Official calendar announced, so might as well start a new thread.
Only 1 DH race outside of Europe. All Enduro races in Europe. XC is at least getting around a bit.
https://p.vitalmtb.com/styles/s1200/...&itok=wA_ps09J
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Official calendar announced, so might as well start a new thread.
Only 1 DH race outside of Europe. All Enduro races in Europe. XC is at least getting around a bit.
https://p.vitalmtb.com/styles/s1200/...&itok=wA_ps09J
The UCI scheduler should be kicked in the nuts. Seems like the DH schedule is mostly packed into May/June, with a two month break between stops 6-7, and another month between 7-8. Makes no sense at all.
My guess is that enduro is done after 2024; with the effort the UCI puts into covering/promoting it and only having 6 races on the calendar, why would a bike company waste money on this shit?
In fairness to the dates, world champs isn't on there, but looks to be scheduled for late August. And the Olympics are happening in Paris July 26 - Aug 11, which I'm sure complicates things even for non-olympic events like DH.Quote:
Originally Posted by smmokan
Can't say I'll miss the UCI shitshow coming to Snowshoe.
https://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons...19/304/old.jpg
Nuke proof bankrupt.
I read a lot of comments saying Red Bull needs to go ahead and make their own DH series, and I'm inclined to agree heavily. We'd get Rob Warner back and better coverage that actually empowers the sport.
They need a feeder series that gives UCI points to qualify like the euro and Noram series does for skiing
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End of an Era. The GOAT Greg Minnaar retires.
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Source?Quote:
Originally Posted by skinipenem
You dare question the skini?
Google it
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https://youtu.be/9o_EZ0qrYeY?si=DV2vmBHSHd0wGQ2s
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The news was out a few days ago that he was parting with the Syndicate, but I couldn't find anything official that he was retiring.
Yeah, pinkbike said he was rumored to go to Norco. Which would be pretty crazy. Good for norco though.Quote:
Originally Posted by snowaddict91
Definitely not retirement vibes on that vid. Very much breakup vibes IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by skinipenem
You would have Greg talking if it was a wrap.
I thought the Norco thing had been confirmed pretty solidly as well.
It’s so confusing. Assuming his goal is to win one more race, why in the world would he go to any program that didn’t have a wicked fast bike and complete rider support. Can’t imagine any amount of money would make it worthwhile, given that’s he already seems pretty solid financially. But then, I don’t know shit.
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Share of the company or ownership of the race program?
The fact that Minnaar hasn't posted any sort of social media warmly worded retrospective about Santa Cruz or the syndicate would seem to indicate this was messy.
Doesn't seem like a great time to be a racer shopping for a team. Especially a racer like Minnaar, who has a lot of name recognition (meaning he'll want a lot of money), but whose best days are almost certainly behind him. I'm sure norco is excited to have someone help develop their new DH bike, but I'd guess that move is mostly happening because it was one of the only options available.
^ That was my take as soon as I read the Pinkbike article a few days ago. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
my understanding is that Jackson signed a fairly long term (by industry standards) contract with SCB which no doubt wasn't cheap and probably contributed to how all of this played out, given that none of the parties probably expected Greg to have a total shit season and then decide he needed another redemption year. Throw in industry shitting the bed and already a bunch of staffing reductions at SCB and well, here we are.
I've always liked and cheered for Greg, but there's certainly seemed to be some weird team vibes between him and 'new' syndicate over the past few variations, so who knows what else is going on there. Kinda feels like he missed his chance to exit gracefully and now we're in this awkward "oh, you're still here?" phase, which I hope doesn't ruin his legacy.
Re. Norco, can't say it really endears me to them either, they've been pretty all over the place about their racing program and teams over the past couple years, and this signing would feel like that continuation of that seemingly haphazard approach. Also heard that momma sess might be back too, at this rate probably O'Neill and Oakley as well...desperation for the glory days?!
In theory, Gwin could pick him up.
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Sounds like watching bikes next season will require a Max subscription + a $10/month sports add on (which apparently also includes NHL, MLB, and NBA). That's for the U.S. - presumably other countries are different.
Mount 7 Psychosis returning for 2024: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/the-re...s-is-back.html
$19.98/month to watch WC next year.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/world-...n-in-2024.html
With ads. That's shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by funkendrenchman
Tell me again how this is going to get more people interested in World Cup racing and put more money in the pockets of more racers…….??
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But only a small percentage of those other sports. They advertise "over 300 matches a year", which is a whopping 6% of the total NHL/NBA/MLB regular seasons combined.Quote:
Originally Posted by toast2266
Getting bike racing on the same platform as most of the ball/puck/stick sports seems like a rational plan for attracting eyeballs….much more so than a small niche streaming service.
It’s kinda funny to see the consolidation of streaming services…it’s almost like what if there was a service that provided basically all the content you wanted, and also a bunch you don’t care about, all from one place for a fairly reasonable price.
I feel ok about this. I’ve already got Max, would be psyched to watch MLB and NBA playoffs and all the bike racing I can handle.
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I more or less agree. I don't really care about the stick and ball sports (especially since football isn't included, and as HAB said, apparently it's a small fraction of the games). But consolidation was fairly inevitable.Quote:
Originally Posted by joetron
The real question is: how long until it comes full circle and we're just back to the exact same situation we were with cable? Hugely inflated prices in the name of getting "all" the content, but 99.99% of the content is complete garbage. But you're stuck paying for it because it's been bundled for convenience and it's the only way to get the .01% of content you actually want to watch.
Lots of Team Talk on the various podcasts. Seems like things are moving more elite and only minor tweaks to race week. Oh, and Redbull Hardline this week!
Game on.
Blunk is kicking ass in the Spain races. Will be fun to watch her. Interested to see how Batten and Blevins come to it this year. Interested to see if Swenson continues his Gravel run. Wish there was more out there on all of them, but I also get that training content isn’t that interesting to most.
There is a good YouTube series about last year’s Lifetime Series that was launched a few weeks ago. Keegan and some of the others are on the TrainerRoad podcast fairly regularly too.
Taz hardline looks like it'll be a fun watch. I was skeptical, but it seems like they put together a pretty decent course.Quote:
Originally Posted by grskier
BK's long ass vlogs have been a good look at how they all walk these things, and seeing some of the top 10 on the WC kinda freak out at some features put this into context.Quote:
Originally Posted by toast2266
Watch Jackson Goldstone's course preview today... definitely a few sketchy parts, but IMO it doesn't look nearly as gnarly as the Hardline Wales course. It looks more like a beefed-up World Cup DH course (other than the huge road gap).
Here is the preview:
https://youtu.be/fzMojsvblgE?si=XvRCWxHES7pN0j0y
Man the jumps and drops are BIG
Oh Hell Yeah!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by grskier
UCI can eat a bag of deez nuts.
Let's GOooOOooOoo!
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Yeah, those jumps / drops are a *lot* bigger than what's on world cup tracks.
But yeah, Wales certainly seems techier. All in all though, the Taz course looks rad. Especially for a first year effort. The first year or two in Wales had some seriously sketchy shit in it (and not really in a good way).
That looks proper rowdy.