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Edited Date/Time
8/12/2014 5:15pm
Interesting to see some big names saying stuff like this...
Dan Atherton: "World cup Downhill is fast....very fast. A lot of people having good solid runs this weekend and not getting s##t."
Justin Leov: "I also just want to say how gnarly this pace is this year, scary fast!"
Dan Atherton: "World cup Downhill is fast....very fast. A lot of people having good solid runs this weekend and not getting s##t."
Justin Leov: "I also just want to say how gnarly this pace is this year, scary fast!"
Gwin's changing the game like Hill did, and Nico before him.
Flat pedals seem to falling out of style too, just an observation. And style is taking a backseat to speed.
Peaty's run looked bonkers, raw power and brute strength in motion. Conversely, Gwin's run didn't look like...well anything in particular - just elbows out, low, full-on moto.
Is it the riders that are getting faster or the tracks? Or perhaps the suspension on the bikes have reached a point that these guys and just roll through pretty much anything, if they have the strength to hold on?
Also: Maybe at the top of the sport, fitness is catching up with (and surpassing) skill.
Now that training for DH has become sport specific, every World Cup rider is becoming a better master of their physical body. That means they're all able to ride flat out on the entire course. It's why a kid like Brosnan or Hart can come close to power houses like Peat & Minnar. They're actually fit enough to make up time on tech sections and not flat line on sprints.
Times get tighter because training knowledge and equipment are leveling out the playing field.
I stood there as Steve Peat came through the rock garden at Seven Springs, PA on a beater Lobo. That was on the edge of sanity. I've seen Palmer hit Mount Snow like it was pavement. Gracia ride the nuttiest section of trail ever at the same venue a different year. Witnessed Kovarik get a bike to turn places you can't imagine.
We're just finally getting to watch the reality of their talent play out in hi def now.
Let's remember that the best DH rider the US had quit DH because 10 years ago he said the tracks and equipment and speeds were getting too insane even for him. Sure his name was Lopes, but nobody could touch his reaction times at that point.
I think the pace has ALWAYS been over-the-edge...it just seems more so these days with the advances in technology in not only the bikes/components, but also in technical wear. It doesn't hurt, either, that all the riders have the luxury of filming their practice runs w/POV cameras that they can review that night to see where they can get more speed.
As long as technology progresses, so too will our fun little sport!
Watching Earthed 2 last week, aside from the awesome soundtrack, it was interesting to see a young Gee Atherton scoring his first WC win at the same time that Sam Hill was showing signs of his winning streaks to come - breaking onto the podium in the same way Hart/Bryceland/McDonald are today
I wonder if it is a combination of natural and mechanical progression. Kids today are starting racing DH with far superior technology and the technical bar already raised way far beyond where we were 10 years ago when guys like Minnaar and Hannah were coming onto the scene. Suspension has reached it's ideal travel and just become more sophisticated over the last few years.
For many riders of a certain age, able to see danger more clearly than they could 10 years ago, it may be too much of a leap to progress from the 6 inch travel, narrow bars, high BB bikes and fast ski piste tracks they started on to the FAST, super steep and technical tracks and more capable bikes being ridden at the speeds we are seeing this year.
The 6'4" exception to this idea is Steve Peat though - a prime example of 'survival of the fittest'... where 'fittest' means "better adapted to live in changing environment"... its amazing to me that the guy has not only remained at the very top of such a demanding sport for so long, but has done it through the course of so much change and progression over the last 17 years
Anyone remeber the cover of Dirt some time last year when TREK had customised fearings on their session? They had done some testing in a wind tunnel but the whole idea seemed to have dissapeared since.
Not only does an aero dynamic product go quicker becuase of reduced wind resistance but it saves energy for the rider which could also allow them to push harder on longer tracks.
I would assume that aero technology could also be advanced in helmets and clothing. UCI have banned skin suits, no problem with that however there are fabrics that do better at shearing wind and the upside is that they dont even have to be that breathable considering the longest track is around 4:25
CARBON: We are seeing this move info DH quite a bit now, GT, Syndicate and now TREK are running composite frames and it seems there is some advantage to a lighter bike however I think the stiffness is equally as important with so much strain on the frames (enhanced by faster runs). Carbon is probably the best material to use if manufacturing an aero bike so it seems like a logical step forward to change the design to be more aero if its the way things are going...
When Hill demolished the field in 07, Gee, Greg, and Steve all picked it up.. Now look at riders like Hart and Smith and there right there with the picked up pace.
Gwin will dominate the rest of this year and most of next but the top dogs, old school and new school will be right there and next year wont be the domination that we see this year..
And as far as clips and flats.... Courses this year have favored being clipped in because of the pedaling... All the course have been pretty pedal heavy... But watch out in champery.. if its muddy flats will win
@Springbok - Aero isn't going to go far, Trek stopped running those aero fairings for a reason. Motocross is at much higher speeds than downhill bikes for much longer periods of time and they are still using regular moto looking helmets and don't have crazy looking fairings on their bikes and don't wear any crazy aero suits. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the whole reason they banned skin suits is so the riders would look more like moto riders, to appeal more to the masses. We don't necessarily look cool running around in skin suits or some crazy looking shark suit and the Trek bikes with the fairing didn't look that cool. But heck who knows, maybe they will bust those fairings out at World Champs?
The moto scrub he threw over the road gap at Windham was incredible.
I do think all the other riders are pressing trying to go faster to keep up this season. They're all out thinking the tracks and end up making mistakes. Like everyone said, hopefully the young guns and some of the old guard figure it out this off-season and can pick up the pace next year.
There's a different problem to aero. In road racing (cyling that is) the aero circuimstances are quite stable. You have the wheels spinning, which you can regard as stable (they always spin the same for example) and the only variable basicly is the rider. Now they have their stance that doesn't change much, but it does a bit. But any way you turn it, they have to pedal practically the whole time at over 30 kph, up to and over 5 hours. Aero gains really do show at those time periods.
DH is 5 to 6 minutes at most. The bikes are turning, yawing, sliding, etc., so are not an ideal aerodynamic system since they are not stable. A whip would give nightmares to an aerodynamician :D
That and DH being a sprint sport (5 to 6 minutes is definetly a sprint) make aero gains probably negligible. So it's better for the designers to just concentrate on bringing the lightest and strongest parts out there with no need to wory on the aerodynamics.
Its a combination of things, GWIN has taken it to a new level no doubt as have the others, I don't find the racing any less exciting because the whips are less, in fact watching Gwin scrubbing at speed is awesome, its becoming more like pro MX in some ways which is great for DH.
What we need though now is DH tracks that test the riders more, I'm missing Schladming myself, Windham looked cool probably would have made no different to results on a longer course to Gwin, its great to have course's that vary, like SA, USA etc but we need more rounds say like a move to 10 then 12 in coming years for a true World Championships.
Sports often label things WC but a true World Cup is one that travels the continents all of them, that's how you find a real World Champion of the WORLD its where DH mtb should / needs to go imo. Don't just do what other sports do, be different stand out, lead don't follow, be attractive to new opportunities and everyone will win!
Yes I now there's costs etc but that's why people who run the sport have the jobs they do, its there job to promote find sponsorship and take the sport truly global, its also self funding once you do do that the market exposure becomes irresistibly attractive, but you have to invest to get a return.
This would greatly raise the the competition and challenges for the riders as well.
Still its great work so far each year its stepping up, so props for that.
My Friday evening pre-Windham spiel exists here.
There is nothing surprising going on, but it is exciting to watch.
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