emilyh

@Racement: The french rounds are listed on the UCI calendar and have been for some time now. It's a shame they clash, but it is what it is. You can't please all the people all the time ;-)

Way more interesting is that the points scale for Women's World Cup finals now goes down to 20th place. Top 20 finals next year?! About time, if so. Depth of competition is so strong now.

@stormracing: I'll second what Isaac said. The Addix version of the tyres just seem to wear like a normal tyre, knobs are not ripping off anymore.

Vol-Biv sounds right up my street! Been thinking of learning to fly so I don't have to hike down (makes me knees hurt too much), but vol-biv?? That sounds rad. Anyway flying aside, so happy to read that you like bikes again! Or more that you have done a ride, got home, planned to do another.. I hope that is along with a fuzzy little feeling about something "new" and "exciting" that you want to keep doing.. something like that anyway. Big up and thanks for sharing!

I raced World Cups on and off from 2002 til 2012 and then went back this year and did Lenzerheide and Leogang. 10 years ago even at Fort William I don’t remember parking being that big an issue as a privateer, and it was absolutely no concern at all at any other race I did. This year every other privateer and myself felt like we were second rate citizens who’d been completely disregarded. It was quite stressful , particularly at Leogang where we were being pushed from pillar to post in terms of where to park. The lack of communication in advance on the ESO website was particularly frustrating. You basically had to turn up on the Monday before to figure out where to park because there was no info. You needed that time to figure out what would work before things got busy and security started checking vehicles moving on and off site. It really did feel like they didn’t care about the privateers at the very basic level (I.e parking somewhere that’s within reasonable distance of the lift). And given the fact that entry fees apparently doubled compared to 2022, what more did riders get for their money?

I’ve found that I have to wind my pins in with CB shoes (which you have to run a cleat spacer with too) just so I can actually clip in. When you’re not clipped in the spring mechanism is still kinda proud of the pedal so I don’t feel like there’s loadsa grip unclipped. Different shoes may not have this problem but I haven’t tried.

Drone footage is cool, but it's better when it's not weaving around in the woods. I had to turn away so as not to get sick, especially at the footage from Andorra.

@stefkrger: Josh Carlson worked well with Cedric I thought, they were a better match when Josh stood in on Friday for juniors. But yes Gwin was really good.

How much better is a one-run final with a sensible number of riders in it. Scrap Semi-Finals, they're just a boring waste of time! Stoked for Nina too, she'd said earlier on Misspentsummers that she didn't think she could beat Vali... well turns out she can.

@edspratt: I'm still getting WC documentation having attended the first two rounds. Got sent a map the other day if you want to compare it to what you've found? Lemme know, I'll DM you. Glad I'm not there though, I'm on a team but a small one and still sounds/looks complicated with the stupid pit situation. As for this ridiculous points situation, it's completely unreal. I hope they get it sorted out asap, I'm sure Adam's not the only one affected by it. They need to come up with a point allocation and then retrospectively award them to all riders who've quali'd 31st - 60th, and actually if anyone's been pushed down by a protected rider, he needs to get at least a point too. Same for the women if they are also not scoring points, which I assume they are not if they quali 11th-15th. I mean come on... you can be 15th best woman in the World and not gain ranking points. What the hell.