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
Wow looking at White Face as a destination is pretty lack luster, I don't see many fans traveling for this venue. The whole village looks like its the size of the gift shops at Snowshoe.
I wouldn't call it a village. It's a ski lodge. You won't be hanging there when there aren't races. Lake Placid 15 mins away on the other hand is a fun town to walk around in for a day. They can't build much at the base of the mountain because it's in the middle of the largest park in the contiguous US, with a river and steep mountains on each side of the valley.
as dante pointed out, there's a lot of atypical things about WF compared to other mountains / resorts stemming from the fact that it's on USFS land.
the vast majority of the lodging options are in town. i strongly suspect they will have shuttles running from the town during the race.
I understand but that but its just not a great venue when compared to Snowshoe, which obviously they didn't go to for one reason or another maybe Snowshoe didn't bid on it this year.
Disagree. NYC? That's a big city. You also get the Boston, Philly, Jersey Connecticut, Canada and upstate NY. More people can drive in less than 5 hours to White Face than any other resort in the country. New England Skiing is actually further and gets a ton of traffic. This venue while old and from the 80's will have tons of people if the marketing is there and the infrastructure can handle it.
US Open to White Face to MSA is also a very easy travel route for riders and teams. This is a very good destination for many reasons. The track is TBD.
Im not disagreeing that there is enough people close by but I'm saying COMPARED to Snowshoe where you are immersed in the event all weekend your lodging is in walking distance to every single event for the whole weekend, you can walk to multiple bars and restaurants, concerts at night etc. Is a lot more enticing and valuable to most people looking to make a vacation out if it compared to having to stay 20 minutes away and drive to and from what is basically a empty mountain in the middle of a forest.
Hardcore mountain bike people will go but those aren't the people spending a bunch of money.
Snowshoe is a great venue. Horrible location for teams to get to MSA or other events. Lots of driving, flying and logistics. There is no winner here. Snowshoe is/was amazing. White Face will be? Who knows. Hopefully it works out. It will at least be scenic with fall in the adirondacks.
I have encountered ice on the rocks in the higher Adirondack Mountains in early October as well as 70F weather other times. It will be interesting to see how conditions play out.
to MSA: ~15 hours from snowshoe, ~5 hours from Lake Placid.
Whiteface's brand new track is going to have twice the elevation as the snowshoe track, and it isn't even starting from the top of the mountain, IIRC about 2/3 the way down.
it's great that snowshoe's village is right in the midst of everything, and I really enjoyed that aspect when I was there for the WC. but Lake Placid is definitely bigger, and there is more to do. even if you have to take a shuttle to the race venues (XCO is held at a different facility than DH), i don't think that will be enough to keep people away. snowshoe and LP are about the same distance from me (6.5 hrs and 6 hrs, respectively). personally LP would be an easier sell to my wife (a non-rider) if we were gonna make a trip for a race.
also, LP has better cell coverage by comparison.
Agreed, there's a ton to do in the town, plus the fall colors will be on full display. Could not be more excited to finally go this year.
Snowshoe's track is sick and unique, and much easier for me...but for 99% of people, really out of the way. It's a much better venue if they run two races there, like the double header. That was really sick and the tracks were quite different.
Didn't want to start a 2027 race talk thread so...does anyone know what is actually going to happen to BC Bike Race for '27? It's been on my bucket list, so now I'm wondering whether I should enter 2026 for the last round with the current setup or wait until 27.
I'd say go this year if it's a bucket list item of yours. Don't miss out if they change it or can it in the following years. That being said, I have no idea of what they're doing for 2027.
My guess is it will be shorter (3-4 days) based out of one location.
NW Cup #1 is this weekend in port angeles. here's the course POV
Hope they show a preview for CAT 2 old fart. I’m stoked!!!
Also in the Champlain Valley one hour to the east it will be apple harvest time. Arguably the best time of the year up there to visit.
DHI Wildcards for Poland
https://www.instagram.com/p/DIlUsrWtdRG/?igsh=bWR1ZHdibWIwbXM1
Hmmm. Who does that leave out? Gwin for sure. Who else?
I personally hate everything Warner Bros has done with DH, but not having a clear and direct path for Gwin to be able to race is possibly the most egregious.
No Gwin would be a joke.
If you listen to the most recent needles podcast w/Gwin he had no plans to race the first WC and only plans to race 7/10 this year
Thx for sharing.
Said he planned on doing 18 races this year, but only 7 WC.
Having spent several years frequenting the different venues on the DH and EWS circuit I found MSA and Snowshoe to be more the exception than the rule. Hop on google maps and have a look at where most of the European rounds are hosted. Leogang has limited lodging and is basically a gravel parking lot that just appears along the side of road; Val di Sole is only slightly better but most of the accommodations are closed during the summer and there's very little in terms of accommodation and dining on site; Lenzerheide requires almost everyone to be bussed in or park in distant satellite lots, accommodation is mostly off site; La Thuile is bit better with one large hotel and a couple great restaurants but still quite small, it's also relatively remote but easy enough to access from Geneva and Morzine. Poland is on the edge of a large town but the venue itself is quite out of the way; and Fort Willam is basically a gravel lot in the middle of nowhere in a town that itself is already far away from anywhere.
For DH venues Les Gets, and to some extent Andorra, are the only ones that immediately come to mind as comparable to MSA and Snowshoe.
Windham wasn't quite as out-of-town as Whiteface will be but the town itself was nothing special and there was no lack of spectators. Driving from home 2 - 4 hours to Lake Placid and then commuting to the venue, on balance, is probably a lot easier for people from the major population centers than making the 8 - 15 hour one way trip to Snowshoe.
So I'm hearing Windrock still has a chance then....
Did you ever go to Maribor? The bottom of the gondola is a stop on one of the city bus lines and the city is basically right there, the second largest city in Slovenia. Granted, it's still basically a large village with 100.000 inhabitants, but as far as Slovenian standards go, it's a big one
I wonder who they have building the DH track. I know Gwin and Jermey were up these in the fall but have not seen anything from either of them since. Little surprised we have not seen anything about it. The mountain there is interesting, it starts steep but mellows out a fair bit in the lower areas.
Considering WF is still open for skiing I'm guessing they haven't started digging yet.
They closed yesterday so I'd guess the digging starts soon. Basically all of the snow is only on the trails where they made snow and stockpiled it.
Post a reply to: 2025 Race Talk