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WC Round 2 Fort William

wood booger

Monkey
Jul 16, 2008
668
72
the land of cheap beer
If Evil is putting as much $ and effort into the new carbon frame as they are their WC DH setup that thing should be dialed!

Holy stage show!



Looks like some privateers from NorCal showed up as well.

 

Raingauge

Monkey
Apr 3, 2008
692
0
Canadia
If Evil is putting as much $ and effort into the new carbon frame as they are their WC DH setup that thing should be dialed!

Holy stage show!

Are they racing the Undead's at Ft William? All th epics and video I've seen so far has been of them racing Revolts.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Sam will be rocking this custom pink Specialized Demo at this weekend's World Cup in Fort William to bring awareness to breast cancer. After the race is over all of his clothing will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to the fight against cancer. It's great to see one of the fastest riders in the world stepping up to the plate again this year for a good cause.



Hmmmm, what's so special about this Black Box rear derailleur from SRAM? Is this a prototype of the rumored XO DH derailleur that we've been hearing about? Word is that although it looks quite similar to a standard XO unit, the mech's parallelogram and geometry have been altered to work better with the smaller cassettes that you'll find on the back of most downhill bikes. This is said to allow the derailleur to follow the cassette closer, which should make for quicker and more reliable shifting. Stay tuned...
 
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SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,172
380
Roanoke, VA
I have a hard time seeing how Gwinn won't win this race.
If Tomac showed him how to pedal over the winter so effectively imagine how much work JT, Mr. 23 and ACG put into teaching him how to cheat the wind.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,374
1,610
Warsaw :/
I have a hard time seeing how Gwinn won't win this race.
If Tomac showed him how to pedal over the winter so effectively imagine how much work JT, Mr. 23 and ACG put into teaching him how to cheat the wind.
Winning the 1st race puts a lot of pressure on you. We will see how he performs.
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
is someone can handle pressure, that would be Gwin... I mean, he fell asleep whilst waiting for his final run in RSA!
Mike King napped before his 1993 Worlds win.

Seems that napping can be a key to winning.
 

General Lee

Turbo Monkey
Oct 16, 2003
2,860
0
The 802
We will see. One win is not a trend ;)
We Americans tend to have very short memories. Curious to see if he can keep it going on a proper track against his peers. Considering his WC results last season I'd definitely expect to see another win from him soon.

I'm actually curious to see how Hill does after so much time away aside from Worlds. The fan boi in me wants to see him smash one.
 

spornographer

Monkey
Feb 19, 2009
246
0
vital slideshow is up in new player with video! i would embed it here if RM would let me

http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/2011-Fort-William-World-Cup-DH-Practice,2398/Slideshow,0/sspomer,2

(embed code, spread it around)
<iframe width='900' height='600' src='http://www.vitalmtb.com/slideshow_frame_sources/2398?embed=true' frameborder='0' scrolling='0'></iframe><p style='margin:0; padding:6px 0;' id='VitalSlideshowCaption'><a href='http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/2011-Fort-William-World-Cup-DH-Practice,2398/Slideshow,0/sspomer,2'>2011 Fort William World Cup Warm Up Day</a> &mdash; More <a href='http://www.vitalmtb.com'>Mountain Bike Photos</a></p>
 

FlipFantasia

Turbo Monkey
Oct 4, 2001
1,666
500
Sea to Sky BC
vital slideshow is up in new player with video! i would embed it here if RM would let me

http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/2011-Fort-William-World-Cup-DH-Practice,2398/Slideshow,0/sspomer,2

(embed code, spread it around)
<iframe width='900' height='600' src='http://www.vitalmtb.com/slideshow_frame_sources/2398?embed=true' frameborder='0' scrolling='0'></iframe><p style='margin:0; padding:6px 0;' id='VitalSlideshowCaption'><a href='http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/2011-Fort-William-World-Cup-DH-Practice,2398/Slideshow,0/sspomer,2'>2011 Fort William World Cup Warm Up Day</a> &mdash; More <a href='http://www.vitalmtb.com'>Mountain Bike Photos</a></p>
really strong work gary and sven! great mix of stuff, enjoyed that.
 

- seb

Turbo Monkey
Apr 10, 2002
2,924
1
UK
Many top20 riders win a ****load of races outside the WC but when the time comes they fall a bit short.
Agreed, but still, he must be feeling good. Gee was at the US Open too, so that's a psychological victory already.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,374
1,610
Warsaw :/
Agreed, but still, he must be feeling good. Gee was at the US Open too, so that's a psychological victory already.
I agree. I hate to be a buzzkill but the hype for him is unreal. I doubt the rest of the top dogs will give it away so easily.


btw. Didnt Needles win the US Open last year? ;)


Also I wonder how Barel will do. He claims he is much better than in RSA.
 
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bizutch

Delicate CUSTOM flower
Dec 11, 2001
15,928
24
Over your shoulder whispering
In DH, especially US Nationals and World Cups, it's proven that riders tend to dominate in bunches. When one rider peaks, he tends to take everything and take it in a string of 4 or 5 major events.

Kovarik, 2 Worlds, 3 Nats...all on virtually back to back weeks. Hill with the Open and World Cups. Even Peat did it with two wins back to back to start the World Cups.

Most things point to Gwin being the favorite this week simply because of that.

With that being said, there is a HUGE host of big guys capable of winning this thing...maybe more than ever.

Mignar nar
Hillio
Peatster
Gugee
Bay rell
Dude that got second last year
Gracias
Buhliknyslop

Oh, and I want vid of this section....the BOOSH is high with this one:
 

FlipFantasia

Turbo Monkey
Oct 4, 2001
1,666
500
Sea to Sky BC
the gwin hypesters are almost as bad as the hill fanboys.....oh wait, I think they've all jumped off the hill bandwagon and onto gwin's......good to see a US rider killing it though for sure after all these years
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,934
676
I'm rooting for gwin, but mostly because a buddy works at specialized loves all things spec and hates all things trek.

But I still picked (and expect) hill to take the overall this season.
 

RayB

Monkey
Jan 31, 2008
744
95
Seattle
Surprised nobody has mentioned Cam Cole thus far.

2nd place last year (probably might've eeked out Gee were it not for the whip-show he put on while smashing the track).

If Sam Hill stays in 1 piece on his bike, you can pencil in a Top-5 finish for him. I'd put $ on that.
 

'size

Turbo Monkey
May 30, 2007
2,000
338
AZ
Anybody have a clue what's on the bottom of gwin's BB?

it's the new shimano remote reservoir bb. constant lubrication and cooling. he probably forgot to take it off after RSA.

or a camera.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,336
881
coloRADo
And he's got a GoPro chesty cam?

I think the helmet cam gives better perspective on line choice. Chesty cam is more entertaining as you can see rider input/feedback. And BB cam for.....?