Question of the day...'If the UCI switched to DS would more DH pros race both disciplines?'
The Official Kokanee Crankworx Whistler thread
- Thread starter Ridemonkey.com
- Start date
Nothing has been discussed here more than that...try a search.
Been there done that. Anytime big name DH'ers show up to race on a gate I like to bring it up. Trying to spread the word to the masses. Hopefully the UCI will hear and change their mind.
Hopefully, but it might be past the point of no-return. It would all come down to scheduling. For a rider on the podium in DS they'd do a total of 5 rounds of 2 runs each. Depending on the course, the weather, the promoter, etc this process can take anywhere from 2-3 hrs. If a promoter schedules the DS the night before the DH finals then the number of elite riders might tail off quickly. DH is what pays the bills for them and is "the show". They don't want to be up racing bikes until 8pm when they have to be on the course at 8am for practice the next morning. Now, if at a triple header and the DH main is on Sat afternoon and there is DS following, well then you might see a slew more guys out doing it for fun.
Just my thoughts.
-ska todd
Qualify only 16 men and 4 women at a world cup.
A-line today and it rained last night, sun is out, track is going to be soooooo sweet. Can lopes make it 4 in a row?
Stik, I agree! No chumps, just fast guys. Even better is to run the quali's right before the finals w/ only one run. Let the series overall leader choose the red or blue course for the qualis. Then everyone can see their "favorites" but only 16 go into the final and more money is on the line. But, there is nothing as sweet in bike racing as watching a 31 or 32 push it to their limits vs a 1 or 2 plate!
-ska todd
-ska todd
....and then the skies opened up! Pissing down at the moment.
I was going to not shoot the race today and ride instead, but it looks like I just got rained out, so I guess I'll be shooting the race after all. Tomorrow's forecast is also calling for rain for the Trick Showdown.
I did a backpack free run on a-line, was so damn good...then one more with camera gear, stopped on a section to shoot, started raining, got back to pits just before big rains. Its nice now, if stays like this track will be amazing to ride and to shoot.
we so needed this rain, stoked that the forest is less likely to spontaniously combust now!
Ya its mental. Sunny and warm and then POURING every hour or so. If it stays dry and blue skies now it will be a mint A line race!
The WomenzWorx article is up! http://www.ridemonkey.com/blogs/news-9/womenzworx-at-crankworx-34/
R
rb92078
Guest
Lopes wins A-Line... kovarik 2nd and neethling 3rd.
I wonder if the extra time spent with Claire in whistler has helped Kovarik with some 'local' knowledge. Hes ripping it this year.
You're old enough to remember 'back in the day' slalom at the NORBA nationals. slalom qualies were done with zero practice; walking inspection only. the only practice was for qualified riders 90min before finals the following day. either way, any alternative form of gravity racing is a sideshow to the DH, i say kick it all to the curb and let the riders decide if they want to be DH'ers, BMX'ers, or dirt jumpers and make the World Cup DH and XC only (even though all the XC guys really just wish they could race road bikes).
I agree with Todd. The greatest thing about dual slalom was that underdogs make it further and crowds go nuts during runs pitting whackos like Eric Pinson against big dogs like Tomac. Back in the day, Pinson made a set of handlebars with bar ends that had a section of fishing rod strapped between them as a ram to hit gates with.
He had some goofball helmet on that had a VW antenna sticking off the back and took Tomac down to the wire on a rigged up Ellsworth with Zzyxx fork. The courses themselves, when well thought out and groomed, were insane. Anybody got video of that beast of a track at Mammoth or Big Bear with the 6 foot high berms?
He had some goofball helmet on that had a VW antenna sticking off the back and took Tomac down to the wire on a rigged up Ellsworth with Zzyxx fork. The courses themselves, when well thought out and groomed, were insane. Anybody got video of that beast of a track at Mammoth or Big Bear with the 6 foot high berms?
Yep, that was my exact line of thinking! I say shorten it up even more and just do it all as a nice, tight event for the crowd on a Saturday night.
Gated racing has a spot in the racing and culture of elite level mountain bike racing. Maybe it should be move around some though, perhaps paired with the XC events instead of the DH ones? Houffalize got some DH guys to come race 4X. It doesn't take much of any slope to set-up a proper DS.
Now there's a name I haven't heard in years!
-ska todd
congrats to mattias and crew for taking the deep summer photo challenge last night....my man dan barham for 2nd, so much fun shooting with him fri/sat.....and harookz for third! everyones show was pretty amazing, would've hated to be a judge last night!
They had this SAINT photo challenge last night. 6 photographers. Mattias Fredrickson (spelling?) won with a superb gallery of images, Dan Barham got 2nd and Harookz got 3rd.
What a friggin cool show last night, glad I could see it.
Raining now, Giant Slalom practice soon.
What a friggin cool show last night, glad I could see it.
Raining now, Giant Slalom practice soon.
Pinson was the common man's Palmer.
Too funny. I was just watching the Palmer interview on freecaster the other day and remembered when Pinson beat him in the DS at Pittsburgh and for the life of me couldn't remember his name. I thought of him as Palmer's hillbilly alter-ego.
Pissing down again. The weather here has been mental!
Wait, what has the weather been?
Lopes on his way to winning 4 in a row.
Kovarik is back on form. Fast and in control. He looks like he is riding better than he ever has. He'll be a threat in Canberra.
Fairclough desperately trying to remember that he has to stay low and not throw down big old dirty whips off every jump.
Kovarik is back on form. Fast and in control. He looks like he is riding better than he ever has. He'll be a threat in Canberra.
Fairclough desperately trying to remember that he has to stay low and not throw down big old dirty whips off every jump.
Ivan Oulego Moreno, the only DHer to have his own song, joined in as Sven and I sang it when he came into view. He was having more fun that probably anyone else out there.
There were some LOUD fans hanging out on this corner. I counted at least 5 different accents, from American through Brazillian.
Berrecloth was the first to hit the big wall ride line, and then the first to spin the double leading into it.
How not to 'scrub' jumps when trying to win A-line.
Scrub failure.
Lopes on his way to winning 4 in a row.
homeboy needs to get himself some tighter shirts, lol.
homeboy needs to get himself some tighter shirts, lol.
I'm a Kovarik fan since 2001...Kovarik is back on form. Fast and in control. He looks like he is riding better than he ever has. He'll be a threat in Canberra.
But...any WC podium for him this year???!!!
No....
I think he was on his best form in 2001, 2002, 2003....with lots of WC podiums and Noba wins(when top riders was on Norba races...remember 2003, the Norba battle with Minnaar..till last round Durango)
3rd place in SA is no podium????
Didn't he crash in the South Africa WC?3rd place in SA is no podium????
Best trick is cancelled due to the amount of rain that has fallen. The wooden features are too slippery and the dirt features are too soft to safely run the competition.
his results this year so far from the 6 races
1st WC (52)
2nd WC (78)
3rd (12)
4th (16)
5th (46)
6th (6)
Hannah got 3rd at SA
some mobile photos from today...
For anyone here, tonight is party night. Deraylor Music fest all over town, Freeride Party with Kona, Evil party at Longhorn, MTBville launch and Monster is throwing a massive party at Buffalo Bills with Matt the Alien and some huge ice monster cans.
slopestyle course walk with cam mccaul today. we all got soaked, LOL
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Crankwork-Slopestyle-Course-Walk-with-Cam-McCaul,95/Crankwork-Slopestyle-Course-Walk-with-Cam-McCaul,332/sspomer,2
(RM, wanna make it possible to embed Vital MTB vids here?)
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Crankwork-Slopestyle-Course-Walk-with-Cam-McCaul,95/Crankwork-Slopestyle-Course-Walk-with-Cam-McCaul,332/sspomer,2
(RM, wanna make it possible to embed Vital MTB vids here?)