BetterRide

@Beyond-The-Tape: cool, I know how frustrating that can be. Have you tried WhatsApp? US to South Africa sounds sharp, video calls too!

Got through about half of it and it was educational. I dealt with Martin a few times when I hired Greg Minnaar as a guest coach in my downhill camps and always wondered what his background in the sport was. Had to stop listening as that buzz in the background was annoying. Was a drone flying overhead during the interview? Also seems like a conflict of interest to work for the UCI and manage athletes and teams at the same time.

Did Minnaar just miss qualifying by one place?!

@Lagr1980: Minnaar by one place.

@icespec: thanks for letting me know you appreciated that! I have been coaching mountain bike skills for 20 years and love helping riders/racers like you. Create your best season yet!

Excellent article. I've spent the last 20 years coaching recreational riders up to top pros like Mitch Ropelato, Cody Kelly, Shawn Neer, Mckay Vezina, Luca Commetti, etc. Another reason runs that feel fast often aren't is you are looking where you should be (4-8 seconds ahead) and reacting instead of proacting. The further you look ahead the slower it feels (because you have more time to proact to what the trail throws at you. Timing runs when working on bike setup is key, as what feels fast often isn't fast. Exit speed wins races! Look at Minnaar and Ropelato, they are amazing at slowing down to the perfect entrance speed for corners to exit fast, they both look they aren't even trying. Braking to slow down in a corner kills exit speed, enter at a speed where you won't need to brake in the corner. This often feels slows but pays off big! "Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast!" (old saying from car and moto racing) A great way to test this is to find a corner that exits uphill and coast as far as you can up the hill after the corner. Experiment with different entrance speeds and figure out what entrance speed gives you the most exit speed. Take advantage of all the resources available to you. I meet Greg Minnaar when I was following him! I saw his name on the start list at the NORBA National at Brian Head so I went up the lift and waited for him to drop in and I followed him to learn his lines. If you aren't a pro walk the track doing pro practice and watch the lines the top guys are using, better yet time their lines and figure out which line is faster. Learn to corner correctly! Believe it or not, it isn't "personal style" there are correct and efficient ways to corner and a good coach can teach them to you. Mitch Ropelato in an interview in the Oct. 2009 issue of DIRT Magazine: Dirt Magazine: "You seem to be able to turn amazingly, what do you put that down to? Got any special tires on there? Mitch Ropelato: " Ya, Gene Hamilton is to thank for that, I took is clinic last December in Bootleg Canyon and he was able to show me the correct technique I needed to pull them off." There is so much you can learn from good coaching, just because you can get down a trail doesn't mean you are doing it in the fastest and most efficient way.

Like maybe the dates of the race?

Yeah Jamie, Nate and Sarah, crushing it!

Adidas owns 5.10 and they are/(maybe were by now, not sure) planning on phasing out the 5.10 name. This is a way to get their name into the mtb world before the 5.10 change. Other than Adidas owning 5.10 the rest is just rumor/speculation.

A similar version of this was how I got into mountain bike racing. In 1992 I wanted a new mountain bike but couldn't afford one. A shop owner told me about KHS's grass roots team. If you pledged to do at least 5 races wearing their Jersey they would sell you a bike for 10% above wholesale (through a local shop) tand then if you showed proof of doing those 5 races you would get the 10% above cost that you paid back. There were also podium incentives as I recall. Great way to get riders promoting your bikes and the local shop that sells them.