Video: The High Speed Corner Challenge - Pinkbike Academy Season 2 EP 3

 That sounds like an awesome premise change for next season. I’d be into that

 @Basketcase889: hey, thanks! Appreciate that. Also, it would be cool if they had a mock team: manager, coach, mechanic, etc. With that, it would be cool to see how they respond to coaching and management, how they contribute to the team. That’s reality, to me.

 Upvote! This would be way better! Great idea! I was kinda into this format until it felt like the elimination decisions didn’t make sense. Same thing with last season, but that season the first few to leave were not really as surprising. Tori gone at this point ahead of Cody, Kyra, Laura and Alaina seems really whacked!

 Agree! They are learning so much, the biggest bummer for the ones that get cut is they don't get do complete all the challenges, I want to see them grow.

 Don't worry, someone over there will poach your idea and pitch it as their own. Objectively it's much better than the current format.

 yep….that’s bang on….(see my comments below re inappropriate exclusion).

If it’s a genuine academy then it should include the response of the participants to training. One person may start the series at a lower place in the ranking, but through their psychological and physiological response to training and support and mentoring can move up the rankings - and realise genuine untapped and undeveloped potential. That’s something which is sorely missing in the episodes so far this season yet is absolutely vital for someone moving from amateur to pro.

As you say, I think it would make MUCH more exciting viewing, have higher fidelity to what actually is required in the real world, and it would be great to see people gaining resilience and power.

 I completely agree - it's very contrived.

If I'm honest, the whole format of the show puts me off watching it, even though I love seeing all these cool people riding bikes and having a great time I think the overly "fake" and "official" attitude of the show kinda ruins the vibe.

 Not much of a golfer but the best drama of the year isnt winning the Masters etc. its the last tournament where the guy who is in position 126 on the cumulative and he needs to get into the top 125 to stay on tour. Nothing like a few guys fighting for their jobs for drama! Adding something like this would be cool.

 Oh yeah, it’s also kind of lame to keep the secret pros completely secret. They should their “Stigs” doing the challenges so we can compare. Right now secret pro is just an annoying concept.

Yes, Pinkbike you can steal this idea. Please do. Please, please do.

 @eurojuice: Or better yet, show the virtual SP/Stig and the contestants on course together...either with avatars or with the graphic redbull has for the WC showing who's ahead and by how much in realtime.
I mean, with Outside money, this should be no problem.

 It frustrates me that they treat each challenge completely separate from the others, rather than taking past performances into account. Tori was strong in the first two episodes, while Kyra was consistently towards the bottom and was just above Tori this episode. One rough performance shouldn't take out a strong competitor.

 @DPGriffin: Totally agree!

 Was thinking the same thing. Only 1 rider can be fastest too top bottom and that was Emmett. 5 second penalty envelopes don't happen in a race. Unless something goes really wrong for Emmett, he has to be the strongest contender for the win.

 @betsie: man there are heaps of time penalties in EWS, where you been?

 @Assclapp: I need this envelopes at the start of a race. Would need more than 1 though. Lol

 @betsie: I almost feel like this could be more like Ben from last season, Emmet will probably get a ride anyways, or a factory ride at some point, so you might not want to give him the shot.

 @ppadoin:

I think Ben and Evan were pretty neck and neck, right?

If Emmett is consistently the fastest (of the men) then it would screw the whole premise of the show for him to not win.

I'm not sure an offer from another team for an up and coming racer would be better than what PB/Orbea are offering.

Plot twist - he could turn down the offer and go to another team and let the #2 have it. That would be sweet. But I'll bet it's in their PB contracts that if an offer is made they have to take it, they probably can't leverage it against other offers they may get.

Also, I wonder how much say Orbea has in this. They took a male rider last year so are they more likely to choose a female this year? They might get some flack from the interwebs if they chose a male two years in a row. But back to your point it looks like Flo is due for a factory ride whether she wins PBA or not.

 @WasatchEnduro: a male one last season….

 @betsie: what happened to Richie Rude…

 @Jmtbauckland: that's harsh.
Pinkbike Academy episode 5
You won the race
Pick an envelope
Your going home

 @WasatchEnduro: There should really be a male winner and a female winner every season. Just my opinion..

 @Jordanh604: that would certainly be nice but getting a company to pony up for two sponsorships is probably a super hard ask

 @betsie: I would need 10 envelopes

 @Jordanh604:

For sure. Maybe they could get a different sponsor for each to make it happen. As mtmc said a single company probably wouldn't be able to pick up 2 riders.

 Emmett is faster than the secret pro. That's that.

 @SHREDWORX:

Secret pros revealed in a full(ish) enduro race challenge near the end? Would be good to see the contestants race them same day.

 Would happily punch Cody in the face. Such a gimp

 @betsie: yeah ur right but it’s still reality tv

 hahaha

 Christina is just a dominatrix in her spare time. You hear it bleed through with her "good girl" s

 @Ososmash: wow

 she has a BMX background???



I did not know that.

 For the record, I don't think she mentioned it once today. But she has trained everyone else well--I think all the hosts/judges mentioned it at some point.

 @BagelMan: even other racers mentioned it lol

 I only heard “BMX” twice in that episode. I want my outsidecoins back

 My Laptop has a BMX background

 drinking game for this?

 @wheelsmith: this is why you're single

 @pgomez: not true I'm single because derailleur are out of stock

 @wheelsmith: down bad

 @arpeggiho: seemed to go over a lot smoother for Kona

 @kevkir:

 @stiksandstones: Frickin! Wait, wrong show...

 That was good they left that clip in!!!

 bummer they cut and didn't show his reaction

 @cpscotti: His reaction when he found out that Emmett is still way faster than everyone else was good enough. Cody adds the drama to this series, eh! At least this season they're not hating on someone right from the start like last year with poor Ben.

 I think she will do great

 I mean, I think this cements it for Flo unless Flo really drops the ball.

 Pinkbike, hire Tori!

 Yes! Best attitude and outlook. I was sure she was gonna take the show!

 @Enduroexpert78: Christina is a boss lady and she is great at what she does

 The time penalty seems kind of pointless because everyone, including the judges, knows what their real times were

 @n734535: silly "prize" tbh

 @n734535:

Definitely pointless but they have to create drama somehow. It's easy to see who the top prospects are and they're consistent and won't be going home bc of a minor penalty.

 Yeah, not fair they didn't mention it!

 @n734535: Yeah, not really sure what the point of the time penalties were considering there wasn't a prize for 1st place, nor was the elimination an objective measure based on time. The judges just played feelingsball to decide who was eliminated.

 @WasatchEnduro: PB has learned that Pinkers are only ever happy when someone gets robbed. Next episode there is a 10 second penalty for anyone who wears glasses

 @n734535: I think the purpose of the card is to pile on pressure and see how people react. Emmett could easily have taken the L and coasted to the next event, tried hard just to crack and crash, or try hard and succeed. He used the pressure to dig deep and get a huge result which is what I would want out of a racer. It's a really good look for him that he can perform from behind.

 @FMHUM: Tori and Cameron has the slowest times in the final race and Tori had the significantly slower time due to a crash plus they eliminated a guy last time. Seems pretty objective.

 @FMHUM: "[...]nor was the elimination an objective measure based on time. The judges just played feelingsball to decide[...]"

Commenting without watching? They literally eliminated the slowest rider. Just like they did last time. It's you who's crying because a rider you don't like stayed.

PB didn't decide who got the penalty, it was only pointless from the ranking point of view because Cody gave it to Emmett. Had he given it to Bradley, it would actually have bumped Cody up a spot in the ranking, making it not so pointless. Even so, the penalties played a role in showing how both fastest riders deal with added pressure (spoiler: they handled it like pros).

 Ok….dhaagz and kilo11 - I think you are calling it right. There’s something wrong with an elimination system which removes one of the strongest all rounders in a group. Tori has the strongest base fitness and the other video of her on PB shows she has pace on courses on which she has done practice runs. FFS she lost out because of a washout on an incredibly loose corner - Cathro did it on his first practice run in his last event….If they had done two-run timing or practice run then timing and she would likely not have washed out on her timed run.

Alternatively I think that they should move to a structure of elimination every two episodes. Not so ‘televisual’ but far more appropriate to the real demands of enduro racing.

The structure of the elimination and the design of the challenge this time around has meant - in my view - an inappropriate elimination.

 @vercorin1: that's all true but this competition is between Emmet and Flo. The order the others leave in doesn't really matter.

 @Ac282: yes - I get that vibe, (and I know all this happened months ago) but when I saw Flo and Tori bunching up during the FTP test, it felt like there would be a interesting and tight competition between them, albeit a rivalry with friendship and support. That possibility was broken by an elimination for a trivial and understandable error. I know that races are won and lost on a single error (my broken bones attest to that) but the Academy concept is one in which all-round performance should be the ultimate ‘total’ score. Putting up single event hurdles messes up the rank order in my view...

 @Ac282: It looks like Flo will get the nod.

 imagine how well she would be doing if she could be at 80%+

 "who did you think would go home at the end of ep3?"
Kyra. Seems harsh, but she hadn't recovered at all in however long it was by this point of filming, and has consistently been looking about ready to break. Kinda wished it was Cody tho, not got the right attitude for the mental endurance needed for a pro career

 She needs to lose the watch….5% is in her head.

 @K-Laing: No kidding. If her smartwatch is half as dumb as mine, that number has minimal bearing on actual performance unless she decides to give it one.

 She's still a good contender no disrespect

 @ROOTminus1: Maybe she looks rough, but she beat Tori in both of these challenges, so it seems she's doing pretty good despite how you feel she looks. Also, how much time do you think there is between episodes for these riders to recover? And how much damage did Kyra sustain did that massive crash at the beginning of the series? Maybe it's less time than you think, maybe her crash was more significant than you think, and maybe she deserves more credit than your giving her considering these possibilities.

 @gnarnaimo: I’m not suggesting any of that at all. I do think she is a good competitor and can go far, but when she starts her day with a watch that says she’s basically depleted when others are showing a full tank, it may be putting her at a disadvantage mentally. If she has never used that type of technology it can become a stressor. Maybe she normally functions quite well with very little sleep and thought nothing of it until a watch told her so….just some perspective.

 @K-Laing: Yeah, that's all very likely. I don't disagree, I wasn't replying to you

 @gnarnaimo: Dude, yer obviously biased, being from the same town as Kyra!

 @Bomadics: Well yeah, plus I know her. She rides with the fast boys in town and has no troubles keeping up, she sends.

 @gnarnaimo: Yea I know, I did the decals for her last two bikes!

 @K-Laing: Yeah I love my Garmin as a GPS watch but it is trash when it comes to tracking my sleep/energy levels/heart rate. It'll tell my heart rate is 208 when I'm on a casual jog and not even breathing hard yet. Or assume that I'm sleeping for a couple hours if I'm laying in my bed reading or watching a movie. It regularly gives me messages telling me that despite training perfectly my fitness is declining due to my high stress/poor sleep.

Guaranteed it's doing her more harm than good looking down and seeing that 5% every day.

 Aesthetics

 +1

 Rad

 @losidan: That is a big brain BMX comment.

 @losidan: Hulk Hogan eat your heart out!

 You got it all wrong, Yoan Barrelli lost to Emmett by 1 baguette !!! Probably even 2 baguette considering the ridiculusly long frontcenter of the Grim.

 @Asamson25: But Emmett got a 5-baguette penalty, or 3 baker's dozen Tim Horton's donuts if we convert to the Levy system.

 #flowasrobbed (of $500)

 @withdignityifnotalacrity: I loved her comment about how she could use the money. Totally genuine reaction.

 Because stuff happens and it's about how she deals with it. Still, someone plz get her a sponsorship.

 Former BMX racer

 @Jules15: wow, I didn't know that! So you're saying she has a BMX background?

 This was two or three months after the filming ended. Flo got third. Representing well.

 the person who picks 2nd gets a 50% chance of going 5 seconds slower. Head turner of a "prize". Would have been better to have 30-60 mins of instruction with Mark Wallace. He's right there!

 @jaydawg69: They had separate envelopes for the males and females, so it was still 33%.

 @jaydawg69: It makes no difference who picks first. The probability is still 1 in 3.

 great suggestion... would be interesting to see how some take instruction on improvement.

 I am excited to watch this while im supposed to be working

 @moefosho: haha "SNAP" me too

 Jokes on Germans are the best jokes.

 when I'm at 5% battery I try to find bread, an apple, or a floating heart.

 ....just noticed a bit of a footnote...

reality check re decision-making process in the series....

Tori Wood third in BC DH season. By one second:

"..In the elite women’s race, Squamish’s Ainhoa Ijurko (Canyon) added a BC Cup win to her earlier Canada Cup win. Her results at Coast Gravity and the Dunbar Summer Series combine to push her ahead of Fernie’s Jennifer McHugh in the overall standings.

Emilie-Soleil Patterson of Revelstoke takes second in the final BC Cup of 2021 with Tori Wood of Squamish one second behind in third...

Er...in this company....at this level....and she's third? What were they thinking of on the Academy?

 Men are physiologically different than women. These women are fantastic athletes.

 The comments from the women were important - I think few had received training on fast cornering. One said that she had not raced before, another said that they did not like large supportive berms (!), and so on. This highlights a huge problem with the term Academy in use here, as mentioned above. They needed a lot of training on cornering, you could see that from their lack of confidence and the way they entered and handled corners. In a true Academy you would give a set of known training inputs, and then see who most applied it, and could up their performance. It lets these women down in my view, since they have exposed themselves massively by being on the programme, and should be supported through an Academy, not simply tested and rejected.

On female performance, a top mechanic said recently: ‘….seven years ago I could beat the women downhill and in Enduro. Five years ago I could beat the women in Enduro. Now I can’t beat them in anything….’

I’d not like to try to keep up with Vali Holl or Tanee Seagrave. They way they stuff their bikes into corners has to be seen to be believed. If those two had been coaching the women here then we would have seen something interesting. Instead we saw a promising female rider’s hopes dashed. I feel very uneasy about it.

 @SunsPSD: Not a fan of handing out Participation Awards (or other "Equality" falsities) vs focusing on who can compete at the elite level and who is just there for pack/show filler.

 All these women could be special forces soldiers, the tip of the spear.

 @JohanG: lol