All

Aletha Ostgaard wins by more than 1 second over Eliana Hulsebosch. Rosa Zierl came into the race with a 50-point lead in the standings, so it looks like she takes the Women's Juniors overall (and the $0 that goes with it....) followed by Ostgaard and, I think, Eliana Hulsebosch. Hulsebosch and Melton finished tied in points (320) but Hulsebosch takes 3rd based on the tie-breaker.

I went shuttling finale with my ebike, mostly because it's my only bike at the moment, but also Finale have been incredibly smart to promote the "Guiding" culture where the value isn't just the uplift but having someone to help choose which trails to tide and show them to you. The numbers you guys are quoting for bike park access are just mind-blowing to us broke Europeans: all my local bike parks in France (Valberg, Roubion, Isola, smaller but still known parks with ~10 tracks each) cost €16 for the bike park and €30 for skiing. But I'm pretty sure...

A few notes on MSA. These are the Elite winners of the last 5 World Cup races at MSA: 2024: Brosnan / Cabirou 2023: Goldstone / Höll 2022: Iles / Höll 2018: Bruni / Atherton 2017: Gwin / Seagrave In the 2019 World Championships the winners were Bruni / Nicole. Various riders’ past results at MSA: Jackson Goldstone: Has won both races he’s entered at MSA, once as Elite and once as a Junior. He also finished first in the Semi-final in 2023. Loic Bruni: Has only 4 top 3 finishes in 10 WC races there. In 2023 he finished...

The blinking silhouette looks like a clipless pedal.

For all you forum diehards who skip the homepage, here is some insight and our thoughts on Specialized first-gen proto downhill bike that went live today - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/piece-bigger-puzzle-testing-specializ… It was a privilege to ride this bike and, as you'd expect, it was a damn fast. I'm eager to ride the production #2chainz bike, which I'd guess is coming early next year just based on the vague answers Spesh has given when pressed about it. Fingers crossed it won't cost an organ to buy one.

I'm pointing it out not because a brand ought to go with VPP or Crab Link for their ebike, but because the 'Cruz explained in their podcast that VPP didn't fly with the new bosch motor, and yet - here's another brand launching a VPP ebike after the Vala (although admittedly I can't see what motor Intense is using in the photo). Besides, I vastly prefer the "PON only released the Vala as four bar to capitalize on the R&D of the close-to-launch GT ebike" conspiracy theory anyway.

The Weekend from Lawlor following Dak, Richie and Kiefer. and mad props @Sugarbrad and squad!

I got a feeling in my balls Luca is going to win. I can feel it in my plums

i know it's just the middle of live timing but i like the look of all those stars and stripes up high

Thanks for the props fellas! Reece Wilson just told us that this track is more difficult than any track all year, even Les Gets in the mud because it’s so unpredictable. Rocks coming out all the time, and shadows look like rocks and rocks look like shadows. But the dirt is apparently absolutely mint.

Love that Forbiddens latest email pays true homage to the Crab link: "Still wondering what the f**** we’re on about with all the crab stuff? A theory exists called Carcinisation wherein all non-crab crustaceans evolve a crab-like body plan. A very clever Vital MTB user noticed how many mountain bikes brands had evolved towards the same form and linkage lay out. He declared that this new evolution of bike layouts be named the crab link. And many pages of crab jokes followed. It’s an obscure and very inside joke. But hey, now you’re in on it too." Trend setters we...

** Vital slideshow music plays softly in the background **

I've got 500km on my RM Instinct SL C90 now and I've been having a blast on this thing. I wasn't sure at first if adding an E bike was the right move for me, but I like having a garage full of bikes anyway. I did put about 200km on a GASGAS Enduro 3.0 before getting this bike, getting my feet wet in the Emtb world. Just did the update from Rocky as well, and I have been having such a blast on this bike, it's incredible to me. I still put more miles on my Analog bike, but...