finally fort bill
- Thread starter jstuhlman
- Start date
*sigh*
The place where Rachel crashed is the lead in to the section you won't stop fucking moaning about... They're mere seconds apart. Get the first bit right and the second bit isn't a 5kph dab fest. Go too fast and you also won't make it through the next turn. The sort of thoroughness and forethought needed to ride a section like this is something I personally enjoy watching the worlds top DH riders deal with in their race runs.
One minute you're asking me to describe the section of hill the woods are on... the next you're an expert on its gradient and layout. FFS mate! Either come over and have a look for yourself or give it a fucking rest. The race is over. The best overall runs were rewarded by podiums/top10 results. There will definitely be another slightly altered woods section next year... same as there is every year
#DoYouEvenRideMUDbro? #OnDRYTyres?
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Oh. Absolutely!
After a season or two, the entire dh field will have developed a taste for kippers. Ft Bill will have to up their game and it will be a haggis stop mid track.
Whichever. Deep fried to make the Americans happy?
No. Scotland (our entire population), You have so much to learn
Gary chill out. I don't care about the drop. I'm not an expert on the gradient I'm just comenting there were flat bits in the GMBN vid and better riders than me also commented on that. Unless you were birthed by the track at Ft Bill there is no reason to get so worked up. No one is disputing race results, some people just want to talk if having such a section IN THIS FORM is a good idea and since you have said it yourself it is altered slightly every year. I'm getting a feeling you are getting angry for the sake of it. Not every one of us thinks our life is defined by sliding out on 24'' bald nokian gazoldis.
@Udi I think we see WC tracks differently. To me a WC track should simply be very technical and hard to ride very fast but it doesn't have to be so technical it's life of death. That is why I prefer Schladming and Maribor over pre changes Champery. While I agree Champery gave us some great moments what was happening past the top5 was a bit silly. WC races should be about who can go fastest not who can avoid crashing.
I'd really like for Maribor to go back. That hill has so much potential but I've heard some shitty stuff from the locals a few years ago and then the whole area started deteriorating.
I've never been angry at an internet discussion in my life mate.
But talking of old tracks... anyone remember the proper old WC tracks? The big wide open alpine style ones? and what happened on them if it if rained heavily?
Champery wasn't the first track to make all but the top 5/10 guys look like amateures in the wet. Not by any means.
Kaprun Finals 2003 anyone? Leysin 2000, Les Gets '99?,.. the list goes on.
Rain + earth/grass + 160 tyres = Mud Kinda deal with it! or do would you prefer 100% all weather armoured surface bike park racing to view?
The suggestions that I should do enduro or that I want bike park tracks despite me saying it's not the case a few times already made me feel you are wound up. Read my posts man instead of trying to pidgeonhole me into one of the groups you would like to be sacrificed to some obscure god of wonky in-shed welding. I don't like pumptrucky dh tracks. I like natural tracks. If I had the power to change it roots would be on every surface in bikeparks including chairlifts.
I remember those old races but they are rare, don't you agree? Or do you suggest those were the only tracks that made sense and even Schladming, Maribor and Val Di Sole are bikeparky tracks for pussies on e-bikes? There is a huge spectrum of tracks between a glorified pump track and an a mud bath at an expensive spa in the alps. Being on the extremes is bad though I have less problems with those wet trails as the crashes at least happened on speed. Also didn't Schladming end with a huge grassy section? I was there during the 2008 WC and it ended with a huge grass section that was fun. Maybe because it was at speed, maybe because more than 5 riders crossed it.
Yeah fair - not having a crack at you btw, just my good buddy toodles who used to be a good rider until he got an enduro bike and his favourite WC tracks went from being VDS and Champery to Pietermaritzburg and the Tour de France.
I think a balance is good, there are plenty of tracks where everyone can do well, it's nice to have some tracks or at least sections that have some element of chance in making it through clean + technical difficulty. As pointed out in the "Schladming/Bromont" thread, we don't have many hard tracks anymore!
I thought ridemonkey was all about arguing who has the better rocks in his backyard. People no longer get automatically banned for trying to buy a "mini-dh" bike or asking "what are berms" ?Quite a few people in this thread have stated clearly that they do.
No worries man. The Ft Bill bog simply gives me flashbacks to the times I was into XC Marathons as a kid. 13 year old me would salivate at the sight of it. Thank god uphills and knee deep mud is no longer my idea of fun.
I agree we don't have hard tracks anymore. Though I think it's seasonal and they may come back.
Nah... I only come here for the comedy.
Yeah. They became rare a long time ago. I miss them. I'm not saying all tracks should be that (pretty much full natural) style at all.. .but I do feel some certainly could.
My entire point here is that to be an overall DH world champion you should be a very good all round rider.. rocks. roots, steeps, slippy, mud, bigass jumps... even pedalling.. you get the idea? the full picture, eh?
Excuse the multi-edit reply... i'm playing PES with my kid #Multitalsking
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I like natural. Grass sections on a ski piste seems lazy trailbuilding. I agree the riders should be good all around. I'm cool with mud. I'd simply seen a more dynamic mud. Though I agree some bitching about the track got out of hand.
Trailbuilding?
When the Mountain's big enough you don't have to MANMADE™ it all. Some of those flat out grass sections from the '90s and 2000s were awesome (to ride and watch). But you have to remember. Back in those days. some of the tracks were twice the length of what's raced on today.
Choosing lines for a trail is still trailbuilding. I remember. I started riding 16 years ago and some of the tracks in eastern europe imitated those. The thing is grass was always boring for me. I'd rather riders get separated by something like Maribor or Schladming woods not by something thats only technical if it's wet and you don't have spikes. Long grass sections bored me as much as bermy tracks for racing. Schladming finish being the only exception but that thing was super wide, steep and had deep ruts.
No... that's simply course taping.
Jesus Gary stop nitpicking. I don't like grass. It's boring for me, it's only fun in the wet and when it's taped wide and has turns. I got a downhill bike to ride over difficult terrain, not ride over a grassy field I rode when I was riding XC. Even if it's harder when it's steep it's uninteresting. I want rocks and roots. If you want fields become a sheep farmer. It's really ok not to like some stuff that was popular before we had the internet.
