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The final round in Morillon is gonna be epic, with 7 elite men who can mathematically still take the title

Yep, for sure. I wanted to add to the review itself but it started getting a little busy... How it shipped for 160lb rider Fox FX2 - 168psi HSC - 8 / LSC - 7 / HSR - 7 / LSR - 10 Fox 38 170mm 72psi HSC - 5 / LSC - 10 / HSR - 6 / LSR - 7 20% progression setting. 29” chip and rear wheel. 452mm dropout. My settings as of today Fox FX2 - 165psi HSC - 4 / LSC - 10 / HSR - 4 / LSR - 11 Fox 38 170mm 80psi...

dealing with similar question and always err towards the side of traction/grip at this point. like you're thinking, @sweaman22 tire roll on faster jump trails is always in the back of my mind. here's a photo of a huck to flat and fake whoops section for fun - 26/24 EXO tires with my 70-pound son and 12psi front, 13psi rear. higher pressures had "it feels sketchy" responses on the trails. i guess it just shows kids will be putting down the forces just like adults will...even in crocs or running shoes 🤨

Loic, Finn and Jordan dynamics aside, it's still wild to me that a company the size of Specialized doesn't have an elite woman on the elite downhill team.

Maybe we are thinking this the wrong way around. Before it was "comfy" for them as there was no pressure to perform as Loic got the results to make the team happy. Now that he is out of the picture, they get all the attention but also cannot hide. While I don't think this is direct team pressure, it still mentally changes something in you being in the situation.

Yeah...saw mention by Ryan Sipes in a moto post that everyone sucked at Red Bud because nobody rides trials any more. Tried to think about it but didn't make a lot of sense for the track conditions guys were facing. Now, DH...I remember guys like Dave Cullinan & Tomac getting hung up in DH rock gardes & doing all sorts of track stands , manuals & crank/pedal stabs to get through rock gardens. Almost useless skill on modern tracks since nobody even has a place on track that is slow enough to track stand. Man...trials events at mountain bike races...

On the Downtime Podcast, Chris Hall, Neko Mulally, and Olly Morris were speculating that Specialized can give just that little extra support. They only have so much budget to allocate, and when Loic is on the box every week, it makes sense to try and keep him there. Also, Jordan and Finn have both independently said that their mentality just sort of clicked this year. Finn finally got a strong training offseason this year after chronic pain in years previous. He then got the confidence to know he could do it. Jordan said he had some mental struggles previously, even...

Yeah, there were some great all-arounders. But also, in the 90s, there were a ton of folks who came straight from road riding and could barely nose over a log. Some of those "trials" events, held at CC races were super-amateur. I'd wager that your average CC racer of today is WAY more competent on tech than the average late 80s / 90s CC rider. I do think that the specific fields are so much more competitive, today, though. I mean, particularly this year, we are seeing the arrival of pro downhillers who have been training their brains / bodies...

Andorra track walk video

Time for another debate around why the song that Sleeper picked for this shreddit sucks/rocks and why you are right.

does this track really seem too "straight" or not raw? with all rider comments being "best track of the year!" and "finally a real track!" i take that to mean it's rough and rowdy, not some bikepark thing. is it because there are some berms to keep things moving?

Of course, my bad, thanks for pointing that out! #itsalldownhillfromhere

"a raw track will separate the riders." 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣