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dak and breeden POV - some of the most fun to watch right now!

Injury count this year seems off the charts compared to years past. Im sure the more competitive field in both mens and womens has some to do with it. But it's also hard to ignore the addition of Semi's and also the pending 2024 team implosions that must be putting more pressure on riders to have strong 2023 results.

Maybe they moved deadline. Wyn mentioned a jr from us shows up last week and they had decided to close registration even though it was not supposed to be closed yet. I don’t trust anything they are doing and will expect something fuckery every race at this point.

Organizing any union is a tough thing to do. A union will almost always benefit all participants in the long run, but the short term incentives are not always there. Like you all said, the big money riders stand to benefit from a reduced field in the short term. However, every rider would benefit in the long-term from increased rider input in schedule changes, format changes, track selection and design, track safety, emergency/evacuation planning, rider pay, and everything else that riders complain about year after year. But it's tough getting people to trust each other and volunteer to give up...

This course was universally praised by riders. The track wasn’t the issue. Any medical staff at a World Cup ski downhill has to deal with far more difficult conditions. Pretty positive being behind the ball in Andorra and having the number two female rider pay for it was a factor in this weeks decision. but honestly the race cancellation isn’t the issue. It was eso boxing themselves into a less than ideal situation. Not doing proper planning (lack of quality b-zones), lack of plan to cut in ruts with staff in certain sections, and not being straightforward and involving teams...

i don't think the organizers were "damned if they do, damned if they don't." - the excuse of "unrideable when wet track" shows lack of competency and complete negligence on their part. a month ago when we all watched the POV of the course in the dry from our armchairs, we question "what happens if it rains? that looks too steep to ride in greasy mud." we saw that from a computer monitor. locals and track builders had to know the same. the organizers just brushed off the *safety* (as cited in the mtb-news.de article) and carried on with a...

You left out the context that Pinkerton and all the others were on dry tires. Mud tires...you go straight down those chutes no problem. First run of a rain practice is always nearly impossible on drys. And just like you heard in the video, the sweeper wasn't on muds AND wasn't even a PRO!

Is it a coincidence that the cancelled race was due to be shown live on Eurosport? The cynic in me wonders if it was called off because watching the juniors slip slide down the hill might not have been the showcase ESO were looking for. The safety reasoning doesn't add up for me. They don't seem to be too concerned that the semi final format has increased risk for riders.

Enjoyed the race coverage today. Having Aaron in the booth lifted the broadcast to a different level. Getting that level of insight and expertise was a breath of fresh air and a privilege. Sadly, I do think Cedric needs to go. He's given it his best shot, but today proved that having someone fluent in English with current knowledge is required for a professional level production, which is what we are paying for. Awesome to see Dak so close to the win. Bruni is a machine. Daprela is a wild man! Jackson doing the huck was super impressive.

The lesson being remove Cedric from the booth.

Kade is the hero we need: "The racing is getting stressful man, like with the semis and the finals it's just, I dunno I'm starting to fall out of love with it... It's (semi-finals) basically a race run and you get 31st and you don't even make finals it's dog shit. It really is, it's dog shit. I think I dunno, we will see how it goes. Downhill might be dead. Nah I can't say that but I dunno I think it's just going to become very niche. It's going to be 30 guys and yeah like it's not going...

The UCI maintains a database with all riders UCI Ranking points on their website which is updated weekly. It’s easy to drill down to individual riders and see their total points and race results. If a rider’s name does not show up on the list/search it’s because they have not scored any points. For a privateer, like Adam Brayton, he requires 40 points to gain entry to a World Cup race. He was personally caught out because he mistakenly believed he would be awarded UCI ranking points for the Semifinals he raced in the last two rounds. The UCI ranking...

Huh, that's a different view than the way I heard it; I took it to mean that riders had started treating the Fox team as basic suspension service instead of using them as a suspension-tuning resource. Jordi basically saying "do the basics on your own and let us focus on getting your set-up dialed". (That's all *my* interpretation fwiw...)

You can enter without race points by paying the trade team fee. Which is now nearly 5x more expensive since eso took charge with no improved payout to the riders r any tangible improvements in onsite medical and safety improvements.