2026 Race Talk

2/15/2026 11:00am
BGoldstone wrote:
Insane that Madeline Lloyd, who is either 13 or recently 14 had the fastest Women's time of the day, besting Jenna Hastings by 0.6 seconds. Calling...

Insane that Madeline Lloyd, who is either 13 or recently 14 had the fastest Women's time of the day, besting Jenna Hastings by 0.6 seconds. Calling it now, Maddie Lloyd for Junior World Champ in Durango 2030 (if the category still exists. If not, then elite world champ). 

roost66 wrote:

Did they have a different track or something? Couple people in that cat put down top 5 pro times.   

Nope. 100% identical track, the kids are just that fast. There’s some solid talent in Aus, but the path to Europe is hard and expensive.

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roost66
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2/15/2026 11:49am
Insane that Madeline Lloyd, who is either 13 or recently 14 had the fastest Women's time of the day, besting Jenna Hastings by 0.6 seconds. Calling...

Insane that Madeline Lloyd, who is either 13 or recently 14 had the fastest Women's time of the day, besting Jenna Hastings by 0.6 seconds. Calling it now, Maddie Lloyd for Junior World Champ in Durango 2030 (if the category still exists. If not, then elite world champ). 

roost66 wrote:

Did they have a different track or something? Couple people in that cat put down top 5 pro times.   

Nope. 100% identical track, the kids are just that fast. There’s some solid talent in Aus, but the path to Europe is hard and expensive.

Insane

1
boozed
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2/15/2026 2:38pm
Insane that Madeline Lloyd, who is either 13 or recently 14 had the fastest Women's time of the day, besting Jenna Hastings by 0.6 seconds. Calling...

Insane that Madeline Lloyd, who is either 13 or recently 14 had the fastest Women's time of the day, besting Jenna Hastings by 0.6 seconds. Calling it now, Maddie Lloyd for Junior World Champ in Durango 2030 (if the category still exists. If not, then elite world champ). 

roost66 wrote:

Did they have a different track or something? Couple people in that cat put down top 5 pro times.   

Nope. 100% identical track, the kids are just that fast. There’s some solid talent in Aus, but the path to Europe is hard and expensive.

More entrants in both U19 and U17 women than in pro women too, the future is bright

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2/15/2026 3:31pm
roost66 wrote:

Did they have a different track or something? Couple people in that cat put down top 5 pro times.   

Nope. 100% identical track, the kids are just that fast. There’s some solid talent in Aus, but the path to Europe is hard and expensive.

boozed wrote:

More entrants in both U19 and U17 women than in pro women too, the future is bright

I’m kinda hoping it’s bright for our junior men too! 

1
Mtbbeta
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2/16/2026 4:52am

Anyone now what this is about  

Comments said it was a joke  

IMG 8081
2
Mr.Nally
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2/16/2026 5:55am
Bomberone wrote:

Bruni does a non-WC race??

This world is going mad!

Bruni has done a few Crankworx in NZ before and usually does a couple of pre season races too. Pretty sure he picked up an injury at a pre season race in Italy a few years back too?

Robbie420
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Kamloops CA
2/16/2026 6:13am
Mtbbeta wrote:
Anyone now what this is about  Comments said it was a joke  

Anyone now what this is about  

Comments said it was a joke  

IMG 8081

Pretty sure it's a joke, mocking the NST tour that happened down there for holding an event, and delaying results and media coverage.

14
2/16/2026 10:10am

Thats idiotic, hold a race and stream it months after specially when nothing is happening at this point of the season

2
sspomer
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2/16/2026 7:15pm

race talk forum lurkers get it before it's public - 17 Questions with Loic Bruni

Questions asked
0:00 - Who would win in a fight between you, Amaury Pierron and Jackson Goldstone?
0:50 - Do you ever go to World Cup after parties? If yes, tell us your favorite post-race story. If no, why don't you like to have fun?
1:54 - Does your mechanic Jack get enough credit for how much he helps with the bike and suspension setup?
3:02 - How many on-track line spotters do you have? (Spoiler, Nico Vouilloz will be one in 2026!)
4:14 - How many Elite men and women should there be in finals at a World Cup?
5:39 - Do the new crop of young racers terrify you or motivate you?
6:55 - What tire pressure do you run and do you run inserts?
7:23 - What has been your favorite part of being a dad?
7:55 - How much money in bonuses have you made from winning one World Champs?
8:27 - When you SuperBruni or PopeBruni signs, does that weird you out?
8:58 - What do you want to do when you're done racing?
10:04 - People always talk about how your suspension setup is different than most of your competitors. Do you think it's true? If so, how does it differ from the rest?
12:02 - If your new son wanted to pursue being a pro rollerblader, would you let him?
12:41 - What is one activity you would not let your son pursue?
13:11 - Have you ever told Red Bull "no" to one of their clickbait video project ideas? If so, what was it?
16:17 - Do you think social media can have a negative impact on race performance?
17:58 - Would you rather be telling Vital MTBers to like and subscribe instead of answering these dumb questions?

17
MarzMan
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Westfield, MA US
2/17/2026 6:21am
roost66 wrote:
Having raced at mount snow, it does not have the elevation and pitch for World Cup in my opinion. Although I hate orda, whiteface World Cup...

Having raced at mount snow, it does not have the elevation and pitch for World Cup in my opinion. Although I hate orda, whiteface World Cup was sick last year, and has more of “big mountain” you can’t find in many other places in the east.  More North America WC would obviously be sick, I think WF, MSA and whistler would be a good season finale.  Plus whatever Durango has coming.   

schwaaa31 wrote:
Back in the Grundig/NORBA days, Mt Snow was a racer favorite. Of course back then the track went from the summit. Plenty of vertical for a...

Back in the Grundig/NORBA days, Mt Snow was a racer favorite. Of course back then the track went from the summit. Plenty of vertical for a WC if they ran that lift still. If I remember right, some rare bird nests at the summit for a couple weeks in the summer? And it’s national forest land, so they had to stop running that lift in the summer. Such a bummer, because Mt Snow has some great terrain from the top. The bike park there has really gone to shit over the years. 

Two words bro: YARD SALE! The original was so wild

Mr.Nally
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2/20/2026 12:46am

Crankworx Christchurch Seeding.

https://live.rawmotion.com/cwxchristchurch2026


Does anyone know where we can get split times? Often looks like the pink site get full results from crankworx and Hardling that us fools can't get?

BGoldstone
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2/20/2026 11:46am
Mr.Nally wrote:
Crankworx Christchurch Seeding.https://live.rawmotion.com/cwxchristchurch2026Does anyone know where we can get split times? Often looks like the pink site get full results from crankworx and Hardling...

Crankworx Christchurch Seeding.

https://live.rawmotion.com/cwxchristchurch2026


Does anyone know where we can get split times? Often looks like the pink site get full results from crankworx and Hardling that us fools can't get?

PB is just showing the same results from rawmotions.

finals will be on Youtube tonight. 

8
Sugarbrad
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2/20/2026 3:46pm
BGoldstone wrote:

PB is just showing the same results from rawmotions.

finals will be on Youtube tonight. 

Hopefully no weather drama. Luke said they had to shuttle up for Qualies yesterday because of lightning...

2/21/2026 7:32am

Not a race strictly speaking but I figured this could go here anyway - slopestyle finals LIVE from Crankworx Chirstchurch, starts in 4 hours or so:

2
hogfly
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Fayetteville, AR US
2/21/2026 7:45am Edited Date/Time 2/21/2026 7:46am

The best racing I've seen in ages is to be found in Jimbo Munro (and others) instagram stories. A bunch of the NZ expat summer crew (Jimbo, Alex Blanar, Finn Smith, etc..) threw together a homegrown "four cross" race on some raw tracks in NZ. So freaking sick.

Sorry if you don't have instagram. Hopefully someone puts together a youtube edit of the action, but it's absolutely bonkers and looks like a ton of fun.

Here's Jimbo's account.

4
sspomer
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2/21/2026 8:01am Edited Date/Time 2/21/2026 8:09am

Luke Meier-Smith's POV from his winning Crankworx run - the hands-in-the-middle-of-the-bars tuck is so gnarly!

5
brash
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2/22/2026 1:30pm

it's been thrown around before, but LMS is the fittest dude in WCDH. Guy is a determined beast.

3
boozed
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2/22/2026 3:39pm Edited Date/Time 2/22/2026 3:39pm
brash wrote:

it's been thrown around before, but LMS is the fittest dude in WCDH. Guy is a determined beast.

He would have been licking his lips when he saw this track for the first time

"For me? You shouldn't have!"

2
StudBeefpile
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2/22/2026 4:35pm
brash wrote:

it's been thrown around before, but LMS is the fittest dude in WCDH. Guy is a determined beast.

boozed wrote:

He would have been licking his lips when he saw this track for the first time

"For me? You shouldn't have!"

Dude put 10s into Bruni.  I know it’s not a wc race, but also I don’t think Bruni is just sitting down in the last split either.  Dude emptied the tank at the bottom. 

1
63expert
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Beaver, WV US
2/22/2026 7:07pm

I figure if you can win an Enduro WC, and happen upon a DH pedalfest, you might be happy. 

StudBeefpile
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2/22/2026 10:44pm
63expert wrote:

I figure if you can win an Enduro WC, and happen upon a DH pedalfest, you might be happy. 

“happy” 😩 

I honestly thought he got a flat near the start of the last split, you could hear him make some groan noise on the live feed.  Apparently that was just his turbos spooling up

5
StudBeefpile
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2/23/2026 1:32pm
sspomer wrote:

Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho hosts US Enduro National Champs June 6-7. Deets below

https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/silver-mountain-hosts-2026-…

The only race where I have given up TWICE in a single stage! 

It’s so interesting to see EDR fail while events like this flourishing 

mickey
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Location
Roanoke, VA US
2/24/2026 6:41am

The only race where I have given up TWICE in a single stage! 

It’s so interesting to see EDR fail while events like this flourishing 

It’s so excellent to see for a 2nd year in a row that USAC’s national events staff isn’t involved with Enduro National Championships.  

Mr Harper has done a good job reducing USAC’s involvement with Gravity national championships… now we need to kick the USAC goons out of the event director and site selection roles for Endurance MTB nationals and return our highest level racing to event organizers and promoters that actually care about and understand bike racing.

1
sspomer
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Boise, ID US
2/24/2026 10:32am

not a race itself but prep for the race, specialized gravity team camp/wind tunnel testing

2
petarjelev
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Kardzhali BG
2/24/2026 1:03pm
sspomer wrote:

not a race itself but prep for the race, specialized gravity team camp/wind tunnel testing

You can see the new E-bike front triangle at 6:48 Smile  

mamath7
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FR
2/25/2026 1:46am
sspomer wrote:

not a race itself but prep for the race, specialized gravity team camp/wind tunnel testing

@6:47 hello you

1

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