[riverside73]

That course abides.

Why can't we have a national on a track like that?

Because you don't want spandex wearing XC sportos giving Expert DH'ers a run for their money because they can pedal faster. That's what Super D is for.

DH has gotten progressively steeper, more rocks, huge drops, tight trees and so on. Except for when it comes to the NORBA Nationals...they seem to be going backwards.

 

[Micro-Sanjay]

'The wall' won't be part of the Nationals race

That sucks.

I heard that he's also bringing back the DH Freeride Comp. for a Monday event.

 

[SuspectDevice]

Because you don't want spandex wearing XC sportos giving Expert DH'ers a run for their money because they can pedal faster. That's what Super D is for.

DH has gotten progressively steeper, more rocks, huge drops, tight trees and so on. Except for when it comes to the NORBA Nationals...they seem to be going backwards.

You are SOOOO hardcore man!
Racers make the race, not the track.
If an expert DH racer can't out ride a sport XC racer then maybe we shoule re-evaluate the state of the sport. It is bicycle racing after all.


I always find it sad that my Expert BMX friends are usually closer to me at the end of a DH run than most of the folks who think they are hardcore expert DH racers, when in fact all they do is drag their brakes down a vertical trials course.

and heres a skinsuit picture just to piss you off.

 

[riverside73]

You are SOOOO hardcore man!
Racers make the race, not the track.
If an expert DH racer can't out ride a sport XC racer then maybe we shoule re-evaluate the state of the sport. It is bicycle racing after all.


I always find it sad that my Expert BMX friends are usually closer to me at the end of a DH run than most of the folks who think they are hardcore expert DH racers, when in fact all they do is drag their brakes down a vertical trials course.

and heres a skinsuit picture just to piss you off.

I am not really hardcore. I just believe in "the course" separating the disciplines. True racers are racing racers and not the course, but different courses should challenge the different disciplines as they should be. if racers are just racing racers...theoretically you could just have one course for everyone...XC, DH etc and everyone races their respective categories.

BTW, I am not a DH Racer. I am however a DH course builder who had a hand in building the DH course at Schweitzer in Idaho.

 

[BSX4ever22]

You are SOOOO hardcore man!
Racers make the race, not the track.
If an expert DH racer can't out ride a sport XC racer then maybe we shoule re-evaluate the state of the sport. It is bicycle racing after all.


I always find it sad that my Expert BMX friends are usually closer to me at the end of a DH run than most of the folks who think they are hardcore expert DH racers, when in fact all they do is drag their brakes down a vertical trials course.

and heres a skinsuit picture just to piss you off.

Now that is full on roadie! He is even wearing shoe covers, ive never seen that in dh. Is this a new trend? haha

 

[Ian Collins]

sorry if this offends anyone that's amped that there is a national at fontucky, but

1) The course(s) are weak and have too much pedalling...kinda fun to do for kicks, but not cool for national race circuit level

2) There is no chairlift and the shuttle takes you 3/4ths of the way to the top

3) there isn't enough room for parking....not even close....hell there isn't enough room to park all the trucks that the teams pit out of....much less the people that are there to race just for fun....

4) the closest hotels in the area are run rampant with hookers because the town is along a truck route...basically every hotel is trashy and full of whores and tractor trailers....hey, free porn though!

5) it's in Los Angeles(SmeLL. A.) it's windy, smelly, smoggy, dusty and dry and in the middle of a residential area that happens to be in the middle of industrial squareland.....

call me cynical, but this is a bad idea and i'm really disappointed

 

[Zutroy]

Funny someone forgot to tell....NASCAR, AMA, IRL, AMLS, SCCA, and NHRA that Fontana is a horrible place to hold races, cause they all seem to hold them there down the street from us.

 

[Transcend]

Have you seen the typical Nascar/IRl fan?


They ain't F1, Big Bear lovin' types.

 

[konabiker]

I love Fontana. If I wasn't so lazy I would post some pictures of the awesome scenery around the area.

 

[Zutroy]

Have you seen the typical Nascar/IRl fan?


They ain't F1, Big Bear lovin' types.

Yeah, I use to live in Indy......

 

[anarchyUK]

thoes flats look like a killer...im so outa shape

 

[stiksandstones]

Zutroy, I usually think you have great insight and offer some great posts, but comparing the fontana raceway and motorsports racing industry to fontucky and the MTB industry is a little nuts.

Fontana raceway;
http://www.intellexual.net/fontana04.html

And I will not bother posting pics of the disgusting graffiti wall on the fontucky race course.

But your comments on this matter boil down to race car fans for the most part do not know MTBing exist AND the majority of the people that goto fontana to see a car race go because the venue is gorgeous and they will see car racing.

Whenever I take pictures of fontucky, it looks like a garbage dump (could be my sh1tty pics though ). I have no doubt that this will probably be the best national in years from a organization standpoint (Donny is cream of the crop) but I just wish it was in a different venue-which I have beaten into the ground so I will leave it at that.

 

[THEDUDE]

bahahahah
http://media.putfile.com/I-think-I-messed-up

 

[Jeremy R]

bahahahah
http://media.putfile.com/I-think-I-messed-up

"Good job Bro, you cleared it!"

hahahahahahahaha

 

[stiksandstones]

bahahahah
http://media.putfile.com/I-think-I-messed-up

How can I write out the whiskey throttle sound?

'wheeeeeeeeehhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn'

That video should be a lesson in proper rear shock setup buck rogers. haha

 

[mott7070]

very untechnical and that course didn't show much of any rocks, and get ready to pedal into up hill corners and pedal for about a half mile with wind, definetly not a dh bike course, bust out the hardtails haha

Is that why 25% of the riders crashed in their race run?

Mott

 

[Transcend]

Is that why 25% of the riders crashed in their race run?

Mott

If you've been to many other nationals you should already know the answer to this.

Sport/expert practice usually has 50% of riders crashing in their race run (or more).

 

[mott7070]

25% is high for Fontana.

 

[Transcend]

25% is high for Fontana.

Perhaps because the courses are simple?

I think the guy you responded to already posted this.

 

[mott7070]

Perhaps because the courses are simple?

I think the guy you responded to already posted this.

First off the original question was rhetorical. What I was trying to get across was that this particular course had some pretty technical features to it.

Mott

 

[Transcend]

First off the original question was rhetorical. What I was trying to get across was that this particular course had some pretty technical features to it.

Mott

right. Then you said lots of people crashed, 25%. And I said many more crash at normal national events. then you said 25% is high for fontana.

ie: fontana has less crashes then other nationals. Therefore, figuring we have the same talent pool, we can deduce that the fontana courses are much more simple.

This agrees with what the guy above you said, they aren't very technical compared to other courses.

 

[bjanga]

The video footage itself was great, and the compression was perfect. Good stuff.

I agree, I like helmetcam stuff.

 

[Transcend]

I agree, I like helmetcam stuff.

Same, only usually it makes me want to barf. Bouncing around, horrible quality to begin with and then bad compression for the web.

This stuff was actually enjoyable to watch, and i didn't get motion sickness.

 

[CBJ]

The problem isn't that the venues are hard to get to, it's that the sport sucks to watch if you don't actively do it as well.

Isn't it more lack of interest and poor marketing. I have been to the Tour de France and there is more action at local DH race than at the Tour. The action at the Tour is created by a lot of people excited about the sport and cycling something you see less of here in the states. There are a lot of sport on TV that sucks to watch but there is just a big enough fan base to put it on TV.

 

[bjanga]

I watched the carnegie footage, and I think I would rather ride the Fontana sport course. The carnegie stuff has no rocks.

Sanjay's vid looked tasty - maybe if the Fontana wall section was replaced with some of the rocks from Sanjay's video.

 

[Transcend]

Isn't it more lack of interest and poor marketing. I have been to the Tour de France and there is more action at local DH race than at the Tour. The action at the Tour is created by a lot of people excited about the sport and cycling something you see less of here in the states. There are a lot of sport on TV that sucks to watch but there is just a big enough fan base to put it on TV.

The amgen tour of california was ridiculously succesfull, with some insane amount of fans lining the course. Cycling is taking off in the states.

1 rider at a time, for 3 hours is pretty boring if you ask me.

Although the marketing (or lack thereof) surely isn't helping.

 

[stiksandstones]

The amgen tour of california was ridiculously succesfull, with some insane amount of fans lining the course. Cycling is taking off in the states.

1 rider at a time, for 3 hours is pretty boring if you ask me.

Although the marketing (or lack thereof) surely isn't helping.

Over a million spectators, more than the soccer world cup, X games, etc...TV time was very lacking, but I was impressed that many people came out for road racing.

 

[Transcend]

Over a million spectators, more than the soccer world cup, X games, etc...TV time was very lacking, but I was impressed that many people came out for road racing.

I'd honestly watch road racing long before i watched MTBing.

 

[stiksandstones]

Did someone explain how the guy that did the helmet cam made it so smooth? that was impressive alone, I mean he was going slow, but still, was smooth. (sorry if I missed the reason)

 

[Transcend]

Did someone explain how the guy that did the helmet cam made it so smooth? that was impressive alone, I mean he was going slow, but still, was smooth. (sorry if I missed the reason)

I'm waiting to hear as well. Helmet cam footage that doesn't make me barf, revolutionary!

 

[Zutroy]

Zutroy, I usually think you have great insight and offer some great posts, but comparing the fontana raceway and motorsports racing industry to fontucky and the MTB industry is a little nuts.

Thanks for the props Stik, my main arguement is that the Cali speedway is pretty ghetto, compared to alot of the other tracks around the country, but they race there, cause there is a need to have a race in the SOcal market. I'm looking at Fontana was that. There is a need, it's the only available venue to use at the moment. I'm sure the guys racing at the speedways would like to have a setting more like Laguna Seca if they could have it, just like we'd like to have a better setting.

Also lets be honest the national series is far from a high end series as it is.....a crappy venue run well is probably a step up. I went to Park City last year, a great venue, but I don't really have a desire to go back because of how the race was run.

Anyway on to the other topic...the nice helmet cam footage, here is out film maker in action.

 

[merrrrjig]

ahha, I remember seeing that guy, I thought that helmet cam was gunna be gone by the end of the weekend, one fall and its gone. oh ya, and not all the hotels around there are super ghetto, theres some nice ones in ontario by the hotel

 

[Winston]

Thanks guys.

One of the advantages to having the camcorder up on the helmet is that it allows the camcorder's anti-shake circuitry to do its job. (You don't get this benefit with a lipstick lense.)

Did someone explain how the guy that did the helmet cam made it so smooth? that was impressive alone, I mean he was going slow, but still, was smooth. (sorry if I missed the reason)

 

[stiksandstones]

Thanks guys.

One of the advantages to having the camcorder up on the helmet is that it allows the camcorder's anti-shake circuitry to do its job. (You don't get this benefit with a lipstick lense.)

Ahh, job well done then...and in hindsight, I meant no harm with the 'was going slow' comment.

 

[bjanga]

Is that a counter-balance on the other side of your head?

 

[OGDMFG]

Hey zutroy, you are right about park city it was a joke, I live only an hour from there and I wished I had not gone,it used to be a fun venue.I don't know if I will race there again, maybe I will change my mind.

 

[Winston]

Yep, fishing weights inside a plastic snack bag which is covered by an Oakley sunglasses bag.

I followed Mountain Bike Bill's setup instructions.

It's a good setup that I have been running for over a year now. The only thing that I have replaced is the wide angle lens. (Bushwhacking takes its toll.)

Is that a counter-balance on the other side of your head?

 

[Ian Collins]

Did someone explain how the guy that did the helmet cam made it so smooth? that was impressive alone, I mean he was going slow, but still, was smooth. (sorry if I missed the reason)

have you been to fontana?....there are no rocks.....take a helmet cam down tunnel or cold springs and at any speed it won't look that smooth......it's because the course is so weak

 

[stiksandstones]

have you been to fontana?....there are no rocks.....take a helmet cam down tunnel or cold springs and at any speed it won't look that smooth......it's because the course is so weak

I would certainly hope I had been there since I have voiced my opinion about having a national there...so yeah, been there a few times to race and shoot pics. Agreed the other trails would not look as smooth, but I was still impressed with the smoothness-but my experience with taping/videoing tracks always proved to be unsuccessful...I simply just suck at it because I am too spaztic of a dh rider....well was (yeah have not done a DH run in ages).

 

[Winston]

True. Only been there once, but that is all it took to move those two trails to the top of my favorites list.

Cold Springs 06-12-05 (8:24 at 63.5 MB)

Outtakes 06-12-05 (4:06 at 31.0 MB)

Tunnel 06-12-05 (8:43 at 65.8 MB)

(Please right click and select Save Target As...)

have you been to fontana?....there are no rocks.....take a helmet cam down tunnel or cold springs and at any speed it won't look that smooth......it's because the course is so weak