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Ft. Bill - World Downhill Enduro Race

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
So does anyone know what is ailing Rachel Atherton?
A case of the flats™


Looking at wyn master's little pit bits, it's pretty obvious brosnan was tweaking hard on this race. In retrospect it's like watching kind of the consumate athlete mental prep game. This is the first race I can remember where watching literally all the top 6-7 guys ride was like watching 6-7 pretty much flawless runs. Shtz gettin hard yo!
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,673
5,600
UK
I thought this was the best Fort William race to watch since Kovarik won.. but as with every year, cameras in the woods section are desperately needed.. As impressively fast as all the top guys are the track is almost exactly the same every year so they probably do ride everything other than the tiny woods section pretty much flawlessly..
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,654
1,129
NORCAL is the hizzle
They went back to the way the rule used to be written "have to re-enter where you left" because it's more of a black and white rule. The "as long as you don't gain an advantage" rule was too ambiguious and race officials were worried there would come a time when someone would potentially re-enter the course and make it onto the podium. Then there would be protests and drama from other riders/managers, so they decided to go back to the old rule before something like that happened.
Do you have a source for this? The rules still say the commissaire needs to find an advantage.
 

Pegboy

Turbo Monkey
Jan 20, 2003
1,139
27
New Hamp-sha
A case of the flats™


Looking at wyn master's little pit bits, it's pretty obvious brosnan was tweaking hard on this race. In retrospect it's like watching kind of the consumate athlete mental prep game. This is the first race I can remember where watching literally all the top 6-7 guys ride was like watching 6-7 pretty much flawless runs. Shtz gettin hard yo!
What a race! Brosnan has been my favorite rider since I started hearing about him when Neko was battling with him a few years ago in juniors. He just defies the odds. He's tiny but he out-powers Minaar on the speedway!(?) He is also always happy and in a good mood...just a great kid and unbelievable rider.

But yeah, top 6..when Gwin came down I thought (and hoped) he had won it, when Hill came down I thought that did it and Hart looked on pace too. What a race, but I agree I just wish there was a way to film those technical sections.
 
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mattmatt86

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2005
5,347
10
Bleedmore, Murderland
Do you have a source for this? The rules still say the commissaire needs to find an advantage.
I read it somewhere after the PMB race, maybe they didn't physically change the wording of the rule but it said that all riders and teams were notified of how the rule would be enforced from now on. Rob Warner also talked about it a little during the race, maybe when Minnaar was coming down, and he said the same thing.
 

yd35

Monkey
Oct 28, 2008
741
61
NY
What a race! Brosnan has been my favorite rider since I started hearing about him when Neko was battling with him a few years ago in juniors. He just defies the odds. He's tiny but he out-powers Minaar on the speedway!(?) He is also always happy and in a good mood...just a great kid and unbelievable rider.

But yeah, top 6..when Gwin came down I thought (and hoped) he had won it, when Hill came down I thought that did it and Hart looked on pace too. What a race, but I agree I just wish there was a way to film those technical sections.
Are those tech sections in heavily wooded areas with no exposure to the sun? If there is some daylight maybe someone could maneuver a camera equipped quadcopter over the track.
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,673
5,600
UK
There I only one technical wooded section, lucky if it's 100m in length and not difficult to film.. There's been plenty footage of it over the years.. Just never on live feeds
 

scottishmark

Turbo Monkey
May 20, 2002
2,121
22
Somewhere dark, cold & wet....
I thought this was the best Fort William race to watch since Kovarik won.. but as with every year, cameras in the woods section are desperately needed.. As impressively fast as all the top guys are the track is almost exactly the same every year so they probably do ride everything other than the tiny woods section pretty much flawlessly..
Standing in the woods with RedBull.tv on the phone at the same time FTW :thumb:

Actually, that's not quite how we did it but were there for Blenki, Hart and Brosnan's race runs - flawless (not counting Blenki obvs). Also went up there for practise - Smith, Rawk Jezus, Hill and Bulldog micro-sectioned it a bit, all pretty awesome. Bulldog was smashing it, Smith and Jezus were ridiculously smooth and Hill just seemed to take different lines to the rest.
Slugger was also smashing his way through in Slugger style, Gee ripped through with a foot off the pedal at one point (he did get wild), but most of the top guys were as fast, smooth and as in control as you see elsewhere. Annoyingly un-spectacular!
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,673
5,600
UK
Riding your bike midge free all day and watching it later that night with beers FTW ;)

I'm too old to watch video on a phone :(
 
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Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,673
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I wiped the floor more than a few times pikey oblique dirt jumping..

Clothing and bike choice is how you hip youngsters categorise your riding these days. Eh?
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Standing in the woods with RedBull.tv on the phone at the same time FTW :thumb:

Actually, that's not quite how we did it but were there for Blenki, Hart and Brosnan's race runs - flawless (not counting Blenki obvs). Also went up there for practise - Smith, Rawk Jezus, Hill and Bulldog micro-sectioned it a bit, all pretty awesome. Bulldog was smashing it, Smith and Jezus were ridiculously smooth and Hill just seemed to take different lines to the rest.
Slugger was also smashing his way through in Slugger style, Gee ripped through with a foot off the pedal at one point (he did get wild), but most of the top guys were as fast, smooth and as in control as you see elsewhere. Annoyingly un-spectacular!
And that right there is why redbull needs some damn cameras in that section. Just watching the feed, it looked like 5 guys should have won.

Oh well. I can only bitch about "absolutely fvcking free" so much. :D
 

bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,928
24
Over your shoulder whispering
So anybody got a tally of how many 650b tire/rim combos left their riders running on feces flat tires? Only thing that sucks about being on the World Cup is being a guinea pig for enginerds and marketing gurus. :)
 
as for Martin winning the juniors, didn't Loris Vergier beat him at an EWS round last year in les deux alps so we'll just put it down to both are Amazing MOUNTAIN BIKE riders.

onto the wheels/tires debate
of the main ones ive seen
ratboy and minaar flatted in seeding on 26" ENVE(prototype)/Maxxis
race
Blenki on 27.5" Easton/Schwable
Rach 27.5" Stans/continental
Manon 27.5" DT swiss/continental (could be 26" not 100% sure on that)
seagrave 26" schwable tires not sure what rims anyone?
 

epic

Turbo Monkey
Sep 15, 2008
1,041
21
So anybody got a tally of how many 650b tire/rim combos left their riders running on feces flat tires? Only thing that sucks about being on the World Cup is being a guinea pig for enginerds and marketing gurus. :)
FWIW Bryceland's 26"er suffered a flat in Qualis too.
 

epic

Turbo Monkey
Sep 15, 2008
1,041
21
A case of the flats™
I know she had a flat. I would like to know what she had that had her sick in bed for the better part of a month. Can we expect her to fully recover this season? If not, any victory in the women's field seems a bit hollow.
 

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,028
1,165
El Lay
I know she had a flat. I would like to know what she had that had her sick in bed for the better part of a month. Can we expect her to fully recover this season? If not, any victory in the women's field seems a bit hollow.
The same thing that multiple Supercross riders have every weekend during that series - "food poisoning"?

A top tier athelete being sick in bed with a cold for 2 months isn't super believable.
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,927
673
Maybe she had a baby?

Also, having no experience with 650b tires, I'm not applying this comment to them, but with 26", getting flats usually comes down to "do you run enough pressure in your tires." A lot of riders gamble and try and run less. If you do that, its nobodies fault but your own when it doesn't work out. Tires aren't magical.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
So anybody got a tally of how many 650b tire/rim combos left their riders running on feces flat tires? Only thing that sucks about being on the World Cup is being a guinea pig for enginerds and marketing gurus. :)
I was thinking more along the lines of how many pairs of 650b wheels left riders on the podium. I think gee's the only 26er yeah?


I know she had a flat.
Look I was trying to steer the conversation towards civility because I didn't want to say EPO withdrawal outloud.

She was in austraila.......probably got alcohol poisoning from a spider bite.
 

'size

Turbo Monkey
May 30, 2007
2,000
338
AZ
I was thinking more along the lines of how many pairs of 650b wheels left riders on the podium. I think gee's the only 26er yeah?
perty sure the new fury is 650b. i think the only 'results' team still on 26" is santa cruz.
 

marshalolson

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2006
1,770
519
Also, having no experience with 650b tires, I'm not applying this comment to them, but with 26", getting flats usually comes down to "do you run enough pressure in your tires." A lot of riders gamble and try and run less. If you do that, its nobodies fault but your own when it doesn't work out. Tires aren't magical.
doubt wheel size matters.

flat tires = lighter tires and lighter rims run tubeless with lighter spokes, etc

less wheel stiffness, less tire structure, less bead support, etc etc.
 
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Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,673
5,600
UK
Having double punctured (f&r) in the exact same section of track on back to back runs running dual plys with mx tubes at 40psi I've gotta laugh at some of these comments..
At Fort William it's down to nothing more than bad luck..
Next run that day I pulled off the track before the section I was puncturing in, looked at my line and found a sharp square edge rock that had not been exposed earlier in the day..
 

scottishmark

Turbo Monkey
May 20, 2002
2,121
22
Somewhere dark, cold & wet....
As much as it pains me to say it he's ^ right. Gary weighs roughly twice what I do ;) and I'll still puncture (with dual plys and thick tubes) more up there than any other track. It's the only track I know of where I always up my tyre pressures before riding, and even that won't necessarily be enough
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,653
3,093
As much as it pains me to say it he's ^ right. Gary weighs roughly twice what I do ;) and I'll still puncture (with dual plys and thick tubes) more up there than any other track. It's the only track I know of where I always up my tyre pressures before riding, and even that won't necessarily be enough
But still the bike industry is more concerned about making a bigger diameter tire instead of making a flat proof tire that doesn't weigh a ton. :confused:
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,614
5,934
in a single wide, cooking meth...
Maybe I'm a simple caveman, but it seems like the weight is the main issue. As in they simply can't provide enough sidewall stiffness/puncture protection without having it weigh more than the average DC fork these days. Likely a poor analogy, but MX tires can weigh 8-11 pounds, and even something that weighs half that is still significantly heavier than most DH tires. Plus, when you consider how much pedaling factors into many modern courses/races, guys probably want to minimize the rolling mass as much as possible. Now maybe something like Champery you could get away with beefcake rubber, but most places require some real human powered acceleration.
 
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