All Things Vital Downhill Fantasy

sspomer
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Boise, ID US
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Edited Date/Time 4/29/2024 8:01am

If you have any questions or thoughts about Vital Downhill Fantasy, let us know here.

If you want to talk smack about how well your team is performing, let us know here!

A big thanks to SRAM/RockShox, Troy Lee Designs, FSA and Maxxis for providing awesome prizes each round!

Join or Manage Your Team

How to Play Vital Downhill Fantasy

The biggest question I'm hearing about this first round is the inability to create a team yet. The first game for Ft. William won't open until the official rider list is in. Until then, you can join the Global League and any other league. Once the rider list is in (looking at Wedsnesday or Thursday if things go as they have in years past), the game will be turned on, notifications will be sent out and team building can begin.

Looking forward to a fun season of predictions and racing!

 

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NoahColorado
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Fruita, CO US
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5/1/2024 3:49pm

So are you guys duplicating your team from the "other site" or trying different strategies?

2
sspomer
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5/1/2024 4:00pm

So are you guys duplicating your team from the "other site" or trying different strategies?

not sure just duplicating will do much good with our setup as our values are prob way different (they had gaetan vige at $280k and amaury at $240k. doesn't seem like an accurate real-world value). we'll basically be in the $1000/point potential range. no elite will be more than $250k and no junior more than $60k. if our value structure is lame after ft bill (don't think it will be), we'll adjust moving on, but most will have teams of 8 or 10 riders or more i'd imagine.

anxiously awaiting official start list to get this thing going! looks like 11am local time thursday is when they lock it off, so should be up and running tomorrow mid-day USA time! stoked!

12
mtbAndy
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Big Stone Gap, VA US
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133rd
5/2/2024 5:18am

I've been playing the VitalMX Fantasy league this year. I assume the MTB will be on the same platform. It's fun adjusting your team every week based on the changing value of the riders.

2
FerrousBueller
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Little Rock, AR US
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5/2/2024 12:41pm

My team:

image-20240502144043-1

Good luck everyone! So stoked to watch some downhill

And great job Vital team, I already like this format better than Pinkbike, simply because we get to pick more riders.

8
sspomer
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Boise, ID US
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5/2/2024 12:53pm

thanks all! glad you're stoked! we had a lot of people help make this happen and finally hyped to turn it on!

remember, you can tweak your team until saturday night at 11pm PST, so that's after semi finals. go brave, make your picks and run or get crafty and see who's actually going to the show and adjust.

14
jonkranked
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5/2/2024 2:24pm

i like that there's more flexibility in terms of how to build a roster, will create more opportunities for different strategies.

3
TEAMROBOT
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Los Angeles, CA US
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371st
5/2/2024 4:37pm

Danny Hart is a steal right now at $60k.

4
bstens
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Seattle, WA US
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5/2/2024 5:56pm

What's the agreement on team changes between races? I'm of the mind that you run with the team you got, because that's real life. We in agreement?

1
sspomer
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5/2/2024 6:58pm
bstens wrote:
What's the agreement on team changes between races? I'm of the mind that you run with the team you got, because that's real life. We in...

What's the agreement on team changes between races? I'm of the mind that you run with the team you got, because that's real life. We in agreement?

you can play how you want, but you have the ability to create a new team each race. you'll start from scratch each round so, up to you if you want to pick the same riders.

re: danny hart at $60k - that's a 15th place position in finals for 60 points. hope he smokes that value, but seems realistic given the talent out there, eh?. martin maes (a world cup downhill winner) at $38k seems like the real bargain if his ebike holds up Evil

5
5/2/2024 10:02pm

It is tempting to pick 30 or 35 junior men and try to sweep that whole pool. Would be the world's stinkiest team mind. 

2
BGoldstone
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5/2/2024 11:02pm

Values look good and there’s some hidden gems in there. But that’s kinda moot with being able to change teams after semis. No point in researching and taking a flyer on potential dark horses to mix it up as of now. If I had a suggestion I’d say teams have to be submitted after qualies at the latest.

6
jsray
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Gilbert, AZ US
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5/3/2024 6:58am

format is cool. pumped to play along for the season. wish there were more races. 

1
bnflynn
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Mukilteo, WA US
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5/3/2024 7:11am

Since you can change up your team after semis, it seems like there is no reason to build a team until you know who's in the show. No incentive to pick a complete wildcard. Maybe all rider values go up 10k once semis start, just to incentivize picking someone early?

Not complaining. I'm stoked to have the game to play. Just a thought.

1
jonkranked
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5/3/2024 7:12am

It is tempting to pick 30 or 35 junior men and try to sweep that whole pool. Would be the world's stinkiest team mind. 

I am contemplating stacking my team with elite womens racers. 

3
1
sspomer
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5/3/2024 7:48am Edited Date/Time 5/3/2024 7:49am

@bstens - it was brought up that you may not be able to pick the same team every round based on rider values changing each race, so consider that too. it's not a "set and forget for the year" game. it's how we chose to run it.

re: open through semifinals - once the game has opened, nothing will get adjusted (rider values or closing times) to keep it fair for everyone. we'd thought about shutting down after qualis, but with quali/semi being on the same day this year, the window of time between the quali and semi could lead to difficulties if there are schedule changes based on weather etc. to close the game before qualis wouldn't leave much time for picks to get in. hopefully in 2025, they kill semis and have quali the day before. we'd shut the game down after qualis. if you only pick after semis, that still leaves 75 riders earning points, so plenty of dice rolling to be done. if weather seemed predictable enough, i'd be down to try setting a future round to end after qualifying if that was a consensus.

re: points breakdown - i'll be curious to see if things like stacking elite women or juniors would work out, too. the points structure we're using (UCI's structure), seems to consider field size vs point value, but this is all brand new for us, so we'll be refining as we go.

keep the input coming! i want this to be a fun experience for everyone playing.

8
BGoldstone
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5/3/2024 7:54am

My team currently is 1 elite male who has a shot at top 10, a junior male who has a chance to win it imo, 6 elite women and almost all the junior women. I had money left over.

2
bstens
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Seattle, WA US
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5/3/2024 9:24am

Thanks a bunch for the detailed response Spomer! 

3
Batts
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Ballston Spa, NY US
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5/3/2024 10:00am

I like it but would be better if it was shut down before qualies.  

1
2
BGoldstone
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CA
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5/3/2024 10:20am
sspomer wrote:
@bstens - it was brought up that you may not be able to pick the same team every round based on rider values changing each race...

@bstens - it was brought up that you may not be able to pick the same team every round based on rider values changing each race, so consider that too. it's not a "set and forget for the year" game. it's how we chose to run it.

re: open through semifinals - once the game has opened, nothing will get adjusted (rider values or closing times) to keep it fair for everyone. we'd thought about shutting down after qualis, but with quali/semi being on the same day this year, the window of time between the quali and semi could lead to difficulties if there are schedule changes based on weather etc. to close the game before qualis wouldn't leave much time for picks to get in. hopefully in 2025, they kill semis and have quali the day before. we'd shut the game down after qualis. if you only pick after semis, that still leaves 75 riders earning points, so plenty of dice rolling to be done. if weather seemed predictable enough, i'd be down to try setting a future round to end after qualifying if that was a consensus.

re: points breakdown - i'll be curious to see if things like stacking elite women or juniors would work out, too. the points structure we're using (UCI's structure), seems to consider field size vs point value, but this is all brand new for us, so we'll be refining as we go.

keep the input coming! i want this to be a fun experience for everyone playing.

oh yeah. i forgot qualies and semis are the same day. makes it tough to end it after qualies when it's early morning for most NA's

4
bulletbass man
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Collegeville, PA US
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169th
5/4/2024 7:50pm

Normally I’d stay off the internet to watch the replay at home but gonna be checking results on the lift to see how my fantasy is going

2
owl-x
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374
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3/23/2016
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Seattle, WA US
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1047th
5/4/2024 8:40pm

DH racing is so sick. 

2
acambo
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4/9/2021
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AU
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33rd
5/4/2024 9:02pm

The point structure is interesting especially in comparison to Pinkbikes. Its nice to be able to have all your team racing in finals and getting points, few years back I missed out on the overall by like 100 points after two of my riders wrote them selves off in the last qualifying run.

I do worry with the unlimited team sizes and being able to pick after semi's its going to be a game of who has the best spreadsheet setup for optimized points. Don't get me wrong I like a bit of analysis but a lot of the fun is picking based of feel and hoping for the best.

2

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