Video: Charlie Murray Previews Stages 4 to 7 at the Châtel EDR World Cup 2023 by edspratt

22 Comments

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calcrossland26 FL (Sep 15, 2023 at 4:03)

I don't get why they always tape the jumps out of World Cup enduro stages? Understandably, at a grassroots level there may be more crashes, but this is the World cup! The best enduro racers in the world, and they still have to ride round all the jumps that on a normal day, anybody in the area can try!

callumandhisbike (Sep 15, 2023 at 8:05)

There's a big difference in the speed the average bloke goes down those trails vs a pro rider on the charge for the win. Jumps where you just need trail speed to hit the landing become a lot more dangerous when their going 20mph faster than the speed the track is designed for.

willstevenson100 FL (Sep 15, 2023 at 9:23)

@callumandhisbike: Isn't that meant to be part of the skill for an international level professional racer?

SintraFreeride (Sep 15, 2023 at 12:23)

They do it because of the amateur class that runs a few days earlier. It's ridiculous!

Lagr1980 FL (Sep 15, 2023 at 21:37)

@callumandhisbike: stage 4 jumps are not trail speed jumps.., but i had assumed these would be open for pros.. the b line and main line open for amateurs is a huge problem for people catching riders.. most semi-pro lines of stg 5 were closed as well, at least for amateurs

SintraFreeride (Sep 15, 2023 at 22:38)

@Lagr1980: I was there for the taping of some stages it was a UCI decision.

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ciechan (Sep 15, 2023 at 3:53)

Did enduro racing just become bikepark racing? Can't f*cking believe it

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JohSch (Sep 15, 2023 at 4:18)

Doing their best to kill the EWS, no real coverage, lame venues like the Leogang Bikepark or Crans Montana where riding is bikepark only or forbidden rest of the year. Now the teams are already starting to size down or close altogether

l0key (Sep 15, 2023 at 4:26)

or is there no money for building frersh trails that are semi resistent to the weather so they don't have to cancel/reroute stages due to slopfests?

Also interesting to see pros times on some bits you've reiden yourself or to find what line i was supposed to take as opposed to monster trucking it through the middle and hoping for the best

danstonQ (Sep 15, 2023 at 9:35)

If you don't only watch the stage 4 and go a bit further the answer is no. Stage 4 sucks indeed.

SintraFreeride (Sep 15, 2023 at 12:24)

Stages 1, 2 and 3 are very natural. The pros are loving them.

Lagr1980 FL (Sep 15, 2023 at 21:39)

@SintraFreeride: all new, out of any bikepark yes, fantastic off camber and loamy feast

SintraFreeride (Sep 15, 2023 at 22:37)

@Lagr1980: I know I built them.

winko FL (Sep 16, 2023 at 12:09)

@SintraFreeride: why no chanada for edr? Or of you happen to know, would it be possible to host a race on Morzine non official trails?

Lagr1980 FL (Sep 16, 2023 at 19:15)

@SintraFreeride: hats offfff

SintraFreeride (Sep 18, 2023 at 1:12)

@winko: Chanada is too short and too steep for an EDR round. The same rules apply for the non official trails in Morzine.

Having said that I did not choose the bikepark stages, I mainly worked on the 4 natural stages in Chatel.
You'd be surprised how many changes we made and jumps we taped off to lower the difficulty for the amateur/open class, which apparently is now more important than the Pros.

SintraFreeride (Sep 18, 2023 at 1:14)

@Lagr1980: Thanks. Great fun working on the natural trails and having great feedback from the riders. Never thought that when I created "Inbloom" (stage 3) in 2018 that one day it would be used for World Cup Enduro race!

Lagr1980 FL (Sep 18, 2023 at 4:00)

@SintraFreeride: I remember in former EWS venues, like Crans Montana, they would open the main lines/jumps to the pros, after EWS80/100 passed by

weeksy59 FL (Sep 15, 2023 at 5:08)

There's been a lot of comments about EDR this and WCDH that, but these vids above really highlight that what the EDR racers race is more 'real world' to the vast majority of PBers i'd bet... It's the meat and bones of what many of us do week in week out (but harder of course), but you can do to any old school trail center and it's in some way relatable to the riding above... So it's more in tune with what we can and see often...

carlitouk (Sep 15, 2023 at 13:23)

In which case we may as well bin F1 and just stream all us folks driving our cars around our regular roads. That would be more relatable.

danstonQ (Sep 15, 2023 at 9:38)

Thanks Charlie for sharing. Good luck Man!

weeesel (Sep 15, 2023 at 6:40)

all you need to see is ratboy training laps for edr-e, especially this charming sequence: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MayKSzNp6_A&t=360s
yw