2011 Mont Sainte Anne World Downhill Training

Takes a mullet to cut a mullet. Josh Bryceland of Santa Cruz Syndicate tweaks his tires for first run. Photo by Gary Perkin

Duncan Riffle of Giant Factory Racing checks pad wear after a good few runs in the crazy, grinding paste that is the MSA soil! Tomorrow is when the preparation starts to pay off. Photo by Gary Perkin

I couldn't get ferns for Kiwi Cameron Cole of Lapierre International, but I made due with what I had available. Photo by Gary Perkin

It was wet and wild out there today and given all the water droplets on the leaves, I was kicking myself for not somehow squeezing a macro lens in my bag! Photo by Gary Perkin

Jill Kintner of Transition / Red Bull rocking the upside down 13 plate this weekend ... Photo by Gary Perkin

Yes it's another muddy roost shot, but whats important here is tire choice ... way to break the mold of spikes! Photo by Gary Perkin

It wouldn't be Mont-Sainte-Anne without some sort of re-interpretation of the hip under the chairlift. Here's my take. Photo by Gary Perkin

I got caught up shooting this section for at least an hour in the pouring rain. I think it goes some way to showing the conditions out there today. Photo by Gary Perkin

Fresh of a win in the BDS, Josh Bryceland is in the eyes and minds of everyone on the Syndicate! Photo by Gary Perkin

Greg Minnaar of Santa Cruz Syndicate is either asking Aaron Gwin of Trek World Racing for laundry tips or is welcoming a new member to the carbon DH bike club. Which, of course, doesn't exist. Photo by Gary Perkin

Just as well I got this shot of Marc Beaumont of GT in the big rock section when I did. I turned around 15 minutes later and it had been covered up by the banner elves! Photo by Gary Perkin

Motion version of the last photo. -Gary Perkin

Grease-tastic! -Gary Perkin

Nick Beer is back after skipping Leogang. His wrist still hurts but feels better when he has warmed up. Expect him to ramp up until Champery World Champs in his home country. -Sven Martin

This was shot mid afternoon. It was tough out there. -Sven Martin (WOW!)

Billy 'Looking for a Scoop' Trailstar had one thing on the brain today. He stuck to his plan and delivered the goods. Listen to his strategy. -Sven Martin

Dave Ziegman is a legend and is racing 4X here at MSA again. I think he is even older than me too. Must be nice to have your own one-off Yeti. -Sven Martin

It was very slippery today up top in the muddy berms. Mitch Ropelato forgot he was at a World Cup and he couldnt quite pull off his foot jam. -Sven Martin

Lots of this today . -Sven Martin

Qualifiers tomorrow and if it doesn't clear up, goggle and tear off management could make all the difference in a good result. -Sven Martin

Sabrina always feels confident here and went fastest today. -Sven Martin

Scott Sharples has been making steady progress with Jill Kintner. They choose to walk the course during top 80 practice. Sometimes you can gain more from walking than riding. -Sven Martin

Gee will be wanting to close the gap and make it a three way race till the end of the year. -Sven Martin

Duncan Riffle was one of the last guys down today. He looks fast and confident. He will want to get back into the top twenty and can do so, here at MSA. -Sven Martin

Anneke Beerten came to 4X prepared. Sort Of. -Sven Martin

Fabien is testing all new geometry and set up. More on the details tomorrow. Long, slack and bright are three obvious features. -Sven Martin

Not prepared...

Prepared. -Sven Martin