Snowshoe World Cup DH Finish Feature

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UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Snowshoe, West Virginia
Downhill
#USDH
sspomer
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sspomer
Edited Date/Time 8/30/2021 11:05am
inserting popcorn emoji here.



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Scrub
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Scrub 8/26/2021 10:05am
8/26/2021 10:05am Edited Date/Time 8/26/2021 10:06am
They know its World Cup Downhill Racing and not a slopestyle contest right?

On second thought, maybe it's for the after party bonfire...
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sspomer
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sspomer 8/26/2021 10:05am
8/26/2021 10:05am
ryan_daugherty wrote:
Ahhhhh, won't judge until someone rides it I guess.
for sure. will all depend on the speed into it based on track above. the speed they usually have at this point on the track is pretty freaking fast.
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schwaaa31
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schwaaa31 8/26/2021 10:08am
8/26/2021 10:08am
What the hell? That’s a strange feature to have at the end of a World Cup DH track. Maybe it’ll be cool when people actually ride it? (Or jump the whole thing)
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bstens
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bstens 8/26/2021 10:08am
8/26/2021 10:08am Edited Date/Time 8/26/2021 10:10am
Quad god?

Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting the woods (triple) before coming into this feature.

Seems like more time should be spent trying to get entry for all the privateers and media and not on a feature
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Jason_Schroeder 8/26/2021 10:09am
8/26/2021 10:09am
Didn't we already go through this before with Rampage? Not sure who is asking for wood features on World Cup tracks but I'd be just as happy with a huge dirt double. Or maybe some whoops...
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MiSo11
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MiSo11 8/26/2021 10:10am
8/26/2021 10:10am
Seems sketchy as hell. That said, I've got $5 on Bernard Kerr being the first to gap it.
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EBlackwell 8/26/2021 10:15am
8/26/2021 10:15am
As a life-long wood feature hater I am against this both on a principled basis and on a case specific basis, haha. Wood features are bad generally, and this wood feature looks especially bad. This is a WC downhill track, not a slopestyle course, and this feature looks downright dangerous at WC DH speeds (arm chair expert rant over). On a more positive note, quading this would be insane to see.
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TrillWill
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TrillWill 8/26/2021 10:18am
8/26/2021 10:18am
Popcorn time for sure. I help build and design trail/features on public trails where I live so I hate getting internet speculated about stuff I build. However this is a WC race so I'll take my turn to be an keyboard skeptic, lol.

I'll be there early to get prepped for the event and I'll be watching this feature during the first practice sessions for sure. My first thought is that you typically don't have a straight takeoff (no radius) to a landing with a radius. So the jumping on part looks like it could be easy to overjump and land rather close to the lip for the jump out. Luckily the gap jumping out of the whale tail doesn't look very big if a rider lost speed by over jumping into it.

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Matt891
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Matt891 8/26/2021 10:24am
8/26/2021 10:24am
I will withhold judgement if the rest of the track is awesome..
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kcy4130
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kcy4130 8/26/2021 10:36am
8/26/2021 10:36am
The track is the same as was used in 2019, right? That looked like an awesome one, racers liked it. If Neko is involved with the course design again, then the wood feature will probably turn out to be ok. Looks iffy tho.
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adamdigby
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adamdigby 8/26/2021 10:41am
8/26/2021 10:41am
Who thought it was a good idea for the straight ramp step up take off to rounded landing? Not knowing the speed of entry I can’t truly judge, but it very much seems like a speed restricted feature. You’ll have to slow down, bunny hop to make a smooth transition on the landing, and then not pedal so as to land the step down in the sweet spot getting full speed for the following straight.
As Jason said, whoops would be cool, I like whoops and have not seen a proper set of them on a DH track outside of US National Champs 2009 at Sol Vista (Cairns has rollers/a rhythm section not whoops).
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bizutch
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bizutch 8/26/2021 10:46am
8/26/2021 10:46am
I can't stand a wood feature that is narrow from start to finish in this case. If they wanted to make that thing, they needed to make the whale tail fan out to be 2-3 times wider than the take off.

That way when someone inevitably slips or whacks a pedal, they have room to get crooked at speed and not launch off the sides into the unknown.

Slopestyle courses have skinny take offs and massively wide landers.
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kcy4130
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kcy4130 8/26/2021 10:58am
8/26/2021 10:58am
adamdigby wrote:
Who thought it was a good idea for the straight ramp step up take off to rounded landing? Not knowing the speed of entry I can’t...
Who thought it was a good idea for the straight ramp step up take off to rounded landing? Not knowing the speed of entry I can’t truly judge, but it very much seems like a speed restricted feature. You’ll have to slow down, bunny hop to make a smooth transition on the landing, and then not pedal so as to land the step down in the sweet spot getting full speed for the following straight.
As Jason said, whoops would be cool, I like whoops and have not seen a proper set of them on a DH track outside of US National Champs 2009 at Sol Vista (Cairns has rollers/a rhythm section not whoops).
Makes me wonder if they'll be a take off in front of it, and the ramp up in the photos is only there as a chicken line? So it'd just be an on/off whale tail....?
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mickey
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mickey 8/26/2021 11:01am
8/26/2021 11:01am
hmm, is IMBA Trail Solutions and Snowshoe Corporate this out of touch with the zeitgeist of racing? I get wanting to make something “memorable” to “keep up” with Gravity Logic projects at Trestle, Bryce, Thunder, but this seems like a feature just built as a marketing stunt for IMBA or a “me too” vanity project for some of the old men that manage snowshoe but don’t ride.

If this is what the organizers are spending money on, it makes it so much easier to be happy spending that week at the beach instead of spectating or volunteering. Who wants to support something that makes them violently angry!?
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PisgahGnar
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PisgahGnar 8/26/2021 11:11am
8/26/2021 11:11am
Like the jump at the top last time around, UCI will tape a faster line around the thing and make it obsolete.
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benthandlebars 8/26/2021 11:37am
8/26/2021 11:37am
In races past, they have taped a bit of a chicane to exit the woods to control speed...I wouldn't worry too much.
bulletbass man 8/26/2021 12:34pm
8/26/2021 12:34pm
Feel like they may want a bigger landing but that may just be perspective. Might see some interesting rhythms on that thing. Wood will save a ton of dirt and be easy to change. Think it’s an eyesore though and that’s before they add the safety nets.

Ever since Steve peats gamble i have been waiting for an on/off finish feature.
jimmypop
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jimmypop 8/26/2021 1:23pm
8/26/2021 1:23pm
Stiksandstones wrote:
Cully would have done it first run.
Anyone who gave you thumbs down on this needs a history lesson.
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StudBeefpile
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StudBeefpile 8/26/2021 1:57pm
8/26/2021 1:57pm
Could be cool.... but man im doubting.

I think Ed Masters put it well, "Everything doesn't need to be a spectacle."

Putting big features in just because always feels weird, just like man made rock gardens at VDS. I get that the end of the race is always kinda lackluster compared to the rest of the track but I dont think this is the way to solve the issue.
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TrillWill
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TrillWill 8/26/2021 2:39pm
8/26/2021 2:39pm
Where is Sean Leader when you need him... Can we transplant the Red Bull Ravine from Windrock to Snowshoe for a proper finish section?

The Windrock finish section from the whoops down is the best DH finish in North America bar none IMO. Anyone know of a better one?
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brash
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brash 8/26/2021 2:42pm
8/26/2021 2:42pm
first thing I thought of was ratboy flat landing and making his ankle look like an Iraqi car bomb!
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ryan_daugherty 8/26/2021 4:09pm
8/26/2021 4:09pm
Jason_Schroeder wrote:
Didn't we already go through this before with Rampage? Not sure who is asking for wood features on World Cup tracks but I'd be just as...
Didn't we already go through this before with Rampage? Not sure who is asking for wood features on World Cup tracks but I'd be just as happy with a huge dirt double. Or maybe some whoops...
100% more whoops.
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boozed
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boozed 8/26/2021 4:40pm
8/26/2021 4:40pm Edited Date/Time 8/26/2021 4:40pm
bstens wrote:
Quad god? Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting...
Quad god?

Edit: It is at the top of the hill before you start gaining crazy speed into the finish. Probably still too much speed exiting the woods (triple) before coming into this feature.

Seems like more time should be spent trying to get entry for all the privateers and media and not on a feature
Trail builders and administration staff are probably not the same people...
Nozes
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Nozes 8/26/2021 5:20pm
8/26/2021 5:20pm
Dafuq?!
Any high speed grassy flat turn is more spectacular to see than this,at least for me.
Mountain biking race courses should represent what the sport is about,and this has nothing to do with downhill.
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jimmypop
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jimmypop 8/26/2021 7:54pm
8/26/2021 7:54pm
This is the apex of course design in the US when we have 10-year-olds who can huck 15-foot blind drops and rail massive berms at speed, but who fall over sideways at the sight of a root or rock garden.

This is the course we deserve for letting Gravity Logic and IMBA monopolize trail design ethos at lift-servixed parks.
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Fektor
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Fektor 8/26/2021 7:58pm
8/26/2021 7:58pm Edited Date/Time 8/26/2021 7:58pm
ryan_daugherty wrote:
Ahhhhh, won't judge until someone rides it I guess.
sspomer wrote:
for sure. will all depend on the speed into it based on track above. the speed they usually have at this point on the track is...
for sure. will all depend on the speed into it based on track above. the speed they usually have at this point on the track is pretty freaking fast.
My vote would be Kade Edwards or Bernard 🤘
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