MTB World Downhill Championships

Pufftmw

Whilst we're all commuters here, it is of note that at this weekend's World Downhill Championships in Norway, Britain came 1st & 2nd in the Men and 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the Women. In Junior Men GBR took 2nd.

I have to say that is a thoroughly impressive performance and whilst we all sometimes gurn about nodders and the plethora of newbies coming to cycling, it also leads to results like this so long may it continue.

veronese68

It's also pretty exciting to watch, even if I spend most of the time thinking they're all insane.

ddraver

Note that the Guy that came second came second with a broken ankle having overjumped the last jump and just freewheeled the rest of the course

veronese68

See, I said they were insane.

Pufftmw

ddraver wrote:

Note that the Guy that came second came second with a broken ankle having overjumped the last jump and just freewheeled the rest of the course

Josh - current 2014 Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill champion, so he just missed out on the double.

Kieran_Burns

So... basically they're falling down a hill very fast on wheels?

ddraver

Yup Great season for him nonetheless. Bit of a shame for Gee as it kind of devalues it a bit but I suppose it's a common theme for the World Champs DH

veronese68

Kieran_Burns wrote:

So... basically they're falling down a hill very fast on wheels?

Pretty much. The skill is in controlling the fall sufficiently to avoid hitting trees and other obstacles and to keep the bike under you most of the time. Rather than just face planting at the first opportunity.

arran77

Kieran_Burns wrote:

So... basically they're falling down a hill very fast on wheels?

Are you related to Piña

I reckon anything done well looks easy and effortless, you've just got to look at the way that some of the professional roadies fly up the hills like they're on drugs or something.......oh hang on

ddraver

veronese68

Very ouch. :shock:

Long_Time_Lurker

He's posted a nice photo on his instagram account...
http://instagram.com/p/sqNwTPmbDb/ :shock:

bartimaeus

Kieran_Burns wrote:

So... basically they're falling down a hill very fast on wheels?

Definitely... Neko Mulally came 4th after he broke his chain within the first 50m of the course. No pedaling for him.

mtb-idle

it's all about the size of their balls and they are mahoosive I tell you.

Video here of the run he broke his foot on.

http://dirtmountainbike.com/news/hafjel ... e-run.html

Fast forward to 3-20 if you cant be bothered to watch it all but it's worth viewing in HD just to see how terrifying it is, just watch those trees rush past at high speed!

I was in Morzine in July doing as much as a middle aged office droid can to emulate the DH boys (and girls) and bumped into Manon Carpenter, 21 year old welsh lass who currently leads the female downhill scene



That's me right there, the middle-aged bloke and she's err.. the girl in the middle...

Stevo_666

Veronese68 wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

So... basically they're falling down a hill very fast on wheels?

Pretty much. The skill is in controlling the fall sufficiently to avoid hitting trees and other obstacles and to keep the bike under you most of the time. Rather than just face planting at the first opportunity.

I'll give some real life feedback later this week. There may be some face plants involved