All

Maybe… just maybe,,, now stay with me here… she (and the other pros saying the same thing) has a valid point that the liaison times were unrealistically short and us armchair racers should refrain from speculating on her (and other pro athletes who do this for a living) fitness levels and take them at their word that they know what they’re talking about and the liaison times were, indeed, unrealistically short.

elite sport is meant to be hard.

Isn’t this what early EWS was tho? I thought riders were complaining that it got too short and easy?

For context, Bex finished in 21st place 6:38 minutes back. Imagine being Hattie Harden who trained her ass off all year, competed in multiple XC and DH races and smoked the competition to hear 21st place say the pace “violated human rights” lol, gtfo

Sam’s new Foes for e-edr

Updates from Neko's story (lmk if I should stop posting these, don't want to clog the thread if y'all are on top of the latest)

Anyone done a chainless race down a forest road that doesn't require much braking? My crew does a ride where a no-pedal gravel road race back to the car is tradition. At 200 I beat 160 pound friends who are on faster tires. So really, it's not a race, it's a scale. Here's the past winners of Fort William WCDH: https://www.rootsandrain.com/venue13/fort-william/events/filters/dh/ser… In the men's race, these are some of the taller/bigger riders we have had in the series. Brosnan winning here in 2014 is impressive. Benoit is a bigger dude, he's got an advantage on any higher speed section that...

I find high-speed tracks less interesting to watch. Just my opinion. It's harder to notice the details that set the best runs apart. I like watching weird turns, off-camber lines, sloppy carnage and maximum creativity. I'm fine with one track like Ft. Bill per year, variety is good. I just hope they keep it weird for a bunch of other races.

You're showing quite a bit of blindness I think. Palazarri is from Sardinia, pretty hard to drive through the Mediterranean sea to Fort William. And if you take the boat, it's probably a 30-40hr trip in total! Plenty of people ride WC tracks before/after the races there, But doing so 7 days out from the race, when the course is marked and taped etc.. is pretty unheard of. So Davide was right to be pi**ed. He was complaining about the proximity to racing not the fact that people were riding the track. Likewise, Coulanges isn't from Les Gets and the...

I think it looks sick, but it's definitely out there. Kinda like the Cannondale/EF + Palace collabs. It's better than the three color, blocky, and boring stuff so many do. I'll hold out until I see it out in the wild, but it's my vote so far for "Lit Kit". I'd rather see fun, wacky, skate-inspired designs than have everything look like motocross (unless it's full-on motocross like Gwin, that passes the vibe check).

Imagine a company with known financial troubles invests in a world class factory team and being upset because the artwork on the huge semi truck isn’t your jam

I’m just bummed it’s missing a crossbar and pad

100% disagree with your take, simply because in an ideal scrub the bike is still perfectly in line with the direction of movement. A whip for sure will slow you down, and that is what your "bike on a car rack" analogy corresponds to. Frixtalon + dark googles + scrub is just how I picture myself every ride, despite actually doing a weak turnbar on an ebike wearing prescription glasses in a 3/4 helmet.

sick pirellis

Santa Cruz hasn't been present at Sea Otter for a few year now even when the covid boom was still in full swing. They preferred to invite media to visit the factory the week before and have a open house/exhibit instead of having a booth 50 miles away in Monterey. I wouldn't read that as a sign of financial distress unlike the factory sale they are having right now.

He could have 1 or 13 on his back still my favorite rider to watch rip a turn. And let me know the next time someone takes the overall 3 years in a row in any discipline bizutch

the rattle also depends on your frame too, some almost amplify the noise. My old E8000 was silent. Somethings gone wrong with Emtb evolution. For example, my first e-mtb was an Alloy Merida E160, E8000 with Fox 36/X2 DD tyres and 500Wh battery was 22.6kg. My current bike (Range VLT) is 30kg with similar gear (albeit 38/DHX2) and a 720Wh battery. The internal battery added a LOT of weight to these things.