DH World Cup thread

[RustyMTB]

Props to Erice & Pinky too. All wrapped up with a race to spare. I heard he's going to stoppie Mont Saint Anne top to bottom.

 

[Mabman]

There seems to be no stopping Vali and she is chill enough to deserve all she achieves. She is my pick for sure.

Men wise it could be one rock tap too many to tell who will get top step. Hopefully the top contenders can keep air in their tires as well as the rubber side down with tight times up to the last on course. As an American I know I should be rooting for Dak to win but for some reason I think that BK, yes sports fans of LSD fame and loss of fortune that it must take to run the show he does, and his obvious ability on the Snowshoe course could be a foil to all others plans on the day. I think he is pretty serious about his chances and not posting course preview to keep his lines under his helmet?

USA juniors take top 2 in their finals which was cool and Medcalf's run looked so slow that if he had just pedaled a few times in the first half he easily could have erased the deficit from 1st.

 

[RustyMTB]

I love Dialled any time but particularly enjoyed Jake & Jordi discussing the riders rocking up in America, going shooting, checking out Applebees, riding the subway in New York, the tourist stuff. Jordi - I'm stoked they're having fun, I guess it's like us going to Europe & buying Berets

 

[VWsurfbum]

I agree Dak but I think Nina for me

 

[VWsurfbum]

I hope they sort out the coverage issues, commentators keep cutting in and out and the footage keeps jumping and going fuzzy (watching the short track)

 

[RustyMTB]

Bernard threw down in qualis. I would love to see him win one as he gets into the autumn of his career but so hard to call Snowshoe, it's such a sniper of a track. He was very close last year & is a pretty reliable pair of hands in the rough stuff.

 

[Mabman]

Well it took awhile to wade through the semi's and final orders but you can't say in the end that it didn't disappoint. Some gnarly crashes as well as seemingly senseless ones in that grass left hander, sealant sprays and resulting flat tires, and in the end the Irish lads prevailed which hardly anyone saw coming. Cheers boys. Fun fact: There were lots of Irish immigrants that settled in that part of the US many years ago.

Was happy to see BK in the hot seat for a hot second and then Dakota. Glad to have Gwinn in the booth to keep Cedric from saying some version of "speed" every other second. Missy as the women's podium girl was fun, I knew that girl when she was a teenager and ski raced for the program I coached for. One of those that either wiped out or won types. Mostly wiped out though.

Crowd size fell short of the 10k that was predicted because, well, Snowshoe is in the middle of nowhere on the wrong side of the US. Fun fact 2: is that everyone in the crowd was related, it's an Appalachia thing.... And yes moonshine is still a thing there and imagine that it will be in evidence tonight.

 

[JP-NZ]

Irish 1-2 absolute scenes! Imagine the party right now haha. Brilliant race again, this season keeps on delivering.

The men’s is all on for the final race at MSA too

 

[RustyMTB]

Jaysus lads, would ye lookit?

 

[Spin]

Absolute belter of a race to watch. So good to see the Irish lads get on the box. Oisin's face when he realised he had won was priceless.

I predict another nail biter next week.
God , I love downhill !!

 

[RustyMTB]

It's made it to RTE. My dad was from Dunlaoghaire, feeling quite proud to be half a paddy this morning.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2023/0930/1408289-ocallaghan-leads-irish-mountain-bike-one-two/

 

[Bob Orbea Rise]

If you have Eurosport they had the live coverage ( not actually live I don’t think?) full men’s final so far, with great picture quality and I think they repeat it through the week so you might still catch it.
The last 10 riders is where it hots up. So pleased for BK and the two Irish boys the pair of loons they are awesome

I’m a bit surprised with the semi final business though ? What am i missing there? I feel they might be better having two final runs. It’s hard enough to get down without crashing or flatting I think maybe should have the best time over two runs? A lot of top riders either crashed or had punctures, it just seems too much of a lottery esp with this course beeing so rocky. I recon the one near the end (don’t want to spoil it) has a concussion that’s one tough course. I’d like to see faster tracks tbh. All this rocky stuff seems less relevant to me

 

[RustyMTB]

There's not much love for semi finals anywhere, not least amongst the riders. I would think they're there to stretch out the entertainment but apart from making the day too long, it's a dead rubber for most of the field, reflected in the intensity of the racing. As for rock gardens, there's eight or nine races per season, across a whole range of tracks. It's common in the early rounds at Leogang & Lenzerheide for people to complain they're too bikeparky. It's good to annoy everyone!

 

[Spin]

Dean announced his retirement last week. Would have been tragic if this ended much worse.

 

[RustyMTB]

Watching that now, it's horrible. He's got away with one there.

 

[JP-NZ]

Gunna miss Snowshoe as a track seeing as they aren't racing there next year...

 

[RustyMTB]

Les Gets gets all the props for the fans race but Snowshoe brings the noise. Love this round for mad fans. Never not entertaining.

 

[Mabman]

As the parent of a son who at about that age landed himself in a chair as a Quad doing the wrong thing at the wrong time I couldn't make it through that video....he is luckier than he knows.

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

Just back from the race. Incredible to see! Didn’t know what was happening next. Energy was wonderful! I’ll go to every one I can from now on!

 

[Zimmerframe]

Pretty good overview for anyone who didn't get to see it :

 

[LowLow]

Anyone interested in really good analysis of Snowshoe and other WC races should check out Andrew Neethling's new podcast, called Moving the Needle (https://www.youtube.com/@MovingTheNeedlePodcast/videos).

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

Pretty good overview for anyone who didn't get to see it :

Really enjoy Ben Cathro's track breakdowns. Got to see him make a few runs during practice. He's still really good!

 

[InRustWeTrust]

here is a video from bruni where you get to hear a bit at the end of the video where he analyzes and explains why he crashed.

 

[RickBullotta]

Unrelated but related question - does anyone know how to get in contact with Rob Warner? I have a project I'd like to run by him.

 

[Mabman]

He is on Instagram and I would imagine FB also so shoot him a DM.

 

[Zimmerframe]

 

[VWsurfbum]

Ahhh the chain slap noise!

 

[RustyMTB]

26" wheels, baggy tops, bare shins, those were the days!

 

[VWsurfbum]

 

[RustyMTB]

Four way race in prospect, probably only worth tuning in for the last half hour. Head says Bruni, heart says Finn.