Becciu

Really good read Alicia! Looking forward to your next article

@Skinnyman: "I fail to see how making a buck of mountain biking is in any regard "better" than making a buck of drinking and baking in the sun" For Finale i think it makes a great difference! While baking in the sun is a seasonal treat, outdoor activities keep your business open all year long

@vp27: like @BenPea already stated, being fit enough for a 800/1000 mt climb is not extreme (to me) in any way, don't require an eMtb or a shuttle and, in the right seasons (i'd skip the lowest trails in summer's heat), open up to you some great trails in the Verezzi, San Bernardino or le Manie areas. A big day connecting various points or exploring the higher trails (Monte Carmo, Isallo extasy, and so on) can easily add up to 2000/2500 mt climb for a day and here you need to be quite fit, to make the most of it. Shuttle laps can be great, but aren't the only way to mtb through the area and, luckily, there are many people still doing it the old fashioned way

@tobitobi: THAT. If you do your research, or book a guide, there are plenty of uphill trails that make you avoid asphalt roads and diesel engines smell. As much as I love the occasional shuttle day, there's no denying that doing shuttle laps, you end riding always the same trails, and they're just a fraction of what Finale offers

@chrismac70: i get your point, really. But let's face It: if you have to sleep in a tiny van with five other guys and all the biker, eating shitty junk food for all the season, you can't call yourself a semi-pro, even if you feel like One. Ok, in a sport where some "pros" can't sustain themselves with their pay, you probably get your point, but even Bernard Kerr's dog have better accomodation than some of this guys!

@chrismac70: on these premises, there are no privateers in the circuit... I highly doubt a dude/gal could be fast enough to compete at WC level without having been noticed by some local club/shop that gives him/her some support of some freebies

@nocoast: I've followed (occasionally) DH racing for ten years and some now, and all the critics to discovery's coverage were the same addressed to redbull just a couple years ago. They really started to get things right in the last couple of seasons IMHO, and they always got a pass 'cause streaming was free. Discovery's DH coverage (for what i've seen) isn't dramatically worse than last years, and they have the advantage they only can improve from their first guessing at it. I don't love drones as they're used now, BUT there's a lot of potential here, and it would be a shame not use them in a sport where some shot couldn't be taken otherwise. Realtime onboard cameras should be cool, but onestly, i don't know if the tecnology is applicable here. More on topic, coverage for ews has always been a joke but i think, in the early years there was a major effort by media outlets to make original content about it and this is missing nowadays (I follow PB, and a couple other sites for racing content, i'm not that invested to search the tube for athlete's content)...

@bertimusmaximus: THAT. Semis kill the vibe for me, not coverage

@likeittacky: IMHO, should go down like this: "I think ENDURO BIKES are a racers toy, not so much a need for the daily average shredder. TBH" The average shredder would be more at home on a trail bike or a dedicated park bike, depending on the available terrain. Looking at Canyon's lineup, i think that the Torque make more sense for the heavy hitting average joe than the Strive, but hey, isn't the strive's winning races under that Jesse guy? Must be THE ticket for me too

As much as i love my mazza/agarro 4c combo for trailriding, It's the first set since i went full maxxis 6 years ago or so that needed me to use an air compressor to set them up