Track Walk Photo Epic: Snowshoe World Cup DH 2021
Hold onto your hats; the 2021 season all comes down to this. A double-header event at the 2019 venue of Snowshoe, West Virginia, in the US of A. Only one week since the dust settled in Lenzerheide, there's been little time to recoup as we head straight into the conclusion of this thrilling '21 season. The Commencal Muc-Off duo of Myriam Nicole and Thibaut Daprela are in the driving seats of both overalls, but their leads are far from insurmountable with rivals hot on their heels and hungry to cause an upset as the year draws to a close. Will home soil bring out the best in American hopes the likes of Norton, Shaw and Harrison or will the French forces overpower the rest of the field once again? Can Seagrave take her second win of the season or will she be shut down by Myriam or a fiery clean run from Höll or 2019 winner, Cabirou?
The bulk of the track will be the same rocky, rooty masterpiece we enjoyed last time around, but the local track builders have been busy toiling in the American dirt making a variety of changes to the course, particularly on the upper slopes with some fresh sends and new turns. It'll certainly be interesting to see how the results vary between the events with a long and tiring week on this techy mountainside in prospect for the riders. Just as we saw for last season's double-header events, some sections will be swapped in between the two races to mix things up for racers and fans alike. Expect to be well entertained for the final push from the World's fastest.
One fine week of incredible action is ahead of us in the land of the free.
Photographer steeze from YT's Jack Tennyson.
After a 2-year absence we are back in Snowshoe, West Virginia.
Don't expect to see much of Vali and Jamie this week, you might hear them now and again though.
Bike rebuild going down after Lenzerheide and then the subsequent flight across the Atlantic to the US.
Linkage bolt checks are done a little different over at Trek.
Bernard Kerr's mechanic, Barnaby Edwards, on the Pabst.
Can Charlie Harrison repeat his run that took him to a podium finish the last time we were in Snowshoe?
Jumps of World Cups past. Not pictured, because that beautiful hip jump was regrettably bulldozed for ski season.
Some fresh turns out in the ski piste.
Still smooth into the woods, before trouble builds for riders down-course.
Just the right machine for this neck of the woods.
One of the new features on the course is a double that jumps between two trees.
Bernard Kerr approves of the top jumps.
Things would get treacherously slick if we were to get some rain this week.
Danny Hart was the winner last time we were in Snowshoe.
There's no shortage of rocks in that lower rock garden.
Haircuts abroad are rarely worth it.
Problem-solving in the widest section of rock.
Pedal here and you're doing it wrong.
The course really blossoms into a beautiful natural affair after the halfway point.
Back in the mix, except not quite yet. Aaron Gwin will sit this one out and bide his time until 2022 for his comeback.
Dangerous creatures lurking in the undergrowth.
Left or right, not centre.
All natural beauty here in Pocahontas county.
George Brannigan saving his legs.
The steep section is taped pretty curiously this race.
A root nest Val Di Sole would be proud of.
Imported African dirt for some mid-track berms.
The World Champ Myriam Nicole will be looking to seal the deal on the overall World Cup title this weekend.
Sharp edges aplenty.
Hold on and hope.
Whale-tail no more...
Some last-minute adjustments being made to the finish line jump which drew a lot of attention from racers on the run-up to the event.
Loris Vergier of course the man with the momentum at the moment.
Not Canada, but still all time fall time approaches.
The rolling hills of West Virginia.
Sr Suntour's Kevin getting the squishy bits sorted for the hectic week ahead.
Logan Mulally measures up for the season finale.
Tools of the trade.
Big job for Lewis Kirkwood this week with two back to back rounds of bike smashing to take care of.
The way some folk are doing it out here in West Virginia. Many teams favoring the condo build today.
Car boot build.
Marshy on the tools at the Scott pits.
And the red side of Chuck Harrison's bike.
Chuck's bike also gets some touches of America for derailleur pulleys.
Top wild card for the win here in Snowshoe is surely American national champ, Dakotah Norton.
The high-life it ain't. Still, everybody made it more or less without a hitch and that's something to feel grateful about in these tricky times for international travel.
Great looking colour matching by GT this season.
Teams are going to go through a lot of these this week. The track is littered with square edge stones.
Dakotah Norton warming up for the big jumps on track.
40s came in waves for some love over at Fox.
Brook shotguns one for the patriots out there.
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In the future I would like to see Killington host a second USA based WC from the top of K1. It's insane the type of track that could be built there and the infrastructure for everything is in place.
Also Plattekill, Tenney, and old School Mount Snow were true East Coast classics. I was just talking to some buddies yesterday about getting back to Plattekill
www.rootsandrain.com/event852/1998-jul-28-grundig-uci-world-cup-dh-5-snoqualmie-pass-wa/results
The excited to see them reopen this coming summer for lift access again!
That's Raphael Iniguez from Commencal-NOBL ya big dummy.
That had nothing to do with downhill. There's plenty of slopestyle events for you to watch features like that.
Too soon?
Didn’t she win in Les Gets this year?
Ya man couldn’t agree more. Watching them build that, I was wondering what they are thinking.
Pretty disappointed in snowshoe running them down the same trail they have ran races on for 20+ years.
Maybe. Little less effort in features and little more in a meeting trail.
www.instagram.com/p/CTCzm59McgD
No, pretty much the hate is the raw natural rocks is what makes snowshoe bad ass. I’m a season pass holder, I love the place. We just would rather see a new natural dh track, not a dumb ass whale tail in the middle of the ski run.
That it is
The turn going into that feature was a lower speed turn, either way it’s dope but just saying
That I know of, no pro even laid eyes on it?
He was at Windrock a few days ago and maybe re-aggrevated it?
Hurt my back earlier in the year and couldn't ride XC, but could do all the DH I wanted. Backs are funny lil monsters.
www.pinkbike.com/news/greg-minnaar-and-jason-marsh-end-successful-partnership-after-8-years-and-28-world-cup-podiums.html
www.rootsandrain.com/event855/1998-aug-30-grundig-uci-world-cup-dh-8-arai-mountain/results
You can’t say the b-word, c-word, f-word, mf-word, n-word, s-word…
"jump was regrettably bulldozed for ski season"
"Some fresh turns out in the ski piste."
So al this bulldozer work just for one race, then bulldozer again ?
America certainly has too much oil to spend...
#eastcoastrocks
I'll see myself out....