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Longtime NE Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a polarizing figure in American sports, but there's this quote he said that I love and can't get out of my head, "Coaches don't win games. Only the players on the field can win games. Coaches can lose games, though." That's what I think about bikes in competition. Bikes can't win races, but they can lose races. As such, my goal in setting up a bike is that it doesn't lose me the race, i.e. mechanical drag or inefficiency, mechanical failure, flat tires, inconsistent or unpredictable performance, major unpleasant tradeoffs, etc. Basically if...

It's the bike.

I'll say the bike is more important than the rider. When you're talking recent WC times - the bike definitely matters, rolling resistance/traction/braking on the tires matters - you cant extract the two at the pointy end. Then theres sponsorship - you have to get to the races - And if somebody with a big marketing budget and underdeveloped (shitty) bike is the only way you're making it to the races you donwhat you gotta do. sponsirship based equipment maters a bike that hangs up, tires that dont mesh with the riders style, thats what the sharpies are for -...

Thank you!

Am I the only one who doesn’t care at all about Bex. She doesn’t have a ride, let’s leave it at that.

From what I've gathered, BK's family has business ventures that pay more than MTB. Don't underestimate that if you come from a family that knows how to operate successful ventures, you hit the ground running much smoother. The resources he has access to in the background to manage budgets, negotiate contracts, handle advance planning, schedule adjustments & so much more I don't doubt help BK be more efficient than most teams that come & go. It doesn't hurt that while he has all the toys a guy could ask for, he doesn't seem to hesitate to get his hands dirty...

Why would he? He's no longer being paid by said company so why would he promote them for free, especially someone of Danny's status / follower count

He's not going to be riding it this season so there's no reason to ride it now when he could be getting more comfortable on what he might/will be riding this season instead

If RJ Chicken and Sons can collect, they might be able to sponsor Hart.

To be fair, in the road cycling world teams are talked about more the way that Bizutch is doing. The team is really built around the sport director, and even when a team's entire docket of title sponsors changes, it's not considered to be a folding or dissolution of a team. In the case that Gwin is still owning the team, employing the same staff, and carrying all of the same bank accounts, the team isn't really dissolving; it's just rebranding. Team Garmin-Chipotle was never really shut down; they lost their title sponsors and became Team EF-Education EasyPost, but the...

It's a......Cube 215.

I full well know that it is a far better ROI to sponsor “influencers” over actual racers, and I know the industry has been and will continue to throw more money that way, but I’m still allowed to hate it. I get so bummed seeing sponsorship dollars flung at Instagram riders making average, run of the mill, background noise content for 10k plus people, than going to someone pouring their heart and soul into hours of training, riding, and generally busting their ass in search of chasing the dream and putting up results that at best, a few thousand will...

Overall awesome. Although should it be renamed to the USA - East Pro Downhill Series? Honestly I don't know how we have a national series in this country and have it work financially/logistically for most people. I am envious of other countries that have a ripping national series that has all stops under a 5 hour drive because their country is so small. I guess the other thing is we need some better venues in the PNW. Rad to see though! Reading comprehension has never been a skill of mine. Just saw the TBD is somewhere in Cali. So USA...

East & West Dh series with a National finals.

The bike industry is in the shitter, for sure. I’m still surprised any company can sponsor an enduro racer at this point. The coverage is almost literally nonexistent. No return on investment. Most companies are blowing out their bikes at crazy prices. I don’t see where sending a racer(s) around the world to race their bikes can be financially possible. They can’t sell enduro bikes based on results and race coverage if the coverage is refreshing a website to see who’s winning then getting a highlight video after the race. Couple that with the state of the industry. Can’t be...