Super tight racing meant for an exciting race for the first EWS round of 2022 here in the Tweed Valley, Scotland, but who came out on top? Tom Bradshaw and Christina Chappetta were trackside to follow all the action.
I couldn't even make it half way, perhaps i could've done better with the sound off? I guess to offer some constructive criticism, ease off on the bro lingo? As a non-north american, I guess it's the whole snowboard culture/language that has trickled down in mountain biking over the past few years but still, it does become cringey. Also perhaps don't throw a camera into the riders face 2 seconds after they finish a run, it could allow for some more actual conversation, instead of bro-ing out with somebody that's Vo2 maxed for the last 5+ minutes.
Tom and Christina seem like good people, not sure why their tactics are getting a little too deep into trying to be cool guy/gal. It almost seems like Outside is trying to push their style too far.
@chmurka3rg: Agreed. The bro-talk was pretty limited, imo. This whole comment thread is just people tumbling over one another trying to out-express their dissatisfaction over the content. I wasn't a fan of the interviewer-fist-bumping-the-interviewee, but who cares. Do they make it for me? Obviously not.
Tell me Mountain Biking is overly represented by socially awkward Nerds & Dorks without telling me Mountain Biking is overly represented by socially awkward Nerds & Dorks...
@mi-bike: It's simpler than 'out-expressing one's dissatisfaction'. If you like the bro-talk, button your lip and hope for more. If you prefer a grown-up presentation, express your opinion and hope they'll take note and change gears.
@tigerfish50: I dislike bro-ism as much as the next grown up, but really didn't think it was all that bad here. Apart from Maes who looked properly annoyed ("did you pump it out?" Lol), most of the riders didn't seem to mind the style of questioning or the questions themselves. Just my opinion.
@mi-bike: Well, I thought it was pretty bad, and apparently so do a bunch of other people. I do agree with the poster who said he thought they were good people. CC appeared to be the worst offender, but she's clearly an intelligent person who can be an excellent presenter. You don't see any of this nonsense when she's analyzing competitors' performances in PBA. In that arena, she's sympathetic, sober and articulate. Displaying those qualities, she shows respect to the competitors.
Enduro at this level requires skill and courage laced with ice-cold precision - I'd just like to see a little of that reflected in the commentary. Maybe they just had a dopey director or editor.
I suggest you should follow the "Ben Cathro" model . I would like to see some analysis of the stages, the tricky points, what worked best/worst for the podium athletes. Not another WynTV style show for EWS.
totally...but noticed that lately in other videos too. They both seem like two fine people, but they're forcing the whole coolness-attitude a bit too much in my opinion. We're not in the US and neither in CAN, so just keep it cool you guys without "dudeing out" too much lol
I don’t understand why they are putting a microphone to the riders mouth, within seconds of them crossing the line? Maybe if you gave them a moment to catch their breath and process their thoughts, you may get some more worthy content?
It’s not an easy job being an on camera host. What makes it waaay easier is if you have a good director, or you can direct yourself well. Knowing what you want to ask the athletes in advance helps too… that keeps you from spotting throwaways like “aren’t bikes fun?” at a rider who is essentially doing “work”. Travelling to the event puts the pressure on. Do your homework in advance, but be aware of things that happen in the moment that you think the viewers will want to see and hear about. Track the local talent (PB is Canadian, so let’s hear from the u21’s) and get the stories in the pits by talking to the coaches and mechanics too. The support people are often better sources than the racers themselves. I did this on camera stuff for a long time and it was very clear on camera when I’d done work in advance and really thought about what I wanted to say or ask in advance, and when I didn’t. If PB is buying plane tickets and accommodation for on site talent, that wont last very long if the whole team doesn’t raise its game. That is in large part seen as the responsibility of the in air talent, but like any good performance, the end result is about “coaching” from management about what they want to see and how to achieve those results. Good luck! There’s nothing quite like being there, you just have to have a plan to take advantage of it!
@xy9ine: showing your age of you remember that show! I did Olympic and World Cup snowboarding for CBC at one time… that was hard as I loved snowboarding, but really had no interest in the events themselves except for snowboard cross. I felt it really showed in the events we presented… I was totally winging it for alpine and halfpipe, where I’d actually have something to say about the athletes and their stories in SBX. That’ll be the advantage for the Pinkbike team as they genuinely seem to love biking and enduro racing is biking so fun to watch and follow.
Would love to see something (anything) of the U21’s. How about our BC gal Emmy taking the top spot, winning every stage with a commanding lead of 45 seconds. I know they are not the pros but some coverage the U21 race would be nice.
Some coverage beyond the top 3 of the pros would be nice as well. Martin Maes obviously had a mechanical and he's usually a top contender... who was this not a story? Not even mentioned? And by both Pinkbike and EWS/GMBN or whatever is going on with the coverage these days.
Man, how does EWS coverage manage to somehow get even worse every year...
@CM999: Yes, also a huge story! I found out later through comments that he has basically just recovered from shoulder surgery and had just started riding hard again right before the race. How is that not covered?? How are they not asking Jack how he's doing and when he thinks he'll be back up to speed.
Just watched the WynTV recap and it's funny how much better the info is in his coverage than the "official" coverage... haha.
Seeing some of the other comments and replies to my comment, I do want to say I definitely did like this video from Christina and Tom, I just wanted to see/hear/learn about something more than what they covered...more outside of the top pros. I think Christina and Tom both do a fabulous job in all their stuff for PB and always enjoying watching. My original comment was in part frustration as all the coverage coming out of Tweed was on the top few pros and I was just hoping to watch something about anything else happening over there. Like spending a scrap of time on the other stories: like where was Jack Moir, the crash that closed a stage, the U21 men and U21 female that swept every stage and any thing of note in masters? Thanks for the coverage, keep it coming!
Was a weird edit. I was hoping to see much more riding. The edit was awkward in places. Would be nice to see Pinkbike use local content creators for this stuff to offer a more geographic feel to the presentation. Would also save on unnecessary carbon miles and the painful 'bro speak'.
Great to see PinkBike sending people out to these races to create some of their own coverage... but as others have said this needs more preparation/planning/thought put into it in order to create a video that's actually worth watching.
Ive got to say that after being at the event and meeting @christinachappetta and @tombradshaw they are both awesome. They took time to talk to my self and my whole family. To get to each stage is not easy and as far as I can remember this is their first gig doing EWS coverage. If people want to offer constructive criticism in a respectful way then great but "cring worthy" is not constructive. Thanks Christina and Tom!!!
You can see a little interview with him for the EWS channel on his own YouTube channel after stage 2.
Maybe more will appear on the highlights programme planned for later this week.
The recovery from the shoulder surgery (fixing up the injury he got during the season last year) he had took a long time, so I don't think he got ride much or train much in the off season. I think I read he had a crash while getting back up to speed that injured his hip too, so I think he's just not had the bike time to really cut it so far this year. It's a shame as it would have been cool to see him up front again, but it looks like that won't be the case just yet. Would love to be proved wrong on that at the next round though!
@CleanZine: he also had covid through that period, as I imagine a lot of pink bikers are finding out it can really impact your fitness and energy levels long after.
Good work Tom and Christina. I like how you showed clips from the same section(s) of the course but maybe just up that a little bit to a few "key sections" and get some clips then splice in the top 5 or 10 riders through those sections with some analysis.
67 Comments
As for the bro-talk - whiney much, guys?
If you prefer a grown-up presentation, express your opinion and hope they'll take note and change gears.
I do agree with the poster who said he thought they were good people. CC appeared to be the worst offender, but she's clearly an intelligent person who can be an excellent presenter. You don't see any of this nonsense when she's analyzing competitors' performances in PBA. In that arena, she's sympathetic, sober and articulate. Displaying those qualities, she shows respect to the competitors.
Enduro at this level requires skill and courage laced with ice-cold precision - I'd just like to see a little of that reflected in the commentary.
Maybe they just had a dopey director or editor.
Maybe if you gave them a moment to catch their breath and process their thoughts, you may get some more worthy content?
What makes it waaay easier is if you have a good director, or you can direct yourself well. Knowing what you want to ask the athletes in advance helps too… that keeps you from spotting throwaways like “aren’t bikes fun?” at a rider who is essentially doing “work”.
Travelling to the event puts the pressure on. Do your homework in advance, but be aware of things that happen in the moment that you think the viewers will want to see and hear about. Track the local talent (PB is Canadian, so let’s hear from the u21’s) and get the stories in the pits by talking to the coaches and mechanics too. The support people are often better sources than the racers themselves.
I did this on camera stuff for a long time and it was very clear on camera when I’d done work in advance and really thought about what I wanted to say or ask in advance, and when I didn’t.
If PB is buying plane tickets and accommodation for on site talent, that wont last very long if the whole team doesn’t raise its game. That is in large part seen as the responsibility of the in air talent, but like any good performance, the end result is about “coaching” from management about what they want to see and how to achieve those results.
Good luck! There’s nothing quite like being there, you just have to have a plan to take advantage of it!
I did Olympic and World Cup snowboarding for CBC at one time… that was hard as I loved snowboarding, but really had no interest in the events themselves except for snowboard cross. I felt it really showed in the events we presented… I was totally winging it for alpine and halfpipe, where I’d actually have something to say about the athletes and their stories in SBX.
That’ll be the advantage for the Pinkbike team as they genuinely seem to love biking and enduro racing is biking so fun to watch and follow.
Congrats on getting second place though!
Man, how does EWS coverage manage to somehow get even worse every year...
Just watched the WynTV recap and it's funny how much better the info is in his coverage than the "official" coverage... haha.
This was awkward, but they'll get better!
Super effort Kev!
Here goes…
Otherwise I liked the format and the entire edit.
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