Video: "Highlights" from the Snow Bike World Championships 2024

 1. No disrespects to the participants...

2. IMO: DH racing is rad because on that track, there is NO faster vehicle, I dont think a moto could keep up with top 5 DH racer. And for XC, that is the fastest self powered tool for the race... In snow DH (whatever it's called) on that track, there are faster tools (skis, snowboard). Same reason bike polo has not taken off, just watch/play hockey, or football, and don't take something fun and make it something stupid cuz you added a bike to it.

3. Can we ALL (you too UCI) just pretend this didn't happen and never talk about it again.

 @hohmskullkrishten: every ski World Cup (Slalom, GS, Super-G and Downhill) is held on a bloody steep pitch (minus 1 or 2 “gliding”downhill course, and even they will have proper steep pitches). If you’re saying that bikes aren’t capable of being raced on such pistes then we’re back to the problem of this being a joke of a discipline

 @hohmskullkrishten: Everybody decided they hated this event a week ago based on it being a bad idea and now they are looking at it,their hatred has been justified.

 @hohmskullkrishten: Dude, it was genuinely shit. Source: the video in this article.

 It was hard to watch even 4 minutes of it.

 Maybe this is not really about entertainment.

Maybe this is more about trying to develop ways for ski resorts to be economically viable when there's not enough reliable snow to ski on?

 @hohmskullkrishten: As @aliclarkson pointed out, he was withholding judgement so your last sentence in your initial response is inherently wrong.

My main issue with the event was that the first event was a world championship straight away so without any preceding rounds selecting the best athletes for the main event. Now it is just Ireland, Great Brittain and the Alp countries. As far as what I was expecting, I was expecting something a bit cooler indeed for such a high profile event. Nearly two decades ago they did the Tignes Airwaves which already looked much more exciting and obviously the Megavalanche has been going for a good while too. Instead of setting up an event like this, they could just as well have timed the snow section of the Mega and handed out the rainbow jersey based on that.

 @vinay: Also; it was shit.

 Waste of a good ski hill.

 If you necessarily have to take a foot off to make it down, you're using the wrong tool. who knows, it might evolve, but as it is, for me, this ain't it.

 @aliclarkson: @dirtbaggraeme:

Lamest argument ever. Word cup DH riders don't put the foot down too often because modern suspension and tires offer a lot of grip and DH tracks have progressively steered towards being slow, narrow and technical over fast and open wide so it matters more being able to balance the bike with both feet. But I can show you plenty of pictures of the MTB pioneers of the 70's and 80's 90's DH "legends" putting a foot down. Also you will see a lot of 2 wheeled motorsports where riders often put a foot off because the speed / grip ratio is much higher than in DH. If the track courses were designed for the riders hitting +120kph speed and had super wide long corners you bet they would put a foot off more often.

 @gnarlysipes: N.I.S.

 @opignonlibre: early pioneers were tripodding, but they were also riding slicks down fire roads. Then what happened? The sport evolved to a point where the bikes were more capable of handling the terrain, so the foot down wasnt necessary. In a more modern setting, with guys like Sam Hill, the foot isn't on the ground, it's a balance/counter weight thing. No one is tripodding down a dh track unless something has gone wrong. Foot out and foot down are very different things. If snow biking evolves, like mtb did, it might be cool to me, but honestly, the ski is just a better tool for the job, and consequently, something I'd personally rather watch and use to get down a snowy mountain. You do you though, no one says you can't like it.

 Yeah, I cannot imagine how much fun this event must have been for the riders though, I'm jelly.

 @deadmeat25: you’d better be careful talking about EDR like that in these circles… you might have someone Italian in a suit knocking on your door real soon…

 @blissindex: in Tippies voice "the mafia!"

 @deadmeat25: How someone could make a comment this brain-dead is beyond my understanding. Enduro racing is extremely well loved at a grassroots level, and extremely fun to participate in. The fact that UCI has mishandled the pro-level stuff so spectacularly shouldn't be a mark against the discipline as a whole.

 @deadmeat25: EDR is imperial and thus crap. Enduro is metric and great.

 What makes you think they are trying to kill it? Not managing something as well as you would want doesn't mean they want to kill it.

And I am pretty sure you would not do a better job at it anyway.

 It was supposed to be stationary e-bike championships...

 @FredFreeRideGang: on a trainer…

 I'm down.

 @FredFreeRideGang: you forgot it will be a simulated snow track in the alps

 Riding an e bike in the snow is more fun in the snow than a regular bike so with not?

 @FredFreeRideGang: peloton world champs!

 Here's an idea... Don't bother organising this shit show again. What an embarrassment to mountain biking.

 Yes, why cut an apple at all?

 @Fill-Freakin: Well, have you tried swallowing one whole?

 @Fix-the-Spade: don't know about you, but I got these hard cutty things in my mouth. Is the NHS really that bad these days?

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM6eI4B9oho&ab_channel=DownhillMongolia

 I love fat biking so here is my thought. I completely agree that fat tires would be better. Maybe suspension would be more useful that the extra tire width. There are very few full suspension fat bikes out there, however. I'm sure they had the snow very packed down so floatation wasn't the issue. Maybe a skinny tire would be faster. Regardless, very lame race format.

 Having ridden fat bikes, normal bikes and normal bikes with studs on ski hills I don't think that's true. Fat bikes are great at floating on top of the snow on a trail that would otherwise have a normal bike sink. However sinking isn't an issue on ski hills because the density of the snow base is much higher after skiers and groomers have been over it again and again. When you try and corner at high speed with the fat bikes they slide very easily, you can't get deep enough in to the snow to have it bite, you just float. But with normal tires you sink in just enough to have some bite to work with. Think of it like trying to turn a snowboard, vs. standing on a sled and doing the same thing. Studs help further, especially in the particularly slushy or icy conditions. When it's super slushy and they blow through all the slush or sugar hitting the usually firm, icy base they bite in. Icy conditions are pretty self-explanatory. Studs are slower rolling speed wise compared to normal tires, but never rode fat bikes not enough to get an idea of rolling speed compared. Could be more on account of it sitting higher on the surface, could be less on account of the giant face of them catching wind.

 @ADHDMI: im still not convinced that fatbikes would not be faster. I do agree that narrow tires cut deep in the snow just like deep snow rally car tires. But on hard pack snow with proper fatbike studded tires at low pressure(between 2.5 and 5 psi) I’m pretty sure they will keep the grip at high speed no problem ? On one nigh ride I got up to 87kmh on snow with no studs and corners were not a problem. I just wish the trail was steeper and ad a bigger chainring so I could get more speed.

 I don't think they put much energy into this.

 *interrogate

 What if they integrate a ski blade into their shoe, so when they put their foot down it actually helps them cornering?

 How about the original ebikes race that happened on a motocross course

 longer studs on tyres than what was in the rules apparently.

 So would I. The thought of buzzing a rear tyre full of metal spikes isn't too appealing.

 No. It's not just you.