So the (overblown) narrative of bar height at Andorra and implying something like Finn's bike was ideal at this track (and not at others) has resulted in Reece going 2nd on da choppa...
Or is the frame stack actually just that low, as Reece implied, and his total bar height is not that huge? He said like maybe 20mm up on 'normal' set ups.
So the (overblown) narrative of bar height at Andorra and implying something like Finn's bike was ideal at this track (and not at others) has resulted...
So the (overblown) narrative of bar height at Andorra and implying something like Finn's bike was ideal at this track (and not at others) has resulted in Reece going 2nd on da choppa...
Or is the frame stack actually just that low, as Reece implied, and his total bar height is not that huge? He said like maybe 20mm up on 'normal' set ups.
So the (overblown) narrative of bar height at Andorra and implying something like Finn's bike was ideal at this track (and not at others) has resulted...
So the (overblown) narrative of bar height at Andorra and implying something like Finn's bike was ideal at this track (and not at others) has resulted in Reece going 2nd on da choppa...
Or is the frame stack actually just that low, as Reece implied, and his total bar height is not that huge? He said like maybe 20mm up on 'normal' set ups.
The explosions in finals I could really do without. Amaury, Maples, Burke...grim crashes! And that's got to be the most random time gap separation for a finals I've seen. Nothing to separate & yet gaps on gaps on gaps in finals.
Anyone know if this is the most Americans qualifying in a long time? Did I count 7? Burke Luca Pinky Maples Dak AG7 Asa
Man, it looks like either he almost tucked the front wheel in the last corner, or that USD fork twisted funny. I noticed it on the highlights replay also.
Seems like Asa is forming a bad habit of being slow out of the gate. His S1 times in the last 2 races are what have kept him from the top of the podium.
Stoked to see Dak climbing the ladder. Gotta be hard to perform in that kit, maybe he can convince them to change it over the break. Inside Line pod topic ?!
Should be entertaining to see the follow up Cathro video on bar height post Reece result!
The absence of Wyn TV this round leaves a massive void for me.
And since I've been a massive critic of the commentary in the past it's definitely attained a level of acceptability now with the addition of Mark Beaumont. The last 3 rounds have been a huge improvement by them.
I could not handle listening to Rob Warners watch along commentary because of the two morons sitting in the room with him
Watching track vids, always end up hearing "cant win the race in this section, but you can lose it"... Which has seemingly been over-used to the...
Watching track vids, always end up hearing "cant win the race in this section, but you can lose it"... Which has seemingly been over-used to the point I'm not quite sure what it means. Obviously you can throw the race away anywhere, but I assume places where you 'cant' win are typically straight sections that are one line... And sections that ARE critical to winning (but not always mentioned as such?) are usually anything with a corner where exit speed is critical and potentially even changes whether or not you can make a line or gap.
What is your opinion on it? Is it a valid sound bite every weekend? Or is it as annoying as the 'climbs like a goat, descends like a mini DH' cliche of bike reviews of yore (or not so long ago depending on the reviewer).
I used to say this while looking at the course before a bike race. Saying it made me feel smart and tactical. Never won any of...
I used to say this while looking at the course before a bike race. Saying it made me feel smart and tactical. Never won any of those races, though.
As someone who's won and lost bike races, I think there's something to be said for that old saying. When I was racing, I always kept that phrase in mind when I was processing my nerves about a high risk section, especially the gnarly gaps that only the gnarliest riders were doing in practice. Hitting all the gnarly lines is a great way to win practice, but at Andorra, for instance, Jackson Goldstone was the only rider that I saw doing that super gnarly gap in the bottom third of the track (same rock section where Amaury ate shit and deployed his airbag), and doing that gnarly gap didn't automatically win the race for Jackson. That section ended multiple people's runs (like Amaury's), but Jordan won the race by smoothly riding the main line through those rocks, doing a much smaller little hop, and getting good backside to pump and setup for the corner early. He won by executing on the fundamentals instead of hucking for glory.
Now, sending a big gap in a race run can be really helpful mental motivation for some riders, and maybe that's why Jackson likes them so much. But Jordan won by over two seconds so I'd say the saying holds up: the race wasn't won on that section but it may have been lost on it.
Stoked to see Dak climbing the ladder. Gotta be hard to perform in that kit, maybe he can convince them to change it over the break...
Stoked to see Dak climbing the ladder. Gotta be hard to perform in that kit, maybe he can convince them to change it over the break. Inside Line pod topic ?!
Should be entertaining to see the follow up Cathro video on bar height post Reece result!
Ha yeah the crop top look doesn't really work for our boy 😏
V-10 got four wins in a row last year and nobody said a thing.
i think the sentiment is that the v10 hasn't changed much in years (not a bad thing) and is a "simple" design (also not a bad thing). the demo is basically a new-this-year freak bike of a contraption that is holding its own, so it's kind of exciting.
Also 2 different riders. Also not the prophesied golden child, so that as well.
It's kinda hard to talk about bikes when it's always the rider and some companies have more teams (cough commy cough)... But yeah, if the topic was success per gate drop, the Commencal may be the 'best bike'. Vali is sure as sh!t about to give them some numbers to ink in the history books.
Asa's done great on the FWs and now Anna's got one. That's about as small a team as you can get outside of just being a privateer/solo program. So what does that say about the bike? It says that the bike is fine and Asa and Anna are just fcukin faaasst
I think the tougher thing would be to point me to which bike on the circuit is truly holding a rider back. Reece just put to rest any whinging about his guitar chopper so... Outside of Hardtail Guy I'm not sure which team has the actual worst bike. And if Asa/Jackson/Finn/Jordan could win on it...
Also 2 different riders. Also not the prophesied golden child, so that as well.It's kinda hard to talk about bikes when it's always the rider and...
Also 2 different riders. Also not the prophesied golden child, so that as well.
It's kinda hard to talk about bikes when it's always the rider and some companies have more teams (cough commy cough)... But yeah, if the topic was success per gate drop, the Commencal may be the 'best bike'. Vali is sure as sh!t about to give them some numbers to ink in the history books.
Asa's done great on the FWs and now Anna's got one. That's about as small a team as you can get outside of just being a privateer/solo program. So what does that say about the bike? It says that the bike is fine and Asa and Anna are just fcukin faaasst
I think the tougher thing would be to point me to which bike on the circuit is truly holding a rider back. Reece just put to rest any whinging about his guitar chopper so... Outside of Hardtail Guy I'm not sure which team has the actual worst bike. And if Asa/Jackson/Finn/Jordan could win on it...
Reece absolutely has the worst bike setup of anyone in the senior men's ranks, and the only thing I learned from his second place at Andorra is that he's even more talented than I realized.
Random question: does anyone know what tires Jordan was running? Seems like the Specialized team are on Cannibals 90% of the time unless it's a mudder, but I'm wondering if they maybe switched to a front or rear Hillbilly for the super loose conditions at Andorra.
More fuel for discussion: someone over on Ridemonkey pointed out that Loic was interviewed after the race and he said the Syndicate's suspension doesn't look well set up. Watching the replays with that in mind, it does look like the amplitude of the bars jumping on successive hits is higher on Jackson & Asa's setups than Specialized (Ohlins) and Mondraker (RS - Pinky) and Commencal (RS - Vali, Amaury until he cratered).
What do you guys think about that? Just Loic talking shit? Or is it possible that the current gen of Fox stuff is a bit harder to ride on certain courses?
Maybe other riders like different setup. Remember when every rider said Gwin had poor suspension setup all while he was winning like crazy? What is one person preferred setup may not be another person preferred setup.
Honest opinion he is talking shit maybe trying to get in people’s heads. He knows his days are numbered and needs any advantage he can get.
Maybe other riders like different setup. Remember when every rider said Gwin had poor suspension setup all while he was winning like crazy? What is...
Maybe other riders like different setup. Remember when every rider said Gwin had poor suspension setup all while he was winning like crazy? What is one person preferred setup may not be another person preferred setup.
Honest opinion he is talking shit maybe trying to get in people’s heads. He knows his days are numbered and needs any advantage he can get.
I remember watching Gwin through the rock gardens at Windham during practice, his suspension was noticeably stiffer than anyone else. In one of the straight line rock gardens in the middle of the course, it looked like he was only using 30-40% of his fork travel while other riders were using 70-80%. I remember him saying in an interview that he wanted the suspension to skip over gaps between rocks and in the trail, rather than track the ground and drop into holes. That seemed to work for him back then because he won the race, along with a many others. Maybe that style of suspension setup doesn’t work with the bikes/equipment/courses anymore, or, the riders that prefer that style of setup are aging and losing outright pace. Perhaps some of the younger riders coming up saw Bruni’s style winning races and that’s what they are used to now.
Reese Wilson in 2nd is nice to see.
Four wins in a row for the Demo is pretty wild. The engineers over at the Big S must be running out of champagne.
So the (overblown) narrative of bar height at Andorra and implying something like Finn's bike was ideal at this track (and not at others) has resulted in Reece going 2nd on da choppa...
Or is the frame stack actually just that low, as Reece implied, and his total bar height is not that huge? He said like maybe 20mm up on 'normal' set ups.
i miss hand crafted memes. insta-upvote for you, sir.
so is it time to discuss the speshy gravity team dynamic? or are we just gonna chalk it up to coincidence?
personally i was trying to ignore it until they went 4 in a row... (with 2 diff riders)
started a thread to discuss specialized team dynamics. boosh!
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/specialized-downhill-team-dynamics-…
How is amuary still in one piece let alone able to finish is his run? That was the best marketing the airbag could ever have.
Reece's 2nd Place POV run
The explosions in finals I could really do without. Amaury, Maples, Burke...grim crashes!
And that's got to be the most random time gap separation for a finals I've seen. Nothing to separate & yet gaps on gaps on gaps in finals.
Anyone know if this is the most Americans qualifying in a long time?
Did I count 7?
Burke
Luca
Pinky
Maples
Dak
AG7
Asa
Man, it looks like either he almost tucked the front wheel in the last corner, or that USD fork twisted funny. I noticed it on the highlights replay also.
Seems like Asa is forming a bad habit of being slow out of the gate. His S1 times in the last 2 races are what have kept him from the top of the podium.
What on earth was the security up to at the finish?! Blocking Burke from coming through when all the fans started running down.
Dak hurt? Didn’t crash in his race but posted his right leg/foot in a brace.
He Was overheard on the broadcast saying he hit his foot off something and rode down unclipped fora lot of the run
Elite highlights and full junior race replays from Pal Arinsal.
Elite Men's Highlights
Elite Women's Highlights
Junior Men's Full Race Replay
Junior Women's Full Race Replay
average joe on andorra DH track w/ charlie coquillard
Stoked to see Dak climbing the ladder. Gotta be hard to perform in that kit, maybe he can convince them to change it over the break. Inside Line pod topic ?!
Should be entertaining to see the follow up Cathro video on bar height post Reece result!
V-10 got four wins in a row last year and nobody said a thing.
The absence of Wyn TV this round leaves a massive void for me.
And since I've been a massive critic of the commentary in the past it's definitely attained a level of acceptability now with the addition of Mark Beaumont. The last 3 rounds have been a huge improvement by them.
I could not handle listening to Rob Warners watch along commentary because of the two morons sitting in the room with him
As someone who's won and lost bike races, I think there's something to be said for that old saying. When I was racing, I always kept that phrase in mind when I was processing my nerves about a high risk section, especially the gnarly gaps that only the gnarliest riders were doing in practice. Hitting all the gnarly lines is a great way to win practice, but at Andorra, for instance, Jackson Goldstone was the only rider that I saw doing that super gnarly gap in the bottom third of the track (same rock section where Amaury ate shit and deployed his airbag), and doing that gnarly gap didn't automatically win the race for Jackson. That section ended multiple people's runs (like Amaury's), but Jordan won the race by smoothly riding the main line through those rocks, doing a much smaller little hop, and getting good backside to pump and setup for the corner early. He won by executing on the fundamentals instead of hucking for glory.
Now, sending a big gap in a race run can be really helpful mental motivation for some riders, and maybe that's why Jackson likes them so much. But Jordan won by over two seconds so I'd say the saying holds up: the race wasn't won on that section but it may have been lost on it.
Ha yeah the crop top look doesn't really work for our boy 😏
i think the sentiment is that the v10 hasn't changed much in years (not a bad thing) and is a "simple" design (also not a bad thing). the demo is basically a new-this-year freak bike of a contraption that is holding its own, so it's kind of exciting.
Also 2 different riders. Also not the prophesied golden child, so that as well.
It's kinda hard to talk about bikes when it's always the rider and some companies have more teams (cough commy cough)... But yeah, if the topic was success per gate drop, the Commencal may be the 'best bike'. Vali is sure as sh!t about to give them some numbers to ink in the history books.
Asa's done great on the FWs and now Anna's got one. That's about as small a team as you can get outside of just being a privateer/solo program. So what does that say about the bike? It says that the bike is fine and Asa and Anna are just fcukin faaasst
I think the tougher thing would be to point me to which bike on the circuit is truly holding a rider back. Reece just put to rest any whinging about his guitar chopper so... Outside of Hardtail Guy I'm not sure which team has the actual worst bike. And if Asa/Jackson/Finn/Jordan could win on it...
Reece absolutely has the worst bike setup of anyone in the senior men's ranks, and the only thing I learned from his second place at Andorra is that he's even more talented than I realized.
Random question: does anyone know what tires Jordan was running? Seems like the Specialized team are on Cannibals 90% of the time unless it's a mudder, but I'm wondering if they maybe switched to a front or rear Hillbilly for the super loose conditions at Andorra.
More fuel for discussion: someone over on Ridemonkey pointed out that Loic was interviewed after the race and he said the Syndicate's suspension doesn't look well set up. Watching the replays with that in mind, it does look like the amplitude of the bars jumping on successive hits is higher on Jackson & Asa's setups than Specialized (Ohlins) and Mondraker (RS - Pinky) and Commencal (RS - Vali, Amaury until he cratered).
What do you guys think about that? Just Loic talking shit? Or is it possible that the current gen of Fox stuff is a bit harder to ride on certain courses?
Maybe other riders like different setup. Remember when every rider said Gwin had poor suspension setup all while he was winning like crazy? What is one person preferred setup may not be another person preferred setup.
Honest opinion he is talking shit maybe trying to get in people’s heads. He knows his days are numbered and needs any advantage he can get.
How was Loic’s suspension at worlds last year?
😂
In the previous years it was always Loic's suspension that seemed to be the most planted.
And I've also noticed this year Fox seems a bit off, for few races now riders seemed more out of balance compared to RockShox...
I remember watching Gwin through the rock gardens at Windham during practice, his suspension was noticeably stiffer than anyone else. In one of the straight line rock gardens in the middle of the course, it looked like he was only using 30-40% of his fork travel while other riders were using 70-80%. I remember him saying in an interview that he wanted the suspension to skip over gaps between rocks and in the trail, rather than track the ground and drop into holes. That seemed to work for him back then because he won the race, along with a many others. Maybe that style of suspension setup doesn’t work with the bikes/equipment/courses anymore, or, the riders that prefer that style of setup are aging and losing outright pace. Perhaps some of the younger riders coming up saw Bruni’s style winning races and that’s what they are used to now.
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