We have universal healthcare. I don't think it would have cost him much so far for medical bills and supplies, but that doesn't cover other incidentals such as his wife taking time off work to care for him or travel to and from Brisbane etc. I'm not sure how his contract works either, but I imagine he's going to miss a few races next season.
World Cup 2019 Team Rumors
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has to be one of the most dangerous race courses in the US right now
Just rewatched that vid. The Loudspeaker siren right in the ear as you come into the rock section isn't super funny. Meanwhile we wonder why DH race numbers are down and newbies are intimidated.
Dunno about the West Island or Sepo land, but in NZ I think a lot of the drop in numbers was down to track changes.
Tracks started including more and more big jumps/ gap jumps "full commitment or you'll just axe yourself" sections.
There's not much (thankfully) in the way of chainsaw/vuvuzela/siren action in NZ, but the the number drop off's correlate exactly with the rise of the big gap jumps and bike parky sections in DH races.
Yeah same here in Oz. We still have a decent run of numbers in the top of the field, but hardly any women race here and numbers overall are down a lot. I think the addition of more mandatory high-risk features saw a drop in the number of social and beginner racers.
Thread derailing warning: A couple of weeks ago there was a DH race at Tandil, the closest DH-worthy venue here in the Pampas. Since the track was just 1:30 minutes long, the asshats in charge of the organization decided to throw in some rather insecure bed rocks (think moving rocks), blind gaps and other stuff. The final outcome was five of our national top-10 riders injured, one with a perforated lung an another with three broken vertebrae.
It is not just the newbies that the recent trend in track changes have impacted.
Us old goats who just can't send it like we used due to physical decline as we age or just an accumulation of too many riding injuries; we too are also left out.
Us old goats who just can't send it like we used due to physical decline as we age or just an accumulation of too many riding injuries; we too are also left out.
I thought we all f*cked off to enduro and claimed that was a superior sport? Oh? Just me. Fuck.
In seriousness though, enduro tracks are a lot more like the trails I started racing DH on in the 90s than current DH stuff. The couple of blind enduro races I did this year had some of the best riding I've ever done anywhere. Its refreshing to be back on steep gnarly stuff rather than wasting half a DH practice session trying to get the guts to hit a 35 foot booter of doom that would be at place on a mini moto trail.
A lot of the stages in UK Enduro series' races actually ARE the DH tracks from the 90s. Just with the flat out sections lengthened (sometime with uphills taking you to another track) and no proper jumps.
I actually love riding down UK enduro tracks, it's the hellish lengthening of them and lack of jumps I can't understand anyone paying money to do. (when you can just ride the fun bits and not bother putting yourself into cardiac arrest to try and get a "good" stage time.
I actually love riding down UK enduro tracks, it's the hellish lengthening of them and lack of jumps I can't understand anyone paying money to do. (when you can just ride the fun bits and not bother putting yourself into cardiac arrest to try and get a "good" stage time.
I agree with that. F*ck racing UP hills. I'm not paying money to do that. I'm not interested in puking to try and beat my fitter, younger riding buddies. Small ascents that you roll into with decent speed are ok, but GTFO of here with pinchy painful mid-stage climbs, or even worse - race organisers adding length to a perfectly good descent by tacking on a bunch of flat sprinting.
Megan Rose - the lady behind the Trans BC and NZ knows whats up. We had a stage in NZ that dropped 530m in 1600m. And a stage in BC that dropped 1000m in 2.5km. That whole day in BC actually goes down in my memory books as the longest and most mental day of descending I've done, even compared to Mount Seven's infamous Dead Dog section (200m descent in 300m). Those trails aren't fucking about, but at the same time a crash doesn't automatically mean 3 months on the couch like coming on short on a 45' double does.
The daft thing is we have mega steep tech as FK stuff littered over many many hills. A test of riding that well at speed without the shitty VO2 max test in the middle isn't that hard to tape out. it just wouldn't look as 'derp with shorter times on the result sheets.
Mates are involved in organising local derp races and when we go riding I'm shown the stages they use. I think just so they can laugh at my WTAF reaction. I'm not even unfit. I just don't want to ride tech with oxygen depletion. it's not fucking fun!
Mates are involved in organising local derp races and when we go riding I'm shown the stages they use. I think just so they can laugh at my WTAF reaction. I'm not even unfit. I just don't want to ride tech with oxygen depletion. it's not fucking fun!
Ratboy on cannondale?
at the same time?
And the problem is...? At the end of the day, while Josh is a talented rider, he's not at the pointy end of any competitive events (EWS, Rampage, slopestyle etc.) so, unlike the BMX scene, getting a decent salary to just put out videos is a rare thing in the MTB world. Doubtful that he has companies beating down his door to sponsor- hence Cannondale.Ratboy on cannondale?
Which is why I want to know why he bailed on SC,
Rob basically said, just be the Rat, do your thing and get paid.
How hard was it to do?
Crack n' Fail with deeper pockets than the company he helped put on the map?
Nosey Canukistani's want to know.
While it may not yet be too common in the mtb world, Rat is one of the few riders where companies might actually consider taking inspiration from BMX.
Social media celebs have become an increasing factor in MTB and Josh is certainly at the front of the pack.
Cannondale is certainly an interesting company in that regard. They like to appear as a small boutique core brand while in actuality they nowadays have quite a bit of financial backing by Dorel i imagine.
They fill kinda the same niche as Santa Cruz. They´re just lacking the "rowdy" image in order to expand their market from aging CC riders and dentists to a slightly younger audience and i imagine it´s much easier to get recognition through Rats social media antics than a few scarce wins in the heavily contested racing formats of enduro and downhill.
So i can actually see them making him a rather good offer (which might not solely be monetary), in order to achieve that.
Wait, how did Josh Bryceland help to put any company on the map?
Y'all are crazy.
Kid's been literally in the spot light since he was whipping a Patriot on the cover of Dirt during the Bush Administration.
Now that the guy who founded Charge and Fabric is the head of creative stuff over at Cannondale why are people surprised that the plan appears to make Cannondale MTB more flavorful?
Y'all are crazy.
Kid's been literally in the spot light since he was whipping a Patriot on the cover of Dirt during the Bush Administration.
Now that the guy who founded Charge and Fabric is the head of creative stuff over at Cannondale why are people surprised that the plan appears to make Cannondale MTB more flavorful?
Fuck Cannondale and their proprietary shit.
Been a pretty big part of SC Marketing.
Yeah but they were already "on the map" before the Rat..... Every hear of these dudes called "Steve Peat" or "Greg Minnar"?
Cannondale is so wack
These guys and Vories put the Syndicate on the map
Josh was 13
Peaty took Josh under his wing on his Royal racing (Orange) team just as he had done with Donny & Rich Barlow, Stu Thomson, Brendan, and Marc Beaumont when they raced Juvenile, youth and Junior and their first Elite seasons.
After Royal Josh moved onto a personal deal with Santa Cruz outside of the Syndicate but forged through Peaty before moving into the full Syndicate line up a year later.
Josh was 13
Peaty took Josh under his wing on his Royal racing (Orange) team just as he had done with Donny & Rich Barlow, Stu Thomson, Brendan, and Marc Beaumont when they raced Juvenile, youth and Junior and their first Elite seasons.
After Royal Josh moved onto a personal deal with Santa Cruz outside of the Syndicate but forged through Peaty before moving into the full Syndicate line up a year later.
Hence the "part of" bit and that is part of my point, Rat being Peat's protege along with the GOAT brought a lot of attention.
I never said anything about he did it himself, but was part of a team that did.
no problem with it, I was suprised as cdale is the last brand I expected him to be on.
I think that CDale is a bit squeaky clean for ratboy
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Lives on the Gold coast now and works in earth-moving. We caught up with him in Queenstown a few years ago and he was running a riding school back then, but has given that all away and gone full family life. Still a deadset legend and absolute unit of a man. Monster on a bike, but doesn't race even local events any more.
The spirit of enduro will infiltrate DH racing on GT for three more years:
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/martin-maes-the-best-is-yet-to-come.html
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/martin-maes-the-best-is-yet-to-come.html