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and I think of critical consideration is the fact that off road endurance cycling (marathon more so maybe) is actually really popular in Brazil, especially further south in the country. So the motivation to host events and the finance needed is much easier to come by 'cos national/local sponsors can see a direct return on investment. The same can't be said for DH in Crazil, but we certainly do need a Dh World Cup in Chile or Argentina.
One of the best and worst things about mountain biking is the people. I completely agree with you @owl-x. It’s amazing you have more dislikes than likes on this comment and all your saying is the truth. Some factions of cycling are so far up their own ass the can’t see their own hypocrisy.
it's up to whichever venue that is submitting the hosting bid to the UCI to select the formats they want.
It was either on the Gravity CoOp podcast or Vital podcast but one of the coaches who runs a Devo team (gravity academy maybe?) threw out that some parents are completely down with dishing out 30k for their kids to get to do a World Cup season. So yeah. This is pretty common practice. Every XC devo team (including Bear which is probably the most successful in America) have club dues that are pretty high.
I also suspect that a lot of the teams are set up (not to use a loaded example) like pyramid schemes. The younger, less talented riders are paying dues that go toward funding the racing of the more talented kids who are bringing in the results.
Somewhere in the last 20 years readers here lost track of the sport's trajectory. We are firmly in upper-middle class sporting territory. Being a young sport ( Performance MTB ) many of us came from various socioeconomic backgrounds to make it happen in the 90s but now that landscape is quite different. I would argue we almost surpassed skiing as the well-to-do hobby for people with money to spend.
Columbia
I generally agree, however winter sports are incredibly expensive where I am and it's mostly money you never see again. Resort accommodation or transport, lift passes (which exceed $200/day!) etc. At least when you spend $5-10k on a bike you have an object you can hold on to for as long as you like, and can ride it whenever and wherever you like!
When you spend 5to 10k on a bike you are into a constant maintenance cycle. Tires run almost $150 each plus sealant, cassette can be 500, chains and chainrings $100 each, bearings and maintenance, brake pads, grips.
Then there’s gear that gets abused. Warm, cold and rain gear, lights etc. Gas for getting to spots or shuttling, and lift tickets, which are steadily increasing.
That’s just for riding not racing. Travel entrance food coaching gym membership physio insurance
Yeah man, Colombia would be very very cool. But the organizational structure is LOOSE!! I went to the BMX World Champs in Medellin and on the morning of racing the gate fail and the track was falling apart, no one would do anything, so an Aussie guy fixed the gate & I was part of a team of kiwis who fixed the track so racing could start.... Oh and the grandstand was rebuilt the night before, as it was deemed too dangerous for people to sit on...
Such a cool place and WC round in South America would be cool, just don't get hurt either...
Living in a country where we have to travel to ski/snowboard if I break it down to participation hours biking is way cheaper than winter sport holidays. I'd be budgeting £1000 per week for a trip to the Alps.
I don't know about other countries, but neither I, nor the majority of my riding buddies are anywhere near what I would perceive as upper middle class, most of us are firmly working class and have the spending power of that level. Granted we are wealthy on a global scale, as are most people in the 1st world, but within the confines of our own country it's just not the case.
Do most of us forgo the nice car and latest phone in order to afford nice bikes? Damn right, it's all about priorities.
Back to rumors - Cam Balanche on Scott, Giant or Trek? Marine Cabirou on Norco or Giant? And what teams get the supposed five wildcard spots to make the 20 world series teams?
Here is my vision on the 2025 teams (be careful with riders changing teams, this will change a lot !) :
Red ones are stopping or rumoured to be stopping
Green ones are becoming top 15
Yellow ones would be the five wild cards
Orange ones would like a spot too
Blue ones will go to continental series ?
Okay I get blue and red. But am I the only one having no idea which is green, yellow or orange?? (yes, I do have a touch of color blindness...)
It's clear on my laptop screen... might be more than just a touch of colour blindness, or maybe your screen isn't colour calibrated?
Anyway from top to bottom: 2 greens, five yellows then orange arrows.
Lots of rumors this past weekenx that a certain Spanish rider of a fan favorite bike brand was spotted in Angelfire with telemetry boxes on his bike… that was outfitted with Ohlins suspension.
Could have just been kids talking, though.
Agreed, It's not like his dad bought an entire auto manufacturer and F1 race team just to get his kid a race seat.
Assuming you're talking about Angel... On some podcast recently where Neko was talking about the new Frameworks enduro bike, he was saying how he liked Fox (of course), and he went on longer than I'd expect that Ohlins was amazing to work with and their suspension could be set up perfectly. Then just left a short note about how Rockshox was available for the bike if that's what you prefer. It would make sense that he would hype up their current sponsor Fox, so maybe Ohlins is a future sponsor.
It could ALSO be that they’re working on production / retail model options specced with Ohlins and trying to get a proper tune for the product they’re selling and it’s independent of the race team.
Giant doesn't have female riders.
Liv Cycling would be the female race team.
And heard that "brand" has zero reason to pursue a WC team financially.
I have a feeling your red pen will be getting more use before the year is out. Crazy to think that Gwin might not be racing the top tier next year.
The prospect that Gwin may not be racing at all WC is a huge bummer especially given how well he did at MSA.
Gwin is a competitor and one savvy dude. I'd be shocked if it doesn't shuffle out where Gwin Racing isn't top tier.
This is basically why V&R Racing exists. To help cover the travel costs for junior (women) WC racers. (We kept Taylor Ostgaard on for an extra year in Elite cuz she's just so frickin awesome.) We'd love to expand and help more racers, but for now, we'll stay focused and try to fill the need. We'd love to see more sponsors like us helping fill this gap. We'll throw a little teaser out since this is the rumors thread - our next sponsored rider races for Gravity Collective.
Theo Erlangsen on Ride Companion said he thought the EDR team points count as well and are totaled together to determine the elite teams. Not sure which is the truth, as I haven't read the rules and Chris Ball hasn't come out of his hole to explain anything.
Hedging my bets on Cash Shaleen.
Colombia*
On another tangent.... Ohlins have just been purchased by Brembo (Motorsport brake gods)
So maybe if we are lucky we may see some Brembo bike brakes in the future to match the suspension...
75k to get a spot on a factory team is nothing.
Hundreds of families in the US every year put a second mortgage on their house for their kids to get 10th place at lorettas super mini class.
Don't even get me started with ski racing. People send kids to "academy" that costs 100k a year. Then like have a 1% chance of being on a national team. Then make 20 dollars a year unless they are attractive enough for a Rolex or Visa sponsorship.
Looks like it will be based off of UCI rankings and not WC rankings?? That changes this list a bit, especially from 15 down.
You are right, updated version
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