2023 UCI Downhill/Enduro/XC mega thread

I finally listened to (as much as I could stand) the Downtime Podcast with Chris Ball.
Gotta say, to me he sounds like a politician and a shill. Most of his answers were rambling run on sentences with little substance.
I get that he cares, but he also seems to think MTB is going to be mainstream like football/baseball. And he thinks what people relate most to is enduro and marathon. And he thinks we’d rather see 100% of a 2 minute track than 40% of a 6 min track.
Basically blew off the paywall question and said it’s gonna result in higher purses (which it most certainly has not for this year).
I’m still hopeful for a fun season, but nothing I’ve heard so far gives me those hopey feelings.


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Anyone give more thought to signing up for a GCN+ subscription?
Anyone know whether it'll include World Champs?

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Originally Posted by jm2e

Anyone give more thought to signing up for a GCN+ subscription?
Anyone know whether it'll include World Champs?

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No World Champs on GCN+
Attachment 453829

It’s fiddly but it appears that tiz also streams mtb races. I wouldn’t fuck around with that site without a good adblocker.

How do I watch the Heberites win El Fuego this weekend. I can’t find any video of the race.

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Originally Posted by Canada1

How do I watch the Heberites win El Fuego this weekend. I can’t find any video of the race.

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Given that it was part of the Lifetime Grand Prix series, I'm amazed at how little coverage I've seen of that race. Even just finding results on the Sea Otter website sucked.

Even pink bike is ignoring it. Some of the biggest names in American xc and gravel and zero promotion? Freaking weird?

Let's kick off XC a week early!

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/event...evolution-chur

No reason you slackers shouldn't be up at 3 or 4a.m. anyways!!!!

Keegan is back strong on lifetime / whisky. Cole Patton has taken a step forward. Excited to see Halley Batton take the next step this season? Following XC has been harder this year. Having to dig a bit to find results and highlights. As stated earlier, coverage on the Sea Otter El Fuego was poor. I don’t know if nobody cares, or if it is an attempt to make things proprietary

What's with social media being slow (or just nothing) for big non-WC races? Crazy how hard it is to find results from the British race at Fort William or any of the Downhill Southeast races.

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Originally Posted by jm2e

What's with social media being slow (or just nothing) for big non-WC races? Crazy how hard it is to find results from the British race at Fort William or any of the Downhill Southeast races.

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I don't understand why these are falling off.

LET'S GO RACING!!!!!

https://en.brujulabike.com/how-to-wa...orld-cup-2023/

Another apparent kink in the streaming plan… GCN+ doesn’t have a Roku app. Ugh.

The lack of any online news about early season downhill racing is leaving me with a shockingly low stoke for the upcoming DH season. Which means I’m spending zero time looking into buying access to watch the races. Which means the first race will come with full apathy and struggle to decide wether to Pay Per View.


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Need to check if there's a GCN+ app for my Samsung TV. I think it's a 2019 model so hopefully it works. I love WCDH enough that I will buy a subscription for the months of DH races.

Ponied up for GCN+ this morning, watched the end of the Giro live, then the XCC. The XCC coverage felt nice and Pro, like the 90's XC hayday when racing on OLN. No interruptions to highlight a specific Redbull sponsored rider regardless if they might win or not. Maybe the counterpart to Bart in the commentary bits could look a little less like she just stepped out of Saks Fith Ave.

Let's see how they do with DH camera's on course.

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Originally Posted by jm2e

The lack of any online news about early season downhill racing is leaving me with a shockingly low stoke for the upcoming DH season. Which means I’m spending zero time looking into buying access to watch the races. Which means the first race will come with full apathy and struggle to decide wether to Pay Per View.

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This sums up my thoughts on this transition so far:

https://y.yarn.co/9976c430-4ed8-4ba5...bcecf_text.gif


Did I read something that you need a subscription to watch live, but not for replays? Or am I completely off there?

UCI short track up and readily available!! Halley Batten is off to a start. Blevins had a horrid starting slot.

Is there anyplace they schedule these without rain?

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

Did I read something that you need a subscription to watch live, but not for replays? Or am I completely off there?

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The way I read the Pinkbike article was; it's still a bit unclear, but probably free access to qualis, maybe free access to the semi-final race and Pay Per View only for whatever they call the second race. Maybe some highlights and replays on free Youtube. And still zero idea whether World Champs can be watched from a nerdless perspective.

U23 XCC is on YouTube for free right now… pretty solid coverage and commentary. Definitely miss Rob Warner, but I’d say they’re off to a solid start. It seems like the course coverage and camera angles are better than the RB coverage so far.

How can we have so many kids doing the NICA thing, and not have it trickling through to our u23’s?
Regardless, the UCI races are improved coverage. Lifetime, I haven’t figured out yet.

Been watching via GCN+ app on my Apple TV. Love the XCO and XCO coverage. What a weekend for Pinnarello and their FS debut.

Anyone nailed down viewing options? Is it possible to watch on HBO, or is it now just "Max?"

I'm going to be watching replays on youtube or the illegal re-streams via tiz-cycling at this point, b/c I don't need any more apps/subscriptions in my life. Imagine this is going to be a massive net loss for the UCI Mountain Bike side of the house.

- paid subscription to watch
- paid subscription still doesn't cover world champs
- new announcers with no previous bike experience
- screwy condensed schedule
- screwy qualifying rounds in DH
- pinkbike killed all fantasy leagues


It's like the UCI and the media head honchos had some secret meeting where they decided 2023 was the year they were gonna kill the sport.

I've been an HBOMAX (now Max) subscriber for a bit. Looked real hard through the app and there is no live cycling in the USA from what I can tell.

I will be biting the bullet and subscribing for the year. 5 months of DH racing at $9/month or $50/year. I will likely forget to cancel and then keep paying monthly (looking at you, World Champs VPN).

I love watching DH racing and want this sport to thrive. Fingers crossed it is as good or better than Red Bull coverage. Gonna miss Rob Warner though...

$9 gets you the first 3 races, right?


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GCN+ is like $4.16 a month with the annual $49.99 subscription.
I save that much monthly in bike lube just by waxing my chains….. oh now I’m mixing topics. [emoji15]

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Originally Posted by smmokan

Another apparent kink in the streaming plan… GCN+ doesn’t have a Roku app. Ugh.

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I had forgotten about this, and it's definitely an odd one because as far as app platforms/ecosystems go, Roku is still the most neutral. I was thinking I'd pony up for the subscription, but if I need to stream or cast from a computer or tablet anyways, I might as well cross my fingers and hope a freeplay shows up somewhere a day. or so after the race.

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Originally Posted by Dee Hubbs

GCN+ is like $4.16 a month with the annual $49.99 subscription.
I save that much monthly in bike lube just by waxing my chains….. oh now I’m mixing topics. [emoji15]

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There are already 2 threads screwed by that pooch... don't bring that ish here!


Commentating in the juniors DH is OK.

Gwinn's crash was awkward, looks like he's out for a while with a broken arm/elbow.

Hill, denied.

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Originally Posted by grskier

Commentating in the juniors DH is OK.

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I thought the other commentator (not Ric C) was pretty bad, but I only watched a couple of runs so hopefully it grows on me and/or he gets better. The camera coverage is definitely better than RB though.

Signed up for the $50 flat rate.. I figured by the time I remember to cancel in the fall I would be a few bucks short of that. If I get my bike on the trainer this fall/winter and watch 3-4 things it'll pay for the year.

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Originally Posted by t.odd

Hill, denied.

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Not really all that surprising. He's been fading in EWS for a while, so it would've been crazy if he could somehow put together a run in DH. Might be time for him to retire to the EWS moped class.

Rachel qualified 2nd though. That's impressive.

Bummed that Gwin and Luke meier-smith are out. Was looking forward to seeing what those guys could do this season.

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Originally Posted by toast2266

Not really all that surprising. He's been fading in EWS for a while, so it would've been crazy if he could somehow put together a run in DH. Might be time for him to retire to the EWS moped class.

Rachel qualified 2nd though. That's impressive.

Bummed that Gwin and Luke meier-smith are out. Was looking forward to seeing what those guys could do this season.

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Agreed. I've been curious to see how Iles, Goldstone, and Williams start taking over from some of the older guard like Hart ('only' 31), Minaar, et al.
Where is that french contingent at speed wise coming in...

Chris Blevins has faded a bit out the gate this year. Anyone heard of medical issues?

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Originally Posted by toast2266

- paid subscription to watch
- paid subscription still doesn't cover world champs
- new announcers with no previous bike experience
- screwy condensed schedule
- screwy qualifying rounds in DH
- pinkbike killed all fantasy leagues


It's like the UCI and the media head honchos had some secret meeting where they decided 2023 was the year they were gonna kill the sport.

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adding to this, GoPro only for POVs and no posting until two days after the run.

so the consensus is the announcers suck and the footage is better? was hoping to sample the Junior product before diving in but looks like you need to pony up for any race coverage.

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Originally Posted by westoxified

adding to this, GoPro only for POVs and no posting until two days after the run.

so the consensus is the announcers suck and the footage is better? was hoping to sample the Junior product before diving in but looks like you need to pony up for any race coverage.

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the juniors finals are free to watch and the replay is available now. i thought Cedric got better as the mens race went on, overall very watchable. I paid up for the sub and looking forward to watching the elites tomorrow.

I wouldn’t say the announcers suck… they aren’t Rob and Claudio/Elliot or whoever. Nobody is coming out of the box and touching thay

They are talking more about the teams… at least with the Juniors.
I actually think the camera work was a wash. A few more angles… guys in the production truck are learning still though.




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For the DH finals, seemed like the camera/course coverage was fairly decent. They only missed about 20-30 seconds at the top of the run. The commentating is horrible though, specifically Gracia.