Pietermaritzburg - 2012 WC DH#1
- Thread starter toodles
- Start date
I asked me the same question. Actually she was working fulltime during the race season in Australia. How can that be? She's definitely one of the fastest girls on the cirquit...
she quit racing for a while. this is her first WC since 2007 and she only did a few local races up until 2009. then she took another 2 years off until she decided to get back into training for WC racing last year.
i've read and heard nothing but how humble and sportsman like gwin is. i talked with him briefly at a fundraiser for a local WC racer and got the exact same impression, super nice guy who wants everyone to excel. he's super competitive but really seems to love racing no matter the outcome and wants everyone to do their best at any given race.Gwin seems to be a real sportsman. Giving props to Minnaar and Hannah and smiling is how it should be. Afor that.
Minnaars friends cheering for him is just priceless.
Sounds like it had to do with the dropper post he was trying to run.
In the comments section
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/yeti-303-wc-carbon-bike-check.html
"so as his mechanic, i can safely say we had problems getting his dropper post to a comfortably low height to race on. That is why i built up the alloy bike to race on. The alloy frame has a slightly deeper section seat tube, which allowed the dropper post to run at the same height s his normal post. If anyone had come by the pits, you would have seen i had the carbon frame on display.... those people that think he snapped it weren't there obviously... Would i have had the frame on display if it had issues? Come on people! The 3 on the down tube was because it was the 3rd phase of the carbon bike. We have done alot of testing on this. 2 of these "3" phase bikes exist. 1 is with us here in SA, the other is in colorado."
She quit racing because it was too expensive from what she's said. Did Tracy Moseley, Sabrina Jonnier, or any of the other top women ever take a break from racing world cups because it was too expensive? She had some solid results 5 years ago when she was racing world cups. She was young and up-and-coming, but it seems strange that she didn't get picked up by any of the teams. I know this is easy to say since she just won a world cup, but to me, she is the obvious choice for any world cup team looking for a female rider. With proper training she would have been a threat to podium at every race since she had to quit 4 years ago. And this is just me being shallow, but in a sport mostly followed by men, it's naive to think that looks don't matter.
Because women's DH racing is not at all competitive?
No, it's not just you, they totally matter. Why do you think people talk more about Rachel Atherton than Tracey "the man" Mosley?
wait, Minnar was running a semi slick front at 20psi, and a cut spike at 15psi?!?!? How did he not double flat on every single rock? Are these guys running special super thick casings? Super thick tubes? Liners between their tires and tubes?
Or is that claim total BS?
did you read the caption on the photo, at all?
Ridemonkey, where monkeys believe anything coming from WC racer's mechanics mouth.
Obviously it was a stab at junguns riding underinflated tires.
Obviously it was a stab at junguns riding underinflated tires.
No, I was just listening.
At the time she needed to be picked up, she was very talented and coming a off a good season. But the economic turmoil at the time left everybody with tight purse strings. If I'm not wrong, it was the same season Kintner had to pull out and go privateer. The big names were signed by the big companies and the mid-level companies couldn't justify taking a chance on an up and comer.
It was all around bad timing. I recall that year Geriit looking to capitalize on his national champion status and he couldn't even get a decent paycheck from anybody or a major name to sign him. That season saw tons of upheaval. Freecaster came along and now World Cup is world wide live.
Marshy strikes again!
Did Cedric ride the course on a singlecrown?
Nevermind... no number plate, long stem. Must have just been warming up.
Nevermind... no number plate, long stem. Must have just been warming up.
Man, Minnar looks emaciated following his off-season weight loss...
I bet if you dig deeper you will find that many of the Pro men and women are somewhat "well funded" from birth (read rich families). They can put some of their own cash in to float the rough spots, or even help fund their own teams at times (Riffle?). DH doesn't have to pay the rent if you know what I mean. Sponsorship $ can be pretty minimal in the grand scheme of things, especially for the ladies. I bet Ms. Atherton (among others) has never had a real job in her life.
Tracey is like the working class hero, sounds like she paid her own way when necessary and went deep into debt doing so. Hopefully things will work out so she can quit her day job and race as a career. She is a ripper!
I am not so good at reading sarcasm, but holy cr@p I hope this was.
I have never done an informal study, but, having been deeply involved with this sport for over 20 years, I can say I know no one that comes from a 'rich' family.
I don't think it was sarcasm, but it sure was stupid.
I think there was some stuff with Cycling Australia that also lead to her quitting for a while. Cant remember the exact details by i think it had to do with the world champs when Canberra hosted them.
I won't speak for the WC pros but a looking at SOME local ones you can see how many can boost your training. Not that the non rich pros aren't doing well
stik - what woodbooger said is right. (just depends on your definition of rich) juvenile and Youth regional riders in our country have new £4k DH bikes (and no expense spared on the rest of their kit) and parents who spend a small fortune on taking their kids racing.. it's definitely no pikey sport anymore that's for sure.
you realize he is as "inside" the industry as it gets right?
also, maybe i'm confusing pikey with lower income bracket and slightly trashy, but I donno if you watched world champs last year but...
okay... so back to racing.... did anyone catch in one of the wrap-up videos (maybe it was the Vital slideshow) that Danny was running rear pressure as low as 15psi?!?! was the mechanic being sarcastic?! that seems unreal to me. not just for flats and dents but for ripping the tire off the rim under hard cornering...
Pretty sure Riffle is?
I donno man, I went to junior high with his little brother, they were wealthy enough as far as santa barbarians go, but nothing truly rich where money doesn't matter. maybe they've made some money since then though.
its also possible I just don't remember well, but I don't think that's the case.
if by Danny, you mean Greg Minnnaaarr, then it was pretty obvious his mechanic was joking
Wood Booger may come from a region like where I do where the only kids who can put everything into DH have families that are middle class or higher. And let's all remember that America's middle class is actually pretty frickin' rich. They may whine about their Suburban's and Tahoe's being tough on gas, but they still have more toys at their house than most people my age had their whole life.
Coming up racing moto was a big awakening for me. I thought my dad was making great money until we showed up at the track the first time.
Race kits alone these days cost more than a lot of bikes did when I got into this sport.
Heck if not, for a kind gesture on the part of a virtual stranger, I couldn't afford a new helmet. So I can understand why he would say it's a sport for rich kids. Take a look at the kids making videos in the Northeast. If you're a teenager rocking a D3 on even a serviceable DH rig and you and your buddies are filming with GoPro's and Canon equipment with climbing gear, dollies, zip lines, etc....you're rich.
You just might not feel like it b/c our definition of poor is way different. No hate on my part either.
Coming up racing moto was a big awakening for me. I thought my dad was making great money until we showed up at the track the first time.
Race kits alone these days cost more than a lot of bikes did when I got into this sport.
Heck if not, for a kind gesture on the part of a virtual stranger, I couldn't afford a new helmet. So I can understand why he would say it's a sport for rich kids. Take a look at the kids making videos in the Northeast. If you're a teenager rocking a D3 on even a serviceable DH rig and you and your buddies are filming with GoPro's and Canon equipment with climbing gear, dollies, zip lines, etc....you're rich.
You just might not feel like it b/c our definition of poor is way different.
No hate on my part either.
edit: anyway...back to racing.
Super pumped to see if gwin can come back and take it. I think of all the courses, val di sol is his strongest, and its certainly rad from a spectators point of view - lots of gnar, lots of highspeed, and lots of room for people to gain and lose lots of time.
Super pumped to see if gwin can come back and take it. I think of all the courses, val di sol is his strongest, and its certainly rad from a spectators point of view - lots of gnar, lots of highspeed, and lots of room for people to gain and lose lots of time.
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yes yes, I've already been made aware of my stupidity... was even up on this same page a little earlier... thanks for rubbing it in...
Okay the Red Bull stream was better for sure. My issue with it was they needed maybe 3-4 more cameras. Also the course was not rough by any stretch so it may have been cool to have cameras running on lines or rails. Not sure if that can be done with broadcasting but assume it can the NFL does it.
you're sarcasming, right? comparing the broadcasting of DH racing to the NFL?
and this may just be me, but what is with people complaining about the number of cameras? red bull gave us a great quality FREE feed with 10 HD cameras as promised. are you not entertained?
I think he's saying it didn't seem like 10 HD cameras on course. Not sure how many were active on the hill and being used during the race, but it seemed like 5-7 at most. Anybody bother to count live camera angles on course?
They have 2 years as a "TAX WRITE" off correct? So this season and next. I can help them blow cash if they need suggestions.
Just a bit sarcastic. I am awaiting the 20 Million dollar signing bonuses in Cycling!
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Yes, Butch, there has been actual counting. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Total speculation, but you might see more cameras at some of the other venues. South Africa was early on the calendar and pretty far away from. If they didn't bring or provide for a larger crew and infrastructure for this race it certainly would be understandable. It was also a first effort (which didn't stop the usuals downers from pissing and moaning when the feed didn't come on at exactly 8:15edt). I'm interested to see what RB has to offer in 3 months when the races head back to Europe.
That said, there were still 10 HD cameras. Which is better than the 7 standard cameras used in RSA last year.
I was hoping for a Rhino mounted camera along the jumps into the flat, a la Daytona supercross.
redbull qualifying highlights video : UCI Mountain Bike World Cup 2012- Pietermaritzburg Downhill Qualifying Highlights â?? Video
pretty cool that RB is filming the quali's and putting some of it online.
pretty cool that RB is filming the quali's and putting some of it online.