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I agree with many of you that it was quite strange that Loïc didn’t make it to the podium. “But”, the location of the gondola and podium are not close. He would have had to walk for a bit along the base of the mountain and then head up the hill to the podium through the crowd. It would have been very difficult for him seeing how he was walking in the above video.

Scott Factory is definitely going to shop for riders. Coulanges being 17th overall and their only top 30 overall is not what such a factory team is looking for especially with a newly released DH bike.

It’s clear some of you have never truly nuked yourself in crash. It can take hours for the severity and complete picture of what you hurt and how bad to set it. Couple that with adrenaline and elite level racing and you might not know for hours. As stuff progresses, it can become clear very quick that you need to get checked for something that might’ve seemed okay initially. Loic has never shown anything put respect and professionalism, I’m sure there was a reason for everything that transpired.

Craziest final race. Asa with fastest time. Gracey’s crash was so scary one of the scariest I can remember . Was so glad to see her be able to make the podium. Vali in shorts and then partying he’s way down after the flat. She has changed my opinion over last few weeks. She always felt super business like but the putting up money for privateer and then rocking the shorts, and how she handled the flat tire and having fun all the way down showed me something I had not seen or expected. Cam not getting to have a...

It sounds like his leg was so goosed he couldn't even do a warm up, but was just up there to keep the pressure on Goldstone. It was a letdown having the defining moment of the season being some random guy in the start hut, but I don't really begrudge Bruni that. If I'd smoked my leg in practice on the most consequential day of the season, saw the other guy do an incredible run and knew there was nothing to ride for, I'd probably just dip out too. Trying to roll down MSA with an injured leg while being...

Happy for Dak in 4th! He's been climbing up the results and clawing his way back from injury

Asa Vermette wins by more than 4.5 seconds. He ends up 2nd overall, just 12 points behind Max Alran, who came back to take 4th in the race. Tyler Waite ends up 3rd overall. Wow, are there some talented young guys heading to Elite in 2026.

I suppose, as has been mentioned, that a big difference between a ski lift and bike lift is that alpine snow sports (ski/snowboard downhill) are a captive audience, as in 99% of participants have to go to a resort/hill to participate. I would guess that maybe 10% of mountain bikers have ever been to a lift accessed park, and probably fewer still do so on a regular basis. According to some statista report, in 2024 there were >23 million ski/snowboarders in the US. In comparison, they have 9 million participants in mountain biking, which is defined as any cycling not...

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...

Station bikepark is a real simple story; Rhett’s private school was funded by Musk(some of his spawn attend it). Musk fronted the principal the money to buy the ranch for Rhett’s project. The principal obviously doesn’t want to/can’t afford to own hundreds of acres of property in the Hillcountry. If you have a few million laying around… its a lovely ranch. Plutonomics is one heck of a spectator sport !

Occam's razor strikes again. The private 'non-traditional' school was a huge tell but... Ya know ya try not to be judgemental but the reality comes to light regardless. Kids don't just start business ventures for millions of dollars randomly. Hell most average kids are struggling to do the standard college to job transition nowadays. Well hope that guy prayed for his 100k back or somethin...

Couple snaps from trackside at practice

Peak foliage to stick season happened over a single day this week, so it'll for sure be interesting to see how the riders handle the changes in lighting, especially in the wooded sections (I'm thinking the lower rock sections specifically...).

Looks a bit past peak foliage season and well into "stick season" for most of the track. The lighting and shadows must be brutal at speed. If I was racing I'd be hoping for some clouds to tone it down a bit.

Ooooo, finally something in the thread a professional association says I'm qualified to comment on! This is a misconception. Whistler Blackcomb, like most ski resorts in British Columbia, are for the most part, on unsurveyed Crown land. Bits and pieces are surveyed, typically where buildings exist, and there's a bunch of statutory right of ways registered on it (with confusing descriptions because, well, unsurveyed), but like 99% of the resort is provincial land. Whistler Blackcomb has stronger property rights and than other resorts because their tenure is a lease which gives them similar (but not quite as strong) rights to...

Love when someone on here has way more deep knowledge or a random sliver of bike world! Dive deep brother!

Canadian resorts/hills seem to do a better job than American ones. Probably because it’s a much smaller country (population wise) with Whistler and BC in general as the perfect of example. It would be interesting to know how many trails they plan to open with. An example of what I would think is a bad attempt at integrating bikes is Brighton Ski Resort in Utah/Salt Lake. It is one of the four major resorts accessed directly from Salt Lake valley (immediate access to well over a million people). They started bike operations this year with a single blue flow trail...

This marks an interesting shift in the thread, from product to experience. One of the most fascinating things about bikes is that the experience itself is (usually) free. You find a trail, ride it, and that’s it. That dynamic underpins the entire culture of cycling and, using some very special “boy math,” justifies spending far more on bikes each year than logic might otherwise allow. (ask me if you need help in this category lol) Personally, I haven’t ridden in a bike park in years, outside of races. But this thread pushed me to build a quick model to see...