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I actually like the Q1 + Q2 format now. It seems that it raised the level because now everybody gets his chance to enter finals. They are all fast ass hell. In the same time it becomes more like DH skiing, everyone is spectecular and so it is just a nuance of skill and mental game that decides between win and hospital. I am not sure it will benefit the sport. What I do not like is that WB abolished the free brodcast of the finals. So I only look the the highlights. I am only one person but if...

MTB-adjacent news; the Warner Bros/Discovery Omincorp/financial dumpster fire that currently holds the rights to the UCI World Cup Broadcasts is being unpicked at great speed. Hopefully this makes watching World Cup broadcasts even more of a confusing and expensive endeavour, as seems to be the grand plan going forward.

At this point , we desperately need a "simulcast" audio commentary that we can sync to a muted broadcast. There has to be 2 or 3 dudes out there with the knowledge , wit and skill to save us from the WB offering , which seems to be getting worse rather than better and is detracting from the pleasure of watching WCDH racing for a lot of people.

Gambling is gnarly. We absolutely do not want gambling in our sport.

Hey guys, I just came across this. Not a new product but an ingenious way to get handlebars perfectly aligned.

There’s still not been any official clarification on course markers vs obstacle designators vs line gates, right? Cathro said he’s talked to a guy who works there but we’ve all worked places with guys and he really does seem to be focused on becoming a clickbait YouTuber now (see today’s thing on the suspension lights). It’s either no big deal or an existential threat to DH racing. I go back and forth. Seems easy enough to say “here’s how tracks are defined” and move forward, but that really hasn’t been WB’s bag so far. Weak. Don’t worry, introducing gambling into...

Not all European WC races are in the EU, not all races are in the Schengen area. There is no universal visa, if you want a Visa for a European nation, Schengen or otherwise you have to apply to a specific country. There is no single EU body for Visas. The vast majority of WC racers not from European nations (i,e, Canada, USA, Aus and NZ) do not need a Visa to enter an EU country, those nations have reciprocal Visa waiver programs with EU nations. Visas have never been a major issue before, there are 10 WC DH races...

I've mentioned this worrying trend in depth in a few podcasts over the course of last year. From last year they have hindered the ability of many top 50/60 riders to garner any points in qualifying. Pretty soon very few riders (even much less than now) will be able to rightfully enter a World Cup without being on one of the World Series top teams or federation entries. With the switch to the points now staying with the teams and not the riders this year there will even less power of advantage and bargaining for top riders. (Note if teams...

"Bring back fi... four man podiums!!"

Sorry to be that guy, but it's "moot" point.

If I were a betting man, it's because they thought that dropping something like that just before a race would leverage WBD/UCI into giving in. If you air a grievance too early they could have used it against the teams in selection of wildcard teams. If they waited until after those teams were announced but did it any earlier than now they'd have basically given the WBD/UCI folks enough time to just not make a statement and make the athletes sweat about what the response would be. At least at this point the athletes can posture like "without us there's...

Some more words from Atherton Racing: ------------------------------------------------------ Continental Atherton Racing Continental Atherton extends contract with 2023 World Champion Charlie Hatton and commits to the next generation of World Cup stars. Since Dan Atherton was around 12 years old and bullied Gee into investing £10 to buy his first bike the Atherton family have been passionate about progression. Gee and Rachel are unarguably two of the fastest Downhill riders the world has ever seen and they credit much of their success to Dan’s constant nurture and commitment. In 2013 with Gee and Rach already dominating the World Cup scene the Athertons...

The common thread in all of this is the name you keep dropping, and the one that has disappeared from our lexicon: WBD and UCI. WBD is a for profit organization, they're going to try to make profit from things they spend money on. The problem is that the UCI sold DHMTB broadcast rights during a bubble as a money maker to WBD, but in reality, it was already a stone with not a lot of blood (profit) left to be squeezed from it, and certainly not the legs to become some F1 scale thing (and if you've watched much...

I think it's cool that Fayolle is racing DH again. I remember he seemed to struggle with being seen as an "undeserving" winner; I hope he's able to leave that behind him and put up some good results this season.

And heard on the Geek Warning podcast a while back, the road team will be on Pinarello bikes for '26

I think they did, but were filming for Pitted for the other site. I miss dialed, but tbf Pitted was pretty good and a refreshing take.

FWIW I bumped into Jordi on a flight this summer and asked about Dialed; he was not optimistic to say the least.

Did the dialled guys turn up at MSA this year? Was hoping we'd get a special episode but nothing to date. Fingers crossed to next year