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I used to say this while looking at the course before a bike race. Saying it made me feel smart and tactical. Never won any of those races, though.

It's a good question, because how we define and categorize these terms can hopefully spare us from another dreadful, circular, definitional forum argument. I think the two scenarios you describe are two completely different qualities, which I would describe as 1) rolling speed and 2) cornering grip (or maybe just "cornering" generally). For instance, for all our friends in the American SE who ride on super hardpacked, smooth, and relatively flat decomposed granite, rolling speed is super important for having any fun at all on your bike ride. A MaxxGrip DH casing Assegai is going to carry great speed through...

I swear this is SRAM propaganda: "It just doesn't make sense to add a more complex, harder-to-maintain, more expensive option that's locked to your frame and that no one has parts for." More complex to maintain? The Pinion service interval is 6,200 miles — people race entire seasons without touching their gearbox. Meanwhile derailleur drivetrains need constant adjustment and eat consumables, especially on ebikes. Gearboxes will take over ebikes within a few years — the motor negates the efficiency loss, the weight is low and centered, and ebike torque destroys conventional drivetrains anyway. DH won't be far behind (less unsprung...

Shut the fuck up about drivetrain efficiency. Holy shit. Go find a different thread.

For years people have been asking for MGUs from SRAM and Shimano and there has long been speculation that those brands didn’t get involved because they didn’t want to undermine their own market share of expensive, high wear components. In doing so they’ve left their flank wide open for a Chinese company to swallow up the drivetrain market while solving issues riders have complained about for decades. Horrific miscalculation from the drivetrain cartel.

True that, Charlie. Look at all the ebikes in for service where only the 14 tooth cog has ever been used. People struggle with shifting. That was before motors double their output. Even in the eMTB space I don't see the derailleur and cassette drivetrain surviving the power wars. Our beloved and wickedly efficient bicycle drivetrains didn't evolve to put out 150 Nm and 1500 freaking watts. Constant watts. That's 2 HP for Joe and Jane Blow compared the 1/4 HP a reasonably fit human puts out. You're simply going to need thicker cogs hanging off that back wheel. But...

Please let this kill the Derailleur Mafia for once and for all.

Fair, but there had to be a better name than ‘Rhapsody’. Someone still got paid to think up that name. It’s cumbersome to say and at least for me all it invokes is George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and United Airlines commercials from the 1990s Why not just call it ‘Crankworx Whistler Slopestyle’. EDIT: it also reminds me of how a romance author would describe the heights of an amorous tryst, NOT a mountain bike slopestyle. Haha

Excuse my French, but could we fucking please stop calling bikes "analog", "acoustic", or -the worst I've heard- "bio"? Bikes are bikes. Ebikes are something else. Now get off my fucking lawn you punks!

I’ve watched my friend get pushed into a tree and also pushed off the trail. Two different e-bikers on the same ride. He doesn’t like e-bikes and now I get it. You may not realize the precedent that other ebike riders have set before you cross paths with an analog rider

I'm guessing Greg Minnaar is happy to see Danny Hart qualify for finals. I know I am!

Remi's line, 5:32, is sick as hell. Not sure if its faster but that was cool as hell.

Probably time to kill yourself… ❤️

There are no words for how disappointed younger me would have been with older me. Empathy and that whole "prefrontal cortex" thing have both been pretty wild.

I was listening to a road biking podcast recently. One of the guests on the podcast is currently a DS for a bigger team and used to be a world tour rider. One of the things that came up in discussion is how absolutely insane the new generation of riders are. They are SO fast. They are SO good in their training. They are SO dialed in their nutrition and recovery. The guest made a point to bring up an interesting-to-me factoid: They can't let the younger riders anywhere near the big-name riders during team training rides. None of them...