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B Practice Podcast from Andorra is live - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/vitals-b-practice-podcast-andorra-wor… We spent a lot of time chatting about semi-final points, the track, and the weather delays. Always interesting to hear Dak's thoughts as someone racing and battling for a podium position.

Having a bike with cable tourism is bad enough. Having a written reminder of where the cables could be run is just rubbing salt in the wounds.

I suspect you're right, but that's a shame from a structural standpoint. Oversized tubes need to have thin walls to stay reasonably light, which means they're more vulnerable to things like rock strikes and impacts, even if they're technically strong enough to handle the loads of normal riding. I was a huge fan of the gen.1 carbon V10 because the tubes were small in diamter and the walls were super thick, so the front triangle was basically invincible. Plus a smaller diameter tube cross-section is going to have more engineered flex in it (or "compliance" in marketing speak), which I...

Selling both side-by side seems like a pretty good idea, especially for a big brand like Trek. Not everyone looking for an enduro bike needs a straight-line-eating machine, and rather than trying to pretend the new model is a perfect compromise, they can just sell the two different versions instead.

“That’s racing” while it sucks the best guys got screwed that’s nothing new. And sometimes it leads to the most memorable runs in the sport. Hill in champery. Gwin in msa. Assuming Finn doesn’t catch fire and win the overall loic’s run today could very well be the difference between him and Jackson. They could’ve ran 30 second gaps and had both races over in an hr but then there wouldn’t been much of broadcast. They could also cut the field down but as a fan that’s the opposite of what I want. At least not without a semifinal to...

Well, we have all these "journalism" websites for mountain biking. Would love to see some hard, investigative journalism brought to bear on the matter. Interview the race organizers you speak of and ask them about their races costs structure, what covers the budget, what kind of income they earn from the events, who pays the bulk of the costs, etc. If the disparity between locales is a determining factor, there are financial and economic constraints they've overcome that could be put to use in the US. What are Canadian UCI events like as far as cost structure and attendance?

I'm old enough to remember when ESO said they were going to revolutionize downhill MTB with more cameras, drones, blah, blah, blah. The reality ended up being a TV crew who has never filmed MTB and has zero experience. The UCI is a clown show. The most recent Ed Bull Media House video sums it up nicely. Can't believe we're paying for this stuff.

I really like the track actually. I just think camera placement is bad and cameras are mounted too low, but we also have to wait for elite finals to see more of the track. Mad speeds from the young guns as usual, with lower times than elites' time training for both Junior women and men!

Schedule is fucking wild. Training 7:30 - 8:30am, then Women at 9. So if you're in the womens field and you have a mechanical and your 20 minutes each way to your pit, your basically fucked.

Regarding Semi-Finals: It needs to go away and should follow the super cross model of Last Chance Qualifier. Every race it should look something like this (for the men, numbers would be smaller for women): -All races at the world cup have to put in a qualy run, which is their seeding for finals. Top 10 in the overall are protected to the finals. -Top 40 racers via qualifying make it to the finals -There is a Last Chance Qualifier run (instead of semi-finals), that is televised since it's high stakes, for those that didn't make the top 40 and...

Just watched WynTV, there's dissent in the ranks.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOTOGt_TBzE

Getting my WWGD? (What Will Greg Do?) bracelet ready. In an interview I heard last year, I want to say on Making up the Numbers?, Greg talked about the work and financial planning he's done over the years to ensure his future. I'm selfishly hoping for one more season with fewer injuries and equipment problems, but whenever he decides to walk away he will owe us nothing, he's given this sport so much.

Why do race footage directors think anyone has an interest in shots from 300 metres above where you can barely make out the rider, let alone what they're doing?

Not using quali results to determine the starting order seems pretty dumb.

I'm guessing this is legal but it sure seems like a crappy thing to do... (Caption for those w/out Insta: " robwarner970 Nice one @uci_mountainbike @uci_cyclingworlds for using my voice all over this Worlds promo when you know I’m not working there, believe me I tried…"

Haha, there are times when I've gone down the UCI website rabbit hole only to wonder later how I found some info that seemed important. Their website is a nightmare to navigate at times!

What the hell is FloSports? https://www.eurosport.com/mountain-bike/uci-mountain-bike-world-series/… Here's a more useful link. Good news is those of us with GCN+ should be able to watch. Anyway, based on the Eurosport description of what downhill racing is, I'm pretty pumped. "Fancy hurling yourself down mountain pistes at insane speeds, flying off ramps, navigating twisty turns and avoiding obstacles? Then the downhill, undoubtedly MTB's most thrilling event, might be for you Riders make death-defying charges down steep courses one by one in a race against the clock. Fastest wins!" They also describe the XC race as being 100km long.

Full Sheep Ahead?

Furious Sheep Ahead!