In his book, Bart Brentjens speaks about how achieving a higher position at a race will probably set your "floor level" from now on. And it's not about improving your fitness as much as it is about your mental game.
UCI / Discovery channel
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My floor level was escaping the ambulance because I knew the quality of the local hospital.
Back in those days it was also a lot easier to get UCI points to allow riders entry to WC DH events and certain venues would get 200 riders turning up trying to qualify. There was an extra day's practice back then too. Ft william track took an absolute battering.
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ive always found brentjens to be a really insightful commentator for xco. his book worth a read?
Yes, it summarizes his experience as a rider/racer, and how he tried to translate it to his mentoring program as the Swiss XC technical director. A friend who races XC allowed le to borrow it and definitely it's worth a read.
title?
Oof, that's a great question, I think I read it about 7 years ago. I'll pay a visit to my friend tomorrow, ask him and report back.
so:
- Yeah, on one hand we're disussing a riders union, on the other one trying to push a race series where riders have more chances to cripple themselves than at Rampage.
- Is Pon Holdings trying to Bezos the cycling industry?
- DH World Cup will finally become a many-brands series, rather than a "Commencal and friends" league.
- Yeah, on one hand we're disussing a riders union, on the other one trying to push a race series where riders have more chances to cripple themselves than at Rampage.
- Is Pon Holdings trying to Bezos the cycling industry?
- DH World Cup will finally become a many-brands series, rather than a "Commencal and friends" league.
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Instead of a hardline series, just have another DH series running from January to June or something. Take advantage of that gap left by the UCI.
Could do some cool races over there in other parts of the world where we haven't seen racing in years.
Yeah of course some folks won't participate and they'll need the recovery and time off etc etc, but I bet you'd still get a good turn out, even if mostly locals. How about a race in NZ?
Could do some cool races over there in other parts of the world where we haven't seen racing in years.
Yeah of course some folks won't participate and they'll need the recovery and time off etc etc, but I bet you'd still get a good turn out, even if mostly locals. How about a race in NZ?
Tbh. It's good to wait one year and see how Disco handles it to see if you can do some stuff better than them. If you can and especially if it's more visibility for the sponsors you might not even need to look for different months.
One important thing is there are industry rumors about Warner/Disco possibly preparing to get sold in 2024 (they can't do that earlier because of some merger deal terms) and the people in the industry that are quite reasonable suggest the primary possible buyer would be NBC. Not sure but I remember US monkeys being pretty cranky about NBC world champs feed.
It is always a giggle to me that everyone carries on about the French domination of DH when they have a crazy amount of cycling organisation support and a huge % of races are either in France or with a baguette throw of Paris. Meanwhile how many pinners have come out of NZ over the years? And they've had how many WCs? Sheesh. Its supposed to be a World Cup after all.
Oh and the whinging from the Euros about the travel time, cost and jet lag of racing in NZ or Australia.... *insert world's smallest violin*
Even if they did what the EWS does and alternates between a couple of races in Aus/NZ and then South/Central America or Asia it would be nice and we might start seeing a few new names getting picked up. Maybe Chris Ball might steer the towards that over the next couple years if he survives the Pinkbike lynch mobs.
All that shit went out the window when that powerpoint with lots of blank spaces got leaked, and a launch video with a talking mannequin interviewing fat white media guys started talking about biathlon as the pinnacle of watchable TV sports
He’s certainly not the saviour, he want to take over all enduro races in the UK as if he’s the enduro god and other stuff from what I’ve heard.
doesn’t sound like a great idea for anyone but him that’s for sure
The main thing I like aboud Enduro is they have races all around the world - Reunion, Madeira etc. All of those places could host DH racing. Hell you and me both know Madeira could easily host a world cup. Sure no lifts but it's not like that has stopped world cups before.
Add some Aussie-Nz stages. Maybe some weird stages in Indonesia (there is a ton of money there so with some campaigning someone will want to do an event) and some in South America since they have a strong racing scene there too.
RM and many of the big sides. Tbh that hope made sense there but he wants to work with the system and the system is radioactive.
That isn't true at all.
Just look at this weekend. Tweedlove (National Enduro) got probably 10x the entries and publicity the final round of the National DH Series did. And
And thats independently run by another a bunch of very lucrative Valley cycling promoters rather than British Cycling (ie UCI/establishment).
Chris basically just went global with what was already a growing local scene/race format. Hate him for that if you want (as many still do 15yrs on) but good on him for taking that risk and pulling it off.
If he and his "team" really do feel they needed the help of the worldwide cycling federation to help run the show. Fair enough. It's fuck all to do with us.
The Valley is full of small cliquey groups of backstabbing twats and has been for as long as I've ridden there (30yrs)
Getting all serious about clueless speculation is kinda retarded.
Cunts should just ride their bikes MOAR. .
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Madeira actually has a couple of sightseeing gondola things but they'd be better off running truck shuttles on their DH lines like Cairns, Pietermaritzburg and Stromlo did.
I think badly timed Ball's PB AMA did most of the damage to his reputation, and only because he didn't have nearly enough information to go face the baying crowds. I reckon he's done a decent job making the EWS series and I particularly like the global execution of it so far. Aside from the years during the pandemic with shortened calendars and venues tailored to suit the travel restrictions the EWS calendar has typically managed to include a far better spread around the globe than the UCI DH calendar ever has.
He's also sort of created feeder series (EWS100, EWS80, Continental Enduro Series) as well as the Trophy of Nations event for a bit of national pride. I may be hopelessly optimistic but it would be good if he manages to do something similar to salvage an option for the riders who don't end making the Discovery channel's rumoured cuts to the final field. Even if it is a more accessible, less brutal course for the riders that have to pay for rims and tyres out of their own pockets.
If the "main event" does get restricted down in numbers, it would be awesome to have a global feeder series to identify upcomers that aren't just lucky kids with neighbourhood lift-accessed venues, as well a DH100 or something where the non-factory riders get to shoot their shot. Obviously its all speculation till more information comes out, but Chris Ball has done a pretty damn good job so far making EWS an achievable goal for more people. Fingers crossed he manages to keep that vibe around DH.
The Gondolas are not in places where it makes sense. The one in the capital is in the city. The other ones run off clifs. One of them has 98% grade. Funny thing is I plan to go back to Madeira in December for some hiking. Way better than Polish bs winter.
I agree the feeder series and the international part of Enduro look good. Though he seems to be bad at promoting the sport. That or it's just Enduro is harder to promote even if it is more popular than DH. Tbh I don't know enough on him and enduro to speak. I used to think of him highly and it may just be that his hands are tied here because of Disco. Discovery is undergoing huge changes now. Ton of mergers, not only with warner but local ones (they bought 2nd largest TV station here for example) so the company may be in a weird place which puts Chris in a weird place. We may just be unlucky the rights got acquired in a moment where Disco is bilions in debt (way more than most companies in relation to revenue) and the whole industry its in is going though a rough patch.
Maderian Rampage
The whole place is criss-crossed with hiking and trail running routes. Would be super good to go for that stuff. I'm watching the coverage of the current Trans Madeira and wishing I was there. Weather looks better than my trip but knowing Madeira it changes every 5 minutes anyway and coverage tends to sugar coat stuff.
Re. Hiking. I've been to Madeira 3 times. 2 times for bike + hike and 1 time for only hiking since that trip had non biking friends. Generally if you are not racing there is no bad weather on Madeira as there is no one weather on the whole island. Also some places look better when it's foggy.
So for the races themselves the weather is probably better but for Hiking there is not a bad time to be there (well ok if you go in december-feb and want to hike the highest peaks you are screwed since they get closed due to snow and rockfalls but that's never the whole winter. That still leaves you with 95% of the Island). Funny thing is my biggest source of hiking trail info is an Aussie. I think I mentioned him.He got stuck on Madeira in late 2020 and hiked the fuck out of it producing tons of info (Jackson Groves). This december we are not taking any non athletic people with us so I am a bit worried my girlfriend will go insane with hiking since she has a fitness of a nuclear reactor powered robot and ADHD.
Re. Biking - I'd take any Madeiran weather over this BS we have in our mountains in September. It's 9-11C and the weather pattern is drizzle-sun-downpour-repeat every 90 minutes. Tried to time it for the uphills early on but now I just embrace the wet, shout some insults towards a random piece of technology and pretend i'm Gary. Still great to be finally biking more than 2 days in a row and on a non rental bike too.
While coincidently maximising profit for my own portfolio of companies and partnerships?
Win Win huh?
It is a bit shitty you diss me for not riding when i had a huge foot infection Gary. Then again you assured me you're not mad at me so this must be a mistake and you'd never be a dick about someones health when you're not mad at them. You assured me multiple times it's just what scottish people do. Attack people because they have a health issue. I am riding now though so I hope that pleases you.
To get back on topic. BT Sport and Eurosport are merging which might explain why we are getting no info as probably a lot of people are getting fired and everyone is focusing on the merger
www.digitaltveurope.com
The BT Sport-Eurosport merger gives glimpse of wider WBD strategy - Digital TV Europe
In relatively swift fashion from the reveal of exclusive talks in February and a deal...
www.digitaltveurope.com
He didn't get the memo, he's still waiting for his carrier pigeon to deliver the news.
I did mention it while taking to him but probably foot infections were not yet discovered in Garystan.
I'm not attacking you.
I'm poking a tiny bit of fun BACK towards you.
FFS man. Find your sense of humour and grow a pair!
Balls that is. Not another massive foot to match the infected one.
... Since they can only run in circles it's just the one delivery per year. I can't wait for Norbs chain letter of disapproval and excuses to arrive... It may even be essential during the upcoming winter fuel crisis.
To be fair to the pigeon, its hard to fly carrying news chiselled into a stone tablet.
Guys. We know we have no communication regarding DH in 2023 but now you may be the reason that we have no communication since UCI is hiring a PR person:
It's a position I'd never take since it's them basically creating a position jumping on the e-sports bandwagon but having no real idea if cycling can stick to e-sports so you will be out of a job in 5 years. Tbh a ton of companies randomly jump on idiotic bandwagons. I'd not be surprised if they have or had a blockchain/crypto position at UCI too.
We all know who the E-sports coordinator could be!
Granted, we do really want E-Sports to not be a thing