Video: Leogang DH Course GoPro POV - UCI World Championships 2012

Aug 31, 2012 at 12:20
by Red Bull Canada  
photo



If you ever wanted to now what it's like to let gravity propel you down the side of the Austrian Alps, now's your chance. Mick Hannah and Brook Macdonald have both been downhill winners this year with Mick grabbing victory at the iXS German Downhill Cup round in Winterberg and Brook taking his maiden UCI World Cup win in Val d'Isère in July, and here they give us the GoPro course guide treatment for the World Championships in Leogang.

Australian Mick follows Brook down the course and has more to say than the Kiwi en route, though their awesome riding does a lot of the talking!

PHUNKT

Title image by Phunkt.com





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Member since Jul 9, 2012
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69 Comments
  • 52 3
 I loved the vid but it seems like Redbull uses the shittiest quality possible. I'm not dissing gopro in any way (I own one myself). I just think they should actually use gopro's awesome quality to their advantage.
  • 12 0
 i think the problem is with the video player cause sometimes the quality is good sometime not
  • 1 9
flag stokedcheech420 (Aug 31, 2012 at 13:10) (Below Threshold)
 just an opinion and believe me my name may make my views a tad jaded at times but with the world cup speed these fellows ride with maybe this has something to do with that weird fuzzy not so awseome go pro footage we mere mortals are used to.
  • 10 1
 Fairly sure the RedBull player adapts to your connection speed. So the problem is probably on your end.
  • 7 0
 this player is auto adjusting video quality to your internet speed. mine was mint but it's bad that you cant change it on your own.
  • 6 0
 I must be old. I thought the quality was good. I also don't have HD on my tv, sooo, I'll just stay out of this conversation.
  • 1 0
 Pretty much anything uploaded to the internet and watched via the internet has a fraction of its original quality. I thought it was OK for a helmet cam vid.
  • 1 0
 Yeah, what you guys are saying makes sense.

So can you call help me petition to make my mom buy a new router? ;D
  • 1 2
 No it's the video. I watch HD videos all the time on Youtube and for live streaming and it's never as jerky as this is. There's no way this is HD (probably 360p) and it's still jerky as f**k. Quite poor really. Not a good advertisment.
  • 2 0
 Quality is fine my end but I have a fast internet speed.
  • 1 0
 I watched on my iphone, quality was perfect and no jerkyness what so ever!
  • 1 0
 quality meh..
  • 25 1
 hooow cute turn each others go pros off
  • 8 0
 Best preview of a track I've seen all season. Somebody finally figured out that following another rider gives you a much better idea of what it's like. Go Pro's rule.
  • 6 0
 They need more GoPros! - Also its awesome to see them shredding down the line and i just rode there two weeks ago. When i look at my GoPro footage i feel like the first bike riding human ever.
  • 7 0
 it seeems that Brook LOOOOST the GoPro from the bike Big Grin D it was attached to the right side of the swingarm Big Grin D haha
  • 3 0
 I noticed that too. Free GoPro for someone ;-)
  • 3 0
 I think he lost it on 1:28. Smashed the Gopro to the side of the tunnel.
  • 1 0
 Yeah i think so, that he lost it there in the tunnel going on the inside line Big Grin
  • 4 0
 I think the average speed is much higher than a real DH track, it's different, Stevie Smith is going to slay this track!!!!!! Could be incredible if they have good camera angles
  • 5 0
 brook has some style and mick is sick too! great course preview from two great riders
  • 2 0
 I had some playback issues too, quality kept changing on me. What didnt change, is the amount of respect I have for WC racers. That was probably, by their standards, a fairly slow run, but wow, to me, they were flying. The strength and fitness of Hannah to be able to provide commentary while smashing through rooots/rocks/jumps that would throw most of us off line and down a hill is astounding. only says he starts breathing hard at 3:30. Brilliant.
  • 1 0
 Yeah it's nuts how fit they are I doubt I could make it all the way down , would prob have to stop some where in the middle crap part Razz
  • 4 0
 I was more out of breath watching it then he was narrating while shredding.... what a calm dude
  • 1 0
 I wonder if the staccato breathing heard in the early part of the run is air being forced in and out of his lungs due to hits?

Geese use the flapping of thier wings to force air in and out of their lungs which saves energy on migratory flights by not having to use the diaphragm (a muscle and therefore requires calories to function). I wonder if taking hits with your arms does the same thing?

Surely on of you DHers is studying physiology and could determine this.
  • 1 0
 The diaphragm is used to generate the negative pressure within the lungs. I'm not sure that repeated hits (other than falling off) is enough to displace anything more than physiological deadspace. Perhaps there is some degree (very low) PEEP but probably insignificant. Respiratory physicians correct me!
  • 1 0
 If I sit upright in a chair and bend sideways trying to touch my hips with my elbows) and I do this with my mouth open, it sounds like air is coming in and out of my lungs. I noticed this some years ago doing that old school abs exercise with a broom stick across your shoulders (useless AFAICT).

My theory with Mick's 'breathing' is that the volume of the chest cavity changes with hits, therefore it does what the diaphragm does - creates positive or negative pressure in the lungs (I don't know which).
  • 1 0
 You are almost right. To a degree, it will, in fact, before EAR (mouth to mouth) they used to flap people's arms to try and ventilate during cardiac arrest, but the volumes moved were not sufficient. The amount of air moved from flapping (not fapping people) or taking repeated hits from a dh track might be enough to shift the air in the upper airways, but not the alveoli where the magic happens. Also, the tidal volume for a big bloke like Mick would be (conservatively) 10 ml/kg during exercise, at least 900ml, but probably closer to 2 litres, each breath, times that by a resp rate of about 40/minute (guessing again) and you can see that the minute volume of breathing is huge, no way you can get that with repeated hits. But, yeah, to a degree, intra thoracic volume/pressure will change with arms moved. Apparently, respiratory muscle fatigue is what killed Jesus on the cross, but I wasn't there, ask the Romans...
  • 1 0
 Ta. I wasn't suggesting that taking hits would substitute for breathing, I was just wondering if that was the source of the staccato exhalations(?). From what you say I'm going to assume I'm right. Cheers mate.
  • 1 0
 Epic ride.

This kind of footage (and race coverage) has so much more quality and entertainment value than the big "polished" productions.
Sure they are visually stunning and good entertainment, but this stuff.. looking for the pro's trick on course, trying to predict their line choice and see how that matches up with they way I would try to ride it, comments on technique.. This is gold.
  • 1 0
 Watching it all over again and can't be more stoked .. More like they flyin' on this track then riding it.. Amazing speed and style!
  • 3 0
 isnt gwin shooting his run down? id like to see that
  • 3 0
 That Go Pro on the chain stay didnt last long...
  • 1 2
 go pro has packed them and their bikes full of cameras and they still havnt figured out the best way to film pov. side helmet mount, with the lense rotated so it shoots verticaly instead of horizontaly. also setting the cam to shoot in a 4:3 ratio helps
  • 1 0
 gopro helmet mount xxxxxl! now that was different....for not much of a different shot!
  • 4 2
 that angle from brook's helmet was awful
  • 1 0
 Omg! Why can't we have awesome track or trails like that out here in So Cal =(
  • 4 0
 Our best chance is big bear... rumors everywhere about them getting more serious again and building up a real dh park next year. I'll believe it when I see it.
  • 1 0
 we do have stuff like that here in socal. just need to know the right people and know where the trails are there.
  • 1 1
 Ha I call shenanigans dh433! I really don't think there's anything near something like on the video! Chances are I know most of the popular trails you know in socal but none are even a tenth of this track!
  • 1 0
 its not exactly like this but we have some forest riding like this. im not talking about skidmarks, sam hill trail,gwin trail, or laguna. theres alot more to socal than you would think. webb and GMR are not what im talking about either. i wouldnt even consider those DH trails.
  • 1 1
 Yeah those are like 85% of the popular good decent trails I know of! I can't complaint about webb and gmr. Their 5mins away from me Smile Guess i'm not as cool as you Frown
  • 1 0
 haha i dont like GMR cuz i broke my wrist there in a stupid turn haha but i used to live at the bottom of skidmarks so i just got super tired of it and its not even a fun trail for me anymore haha
  • 1 0
 1st time to gmr on my 1st run on the first double at the top over cleared by like 15 ft and went down hard ;( Broken wrist too! Last time I was at skidx on my last run, broke 2 ribs and wrist! injuries r no fun
  • 1 2
 I appreciate seeing all the first hand footage but all the cutting did nothing for me to get a grasp of the track. I liked the follow-cam on the side of the helmet the best, where you can see bars and wheel.
  • 2 0
 stevie smith - hope you take the win!
  • 1 0
 They soooo amazingly fast! Absolute fearless!!
  • 1 0
 WHOLLY CRAP, SIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!
  • 1 0
 They have no fear downhilling i love'emSmile
  • 1 0
 Brook Y u switch spring and damping leg?
  • 1 0
 Dear god, why can't a 14 yr old afford a DH bike?
  • 1 0
 hahaha 2:38 did he steer directly into those rocks?
  • 1 1
 Anyone know where there will be a live stream? cheers! Big Grin
  • 1 2
 freecaster.tv
  • 2 0
 here
  • 1 1
 redbull.tv (dont think its on freecaster this year - it was last year but it was pay per view).
  • 1 0
 Cheers dude!
  • 1 1
 clearly you didn't check freecaster.tv, there is only 1 stream but several different websites broadcast it, freecaster is one of them. check the site it has a countdown clock for it.

here is the direct link to the stream that I got from freecaster
uk.extreme.com/mountainbike/1021025/uci-mtb-world-championships-2012-dhi-down-hill-final-leogang-austria

It will most likely be on here (pinkbike) as well
  • 1 0
 Hooting!
  • 1 0
 Represent
  • 1 0
 Damn that looks fun
  • 2 1
 humpable
  • 1 1
 Pretty smooth DH track... ..
  • 3 0
 My thoughts too. It looked like about 75% of it you could do on a burly 6/6 bike, but then the rough sections would probably tank you pretty good. Just not that much of them tho. But ya, looks like a DH track I'd actually ride!! (except for the massive jumps at the end a couple gaps...of course) Smile
  • 1 0
 ok ok.. a smooth DH track doesn't exist... but this track looks a lot cleaner than most dh tracks(if the weather conditions are good...) I bet it can be muddy and slippery as f*ck when it rains...
  • 1 0
 Was there last year, this is as smooth as it gets from where I'm at all the way to South Tyrol in Italy. Rocks on roots on roots on rocks. No much of anything resembling a flow type of trail in these parts. Lat year however, was gnar with a capital G-N-A-R! Only about 20% of the people WALKING down it didn't fall, I fell somewhere probably 3 out of the 10 times I walked it last year although that was in the rain. Looks like the flow has been improved this year, should be a damn good race.
  • 1 0
 super sick !
  • 1 0
 Fuzzy disappointment







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