Manon Carpenter
- Thread starter aaronjb
- Start date
Well, that's about as good a reason as I can think of.
Fear of injury is a real obstacle, and if she isn't having fun she shouldn't race.
Fear of injury is a real obstacle, and if she isn't having fun she shouldn't race.
It's interesting, because it seems like the "stakes" are constantly raised in these sports. You can almost always go faster, but you have to take more chances to do it. People end up taking more chances and some get away with it, but some do not. As this happens more and more, it crosses a threshold where (sane) people decide the risk is not worth the reward. At some point the riders are all just as good as each other and the race rewards the biggest risk takers. Risk taking should be part of the sport, but not to the point where grave injury becomes common and expected.
So she decided she didn't want to risk life-long injury for tens of dollars in sponsorship and prizemoney? Unbelievable.
Seriously, best of luck to her in future endeavors. Hopefully she keeps ripping it up in her own way and to her own limits. Good on her.
Seriously, best of luck to her in future endeavors. Hopefully she keeps ripping it up in her own way and to her own limits. Good on her.
hasn't gwin been wearing elbow, knee and torso protection the last year or two?
Some people are also too stupid to understand what risks are even after it's spelt out to them.
#DarwinFodder
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They're not tho. The fastest Women are miles behind the top Men. Ergo the women are NOT as big risk takers in the first place.
The creativity, risks taken and skill displayed by the worlds best riders is the number one reason I enjoy watching DH. This is also why I rarely ever bother watching Womens' DH.
I'm torn between what I should say as a politically correct speech and what I see at the races. Even when I know I'd be walking up to 80% of every single WC track, I feel like the women at that level are suffering most of the time. Casing jumps and a generally stiffer body posture are the norm. Sometimes I feel like they should have a different course, adapted to the average speed of the female riders. But then I think they would never progress that way, and we would never have had Rachel.
Full body armor doesn't stop broken bones, tears or separations. Sure, it potentially can save you from a cut, if it stays in place and maybe a broken knee cap, but no amount of body armor will keep you from breaking your hip a la Gee or say... a shatter ankle a la Bryceland.
I know, but it still helps. My point is that most decide to not wear it, which either means they think it doesn't help anyway or they don't think the risk is that high.
Question is more so risk vs reward. Manon dosent get to buy a Porsche even if she would win every race left of her career, so what is she risking life long injury for then? Glory? The women are taking more risk for their rewards than the men and that is both a little stupid and admirable imo.
Anyone care to guess the difference between say Minnaar/Gwin to Rachel, seeing as they are dominating their respective categories?
Anyone care to guess the difference between say Minnaar/Gwin to Rachel, seeing as they are dominating their respective categories?
It's not that black and white.
One other option is that it just feels way nicer to ride a bike not wearing all that shit and how you feel (mentally) can make a huge difference to how you ride.
That feeling is partly why I ride with no helmet so much.
it actually feels way nicer to ride a bike in lycra too but fashion put a stop to that.
Yet. Put some airbags on those mofos with sensors.
If the field is women, and they all have the same relative skill, or there is simply an over-saturation of that skill level, my point holds true. I'm not comparing them to men, I'm comparing them to their field. If it gets to the point where it's just stupid risk-taking (for women), considering their natural ability and speed, I totally get retiring because there's little point in exposing yourself to that kind of risk. I think to some extent, with youtube and every other medial channel we can absorb these days, we become desensitized to it all. Thinking that we can go pull off some of the stunts we see every day. For sure, some of these require lots of training and skill, but some are just dumb and only worked on the day recorded due to dumb luck, but watch it over and over and you think it's the norm. When you are young, you tend to not think about the consequences, to some extent, people take advantage of you for this.
Funny guy!
So no one races for the reward? How many privateers sticks with racing dh at wc level beyond mid twenties? Sure the primary goal for starting out in a younger age I dubt many say to themselves "yeah I'll win for a few years and be set for life" like with mainstream sports so I'll give you that. But nobody sticks around if they dont start to get good support and exposure that they can capitalize later on. So point being that a female rider will never get the same deals or following to live of riding bikes as well as a same "in gender category" male. Look at Brendog, far worse results than Manon but he can most likely live of this industry pretty comfortably the rest of his life. So female riders have far worse risk reward ratio on what they are doing.
Yeay captain obvious two are guys one is not, the topic was risk vs reward (reward being paycheck) but you can obviously not string two thoughts together! Rachel is guaranteed to earn less than males that have less wc wins and less champ titles.
The callouses on her hands are kinda sexy.
That's a good point. Even at a riding level us mortals can comprehend we know its often safer and less physically taxing if you can clear jumps to their intended landers. When jumps on WC courses are built to tailor to the strength of the top male riders, you'll often see the less physically strong riders coming up short and getting bounced/bucked hard. Mustn't be a whole lot of fun doing that day in, day out.
Also consider that if you're one of the top 5 women and you want any chance of winning you pretty much have to hit every feature. I forget which WC it was this year, but didn't one have a massive step-down roadgap near the finish line that looked like it belonged in a Crankworx Joyride event? Make a mistake there and you're going to have an injury that you won't shrug off with a good nights sleep. All for a couple of grand in prize money (if that) and a free bike and kit for a year.
I would say it is not a fair comparison. The women field is smaller, so it would be easier to get a top 10 result. But really the biggest difference is how much exposure you get for your sponsor. There is hardly a bike mag that you open or a WC slide show that doesn't have a cool whip pic of Brendon. His video/movie projects also get him decent exposure. A woman with a similar profile as Brendon is maybe Casey Brown.
Or you have an awkward mud hole, that many monkeys felt should be part of a WC track, which ended the longest winning streak ever.
Maybe it is time to go back to old school tracks that are technical because of the terrain and not the features like jumps and drops. I know, nobody wants to watch this on TV, but an off camber grass corner can be challenging but still safe to ride (unless there is barb wire on the outside as in Kaprun back in the day).
Pretty sure that's the jump last year where Manon had a major crash to the point her shoe even blew off...... Was amazed she was able to do anything else that season after that!
If she has done the analysis and can comfortably say the job/career out of uni will be better for her in the long run , then good for her. No sense in creating more injuries if you know you could make the same or more money doing stuff that doest taxi the body as much. You'd think she'd be in the mtb top 1%. But maybe for women that's not such a big deal. I see Emily batty on the xc side of things rolling like a princess. Perhaps that isn't the same for dh?
Anyways...risk vs reward vs alternatives.
Still love ya manon!
Anyways...risk vs reward vs alternatives.
Still love ya manon!
Can probably make more as a Bar Tender at a busy bar in a major city easy.
Being a female DH racer who's name isn't Rachael is a stupid career choice. Not like she won't always be able to ride when she wants to, but she won't have to, if her knee hurts she can just go canoeing or something rather than shoot it up with cortisone and risk permanent damage because WC points are on the line.
No pro MTB rider retires on their winnings, they all have to do something afterward to pay the bills, Nico runs a team, CG owns a bar, Peaty sells valve stem condoms, Missy sold weed for a while, may as well get a jump start on the retirement job now.
No pro MTB rider retires on their winnings, they all have to do something afterward to pay the bills, Nico runs a team, CG owns a bar, Peaty sells valve stem condoms, Missy sold weed for a while, may as well get a jump start on the retirement job now.
Time to order up a 29er it seems.
Jurgen was fast. I remember a race Platty where he beat everyone in the ProClass by close to 30 seconds after not raceing for a few years.
In other retirement news, Markus Pekoll and Justin Leov are both retiring at the end of this year. Best of luck to both of them.
I don't think too many professional MTB riders make enough in their short careers to live comfortably off later in life, so perhaps getting an early start on a future career isn't the dumbest move. Racing WCs full-time might work passably with study obligations, but I doubt many decent jobs will let you miss work for a full race season year in, year out.
I don't think too many professional MTB riders make enough in their short careers to live comfortably off later in life, so perhaps getting an early start on a future career isn't the dumbest move. Racing WCs full-time might work passably with study obligations, but I doubt many decent jobs will let you miss work for a full race season year in, year out.
I'd estimate (on the generous side) maybe 1-2% of them do?
But only the ones the parlay it into a marketable personal brand like CG, Peaty, Nico, Warner.