2024 Red Bull Hardline

Yeah, Hardline is great but seeing it go this direction makes it feel like a sideshow to try and pull in clips views on social media. Shitloads of people are going to share clips of this jump but those folks likely won't know what the event is, or even what the sport is. I know this concept was created by Dan to make a race with the biggest more technical features on it and I totally understand that but it seems to me that this is entering try hard vs something genuinely good for the sport or even interestingly. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if riders decide that they want to ride this stuff, that's fully up to them, hell they can hold the race and add fire rings to jump through for all I care if that's what the riders want but I'd love to see Redbull enlist Dan's talents and allocate the resources they're putting into this into creating a fully fledged, real World Cup alternative that's free of the UCI, has new/interesting tracks in new and interesting locations with big prize purses. 

As for this feature, I don't think anyone would think less of RB or the builders if they came out and said after experimenting here they're pulling this feature and going back to the OG track. Personally I like tracks that are steep with more technical moves vs super high speed with big jumps, this goes for hardline too. The big jumps aren't interesting, the steep rock moves are. 

A couple of points I haven't seen brought up.

1. There is zero margin for error on the run in of that jump. What happens when it's muddy and someone slides out at the bottom of the run in and goes off the side of the ramp? That's looks to be substantially higher than the gap is wide? 

2. This is for sure a feature that gets shut down by a stiff breeze. There doesn't look to be an alternative route. Is this feature the reason Hardline gets cancelled this year?  Big jumps make it more likely that weather causes a cancellation than more technical routes that could be run in the wet/ wind. 

that photo is mesmerizing on so many levels...

Random thoughts-
-I find it hard to believe Dan was directly involved in the construction of the canyon gap and that appalling hip monstrosity ( I recognized a few of the builders on the vids)
-He is probably the most experienced builder of big trail features (if you've ridden Dyfi you'll know how good he is) in the uk and having been super seriously injured himself and seeing what his brother went through I could'nt see him signing off on something he was'nt 100% with (he hurt himself guinea pigging the lily pad/90ft's before anyone else).
-I don't know Dan super well (since the Commencal days) but I know him well enough to know that he takes this shit super seriously.
-Gee is always super busy doing his own stuff somewhere.
-Also it being so unfinished only a week before the event seems  so wrong.
-Matt Jones (ignoring personal dramas) seems like a nice guy and can jump a bike (not so good on technical stuff) but he seemed waaay out of his depth (here and in Tassie) and maybe not the brightest cookie.
-BK has taken on the mantle as 'the tester' .....realistically if he said 'nope' I could'nt see anyone else riding it and with only a week to go, there's goes hardline. That's a lot of pressure to get'er done.

I am just baffled, as Spomer and Jason said I believe, that you basically have a distance that seems about the exact distance of the standardized mega ramp for X Games. You have the backing of Red Bull. And therefore the backing of basically anyone including Travis Pastrana and his Nitro Circus crew and builders.

You have as far as I can see every resource you could possibly want for this specific scenario... And you eye ball it? You just draw it on a napkin and call it a day?

I'm guessing the big obstacle was, as you build the roll in. You start to run out of space for how the transitions even out. They wanted a flat spot so people could speed check braking and 'set up' for the jump, and it turned it into an even worse proposition. I'm not sure how much more room they can gain given it looks nearly set in stone (literally?) at this point. But if they even try to fix it the ramp will then become a fully rounded transition roll in to ramp, that may be harder to brake check on. And you can add any net you want down there... Nobody wants to free fall off the edge and trust the netting from the builders who couldn't get the ramp good first try. :/

How is that in any way related to this? 

*couldn't, wasn't 

BK needs a place in MTB hall of fame. The guy is so dedicated to making MTB racing better and the overal appeal for riders and viewers.
 

Personally I don’t like the look of it.  Got a beautiful welsh mountainside with this wierd and ugly giant rollin, jump, and landing built onto it.  But I’m sure it will look pretty epic on camera and that’s what they are going for. And while hardline often gets called off for wind.  With a wooden run in they should be able to hit it if it’s wet as will it roll just as fast.

I have zero experience with features of this size but the lip looks like less of a problem than the transition from the rollin and the very short run up to the lip.

I do find it hilarious they bothered with foam pads at the bottom they usually use on the back of a case pad.  As if they are going to make any difference when you are falling 90 or more feet going 30-40 mph forward.

What i cant understand is why they dont protect the casing/face of the ramp with a big inflatable. That would reduce danger in big jumps testing

Hehe. Unfortunately, I think he'll stop when he's paralysed or kills himself...

BK needs a place on a register.....

Less than a week away from the event, which happens to be a DH RACE, and they haven't dialed in all the features yet. Even rampage gets 4 days of practice - and you get to choose your own lines/features. Can't help but think they had something go wrong schedule wise...

I hope thats true. I wasn’t going to watch if they had these wonky features. Game on for the original course.

The hip and the canyon gap take the riders across the river and back again. I'm guessing they will just scratch out a connector trail to keep things on the one side of the waterfall. 

Part of me is skeptical, not having heard anything from any other sources. Part of me is disappointed if it's true (especially if they were re-working the take off). Part of me is relieved because I don't want to see anyone hurt and weather/wind always plays such a big factor in whether or not the event actually takes place. 

If the riders said it's not going to work, I support it. If someone else said they shouldn't do it even if the riders still wanted it, I'm less happy. 

From the PB primer: "It sounds like there will be a safety net added and the lip will be changed ahead of the race."

Singletracks says it's out entirely: "We’ve been informed by a source at the event that the organisers have decided not to include the canyon gap jump as part of the Red Bull Hardline course."

Seems like it'll just be lots of speculation until there's an official announcement. 

Singletrack World Magazine are saying the canyon gap is out.

https://singletrackworld.com/2024/05/hardline-gap-jump-is-out

That won't convince the type of reader who thinks this is some kind of injustice and jeopardizing the core rep of the event or whatever their angle is I have no idea. They won't be happy until Gee himself knocks on their door, shakes their hand, and tells them they're using the old course. I like how it's bothering some people we won't see people risk the canyon jump. Keeps em up at night. They wanted hardline not softline. They want blood guts n gore

I have no interest in blood, guts and gore. I have an interest in riders having the autonomy to make their own decisions about what they want to ride and/or how far they want to progress.

It shouldn't be up to the viewers that thinks that new blue flow trail was a rowdy good time to decide what the very best riders should or shouldn't ride. 

Wait do you think the viewers closed the canyon gap?

Do you... Do you think viewers have EVER had ANY effect on Hardline/Rampage or even WC courses tbh?

I honestly have no idea, but in all my years of riding and following races/events/etc, I've never seen this kind of pushback from fans to shut down a feature. I've never seen petitions for Gee (or other riders) to calm down. 

Like I said, if the riders are calling it, great. If they (or the organizers) are bowing to the pressure, even if they've made is safer and/or easier to ride, not awesome. 

Regardless, there still hasn't been any kind of announcement, so it's still just speculation. 

Oh I was literally joking. There's ZERO chance viewers have any say on this. You think Gee would give a flying fuck?

From what I heard the reason it's not happening is a) they couldn't get a decent netting solution up in time and b) sounds like they ran against a timeframe to actually fix the jumps. I'd even be convinced they didn't think the fix was feasible. From what I can see the reason the transition is so tight is just literally physical space. Could mellow the lip, but you still have a G out issue on the run in. So the only solution would be rounding the entire thing out which makes speed checking VERY hard. Which means you absolutely need a net if people are struggling to brake cuz there isnt a flat spot to do so.

Or literally a million other reasons lol. It's just a bad design. Hopefully they get it next year. But all 3 riders who rode it said it was dogshit and the hip was so bad they didn't even attempt it lol. Nothing to do with viewers. Just bad design and short on time.

Ha ha. All fair points. I don't think Gee cares, but the higher ups might. 

If they pull it from the race (and can make it work a bit better), it'd be cool to have a session with athletes that want to hit it. After some reflection though, I also think that the weather is such a crapshoot at the best of times, I actually think it'd be ridiculously good luck to get a window where the wind wouldn't shut that thing down.

Curious what they do instead if it's off the table. 

That was my take. It makes almost zero sense in a race format. Particularly one that was literally cancelled the year before due to wind (and presumably the 90s, which if they had proper go arounds maybe they could justify running in the wind?).

Rebuilt correctly, on for a filming session. It's a GREAT free ride feature. Already produced photo of the year with Jim's bail flight from down low. But as a race feature it makes about zero sense. This should have all been figured out as a freeride feature a while ago, and once perfected, THEN considered for the race. (Not the other way around.)

Probably time to jump down from that high horse your on and take a breather