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Not gonna lie. I saw the 75k thing (and the 30k thing that I mentioned another team floating), and I thought.. "I could just send my kid to go race with other people and probably end up saving money, but definitely end up putting much less strain on my work life." But... the whole reason we race is to spend time together as a family in interesting places doing something we all enjoy. And while it's not done economically, because we don't "dirtbag" it and instead treat most race trips more like a family vacation, the experiences are priceless... and...

Wanker ^^^ How may F1 copied sports series are we going to have in time? Go karting, RC cars, jet ski, snooker, chess, equestrian.. Any time Suits get involved, the sport as a whole suffers. The beauty of our sport is, on their day any Top 50 rider can challenge a podium. Do we have to vanilla everything?

BK needs a place in MTB hall of fame. The guy is so dedicated to making MTB racing better and the overal appeal for riders and viewers.

I'll say it over and over. We're not F1. Ski resorts in summer are not Monaco. Million dollar yachts aren't backing up to the bay with 30 bikini clad entourage to get hammered and look at cars they own 30 of. It's mud, jorts & teen costumes. WB is killing the sport. The fewer teams, the less to do in a weekend, the smaller the competition will kill it all. It is BORING AS FOKK to watch World Cup even if there aren't hundreds of riders doing laps all day.

Exactly. So if they're ditching that system, what will replace it? I'll be real bummed to see the sport turn into a showcase of just a few (currently) top people without a way for guys like Dak, Benoit and others to earn their way to the top.

One of the things I love about this sport are stories like Ronan's. Watching him on WynTV where they talk about him getting the privateer award 3 years ago, to winning his first WC race (massive kudos to Wyn and GT for what they're doing). It'd be such a loss for stories like this to become a thing of the past if WB/D continue to push the sport the way they seem to be set on.

Personally I don’t think full runs has made for better dh finals viewing. I’d much rather the focus be on having the best tracks. Including very long tracks where elevation and track design make it possible. Then simply film the best sections (biggest features and most technical sections where line choice and variance in speed is common plus the finish line). Personally I have found the new finals format to be more boring than the old one. Semis/lcq becomes a necessary evil. But offers a lot of points and has zero coverage. And let’s face it by race day there...

Bad idea to have elite racers descending blind through tight quarters in remote places low on blood sugar, dehydrated and near black out. Sure...in road and XC, you have similar responsibility to ride within yourself on descents. But nobody is lining the climbs of Finale to cheer on a looped out and cramping mid-pack pro. They'll be going bonkers for them on the rock slabs though. Cut Offs are there to ensure riders keep the race moving along. Not to see if their VO2 max is on par with Kate Courtney. The descents are the show.

Reasons why Red Bull was better: 1) It was free and easy to view. 2) Because it was free more people watched it. 3) We saw more racing. Whilst the addition of Junior Finals coverage is a positive, the reduction to a 10 woman/30 man finals means we are now paying less race runs than ever before. 4) Red Bull's graphics were better. The virtual straight graphic was useful. The wiggly line graphic is pointless. 5) Some of the WBD camera position/type choices are terrible. The overhead drone shots at Ft William were like watching Google Maps. 6) Current coverage...

Only 84 finishers and 14 DNFs? 14% men and 24% of women didn't finish. That's pretty gnarly compared to the last few years man. Last year only 5 DNFs at 2023 Finale with a bigger field and the most DNFs was Val di Fassa with 8 DNFs and 106 finishers. Seems like the heat must have made it pretty bloody hard for them with short liason cut off times.

The shift that caused enduro to lose its magic and appeal to your average racer/fan seems to be a push from multiple high level race series to "legitimize" the discipline by removing aspects that made enduro uniquely enduro. Long days, chats on the transfers, community cohesion, privateer participation, accessible qualification, and affordable racing. ESO seems to think they can broadcast these races but still won't do it. If the races aren't broadcasted then why do the liason times need to be shorter? Why are many races staged entirely within bike parks? Why the same venues year to year? All of...

2 day racing at venues that have enough quality raceworthy trails (such as maydena last year), more new venues somewhere other than Europe and more European venues nowhere near a bike park. Guys/gals redlining to the top of the hill is the opposite of what I want to see. What was so cool about ews is that it provided a form of racing that exemplified what I enjoyed about mtb (making it to the top and blasting down cool/challenging trails) at a high level and amazing locations anyone could aspire too. And “bro time” is a big thing that made...

But it's not like the previous races were easy, and there isn't really an argument to make that fit riders weren't already doing well with previous liaison times. But now it's incredibly punishing, and my biggest complaint is if you have a mechanical on one of the stages before a big liaison, your absolutely stuffed. There are already punishments for using extra parts, and getting a flat on a stage you already suffer for that stage, but now the stage after is wrecked too. That's not a good way to run a competitive race series. If we want to make...

Great to hear such a qualified opinion from a couch commentator who probably couldn’t even make the first two liaisons in time ill stick to those of the actual pro level racers who experienced first hand how it went down

Anyone besides me think that the performance note in Bex's post is to imply that Yeti found a way to get out of her contract by essentially making something up? Like perhaps she had bonuses that she was entitled to or an automatic renewal of her contract if they didn't find fault in her. Pointing that part out makes it sound like she had to be fired for cause or her contract would auto renew so they just made it up because the standard wasn't specifically stated as a ranking # in the contract and Contract language was intentionally vague...

Remember UCI is only for rule enforcement, anti doping and legislative work within the cycling disciplines. the change on EDR is purely from WBD Chris ball sold out and killed what he created 💰 💰 💰 2025 will be the turning point for MTB racing as we know it

Any comments relating to the sexual orientation of a rider in the Team rumor thread is just childish. Keep it on topic