Lopes off GT
- Thread starter Zman
- Start date
Word!
While the above posts from gen. and John hold true for the most part, i think in the next two years we are going to see a big swing in some new up and coming USA talent. I shot with a couple new riders this week. One young (16) and one new to the sport, i wont mention names, their riding will speak for them this year. But if 08 goes well for them experience wise, i foresee a good 09 World Cup season for USA. Also im not sure if many realize it but if young Strobel didnt go down at worlds he was on track for a top 5 time and thats not to shabby. And if you check littermag you will see another N. American paying his dues down South, joining the likes of Brad Olien and Brad Benedict in some "off season" Aussie racing, while Banger T does his thing in S. Africa.
Personal experience Furbee?
Yeah, I'd say there's a lot of unknown talent in the US that simply isn't known or recognized.
Um, you mean fast and quiet?
Do you guys think it might have to do with a lack of challenging trails/tracks in the US compared to Europe, OZ or SA? Or the fact that shuttling takes up a lot of ride time? The Euros have lifts everywhere and the trails are tech! Just a thought.
you could not be more wrong. most of the Brits, and many of the ausies not only have to hike or shuttle, they have to build their own trails. take the Athertons for instance, or Josh Bricelend who said most of his DH riding has been on 100 foot vertical trails he cut on the neighborhood hill. and there are plenty of other fast riders who come from places where the riding sucks, but they manage to make the best of it.
Americans, as a whole, make excuses rather than putting in the same work as the rest of the racing world. Most of the euro and aussie kids i've talked to think we are, in fact, spoiled rotten with the riding resources we have available to us.
This very topic came up in a discussion a few of us had with Mike Rose from DIRT and he suggested that we might be less competitive becasue of all our lift access: ie, becasue there are chairlifts we don't build our own trails or see any sort of non shuttle/lift accessed dh riding as a burden.
oster_oops:Word!
Every downhiller racer i know has some sort of Pirate trail or jump spot......and i mean every racer i know, cant think of anyone who doesn't have thier own trail or who doesn't help out at a spot.you could not be more wrong. most of the Brits, and many of the ausies not only have to hike or shuttle, they have to build their own trails. take the Athertons for instance, or Josh Bricelend who said most of his DH riding has been on 100 foot vertical trails he cut on the neighborhood hill. and there are plenty of other fast riders who come from places where the riding sucks, but they manage to make the best of it.
Americans, as a whole, make excuses rather than putting in the same work as the rest of the racing world. Most of the euro and aussie kids i've talked to think we are, in fact, spoiled rotten with the riding resources we have available to us.
This very topic came up in a discussion a few of us had with Mike Rose from DIRT and he suggested that we might be less competitive becasue of all our lift access: ie, becasue there are chairlifts we don't build our own trails or see any sort of non shuttle/lift accessed dh riding as a burden.
It comes down to passion for the sport, it is just more recreational for Americans......for Euros, cycling is woven deeper into the culture.
Aussies ride like their lives depend on it, so it seems.....
and with no regard for their own personal safety
seems at some races these days, thats what it takes to win.
except sam hill, he just picks his lines and coasts down the hill
I read an Article in some Roadie magazine this weekend.....talking about the AIS. Is some sort of Australian cycling institute where they train their roadie, track guys. Seems a little money from the government and national pride is going a long into the progress of thoose disciplines. What was 2 Aussie pros in the Euro peleton has grown into 27 today. They expect to field entire Aussies squads in the near future.....TDF type teams. They have a few lower level teams now. They support ALL their riders and give constant feed back and advice......no matter if its Cadel Evans or some 16 yearold Grom.
Just thought it was interesting how they described the need for the program even if a guy is on a million dollar team. They have consistent data on all the riders. All their measurements for bike fit etc.......all this pays off at different times and in different ways.
Just thought it was interesting how they described the need for the program even if a guy is on a million dollar team. They have consistent data on all the riders. All their measurements for bike fit etc.......all this pays off at different times and in different ways.
They have talented athletes in so many sports, and with a population of just 21million (1/15th that of the US). Heck, there are successful Aussies in major league baseball, and they don't even play baseball in Ozz!
And New Zealand, with a pupulation about equal to that of Connecticut, seems to have large numbers of talented athletes despite such a small pool from which to develop them.
of course, America excells in areas arguabley far greater and significant than sports but it's worth considering the #'s nontheless.
While we are on topic of Aussies in sport.
Do not forget the most successful SX rider currently, Chad Reed. With earnings last year at $6.8 million USD, and on track to make more in 2008, is inspiring a whole generation of motocross riders in Oz....and of the 3 aussie kids that are here in the states (I only know of these 3 because they shop at our store, I assume there are more) they are chasing a dream to be like Chad, I will assume mostly for the financial rewards.
Do not forget the most successful SX rider currently, Chad Reed. With earnings last year at $6.8 million USD, and on track to make more in 2008, is inspiring a whole generation of motocross riders in Oz....and of the 3 aussie kids that are here in the states (I only know of these 3 because they shop at our store, I assume there are more) they are chasing a dream to be like Chad, I will assume mostly for the financial rewards.
Brian Lopes seems like a pretty good role model and leader for MTBing in general. I met him at the Fresno cyclocross series on 1-20 where he came out and rode with my son and a bunch of other locals on the dirt jumps before going out on a borrowed bike and winning the CX race. What really was impressive was that he came back on monday and rode with the boys again for a couple hours.
You know there's two chairlift MTB hills in the whole of Australia right? Literally 3 tracks on those two hills.
haha, if you're from Champery you will be blown away by how steep*, technical** and long*** the tracks in Aus are.
*flat
**kinda
***short
I went to the WC there last year and couldn't believe that track. We have NOTHING like that.
As toodles said, we only have 2 chairlifted venues here. Why are there so many fast riders here? Cos a lot of em start young and aren't too worried about doing stupid stuff like taking both wheels off to jam the bike in the back of their mum's hatchback to do shuttles... or even pushing up the hill.
Also, one of the faster American juniors (or formerly juniors anyway), Brad Oien is over here racing right now. Cool guy, interesting to see that he's actually putting in that kind of time and effort to be competitive.
This argument has run and run for seasons on this forum, why some people think that the success of particular riders who happen to be from one country is down to what that countrys "higher powers" do for the sport is beyond me.
Downhill is an individual sport, and to succed at it you have to be a strong individual, not part of some top secret training team that have soul access to some super high tech, chairlift accessed track.
It's pretty straight forward really, Sharples and Ronning lit the fire to succed in the grommies like Hill, Rennie, Kovarik and Atkinson. Kirkcaldie and Rankin did the same for NZ, Peaty and Jason McRoy did it for the UK, NV did it for the Fenchies and before him there was Parolin ad Gachet.
Young kids see the succes of felow countrymen in racing and think fcuk it, "why not me"? But to think like that and to folow through and succeed in those thoughts takes, natural ability, drive, focus, determination and luck! Not some top secret training an development plan. Some of the UK's best riders come from areas that have zero top riding spots, they just have what it takes from year dot.
Some of you guys seem to forget the, Cullinan, Palmer, Tomac, Rockwell days of DHdestruction, maybe in 10 years time the Aussie will have no top DHer's and the likes of JD Swanwahever and Luke Strobel will have managed to inspire some grom from the arse end of nowhere in Texas to pick up where Sam is gonna leave off!
Either that or there is something in the water round these parts.
Downhill is an individual sport, and to succed at it you have to be a strong individual, not part of some top secret training team that have soul access to some super high tech, chairlift accessed track.
It's pretty straight forward really, Sharples and Ronning lit the fire to succed in the grommies like Hill, Rennie, Kovarik and Atkinson. Kirkcaldie and Rankin did the same for NZ, Peaty and Jason McRoy did it for the UK, NV did it for the Fenchies and before him there was Parolin ad Gachet.
Young kids see the succes of felow countrymen in racing and think fcuk it, "why not me"? But to think like that and to folow through and succeed in those thoughts takes, natural ability, drive, focus, determination and luck! Not some top secret training an development plan. Some of the UK's best riders come from areas that have zero top riding spots, they just have what it takes from year dot.
Some of you guys seem to forget the, Cullinan, Palmer, Tomac, Rockwell days of DHdestruction, maybe in 10 years time the Aussie will have no top DHer's and the likes of JD Swanwahever and Luke Strobel will have managed to inspire some grom from the arse end of nowhere in Texas to pick up where Sam is gonna leave off!
Either that or there is something in the water round these parts.
I beg to differ on the support and "top secret training" stuff. I've talked to Rennie at length about what their government puts them through. Him, Kovarik, Rando and others are put to the test and supported by their government when they compete.
They're not pumping them full of nutrients and putting them through a 7 day a week "Drago" regimen, but they help them. It's a big, big difference. Look at the guy in the pits responsible for just racing his bike, not working on it and getting it to the race. He gets more rest, time to focus, plan, train and COMPETE when he has less on his plate.
In the US, in part due to the willingness of countries with cultures already deeply immersed in cycling as a culture, our riders didn't compete at a key turning point when sponsorship dollars were on the decline. Palmer was exiting, Tomac retiring and Mike King, Eric Carter (forgive me EC) and Lopes getting ready to turn 30.
The top US riders had, to that point, had tons of support, plenty of money, and even Stephan Girrard running the DH training program for juniors. BUT, Aussies and Brits and French cyclists still had competition ingrained in their cultures regardless of money.
They all showed up on whatever bike they could at any and every race they could get to and rode the crap out of whatever bike they could find to ride. Meanwhile, US riders and our lack of obsession for cycling sidetracked our best riders and they all went and made money at tons of other things because bikes just aren't a massive priority to us.
Like Stik mentioned with Chad Reed. Watch any interview he does. If it's losing or winning...you can tell that he wants it more than anyone else out there. I'd even argue that his talent might be about the 5th or 6th best of those on top of SX right now. But his drive (which I would bet comes from the Aussie culture) puts him at the top!
They're not pumping them full of nutrients and putting them through a 7 day a week "Drago" regimen, but they help them. It's a big, big difference. Look at the guy in the pits responsible for just racing his bike, not working on it and getting it to the race. He gets more rest, time to focus, plan, train and COMPETE when he has less on his plate.
In the US, in part due to the willingness of countries with cultures already deeply immersed in cycling as a culture, our riders didn't compete at a key turning point when sponsorship dollars were on the decline. Palmer was exiting, Tomac retiring and Mike King, Eric Carter (forgive me EC) and Lopes getting ready to turn 30.
The top US riders had, to that point, had tons of support, plenty of money, and even Stephan Girrard running the DH training program for juniors. BUT, Aussies and Brits and French cyclists still had competition ingrained in their cultures regardless of money.
They all showed up on whatever bike they could at any and every race they could get to and rode the crap out of whatever bike they could find to ride. Meanwhile, US riders and our lack of obsession for cycling sidetracked our best riders and they all went and made money at tons of other things because bikes just aren't a massive priority to us.
Like Stik mentioned with Chad Reed. Watch any interview he does. If it's losing or winning...you can tell that he wants it more than anyone else out there. I'd even argue that his talent might be about the 5th or 6th best of those on top of SX right now. But his drive (which I would bet comes from the Aussie culture) puts him at the top!
You realize, don't you, that in 1999 when Kovarik and Rennie (and Waddell) busted on to the scene--getting world cup podiums, winning multiple rounds of the then pretigious NORBA series and a jr. world championship--they were doing so while sharing a small bedroom in Big Bear, living out of their suitcases, wrenching on their own bikes, and riding box-stock 6" travel GT Lobos while the rest of their competitors were all on custom long-travel frames, 7" pro-issue Boxxers, and testing telemitry systems? The top guys had personal mechanics, soigneurs, seperate practice bikes and race bikes (complete bikes, not just race wheels like they use today), and pitted out of pimped out trailers and semis. Heck, even most privateers had better setups than the aussies.
With hard work talent will rise to the top. plain and simple.
There's still no words on where Lopes are going?
The latest issue of MBUK has an article on the relationship between Marc Beaumont and Steve Peat. The article describes the ingredients needed to become an Elite Racer. One of thoose ingredients is support. Beaumont states "without the support of Steve Peat and Royal racing i wouldn't have made it to where i am today."
The article talks about how Steve Peat was supported and shown the ropes and that inspried him to give back to the sport that gave him so much. So he started his Royal Racing program. We all know Fairclough, Bryceland and Beaumont came out of this...
.....Peat supported Beaumont when everyone was telling him that Beaumont was a 'wee-man' and would never make it....
The article talks about how Steve Peat was supported and shown the ropes and that inspried him to give back to the sport that gave him so much. So he started his Royal Racing program. We all know Fairclough, Bryceland and Beaumont came out of this...
.....Peat supported Beaumont when everyone was telling him that Beaumont was a 'wee-man' and would never make it....
Maybe my post wasn't as clear as I'd have liked. I said they all showed up hungry (I didn't say pampered) and started producing as our biggest stars were moving on (Tomac, Palmer, King) and as a result of their hard work and desire...they snatched up the sponsorships left vacant by the big name US riders who left the sport.
Why..because they were hungrier than any of the talent we had that were either privateer or factory at that time.
The first of my post referred to their current good fortune of being able to claim the only contracts available now being a big time aid to their initial success. That read better?
I don't think anyone's arguing whether tons of help from your peers/federation/parents/Great Expectations-esque Benefactors would make it easier and more possible to rise to the top of the pro ranks. My post was simply meant to point out the fact that support on that level isn't necessarily essential. In the end, desire, dedication, and sacrifice can make up for a complete lack of support. Back in the late 90's, the aussies and kiwis showed a ton of those qualities, and in my opinion, that's what got them to the dominance they're showing today.
BTW, I forgot to mention Joel Panozzo in that original batch of bad asses from down under. That dude ripped.
--JP
What? There's more than one of them? Bloody hell.
Winning Aussies.... the secret is...
They've got the eye... the eye of the tiger... da, dah da dah, duuuuh, dah da DAH! The eeeyeeee of the tiger.
(and in SH's case, the eyebrow of the tiger)
But seriously folks... It's all about passion. Money helps, but it doesn't beat passion.
Joel gave up racing to concentrate on his rock band in Australia.