Run For Cover: Track Walk, Leogang DH World Cup
Yesterday was all smiles in the Austrian sky, but this morning the mountains of Leogang looked just plain angry. Weather was undoubtedly the talk of the town this afternoon, but there was a fair bit happening up on track in what is now Leogang's sixth year playing host to the downhill World Cup. While the great majority of the course is the same as recent years there's now a cacophony of brutally awkward sticking points that will only get significantly more sticky from here on in. Of course, however the course may have looked the afternoon is a little academic - throw a couple of hundred riders down the track multiple times in gratuitous rain and we will inevitably have a racetrack in tatters; a very different animal. Or 'beast' you might say, because this thing isn't going to be pleasant. Not one bit...
There were plenty of concerned faces in the pits... the forecast looks bleak at best even to Englishmen.
Rachel Atherton doesn't care what the clouds are doing. She's here to smash the competition for the 10th time in a row.
We had it too good in Fort William, we all knew it. Now comes payback time.
Time to batten down the hatches and get the bikes prepped. Mustn't forget the wet lube...
A couple of DH heroes doing tea. Who wouldn't want to grab the chocolate digestives and talk manly racing stories with these two?
Mechanic's ten commandments at the Propain Dirt pit.
Moisture: the essence of wetness. Theme of the day.
It was an umbrella kind of afternoon out there today.
Out of the gate without the usual stunning mountain vista... That should stop the wandering eyes, we've got a ourselves a track to focus on after all.
The Polygon UR Team begins their slip and slide down the soggy slopes of Leogang.
From afar the dirt looks pretty good.
But up close it's a bit of a mess.
These foolish riders were out riding the course when it was supposed to be closed. And they forgot their chains. Silly at best.
A view that doesn't get old... except on a geological timescale.
The high speed traverse a handful of turns in remains in the track...
... Just a lot soggier than we last saw it.
Finn Iles describes how sideways he's going to be in the mud when practice gets under way tomorrow.
Slimy mud and big slabs of rock usually do not mix together all that well, so expect a few folks to get loose through here tomorrow.
Manon Carpenter has had mixed luck here. Winning two years ago, but then getting DQ'd last year for going through the tape. After a rough start to the season, perhaps this is the race where she turns things around and puts an end to Rachel's nine race winning streak.
This is about the only thing the track in Leogang has in common with last week's venue in Fort William. Everything else, including the weather is almost completely the opposite.
You can't spell Leogang without T-U-N-N-E-L.
Austria's great hope and the Redcar Rocket compare how they rode the rocks last year.
Same as it ever was...
Half way through the day and there was no sign of the partly sunny skies that were forecast.
See these beautiful woods just waiting to be ridden through?
Half of them were cut down, and the track has been rerouted out into the open this year.
We're stumped as to the reason why.
Just a little steepness.
Off camber, muddy, fresh, and with questionable flow. Some riders are already hating on it while others are optimistically excited to see how things will play out here.
Italian national champ and sixth place at Fort William, Veronika Widmann smiling through the spitting rain.
Marc Beaumont checks for a good line on the step drop in.
The Wood of Fame pays tribute to all the previous winners here in Leogang.
Champion of the World here in Leogang four years ago - it's Bergamont's Ms. Charre.
The man of the moment.
The memorial for 2013's conqueror of the mountain.
#LongLiveChainsaw
Faustin Figaret trying to figure out this future mud bath for team Radon.
This area is something of treacherous wasteland already and that's before three more days of forecast rain.
It's definitely not pretty, and it definitely won't be easy to get through here this weekend.
Much of the "new" open section looks a bit like this when you get down to boot level.
Some of the bigger jumps have been removed, but other than that much of the flat traverse found mid course remains the same as year's past.
Not the steepest section, but still plenty fast as Aaron Gwin proved last year, winning without putting down a single pedal stroke here.
Rocks at speed; all in a day's work after Fort William.
There isn't much rock here naturally so the track builders in Leogang have constructed four of their own rock gardens.
Tunnel or giant storm drain, only time will tell.
Leogang's signature giant wooden berms remain in place before the final woods.
This wire's been with us for a few years, but hey, it beats the grip everywhere else right now.
Slip sliding away coming into the steep woods section.
Troy Brosnan contemplates which of the three lines available will get him through the fastest.
No denying this is a big round in the points race against Gwin.
Forest ferns loving the conditions right now.
Wide taping is usually a good thing, and while there seems to be an obvious exit line in this section, getting onto it will be no easy task.
Right now you can see all the slick roots which is nice.
Once practice starts they will be completely hidden from sight under the slick mud which isn't so great.
Cold and smokey trees lower down in the valley.
One of many looking for redemption after a crisis in the highlands. Madison Saracen's Marc Beaumont.
The infamous rock garden in the last wooded section. Get this one wrong and you'll likely be feeling it for a few weeks.
There are a few reroutes away from the old track in the lower woods, and all of them lead straight into some slick and big mud. Let's hope some good ruts form here or else it's going to be a nightmare in spots.
This guy wasn't the only one scratching his head and wondering what to do with the thick mud through this section.
Good news as Gee Atherton tells us he's in alright shape after his big digger in the Highlands.
This section has been used year after year in Leogang without incident, but organizers have now decided that this year there needed to be safety ladders to get down the pair of one-meter drops.
Gone is the last high speed turn and hip into the finish arena.
This year it's just a straight line the whole way in.
And that is what the sixth year of World Cup racing in Leogang has to offer. Let the games begin.
That's some messy viewing guaranteed...
And it's a 15:13 for Fairclough... Not a great time for this course, but it's the taking part that counts. Everyone's a winner.
Hoping for a bit more of a gap in the cloud for the weekend ahead. But being honest, that doesn't look at all likely.
Author Info:
Member since Jul 19, 2007
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
And it's super apparent when you ride at a place like Schladming that has complete flow from start to finish but is mad steep and technical at the same time. This is also what frustrates the racers since it's only a little over an hour away.
I mean.. when you just hit something you really feared for months or so and then take a photo of it.. then you watch it .. and then you fall into depression
Do you know what happened to the line in Schladming that was used for the 2009 world cup?
( this one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=utS0cFAzqbo)
Here is the course check for last year's IXS race:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSfQHz_4f3A
Leogang seems to go about it in some very strange ways, like @betsie says, it's a bike park with pretty crappy man made tech stuff thrown in with no thought to flow of the line.
Seems many other teams didn't like parts of it too : dirtmountainbike.com/news/leogang-course-modified-following-team-feedback.html
Interesting that they moaned about the new rocks on the bike park section before riding the rocks. Would rather see planted rocks than 1 minute of speed tuck and jumps.
Will be interesting to see what people think after the evolution of the track over them next 2 more days of riding and racing.
You can only do so much with a hill that's got a bike park on it, for 1 weekends racing a year.
Too much ike park just became too much natural tough... lol.
He is due for a #1 - and is in sharp form this season. All the best Mate - smash it.
The beetles are natural but in the past timber companies were able to control the outbreaks; now they are not allowed to, and the USDA cant manage the forests properly given the current regs..
Cheers to your Dad!
Most timber companies and mills in the PNW closed due to his regs. The Salmon and other commercial fisheries were also mortally damaged. Rural Pacific Northwest has still not recovered financially although Pot cultivation is helping.
In all fairness Clinton did do many positive things for the economy; this was not one of those things.
"I Just Dont Give A Flying f*ck What The Weather's Doing, Im Still Gonna Come First"
face on Rachel Atherton in that second pic is classic..........
I feel for her actually. When people are expecting you to win and aren't even impressed when you do (judging by the PB comments on her previous results) it is like you can only fail. That you'd have to defend it if you place second. Sure she has the skills to do well here, but the conditions are unpredictable. If you go through the tape in certain sections you'll easily lose several seconds to scramble back up to the point where you left off. Sure I hope she does well, but that's all.
To release some of the pressure, she's already had ten victories in a row up against this field if you include the Worlds.
instantrimshot.com
(I'll see myself out)