marxrydz

I remember. I only got to race the Northstar EWS but did a lot of CES races. Hopefully things get back to what it was before UCI/WBD. I seem to remember from the Pinkbike articles great photos and still media journalism being enough to excite people. I don’t think I ever watched one of their YouTube edits. I also think the team setups were much simpler, a rental van, a mechanic and just the riders making it work on the cheap. I assume the mechanic could cook pasta for the riders or order up some pizza but maybe there was a sognier too or something for the bigger teams. It seemed like Ella Connelly kicked ass just camping out in the can with the regular folks. Also, the most important thing is that the average Joes raced some version of the same courses and we were there live to see the pros but were also there to compete. It felt more grassroots and raw. My plan was to hit more of the EWS races but then the takeover happened and it went down the toilet.

@chrismac70: great to hear. If there had been any EDR’s within a days drive of SoCal in the past 7 years I would have done them. I’m injured now but hopefully I get it sorted enough to start racing by next year and we get some big races in the western USA. We lost our CA Enduro Series too so it’s looking bleak. Hopefully one of the other existing races becomes part of this new series or they develop something else. Hoping for a ‘27 filled with events for me.

@samchuk: the EWS trotted the globe all over Oceania, South America, North America and obviously Europe. Hopefully we get back to something like that and just do photo journalism like PB used to do for EWS (pre UCI). The DH & XC are better TV than enduro or festivals.

Watching a bike race is like watching an orgy. If that’s the only way you can experience it fine but participate in one and hopefully you’re hooked. The nice thing about EWS prior to UCI was it was still a participatory event. Common folk went to the races and got to see the pros live and race themselves, hang out in pits, chat with hero’s on lifts or transfers or during practice day. I only got to do the Northstar EWS in 2019 but planned to do more in 2020 but we know what happened there. PB’s race recaps and amazing photos (thank you Sven) was all I needed to find out what happened and want to go to ride or race in some of the locations. Let’s get over broadcasting everything and go out and ride or race or whatever your particular kink is. The current DH and XC broadcasts of World Cup is great but we don’t need more.

Why not go all in and bring back the Kamikaze games or something similar. This mountain started bike park lift assist riding. Maybe have one of the US Pro DH races, National champs, A World Cup, a big mountain enduro (now that CA Enduro is extinct) or something extravagant. These seem like small grassroots events which is great but mammoth should do more.

I try to only buy bikes from brands that are still owned and run by the founders or at least kept out of the hands of the conglomerates or bought back for pennies on the dollar after some VC vulture ran them into the ground. The last cannondale I bought was a 1988 SM 700 road bike that I got on employee purchase when I was a shop rat. We're 2 generations on from the "core" days of most of the PON brands. The majority of them were bought out by Pacific and their names dragged through the mud and then they were scooped up by PON at fire sale prices. I think the only one of their bikes I might consider would be a SC V-10.

When it was EWS it was much better. More locations and actually happening all over the world. You could also go to a venue and actually race like we used to do at NORBA and Grundig World Cups. The Northstar EWS was one of the best bike racing events of my life and I started racing BMX in ‘77 and MTB in ‘84. I’m not sure I ever cared too much about following it and watching videos but I knew what was going on from Instagram and rider posts more than actual coverage. DH is more fun to watch on TV but should that mean you don’t put on events that can’t be shown on TV? Enduro is such a good format for your average gravity racer. It would be great if UCI/WB just let it go and someone that cares about it takes it over.

Yep. I wish they went with that 2021 Gwin prototype instead of the current M1. Odd that Gwin couldn't deal w/ the VPP when he was on intense and went through 2 years or umpteen prototypes to develop the current M1 and then leaves and gets on a crestline and says it was right from day 1. Seems like a wild goose chase. Jackson and others seem to have done just fine on a VPP. Incidentally that platform is almost the same as the M16 so not sure why they couldn't have just stuck w/ the same basic design as well this entire time. Refine. No need to throw out the baby w/ the bath water.

@weeksy59: Now you know how anyone from outside Europe feels about everything being on that continent. It needs to be more spread out so everyone shares the cost, jet lag, unfamiliarity, etc. If it means smaller rigs or travel setups like the olden days so be it. They made it work w/ rental vans and EZ-UP's in some of the far flung destinations and the racing doesn't seem to suffer.

Is anyone else having an issue NOT seeing the race show up in the HBO MAX app? XCC & DH are there but no XCO