What the hell? That’s a strange feature to have at the end of a World Cup DH track. Maybe it’ll be cool when people actually ride it? (Or jump the whole thing)
Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting the woods (triple) before coming into this feature.
Seems like more time should be spent trying to get entry for all the privateers and media and not on a feature
Didn't we already go through this before with Rampage? Not sure who is asking for wood features on World Cup tracks but I'd be just as happy with a huge dirt double. Or maybe some whoops...
As a life-long wood feature hater I am against this both on a principled basis and on a case specific basis, haha. Wood features are bad generally, and this wood feature looks especially bad. This is a WC downhill track, not a slopestyle course, and this feature looks downright dangerous at WC DH speeds (arm chair expert rant over). On a more positive note, quading this would be insane to see.
Popcorn time for sure. I help build and design trail/features on public trails where I live so I hate getting internet speculated about stuff I build. However this is a WC race so I'll take my turn to be an keyboard skeptic, lol.
I'll be there early to get prepped for the event and I'll be watching this feature during the first practice sessions for sure. My first thought is that you typically don't have a straight takeoff (no radius) to a landing with a radius. So the jumping on part looks like it could be easy to overjump and land rather close to the lip for the jump out. Luckily the gap jumping out of the whale tail doesn't look very big if a rider lost speed by over jumping into it.
The track is the same as was used in 2019, right? That looked like an awesome one, racers liked it. If Neko is involved with the course design again, then the wood feature will probably turn out to be ok. Looks iffy tho.
Who thought it was a good idea for the straight ramp step up take off to rounded landing? Not knowing the speed of entry I can’t truly judge, but it very much seems like a speed restricted feature. You’ll have to slow down, bunny hop to make a smooth transition on the landing, and then not pedal so as to land the step down in the sweet spot getting full speed for the following straight.
As Jason said, whoops would be cool, I like whoops and have not seen a proper set of them on a DH track outside of US National Champs 2009 at Sol Vista (Cairns has rollers/a rhythm section not whoops).
I can't stand a wood feature that is narrow from start to finish in this case. If they wanted to make that thing, they needed to make the whale tail fan out to be 2-3 times wider than the take off.
That way when someone inevitably slips or whacks a pedal, they have room to get crooked at speed and not launch off the sides into the unknown.
Slopestyle courses have skinny take offs and massively wide landers.
Who thought it was a good idea for the straight ramp step up take off to rounded landing? Not knowing the speed of entry I can’t...
Who thought it was a good idea for the straight ramp step up take off to rounded landing? Not knowing the speed of entry I can’t truly judge, but it very much seems like a speed restricted feature. You’ll have to slow down, bunny hop to make a smooth transition on the landing, and then not pedal so as to land the step down in the sweet spot getting full speed for the following straight.
As Jason said, whoops would be cool, I like whoops and have not seen a proper set of them on a DH track outside of US National Champs 2009 at Sol Vista (Cairns has rollers/a rhythm section not whoops).
Makes me wonder if they'll be a take off in front of it, and the ramp up in the photos is only there as a chicken line? So it'd just be an on/off whale tail....?
hmm, is IMBA Trail Solutions and Snowshoe Corporate this out of touch with the zeitgeist of racing? I get wanting to make something “memorable” to “keep up” with Gravity Logic projects at Trestle, Bryce, Thunder, but this seems like a feature just built as a marketing stunt for IMBA or a “me too” vanity project for some of the old men that manage snowshoe but don’t ride.
If this is what the organizers are spending money on, it makes it so much easier to be happy spending that week at the beach instead of spectating or volunteering. Who wants to support something that makes them violently angry!?
Feel like they may want a bigger landing but that may just be perspective. Might see some interesting rhythms on that thing. Wood will save a ton of dirt and be easy to change. Think it’s an eyesore though and that’s before they add the safety nets.
Ever since Steve peats gamble i have been waiting for an on/off finish feature.
I think Ed Masters put it well, "Everything doesn't need to be a spectacle."
Putting big features in just because always feels weird, just like man made rock gardens at VDS. I get that the end of the race is always kinda lackluster compared to the rest of the track but I dont think this is the way to solve the issue.
Didn't we already go through this before with Rampage? Not sure who is asking for wood features on World Cup tracks but I'd be just as...
Didn't we already go through this before with Rampage? Not sure who is asking for wood features on World Cup tracks but I'd be just as happy with a huge dirt double. Or maybe some whoops...
Quad god?
Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting...
Quad god?
Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting the woods (triple) before coming into this feature.
Seems like more time should be spent trying to get entry for all the privateers and media and not on a feature
Trail builders and administration staff are probably not the same people...
Dafuq?!
Any high speed grassy flat turn is more spectacular to see than this,at least for me.
Mountain biking race courses should represent what the sport is about,and this has nothing to do with downhill.
This is the apex of course design in the US when we have 10-year-olds who can huck 15-foot blind drops and rail massive berms at speed, but who fall over sideways at the sight of a root or rock garden.
This is the course we deserve for letting Gravity Logic and IMBA monopolize trail design ethos at lift-servixed parks.
On second thought, maybe it's for the after party bonfire...
Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting the woods (triple) before coming into this feature.
Seems like more time should be spent trying to get entry for all the privateers and media and not on a feature
I'll be there early to get prepped for the event and I'll be watching this feature during the first practice sessions for sure. My first thought is that you typically don't have a straight takeoff (no radius) to a landing with a radius. So the jumping on part looks like it could be easy to overjump and land rather close to the lip for the jump out. Luckily the gap jumping out of the whale tail doesn't look very big if a rider lost speed by over jumping into it.
As Jason said, whoops would be cool, I like whoops and have not seen a proper set of them on a DH track outside of US National Champs 2009 at Sol Vista (Cairns has rollers/a rhythm section not whoops).
That way when someone inevitably slips or whacks a pedal, they have room to get crooked at speed and not launch off the sides into the unknown.
Slopestyle courses have skinny take offs and massively wide landers.
If this is what the organizers are spending money on, it makes it so much easier to be happy spending that week at the beach instead of spectating or volunteering. Who wants to support something that makes them violently angry!?
Ever since Steve peats gamble i have been waiting for an on/off finish feature.
I think Ed Masters put it well, "Everything doesn't need to be a spectacle."
Putting big features in just because always feels weird, just like man made rock gardens at VDS. I get that the end of the race is always kinda lackluster compared to the rest of the track but I dont think this is the way to solve the issue.
The Windrock finish section from the whoops down is the best DH finish in North America bar none IMO. Anyone know of a better one?
Any high speed grassy flat turn is more spectacular to see than this,at least for me.
Mountain biking race courses should represent what the sport is about,and this has nothing to do with downhill.
This is the course we deserve for letting Gravity Logic and IMBA monopolize trail design ethos at lift-servixed parks.
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