The worst part is that one of the gnarliest section of the track was right where they didn't put the camera (it's basically à 45°+ steep rock garden) I think this is where he chose a line that set him apart from the rest. There's almost no photos of this part on the web but I have taken some during the trainings : imgur.com/fzcNVlM
This run will go down in history as one of the most mysterious mysteries. The Bermuda Triangle, Stonehenge, 9/11, ancient aliens, Aaron Gwin's winning run at Lourdes.
^ A few extra ruts doesn't account for almost 4 seconds... also an extra 40 riders after an entire weekend of a hundred riders ripping it up wouldn't make a big difference to begin with. Gwin raced in the same conditions as everyone else from the looks of it. Maybe the last corner was less blown out but he didn't even use it so its negligible.
I read that Gwin went down 25th from the front. That means 55 guys + all the Juniors + all the Women went before him. Besides he was on different lines than anyone else to begin with JUST GIVE HIM THE VICOTORY!
Last corner alone, I think he gains a second on the whole field. Everyone else I remeber seeing, sort of squares it of, and points their bike down the ramp/drop, he just blows it wide and keeps his speed without braking!
Agreed, that right there would be enough to clinch the win assuming we would make a run similar to the timed training . What surprises me the most is that in the available footage, I could only see pedal strokes in the beginning(of course), he looked like a cannonball down that hill, everyone else kinda bounced and slipped around a bit.
FWIW here's what I see set him apart: 1. stiffer suspension allowed him to skip over the top of rocks, roots, and holes, thus maintaining speed better and; 2. many of the lines that we COULD see were "Sam Hill-style" as in straight from point to point, ignoring the many small turns the race line took between major directional changes in the tape. Much of his time was spent riding rock piles and grassy margins of the course which were ignored by others (proven by the fact that they were hardly worn by tires at all). Makes you wonder if that kind of line is also faster because you are avoiding many of the momentum-sapping bomb holes, not just because it is straighter.
I also wonder if he needs to run higher tire pressure along with the stiffer suspension, or if he just rides light enough on the bike to keep from rimming out too heavily/often.
^he's definitely running higher tire pressure and suspension rates, using sheer momentum to drive traction. If any of us mortals were to ride this setup we'd be sliding out and blowing corners at the average downhillers speeds. Its something anyone that plays with their setup experiences as they get faster, gwin is just on a whole other level, one that requires alot of upper body strength, focus and fitness to make work with such an aggressive bike setup.
When he hits that tabletop jump I noticed that his landing he just "stuck" and kept on with his momentum. The other riders seemed to have their momentum zapped out of them when they landed (if that makes sense).
I noticed that as well, if were talking about the same section, almost every other rider came down on the back wheel, then compressed their fork down hard an definitely lost some speed, Gwin landed both wheels even and kept on pinned... or pwinned
I noticed that too. Also that final right corner before dropping into the final hill he just cruised right around it where everyone else almost stopped and had to get back on the pedals.
..and right after his flat landing he popped over that little pile of rocks, which no one else did, they all road over it. And at the beginning of his run, he got the best pump off the start ramp which allowed him to jump farther than anyone else, just before that first rock arch.
He also came into that jump faster. There's a little rise after the initial jump where all the other were landng Infront of it then riding over it, slowing them down. He landed 4-5 feet further ontop of that bump and kept momentum. He was already winning at that point, then he blasted that last corner for the kill! Gwin for the win! Boom!
They haven't banned them it turns out. Just getting riders to sign a waiver that voids they're insurance at UCI events if an injury is due to wearing a helmet cam anywhere on the body. They are still insurer if injury occurs not due to a helmet cam though lol.
It's crazy that he's the only guy running it like that. You would think some other guys would be doing the same since Gwin has had such good results with it.
I agree. I though it was because of his MX background, but plenty of DH pros ride MX to train. You would think that some of them must have tested a firmer set up.
It's not easy. I was lucky enough to borrow a very fast guy's V10 for a lap in Fontana a few weeks ago and found that with the spring that stiff my arms pumped up after only a few turns and it was tough to keep hold of the bars with hard hits compared to my bike sprung for my weight. Gotta imagine Gwin is running his significantly stiffer and maybe most guys just can't hold on.
Ive felt it. Its not really that bad. No more than i run mine. Its firm, but not really till in it a couple inches. The rebound and compression is fairly damped ,though.
It probably ramps up a lot more (I'm guessing) as he goes through the travel. I expect there are still times where he uses it all though, but maybe more as a safety net when things go wrong.
I would assume that his spring rate is proper for his weight, his valve stack is just customized to his liking so he probably has a shit ton of HSC and a much faster rebound. The second half of his travel looks to spike on the curve hard
My guess is higher, not more progressive, spring rate with a lot of low and high speed compression, and slightly fast rebound. I remember during his winning season, someone from the industry rode his bike and said that the suspension is so stiff that it had to be ridden really aggressively or it would get away from you. If you let up, you lost your line, but if you attacked on it, it went really fast. Sounds like Gwin's riding style, no? It isn't that fun-to-cruise setup that most of us want.
I was at lourdes yesterday, I saw a lot of riders in the middle and bottom sections of the track during training. Gwin looked to be on another level that only thirion and bruni were close. They were all in controle and without noise. But gwin was fast, insanely fast. I saw him on the first road gap and said to my gf "hmmm not so impressiv", then I saw the speed he carried between the gaps and after in the pins and said "wow f..k ! A great rider and a nice person too. The atmosphere was amazing, a great race for sur.
It was badass to see him ride wild, wide open, and precise. If it looks that fast on camera, AG was going Mach Skittle Tits. Yeah I was literally laughing out loud I saw him blow that last corner. Specialized & AG is very serious about training and spesh knows how to train their athletes to have world class endurance.
Its crazy how many Brits there are at the moment. I think when Ratboy is back up to speed it will be a battle between him and Gwin for sure, Gee Atherton is also a big threat but im not sure where hes at after he hurt himself this weekend
Was really bummed we didn't get to see a full run from Neko Mullaly. After seeing what he's capable of in world champs last year I've been so stoked to see what he'll do in the WC series this season.
Is there any footage of his line choice (and everyone elses) between the first and second split? Because that is were all the magic happened.. I'm sure that I am not the only one here who wants to see it! Doesn't even matter if its a bunch of phone videos it needs to be seen!
Although they did not show the entirety of his run, it was pretty obvious that Gwin's run was special. He seemed to carry so much more momentum where other riders got so caught up. I am sure his bike set-up, and primarily suspension, make a difference, but Gwin is a beast regardless.
Surprised no one seems to have mentioned the last right hander. Everyone else seemed to square it off, coming to a virtual standstill and having to crank back up to speed.
Either be fluke or by design he seemed to go really wide into it and blowing over the end of the berm but this allowed him to keep his speed up. No one else did this and that alone was probably worth a few seconds
Gwin has good technique! Notice the pumping action throughout his run. For some it might sound counter intuitive to do so but it really is a good technique to increase speed without pedaling. Most of the riders tried to remain stable the whole run rather than reacting with the trail as he did.
He was pumping from the get-go and pumped even some pretty subtle features. I bet the firm suspension setup was in some part a result of his strategy to pump lots and pedal less, while maximizing his return on investment.
I wonder how much that has to do with him racing BMX as a kid. However, I'd imagine a lot of these guys rode BMX as kids and should know how to "pump."
Gwin was clearly faster than everyone everywhere on the track and looks to me most his speed was gained was in the lower section u all just watched cause he destroyed that river bed line and probably gained a full second off that last right turn onto the bridge before the finish that every single rider slammed on there brakes for, lol Stiff suspension tuned right is always faster everywhere. Never could understand people running there rigs soft just sucks up forward momentum. DUH!
And run high tire pressures even in the rain fu%k it and just huck it! Its more work and harder to get your bike off the ground and hop roots when u run super low air pressure and then factor in lateral tire roll that eventually peals ur tire off the rim. Come on people its not rocket science! IMO
He's mastered line choice that's for sure, gotta love pirate lines..!! I never understood why riders mostly seem to follow the ridden trail, as long as it's between the tape it fair game.!
As an American it's pretty damn cool to see someone from the US win. Either way World Cup Downhill rules and I have mad respect for all of these riders. Anyone know what happened to Neko? Crashed out?
Nothing wrong with the commissaires, they just applied the rules. You have to re-enter the course where you left it. If Gwin hadn't crashed out in quali he'd have been on TV but he did so he wasn't. Just like Gee. Just like Danny Hart and his flat.
wingguy, so what why wasn't Rachel penalised when she went through the tape at Fort Bill a few seasons ago? She most definitely re-entered the course many, many metres further down than where she left it.
Because it was several seasons ago. The rules were clarified at the start of last year (partly in response to that incident I would think) to remove discretion and judgement calls on the part of the marshals. It's an objective rule now - re enter where you left.
He was just much faster than everyone else, even without seeing the stuff before split one its brutally apparent! He made it look like a bike park! haha
They had to post it because they skipped it during the live broadcast to show the 2014 recap. The big question during the whole thing was "What did Aaron do to get so much speed??"
Dude if you don't wanna see the results of the most hyped and reported on event of the year so far , don't go looking at the front page of mountain bike media outlets.
PB you can actually look at on race day. Other sites not so much. I tend to skip FB/twitter too because some of the people/pages I follow might post it.
Amazing run from a world class athlete. Redbull tv want a slap for advertising the coverage as being live then only giving us the top 20 men live. (less than a quarter of the whole event) I was really pissed to see results being posted here on pinkbike (junior and womens) before the coverage started. The commentary was good with Claudio and Rob in the box, but that didn't make up for missing the juniors then only showing a handful of women, followed by the top 20 men and thereby missing Gwin and Hart's runs.
Come on man its free live coverage of every world cup... one day we might get coverage of every single rider down the hill but until that day i think they prioritise it pretty well?!
Well Freecaster and Extreme tv both managed to show it all, and with what was undoubtedly a smaller budget. Although I approve of what red bull is doing in the mtb scene (and many other sports) I'm not a fan of their drinks.
I also wonder if he needs to run higher tire pressure along with the stiffer suspension, or if he just rides light enough on the bike to keep from rimming out too heavily/often.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping
www.youtube.com/watch?v=99ZE2RGwqSM
www.cyclemonkey.com/suspension_101.shtml
But gwin was fast, insanely fast. I saw him on the first road gap and said to my gf "hmmm not so impressiv", then I saw the speed he carried between the gaps and after in the pins and said "wow f..k !
A great rider and a nice person too.
The atmosphere was amazing, a great race for sur.
PB you can actually look at on race day. Other sites not so much. I tend to skip FB/twitter too because some of the people/pages I follow might post it.
Cmon Red Bull, step up. Not only the UCI is to blame now!