Practice Photo Epic: Amongst Giants - EWS Zermatt 2019 - Pinkbike
The final practice of the final EWS of the season has concluded. Check out the scene from Zermatt.
Video: Course Preview - EWS Zermatt 2019 - Pinkbike
The 2019 Enduro World Series draws to a close this weekend in a venue befitting of a drama filled season.
Goddamn MTBing happens in some pretty awesome spots of the world.
Be awesome to see if Hill manages to snatch his 3rd overall title or if Florian can keep his lead. Looking forward to this one. Zermatt looks like an awesome place to go ride.
He's been giving zero fucks about any bike component for well over a decade
Had a blast in Finale for the past week but unfortunately had to leave before the race. Still ran into Martin Maes and Miranda Miller on the trails and the CRC team including Hill in a Trattoria.
My younger friend who I took to Finale just a few years ago when he was only a dirt jumper inexperienced in the ways of Enduro is actually going to compete in Trophy of Nations... kids grow up so fast. Trails should be in good shape after just the right amount of rain throughout the week, but it appears Roller Coaster / Stage 1 has been neutered even more into a glorified flow trail.
So, uh, can anybody explain the Trophy of Nations to me?
I can't for the life of me figure out what the point of the teams are and why it's the thing that gets you the rainbow stripes? Team with the lowest overall time wins it, so where do all these "team tactics" I keep reading about come into play? Shouldn't the tactics basicly just be "go fast, don't get busted for drugs"? Is Cody Kelly really a better Enduroist than Sam Hill? Do the Gherig twins count as 1 or 2 entries? Is it held in Finale Ligure simply because it has "Finale" in the name? Is Enduro the NASCAR of MTB racing? I have so many questions.
I can't for the life of me figure out what the point of the teams are and why it's the thing that gets you the rainbow stripes? Team with the lowest overall time wins it, so where do all these "team tactics" I keep reading about come into play? Shouldn't the tactics basicly just be "go fast, don't get busted for drugs"? Is Cody Kelly really a better Enduroist than Sam Hill? Do the Gherig twins count as 1 or 2 entries? Is it held in Finale Ligure simply because it has "Finale" in the name? Is Enduro the NASCAR of MTB racing? I have so many questions.
It's the kind of dumb shit that happens when the UCI gets involved. Sounds like someone talked to the FIM from moto.
It was easier than building aligator pits to jump over and fire rings to jump through I guess.
It was easier than building aligator pits to jump over and fire rings to jump through I guess.
yeah, the format is weird as shit. dh worlds seems to work just fine, why not adopt that model? i shake my head.
they do keep track of team points in DH and XC, and nation points for XC. i believe the nation points in XCO help determine the number of riders that can be sent to the olympics.
Who was on the US team? I'd pick Richie, Cody, Marco, and Mitch.
Ritchie, Cody and Shaun Neer
Been wondering the same thing......
....seems like an attempt to try to generate a format that can go Olympic me thinks.
I thought it sounded dumb until I watched the video. Truth be told, it looked fun as hell to be bombing trails all day with a couple of buddies.
Yeah at first I thought it was unnecessarily complicated, but it's pretty simple. And it looked like everyone was having a great time.
Agreed. I'm still not sure if the racing is better, but it definitely makes for better (on-line) spectating. Watching the EWS race recaps is almost as boring as watching paint dry, but this one was actually kind of cool. Watching them hit shit so fast and so close together brings out the difficulty of the racing much more than watching one person fly through a relatively tame section.
and then the follow-cam action is pretty intense too.
Every racer I talked to enjoyed it tremendously. That doesn't make the race format great to watch and the only major tactical consideration was wether or not to try to take advantage of better aerodynamics by riding a really close train at the risk of getting wiped out collectively (which is exactly what happened to my friend on the last stage).
ok, i've softened my wtf stance after watching melamed's run. the chase cam footage was pretty cool (as well as jesse & remi's tactics discussion in the comments). obviously we now need to see a team dh format.
i would love to see dual downhill again.
I didn't really understand the format/timing before the event, it really wasn't explained very well. But I think it's a good format, ripping with your buds is our sport, so racing that way is a cool element imo and the results reflected how unique it was compared to standard solo racing.
The results were obvious, combining really fast guys times with slow guys will result in a slower time (Belgium), combining really fast guys with medium fast guys will result in an overall fast-ish time (USA), and combining really fast guys with flat tires will result in shit times (France). The only way this format makes any sense IMHO is if they used a team average instead of combined times, or if they combine the men's, women's, and U23 men's and women's into 1 award, and give them weapons.
No doubt it's a fun event to race, who doesn't like riding fast with their friends, but it makes somewhere between zero and no sense as an actual MTB racing format because the results are so arbitrary.
I'm going to go watch the replay of the Snowshoe WCDH race to clear my head.
No doubt it's a fun event to race, who doesn't like riding fast with their friends, but it makes somewhere between zero and no sense as an actual MTB racing format because the results are so arbitrary.
I'm going to go watch the replay of the Snowshoe WCDH race to clear my head.
It has me thinking of how to pull off FWS TOS (Fiver World Series - Trophy of Shore). I'd look to match 3 person teams at random. We know where the regulars usually finish in results, mix up the teams at random with one person form the top 3rd, middle 3rd and bottom 3rd.
remember those group work assignments in school? exactly...
This would be an optional thing. Our FWS is the weekly beer league local enduro series. Emphasis is fun not serious racing. We do the worlds only chainless enduro as one of our weekly races.
Might have been cool if they'd made it the combination of the two fastest riders times on any stage, with a minimum amount of stages for each rider to contribute a time. Would have allowed the teams where someone had a crash or mechanical to stay in the chase.
I'm not really into the team sport thing, but the racing looked like a lot of fun - pretty similar to a day of riding with your mates. A bit of rivalry between the countries was cool to see as well as riders working in a team that normally would be competing against each other.
In the days when the UCI has sanctioned wind-trainer racing, this is hardly the dumbest development by a long shot. Would have been cool to be there to see.
Interesting, but pretty weird. You're only as good as your weakest link, sort of like a roadie team time trial.
And there you have it folks - we're reduced to comparing enduro to a team time trial.
When does DH racing start again?
And there you have it folks - we're reduced to comparing enduro to a team time trial.
When does DH racing start again?
Next year they'll combine the wind-trainer racing AND the Trophy of Nations AND e-bike racing.
You remember old guys always talking about how "back in the day we raced all three in the same weekend, xc, dh, and hill climb." Well now it's ToN, wind-trainer, and ebikes. You'll need an advanced astrophysics degree to figure out the timing with it's mix of combined team times, average rider times, watts per km, and battery usage.
You remember old guys always talking about how "back in the day we raced all three in the same weekend, xc, dh, and hill climb." Well now it's ToN, wind-trainer, and ebikes. You'll need an advanced astrophysics degree to figure out the timing with it's mix of combined team times, average rider times, watts per km, and battery usage.
I thought the team racing turned out cooler than expected, but the dust issue means the event is either going to suck or will never be run at a lot of venues. You can tell a Brit came up with the concept.
I liked it. Would watch again.
Check out the all the whiny, first-world, spoiled brats over at pinkbike complaining about Adam the Privateer: He doesn't have personality! No enthusiasm! Doesn't want it badly enough! No fire in his eyes Joe! Has a spare tube around his waist! Is not a dancing monkey!
Check out the all the whiny, first-world, spoiled brats over at pinkbike complaining about Adam the Privateer: He doesn't have personality! No enthusiasm! Doesn't want it badly enough! No fire in his eyes Joe! Has a spare tube around his waist! Is not a dancing monkey!
PInkbike comments have finally turned on the Privateer? I never got the appeal of that series. I watched the one episode where he attempted a super half-ass version of a Cathro line selection segment and wrote it off.
Yes, the pitchforks are out. I think the guy found his limit, probably mentally more than skill wise. But I know nothing about him and what makes him tick. He gave it a go and now it's time to move on. Such is life.
TBF Downhill is a pure time trial disciplineAnd there you have it folks - we're reduced to comparing enduro to a team time trial.
When does DH racing start again?