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Crash in practice according to MoiMoi TV (Enduro Raceday Vid) chat with him.
results post has some podium pics - https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/results-2023-u-s-open-mountain-bikin…
Something on the topic of racing but not the us open, at the rookies dh cup in schladming, NZ bringing the pace once again, tyler waite taking the win in u17 mens and ellie hulsebosch taking 2nd in u17 womens
Thank you for that update.
The current field of Juniors in World Cup, and the group of exceptional young riders soon to enter the WC 17-18 ranks, makes me think that this is one of the most exciting times in MTB downhill racing. I really believe we're going to see an infusion of remarkable young racers into the Elites in the next 2 to 3 years that may well be unprecedented. Perhaps it won't be as noticeable among the men, but wow, the talent coming into the women's downhill is really impressive.
"Perhaps it won't be as noticeable among the men, but wow, the talent coming into the women's downhill is really impressive."
I dunno, there's SO much talent coming into both men's and women's fields it's hard to say that! If the women's finals gets the much needed expansion to 20+ riders, we may have a similarly wide variety of winners as the men's field is seeing in a couple of years.
Very exciting times indeed.
post in the ESO/discovery thread about email sent from MTB world series about enduro views this season - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/The-Hub,2/UCI-grant-Discovery-WC-rights…
(no need to jam this racing thread up w/ the discussion)
watching the scoring, it looked like Asa had a 1.5ish second lead over Minnaar at the 3rd split and then only got him by .1 at the finish. So Asa lost some time between 3 and the finish, while dak must have been super clean.
I would theorize that this generation of young rippers probably got fast really quickly because they were able to ride a lot more when schools got locked down during covid.
GM has probably more power than any other WC rider, even for his age.
When you meet him in person, there are very few WC riders bigger/stronger.
Or really rich parents supporting them with top of the line bikes and dropping them off at the bike park almost every day. The amount of fast kids, on a regular day at the bike park, is really contrasting to what it was just ten years ago
there are plenty of kids on clapper (terrifying) hardtails blasting big gaps at my local park. "rich" is relative, but the kids are hucking on all kinds of bikes these days.
Good point. Greg is a man, and if Asa developes that kind of power, watch out. All that being said, it kinda feels like it’s setting up to be dak’s week…. I sure hope so
I gave him a ride back to his hotel after podium. I just finished breaking our pit down and he was halfway across the lot. Always a class act, he's always been super nice to me.
I’ve actually been thinking about this topic a lot. How these young guns are pooping into elite and doing so well, or posting elite level times in juniors. I was kind of wondering if it might have a lot to due with the actual bikes, and also the increase in bike parks.
Think about the bikes that the older pros were riding at the start of their careers. Guys have had to change their riding style/body positioning a lot over the years. Versus these younger kids who have basically grown up on modern day geometry, and have adapted their styles to that kind of bike, and to my next point, modern day tracks.
the increase in bike parks probably has a lot to do with it as well. Granted not every bike park has a WC level track (most don’t) i think the style of track at modern day bike parks and style of tracks at WC are probably more similar than when the older pros were seeking out shuttle trails.
Not to mention training plans, YouTube skills videos, local trainers etc.
raw from the last downhill rockies at purgatory (durango). race was sept 9/10, raw just came through, but so rad. that track is so rad even 23 years (i think?) after it was first ridden.
pretty sure this photo is from 2000 on the same track. one of the first times i ever tried to take pics at a mountain bike race. minnaar on global
if you really wanna go down the rabbit hole, durango world cup 2001 from alpha project "movie" that i made. it's pretty rad to see the same cliff hucks and sections from the downhill rockies vid! dirt was way sicker in 2001 HAHA
https://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/World-Cup-Downhill-and-Dual-fr…
Richie Rude and the Yeti Factory Team mechanics etc are heading to the last 2 DH World Cup Rounds.
Richie would be looking for some redemption after being overlooked for the USA World Champs team after he made it a goal early this year.
Perhaps one other thing that sets Greg apart from other riders is his ability to analyze and identify optimum lines and to ride the lines precisely. Nina Hoffmann said he has an incredible talent in that respect.
Interesting, though, his teammate - Jackson Goldstone - is perhaps the smallest male rider in the Elite class, and he probably doesn't have the body type to develop too much more power. He is simply a remarkable athlete whose visual acuity, fast-twitch muscle response, off-the-charts cardio, absolute fearlessness, and maybe even his light body weight combine to produce a downhill racer who might well change perceptions of what the potential for greatness is. (I still see comments from people to the effect that males go faster downhill because they're bigger than women... I'm guessing here, but I'd bet Jackson's about 25 pounds lighter than a couple of the top 5 Elite women...)
Oh man, same. I remember seeing a kid keeping up to his friends on Demo 8's and Gamblers on his totally shit kicked 2004ish Norco Wolverine a few years ago. Mechanical Hayes brakes, soke sort of jank budget Marzocchi fork and likely original alivio 2x9 parts. Sounded like a bag of hammers falling down a set of stairs coming through a section but he was second in the lot of 5 and keeping pace.
But there are a huge amount of kids now that had parents grow up riding bikes in the late 90's and early 2000's that got their kids on bikes early. Tawnee is likely the first big name racer I can think of that falls into that category. Now you have kids like Jackson who's been riding since could ride a strider and had actual bikes and trails they could shred on throughout their childhood and beyond.
Hell, if I had even half of that growing up I'd have likely been faster earlier in life. Instead I rode my poor 18" Raleigh tarantula hardtail off flower platers at a mini mall for two years until the Manitou X-vert triple I put on it snapped the frame because that's how JIB taught me how to ride bikes.
I remember people saying Brosnan wasn't going to be any good on some of the pedalier tracks a while back because he wouldn't be able to generate enough power and he won/placed higher than the strong pedalers. I wouldn't read to much into size these guys are all training hard.
DH has proven time and time again there is no optimal body type to be successful.
Brosnan, Greenland, Goldstone and even The alien.... can win a world cup but can't ride the local rollercoaster.
Jackson lost 12kg this season and is now barely above 60kg, due to his appendix issues.
From what I remember reading he's put most of the weight he lost back on.
In the new Wyn TV Greg said he still had a problem with a component on the bike that keeps failing. Does anyone knows what happened in his run? is it a flat.... again? maybe big man should run some inserts lol or maybe maxxis should do a goat side wall (if that's the issue)
It was his rebound on his shock at that last round.
Interesting to see Jackson (at 17:24 in the Wyn TV video) bring up the difficulty he had maintaining speed "as a small guy."
US open race replay finally came in. good stuff!
if you want time stamps for race runs, hit the youtube version or this page - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/2023-u-s-open-mountain-biking-race-re…
Fantastic job on the US Open Finals video! I really appreciated the intro portion and the overview with Clay Harper. They have a lot to be proud of.
2024 calendar is on UCI website
no venues listed
DH 7 races plus worlds
enduro 6 races
Xc 7 races
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