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Crowds seemed awesome as well from the race coverage, Bernard's vlogs etc.
This has been by far the best year for tracks since I started watching dh regularly. Every track offered something entirely different and from a fan perspective it was great to see different riders shine as well as struggle. I’d much rather see different east coast venues if there is only going to be one race I don’t need a passport to see but We all agree we want more rounds. It seems yearly tracks is the best way to consistently have races organized and approved. If snowshoe and msa are every year it makes it that much easier for a round to go off in co, nh, or ny. Team travel is a major factor why some questionable euro rounds have gotten approved (better something than nothing) and there is so little outside of Europe.
Snowshoe eats up bikes and people. Thankfully, it was dry. In the wet, that place is something completely different. This wasnt a fast, 'bike park' track. Is it any coincidence that the parts that were eating riders and forcing mechanicals were the natural parts?
I should add that I absolutely do not want to see people get hurt but a gnarly track is a skills and mental check.
When was the last time we saw a full field in the men's and women's categories competing w/o any riders missing because of injury?
If you think that the tracks have to be gnarly, then why not go all the way and include Hardline?
As a spectator I HATE seeing riders getting hurt. The accident from Jess Blewitt took a lot of enjoyment out of my watching experience. Would you show a race like this to your friends and tell them how great the sport is?
Everyone forgets about mechanicals when we have had some relatively smooth tracks we have had the last 2 years once Mount St Anne and Fort William are back again rims and flats will be an issue.
No one likes seeing injuries but they happen when you are pushing. Blewitt came in offline on a smooth section of track there is nothing she or course designers could have done to prevent that crash at that moment.
I do agree that having a double-header can potentially bias the result since any given track is sure to suit some better than others.
People get hurt. It sucks but you are blasting down a mountain at 30+ mph. You will fall. Hell, I fall off my bike at 5 mph some times and will, at times, get hurt.
You just can't beat live world cup DH. Having the Redbull video feed on video boards at the finish line with all of the splits, etc. is something else. It certainly makes the announcing job at the bottom easier!
Big props to the young USDH rippers, Dante Silva 13, Austin Dooley 22, Tyler Ervin 37, and Matt Sterling 48.
Excuses have no place on a podium. The ONLY thing for second place to say is "I was out-performed", any other statement is a pathetic excuse.
Personally I would have loved to see a real showdown with Daprella and Minnaar in the mix and clean runs from e.g. Brook, Kerr, Vergier. That would truely show who out-performed whom and not who stayed healthy and on the bike in a fairly random way.
I think that I have mentioned this before but in most sport, there is an acceptance of injury until there is not. Racing, full speed, down a mountain on a bike is high risk. People and riders accept that. At least for now. Technology has progressed to the place where these bikes, and their highly conditioned riders, can do things that boggle the mind. Just like in other sport, self preservation will kick in. I think, and I could be MASSIVELY off here but, I believe that if you want things to slow down and become safer, tracks need to become more tech oriented. No flats and bermed turns. Down vote me all you want. That is what I think. They add chicanes to race tracks for that very reason.
- mandatory safety gear/protection
- mandatory concussion check by the race doc after every crash where you hit your head
- slowing down the high speed sections with chicanes and such
- making going off line less punishing, so no resulting crash or mechanical (e.g. not like Les Gets this kicker in the open that Kolb nearly died on, Snowshoe rock gardens and this little bridge that Loris missed in his run)
- padding on all trees that a rider potentially could hit (was there a crash pad on that tree in Snowshoe after the drop that everybody hit?)
- establishing of safe crash zones on risky sections of the track
- make the chicken lines less of a time penalty to hit, that would incentivise more riders to be reasonable and not feel pressured to (wo)man up
The other day at the grocery store I did announce that I "identify as next"....using this mindset, I am going to show up at next years World Championships, proclaim that I "identify as the winner" and reap the rewards (I hope being laughed at uncontrollably and escorted off of the venue).
The "triple" as it's know where Jess crashed is a really interesting feature. Anyone on these forums ever hit it? It's open during the regular bike park season, I've never given it a tug.
The feature looks really long standing there but I've come to the conclusion that's it's more about timing your pre-load/pop correctly than coming in with a ton of speed. Jess got stuffed in the berm before the triple (it was so dry that the berm had a hole in it despite not being a braking zone) which threw her off rhythm for the pop.
I agree with that the chicken lines have to be technical as well and slower than the main line, but not 10 secs slower. Would also be a good opportunity for changing the course if it e.g. rains badly and the main line would get too risky. Close the main line and leave the easier line open.
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