Offical 2009 UCI World Cup Calendar

motomike · Jun 14, 2008

but no DH in champery? hope thats a typo

stiksandstones · Jun 14, 2008

Looks like one of those seasons where only like 10 guys go to EVERY race. When we used to have schedules like this and crazy unlimited budgets, it was quite sweet and brought the intl. race circuit to places that needed some MTB exposure.
It would be sweet if the UCI/Promoter etc... could get some sponsorship with airlines/rental cars/hotels to save people some dough to make all the rounds....like 'use this special code from UCI and get 20% off air/car/hotel" etc...

Granted it was a one time a year event, not a 'series' but things like the hawaiian mountain tour we used to do, we got deals on air tickets, car and hotel all via the promoter in an effort to get as many riders to the race.

Anyways-cool series in 09'....lets hope everyone gets a sweet sponsor in 09' to pay the bills.....guys, use my favorite line at the office "lets get the international distributor to help out with the trip-we will get him to sell more bikes if we show up to (insert country here)".

dirtboyracer · Jun 14, 2008

An urban DH race? That would mix things up a bit. I like how the UCI is trying new things, it's what's going to make the sport grow, even if some of it doesn't work. The XCO/4X double is interesting. I heard Houffalize has something like 50000 spectators so 4X might get a bit more exposure there then anywhere else.

It seems like the August 1-2 round could be in North America seeing as it's only a week after MSA.

fortenndu · Jun 14, 2008

Hopefully that round will be at Whiteface.

NY_Star · Jun 14, 2008

Whiteface is good but it is still a few year off from holding a WC. They have only been doing the 5k for three years now. I think they should at least hold a NMBS round first. Having 300+ racers show up when you are used to 100 would be a challenge. I'm not saying it can be done but I'm not seeing it before 2010 at the earliest. It would be so sweet if there was one there thought.

Eastern States Cup · Jun 14, 2008

the important ones:

April 11-12 UCI World Cup XCO/DHI/4X Round 1 Pietermaritzburg (RSA)
May 9-10 UCI World Cup DHI Round 2 TBC
May 16-17 UCI World Cup DHI/4X Round 3 Vallnord (AND)
June 6-7 UCI World Cup DHI/4X Round 4 Fort William (GBR)
June 20-21 UCI World Cup DHI/4X Round 5 Maribor (SLO)
July 25-26 UCI World Cup XCO/DHI/4X Round 5/6 Mont-Sainte-Anne (CAN)
August 1-2 UCI World Cup XCO/DHI/4X Round 6/7 TBC
September 19-20 UCI World Cup XCO/DHI/4X Round 8 Schladming (AUT)

September 1-5 UCI XCO/DHI/4X World Championships Canberra (AUS)

Mc.Dub · Jun 15, 2008

Hope Bromont puts on a good show this year. Maybe they'll get the same spot in 09. But what do I know.

FarkinRyan · Jun 15, 2008

Akula_7 said:
And Africa is just gonna be sick, 4 continent calender, with Worlds in Aussie.

DownHill has gone Transcontinental again, BigTime! time to get some more Credit Cards me thinks. Airmiles in '09.

Wait until you see the track in Canberra, that will curb that pesky enthusiasm of yours. Mount Stromlo where the track is has maybe 250m of elevation on a tall day.

Damo · Jun 15, 2008

FarkinRyan said:
Wait until you see the track in Canberra, that will curb that pesky enthusiasm of yours. Mount Stromlo where the track is has maybe 250m of elevation on a tall day.

Oh dear...That bad?

You still coming over soon?

FarkinRyan · Jun 15, 2008

Oh yes, don't be fooled when they tell you it's 770m tall, it's 770m above sea level, while Canberra itself sits at around the 550m ASL mark.

Definitely going to be over around the tail end of the summer, have rent on a place here until August then going to be throwing everything in the camper and hitting the road.

dondon · Jun 15, 2008

PMB Ferncliff track... Mr. Minnaar's back garden, only a Rhino ride away.

Daver · Jun 15, 2008

FarkinRyan said:
Oh yes, don't be fooled when they tell you it's 770m tall, it's 770m above sea level, while Canberra itself sits at around the 550m ASL mark.

Definitely going to be over around the tail end of the summer, have rent on a place here until August then going to be throwing everything in the camper and hitting the road.

So no megavelanche? :huh:

John P. · Jun 15, 2008

Mc.Dub said:
Hope Bromont puts on a good show this year. Maybe they'll get the same spot in 09. But what do I know.

I'd love to see that, too, but having raced the Canada Cup there a few weeks ago, I'm not optimistic. That mountain is fantastic overall, but the decision to put the race track on the backside was a bad one. The course is really short (top pro times would be sub-2:30) and it wasn't really challenging enough IMO. It was a hell of a fun course for a hack like me to ride, but I'm guessing the top guys are going to be pretty bored with it - only a couple of short technical parts that dudes like Rennie and Barel will make look like they're paved.

The fact that it's on the backside of the mountain presents a couple other problems, too - first, spectators will have to park a couple miles away and take some sort of shuttle to the venue (the parking lot back there is tiny), and second, their facilities back there are meager at best - a bunch of port-o-potties and a tiny little cafeteria.

I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm guessing the UCI is going to say 'thanks-but-no-thanks' unless some pretty drastic changes are made.

--JP

buckoW · Jun 15, 2008

motomike said:
but no DH in champery? hope thats a typo

The director of bike development here in Champery seems to think that the best way to market the resort is through womens cross country events. He has plans to invest every last cent of the trail building budget on anything, with nothing to do with DH or FR. Funny that his new wife, Marielle Saner, retired from DH and is now trying to make the Swiss Olympic XC team.

big dan · Jun 15, 2008

Akula_7 said:
Haha, I know how **** Stromlo is gonna be, have a few friends who raced there last year at your Nat. Champs thing....joke is the world used most often!

yep its going to interesting to see the responses when people get to see this track! Not exactly world class.

Damo · Jun 15, 2008

Just been sifting through some sh1te Stromlo vids on youtube. There are a couple of good vids in there that show a pretty fun looking track. Short, but fun.

Big line, mid line, berm line

Rock garden

4x track. Looking a bit pedally

Photos courtesy of the lads over at Farkin...

FarkinRyan · Jun 15, 2008

Jacobs did a good job with what he had for sure. Unfortunately, what he had was little more than a hill. "Mount" Stromlo is being extremely kind to it in the naming department.

Damo · Jun 15, 2008

Yeah, looks like Glen is doing a great job with what little he has. Perfect sculpting.

Is there going to be any Nats/Clubbies held on the Champs track beforehand?

Steve M · Jun 15, 2008

The videos look good cos they don't show the 500m flat sprint at the end of the track...

Damo · Jun 15, 2008

Why then, are they holding a World Championships on this track then?
Surely the better tracks Aus has to offer would have been better choices?
Sounds like there is not a lot of love for Stromlo amongst those who have ridden there...

Damo · Jun 15, 2008

This makes it look OK...

...however, it is still a track that is 2200m long, but with 185m trail elevation....

lockstock · Jun 15, 2008

Damo said:
Yeah, looks like Glen is doing a great job with what little he has. Perfect sculpting.

Is there going to be any Nats/Clubbies held on the Champs track beforehand?

yeah,

DH Results

Elite Men:
1. Jared Graves 3:19.86
2. Nathan Rennie 3:22.05
3. Jared Rando 3:24.21
4. Filip Polc 3:24.56
5. Amiel Cavalier 3:24.93
6. Ben Cory 3:25.15
7. Dave West 3:26.13
8. Sam Hill 3:27.04

graves may do the double, 4X and DH world champ lol

RaID · Jun 15, 2008

Damo said:
Yeah, looks like Glen is doing a great job with what little he has. Perfect sculpting.

Is there going to be any Nats/Clubbies held on the Champs track beforehand?

yeh theres a final club race 4 weeks before this years world cup

i imagine there will be more races next year aswell

dondon · Jun 15, 2008

Socket said:
The videos look good cos they don't show the 500m flat sprint at the end of the track...

Will there be some Sea Otter Hybrid 30-36LB Dh bikes you think?
Or the Dh part legit?

Steve M · Jun 15, 2008

Damo said:
Why then, are they holding a World Championships on this track then?
Surely the better tracks Aus has to offer would have been better choices?
Sounds like there is not a lot of love for Stromlo amongst those who have ridden there...

There are plenty of other tracks that would have been better. We have steep, 6 minute plus tracks around too... but Stromlo put in the bid cos it has the money, because they got several million from the government to develop the place. It used to be a fairly heavily used forest/park, but in 2003 everything on the hill burnt to the ground, so all the interested user groups put in applications for new facilities etc to be built there whilst there was no worry about erosion or cutting trees down or that kind of thing.

Seriously I haven't heard anything much positive about the place except from locals and the club running the event who are interested in promoting it. I'll still be going to watch though. Even Hill said he was a bit ashamed of the world champs being held there.

Damo · Jun 15, 2008

Judging by the results posted by lockstock above, it wouldn't suit Hill at all. However, a strong pedaller like Graves will do good.

Damn, that would be cool, Graves getting the hat-trick...

Steve M · Jun 15, 2008

dondon said:
Will there be some Sea Otter Hybrid 30-36LB Dh bikes you think?
Or the Dh part legit?

Nah, it's more DH than that! haha

Those results were from the 06/07 Nats weren't they? Pretty sure Hill binned it in his run. But yeah, pedallers will be at an advantage I'd say... however they're in the process of changing the course up a bit, I don't know what they're planning to insert/remove.

Daver · Jun 15, 2008

Socket said:
however they're in the process of changing the course up a bit, I don't know what they're planning to insert/remove.

I heard it's a new start ramp which may double the elevation of the track?

downhill mike · Jun 15, 2008

Tomac_racer said:
Whiteface is good but it is still a few year off from holding a WC. They have only been doing the 5k for three years now. I think they should at least hold a NMBS round first. Having 300+ racers show up when you are used to 100 would be a challenge. I'm not saying it can be done but I'm not seeing it before 2010 at the earliest. It would be so sweet if there was one there thought.

Actually the 5 K Dh is put on by the Whiteface Mountain Bike Park operated by High Peaks Cyclery (Elias and I). When (in a 2 to 3 years) Whiteface does host a World Cup it would be put on by ORDA (Olympic Regional Development Authority). They have been hosting 4 to 5 World Cup Events each winter since the 1980 games. They have tons of staff and the finances to do just that. Put on a World Cup Event.

In the mean time we will keep putting on a kick ass 5 k dh race.

DHM

eskimo · Jun 15, 2008

Damo said:
Judging by the results posted by lockstock above, it wouldn't suit Hill at all. However, a strong pedaller like Graves will do good.

Damn, that would be cool, Graves getting the hat-trick...

Mt. Stromlo has got the Aussie national champs until '10 I believe. For sure there is way better tracks in Australia (Dave and Ryan can vouch for that I'm sure) but none that meet the UCI criteria to hold worlds or have the funding to hold worlds/world cup rounds.

Jacobs sure did the best with what he had...it's just sad that no other state government had the incentive to pull out the funding to host a WC somewhere decent.

Previous nationals have shown that the course doesn't favour hill at all. Graves won the first year of stromlo and Rennie won this year. It's pretty rare we have a full aussie pro list at champs let alone a national round anyway.

Eastern States Cup · Jun 15, 2008

damn nissan vs Chevy crap

dante · Jun 15, 2008

downhill mike said:
Actually the 5 K Dh is put on by the Whiteface Mountain Bike Park operated by High Peaks Cyclery (Elias and I). When (in a 2 to 3 years) Whiteface does host a World Cup it would be put on by ORDA (Olympic Regional Development Authority). They have been hosting 4 to 5 World Cup Events each winter since the 1980 games. They have tons of staff and the finances to do just that. Put on a World Cup Event.

In the mean time we will keep putting on a kick ass 5 k dh race.

DHM

why in 2-3 years time? weren't you looking at getting a bid in for last year or the year before?

Damo · Jun 16, 2008

Daver said:
I heard it's a new start ramp which may double the elevation of the track?

eskimo said:
...but none that meet the UCI criteria to hold worlds or have the funding to hold worlds/world cup rounds.

Its a shame when better tracks get left out for reasons like these.

Aussie has better tracks with chairlifts too (I believe). Whereas Stromlo's 52 feet of elevation is truck & trailer uplifts... :crazy:

I guess we'll just have to see what they have up their sleeve for this track. It looks like they are doing some serious work on it to make it fun...

Steve M · Jun 16, 2008

Damo said:
Its a shame when better tracks get left out for reasons like these.

Aussie has better tracks with chairlifts too (I believe). Whereas Stromlo's 52 feet of elevation is truck & trailer uplifts...

I guess we'll just have to see what they have up their sleeve for this track. It looks like they are doing some serious work on it to make it fun...

The only tracks with chairlifts are Buller and Thredbo, and whilst the terrain on both of those COULD be used to make a decent world cup track (especially thredbo as it has mammoth vert), the existing tracks wouldn't cut it. International at Buller is super techy and whatnot, but it's not a world cup track.

The best tracks down here are actually the shuttle ones anyway... chairlifts are great for transport but the tracks under the two lifts we have aren't our best ones either.

Daver · Jun 16, 2008

Socket said:
The best tracks down here are actually the shuttle ones anyway... chairlifts are great for transport but the tracks under the two lifts we have aren't our best ones either.

I agree. I don't understand why Glenorchy didn't bid- It has an airport and is IN a capital city. I think the nightlife is better than Canberra too. That track is the cats pyjamas.

Still, its a pretty unproductive argument, and TBH, the work Glen has done to Stromlo has made it much better than it was.

downhill mike · Jun 16, 2008

dante said:
why in 2-3 years time? weren't you looking at getting a bid in for last year or the year before?

ORDA is concentrating on the skiing for another year or so. they have been installing a new lift that opens up a whole new peak. It will be killer for the winter and it's also quite a large project. We also need another year or 2 to show ORDA the demand for a World Cup Event in the summer at their mountain. They just canceled 1 World Cup Event for next winter. They still have 3 for next winter.

I did receive a e-mail not long ago from UCI and they asked if we wanted to submit a bid for 2009 &/or 2010 WC Event. A world Cup Event would def. be out of our hands (High Peaks Cyclery) and fully up to ORDA. I just don't see them even considering it until the ski expansion is done and we (HPC) have another banner summer season or 2 at Whiteface.

For now I am concentrating on our huge opening weekend benefit for Tara Llanes (6-20 through 6-23) our season and the 5 K DH ON 8-31-08.

DHM

NY_Star · Jun 16, 2008

downhill mike said:
Actually the 5 K Dh is put on by the Whiteface Mountain Bike Park operated by High Peaks Cyclery (Elias and I). When (in a 2 to 3 years) Whiteface does host a World Cup it would be put on by ORDA (Olympic Regional Development Authority). They have been hosting 4 to 5 World Cup Events each winter since the 1980 games. They have tons of staff and the finances to do just that. Put on a World Cup Event.

In the mean time we will keep putting on a kick ass 5 k dh race.

DHM

That changes everything. If they do the logisics and you do the track. That would be one of the best events all year. Now only if we could have an american the could win that race.

Offical 2009 UCI World Cup Calendar

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Chimp

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

Monkey

Short One Marshmallow

Monkey

Monkey

Attachments

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

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Chimp

Short One Marshmallow

Monkey

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Turbo Monkey

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Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Short One Marshmallow

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

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Chimp

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Unabomber

Short One Marshmallow

Turbo Monkey

Monkey

Turbo Monkey

Turbo Monkey