushing them along? Yeah I do, I think internally those guys each want to be the best on the team, I know I did when I raced man. It's pushing them, but it's healthy. I know at Fort William the guys were sharing all their GoPro footage and working together as really solid teammates and they both benefited from it. So whether that continues to happen as we get closer to the end of the season if they're 1 and 2 in points, man I don't know! We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. This is my first time as a team manager too so we're figuring this stuff out. At the moment they're making me look good ha! EC - Team Manager - Specialized Racing |
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| Watching Gwin ride from the side of the track this year is something else. The way he carries effortless speed looks completely unnatural...supernatural you could say. Tomorrow we will find out who is Specialized Racing top dog is, if only on Austrian soil and if only for qualifying |
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| What you see here is a stendecworks.com spring. What, exactly, is so special about it? Well, it's a proprietary blend of metals that weighs in at 100 grams or so lighter than ti. And it's available in 25lb increments. And it retails for about 80 British pounds. How good are they? The entire Giant Factory Racing squad is on them. |
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| Remi Thirion's bike getting a good rinse, but is for cleansing or cooling purposes? Remi ripped into Fort William last weekend to come in 10th. There are signs the Frenchman is back at red-hot speeds for 2014. |
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| Morgaw's Saddles can be found on the Commencal team's bikes. |
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| There's new tech and there's old tech, both of which can do the same thing... New-ish--lock on grip technoloy. Old school? Wired on--these grips ain't coming off without putting up a battle. |
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| Today in the pits: Sam Hill scratched his nose. As he gazed thoughtfully out across the rows of colorful tents it was clear he was standing there existing and that made it absolutely fascinating to race fans and avid bicycle journalists across the globe. Pinkbike were of course first on the scene to get the scoop, although not much is known about the extent of the scratching at this point, or whether we'll be seeing much more of it in the future. Definitely newsworthy. |
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| A fine day turned foul, then back to good again by the end of the day's riding. The mountains across the road are the best place to spot incoming weather. Crackling thunder and dark clouds starting to shroud the peaks are on a daily cycle here. |
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| Gee Atherton feeling out the fastest time for the day and gunning to win another after Cairns. |
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| Pete the mechanic giving the full gold service clean to Gee and Taylor's bikes after all the TT filth. |
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| Post practice chill down for Atherton: mellow tunes, and elevated legs. |
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Then looked harder at all the pictures and 99% of these guys dont even wear a neck brace. The back protection rule is a joke it seems if cardboard passes.
in my opinion it is a joke and in Austria every rider must wear a fullface, gloves and knee protection for enduro races. in italy it is even worse - every rider must wear what is needed in Austria plus a backprotector - if not you get disqualified at the Enduro races
If I was Fox/Oneal/TLD/etc. I'ld forbid it. There is really good protection out there, which is a million times more comfortable than cardboard, but the riders make their sponsors look like total idiots!
I'm not wearing full protection on a casual ride, too, but if I'm at a race or ride a lift accessed trail, I'm always wearing back and chest protection.
But theses guys are riding the roughest tracks and they don't even bother to wear a back protector? Well, when one of them will be in a wheelchair I won't say "oh shit no! why? that's horrible" but "That's what happens
That's not even a game I mean... Choosing between a wheelchair and walking??
Back protectors won't do shit to stop you from breaking bones, it just stops superficial damage like cuts gouges etc.
If you actually read the labels on those 661 pressure suit things it quite states "This will not protect you from breaking your bones and will only stop superficial damage such as cuts gouges from happening"
If this rule is in place to protect their bones from breaks, honestly, their better off wearing a neck brace. If you're going to break your lower/mid back bones, wearing a back protector won't stop it as there's still going to be kinetic energy at play.
Just like the MIPS - everyone knows it's meant to help against concussions, but they can't market it like that 'coz it's almost impossible to prove. So they simply say it "reduces rotational forces" or whatever... And voila! Noone can sue them.
Could you elaborate it a little?
combined with a neck brace they can avoid some neck trauma but a simple back protector stops scuffs and not much else.
hit me with the stories of your back protector saving your life on the local the local trails!!
Dont forget your superdooper megabionic gloves that stop the bones in your hands getting broken too
Sort it out and make some comfy shit !
You just can't have both. The companies would make fools of themselves marketing something as protection, that does not protect.
The argument I get to hear most of the time is, that riders feel sharper or more concentrated and less restricted without the protector. Well, they are old enough to decide for them selves.
They want cardboard, they get cardboard.
Does this mean that we may with the help of various wifi spots on the mountain one day be able to watch a race run live via a head cam as its actually happening??
That would be cool!
1) Schlammig did not want the dh worldcup anymore because it was in their way preparing for the ski world championships.
2) Leogang stepped in and ever since presented existing races to watch.
3) Schladming too is a bikepark.
4) From years of first hand riding experience in both bikeparks I wouldn't know about any section in schladming significantly gnarlier than any section in Leogangs woods. At the current state I would think it's the other way round.
5) the flat or pedal section is not really flat nor does it require pedaling but if one wants to be fast a few strokes might help and if one can't deal with the fact that pedaling makes faster he or she should probably not be racing bicycles.
Just think it's funny how some average Joe's from the states and Kanada rave about Leogang being simple never even been at any of those tracks.
4 years ago I moved from my place 20 minutes from schladming to the states. Since then I am traveling all over the states and Canada with my bike, rode al those great trails and tracks and have not yet found anything half as gnarly as Leo...
Anyway I guess we will see how much better it is next week when the ixs cup is in schladming...
Excellent work, PB. This made me want to sell off my non-necessary organs and move to AUT. It's also giving me some serious anticipation and bone-deep happiness for the upcoming US races. Muchas gracias, hombres.
Bicycles And Dirt..........
www.23mag.com/mags/bd/bd.htm
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