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what´s best? US RACING SCENE vs Europe

Jul 19, 2005
101
0
Manizales, COLOMBIA
I´m a colombian rider and i want to improve a lot!!
I ve raced 3 panam champs and raced two amateur cups in Big Bear but had to come home because of injury..now i´m planning to travel and race every place i can....but i need some advice should i go to the US or to Europe.
Hey and if someone could help me it would be even better!!
and Colombia is an open door for anyone just email so you can see with your own eyes that Colombia isn´t really what they show in all news and papers...
c ya
 

black noise

Turbo Monkey
Dec 31, 2004
1,032
0
Santa Cruz
California has a decent racing scene. Actually much of the US (Pacific NW, Colorado, New England) has some good smaller races I hear. Then there are the Norbas which are ok.

But I think more fast riders come from Europe than from here, though California does have a lot of fast people.
 

360

Monkey
Apr 17, 2003
227
1
Edinburgh
from the impression i get the scene in europe is much better and at a higher standard of riding than the US

the uk has a high standard of competition, good courses but poor organisation and uplift.

Racing in main land europe is however excellent, i cannot recommend the IXS down hill cup series highly enough, all the courses i've ridden from their series are all world cup standard , organisation is second to none, chairlifts at every venue, a excellent level of competition. These races often have abit of a world cup feel to them.

french avalanche cup races are good also and of course maxxis cups.
 

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
sayndesyn said:
I'm racing a german series and I've been pretty impressed so far. Good challenging courses 3-5 minutes in length and a pretty decent organization. The racers seem to all get along and even the top guys aren't pricks. Well maybe just a couple..
:stupid:

I race mostly in Germany as well.
I think the races totally rock, well at least most of them..
Lots of technical stuff thrue the woods mostly. Nice drops/gaps and jumps on every track and usually some nice open fast stuff.
Organisation is tight.
Belgian races are like the complete opposite except for one or two.
Tracks arent really challenging imo and the organisation sux.
Level of riding isnt as high as in Germany except for a couple of guys, including Nico Vink if he's not "on tour".
Dont really do a lot of other country's.
Been in France and Switserland but havent raced there. The level of riding is way higher there then it is in Germany acording to some friends of mine who did a few races there. Tracks are more difficult too.
Germany has some e2 races but France and Switserland have some e1's I think.
Dont know much about the rest of Europe. The UK seems to be pretty cool if you like riding in the rain a lot.
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
^^
Whatever...Hands down the best DH racing to be had is in the Middle East...Either that, or Kanas...



Actually, it is a dream of mine to race in an event in Scotland...I hear they're not afraid of strong drink over there...Long live Oban :thumb:
 

Zutroy

Turbo Monkey
Dec 9, 2004
2,443
0
Ventura,CA
black noise said:
California has a decent racing scene. Actually much of the US (Pacific NW, Colorado, New England) has some good smaller races I hear. Then there are the Norbas which are ok.

But I think more fast riders come from Europe than from here, though California does have a lot of fast people.

I'd say if you want to do alot of racing CA, and the rockies are the place to be. The CA race scene isen't what it once was, the big advatange is we're racing in Jan and Feb. The summer scene has kinda dies out with BB gone, so i'd head off to CO,UT and NM for the summer part, or even the east coast if ya can pull off all the travel.

Europe wouldn't be a bad choice either.
 

360

Monkey
Apr 17, 2003
227
1
Edinburgh
stnadard of competition is low and no e1/e2 races by all accounts. lots of dusty rocky courses too.


however they ususally have a couple of maxxis cups down that way if you wanna mix it with the big boys.
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
You talkin to me? WTF do you mean by "Whatever..." ?.
Easy there master Kevin...Just funnin (hence the rediculous comments about the Middle East and Kansas)...Will include smiley faces in the future...

By all accounts, Germany has some spectacular Dh venues...I actually have a good friend in Hamburg, which means I need to find an excuse to get over there and check it out firsthand...
 

vitox

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2001
2,936
1
Santiago du Chili
our national championships start sept 11th, if you can find a cheap ticket to santiago, ill hook you up with a place to stay and people to train with. race is right here in santiago. it might come out as a bit chauvinistic but i think youd have to be very fast not to find fierce competition in our national series.
 

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
jackalope said:
Easy there master Kevin...Just funnin (hence the rediculous comments about the Middle East and Kansas)...Will include smiley faces in the future...

By all accounts, Germany has some spectacular Dh venues...I actually have a good friend in Hamburg, which means I need to find an excuse to get over there and check it out firsthand...
Hmm I thought you were undermining my authority. :D
Didnt mean to be rude, I was just in a WTF state of mind...
 

AlmostHeaven

Turbo Monkey
Jun 8, 2005
1,164
0
VIRGINIA
i'm going with racing in Europe any day of the year. unfortunately,i can't do that, but if i had a choice, that's what it would be.

in the world cup this weekend 'KAYODIC KYLE STRAIT' was the only rider representing the USA. besides Havukainen because of his dual citizenship, and because AUS claims him, that should say a whole lot right there. some of it could be the higher standard of riding but a lot probably has to do with lack of riding and popularity which constantly brings youth and progression into the sport.
 

WheelieMan

Monkey
Feb 6, 2003
937
0
kol-uh-RAD-oh
AlmostHeaven said:
i'm going with racing in Europe any day of the year. unfortunately,i can't do that, but if i had a choice, that's what it would be.

in the world cup this weekend 'KAYODIC KYLE STRAIT' was the only rider representing the USA. besides Havukainen because of his dual citizenship, and because AUS claims him, that should say a whole lot right there. some of it could be the higher standard of riding but a lot probably has to do with lack of riding and popularity which constantly brings youth and progression into the sport.
From what I can tell there wasn't a single Canadian rider at the last World Cup either.

The reason there was only one American in Pila would be due to the Snowshoe NORBA the same weekend. But even when there aren't conflicting races there are few Americans in World Cups. Trying to race both the NORBA and World Cup series at the same time would be darn near impossible nowadays, unless you have an unlimited team budget.

Here in Colorado the Mountain States Cup is pretty darn good racing. We've got a World Cup course, and ex-World Cup course, and a National course so the quality of the courses is never disappointing.
 

blt2ride

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2005
2,333
0
Chatsworth
One of the best advantages we have in California is the weather, we can pretty much ride year round. However, our race scene is pretty bad right now. Although, Donnie puts on a nice winter series in Fontana.

If you're looking for a good place to train, California would be a pretty good choice. We have a lot of places to ride, and we aren't too far from Bootleg Canyon, which is a great place to ride in the winter.
 

stiksandstones

Turbo Monkey
May 21, 2002
5,078
25
Orange, Ca
I am only speaking from a non 'racer' standpoint, but after over 15 years of being involved in all facets of MTB racing, there was always something classical about racing in europe. It just seems to be more of an event when you race in europe. The riders there even seem to care about RACING a little more-not as concerned with being a star, bangin hos, makin bling<<EDIT Also euro crowd is less concerned with smoking weed 24-7 like a lot of american racer types>>>...That is not to say there are not some classic events in the states (Mammoth, Mt Snow to name a couple) but the current state of the NCS would have me living my dreams in europe. I look back to my early euro trips and wished I would have enjoyed them more-the races in europe have something mystical about them, perhaps its because I am kid who grew up in the cities of so cal, so it seems so unique???


That is of course if you are talking about major events, chasing a dream etc...I do not really know enough about the smaller USA races to comment on it. If you can hit up some of the classic US races, maybe a US open, stuff like that I would recommend that before an Idaho, Aspen, W Va. etc.

One mans opinion-take it for what its worth.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,194
4,419
nice post stiksandstones... one of the few people (only?) in this thread that's seen both sides extensively.