Video: Ben Cathro Battles the Dust in his Course Preview for the 2022 Vallnord DH World Cup

Jul 14, 2022 at 4:31
by Ed Spratt  

Ben Cathro and Thibault Laly ride the insanely dusty track in Andorra Vallnord Bike Park.


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65 Comments
  • 66 0
 What about a shout for the editing with that mechanical!! beautiful work.
  • 41 0
 Nice one boys. Track could use a good soaking. I hope we never see another bad finish to a track like this one again.
  • 6 2
 If I had to ride this track wet I'd shit my pants. There's so much off-camber on what already might be one of the steepest tracks on the circuit right now. Just look at all those baby finger roots, it would be absolute chaos... and really good VitalMTB footage...
  • 2 1
 @ryanandrewrogers: rode the original and steeper track in a monsoon at world masters, it was a blast, so much fun, crapnrace track though unless you like goat trails. So glad this one looks mellower and wider.
  • 15 0
 Woah that last bridge to drop is sketchy. I thought they were exaggerating at first, then I realized everyone was saying the same thing, and I was thinking to myself "surely it's not THAT bad." but seeing that video I can definitely see what they're talking about. Those beams going overhead are wayy to close for comfort, and there's virtually no speed for the drop once you go around that corner.
  • 16 0
 I got the impression they were all concerned about going off it too fast and slamming into the car park, not too slow to make it safely.
  • 1 0
 @irankin9114: exactly, lack of speed doesn't seem like a problem here. Going too fast is a concern + grip at the landing
  • 2 0
 @irankin9114: And the landing is too flat.
  • 9 2
 Watch Kerr's track walk vid. It looks so sketchy and weird. I do love how this is now the only spot of contention among PB users when a few weeks ago, a bunch of people were saying the whole track is too sketchy and fast, its horrible, too dangerous, etc. LOL boy how the bandwagon's opinion changes based on what the racers say.
  • 3 0
 @ciechan: I hate those rubber mats you find in some bikeparks, feels like horrible mix of flat tire and no control, would not want to land on it at full speed!!!
  • 2 0
 @scott-townes: To quote Jordi Cortes in the latest Dialed video "little bit worried that in order to win here the risk is gonna be really high.." I haven't changed my opinion. Fingers crossed for the race and everyone gets down safely, it will certainly be exciting.
  • 2 0
 @ddmonkey: I hate to break it to Jordi but to win ANY world cup race, the risks are very high.
  • 20 1
 This Track reeks of Amaury!!!
  • 9 0
 I blew my budget to get him this week
  • 2 0
 Everyone is racing for second this week I feel. It's almost a certainty for Amaury!
  • 12 3
 Really really shitty that the entire field can say that a feature is dangerous, or just not the right fit, and nothing is done about it. I think about Snowshoe a few years ago, there was a double at the bottom and they realized the speed was just not going to be there for everyone so in the afternoon of trackwalk day they built a big ass wooden bridge in between to turn it into a tabletop.

This bridge needs to go. Obviously they want to keep that road open, but just shoot the riders down the side of the hill and end on the close side of the road? This ending is so dumb. But what's more frustrating is the riders who have to compete on it have no way to fix this.
  • 11 0
 The snowshoe feature was actually a step-in step-out wooden satellite thing before they changed it; they just flattened the bridge to make it work.
  • 2 2
 All these riders are very capable of riding the feature safely. It just becomes another part of the track to judge speed correctly.
  • 9 1
 This race will be the closest thing to my local trail conditions @ Laguna Beach.

Cmon Aaron Gwin, you got this! Just like home!
  • 8 0
 Colorado front range could have looked like this...but no
  • 5 0
 Arghhh ye matey that's why we all became pirates out here! Honestly though, even in the bike park, Colorado is pretty mellow. Respond accordingly (and don't get caught Cop )
  • 3 0
 @ryanandrewrogers: haha so true. Pirate trails are the best anyway
  • 7 0
 I ducked just watching him go under those beams at the finish. Jeez!!
  • 1 0
 He actually is the Hans Knauß of Mountain Bike. All the Austrians know what I'm talking about Smile ) youtu.be/Dfck7kLAUVE like in downhill skiing, in the vid it looks kinda easy, right?! Razz
  • 3 0
 How much better does the old track look though. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2tAEA2s_vg&ab_channel=GoPro
  • 2 0
 They still loved rubber mats on bridges back then
  • 6 2
 Honestly, that is the worst world cup level track I've ever seen.
  • 6 0
 How long are you following the DH world cup?
I'm guessing not for long.
  • 1 0
 @nozes: like 10 years?
It's just my personal opinion on this track.
  • 2 0
 Not as bad as the one in Canberra. But pretty bad.
  • 1 0
 @nozes: even compared to todays tracks it looks boring, never mind 15 years ago.
  • 1 0
 Pinkbike & Redbull scored picking up Cathro as a presenter/racer. Love his videos! I had always enjoyed Claudio’s track previews, Cathro is just a entertaining
  • 2 0
 At 2:10 he says get got rid of something after rider feedback. What was it? I couldn’t understand what he said.
  • 4 0
 Bus stop
  • 1 1
 @mi-bike: that was soooo dumb. Glad it is gone.
  • 3 0
 @mi-bike: that’s what thought he said. But then I was like WTF is a bus stop, that can’t be right.

So my next question is what the f*ck is a bus stop?
  • 6 0
 @sino428: Basically a bus stop is a deviation to the side of the main line.
  • 1 1
 @commental: i guess it's the feature at 1:49 in the first video on this page ("the track"), where the rider gets pushed left? m.pinkbike.com/news/pinkbike-primer-a-completely-new-track-for-the-2022-vallnord-dh-world-cup.html. Doesn't look tooo sketchy but comes closest to what you describe.
  • 1 0
 @mi-bike: It's at that point, the rocks on the right. Essentially there was a very clear line but they pushed the riders to the right into a pile of hidden rocks, to slow them down. It was not the right place to do it and with the hidden rocks was dangerous.
  • 1 0
 @mi-bike: thanks, I see it. I have never heard that bus stop term before.
  • 5 0
 @mi-bike: No, it was to the right of the main line. Bernard shows it on his track walk video starting @13.36.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGnwCZtz_0U
  • 5 0
 @sino428: i think its definitely a British term. I've used it to explain bits of a trail to foreign riders at home and abroad only to be met with blank looks .

Imagine the main trail, whether it be single-track, double track, forest road whatever , and there's a cut on the upside of the hill to swing you off the track then back onto it. Usually it's to slow you down, or to hit a fun feature so called coz it looks a bit like a siding for a bus op
  • 1 0
 *bus stop . Fecking phone typing is a pain
  • 1 0
 @forkbrayker: i might be way off and sorry to be pedantic but can you have a bus stop on the low side of a track too? I can't think of any examples though. Best example I can think of bus stops is the final section of the matador run at innerleithen
  • 1 0
 @fingerbangextreme: technically I suppose you can, but practically speaking It would be a pain in the hoop to build, I imagine most builders would just carry on descending instead of popping back up to main line. Not sure which bit of matador you mean . Before or after the final road crossing?
  • 1 0
 @forkbrayker: The term has been used in auto racing circles forever. If a person isn't an auto racing fan then I can see how they wouldn't know.
  • 1 0
 I noticed it in the Track Walk and was wondering why it jetted right. Glad they took it out
www.pinkbike.com/photo/22957642
  • 2 0
 @NealWood , cheers.
  • 1 0
 The top of this track is the best I´we seen at a watchers point of view. But since Redbull don't show much at the top I'm afraid we won't see the best part at the broadcast.
  • 2 0
 Is it just me or has the content from these events slowly become quite awesome? Love watching this stuff!
  • 2 0
 It's just you, been awesome for years.
  • 2 0
 Paved finish area is sad, but probably good given the dust.
  • 5 6
 Yeah because the last 200ft of the course are so important to be covered in dirt
  • 3 1
 Time stamp for Brook's "first run blind stump gap"?
  • 2 0
 3:08 but Ben mentions something about getting rid of the stumps
  • 1 1
 @luckymixes: thanks
  • 3 4
 Holy dust bowl batman, I was looking for my goggles watching this. now my keyboard is covered in dust. This track is going to get so blown out, its so fast and loose. Can't wait till race day.
  • 1 0
 Track looks good, but wonder what will be blown out like by race runs?
  • 7 0
 the track
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