This coverage is A+! So well-rounded. Interviews, speed shots with natural tire and trail noise, overall big picture story. Cathro is a great host as well. Just superb, kudos to the team.
The tracks are getting like early F1 circuits; people are confusing dangerously fast with tight and exciting racing. High speed sections always result in closer split times, but can be boring to watch (like the early 90s fire road kamikaze runs) so to liven it up they throw in random artificial jank, which means mistakes don't cost a few seconds in the race, at these speeds, mistakes cost half a season off in injury. Give me line choice-y greasy woods, give us rock gardens with slower entry speeds, these make exciting racing that don't break our favourite riders for months on end.
Half this track is pretty new, raw, and natural. Sure it looks simple and one-lined now, but within a couple of days of hosting WC racers blowing it up there will be lines, ruts, and holes all over that loose off-camber stuff. The top bike park section is misleading, I think this track is more technical than PB commenters give it credit for. Y'all forget how absolutely destructive the WC racers are to a fresh track- just look at how much Lenzerheide changed last week between track walk and race day.
Isn't it interesting how its always the new fans who are complaining about DH being too dangerous, not heading in the right direction, etc. LOL
I recall people complaining that the New York DH would be boring because it was too fast and not many line choices and it turned out to be the best DH race of the year. Guys, give it up, you're always wrong and you have no clue what you're talking about. LET'S MOOOOORRRRRB!!!
So Vali, I know you're reading this message: You are fast and strong and you will brilliantly tame this track in qualifying and in your amazing race run.
Yeah, you should not listen to negative comments in the internet, most of the time they are expressed by loosers who just want to feal a bit better by bringing somebody down instead of bringing themselves up. Shit happens and your value is not determined by a few incidents, life does not work this way, everybody make mistakes, it's the long run that counts.
Loic was crazy on that gap...what a bomb he drop there hehehehe. Vali just ride your bike and try to have fun! Most of us still pay a fortune to ride our bikes in crappy places,so nothing to say to someone who earns € from the skill over the bike.
How on earth is Loic riding like that after breaking a collarbone so recently? Even last week at Lenzerheide he seemed to indicate it didn't really feel that strong yet.
Vali, you are a sick rider, try to have fun and enjoy every moment of your life, believe in your skills and try to stay positive in the mindset. Instead of thinking "don´t crash, don´t crash" try to think "i will kill it and win with a perfect run today, ive got it". Keep the word "crash" out of your mind because when you do you are attracting that energy- Your mind is powerfull just switch it to the right direction. I used to have the same problem when I was competing in wakeboarding, which is similar in some ways. I used to crash on my runs until I changed the mindset in the way I described just now. There is a book called The Secret (which is shit literature) but the message is really cool and strong. Hope it will help you as much as it did to me. Im rooting for you girl!!
Lol. He just wanted to give it a shakedown before the race!
Also, goes without saying, but clips like that show how insanely strong and skilled these riders are. I would have been thrown off so hard if I had a landing that rough (not that I would ever send it that hard in the first place) but it's crazy how he held it together on a landing like that
There's something about watching raw footage of lots of riders going down the SAME short stretch of track that's quite hypnotizing. I find myself [a] trying to distinguish different riding styles and line choices, and counting up all the ways in which just that short stretch of track would maim me.
It's also amazing how I see a stretch of track as something like 'smallrock-bigrock-bigrock-rut-berm-treestump-rut-roots-tree-tree-roots-rock', and for the pros they just gap to a patch of dirt in the middle and then gap over the rest of it and they're gone! It's unreal!
Loic rides a tiny bike a I think,that why it looks so weird compared to Finn or other riders. Finn bike is glued to the ground,I would said his rear wheel looks amazing over the rocks and chatter,to me the most composed bike out there. Maybe that´s why Finn is ridding the prototype bike into the race,cos it works really well.
@TEAM-ROBOT: Indeed, Muni Buhdu in /Soil Mechanics and Foundations/ (year 2000 edition with the CD-ROM) defines loam as "...a mixture of sand, silt, and clay that may contain organic matter".
So here you have... 'Riders union' said better to remove that stupid stump... They were listened and boum! Probably the most interesting bit of the track!...
Great work Ben...keep it coming, please! Surely it's about time UCI dumped the bloody whistles though...does everyone head in. all you hear when riding all day is a bloody whistle!
High speed sections always result in closer split times, but can be boring to watch (like the early 90s fire road kamikaze runs) so to liven it up they throw in random artificial jank, which means mistakes don't cost a few seconds in the race, at these speeds, mistakes cost half a season off in injury. Give me line choice-y greasy woods, give us rock gardens with slower entry speeds, these make exciting racing that don't break our favourite riders for months on end.
Vali just ride your bike and try to have fun! Most of us still pay a fortune to ride our bikes in crappy places,so nothing to say to someone who earns € from the skill over the bike.
Also, goes without saying, but clips like that show how insanely strong and skilled these riders are. I would have been thrown off so hard if I had a landing that rough (not that I would ever send it that hard in the first place) but it's crazy how he held it together on a landing like that
It's also amazing how I see a stretch of track as something like 'smallrock-bigrock-bigrock-rut-berm-treestump-rut-roots-tree-tree-roots-rock', and for the pros they just gap to a patch of dirt in the middle and then gap over the rest of it and they're gone! It's unreal!
Finn bike is glued to the ground,I would said his rear wheel looks amazing over the rocks and chatter,to me the most composed bike out there. Maybe that´s why Finn is ridding the prototype bike into the race,cos it works really well.
LoamOnTheRange?
LoamIsWhereTheHeartIs!