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I don't mean protection beyond for seeding. It would be a better product if all the hitters who qualified fair and square were at the back. I will say, however, that that Nathan kid's run today hurts my point.
Raw audio's great if it's truly raw, unlike the sound effects added to the drone shots in the Loudenvielle elite finals highlights.
After the jumping sound effects that were added in the last (two?) season(s) I can't actually trust that any of the audio is real now...
Warner brothers production is designed to capture the attention of new eyeballs.
Their market is aimed at people who don't know about downhill heritage.
It's a good idea to make all their captured footage available post race for diehards who might rewatch on a weekend that has no live racing
I highly doubt Wyn will have any sort of working relationship with Warner bros given how outspoken he has been about their acquisition and efforts to run the series so far.
I'm 99% sure that the drone shots are fully added sound, including the drone sounds.
I don't get it, because drone sounds are annoying, but when paying attention to it specifically, the pitch changes are not related to the angle or speed of the drone, and "pulses" at similar intervals each run.
I know I'm no longer really the market for the broadcast, and it probably works well when heard over the din of a cycling cafe, but I would rather just silence or some wind noise :/
I see no Vital Raws from Loudenvielle, are you only going to do certain races this year? Not sure where to post this so hoping this is the right thread!
i mentioned in the loudenvielle thread, but no lawlor raw or pit bits vids fromt Loudenvielle, Lenzerheide, Andorra or Les Gets. we have 6 US national rounds this year that we decided to put budget into instead. our heart is with domestic racing and helping it grow. with 11 WC rounds (including world champs), we had to make budget choices and this year we had to pay 3k euro to WBD so lawlor could film (this was after our budget/race decisions were made, however). they've always let us in, but that finally ended this year. i don't blame them, it's their series, we have sponsors that support our vids, so there it is.
i looked at the metrics, the excitement levels of the tracks from a visual element, the time of year (people ride more than watch mid-summer) etc and that's how we ended up where we did. it's a bummer not to have raw from a race for sure, and i wish we could showcase every WC, but with hard choices on the line, i'd rather put money towards supporting #USDH than every WC.
Makes sense, plenty of cameras at the WC's too I suppose, so hats off for documenting the slightly smaller stuff that needs the attention!
Sleeper Co shredit out yet? Killing a few minutes at lunch.
I just checked Nate Kitchen's results: he finished 3rd, behind Austin D. and Ryan P., and ahead of Aaron and Dante last year. He's a Cali kid. I'm sure they know who he is.
This seems like a great way to supplement rider pay, though I admit, I know nothing about online gambling. Do either Vital or Pinkbike's fantasy leagues pay anything back to racers? If not, is there a Draftkings-style way to bet on downhill that would maybe create a pool of dough for talented riders who are barely squeeking by?
Gambling is gnarly. We absolutely do not want gambling in our sport.
based on the signs everyone was getting sucked into this weekend, there's gambling in our sport.
Updates from Stan Nisbet on why he ended up missing his start time -
For those without the gram -
Got to the top of the hill for my run and I had a valve core failure on my shock, which left it with little to no air. We tried our best to sort it with the time we had but unfortunately ended up being a couple seconds too late, so wasn’t allowed to start. Chance in a million but that’s bike racing! Lots of positives to take away from the weekend and tones of fun was had with the team. Can go again this weekend, let’s get after it
And it was his birthday
Worst birthday present EVER
Damn, Dialed gone, Vital RAW gone for a big chunk. UCI vid drops are random and nowhere near as enjoyable as yours, PB's and Dialeds efforts. ☹️
Reece Wilson sharing his thoughts on the tracks
Cry harder Reece? 😅
Pretty sure every UCI DH racer agrees with him.
I mean theres def a reason for feeling that when you start with Poland and Loudenvielle. And to a lesser extent, Leogang right after that.
But it's not like VDS and MSA were taken off schedule. I'm hoping Champery will be a technical track, despite being a similarly steep tight track. And I'm hoping the boys at home cook up something nasty for Placid. Maybe build another whale tail at the bottom and have to dismantle it before the race...
Think Reece is just in a tough spot right now. And nobody can blame him for being pissed with the orgz. Even if it is bad luck what happened to Hattie and Stan, and missing finals himself, whether by a little or a lot.
At least he's an open book. Though an instagram story doesn't do much in the big picture. The injury discussion is always hard. Cuz it's never gonna be 'safe'. Slowing tracks down is a good idea, but racers will still find ways to a, keep going fast and b, get injured while pushing the limit. I guess I'm not sure what changes Reece would have made to this track. Or if he just means ditch tracks like Loudenvielle.
it's interesting reece brings les gets into it b/c (from the coziness of the internet, having never been to either venue) that track seems really similar to loudenvielle in that it's high speed and mostly "just dirt," no obvious rocky tech sections like vds or msa. i also thought that by race day loudenvielle was an extremely technical ride. it wasn't wheel-eating rocks, but that first steep left hander that caught people out, that left that bode burke hovered through, and all the other razor thin lines meant skill, delicate braking and bike setup was hugely important. i even find the high-speed "boring" upper sections fascinating on race day too. "there's no significant time to be made up there" is the mantra, then all of a sudden someone goes 1 or 2 seconds faster. the top 4 elite men were separated by 3.1 seconds, not milliseconds. it's technicality of a precise nature rather than bike smashing. i'm looking forward to leogang for the same reason, it has a bit of everything.
I would have thought that top section would be tighter too, but yeah, the spreads are way larger. Gracey was over 3 seconds back in the middle of the track, and somehow made up 6 seconds later on. GoPro Bike recently posted a side by side of her and Vali on their YouTube channel and it's insane to see the difference at the top vs bottom.
Leogang forum topic started here. DH race is on Saturday, not Sunday b/c it's a triple weekend (XC, EDR, DH). boosh
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2025-world-cup-downhill-edr-leogang-austria
Losing Vital Raw hits hard, ngl, its just a big part of the DH weekend.
Maybe next year we crowd source lawlors travel expenses. Just saying, I’m willing to chip in because god damn I missed them as well.
No Vital Raw, no WynTV, having withdrawal symptoms.
https://youtu.be/-oiwsn6G8MQ?si=qZFhHjdUsbd_qANb
Sleeper edit
speaking of tech. Beech Mountain DHSE looks punishing!
They’ve only gone and done it again. Unreal.
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