econbus

All well and good if you have access to Discovery. I paid for the Cycle Sports package which I assumed would cover all the races.

The first world championships I've missed in 15 years - what a shit show from the UCI. How can they grow the sport if nobody can watch it?

They were asking for $2k per rider appearance money - a total of $32K extra per event or around $130k per year. Set against the billions of dollars in revenue that Redbull make every year, this is peanuts. It took a lot of guts for them to pull the plug on this event and as Max said, it really was their last resort. Redbull do a great job for the viewers but they are using their monopoly power to undercut the riders and keep their costs down. The riders are just trying to cut up the pie a little more fairly and even if they were to win all their demands, most of them would still earn less than a supermarket checkout assistant. The idea that they should accept low wages because they love their job is the same one put forward to screw teachers and nurses. We all have to earn a living and pay the bills somehow. I wish the riders good luck in their fight for a living wage. And by the way, I did pay for World Cup DH coverage last year, so I'm happy to pay a reasonable fee for quality entertainment.

What an incredible start to the season! I thought the commentary got better in the final - they were a bit subdued in the semi's but it was hard not to get excited in those final 10 runs. Rick and Cedric did a decent job, not a patch on Rob Warner of course, but nothing is forever. There was an annoying time lag issue with the commentary - around 2 seconds, which meant the commentators announced the results before the rider had crossed the finishing line. We saw a lot more of the race in the finals, as you'd expect. I paid $40 for a 1 year subscription to GCN+ here in HK - not an extravagant sum of money. The camera work was generally very good although they should stop filming the big drops head on or from behind to give you a better appreciation of the magnitude of the jumps.Overall, I really enjoyed it and I'm already stoked for next weekend.

Its not just about you, it's your family and friends you should also care about. They will be the ones who have to suffer if you have a serious injury or worse by not wearing a helmet. I get the freedom issue but its no different to wearing a seat belt. Why turn a minor accident into a major disaster just because it's a bit uncomfortable to wear a helmet?