I regularly hear people say XC is the most spectator friendly race format for mtb, which makes sense since it's on a circuit that offers more visibility in person, multiple riders on track is fun, and its likely easier to broadcast live as well.
So why not try this: create an XC course on steroids; extremely technical climbs, Enduro/DH style descents, big jumps, ext. Then, we get a field of riders to race it on full power Enduro ebikes. This format would be easy to spectate, can offer gnarly riding and terrain, multiple riders on track would be exciting to watch, it'd be a format all these ebike companies could use to market their stuff, and it could potentially be a unique ebike specific race format that works (traditional Enduro style ebike racing doesn't seem to be popular). 
Wouldn't this just be a slower, less exciting version of hard enduro racing?
dafuq? erzberg, through the rocks, i can’t think of anything slower…
DH is the best mtb and provides the best viewing experience. Who cares how many cameras you got if you’re filming golf? Right? It’s like Steve Perry had the Best Voice in Rock…but he was singing Journey songs with it.
I like watching modern pro XC racing, but DH is what it’s all about. Ebike rock crawling what are you talking about cmon
I like it. Full-power enduro e-bikes could easily handle most DH courses and we'd get the benefit of all riders on track at once, with passing, strategy, etc. It would be like motocross, but on bicycles, and more so than BMX is.
Build a one-mile course with a climb and a downhill, start everyone from the same starting gate, and make them do 5-10 laps.
Add:
Beer pong
Lazy river
Colored smoke bombs
Beach balls w/ sulfur inside
Time bonus for your rider for opposing mechanics hitting riders w/ nerf footballs in the face
360 degree rotating dance floor,
Pressure washer in a curve on red clay
Bubble guns on each riders handlebars
Alley to dodge people doing goat yoga
Guinea chickens running loose
Tight rope with midgets set to limbo height!!!
Let's DO THIS!!!!
Not trying to be a hater here, but I don't believe that ebike anything will ever be the pinnacle of mountain biking.
To expand on this further I think unfortunately the format you laid out has some fundamental flaws. First if the bikes are too light riders will just carry or throw the bike up unmanageable obstacles on the climb portion, defeating the whole hard enduro side of the racing quickly. If the bikes are heavier and have more power are they just lighter motos at that point? Furthermore if one manufacturers motor is way better can the athletiscm of the riders overcome that? Unlikely in my opinion. Lastly if all those changes get made why not just watch actual hard enduro on gas or electric motos? I think athletiscm is still a large part of mountain bike racing and what truly separates it from motocross.
XC these days is stupid good, I love DH as much as the next guy on here but the modern XC races are really good. It's like comparing rally (DH) and rallycross (XC) at this point. Rally has the prestige and culture, but in a lot of ways rallycross is the better package. I wouldn't mind longer descents in XC races but asides from that they're pretty great these days.
I think the hard mtb league was onto something, but the courses they used for the last event left a lot to be desired. They could be longer and less odd but more technical. Allowing ebikes to race directly against bikes was also a miss, the motors obviously were an unfair advantage.
I think that new hard mtb series is neat from a take mtb and package it into an in person spectacle. Dh is sick but it also requires a combination of elevation and infrastructure that the hard mtb series does not.
Dual slalom.
Ah you arent being a hater, good criticisms.
For the climbs, im thinking stuff that is a nice level of difficulty with multiple lines. Something that would be possible on a regular bike, but perhaps would be too demanding to do for multiple laps on an analog. Hard and steep enough that itd be faster to ride up than walk/carry the bike.
For the bikes im thinking the riders would be on something akin to the newer avinox bikes, perhaps UCI or whatever governing body requires a custom race firmware to ensure they all run the same power specs. How the bikes put out that power, their durability over a 5+ lap race, and the riders skill and endurance would be the factors separating winners and losers. It would be a lot closer to moto racing.. but i dont think that's a bad thing - and racers would still need to pedal - they just get an extra boost to that pedaling. Athletics would still be a factor, riders would need sufficient climbing and descent skills - similar to how DH riders are athletes even though there isnt a lot of pedaling.
Overall I just think itd be sick to have DH/Enduro terrain w/ multiple riders on track - and have that track designed in a way that spectators could see almost all of it.
Spectator friendly is irrelevant. Bicycle ballet is as spectator friendly as it gets - even more than BMX or slalom, and 3/4 of you are going to google it to see what it is.
The Tour de France is as spectator unfriendly as it gets and thousands flock to it, in hopes of spending 7 seconds watching the racers whizz by.
The tv programming is mind numbing as all the excitement in the 4+ hour “race” happens in the last 30-60 minutes. I recommend watching Milan Sanremo in its entirety and then ask yourself what Mtb is doing wrong, because the first 5 hours of that race is like watching paint dry with commentary. And it’s considered a classic and draws more fans than the entire DH season.
The culture and commentary of a sport will bring viewers - not the race format. Bro brah culture will never yield mass viewership. If the producers want to help the sport take off, the first thing to do is get all the riders some public speaking lessons so they don’t sound like overexcited 3rd graders. (Jackson stands out as refined, thoughtful, and eloquent here). Then put them in clothing that doesn’t look like tight pajamas.
I bet if Brayden Bringhurst put everyone in Hard MTB in a wool 3 piece suit and had them sitting around drinking tea with their pinky off the cup and had a mild mannered Brit doing calm, detailed announcing his league would take over the cycling world.
4x. Bring it back. Imagine at Val di sol this year they say ok. Top 64 in UCI points get to race 4x to qualify for DH finals. Top 32 make DH finals. Seeding and quali points come from 4x results. It’s in the evening under the lights like the edr stage. Tell me everyone isn’t watching that.
I'd love to see 4x come back and believe it's the most viable change/addition -- I would watch 4x even if the top riders in the world weren't competing, and you can't say that about any other form of racing. The problem is there currently isn't room for it in a UCI World Cup weekend, it's Enduro or 4x.
Just going to leave this here...
On a serious note.... we may be seeing the ultimate spectator form of mtb playing out with the cerro abajo series. It's not really my cup of tea to watch compared to a uci dh round, but it certainly seems to surf a middle ground of interest from those in the sport vs casual/outside interest.
I do think that the first person that nails an emtb racing format that is marketable will come out on-top. There is so much interest in these bikes and so much money/development flowing into that space that it's inevitable. I'm not saying it's going to be good for purists... but there will be slightly less nuance to understanding the gravity of what the riders are doing. As an example, Jordan Williams run at La Thuille is just above the meh level of interest/excitement for someone not engrossed in the sport... same goes for watching some or a lap of the xc race. If you're in the know, your mind is being blown with what you see, but if you're not, what you see is someone going fast on a bike, and it looks sketchy/hard... but there is no acknowledgement of the sheer level of performance that is being witnessed. For better or worse, an emtb racing format will allow a casual, non-core mtb viewer to see something they didn't expect.
This is as much a question of whom is the target audience and what does that spectator see as 'the ultimate' show. It then goes a level deeper of if we are trying to create/market something that is amazing in person, but doesn't translate to a broadcast or not.
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