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Erm, you seem to be very sure on this, but let me ask you quick: based upon... what? It's an honest question. Most of us interpret what riders do or say, in order to try to understand where they are heading. I am curious what the base is to the ”Dak to Mondraker” rumor is, considering that he suggested that there will be no major changes for him. Whereas a change of frame is a huge change. Or maybe you have some inside knowledge that we obviously lack and you know this for a fact, but can't talk about it...

If you can't understand Ric, you're the problem, not him. (I'm not a fan of his commentary but that has nothing to do with his accent). Back to rumors please!

Making fun of anyone's accent is juvenile and pathetic. Do better.

Hosted by Ric McLaughin.....for me that's reason enough not to listen to it, based off the terrible commentary we've had to endure during the world cups in 2023 Next...

Is there any better self-promoter than Hans Rey? Good on him for the life he’s made for himself riding bikes.

I agree, he's just in a unique position right now. I believe he thought that in order to compete with Bruni on specialized, he need a big name bike company to back him up as well and Trek needs him really bad too. BUT he forgot to factor in that Bruni fought for the ability to run whatever parts he wants on his demo. Trek makes him run the parts THEY want him to run, hopefully he can figure things out moving forwards to be more competitive with Bruni and Jackson....cuz when that guy is on he is amazing to...

More like I finally have the option of a downhill bike so I want to see what all the hype is about. I am plenty happy with Enduro and from what I've heard internally, contrary to rumours, Enduro isn't going anywhere. But just wait till you see my latest bike, new year new me.

Kathy is one of the nicest humans I was fortunate to meet on the World Cup circuit. Always smiling, always took the time to listen, regardless who you are. Genuinely nice. I strongly believe that people with a demeanour like hers are an important part of what makes our sport different, special and approachable, close to the fans. Just had to say that. Mx

you are not alone in that

Starting to think this is Chris Ball's account

As a reference you could say this week is the pinnacle of cyclocross. Pretty much a solid week and half of racing. Spectators pay to attend the race unlike DH and the organizers want to the best riders there so the racers get appearance fees. The top riders like Pidcock, Van Aert and MVP get between 15 -20k euro per race. The race I watched the other day I noticed it was all non industry banners lining the barriers.

"But expecting WDBsports to deliver on their side of that in year one is a bit dumb. If they don't deliver by year 3-4 then I'd start to have issues. But expecting it before they've even had a season under their belt is nonsensical" WDBsports taking over the broadcast and distro rights WITHOUT a plan to to deliver in the first year is nonsensical. In order to get this funded they had to sell a plan to make it work/financially viable to their board, so somewhere there's a plan with metrics they expect to hit.

250.000K for funding a full season seems pretty reasonable to me. From food, to flight tickets, hotels, stuff and UCI team registering. To be honest, I think that is quite reasonable. And if it is for 2 people it might not be enough. If you calculaze out the taxes at an average of 18% you can only spend 210000. And you have to pay for health insurance, salary and taxes on income. And you should not forget that a professional needs to make more money as a normal working person because there is no regular carreer pat and you normaly...

Wait, now there is a bubble!? LOL. My gawd this thread is pure comedy. Next to some pageview data, there is next to nothing quantifiable or qualitative here of note. No leaked emails, no internal data that is evidence the hypothesis may be true. Somebody tap me on the shoulder when I can come on a podcast and rant on this one. Love talking bikes & business, but this is missing the mark on a number of levels.

Can we come back to reality a bit? It's true that mountain bike sales and outdoor sales in general are down right now, but mountain biking and outdoor activity in general are as popular as they've ever been, other than a totally insane, unsustainable, and impossible to replicate 24-month window during Covid where no one had jobs. Go to any trailhead and you will find that bikes, hiking, backpacking, you name it, is more popular than ever and demand for our trails is super duper high. This is not the end of the world for the outdoor industry, it's just...

"it's pretty clear that for some, DH was the entertainment of choice for people because it was free not cos it was good?" But it WAS good! AND it was free. And now its not as good, and it is also not free. It is as simple as that. Are you at all surprised people are annoyed?

Considering there were no semis and juniors weren't shown, looking at Discovery's YT numbers compared to RB's isn't comparing apples to apples. Personally I rarely looked at YT for any coverage in the RB days, I just used their player.

Crankworx must be loving this. Personally I think that any teams/riders that are on the fringe of qualifying should be considering doing more CX events. Comparing the YT numbers but given it’s finals vs semi finals the Crankworx views are quite a bit higher. If they were to add 2 more races they are only 1 behind World Cups. More global races, free on Red Bull tv with Rob and Elliot and bigger prize money. Isn’t that what everyone has been wanting?