Gotta love those old 80's JT ads. Fond memories of The Great Gazoo bubble helmets that they had BMX pros wearing back then and in the...
Gotta love those old 80's JT ads. Fond memories of The Great Gazoo bubble helmets that they had BMX pros wearing back then and in the pages of BMXA. Thank you for that post!
Every moto kid I knew wanted that half face JT helmet & roost mask. When the Bones kit hit the market & Toby Henderson was in it like this on a mountain bike...I was both feet ALL IN! My ultimate fan moment was my first National was Helen, Georgia National Champs DH on my hardtail Schwinn. Muddy, red clay kept filling my eyes. I had the JT knee & elbow "pads" (warmers w/ foam coating basically) on & Toby saw me & gave me his last pair of brand new JT goggles with a pack of TearOffs for my race run. That guy is/was the best of us in the sport!!!
People either don't remember or never read the early interviews with CB. He said early on that the plan was always to fold it back under...
People either don't remember or never read the early interviews with CB. He said early on that the plan was always to fold it back under the UCI banner. He did it separately because the UCI wouldn't fund the experiment so he stepped out to do it on his own.
As for EWS itself, they lost the thread. Yes, there has been a slowdown in the industry, but they got a little too big which forced sponsors to dedicate more and more resources. We went from factory riders having limited support to full pit setups with 2-4 mechanics on site for every race To fix that problem they started limiting the schedule to just the EU which killed the dreamer aspect. Also separating the amateurs from the pros was another nail in the coffin. Finally there has been zero creativity in coverage.
First, they need to go back to parc ferme so that teams can get by with a single mechanic onsite. Only riders are allowed to work on bikes after the start of the race, maybe even after the start of practice. This would greatly reduce the cost of supporting the riders and make non factory riders more competitive.
They should also sign a deal with Insta360, GoPro, etc and mandate that riders have to run a camera while footage is co-owned by EWS. If they wanted to do near real time coverage they could have memory cards at each stage finish line to swap out of the top 20 riders so they could produce something quickly. Add in a few static cameras and drone operators and they would have some really compelling coverage within 24 hours.
All of this is just my opinion and worth what you are paying for it right now.
What you're saying makes way too much sense, will never happen.
Gotta love those old 80's JT ads. Fond memories of The Great Gazoo bubble helmets that they had BMX pros wearing back then and in the...
Gotta love those old 80's JT ads. Fond memories of The Great Gazoo bubble helmets that they had BMX pros wearing back then and in the pages of BMXA. Thank you for that post!
Every moto kid I knew wanted that half face JT helmet & roost mask. When the Bones kit hit the market & Toby Henderson was in...
Every moto kid I knew wanted that half face JT helmet & roost mask. When the Bones kit hit the market & Toby Henderson was in it like this on a mountain bike...I was both feet ALL IN! My ultimate fan moment was my first National was Helen, Georgia National Champs DH on my hardtail Schwinn. Muddy, red clay kept filling my eyes. I had the JT knee & elbow "pads" (warmers w/ foam coating basically) on & Toby saw me & gave me his last pair of brand new JT goggles with a pack of TearOffs for my race run. That guy is/was the best of us in the sport!!!
I met him once in North Bergen New Jersey at an ABA BMX National in 1982. He was the nicest guy to me a 16 year old Novice riding a Hutch Pro Racer frame and fork. Super professional, and signed autographs for me. It is an amazing career to be a high profile BMX pro to his mountain bike success, and continuing that success as a business owner in cycling today.
Dispite all pessimistic personal opinions I miss positive ones. I see the development not that deep-black. Even though a loss of popularity, in my opinion enduro racing will stay. It may be that its destiny develops like 4-cross racing, dual slalom, etc. but enduro racing will stay. Possibly a movement away from the UCI banner would do good. May soon enduro racings Gandolf show-up.
Gotta love those old 80's JT ads. Fond memories of The Great Gazoo bubble helmets that they had BMX pros wearing back then and in the...
Gotta love those old 80's JT ads. Fond memories of The Great Gazoo bubble helmets that they had BMX pros wearing back then and in the pages of BMXA. Thank you for that post!
Every moto kid I knew wanted that half face JT helmet & roost mask. When the Bones kit hit the market & Toby Henderson was in...
Every moto kid I knew wanted that half face JT helmet & roost mask. When the Bones kit hit the market & Toby Henderson was in it like this on a mountain bike...I was both feet ALL IN! My ultimate fan moment was my first National was Helen, Georgia National Champs DH on my hardtail Schwinn. Muddy, red clay kept filling my eyes. I had the JT knee & elbow "pads" (warmers w/ foam coating basically) on & Toby saw me & gave me his last pair of brand new JT goggles with a pack of TearOffs for my race run. That guy is/was the best of us in the sport!!!
I met him once in North Bergen New Jersey at an ABA BMX National in 1982. He was the nicest guy to me a 16 year...
I met him once in North Bergen New Jersey at an ABA BMX National in 1982. He was the nicest guy to me a 16 year old Novice riding a Hutch Pro Racer frame and fork. Super professional, and signed autographs for me. It is an amazing career to be a high profile BMX pro to his mountain bike success, and continuing that success as a business owner in cycling today.
Amazing what positive experiences with our heroes does to ignite a life long passion. Guys like Jack Moir do a lot to inspire kids by engaging them.
"They should also sign a deal with Insta360, GoPro, etc and mandate that riders have to run a camera while footage is co-owned by EWS. If they wanted to do near real time coverage they could have memory cards at each stage finish line to swap out of the top 20 riders so they could produce something quickly. Add in a few static cameras and drone operators and they would have some really compelling coverage within 24 hours. "
the problem with mainly POV footage is that it can look a bit crap. especially to watch the same thing again and again with multiple riders. I suppose side-by-sides with the top contenders could be interesting. maybe some way to automate it with GPS tracking so they know what sections turned out to be key, or how costly a mistake really was?
the best enduro coverage I ever saw was the trophy of nations. racing as a team with a POV from the rear rider. seeing a bike in front really makes it more interesting, and gives a lot better feel for the speed, and how big the drops are, how close they get to trees etc.
A bit of (very) good news for enduro racing. It seems that one of the series that was a pillar in the creation of the EWS is coming back. Something tells me this could end up having a big impact on our sport.
They shouldn't have tried to make it in anyway live. Check out on YT the previous race coverage from 2018/2019 - you had Ric riding the...
They shouldn't have tried to make it in anyway live. Check out on YT the previous race coverage from 2018/2019 - you had Ric riding the stages before hand with Chris Ball (before he sold out) doing a preview, and then a what happened last time video and finally a results video - they were a much better format for coverage.
Edit - when I say live I mean televised. Live timing results - definitely good.
To add when the UCI "officially" got involved, the whole thing of riders POVs and the Media Squibs, pre race, riding the segments dwindled/forcibly stopped (Thanks...
To add when the UCI "officially" got involved, the whole thing of riders POVs and the Media Squibs, pre race, riding the segments dwindled/forcibly stopped (Thanks Chaz Maz for keeping the stage videos going). This to me took a huge chunk of the relatability of the racing and racers.
Add in the trying to share venues with DH and XC. Though, there were some venues last year, trying to make a 10 day MTB festival with hosting the EDR/DH/XC. Hosting the EDR on the weekend prior to the DH & XC and not trying to run it mid week.
Plus, and again in my opinion, the financial draw on limited industry resources which the current WB/Discovery/UCI which DH has or is becoming, is leaving little to nothing else left for Enduro. What we seem to be getting is a multi tiered series with XC and DH out on top and everything else on lower levels. Where before it was all treated as being even.
If i am not wrong enduro races for the public are still selling out, so its not an unpopular form of racing, its just its pro series has become disconnected.
i still love enduro racing, i just think it evolved from its roots, but evolved in the wrong direction, now its starting to come back to its roots, but the world has moved on. Its not dead, its just lost its "underground cool."
A thought at occurred me about the early days of EWS. In my view, a draw to the racing was when DH racers were looking for a career change, for whatever reason, EWS gave a race series to carry on racing in. The likes of Vouilloz, Fabien Barel, Tracey Mosley, Sam Hill, Blenki, Jack Moir (and a load more i can't think of, off the top of my head), changed series and brought some or all of their viewership/fans with them. This switching of series, seems to have stopped, though the lack of manufacturer support really hobbles riders decision to making the switch, this was and is another factor that has adversely affected the race series as it is now. The current place where DH is going, could open up people racing EWS/EDR again, but at the same time, DH is swallowing so much industry resources enduro doesn't get a look in. Anyhow, bit late, but there's another take on Enduro series things. Still damn good and close racing!!
The easiest bit is fixing it, for a lil moment there it was perfect - community, courses that reflected the place, and were broadly accessible and balancing tech+endurance so you didn’t just have 1% of DHers doing not.
the doping station is hard to understate for it getting folded back to UCI mediocrity.
E-bikes weren’t such a thing in the glory days, I recall them really only being a thing in the last couple years of peak enduro. I don’t see any place for them on same day as other races. Let them race separately.
Every moto kid I knew wanted that half face JT helmet & roost mask. When the Bones kit hit the market & Toby Henderson was in it like this on a mountain bike...I was both feet ALL IN! My ultimate fan moment was my first National was Helen, Georgia National Champs DH on my hardtail Schwinn. Muddy, red clay kept filling my eyes. I had the JT knee & elbow "pads" (warmers w/ foam coating basically) on & Toby saw me & gave me his last pair of brand new JT goggles with a pack of TearOffs for my race run. That guy is/was the best of us in the sport!!!
What you're saying makes way too much sense, will never happen.
I met him once in North Bergen New Jersey at an ABA BMX National in 1982. He was the nicest guy to me a 16 year old Novice riding a Hutch Pro Racer frame and fork. Super professional, and signed autographs for me. It is an amazing career to be a high profile BMX pro to his mountain bike success, and continuing that success as a business owner in cycling today.
Dispite all pessimistic personal opinions I miss positive ones. I see the development not that deep-black. Even though a loss of popularity, in my opinion enduro racing will stay. It may be that its destiny develops like 4-cross racing, dual slalom, etc. but enduro racing will stay. Possibly a movement away from the UCI banner would do good. May soon enduro racings Gandolf show-up.
Amazing what positive experiences with our heroes does to ignite a life long passion.
Guys like Jack Moir do a lot to inspire kids by engaging them.
"They should also sign a deal with Insta360, GoPro, etc and mandate that riders have to run a camera while footage is co-owned by EWS. If they wanted to do near real time coverage they could have memory cards at each stage finish line to swap out of the top 20 riders so they could produce something quickly. Add in a few static cameras and drone operators and they would have some really compelling coverage within 24 hours. "
the problem with mainly POV footage is that it can look a bit crap. especially to watch the same thing again and again with multiple riders. I suppose side-by-sides with the top contenders could be interesting. maybe some way to automate it with GPS tracking so they know what sections turned out to be key, or how costly a mistake really was?
the best enduro coverage I ever saw was the trophy of nations. racing as a team with a POV from the rear rider. seeing a bike in front really makes it more interesting, and gives a lot better feel for the speed, and how big the drops are, how close they get to trees etc.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTr88objTE5/?igsh=MWRhMDFyam5heWE4Yw==
A bit of (very) good news for enduro racing. It seems that one of the series that was a pillar in the creation of the EWS is coming back. Something tells me this could end up having a big impact on our sport.
https://www.instagram.com/superenduromtb/
A thought at occurred me about the early days of EWS. In my view, a draw to the racing was when DH racers were looking for a career change, for whatever reason, EWS gave a race series to carry on racing in. The likes of Vouilloz, Fabien Barel, Tracey Mosley, Sam Hill, Blenki, Jack Moir (and a load more i can't think of, off the top of my head), changed series and brought some or all of their viewership/fans with them. This switching of series, seems to have stopped, though the lack of manufacturer support really hobbles riders decision to making the switch, this was and is another factor that has adversely affected the race series as it is now. The current place where DH is going, could open up people racing EWS/EDR again, but at the same time, DH is swallowing so much industry resources enduro doesn't get a look in. Anyhow, bit late, but there's another take on Enduro series things. Still damn good and close racing!!
Morillon EDR is a racer favorite, but this year was dead of spectators...
Which sucks, as the trails looked epic and the racing was close.
The easiest bit is fixing it, for a lil moment there it was perfect - community, courses that reflected the place, and were broadly accessible and balancing tech+endurance so you didn’t just have 1% of DHers doing not.
the doping station is hard to understate for it getting folded back to UCI mediocrity.
E-bikes weren’t such a thing in the glory days, I recall them really only being a thing in the last couple years of peak enduro. I don’t see any place for them on same day as other races. Let them race separately.
Post a reply to: What happened to World enduro?