Now, before you give me the "welcome to last year" spiel, just know that I don't scour the Internet of every little video out there.......But happened to run across the vid of Les Gets from '04 on Freecaster last night. Peaty and Barel in the finals---and I just had to say something about it.
First off, I was completely blown away by how fast Fabien appears to be on camera. It literally looked like someone was speeding up the film during his run. The bravado of his line choices, the complete disregard for personal safety, the cornering.....it was all just a thing of beauty to watch. It barely looked like his tires touched the ground the whole time. He was just skipping across the tops of everything. I must have viewed that vid ten times--each time saying out loud "Holy sh*t, that's amazing!!"
Then, I got to the vid of Peaty's run---last man on the hill. Barel's time is on the board. Peat would really have to move it to beat him I thought. Obviously, I knew the outcome, but to see it go down was where I noticed the vast contrast in styles. He looked.....that is, looked slower than Fabien the whole way until he crashed. His bike was stuck to the ground at all times......no skipping, no sketch, no hyperactivity--just smooth as butter the whole way. Yeah...he looked good, but there's no way he could beat Barel looking that slow---that is, until I saw the split time. Peaty had him by a full second at the split. "What?!!" I said out loud. My wife was walking by at the time, and I told her to check out the two racers and tell me who she thought would be the fastest. She chose Fabien as well based on how he looked on course. When she saw the split time, she too, was trippin' on it. Amazing. If he hadn't got too far over the front on the washout turn, there's no doubt he would have killed Barels time.
So what's my point?
Nothing, really. Just pointing out that there's more than one way to skin a cat----unless you're wearing a skin suit.
First off, I was completely blown away by how fast Fabien appears to be on camera. It literally looked like someone was speeding up the film during his run. The bravado of his line choices, the complete disregard for personal safety, the cornering.....it was all just a thing of beauty to watch. It barely looked like his tires touched the ground the whole time. He was just skipping across the tops of everything. I must have viewed that vid ten times--each time saying out loud "Holy sh*t, that's amazing!!"
Then, I got to the vid of Peaty's run---last man on the hill. Barel's time is on the board. Peat would really have to move it to beat him I thought. Obviously, I knew the outcome, but to see it go down was where I noticed the vast contrast in styles. He looked.....that is, looked slower than Fabien the whole way until he crashed. His bike was stuck to the ground at all times......no skipping, no sketch, no hyperactivity--just smooth as butter the whole way. Yeah...he looked good, but there's no way he could beat Barel looking that slow---that is, until I saw the split time. Peaty had him by a full second at the split. "What?!!" I said out loud. My wife was walking by at the time, and I told her to check out the two racers and tell me who she thought would be the fastest. She chose Fabien as well based on how he looked on course. When she saw the split time, she too, was trippin' on it. Amazing. If he hadn't got too far over the front on the washout turn, there's no doubt he would have killed Barels time.
So what's my point?
Nothing, really. Just pointing out that there's more than one way to skin a cat----unless you're wearing a skin suit.