Remember when it took weeks, not seconds, to find out race results? Print magazines, not computer screens, used to be the medium that delivered race recaps, and I can remember eagerly watching the mailbox to find out who won last month's NORBA National. Fast forward a couple decades and it's a different story - we've grown so accustomed to having instant access to photos, videos, and results from all the major mountain bike events that even a slight hiccup in a live stream broadcast from the other side of the globe can cause a flurry of angry comments to appear.
But that doesn't meant there isn't room for improvement – imagine being able to see entire World Cup DH or Enduro World Series race runs from top to bottom, without any blind spots. Or what if every racer had a helmet cam, and you could watch the race from their perspective in real time? Hopefully there will come a time when the quality and amount of coverage between all mountain bike disciplines is equal, without sacrificing the difficulty or length of the race track, and choosing which event to watch will become the hard part.
For this week's poll, imagine that the weekend has arrived, and in some sort of scheduling snafu there's a World Cup, Enduro World Series, Red Bull Rampage and Crankworx all taking place at the same time. You only can only choose one event to watch live, and having multiple screens going simultaneously isn't possible. The coverage is exactly the same for all of the events – good camera angles, entertaining commentators, the works. Which one do you choose?
WC DH is now entirely dictated by RedBull in terms of venues and course types.
It seems ironic that what makes the sport so great is also kind of strangling it.
Be careful what you wish for
Don't get me wrong, I would love to see some live EWS stages but the more you think of it you realize how impractical it is.
Good luck !
Too bad we couldn't select more than one. WC DH, Rampage and Slopestyle.
Gone are the days when you would hear (they fighting for air harder then a chilean miner)
Could use helmet cams for coverage during the other stages, potentially with a edited highlight segment.
Real racing.
Cosplay unicyle polo?
A macaskill or semenuck created movie..... that is some beautifully created art.
I have great respect for the pros, but would rather be riding my bike than watching them..... it all gets pretty repetitive after a while.
I vacation with a couple of atherton/vein fanboys and every evening is watching their videos...... I am usually (happily) tuning up bikes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkoWkOyyGgc
www.pinkbike.com/video/462027
I'm gonna get a lot of hate and neg props for this but I have and always will see EWS as the place professional DH'rs "go out to pasture".
Wife - Crankworks
Youngest son - Crankworks
Oldest son - Wold Cup DH
Me - World Cup DH
Thanks God there IS multiple screens, others Armageddon would happen in my house on that day!
If giant slope courses can be built then why not 4X....?
Would love to see a US 4X and a world cup 4X series back
9th June
1st July
22nd September
4cross.eu/livestreams/leibstadt-2017
Couldn’t give two shits about Rampage, slopestyle or DJ stuff...
You ALL.. need to sit in a corner an have a word with yourselves
You should ALL be ashamed
BAD PB'ers!
Thing is.. Question is what we sooner Watch,
4X is without a doubt THE most exciting cycle sport to watch. I'm a bit bias but yeah there's bmx rampage etc etc
Whereas 'watching' XC is like watching paint dry