Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
That's cool. Nice insight, really helpful. Thanks
Yeah I'm of the same opinion. It sucks when time is made up or lost off-camera but it drags the race out so long. Plus if spectating in person it's gotta really make things more boring.
Looking at the new jump built for Hardline, is it time someone has an intervention with Gee?
Meh, 5 -15 minutes extra per category to get full runs on TV for last 5-10 riders per category is probably a good gamble, even with Gen Z attention spans.
Can't take credit for this hot take, but props to the person who articulated it. Watching someone's ENTIRE full run of a World Cup DH is a tough watch. You lose context of where the past racers made/lost time or had a different line that you enjoy or even notice.
I assume there is less "splice" to do in that way so the engineer doesn't have to overlap cameras in his control booth to mesh a good view. Just drop camera by camera in sequence.
But it's not that "choice bite" of the meal we all want.
I'm still of the view that 60 riders brings more spectators
Gets more people on the hill
Gives the traveling circus more reason to be on hill together.
Creates a more diverse view in the end by piecing some of the crazier things from the 30-60 riders to show in between the fastest guys
Gives an outlier/weather glitch/one off story opportunity to unfold.
No one is tuning in consistently to watch 30 well honed skiers precise their way down. There's gotta be some carnage, chaos & the occasional "Sting descending from the rafters after 2 years" stunner.
delete your account
I don't agree. Which is fine. We haven't had riders who qualified 60-30 on TV since freecaster days. So actually hard to remember..but I do recall a lot of sloppy riding that wasn't very interesting.
But everyone has their own reasons to tune in.
As for actually spectating at the races. The difference between 30 or 60 men on the hill for a one hour practice session is peanuts. I don't see it as an argument. And according to people who've been to a world cup this year the new quali-semi combo makes for a jam packed day of spectating 🤫
Sooo let me get this right, the people complaining about only having 30 riders in the final are also the people complaining about having full runs broadcast… what a remarkable coincidence.
Weird convo. It depends on the track. It's EXCEEDINGLY rare that a long track is actually epic action T to B. With the shorter tracks, sure I wanna see a large portion. With a long track, I can skip piste crossings or pedal sections or whatever.
The only thing that would annoy me, but they seem good about, is not having a lot of splits. Or having them in the 'wrong' areas. And then to really make it worse is when Ric can't wrap his head around like... A fast rider having a slow section and then freaking out when every rider afterwards is 'faster' there and freaks out about the pace or whatever. I feel he may have responded to that this season but that first season he did it at like EVERY race and it was so awkward. Meanwhile somebody like Gwin would constantly be aware like 'well hes up in this section but that was so and sos worst section so cant be sure of the overall pace just yet'.
Full run guys would ABHOR watching Crankworx DH lol. People are always surprised by how bad the DH coverage is, and thsoe tracks always seem LONG. Like 4-5 minutes. I prefer tracks in the middle so you can have great split and camera placement. 2:45 - 3:30 ish in length.
I would love a 4-5 minute DH track like Mt Snow used to be. Personally. Nothing to do with World Cup
Gen Cloud
Yeah, I'm probably influenced from Ft Bill being a boring TV watch regardless of full-run or not. On camera the speed an roughness doesn't com through well and it's hard to see what a rider is doing to go faster or slower. The motorway at the end could be cut and I wouldn't miss it, along with the drone shots from 300 ft in the air and cameras trying to look through the Gondola.
Popping in to say I'm stoked we have two sick #USDH races in the two off weeks from world cup DH to keep us fan boys going. And they both have replay show coverage on Youtube
!!!
Monster Energy Pro Downhill this weekend at Mountain Creek looks epic. The crew pulled out all of the stops for an epic track and I'm sure we will have great camera coverage from the Gravity Cooperative. Dante Silva qualifying just ahead of Asa makes for some epic racing tomorrow.
And next weekend DHSE Snowhsoe on the Basin side of the mtn for an OG southeast showdown. I wouldn't be surprised if plenty of heavy hitters make the drive a few hours south after Mountain Creek to try and grab more podiums. This season has been epic so far. Both youtube channels linked above within this post.
Now Will,
Is Snowshoe the Southeast?
I know it was founded by the same Charlotte area dentist as Sugar and Beech, but i feel like it’s solidly “mid atlantic”, with Pittsburgh and cleveland being shorter drives than Charlotte.
Certainly a solid two weeks of domestic DH coming up!
When Pidcock decides to race MTB it's like an NHL pro shows up to Sunday beer league to embarrass all the washed up been.
You could say the same about Isabella Holmgren in the U23 race on Saturday; a first year U23 (and reigning Junior World Champion) does her first U23 World Cup and puts 2 mins into everybody..........
There's a reason she's been signed by a WWT road team.......
PFP too; that might have been the most casually effortless-looking win I've ever seen in XC. Even bobbling that root every lap didn't seem to faze her...
I want to see footage from sections we haven't seen at a race that we get all of the time. I also want to see the new sections. I'd also like to see the sections that are causing the most trouble or where the "race is won." If WB/Discovery doesn't want to make it available in a broadcast, then make it available to download. The cameras are in place, run them.
Nina likely out for Leogang w/ dislocated elbow
Must have been some after-party!
This just in: Ronan Dunne's RedBull wings save Nina Hoffman's elbow!
Dang that's a bummer! I've never dislocated an elbow. Is that something you can just let heal and push through the pain? Tearing ligaments sounds like something that will need attention/surgery in the future.
Dislocated elbow with no broken bones is pretty shocking
I did dislocate my elbow this exact christmas. Let me tell you it will hurt for months. She will not ride bikes for a few months i imagine.
Also, one of the painfullest things to happen to me, and i crashed motorcycles into threes.
get well soon!
syndicate has been a mess since they all showed up in those mechanic costumes
vital raw radness from downhill southeast and the basin side of snowshoe
I never enjoyed Basin side runs. Ever!
I tried. Just clunky and soggy for no enjoyable reason. Love the big side with a passion!
Agree. It’s all getting a bit reality tv without much in the way of results. The hay days of Rennie, Peaty, Minnaar, Bryceland and Roskopp are long gone. It’s amazing how fast things can change under corporate leadership.
Post a reply to: 2024 Racing Talk