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Cairns World Cup 2014 - Rumble in the Rainforest

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,605
5,913
in a single wide, cooking meth...
Ok, given the conditions and whoops of death, here's my projected podium:

1. Shelob - the bitchy child of the Ungoliant won't have a traction issue with her 8 sharp ass mud spikes, plus she will be able to use the canopy to swing over the whoops via spidey web vine.

2. Tick Tock Croc - although seemingly pretty torpid whilst lounging along a muddy river bank, every bogan knows these guys can move in a hurry when motivated. The motivation in this case will be Ratboy, who bears a strong resemblance to Capt. Hook and Jack Sparrow (sans slutty eye shadow), so Tick Tock follows Ratty down the course and passes him in the whoops section using his patented gator belly mud slide technique. Although upset he got passed during his race run, Ratboy at least keeps both hands intact.

3. Midgard Serpent - Like Tick Tock, Middy uses the slippery mud to his advantage and belly slides at speeds approaching 90 km/hr, and with a particularly low COG, totally slays the corners. May have placed higher if not for being attacked mid-run by a hammer wielding Matti Lehikoinen.

4. Perry the Platypus - taking ques from Middy and Tick Tock, Perry using the belly slide technique to great effect and is up at the first split. But in an unexpected act of brinksmanship, Perry pulls off course to sting a stinging tree with his venomous ankle spurs. Following his race run, a visibly frustrated Perry continues straight into the ocean to sting the local box jellyfish contingent.

5. Steve Peat - because Steve Peat.



Seriously stoked about the race tho. Looks like its going to be free for all, and it won't surprise me to see a really unusual podium group (even moreso than mine).
 
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kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
I think riders should have some say into what's dangerous and what's not. I never understood that notions that profesionals could never voice their opinion. In the job desciption does it say - "you know nothing about downhill tracks" ? Not trying to argue. It just really bugs me because I remember the same arguments when I was racing and the track was only modified AFTER someone got hurt, not after half of the field told the organizer someone will.

I also think that while no one is forcing the racers to do anything their pay and job depends on how fast they are so it's like saying to a stripper that no one is forcing her to strip. As long as you do the job there is no other way.
Yeah I'm not married to either side of the argument. I just generally think that anything on a course that has the potential to separate riders is a good race course. People fixate on man made things but you look at some of the rowdier WC courses, riding at 40km/hr through wet roots and doubling up rocks is WAY gnarlier to me, and no one bitches about it because it wasn't man made. Riders just figure out their comfort level and move on. I don't see why this is any different.

It's not like remi thiron puts together some crazy ass gap in the woods and then everyone feels pressured to whine about how dangerous it is.


Plus it just reminds me of butch whining about some big doubles that were built on a national championship course here. Everyone ended up jumping them, they were fine, and then one dude decided he just wasn't hitting his brakes and almost damn near ended his life as a biped. The statistics prove that butch was wrong and just scared as usual.

So in the spirit of keeping butch a whiner, these guys should just figure out the whoops. If after a day of practice they want them out, have the conversation then......not just based on a track walk at zero mph.
 

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
How are whoops on a straight-away a "badly designed feature"?
Bryceland and trail-dude both hit them no problem so they're certainly rideable at a certain speed.
The fact that they come before a section where you need to carry speed is the reason riders are bitching because they don't want to slow down and/or aren't confident that they can hit them at speed and don't want to lose time to those who can ride it.

Boo ****ing hoo.
If every rider can hit the whole track at mach speed, without worry of exploding, what kind of competition would it be?
It's no different than tracks with long pedaling/sprint sections which favor those with superior fitness.

Courses built for the lowest common denominator will kill racing.
 

Jim Mac

MAKE ENDURO GREAT AGAIN
May 21, 2004
6,352
282
the middle east of NY
4. Perry the Platypus - taking ques from Middy and Tick Tock, Perry using the belly slide technique to great effect and is up at the first split. But in an unexpected act of brinksmanship, Perry pulls off course to sting a stinging tree with his venomous ankle spurs. Following his race run, a visibly frustrated Perry continues straight into the ocean to sting the local box jellyfish contingent.
 

Pegboy

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2003
1,139
27
New Hamp-sha
Try this on: sack the fvck up and act like a professional. If you think it's dangerous, slow down. If you think it's doable, take the time to figure it out. No one is forcing you to do anything.




How's that?
Just about perfect I'd say. Once a rider starts riding with the mentality of whether or not they will lose a sponsor it's time to reconsider your profession.

I agree with EC 100%. There are ways to get through that section safely AND win a race. Figure it out.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,322
866
coloRADo
I agree with EC 100%. There are ways to get through that section safely AND win a race. Figure it out.
Exactly. Remember that one Willingen WC race where some guys were doing a massive hip jump taking huge risks. Meanwhile Peaty keeps it on the ground. "I don't think the race is going to be won on just that one bit." Is what I think he said in an interview. He went on to win the race. Don't remember the year, nor which Earthed movie had that. But its there.

There's probably plenty of other spots (like the last sprinting section) that will probably account for more time than just that one spot. IMO anyway.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
Interesting how many stem spacers Minnar is running yet still using kinda low rise bars (looks like 1 inch rise?). I wonder what the benefit and that is v. running higher rise bars and fewer spacers.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Gemini: the benefit is being able to change bar height just by adding a spacer, rather than having to move shifters/brakes to a different handlebar. They can adjust the height in about 2 minutes this way, so he can go straight out on his next run to get the back-to-back feeling. He could even do it himself in the uplift queue if he was keen enough!

Gee does seem to have the woops ok, but they have changed them quite a bit since the track walk. Tops lopped off and the holes filled in.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
Yeah I'm with kidwoo here. It's a dangerous sport, no-one's making them do it and a lot of them love the challenge of this sort of thing.
Yep, they're getting paid to risk their lives for my entertainment. If they don't like it then...get a "real" job? It's not like their James Stewart having to huck a 100 foot quad to win a race, casing it and almost dying, and then hitting it again 50 seconds later
 
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jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,854
24,445
media blackout
Yeah I'm not married to either side of the argument. I just generally think that anything on a course that has the potential to separate riders is a good race course. People fixate on man made things but you look at some of the rowdier WC courses, riding at 40km/hr through wet roots and doubling up rocks is WAY gnarlier to me, and no one bitches about it because it wasn't man made. Riders just figure out their comfort level and move on. I don't see why this is any different.

It's not like remi thiron puts together some crazy ass gap in the woods and then everyone feels pressured to whine about how dangerous it is.


Plus it just reminds me of butch whining about some big doubles that were built on a national championship course here. Everyone ended up jumping them, they were fine, and then one dude decided he just wasn't hitting his brakes and almost damn near ended his life as a biped. The statistics prove that butch was wrong and just scared as usual.

So in the spirit of keeping butch a whiner, these guys should just figure out the whoops. If after a day of practice they want them out, have the conversation then......not just based on a track walk at zero mph.
How are whoops on a straight-away a "badly designed feature"?
Bryceland and trail-dude both hit them no problem so they're certainly rideable at a certain speed.
The fact that they come before a section where you need to carry speed is the reason riders are bitching because they don't want to slow down and/or aren't confident that they can hit them at speed and don't want to lose time to those who can ride it.

Boo ****ing hoo.
If every rider can hit the whole track at mach speed, without worry of exploding, what kind of competition would it be?
It's no different than tracks with long pedaling/sprint sections which favor those with superior fitness.

Courses built for the lowest common denominator will kill racing.
tl;dr - shut up and ride
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
aren't you supposed to be writing a comparative review of the Pikes? DP Air vs Solo Air?
Oh crap. I get that mixed up with a dissertation on man made whoops making men not so manly.

Workin on it. I'm waiting on some information that will greatly enhance your reading experience.

he's busy trolling bizutch. at least until the pain meds wear off
True. Then I'll just go back to outright insulting him personally.
 
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William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,915
651
May be off the back on this, but it looks like Gwinner is still on his 26PLUS Endurorer. Seems like you'd want a full on DH bike and its extra tractions for this gnar.
Not if your downhill bike is a park bike designed for jumping
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,605
5,913
in a single wide, cooking meth...
this is suprising me...track is looking nasty in spots as the vital slideshows come up...

This. But Rope seems to be pretty dead set on running the E-niner pretty much everywhere, so its not surprising to see him with that bike. Like others, I'm a little surprised Gwin (and Broz for that matter) are not riding 650 Demos. I get there is some pedaling on this course (FSM forbid), but it's not *that* much IMO, and given the KY jelly conditions, it would seem like a full on DH rig would be the best tool for the job. Is anybody else besides the big S (happy 40th btw) crew running hybrid park bikes?
 
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