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If it's handy while the riders come down, I've got the live splits, sector-by-sector, here at gravitylab.live/live. Hopefully more engaging that the teletext (UK reference) experience on Chronorace. Keeping it updated through elite. Shout with any comments/improvements as its a live project

Damn that’s right huh! If you qualified ahead of the protected riders, you were still in. It was all gravy. For the viewers, at least. All the big names were in no matter what. I’m so anti-protection is overlooked that! (ooh baby I like it raw etc) I’m still anti-protection, especially with two chances. But I do wanna see it. Not naming names, but the old system undoubtedly helped a few riders hang on longer than their results earned…shit’s hyper accelerated now, we really need these feeder series to happen or else we’re doomed. (We are doomed.)

Going to add my opinion that protected riders was f'ing stupid. Ironically an elite bro-club of top teams working to prioritise TV time for their big-bucks athletes at the expense of newer riders and small teams and privateers is exactly what WB and Chris Ball frequently get accused of doing but the worst example was a hangover from the redbull era. Giving people a free ride through quali (and that one year, 2 separate rounds of quali) while others will have to pull the run of their lives just to make the cut, totally changes the dynamic for the haves...

Am I the only one annoyed by how they pronounce Adidas 😂

Hottake, The new Q1 and Q2 formats are great and I much prefer it over rider protected status as its probably the most fair way to narrow the field down. Does it mean some really popular riders lose out? Yep. Does it also mean that seasonal consistency is more rewarded in WC overall standing points? Also yes. Seems odd to have both protected riders AND riders trying to qualify all in one group. It's either we lock the field to the same 30 riders for each race or everyone needs to qualify for finals. No offense to riders like Danny...

Am I the only one who thinks the fact that we've seen some big name not make the show this year makes things pretty exciting?

The “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” school of DH course design

This is the same energy as replacing steering wheel airbags with big metal spikes

They tired to slow a very fast track down this year by making lines tighter and adding in some extra turns/chicanes. I believe this is what lead to far more DQ's, nothing to do with tape/poles. The guys know where their going, they are just trying to do it as fast as possible. With how fast the track was and some of those intentional new turns, it made it very easy to get off line with little room for correction.

I think it has more to do with the speed they are carrying, the gradient of the slope, and the lack of trees. They are straight hauling so any little mistake and you are traveling a pretty good distance in the wrong direction real quick. The slope is pretty steep in the bottom where a lot of people are going off, they are trying to hold on a off camber with the worse dust and loose rocks showing up off line so miss your rut and all of a sudden you are along for the ride. The course is pretty...

To say riders wouldn’t have dsq’d today if there were tape would be a huge underestimation of the prep these riders put into a race run. Once race day comes along they aren’t seeing flags or tape anymore, just their line. Now I would argue that tape can sometimes be less confusing for the viewer on the broadcast but I think the lack of plastic waste and not getting tangled in the tape is worth that small trade off.

How would that have changed anything?

Strong disagree. At the point where you are taking quali laps you know exactly where you're going and where the course is. Tape wouldn't have made it any different.

UncChats from Hard MTB today

Hard MTB League Qualifiers Seeding Results - Finals are today. The climb was not part of seeding. Women Rank Name Tech Slalom Raw Slalom Downhill Overall Gap 1 Kailey Skelton 0:29.97 0:26.92 0:15.27 01:12.178 -- 2 Maddie Lloyd 0:30.21 0:28.56 0:16.46 01:15.241 +0:03.06 3 Alyana Van Horn 0:31.02 0:29.46 0:16.54 01:17.025 +0:04.84 4 Taylor Ostgaard 0:31.60 0:29.88 0:16.67 01:18.162 +0:05.98 5 Sophie Allen 0:31.03 0:33.16 0:17.94 01:22.144 +0:09.96 6 Ffion Pickstock 0:32.48 0:31.37 0:16.91 01:20.770 +0:08.59 7 Mayumi Wakefield 0:32.16 DSQ 0:19.41 00:51.578 -0:20.60 8 April Zastrow 0:38.13 DSQ 0:22.63 01:00.776 -0:11.40 9 Olivia Silva 0:33.58 DSQ DSQ 00:33.582 -0:38.59...

pit bits from mountain creek - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/pit-bits-pro-downhill-series-mountain…

Downhill Southeast #1 Race Replay