Quantcast

Champery World Cup - Live Thread

Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.

Champery is set to continue the drama of this year's World Cup, check back to this thread all weekend for results, photos and insightful analysis.
---

Kickin it in Champery. Will update this thread tonight with Freecaster stream, photos and proper formatting..but to get the party started...

It's bluebird and hot in Champery. Here's the view from my Chalet bedroom window...


Track Photos:


Champery is steep to say the least.






The view of the mountains at night.


The new Monster Energy-Specialized rigs!​

Practice Photos

Practice today was hectic to say the least. Sentiments of near death were expressed by every rider who hurtled hi or her way down the mountain. Should make for a great show on Saturday!


Team Dirt/Norco will be looking to take advantage of the steep track, maybe jump a corner or two!




Sam Blenkinsop loves the steep and technical tracks. Hopefully he can put it together this weekend for a podium, or better.


Cedric Gracia is back on form this year; his showing at Fort William was without a doubt one of the most entertaining race runs of the season.


Matti Lehikoinen is another rider who has surged again this year, despite his massive tomahawk in Leogang!​

Qualifying Photos

The rains came in with little to no mercy for the racers. Qualifying was a bit of a crapshoot, but finals are looking like they will be as entertaining as any this year.












Finals Photos

Gee took home the win here in Champery, the full report is here!















 

Attachments

Last edited:
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
frango said:
Fraser, You get up too early :D It looks like sunrise...
Click to expand...
Jet lag will do that to you.... 6:45.

Yup, Sam is at home in Oz.

NO exciting photos today besides more of the same mountains, some cows that wake me up with their gigantic cow bells and a sweet timelapse of sunset on those same mountains. Off to set up for a stars coming out timelapse now!
 
buckoW

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,787
4,733
Champery, Switzerland
I am out the door to go walk the track with the UCI technical delegate, Chris Ball, to see if the catch nets, tree pads and course tape are up to par. Hopefully, we don't have to put up a bunch more stuff this afternoon.

In the meantime, here is a shot of me on the third jump of the first straight. Thanks to my brother Will Walker for the pic.



and this one shows how steep the zone where the track runs.



P.S. Hey Fraser, let's have a beer one of these days while you're in town.
 
Last edited:
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,926
671
I predict that one guy, greg minnaar, who the interwebs think can't ride tech, ends up doing pretty fuggin well.
 
Cant Climb

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
William42 said:
I predict that one guy, greg minnaar, who the interwebs think can't ride tech, ends up doing pretty fuggin well.
Click to expand...
Haven't seen any tech....only pics i've seen are of steep DHBMX.

If someone got tech pics would love to see them....
 
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,926
671
Cant Climb said:
Haven't seen any tech....only pics i've seen are of steep DHBMX.

If someone got tech pics would love to see them....
Click to expand...
you must be looking at different track pics and videos then I am. It looks ridiculously steep and rooty, super loose steep corners, with some pretty hard core tech jumps thrown in.
 
P

ph4se_1

Chimp
Jun 17, 2008
71
0
Dublin, Ireland
looks awesome, cant wait for whats going to be the best wc of the year! was based in morzine until 1st august and was meant to be going over to watch this but am now back home in ireland cause of injury. id say those camera platforms will give some unreal live footage though, ben reid for the win!
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
The track is mega steep and gnarly. It is about as technical as technical gets. If you don't understand that, you should go watch the XC racing or something. High speed, steep loose corners on roots and rocks, and pretty technical jumps that are going to cause chaos at race speed.






It's a bit more benched in than a couple of years ago, but there is actually line choices now. Wait till you see some of the mega hucks in the woods. You can legitimately jump entire switchbacks to the ones below...open tape for a reason, as well as log takeoffs for the lips. Get some!



 

Attachments

Last edited:
A

Akula_7

Monkey
Nov 15, 2004
917
0
Transcend said:
The track is mega steep and gnarly. It is about as technical as technical gets. If you don't understand that, you should go watch the Xc racing or something. HIgh speed, steep loose corners on roots and rocks, and pretty technical jumps that are going to cause chaos at race speed.

It's a bit more benched in than a couple of years ago, but there is actually line choices now. Wait till you see some of the mega hucks in the woods. You can legitimately jump entire switchbacks to the ones below...open tape for a reason, as well as log takeoffs for the lips. Get some!
Click to expand...
'07 was so much wilder then it is now, when it was all fresh and off camber it was plain wild, pretty straight forward now really. Will make for sick racing once the 200+ riders roughen it up a bit! Thunder storms tomorrow arvo too.

That huck over the switch backs is a wild one, glad they taped it in. Was looking at it last week, not sure if I would want the speed it gives you when you land. Practice is gonna be funny tomorrow!
 
FlipFantasia

FlipFantasia

Turbo Monkey
Oct 4, 2001
1,666
500
Sea to Sky BC
I just want to take this opportunity to laugh at Can't Climb! aaahahahahahahahahahah! not tech?! it actually looks scary steep ON VIDEO, and is littered with roots and rocks! yeah, dh bmx, sure!
 
primo661

primo661

Monkey
Jun 16, 2008
412
0
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
FlipFantasia said:
I just want to take this opportunity to laugh at Can't Climb! aaahahahahahahahahahah! not tech?! it actually looks scary steep ON VIDEO, and is littered with roots and rocks! yeah, dh bmx, sure!
Click to expand...
In all fairness, he did say thats what it looked like from the pics HE had seen, which most likely comprised of the first two pics in this thread above his post one of which shows a DHBMX style jump and another shows a trench digger(or what ever you guys over there call them). He made a valid point about wanting to see tech pics, albeit not a well worded one.
 
bizutch

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,928
24
Over your shoulder whispering
I believe buckow stated that with any sort of rain, the course will simply expose all the nastiness they covered up with dirt and be just as retardo sick as before, no less.

His phrasing led me to believe that it will be just as silly gnarly as before regardless of the amount of polish he and the crew apply.
 
gemini2k

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
So for those of us on the west coast Men's finals start around 3am Saturday morning. Anyone else planning on just staying up all night Friday to watch? Need to figure out how to bring my plasma into the office and hook my lappy up to it. Need that T1 line.
 
D

davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
no sam hill and no rachel atherton.... bummer for sure that the two favorites are out.

Brendan and Sam B are definitely the two I would put money on this weekend
 
Gary

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,665
5,581
UK
anybody know how to get freecaster to actually work? instead of streaming ahead it freezes all the time to catch up for me then I miss **** loads of footage and this one looks far too good to miss!!

great pics Fraser keep 'em coming!! :D
 
D

davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
Gary said:
anybody know how to get freecaster to actually work? instead of streaming ahead it freezes all the time to catch up for me then I miss **** loads of footage and this one looks far too good to miss!!

great pics Fraser keep 'em coming!! :D
Click to expand...

FYI... that would be more dependent on your computer, and the quality of your internet connection.

I have watched all the world cups the last two seasons with almost no issue, ever... and 100% perfect this year.

if you have issue, it is not freecaster to blame necessarily
 
JCL

JCL

Monkey
Aug 31, 2008
696
0
IMO Brendan and Blenki are also the favorites.

Go Brendan smash that ****!!!
 
I.van

I.van

Monkey
Apr 15, 2007
188
0
Australia
davetrump said:
if you have issue, it is not freecaster to blame necessarily
Click to expand...
Not to derail the thread, but with the last world cup, my internetz was too slow to watch the live feed, so I thought I would just go to bed and watch the replay in the morning. The problem I had watching the replay is that the Freecaster player would not let me sufficiently buffer the replay. It would play for 10 seconds, then stop and buffer for 30 seconds then play for 10 etc. Even if I hit pause, it wouldn't continue to buffer the replay, it would just bump me back to the start of the replay.

Back on topic,

Champery is the only track I have been getting excited about. It would appear to be a real test of rider skill, and something different to the norm. Natural talent and mental strength should really shine through here.
 
D

davetrump

Turbo Monkey
Jul 29, 2003
1,270
0
rockofullr said:
Are Gee and Greg taking the weekend off? lol
Click to expand...
no, but the guy that smashed everyone by 14 + seconds in qualies last time around and by an even more ridiculous amount in the rain during finals is not there (the two you mention above came down in the wet and were miles off the pace).

so, in case you missed my point... the obvious favorite to win Champery, and the person every man on the mountain would be watching and aiming to beat, will not be there.

not sure how you can argue against that fact?

no matter who wins, there will be a "what if" attached to it. like it or not, Sam's past performance here gave him a bit of a legacy on the Champery track.
 
primo661

primo661

Monkey
Jun 16, 2008
412
0
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
davetrump said:
no, but the guy that smashed everyone by 14 + seconds in qualies last time around and by an even more ridiculous amount in the rain during finals is not there (the two you mention above came down in the wet and were miles off the pace).

so, in case you missed my point... the obvious favorite to win Champery, and the person every man on the mountain would be watching and aiming to beat, will not be there.

not sure how you can argue against that fact?

no matter who wins, there will be a "what if" attached to it. like it or not, Sam's past performance here gave him a bit of a legacy on the Champery track.
Click to expand...
I'm fairly sure he was questioning your choice of favourites that will be racing(Blenkinsop and Fairclough) and their grand total of one world cup win between them, he has a point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom