2026 WORLD CHAMPS - Val di Sole

One could argue their selection criteria could account more for past performances.  But I agree honestly.   We can only send so many.  And I think the selection criteria being based on current results is a much more fair way of doing things.  As great as of a racer Aaron is he shouldn’t be guaranteed a worlds spot when he hasn’t won a wc race in over 5 years.

Who would you replace with Gwin?

gonna go ahead and need you to screen record the entire ig post and re upload in a format that works for me, spomer. thanks bud

/s 

Surprisingly some bigger changes. A lot of tight corners. Exciting.

Remember Canberra (sp?) World's, where Peat won? USAC selected (or was forced to select) Brian Lopes instead of someone newish that could learn and prosper in the future. Instead, a semi retired older dude who has been to many world's in their lifetime. Depending on your perspective of why x over z you have a posture. Either way, you're not wrong. But still....

Go look to see just how awesome Lopes did. (that was sarcasm, BTW)

Jus sayin

The Gwin topic reminds me of this. 

THAT is a proper DH course. 

Guys, I gotta be honest- I miss course tape.

Here we go, the 32-inch wheel has officially arrived at the highest level of DH racing (shoutout to Neko Mullaly who did run it at the Sea Otter DH earlier this year). Martin Maes has a prototype with the big front hoop on it, reportedly 200mm of fork travel and a bunch of adjustments built into the frame. Apparently the rear is a 27.5, just to really accentuate the mullet theme. Here are some shots from Lawlor:

Definitely when viewing a POV video the course tape makes the course a bit less confusing. 

I don't know if I've ever heard whether the racers prefer the tape. It seems it might make it easier for riders who go out of bounds to figure out where they need to re-enter the track. And it also could make it clear whether those Whoop(ie) cushion things are in-bounds or out-of-bounds.

I wonder if Asa would have been DSQ'd earlier this year if the course had been taped.

Did anyone else spot the floating brake arm that he, Maes, had on in Les Gets? Often desperation when brands put them on their design.

Also of note was that during womans XC they talked about Alessandra Keller being back on 29" and simply needing more time to adjust to the 32". Winter project they claimed.

A Frameworks with paint on it! It really must be World Champs.

Droolworthy pics from Canyon:

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Without all the rutting of practice, I don't even know how to describe the course design as it goes in and out of trails and constantly passes over little throughways. And then tight turns where you can see where the trail is going and the poles start to like... blend together. And I'd be slow. I can't imagine how these visual markers look at speed, with muddy goggles. You basically have to solely memorize the track and not even ride it by the poles. Which I'm sure most of them do. But man, what a pain. 

I think it's just a combination of a wide angle setting on the gopro and low quality instagram video. Human eyes can see better than that. 

E-xc just wrapped up. Wyn was 11th, good for him. 

History will absolve me

Fast AF*

I also would love to see race tape back.  Or at least in some sections.  Blind crests on the track, sections with trail braiding, hard direction changes all seem like good candidates.  You wouldn't even need it on both sides some times, just on the outside or inside of the turn could make the difference. I know Dak said it would be really helpful in places and I doubt hes the only one.  

Also, whoever marked the course is a coward.  Sam's corner at the bottom should have NO marking on the inside.  Leave it as open as possible and see who has the nards to inside the shit out of it. 

This is a pretty bad example of using poles instead of tape, UCI have done a poor job compared to WBD. Looks confusing especially with the added weird tight bits.

Reporting from World Champs:

Woah what shock is that? Black on the outside yellow on the inside spring is interesting.