My biggest concern for next year is that the organisers rrally want to much change in the first year.
Thinks I would not do:
- change the numberborad system
- reduse the number of qualified riders from 60-30. There would be no need to go to the actual venue anymore what reduces the momey for the ski resort the race takes place
- Up the inscription for no reason
- Attention unpopular opinion: Show more woman
- Flatten the show by making in sonsumable for a majority of people. It is a niche sport and will probably stay there.
What I would do:
- Would show some juniors as they prepare for a carreer and right now only ons rider has a real big coverage.
- more price money
- better coverage for the fans. More insigths, more of everything
- Make a race on the same track that is open to everyone at the same track. Just a few days or a week later. That wiuld be carnage but DH would become the TT of MTB
-
Latest Wyn TV Luke Meir Smith on the open market next year if my understanding of their convo was correct. Would be a good pickup for sure. Kid is a ripper!
i took the statement as greg being closer to the UCI and not being as into the union idea as others, but assumption on my part...
i took the statement as greg being closer to the UCI and not being as into the union idea as others, but assumption on my part.
could there be some red bull athlete worry behind the union too (loic's movement)? i DO NOT think red bull limits exposure of non-red bull athletes in the broadcast and even their editorial features, but red bull athletes get a lot of exposure because the broadcast is controlled by red bull (POVs, thumbnails all over youtube and the red bull site, social media posts etc). i don't know how contracts are worked out, but if total # of impressions are part of a deal, i'd imagine those impressions will be lower next year for red bull athletes b/c red bull will not have direct access to the same race weekend content for social channels/youtube.
if i was a red bull athlete, i'd be bummed for sure.
maybe a bit off topic, but in the pb comments someone mentioned some disgruntlement in the syndicate as peaty being absent the last couple races and...
maybe a bit off topic, but in the pb comments someone mentioned some disgruntlement in the syndicate as peaty being absent the last couple races and the riders seem split up during track walks. anyone got any insight?
also they mentioned that greg seems to only be concerned with safety on some features if it benefits him which rubs some riders the wrong way as he‘s their representative.
In the latest Syndicate YT video Peaty says he was waiting a new passport so couldn't travel
I'm going to go out on a limb with this one...as a cliche American that has gone absolutely all-in on F1 because of Drive to Survive, Could Discovery/UCI/Secrete DH racing Cabal be trying to change the rules and qualifying in an attempt to resemble the structure of F1?
Having fewer teams, and having them be the bigger factory teams makes it easier to follow for a casual/new viewer. Similarly, focusing the broadcast coverage on a smaller group of riders, 20-30, allows viewers to pick a couple of favorites and consistently root for them. It also lets Discovery more easily focus on rider profiles, off-track stories, and rivalries. They could even manufacture drama and cleverly edit like Drive To Survive does to increase interest.
I'm not saying this would be a good thing at all. But given how F1's popularity in the US has absolutely exploded, maybe it's possible Discovery and/or the UCI see the potential for the same thing (albeit on a much smaller scale) with DH racing.
F1 was 10 teams and 20 drivers for years before Nefflixxx came along
Came here to say Dean Lucas did a podcast with Loic and Finn talking about the riders union, which is interesting considering they're on one of the biggest trade teams and making a fair few dollars, and they are here looking out for the little guy, where someone like, oh I dunno, Minnaar is dismissing the whole idea like some tax-haven-living, end-of-career famous athlete. He's the riders rep for the UCI (beating out a strong run last year from Neko apparently) and according to this podcast has no time to actually convey to the riders what he hears from the UCI and this new org. He should have stepped down and got out of the way.
Link for apple podcasts but you can find it on other platforms. Worth a listen if you are a huge dork/fan of the sport.
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had Brendog talking about when he was on the Honda team with Greg. Brendog was a kid (along with ... ? Matti Lehikonen?) just hoping to qualify, while GM was already a World Champ I think. They'd ask Minnaar for advice and he gave them absolutely nothing. They'd ask about some part of the track they were struggling with and he'd be like "that's my favorite section." They'd ride behind him and he'd take some ridiculous line that they knew wasn't it.
You could tell Brendog was still a bit put-off by it, like, "I was in no way whatsoever a threat to GM, but he still gave me nuthin."
I saw that PB vid, several riders said something to the effect of "they want to ..." All I could think was, "why are you saying 'they' and not 'we'??"
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had...
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had Brendog talking about when he was on the Honda team with Greg. Brendog was a kid (along with ... ? Matti Lehikonen?) just hoping to qualify, while GM was already a World Champ I think. They'd ask Minnaar for advice and he gave them absolutely nothing. They'd ask about some part of the track they were struggling with and he'd be like "that's my favorite section." They'd ride behind him and he'd take some ridiculous line that they knew wasn't it.
You could tell Brendog was still a bit put-off by it, like, "I was in no way whatsoever a threat to GM, but he still gave me nuthin."
I saw that PB vid, several riders said something to the effect of "they want to ..." All I could think was, "why are you saying 'they' and not 'we'??"
Who knows. To be fair, that's racin'.
I've always thought teams were funny. There is nothing "team" about mountain bike racing at this level. You have personalities who are open (Bruni for instance) and ones who hold their cards close to their chest (Gwin). I respect it all.
I'd love some true team events to emerge (no, the WC "team" title means nothing). Something like a MXoN. Until then, its dog eat dog. Git sum. LOL
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had...
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had Brendog talking about when he was on the Honda team with Greg. Brendog was a kid (along with ... ? Matti Lehikonen?) just hoping to qualify, while GM was already a World Champ I think. They'd ask Minnaar for advice and he gave them absolutely nothing. They'd ask about some part of the track they were struggling with and he'd be like "that's my favorite section." They'd ride behind him and he'd take some ridiculous line that they knew wasn't it.
You could tell Brendog was still a bit put-off by it, like, "I was in no way whatsoever a threat to GM, but he still gave me nuthin."
I saw that PB vid, several riders said something to the effect of "they want to ..." All I could think was, "why are you saying 'they' and not 'we'??"
you are mixing racecraft (hard and sometimes comes across as douchebagey) with somebody with experience and stature to deal with UCI.. not saying that the guy is good for the job as rep.. just he might not choose to fight some battles.
Latest Wyn TV Luke Meir Smith on the open market next year if my understanding of their convo was correct. Would be a good pickup for...
Latest Wyn TV Luke Meir Smith on the open market next year if my understanding of their convo was correct. Would be a good pickup for sure. Kid is a ripper!
both luke and remdog are on a 1 year contract and both would be an epic pick up for any team. Those lads put in work
The "Drive to Succeed" show was a success because it focused on the goings on in the F1 paddock/pits that most fans hardly ever hear about. It did not succeed because there were LESS racers but because each episode focused on a compelling story (i.e. rivalries) involving several drivers and team managers.
If Discovery were to follow that model and also build an accompanying reality show, there is no need to reduce the number of racers or teams in the field but merely just focus on some ongoing drama per race that fans do not see.
David Trummer, Izabela Yankova, Nina Hoffman, Camille Balanche, Tuhoto Ariki-Pene, the Denim Destroyer, and many others had fantastic stories to tell from their time as privateers. A drastically reduced field of racers will mean that the names mentioned above might not ever get heard.
Re Drive to Survive, I managed to watch the first 3 seasons, but gave up early in Season 4. Too many wtfs to be able to enjoy it. And a lot of the drama and rivalries were fabricated out of thin air for the sake of drama.
I took GM's response to be a diplomatic one - he's been around long enough to know, as stated above, that there are some battles worth fighting and sometimes its better to play the long game. Don't know how the rider's rep position works, but its possible part of it prevents hime from getting too involved in any unionising...
Re the drive to survive type programming, F1 having few teams make sense because it is hugely expensive to run an F1 car, you can't just go to your local car dealer and pick up an F1 car, so teams need to have big budgets to build and develop the car.
In DH you can pretty much, go to your LBS and buy what most pros are running, and if you are quick enough, get into the world cup under your cycling federation, or as a privateer if you get enough points from other races
I had a similar though of Discovery trying to get more money out of it with something like that. Although I think the audience would still be quite small.
On Greg's stand as the rider represantation I think he is having a diplomatic stand. Isn't Pompom also in this role? Her opinion would be interesting.
But I really like the rider's unionising to have a bigger stand after seeing those bridges on the Andorran track.
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had...
Knowing exactly 0 about the behind-the-scenes stuff, Greg seems like an odd choice as a riders rep. I forget what podcast it was, but it had Brendog talking about when he was on the Honda team with Greg. Brendog was a kid (along with ... ? Matti Lehikonen?) just hoping to qualify, while GM was already a World Champ I think. They'd ask Minnaar for advice and he gave them absolutely nothing. They'd ask about some part of the track they were struggling with and he'd be like "that's my favorite section." They'd ride behind him and he'd take some ridiculous line that they knew wasn't it.
You could tell Brendog was still a bit put-off by it, like, "I was in no way whatsoever a threat to GM, but he still gave me nuthin."
I saw that PB vid, several riders said something to the effect of "they want to ..." All I could think was, "why are you saying 'they' and not 'we'??"
Who knows. To be fair, that's racin'.
I've always thought teams were funny. There is nothing "team" about mountain bike racing at this level. You have...
Who knows. To be fair, that's racin'.
I've always thought teams were funny. There is nothing "team" about mountain bike racing at this level. You have personalities who are open (Bruni for instance) and ones who hold their cards close to their chest (Gwin). I respect it all.
I'd love some true team events to emerge (no, the WC "team" title means nothing). Something like a MXoN. Until then, its dog eat dog. Git sum. LOL
there are team rankings in XCO. but i don't think they really count for much, and we don't usually hear much about them.
edit: they also track points by nation for xco, I'm fairly certain that's to determine # of racer slots for the olympics
Latest Wyn TV Luke Meir Smith on the open market next year if my understanding of their convo was correct. Would be a good pickup for...
Latest Wyn TV Luke Meir Smith on the open market next year if my understanding of their convo was correct. Would be a good pickup for sure. Kid is a ripper!
i took the statement as greg being closer to the UCI and not being as into the union idea as others, but assumption on my part...
i took the statement as greg being closer to the UCI and not being as into the union idea as others, but assumption on my part.
could there be some red bull athlete worry behind the union too (loic's movement)? i DO NOT think red bull limits exposure of non-red bull athletes in the broadcast and even their editorial features, but red bull athletes get a lot of exposure because the broadcast is controlled by red bull (POVs, thumbnails all over youtube and the red bull site, social media posts etc). i don't know how contracts are worked out, but if total # of impressions are part of a deal, i'd imagine those impressions will be lower next year for red bull athletes b/c red bull will not have direct access to the same race weekend content for social channels/youtube.
if i was a red bull athlete, i'd be bummed for sure.
maybe a bit off topic, but in the pb comments someone mentioned some disgruntlement in the syndicate as peaty being absent the last couple races and...
maybe a bit off topic, but in the pb comments someone mentioned some disgruntlement in the syndicate as peaty being absent the last couple races and the riders seem split up during track walks. anyone got any insight?
also they mentioned that greg seems to only be concerned with safety on some features if it benefits him which rubs some riders the wrong way as he‘s their representative.
In the latest Syndicate YT video Peaty says he was waiting a new passport so couldn't travel
In the latest Syndicate YT video Peaty says he was waiting a new passport so couldn't travel
Good to see Peaty back! Does anyone know where Kathy Sessler is these days? She was the team manager for so long and in their videos. I have either missed her in the videos or she is no longer in the mix.
last year, the ever-wise UCI had the riders rep voting take place during world champs, and they only allowed those competing that weekend to vote. chances are Neko would have had a better chance had they let everyone represented, by said rep, to vote.
Fresh faced American eagle to a “100%” focused team while the Swedish boomerang receives lucrative offers but happy to remain in a humble union.
Meanwhile the Aussie brothers are seperated at the chance of a factory sled, While the saying goes the Kestrel comes home to nest amongst the sharks and their spawn.
Chief of the bomb squad finally calls it a day and focuses on fatherhood,
Wyning is now done on one wheel and manages mustangs Sally’s new stripes, Isle of Man is tempted but loves French butter too much.
Meanwhile schnitzel von crumb gets his marching orders at the trum of a beat, But it’s ok the dudes are there to save him again and Good Times are had by all.
last year, the ever-wise UCI had the riders rep voting take place during world champs, and they only allowed those competing that weekend to vote. chances...
last year, the ever-wise UCI had the riders rep voting take place during world champs, and they only allowed those competing that weekend to vote. chances are Neko would have had a better chance had they let everyone represented, by said rep, to vote.
Fresh faced American eagle to a “100%” focused team while the Swedish boomerang receives lucrative offers but happy to remain in a humble union.
Meanwhile the...
Fresh faced American eagle to a “100%” focused team while the Swedish boomerang receives lucrative offers but happy to remain in a humble union.
Meanwhile the Aussie brothers are seperated at the chance of a factory sled, While the saying goes the Kestrel comes home to nest amongst the sharks and their spawn.
Chief of the bomb squad finally calls it a day and focuses on fatherhood,
Wyning is now done on one wheel and manages mustangs Sally’s new stripes, Isle of Man is tempted but loves French butter too much.
Meanwhile schnitzel von crumb gets his marching orders at the trum of a beat, But it’s ok the dudes are there to save him again and Good Times are had by all.
finally some riddles!!!
only one i get is the swedish boomerang (oli zwar).
Thinks I would not do:
- change the numberborad system
- reduse the number of qualified riders from 60-30. There would be no need to go to the actual venue anymore what reduces the momey for the ski resort the race takes place
- Up the inscription for no reason
- Attention unpopular opinion: Show more woman
- Flatten the show by making in sonsumable for a majority of people. It is a niche sport and will probably stay there.
What I would do:
- Would show some juniors as they prepare for a carreer and right now only ons rider has a real big coverage.
- more price money
- better coverage for the fans. More insigths, more of everything
- Make a race on the same track that is open to everyone at the same track. Just a few days or a week later. That wiuld be carnage but DH would become the TT of MTB
-
Having fewer teams, and having them be the bigger factory teams makes it easier to follow for a casual/new viewer. Similarly, focusing the broadcast coverage on a smaller group of riders, 20-30, allows viewers to pick a couple of favorites and consistently root for them. It also lets Discovery more easily focus on rider profiles, off-track stories, and rivalries. They could even manufacture drama and cleverly edit like Drive To Survive does to increase interest.
I'm not saying this would be a good thing at all. But given how F1's popularity in the US has absolutely exploded, maybe it's possible Discovery and/or the UCI see the potential for the same thing (albeit on a much smaller scale) with DH racing.
That would be like amputating the fun part off racing, the part where stunning young people come and beath the stars.
Came here to say Dean Lucas did a podcast with Loic and Finn talking about the riders union, which is interesting considering they're on one of the biggest trade teams and making a fair few dollars, and they are here looking out for the little guy, where someone like, oh I dunno, Minnaar is dismissing the whole idea like some tax-haven-living, end-of-career famous athlete. He's the riders rep for the UCI (beating out a strong run last year from Neko apparently) and according to this podcast has no time to actually convey to the riders what he hears from the UCI and this new org. He should have stepped down and got out of the way.
Link for apple podcasts but you can find it on other platforms. Worth a listen if you are a huge dork/fan of the sport.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-offtrack-experience/id1468080…
You could tell Brendog was still a bit put-off by it, like, "I was in no way whatsoever a threat to GM, but he still gave me nuthin."
I saw that PB vid, several riders said something to the effect of "they want to ..." All I could think was, "why are you saying 'they' and not 'we'??"
I've always thought teams were funny. There is nothing "team" about mountain bike racing at this level. You have personalities who are open (Bruni for instance) and ones who hold their cards close to their chest (Gwin). I respect it all.
I'd love some true team events to emerge (no, the WC "team" title means nothing). Something like a MXoN. Until then, its dog eat dog. Git sum. LOL
If Discovery were to follow that model and also build an accompanying reality show, there is no need to reduce the number of racers or teams in the field but merely just focus on some ongoing drama per race that fans do not see.
David Trummer, Izabela Yankova, Nina Hoffman, Camille Balanche, Tuhoto Ariki-Pene, the Denim Destroyer, and many others had fantastic stories to tell from their time as privateers. A drastically reduced field of racers will mean that the names mentioned above might not ever get heard.
Guenther Steiner is a legend though.
In DH you can pretty much, go to your LBS and buy what most pros are running, and if you are quick enough, get into the world cup under your cycling federation, or as a privateer if you get enough points from other races
On Greg's stand as the rider represantation I think he is having a diplomatic stand. Isn't Pompom also in this role? Her opinion would be interesting.
But I really like the rider's unionising to have a bigger stand after seeing those bridges on the Andorran track.
I'm very interested to hear more about that as it develops (I imagine the pit set-up at Andorra would be high on their list of things to change).
I'm really curious to hear the differences between the riders and managers unions requests (although I imagine they'll mostly overlap).
edit: they also track points by nation for xco, I'm fairly certain that's to determine # of racer slots for the olympics
they had the nation point rankings for XCO listed though
I found a team standings doc from Ft. William in a random place on misspentsummers.com (https://misspentsummers.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Fort-William-Wor…) so they exist somewhere but can't find it anywhere on the UCI site...
Edit: found the current standings on the other site: https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/22978495/
https://prod.chronorace.be/angular/results.html#/uci/mtb?ll=165824657634 (it looks blank for a bit then loads) - click "results/time" for the race you want, it'll load the results page for that race - "teams" is on the right of the listings after classes
this is DH team results after andorra
https://chronorace.blob.core.windows.net/webresources/20220715_dh/valn_…
Not sure that Propain will be able to afford to keep Luke now!
Meanwhile the Aussie brothers are seperated at the chance of a factory sled, While the saying goes the Kestrel comes home to nest amongst the sharks and their spawn.
Chief of the bomb squad finally calls it a day and focuses on fatherhood,
Wyning is now done on one wheel and manages mustangs Sally’s new stripes, Isle of Man is tempted but loves French butter too much.
Meanwhile schnitzel von crumb gets his marching orders at the trum of a beat, But it’s ok the dudes are there to save him again and Good Times are had by all.
...wut?
only one i get is the swedish boomerang (oli zwar).
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