2023 Racing Talk

I have mixed feelings about how they used the course markings to narrow and chicane the trail. In general I like the idea of doing this to control speed into dangerous features. But watching this video I found it difficult to see the riding line. I think maybe it comes down to the use of just poles without tape. My eyes naturally wanted to follow the trail, and while lines of tape help guide your vision, I found it really difficult with the poles.

Also a giant F U to USAC for this "..."Magnus White has passed away in a training accident."

He got run over by a friggin' driver you knobs...

https://usacycling.org/article/in-memory-of-magnus-white

DHSE race replay from #6 - they've crushed it so hard this year w/ the coverage!

Completely unreasonable reaction from you. 
You can hate USAC for anything else.
A young man lost his life & they are NOT professional journalists.  They are cycling federation.

Issuing a 1 sentence notice to the cycling community is all their only responsibility.
If you turn corners and find problems, it might be you that's causing them.

That's aimed at me too.

Damn I've seen the news about this young fella... So sad That's the shit news you never want to hear...

On another note, I've ridden in Loudenvielle this week-end and I have been able to see/ride some bits of the new WC. It does not have indeed the rock fest from Snowshoe or the blackholes from Val di Sole, but damn this is steep ! There are some really treacherous off-cambers in, like 20/30 % gradients. Like for most tracks nowadays, you could consider riding it (or parts of it), but it's an whole different story at race pace. Even more if it's wet, in that case...well, good luck everyone haha

And to those stating it has been made on blue/red tracks. Sure there are a blue and a red track in this area. Let's say the 2 tracks winds in the steep (and are already steep themselves) whereas the WC tracks just go straight through lol

The next sentence literally says

"On Sunday, July 30th, we received the news that National Team athlete Magnus White was struck by a car on a bike ride in his home of Boulder, Colorado."

I think the issue is that a title saying 'X died in a training accident' implies that they did something while training that caused their death, putting blame on the rider. Saying that they were hit by a car puts the blame on the person that actually caused the death i.e. the driver.

It's a small difference, but it does make a difference.

I think the sentiment expressed by the poster shows the importance of nailing context in a headline.  I agree usac didn’t really do anything wrong on the other hand and doesn’t deserve such a response.

Not to beat on the issue (and RIP, super sad) but I wish it would say "a driver, XXX name/age, hit XXX cyclist with their car". The driver is the one who did it, probably fair to say "accident" if it is unintentional, since negligence is likely not immediately apparent. But enough with the "hit by a car" BS.

New zealand 1,2,3 in juinor womens

erice van lueven 1st, poppy lane 2nd. Sacha earnest 3rd

Placing blame in time of mourning is the problem.

Back to racing!
Silva tackled a rock & a tree & walked away.
https://youtu.be/eikKwbtwHKw?t=453

started 2024 team rumors thread here. fyi - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2024-team-rumors

asa, von heater and cash shaleen doing what the kids do best - haul the mail. from the @Downhill Rockies in crested butte.

from usac email

Soldier Hollow Nordic Center to Host Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships in 2024

August 17, 2023

Midway, Utah - Soldier Hollow Nordic Center will host the Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships May 8 - 12, 2024 - an international competition returning to the United States for the first time in over 20 years featuring the best athletes in multiple disciplines vying for continental titles and crucial qualifying points for the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games. 

Athletes from more than 40 countries in North and South America compete in the Pan-American Championships for coveted Pan-Am champion jerseys. Events include Short Track, Relay, Eliminator and Cross-Country in Junior, U23, Elite and Masters age groups. The event will blend aspects of the annual Soldier Hollow Bike Festival with the Pan-Am Championship races, including USA Cycling-sanctioned amateur races for youth and adults to provide an opportunity for all levels of competitors to take part in the action.

The opportunity to host the Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships furthers Soldier Hollow's goals to host world-class trail events in the Heber Valley year-round - from cross-country skiing to biathlon to mountain biking.

The venue has invested in local cycling growth including Team Soldier Hollow's mountain bike development team, youth cycling camps, and public bike lessons and rentals. Soldier Hollow also hosts approximately 15 mountain bike competitions per year including Union Cycliste Internationale, National Interscholastic Cycling Association, regional and local events. 

"As a Winter Olympic and Paralympic legacy venue, Soldier Hollow has applied its expertise in world-class Nordic skiing, biathlon and mountain biking to create year-round opportunities for our local community, to support national governing bodies such as U.S. Ski and Snowboard, U.S. Biathlon and now USA Cycling, and to welcome the international cycling community to the Heber Valley," Soldier Hollow General Manager Luke Bodensteiner said. 

Kyle Knott, USA Cycling Director of National Events, added: “USA Cycling is thrilled to partner with Soldier Hollow for the 2024 Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships. This is an exciting opportunity for the U.S. to host an international cycling event of this caliber. To host the Pan-American Championships on home soil is not only an honor but also a chance for our USA Cycling athletes to gain critical qualifying points for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Soldier Hollow has been pivotal in their support of cycling in Utah and it is exciting to see their hard work launching them onto the international stage with this event.”

Soldier Hollow has welcomed dozens of world-class international events since the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games – including the 2019 IBU Biathlon World Cup, 2022 IBU Youth and Junior World Championships, 2023 FIS Para Nordic World Cup, and is scheduled to host the 2024 IBU Biathlon World Cup. 

The Pan-American Mountain Bike Championships is among the first international events planned for hosting at the renovated and expanded Soldier Hollow Training Center. The $13.5 million project - slated for completion in early summer 2024 - will add 11,445 square feet to the current facility to supplement an overhaul of 7,670 existing square feet to further Soldier Hollow's reputation as a world-class trail sports host. 

european DH champs course preview with preston williams

Love how it comes from highway wide to pencil then and back again.

Thoughts?

also seen that the pit area for the smaller teams is on the opposite side of the hill to the finish line - see Jamie Edmondson it’s story.

whittling out the smaller teams and riders…

As someone else has said on these pages, the semis were likely put in to appease riders and will probably disappear next year. I think Discovery/ESO want a smaller competition made up of factory teams, no place for small teams and privateers. They also want shorter tracks. This way they can show more of rider's runs and more importantly, cut away to shots of the team managers, so much drama.

Trouble is, the sport will suffer. The "Nerding Out" story on the other site on viewer stats puts a very positive spin on things because some YT viewing figures have gone up, all the time ignoring all the comments about people becoming less invested in the sport because of the paywall/poor commentary/difficulty in watching since the changeover (pretty much in line with comments I've seen elsewhere, all predominantly negative). I can't help feeling that any new viewers are outnumbered by existing fans walking away.

I'm very worried about the future of the sport I love. The situation's not helped by the governing body not seeming to give a shit (although we all know that's nothing new).

I was shocked when I watched Brayton's vlog (Euro Champs). Semi-final points MUST count towards eligibility to race WCs. It's the best 60 riders in the world on that day we are talking about. But is this new or was it just hidden somewhere in the rule book? I have a feeling it's just a very cheap and BS way to cut down on the number of riders for next year (because half of them won't have enough pints to race, so it won't look as bad when semis go away. The pit set up in Andorra was dreadful last year as well, doubt it has changed unless they built a new parking lot.

Edit: OMG I just checked Edmondson's IG story, their pit is on a different mountain top altogether. 

And discovery are the ones saying they want to grow the sport…. 
 

How is making there be less competition and less of a chance for there to be more people involved in the sport helping grow it?? Same goes for the paywall, they are making it less accessible and yet still go on about wanting to grow the sport. 

Here's a Vallnord thread if y'all want to use that: https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/free-live-racing-race-talk-vallnord…

This is one job that should be paying very well, you'd earn your money for sure.

https://uk.linkedin.com/jobs/view/commentary-coordinator-live-sports-at…

"You will be a key player in ensuring successful live broadcasts and productions."

Tough to think of a better example of a poisoned chalice.

I'm pretty sure you are right about ESO and pushing to a "factory only" model. I imagine they see this like NFL or other "professional team sports" where only the big teams (that pay them) can compete. The NCL (National Cycling League) is similar to road racing. They are a bunch of NFL and NBL executives and some energy drink marketing people who got together to say cycling needs an NFL-style model to make money. 

To an extent they (and ESO, if this is their thinking) are not wrong, however, it looks as if both cases are very much moving in the wrong direction. 

Might be time to go back all in on the IXS series and F*** the UCI

Regarding Semi-Finals: It needs to go away and should follow the super cross model of Last Chance Qualifier. 

Every race it should look something like this (for the men, numbers would be smaller for women): 
-All races at the world cup have to put in a qualy run, which is their seeding for finals. Top 10 in the overall are protected to the finals. 
-Top 40 racers via qualifying make it to the finals 
-There is a Last Chance Qualifier run (instead of semi-finals), that is televised since it's high stakes, for those that didn't make the top 40 and who aren't protected to nab the final 10 more spots in the finals. This will often have top guys/gals who maybe flatted or something in their qualy run. 
-50 racers are in the finals, entire race filmed but 25-50th places gets on-demand watching only and the top 25 are in the 'TV Show Broadcast'. I say this, because like it or not, this ultimately the goal for TV. A 90-120 minute TV package showing most/all of racers runs, which is why they need it down to top 25 or less.   

Thing this would be good compromise and stop the stupidity with the semi-final. Would allow top riders to make it to the final in event of an issue in qualy and would allow riders way out side the top 50 in the world the chance at coming to a world cup and qualifying for the main show. 

Wonder if they've taken into consideration that the resorts hosting World Cups need to make MORE money to justify hosting the World Cups by getting more participants, families, teams and fans TO the venue.  

Cutting the field down at a World Cup doesn't make much sense for the venues themselves.  Less racers, less participants, fewer entourages, fewer travelers from foreign lands, fewer spectators.

Really seem to be discounting just how many people show up and pay money at the venue because there are 200+ racers bringing a following with them to the race.  Cut it down to a limited # of racers...you're not filling up SnowShoe and a lot of other places.

60 guys practicing and trying to qualify...that's boring as HELL on a mountain as a spectator for 1, 2 or 3 days.  You'll have almost nobody to watch and fill the hours hillside.

First they killed Westworld and now Downhill!! I have a major bone to pick with Time Warner!!

That being said... trying to find a silver lining here:

Maybe reducing the UCI World Cups to only factory teams will spur growth in the regional racing ranks. 

Maybe short tracks and dramatic production pieces will pull in a bigger audience and bring more money and more interest to the sport.

The racers will keep getting screwed if they allow it.  They need to step up and say we won't race. I bet they make as much in prize purse at Crankworks.  Tell RB we are all coming and they can expand the DH race portion. 

Maybe then next year Van derpoole can try and win stripes for DH too when no one will come to UCI events.  Spoiler alert he will crash 😂