Singing in the Rain: Vallnord DH World Cup 2017 Trackwalk - Photo Epic
Wet, wet, wet. Here we are back in the rainy Pyrenees for the second time in the 2017 DH World Cup calendar; a little more central for this one, returning to the Catalan-speaking territory of Vallnord, Andorra. The aggressively steep and rock-strewn hillside, half exposed to the elements, half smothered deep in an evergreen forest, has played host to some four World Cup races in its history, plus not forgetting the quite infamous World Champs of 2015. While Rachel Atherton may have taken four wins out of an available six, the men's category has never seen a repeat winner with the likes of Bruni, Thirion, Minnaar, Peat, and Gee Atherton all having done the business just once, but never again.
Turbulent atmospherics, shall we say, have rocked the boat before, most memorably for Worlds 2015, with brutal downpours turning the track into a fast-flowing torrent of sludge, thankfully drying out to a small extent for race day. This summer it seems racers are once again flat out of luck with huge thunderstorms and heavy rain sweeping through the valley two a penny and the forecast offering little comfort. Vallnord is always a stop that commands respect regardless of conditions, however. Beginning very gradually, racers find a tipping point somewhere after halfway that hurls them straight down toward the valley floor without mercy. Only a true 'steeps specialist' with the stamina to hold it wide open across the top sections will prosper…
Whoever that person may be it's looking more likely that they will do it aboard a 27.5 machine, with teams like Mondraker, Commencal and Trek all dropping the big hoops in favour of the 'old new standard' if you take our meaning. Santa Cruz Syndicate and Intense Factory Racing will be standing by their over-sized machines, however. Tomorrow, it's on…
After a more than shaky start to the 2017 season, the racing could be very unpredictable once again.
The number 1 plate ready to rock on the front of Tracey Hannah's Polygon.
Vallnord is the only track currently on the circuit with pits at the top of the track. Jack Moir makes the morning commute...
The heli was on a mission today bringing the last of the bits and bobs (massive ones) to the high altitude pits.
No such thing as a bad view high above La Massana.
Eliot Jackson and mechanic Paul Miles piece the last bits of the Giant Factory pits together.
IFR fidgeters.
Did someone say 'wild course preview?' Brook MacDonald answered the call this morning.
Jamie Tilbury checks the click counts for Tracey's series leading sled.
Views that never get... alright let's call them 'timeless' for a change.
The gondola is the best place to hide from the storms rolling over the mountains.
Fastest mechanic in the West, John Hall, motors over to Fox for A.G's fork service.
Are you a man or a mouse?
Team Kona, kick off one of the more demanding track walks on the circuit.
Mellow beginnings, quickly morphing into the steep and the loco.
One of the longer tracks on the calendar and it only gets harder and more physical as it goes on.
Build a bridge, get over it. Tell jokes, repeat them. Both simple enough formulas.
Claudio Caluori was here.
Alex Fayolle currently sits tenth in the series, he'll look to creep back up the standings at a track he has gone well at in the past—taking his maiden podium finish last year.
First signs of trouble on the gradual transition, from friendly to not so, on this gnarly track.
These catch fences are likely to be as busy as anyone this weekend.
Smooth, smooth... for how long?
Photographer, Boris Beyer, orders a Pina Colada to the biggest jump on the course. He's a weather-confident fellow.
Familiar turns have been plumped up a fair bit and should stay rut free for at least the first half hour or so of practice.
The YT Mob are back up to three, although with Angel Saurez only here to watch.
The fast open sections are largely unchanged except for the removal of the second gap jump on the first straight.
We'll be stoked to see this gravel start to fly.
Freeride New Zealand going full Gene Kelly in the rain.
Fresh off the win at Crankworx Innsbruck, is Hart about to turn his season around?
This much-photographed left-hander has been piled a little higher so ready for riders to feel extra G's.
Fashion over for function, for Erik Irmisch.
Manon Carpenter is sitting back in fourth in the overall, she'll have her eye on clambering her way up the rankings.
What kind of week are we in for here in La Massana? We have our suspicions and they ain't pretty.
Caption this! Actually wait, no... cancel that.
Beautiful berms, check. Beautiful mountain, double check.
The scenery becomes even more spectacular after a deluge of rain.
Current series leader, Greg Minnaar, is always one of the most methodical when it comes to analyzing tracks.
The lower sections of track have taken a hammering after masters world champs, plenty of big holes already waiting for the first riders to drop in tomorrow.
Blenki and the Norcos inspect where the going gets rougher and rougher every year.
Is this the track where Blenki and his prototype Norco will finally get a chance to really shine?
Cobwebs of roots litter the length of the track with more like to appear as the dirt is ripped from the surface.
When the going first starts to get seriously steep, the track has shifted two-metres to the right for a little freshen up.
If the riders are reading this, something's gone very wrong...
Roots or nasty chicken wire? It's only 'rock and a hard place' dilemmas here on out.
The axle-deep ruts of the middle-lower section, set to erode still further.
Live on air, it's Wyn TV...
Tahnee Seagrave inspects the lower half of the course where things really begin to get steep.
The slopes of Vallnord are no easy beast to tame, a track to really separate the men from the boys.
If you don't like gratuitous amounts of roots look away n... ah too late.
Goodbye gnarly channel section of old...
...hello off-camber field section.
This section will quickly rut up but will be carnage for the early morning B practice.
Some new wonky taping will push riders/huckers right of the original line.
The wild weather may look spectacular but poses a huge headache to riders with the track surface becoming treacherous in the wet.
Why do we deserve such terrible mid-summer weather Tahnee? She doesn't know.
Give me five Elliot Heap! Actually, let's just leave it.
Dust woz 'ere...
Come out and watch! Bring a bin bag to sit on though.
A lovely, flat, grassy turn reminiscent of the last couple of Crankworx rounds.
Loris and Luca inspect the impressive huck to flat that completes the race track.
Things are looking mighty moist right now, but that just leaves a lot of room for improvement. Or race drama. We're staying positive.
The view that greets the riders at the bottom of the track after a wild ride down La Massana. We're in for quite a race, whatever the weather...
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Most incredible for me is one guy saying he's consistently 0.5 sec faster on 29 going back to 27 cause "he feels better" on the bike. Hmm. Obviously not, otherwise you'd be faster with the small wheels. And really 0.5sec are not that important? Sometimes it's the difference between being the winner or being off the podium.
Whatever, they decide for themselves in the end.
www.vitalmtb.com/features/Maybe-26-Aint-Dead-Is-Laurie-Greenland-Being-Serious,1853?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=spotlight
Now I have nothing against 26 or 27 or 29. I simply can't make my head around this epidermic reactions so many riders (pro or not) have. I personally still own and ride a 26. But my next will be a 29.
As I said in the other post, each his choice. A racer nevertheless should go for what's fastest.
Another amazing racer and rider, good guy and overly stylish (Fairclough) said "if a 29er has to work well somewhere, that has to be Leogang". Considering how slick and polished the course was, I don't see how the roll over prowess of a 29er would stand out. So should I really listen to the pros Sir? Nothing new here, the arguments were the same in XCO some years back.
29er are best in the rough, smaller wheels in the twisty. Pretty much all courses have something of the 2 type, but mostly rough I'd say. So I guess both wheel size will coexist, at least for some time.
And if a racer says he's faster on bike B but prefers to race bike A, that's his problem, not mine. But it remains non-sense. Sometimes there's a sponsor swap and the riders have to change frame or suspension or brakes or tires, or all of it. They don't have the choice, they get used to it (or try to). Here riders have the choice, so they're not really trying to get used to it. Loris Vergier was in the doubters at first (and I think Luca Shaw also). In the end, they saw they were faster, and it looks like they got used to it. I bet for 2 29ers on the podium in Andorra, even though most switched back to 27. I know, it's not only the wheels, the Syndicate has a killer of a team!
Also, Danny just posted fastest time in timed training today. So being comfortable on a bike at race pace under stress is totally different than timed runs with your team in a relaxed atmosphere. If you're comfortable, you're going to go faster under stress. So it's not nonsense, it's logic used in all competitive and combat disciplines: if you're not comfortable with your equipment no matter how much better it's claimed to be, you're going to suffer. If you suffer, you're going to react badly under stress. period. It works for some guys, clearly, but look at those guys, they are top 10 regardless and comfortable with their larger bikes. Some weren't and it showed big time.
Also, Myriam said she will not go back to 29. Rachel stated she didn't like it. I trust the pros over media, and marketing companies for what's faster for the pros (the topic at hand.......), and I trust my own extensive experience on ALL wheel sizes for my own personal choices (NOT the topic at hand).
I will take that bet. I predict zero 29ers in the top 3.
Gwin
Danny
toss up between Bruni, Troy, or a wildcard first podium guy.
Keep believing the pros, but you're gonna switch back and forth a lot of things depending on what the trend is, cause this is very subjected to trends. Remember the high rise bars? Then the flat bars with negative stem to better charge the bike? Now in Enduro handlebars are shrinking cause Rude did pretty well (irony) with 750mm bars so plenty of 800mm riders started to cut their bars... Believe the pros, I believe in facts and figures, and physics.
As for the bet, I considered top 5 as the podium. No matter what, it'll
About me talking about the pros: they say what they want, I did not invent it. Some are open to change, some are not.
What I found funny is the resistance of riders against 29 whereas there's been no resistance (from racers at least) when 27 was introduced though the advantage from 27 vs 26 was f*cking close to zero. Now tell me who swallowed the marketing BS... If we were listening to these people, we'd have no suspensions, no dropper posts and no disc brakes. No, not all innovations really bring something (27" wheels...) and some innovations come and go as they happen to be either irrelevant, or too costy or not cool enough.
I dislike non-objective conservatism (yeah, it's kind of pleonasmic), that was my original point.
This is a simple discussion about pro's choices, and I'm taking the teams word for it, not yours. settle down. Everything you're saying just illustrates you're missing the entire point. If you want to talk actual physics and testing, throw me a DM and I'll drown you in data. cheers.
anyway, it's Canada day weekend, I'll be enjoying maple syrup, maple rye over ice, and lulz at whatever condescending post comes next while I watch this race and see my bet with you come to fruition.
about 1 second up, then 2.2 seconds to 3rd. Going to be an interesting race for sure!
About the bet: to be honest I'm surprised to see Minnaar that high on this track. Maybe 29ers help
It's also not my fault if some team did extensive testing and some other not. Believe what you want, that's your problem man. but if you want to know if one wheel size is faster than the other it will have to be in a scientific set up. One guy on 2 runs, that's worth nothing. If you are not able to understand that, then I'll stop taking planes!
For 29er being a non-innovation: it's not that innovative per say indeed. But then disc brakes were nothing new, suspension also... Real innovations (and good ones even more) are rare, and the word is over-used, same for "technology".
Enjoy Canada day and the race. I'll go for a ride and watch the replay. And I don't give a shit about the wheel size of the winner, I just hope for a fair race, not weather biased like in Lourdes.
Yes please stop taking planes. Or remember me when they land
what kind of research?
_ she said she doesn't want to smoothen the tracks but likes it rough.
_ she does not need a faster ride, she'd kill anybody on the 16" ride of daughter anyway
_ she expressed a little frustration of lack of recognition, complaining about comments that she was so fast cause she trains with her brother (what she denied), or that the competition his not so high, hence her domination. So imagine if she kills everybody on 29er, some will undeniably say that's because she has a wheel size advantage.
Now I won my bet: 2 29ers in the top 5. And that does no show much except that the Syndicate has a killer team, and that 29ers were at least just as suitable as 27er for Andorra, unlike many pros commented.
The rest in PM later
Results from Danny fortify the thought that they arent for everyone.
Minnar is the outlier. Hes so damn good.
As for Hart, dunno. He won the BSD in Fort Bill on the 29ers against a WC field and had a shit result on the same track on the same bike during the WC.
Well to me it looks like Mr Slave's finishing move during his Whore Off with Paris Hilton
Just kidding, Monster Energy won't let me race for RedBull.