Interview: Raymond Dulieu - DH1

This is an interview with Raymond Dulieu, founder of Freecaster and DH1, that never made it into the magazine. I had originally wanted to feature the interview in the October issue of IMB, but Raymond was too busy to answer my questions. In fact for the next two months Raymond was too busy to answer any questions, but eventually he got round to it.

I believed in the principles of DH1 and the idea behind it so was keen to help promote it. After a lot of prompting I received the answers on Tuesday 13th December. The new issue of the magazine was due to go live on the following Monday. After answering my questions I never heard from Raymond again, despite requests for any PR material, DH1 logos etc. to run with the interview.

Supporters of DH1 such as Santa Cruz, Scott and the Kovariks supplied photos for the article and by the Friday the article was ready to be part of the new issue. Late Friday evening French magazine Velo Vert tweeted a link to an interview they had just done with Raymond in which he was quoted as saying:

"If it is confirmed that red bull will now finance and produce a full HD coverage of the UCI world cup I'll have to consider wether we haven't then ultimately achieved our goal of secure excellent coverage for DH MTB and DH1 might then have served its purpose. In any case for red bull to consider MTB is greatly do to Freecaster fantastic work to put it back in the public eye."

At this time there was no confirmation that Red Bull would be streaming the World Cups, but twitter ignited with users claiming that DH1 had indeed been cancelled.

In March this year Red Bull did in fact announce they would be streaming the World Cup series and Wolrd Champs online for free. There was never any announcement from Raymond or DH1. The last post on the Facebook Page Ray was so keen to promote read: "bargain for those who act fast :-)" with a link to four brand new fox forks. I think it's safe to assume these were meant to be given away as prizes across the DH1 series. 

DH1 never ran as a series, but below is the interview with Raymond. Think of it as a "What could have been?"

*****

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare

Downhill racing is bigger now than it has ever been, but why? Is it because of the teams; is it because of the riders, is it because of the bikes? Well, maybe just maybe it’s because for the last six seasons every race on the World Cup circuit has been transmitted live and for free across the planet to anyone with a computer and Internet connection.

All of a sudden races went from being viewed only by those who were lucky and in some cases brave enough to be able to make it to the venue, to being viewed by everyone from the comfort of their own homes. Downhill had become accessible. Raymond Dulieu is the man behind Freecaster, and is the man who made this possible.

So what does all this have to do with Shakespeare? During the run up to the World Champs in September there were rumours circulating that this would be the last UCI event that Freecaster would cover and there would be no live coverage for races in 2012. The future of the sport suddenly looked very bleak.

We can now confirm that Freecaster will not be covering any UCI events for 2012. Rather than sitting back and looking at all that Freecaster had accomplished it was soon announced that that they would be setting up their own race series, DH1, with six rounds, dates and locations in-sync with the UCI and most importantly of all, live coverage at every race.

Ray took time out his very busy schedule to talk to us about Freecaster and his new race series.

How did the idea of Freecaster come about?

Freecaster was originally conceived in 2003 as a host site for video content. At the time most web sites didn't have flash video players, YouTube didn't exist and there was an opportunity for a service to deliver high quality rights cleared videos to web sites. We launched early 2004 and immediately grew very quickly. Not only were we the first one on the market but we also had Braun shavers on board as sponsors. Their support allowed us to cover our cost from day one.

How many people are involved in putting the live stream together?

Every live webcast needs an on-site producer, a commentator, and a cameraman. Then in the office we have a satellite operator, a streaming engineer and an IT engineer so a minimum of six people. It’s quite a small team for the size of the task.

Photo // Courtesy of the Santa Cruz Syndicate

When did you first start the live race coverage, and how did the first few go?

We started live streaming in 2006 with snowboard events and immediately followed through with mountain bike coverage. We're always dependent on the television pictures we received and it's been a struggle in mountain bike from day one. There are never enough cameras on the course, except for at the World Championships.

With an audience as big as you're getting you must get as nervous as the riders come race day?

We’ve learned a lot over the years and it seems like we’ve got our infrastructure dialled this year. The issue is more for the web site server than the live video feed as that goes through 40,000 Akamai servers to ensure that the live stream is always delivered no matter how big the audience gets.

You must have been to your fair share of races over the years?

Unfortunately I haven’t been to as many races as I’d liked to, as I had to look after our business. Covering races is just a part of what we do at Freecaster. We can produce live streams for fashion shows, music concerts and large conferences. That is what allows us ultimately to finance our activities in DH. It’d be unfair for me to pick a favourite track but for 2011, I'd have to say Champéry provided the most thrilling race of the year.

How early on did Rob Warner become involved and start commentating?

Rob came on board in 2008 if I remember correctly. He and I met at the Red Bull X-Fighters in Madrid where he was working for Channel4 (a British television channel). I had no idea who Rob was at the time so it was a lucky strike for Freecaster!

Do you think his enthusiasm has been key to Freecaster's success?

Absolutely, Rob's personality gave the shows an identity and I'm really grateful for that. I hope we can do even more together over the 2012 season with DH1.

Obviously live coverage is just one part of the Freecaster 'package' if you will. What else do you produce at races?

The live coverage is a key product but we also put together a course walk to explain what riders are facing. This year we swapped it for a course ride with Rob riding the course on a Santa Cruz V10 Carbon. We also put together bespoke interviews pre and post race; we publish side-by-side clips that show how riders compare, and of course we produced a lot of material for the end of season DVD.

Freecaster 2011 DVD trailer from WFO Media on Vimeo.

Let’s talk about your new race series, DH1. When did you first start to think about this project?

I decided to launch DH1 after this years World Champs when it was clear that we had no opportunity to find agreeable terms with the UCI for 2012 and beyond. DH1 will offer Pro Riders more events to race on and HD multi-cam LIVE coverage. We will race World Cup level tracks and I hope that in the aftermath of the 2012 season, media and riders will agree that yet again we've had a positive impact on the sport of downhill mountain bikes.

You’ve worked out a new race format as well haven’t you; can you tell us a bit about how this will work?

Amateurs will be able to register on a first come first serve basis for a limited number of race places. Most events will welcome 200+ riders. They will compete on the Saturday and the top 30 will then compete on the Sunday morning. The top 10 finalist of the amateur race will then compete on the Sunday afternoon against 20 seeded pro riders.

Maribor in Slovenia has already been confirmed as the host for the first round of the series, are you looking forward to returning there?

Maribor has always been one of the rider’s favourite downhill tracks. Also it is conveniently scheduled just before the iXS race in Leogang and the World Cup race at Val di Sole.

Two more races have also been confirmed in Oz-en Oisans and Les 2 Alpes, France, how close to revealing the final three destinations are you?

I wish we could reveal the final courses sooner but as we launched DH1 in September, it was pretty late for some towns who had already committed their budgets. Bromont was foreseen for June but they still haven't confirmed whether they can finance the race and currently the organisers would like more time to make a decision. The same applies for the two other venues but I'm confident that early 2012 all dates will be confirmed.

Now, the two French tracks have never been raced as part of a world series before, do you think they’re up to it?

Yes their tracks will be of the highest level or else they wouldn't be part of DH1. The course in Oz en Oisans was used on the Nissan European Downhill Cup in 2011 much to the satisfaction of the riders and was designed by the same crew who made La Bresse, one of the best tracks of this past season. The course in Les 2 Alpes has been designed by Marc Beaumont and Mick Hannah and will allow us to cover the entire run with a helicopter. Expect to see the same sort of coverage that you normally get at an event as big as the Tour de France.

Photo // Red Bull Content Pool / Sven Martin

Are we likely to see the UK host a round in 2013?

I'd love to have a UK round in 2013. The issue is to find a date that is not conflicting with the iXS European cup and that makes sense for the teams as to not increase their travel costs. The UK is on par with Germany as the largest downhill market whenever I look at the Freecaster stats, so really we have to seriously consider holding a DH1 round in the UK.

What other venues would you like to see hosting a round?

The main issue is that the teams need to have a sufficient budget to travel to places but ideally I'd like DH1 to race in New Zealand, Costa Rica, Chile, Indonesia and of course the USA. Also sponsors still look at whether a race is organised in their market rather than looking at which location can provide the best races and the best pictures.

What kind of support have you received from race teams and riders?

The feedback is great and without the support from the riders or the teams I would never have embarked on this adventure.

And how has the response from the fans been?

Equally the support from the fans has been great. We’re up to 16,000 fans worldwide on our Facebook page. The more ‘likes’ we can get the better as it’s a really useful marketing tool and gives us almost instantaneous communication with our fans. I’m hoping that we can reach the same kind of numbers on our Facebook page that we used to get on Freecaster on race days.

Thank you so much for your time, and good luck for the future!

Phil Atwill - Madison/Saracen

For the next issue of IMBikemag I've interviewed Madison Saracen rider Phil Atwill. Phil lives pretty close by in Berkhamsted and Aston Hill is his local track, so we met there for a chat and to grab some photos.

Phil's a funny guy so there were plenty of laughs during the interview, but I was pretty nervous about getting some photos to run with the feature. The last thing I wanted was to annoy him by asking him for 'one more try', but it turned out he loves hitting the same jump or corner over and over again. Result!

Michael O'Brien - Firecrest MTB

For the Trail Maintenance article in the new issue of IMB I needed a few photos of someone riding downhill up at Aston Hill. Ian at Firecrest MTB had a coaching session booked with young rider Michael O'Brien and said I was more than welcome to come along and get some snaps, so I did!

It's cool to watch a Firecrest coaching session, and see the improvements that can be made in just an hour or two! As well as a freelap timing system to get accurate times for marked sections, Ian uses an app on his iPad that allows him to instantly record, play-back and pause all the action to give improved feedback to the rider, which you can see in the photos.

 You can view more photos from the morning here.

Steve Smith Wins Hafjell World Cup!

Steve Smith has won his first World Cup round in Hafjell, Norway! The Devinci Global Racing rider, decked out in his home nation of Canada’s colours stormed ahead of his team mate George Brannigan who also had his best result to date!

 
Markus Pekoll was sitting comfortably in the hot seat, his time seeing off challenges from both team mates Damien Spagnola and Brook MacDonald. It wasn’t until Cam Cole flew past the line that Pekoll had to move over, his time proving enough to finish just inside the top ten.

With the overall title in Gwin’s bruised and battered hands, the fight for second place between Gee and Greg was on. Gee hadn’t had the qualifying run he’d been hoping for and so was up first and went into the lead almost two seconds up on Cam’s time. Gee was the only rider to never be outside the top four all year, no doubt helping GT Factory Racing win the team standings.

Sam Hill was up next, going for some style points manualing into the final of the start jumps and throwing some tweaks in the rock gardens. He was super tucked through the speed trap, closing in on Gee’s time, but crossing the line in third place. Nick Beer was looking fast, taking a different line through the rock garden to the rest of the field, but just missing on on beating Gee’s time.

This was Minnaar’s first race since winning the World Champs in Leogang, and there’s no doubt he was looking for another win. Minnaar was sixth at the first split but cam through the speed trap so tucked he made Sam Hill look sloppy, hitting over 70kph and clawing the time deficit back to just half a second. He sprinted over the line just 0.155 seconds ahead of Gee’s time, securing second place in the overall standings.

Josh Bryceland was the fastest qualifier out of the Santa Cruz guys, and in some races this year, their youngest rider has had the best results out of the team, but today wasn’t Josh’s day and he had to settle for eight place. Still, sixth overall is a great result for Ratboy!

Third in qualifying was George Brannigan’s best result so far as he set off from the start hut. The young kiwi rider on the Devici Global Racing team was eleventh at the first split but had jumped up to just .6 seconds behind Greg by the second split and stormed past the finish line 1.7 seconds up on Minnaar! This was Brannigan’s first top ten finish all year and he was doing it in style, with a guaranteed place on the podium.

Just two riders remained, Rob Wallner and Steve Smith. Swedish rider Wallner became the 2010 European Champion here two years ago and had been looking great in practice and qualifying. The Scandinavian crowd was going wild for him, but something wasn’t going right for him and as he cooled off in the finish pit it became clear that he’d been having trouble with his brakes. Don’t worry Rob, it happens to the best riders. Just ask Gwin…

So just Steve Smith remaining, would Devinci be able to go one-two on the podium? Easily! Smith was looking pinned from the word go, up at the first plit and holding his time all the way down. Steve took the same right hand line through the first rock garden as his team mate Nick Beer, and then seemed to just skip through the second rock garden before sprinting to the finish line like a mad man to finish nearly half a second up on George Brannigan, meaning all three team riders were on the podium!

As soon as he’d caught his breathe Steve said: “I’m so happy right now! I’ve never won a World Cup before and this has been a dream of mine for so long! It was so hard with the wind, but it was the same for everyone. I can’t believe I finished first, I’m so stoked! This is insane all three of us are on the podium today and it’s George’s first ever podium and Nick’s first podium this year so the whole Devinci team is so stoked right now!”

Men’s Top Five
 

1 Steve Smith 3:31.76

2 George brannigan 3:32.16

3 Greg Minnaar 3:33.89

4 Gee Atherton 3:34.05

5 Nick Beer 3:34.89

Full results can be found here.

Aaron Gwin was unable to race on Saturday after injuring his hand during practice. This was the same hand an injury Gwin suffered in Val d’Isere, but this time was far more serious. However, with such a lead coming in to the final round Gwin already had the series wrapped up.

Men’s Final Overall Standings

1 Aaron Gwin – 1260

2 Greg Minnaar – 1162

3 Gee Atherton – 1123

4 Steve Smith – 930

5 Sam Hill – 735

6 Josh Bryceland – 699

7 Brook MacDonald – 650

8 Danny Hart – 699 (missed two races due to shoulder injury)

9 Mick Hannah -632

10 George Brannigan – 604

Aaron Gwin On His World Champs Race Run

The official word from Trek World Racing regarding Aaron Gwin’s race run:

“Race favourite Aaron Gwin saw his hopes of taking a ‘bonus’ title this year come to an end around 1min 20secs into his final race run, when inexplicably both his front and rear brakes failed, resulting in a crash. Shortly after the crash Aaron pumped the brakes to try and get some pressure going but it was insufficient to complete the course safely at speed, and he cruised to the line disappointed he was unable to throw down a run on the three and half minute course.

At the World Championships there is no qualifying round or seeding run, but a timed practice session where riders can check their general race speed against official timing. Aaron was happy with his fourth in timed practice and as race day drew nearer, and the sun came out drying the track dramatically, all was set for a classic Aaron Gwin run. Unfortunately the brake failure, something he has never experienced before and in fact is his first mechanical in a race run since joining the team, really took him by surprise.

Aaron said at the finish line: “I really don’t understand what happened. I warmed up as usual, tested the brakes as usual at the top, walked down the course to have a look at how the track was running, went into my run, brakes working fine for the first minute or so, and then bang, nothing. I crashed and got up as soon as I could, pumped to see what was there, but it wasn’t enough, and knew my day was run”.

The brakes have been taken back to Japan for further analysis as there was nothing immediately evident from the post-race inspection, and nothing new was done to these brakes that Aaron and the team has run for most of the season.”

I think what it’s important to note here how calm and humble Gwin remained about the situation. Having crashed and lost the use of his brakes he could have easily thrown a trackside tantrum and refused to ride the rest of the course, but instead he put on a show for the thousands of fans that had come out to watch the race.

Unlike some sports there was no trash talking other riders or claims of “what if” had his brakes been working. Equally Greg Minnaar showed incredible sportsmanship in his victory, commenting on Gwin’s troubles that this was “not the best way to win”. In fact both riders had nothing but kind words to say to each other on twitter.

And that ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls is how you recover from a nightmare situation.

Greg Minnaar Wins The 2012 Downhill World Champs!

Greg Minnaar has won the 2012 UCI Downhill World Championships in Leogang, his second World Championship victory!

Minnaar proved once more that he is one of the greatest downhill riders the sport has seen, looking his usual composed self as he tore down the Austrian mountain side. This was Minnaar’s second World Championship victory, having first claimed the rainbow stripes back in 2003.

Speaking after the race Minnaar said: “It was tough. I was super nervous! I tried to nail the top section, made a few little mistakes but I managed to come back”. When asked about Gwin’s run Minnaar showed nothing but respect for the American racer saying this was “not the best way for me to win” adding “I can hardly believe I’ve won this!”

As it came down to the top 15 elite men Great Britain’s Sam Dale was sitting comfortably in the hot seat with a time of 3:28. Steve Peat, in his 20th World Championship race was up on Dale’s time and looking fast. Too fast in fact as he came into a corner with too much speed and crashed out. But Peaty is such a huge legend of the sport he could roll down on a kids tricycle and still get the loudest cheer from the crowd. Today was no exception and the Austrian fans went wild for him.

Back in May Troy Brosnan had a huge crash at the iXS race held in Leogang. The internal injuries he suffered put him out for the season and this was his first return to the world stage. Unfortunately it seems Leogang just isn’t Troy’s track, and last year’s Junior World Champ took another big slam and was unable to finish.

Andrew Neethling looked to be having a great run, the first rider to go seriously big on the tabletops. Like massive big. The momentum from these gave him an extra boost of speed but Needles just couldn’t control it on the bike park corner. How the wallride survived is anyone’s guess.

Mick Hannah was the fastest rider in Saturday’s timed practice with a 3:26. As I’ve said before, Mick is an incredibly powerful rider and the track at Leogang is perfect for his riding style. Mick crossed the line nearly two seconds faster than current leader Florent Payet and went into the lead.

Steve Smith was the next rider down, hot off three massive wins at Crankworx Whistler, including the Canadian Open DH. Smith was a second and a half back at the top section, but clawed the time back in the technical section on-board his Carbon Devinci Wilson to go into the hot seat and eventually take the bronze medal.

Josh Bryceland didn’t have much luck at the World Champs last year, going over the bars coming out a corner and having to watch his V-10 spiral down the Swiss mountainside. Bryceland suffered more heartache yet again, his front wheel clipping a tree and sending him over the front.

Sam Hill didn’t have the best start, getting a bit too loose in one of the opening corners and dabbing a foot. Hill was 8.66 seconds back at the first split, yet somehow managed to get that down to just two seconds as he crossed the line, doing enough to finish fifth. Brook MacDonald also didn’t have the run he would have hoped for finishing in eighth place.

Gee Atherton won the World Champs in Val di Sole back in 2008 so knows exactly how it feels to earn those rainbow stripes, and what it takes to win them. Gee wasn’t the cleanest rider through the tabletops but was pedalling more than anyone else and went into the hot seat just over half a second up on Steve Smith’s time. With just two riders left Gee was guaranteed a medal round his neck for the return journey.

But this wasn’t to be Gee’s day and Minnaar put in an impeccable run finishing half a second faster than Gee. As Gwin approached the tabletops it was clear something was wrong and the first split confirmed it. The 2012 World Championship tilt e belonged to Greg Minnaar, and he couldn’t have been happier!

1 – Greg Minnaar 3:21.790
2 – Gee Atherton +0.581
3 – Steve Smith +1.214

Full results can be found here.

Photos by Ale di Lullo

IMB Issue 19 Goes LIve

The latest issue of IMB has just gone live! It was a pretty tough issue and it took a lot of hard work to get it finished, but it's full of some great features. Last month I was lucky enough to interview Brook MacDonald just days before his first World Cup victory in Val d'Isere. While I wasn't able to get into the venue itself, I was able to go to Hadleigh Farm to watch the Men's Cross Country Olympic race! The atmosphere in the town was incredible! They certainly got into the Olympic Spirit!

There's also the Red Bull Joyride slopestyle contest as well as a photography profile with Swedish snapper Simon Sjoren. And of course the trail guide made a return this issue! We headed to Coed Llandegla. I don't think I've been on a better trail ride in the UK. So many tabletops! Can't wait to head back for another ride without Rou and his hay fever...

You know what, looking at the contents page, the first five stories are all mine. True story.

Brook MacDonald

 London 2012

Simon Sjoren Photography Profile

Red Bull Joyride

Coed Llandegla Trail Guide

Brook MacDonald Wins Val d'Isere World Cup!

Brook MacDonald has won his first World Cup race in Val d'Isere, while Aaron Gwin's fifth place finish was enough for the Trek World Racing rider to take the overall series title! Brook qualified second on Friday and upped his pace today to take his first victory as an elite rider.

Not only was this Brook's first win, it was the first win by a New Zealand rider, and the first time a rider other than Greg Minaar or Aaron Gwin has stepped on the top of the podium since 2010. Ahead of the race Brook had said that he loved this rough and natural track, and it certainly showed in his race run! Brook's aggressive riding style saw him up at the second split, and he crossed the line half a second up on Gee Atherton's time of 2:19.973.

After the race Brook said: “I can't even explain it in words! I had a solid run and I'm over the moon about this win. I've had a big struggle throughout this season, but I've changed a few things and it's paid off this week. This was a hard track with the high altitude and it's only two and a half minutes long so you can't afford to lose any time. I put it together, it was a good run and I'm so happy with it!"

This was Gee's first World Cup race with the Union Jack on his sleeve, having won the National Champs last weekend. Gee has been on every podium at every race this season, and kept things low and fast over the opening jumps. This tactic worked with Gee up on the first split and moving into the hot seat 0.372 seconds up on Minnaar.

While the weather was nice and sunny for the race, it was a different story for qualifications on Friday with heavy storms rolling in. The bad weather and tough conditions caught out a number of top riders with punctures and big crashes, Aaron Gwin of course taking a big slam and needing five stiches in his hand, so Gwin joined a few other big names being slotted in to the top 20 start times for today.

Gwin didn't let his injury hold him back and almost crashed into the hot seat as he crossed the line. When asked whether the cut on his hand had held him back Gwin said: “Yeah it ended up being ok. Yesterday it was pretty sore! It didn't hurt too bad, just felt a bit weak at the bottom.”

Team Lapierre Internaional's Loic Bruni has had an amazing season so far; leading the Junior series and claiming his first spot on the podium at the last race in Windham, every spectator trackside was cheering him on, wanting to see a repeat here today on home soil. Loic was under half a second back on Gwin's time at the second split and giving it his all but his front wheel just caught the edge of the track and sent him over the bars as he entered the final section.

Disaster also struck his compatriot, MS Mondraker's Damien Spagnola who had a big over the bars crash high up on the track. Nick Beer, who had qualified fifth, also had a huge crash on one of the top jumps, his bike almost sending him into a front flip as he took off.

As he left the gate Greg Minnaar knew that he had to win here today and put as much space as he could between himself and Aaron Gwin to stand a chance of taking the overall. A small dab high up cost him some time but Minnaar clawed it back to go half a second ahead of Gwin.

Minnaar may have beaten Gwin, but with Brook, Gee and his teammate Josh Bryceland finishing ahead of him, the points difference between the two wasn't enough, and the series overall title went to Aaron Gwin for the second year running!

Val d'Isere Elite Men's Top Five

1  Brook MacDonald 2:19.478
2  Gee Atherton 2:19.973
3  Josh Bryceland 2:20.155
4  Greg Minnaar 2:20.345
5  Aaron Gwin 2:20.844

Full results can be found here.

Aaron Gwin Wins Windham World Cup

There can’t be a better feeling than winning a World Cup Race on home soil with your friends and family waiting for you at the finish line. And Aaron Gwin should know, he’s done it two years in a row now! Gwin qualified fastest here without a chain on Friday. With no mechanicals in his race run there was nothing to stop him from dominating once again.

A crash on Friday left Danny Hart with 20 stitches in his arm, and saw him qualifying much lower down in the field than usual. A little bit of needlework did nothing to slow Hart down, and he sprinted across the line knocking Kona rider Mitch Delfs off the hot seat. Delfs’ time of 2:30.679 was enough to see him finishing just outside of the top ten in eleventh place, his best World Cup result to date.
Greg Minnaar hasn’t really had much luck in Windham. Missing out on the top spot here in 2010 gave the series overall title to Gee Atherton. Last year he finished twelfth and this year Greg had to settle for joint tenth with fellow compatriot Andrew Neethling.

Loic Bruni missed out on racing in Mont Sainte Anne last week, having to finish off his final school exams back in France. Loic’s had a great season so far and his good form continued here in Windham where he finished fifth, earning his first of what is bound to be many podium appearances.

Gee Atherton was the next man down the hill and had clearly put all the misfortunes from the previous week behind him, the first rider to be up on Hart’s time at the second split. Gee carried his speed through the final section of this short track, knocking Hart off the hot seat and going into the lead.
Whilst the track at Windham is relatively short, there’s a few nasty sections waiting to catch riders out; none more so than the rock garden in the woods. A few riders got a bit sketchy, but Brook McDonald took crashing to crazy new levels with one of the biggest slams ever seen. How Brook escaped unharmed is mad enough, but crazier still was seeing Brook jump back up, turn his bike around and continue riding at his usual, full throttle pace. Even with such a hard crash Brook finished thirty-fourth , just 12 seconds off Gwin’s time.

Brook’s team mate Damien Spagnola qualified third on Friday, his highest starting position this year and was having a great race run and no doubt would have podiumed. Even with a rear puncture Spagnola flew through the second split time in second place, but a hundred metres or so later admitted defeat and was forced to push his bike down the rest of the track.

With Gee still on the hot seat it loked like he could get his first World Cup victory since 2010. Only two riders were left at the top of the hill: Steve Smith and Aaron Gwin. Smith was down at the first split, but was super fast through the rock garden and went into the lead.

Just Gwin left then, and everyone knows where this is going. With crowd behind him and going wild Gwin laid down the perfect run, somehow finding nearly a second on Smith’s time, and claiming his signature spot at the top of the podium.

Gwin said: “Whether I won or lost today I knew the fans would have my back and be supportive of my racing, but there’s no doubt that the win here feels very special. You can hear the fans all the way down and it pushes you on. I actually took the chairlift quite late today and it allowed me to see what times the top guys were posting and I knew I’d have to be on it to win.

"I made a mistake early on where I hit 3 course marking poles and I know I lost time in the first sector but I was trying to stay cool and keep the pace right to the line. Walking out onto the podium here with the US flag here means a great deal to me.”

Men’s Top Five
1 Aaron Gwin 2:26.416
2 Steve Smith 2:27.374
3 Gee Atherton 2:28.127
4 Danny Hart 2:29.499
5 Loic Bruni 2:29.773

Full results can be found here.

2012 Cube Fritzz Pro

The Cube Fritzz was the first bike that opened my mind to the potential of air shocks and proved that they’re not just for the reserve of cross country bikes. I wanted a bike with playful nature, but that I’d also be able to cover some distance on for trail riding. That’s exactly what I got from the Fritzz!

Whilst my Fritzz Pro, might be the lower equipped model, the spec list throws up some rather impressive kit; Deore XT rear shifter, Race Face Respond cranks, Formula brakes, Easton Wheels and a Fox RP23 rear shock. It’s the Rock Shox Lyric RC2P fork that’s really impressed me though. This was my first time using a Rock Shox for other than the Boxxer’s. They’ve been fantastic straight out of the box, and I’m yet to find a single fault with them. 780mm wide bars from Syntace might look a lot written down, but feel great on the trail.

Even in this pitiful weather we’ve been having the Fritzz has been such a joy to ride. The Scwahlbe Fat Alberts just bulldoze through all the mud and sludge on the trail, although once summer finally shows up I’ll be looking for a narrower and faster rolling tyre. That said, as it is the Fritzz still picks up speed pretty quickly, and with a low centre of gravity is great at cornering.

At 14.6 kilos the Fritzz is hardly the lightest bike out there, but with a few little tweaks that weight can easily be shed.

For now though, I’m having too much fun riding the bike to worry about things like that!

This bike is screaming out to be ridden up high in the mountains, so I’m going to focus on that instead…

Aaron Gwin Wins Mont Sainte Anne World Cup

Aaron Gwin has won his third World Cup race of the season taking victory in Mont Sainte Anne. Out the gate Gwin went fastest straight away, and while he lost time in the rock garden in the middle of the long, demanding course, he still crossed the line nearly a second and a half up on Minnaar’s time.

Mick Hannah was having a great race run and looked to be making a return to the form we saw at the start of the season in Pitermaritzburg, up at the first two splits and fastest through the speed trap, but a snapped chain stole his chances of a podium spot. Still, Hannah crossed the line just a few hundredths of a second back from current hot seat occupier Thibaut Ruffin. Brendan Fairclough was also having a greta race, squashing the jumps and skipping over the rocks but suffered the same misfortune of a lost chain.

This was Neko Mulally’s first World Cup race with the American Flag on his sleeve having been belatedly awarded the title USA National Champion title. Having decided not to race at Fort William and to instead rest his injured ankle, Mulally was hoping for another solid top 20 result. But Mulally’s front wheel slid out on the take off to the hip jump and he took a heavy slam and looked to have been knocked out.

After treatment on site by medical staff, he walked away without any broken bones, and is suffering from a mild concussion. He will be under observation for the next 48hrs but is expected to make a speedy recovery. Mulally wasn’t the only victim on this punishing course. Matti Lehikoinen had a big crash in the rock garden that left him with a seperated shoulder.

Gee Atherton knows only too well how hard the ground is here in Mont Sainte Anne. A huge crash in practice left many people questioning if Gee would be able to ride in qualifying, let alone how he managed to ride so fast. Gee obviously hadn’t let the crash phase him and was back to race speed, finishing fourth and earning his spot on the podium.

Brook MacDonald had been looking fast all through practice and after qualifying fourth had been tipped by many to make his return to the podium. Brook was up at the first split and wrestled his way through the rock gardens, but lost time and had to settle for sixth place, just 0.3 seconds back from Sam Hill.

Danny Hart only has one riding style; wild, and that’s exactly how he made his way down the mountain, cutting in to every berm and getting loose on every jump. It’s only got to be a matter of time before Hart wins his first World Cup, but he should be more than happy with a third place.
Greg Minnaar’s c riding couldn’t be more different to Hart’s if he tried. He just looks so clean and calculated. Minnaar is also a more powerful rider than Hart, and was able to put that power down and go up on the second split, carrying the speed down and finishing in second place.

 In the last 11 World Cup races there have only been two winners; Greg and Gwin. With Greg already in the finish pit Gwin was on his way down to claim his eight victory, thus extending his lead in the overall standings by 135 points. Speaking about his win in Mont Sainte Anne, the track he debuted on in 2008, Gwin said: “It feels amazing! I kind of made some mistakes towards the end, but the rest of the run was good enough. This track is hard from the top to the bottom, you really have to work for it!”

Elite Men’s Top Five

1 Aaron Gwin 4:14.022
2 Greg Minnaar 4:15.329
3 Danny Hart 4:16.162
4 Gee Atherton 4:17.082
5 Sam Hill 4:17.631

Full results can be found here.

Racing continues in Windham next weekend where no doubt Gwin will be looking for another victory on home soil.

IMB Issue 18 Goes Live

IMB Issue 18 has just gone live and features a photo taken by me as the front cover! The main feature this issue is 'The Spanish Inquisition', mine and Will's adventure to Spain with Pure Mountains. This was easily the best riding trip I've been on and was so fun to write about. Plus Will's photos are pretty amazing!

Big interview this issue has to be the Anthill Films talking about their new film 'Strength In Numbers', which hails their return to the top of the game. This issue I also interviewed Swiss Cross Country rider Ralph Naef who races for the Multivan Merida Team.

Naef's been having a great 2012 season and after his podium finish in La Bresse was selected to be a part of the Swiss Olympic mtb squa. Cross country riding isn't my usual field of expertise so it was cool to have to do a bit of research and find out more about what it takes to be an elite rider. Definitely an eye opener and a great read.

Anthill Films - Strength In Numbers

The Spanish Inquisition

 Ralph Naef

Aaron Gwin Wins Fort William World cup

Aaron Gwin has claimed his seventh first place finish having won the third round of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Fort William! Gwin laid down a flawless race run in less than perfect conditions.

 Having crashed twice in his qualifying run Gwin, testing new tyres, relied on being a protected top 20 racer to secure his spot at the top of the mountain, meaning he set off for his race run a lot sooner than he’s used to. Gwin joked afterwards that this was the longest time he’d ever spent in the hot seat, and as a Californian native was starting to feel the cold!

Steve Peat suffered a nasty crash in a practice run that left him with a torn hamstring and unable to do anything more in his qualifying run than too simply roll out the start gate to reserve his place in the race. Unfortunately though Peaty’s injury was too much and after the first section was forced to simply roll down the hill, clearing the track for Gwin and Transition’s Sam Dale, who finished eighth, his highest ever World Cup finish.

There’s a lot of history at Fort William and last year Brook MacDonald played his part in it finishing third, but today a crash in the woods dashed any chances of a repeat success so instead the Mondraker put on a great show for the crowds, turning on the style and whipping all the new tabletops on the motorway section and the famous Fort William archway. Cam Cole is another kiwi who has done well here in the past, but today tenth place was the best he could muster up.

Sam Hill has had a rough past two seasons, but a seventh place in Val di Sole last week and a fourth place finish today means one thing. Hill is back, no doubt about it. Greg Minnaar has won here more than any other rider, but today wasn’t his day and as he crossed the line it looked like he had to nurse home a mechanical and he finished in sixth place.

With conditions worsening and the top section of the track almost a white out conditions were not too dissimilar to those in Champery last September. If one man was going to excel in circumstances like this and knock Gwin off the hot seat it was going to be Danny Hart. At the first split Hart was up on Gwin’s time and the pit area was getting wild, but Hart lost time in the middle section, and hard as he tried in the final section he crossed the line just eight hundredths of a second back on Gwin, his first World Cup victory still eluding him.

Gee Atherton was also up on Gwin’s time at the first split, but if there’s one thing Gwin is known for it’s finding time where no-one else has, and that’s exactly what he did here in Fort William, with Gee slipping back into third place when he crossed the line. It’s all about context though. Just a few weeks ago it was questionable whether Gee would be able to even make it to this race, let alone stand proudly on the podium.

Gee’s teammate Marc Beaumont was the last man down, qualifying fastest in very different conditions. No doubt Marc wanted a repeat of Val di Sole and to be up on the podium with Gee once again but a crash on the boardwalk at the top of the track halted any chances of that. Marc wasn’t the only rider to have been caught out by the slippery boardwalk. Steve Smith qualified fourth even with his hand injury, but also wiped out on the top of the track.

With Marc down victory went to Gwin and he reclaimed the series overall! Gwin said: “That was a hard run! I was hanging out by the bottom and didn’t have much left to give. I just tried to conserve it at the top and I can’t believe it paid off! The fans here are just taking it to another level so thanks so much to them for making it so cool for us!”

Elite Men’s Top Five
1 Aaron Gwin 4:48.210
2 Danny Hart +0.834
3 Gee Atherton + 2.516
4 Sam Hill + 3.532
5 Josh Bryceland + 5.056

Full results can be found here.

CRC/Nukeproof’s Joe Smith and Matt Simmonds finished seventh and ninth respectively, which along with Sam Dale in eighth meant there were six British riders in the top ten. I’m no mathematician but even I know that’s 60%! That’s a big turn around from the kiwi domination here last year. Must be all the jubilee celebrations!

Aaron Gwin Wins Val di Sole World Cup

Aaron Gwin has just blown the competition out the water, winning the second round of the UCI Downhill World Cup by nearly eight seconds. Gwin is now tied with Greg Minnaar, who finished second today, in the overall standings. In the women’s race Rachel Atherton made an incredible return to World Cup racing winning the women’s race on her new GT Fury.

 
In fact it was a great day for the GT team, with every member of the team earning a podium finish. It’s crazy think it’s four years ago since Gee Atherton won the World Champs here back in 2008, and today, having only been off crutches for a few weeks, Gee finished in third. Adopted brother Marc Beaumont is no stranger to success here himself, winning here in 2010, and today he stepped onto the podium again with a fourth place finish.

Loic Bruni had a fantastic race run with a time that would have seen the junior rider qualifying second. Richie Rude, another junior rider also had a brilliant race, only his second at World Cup level, oozing speed and style but unfortunately lost time dabbing his foot and finished 21st.

Devinci rider Steve Smith hasn’t really had much luck on this course, breaking his foot here at the final race of the year last season, and broke his hand here in practice. Smith opted to skip qualifying, not a problem for the top 20 protected rider, and raced today with his hand taped up and knocked Loic off the hot seat, and ended up finishing tenth.

Danny Hart just missed out on a podium spot to Cameron Cole in his first World Cup race this year after breaking his arm at the World Champs. Josh Bryceland was on a great run until his foot bounced off his pedal, and spun his bike into a nasty crash. New father Sam Hill made a return to form with his typical loose style seeing him finishing seventh.

Gee Atherton was already up on current leader Cameron Cole by three and a half seconds at the first split, lost time in the lower section but had done enough early on to take the hot seat. As usual Minnar’s smooth style saw him so composed and unphased by anything the course threw at him and he crossed the line half a second up on gee.

But Gwin somehow managed to find time where nowhere else could and just like he did in qualifying, finished over seven seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Gwin said: “It was a good solid run. I felt good here all weekend so all I had to do was put everything together. I just tried to focus on riding and not that it was a race run”.

 Elite Men’s Top Five

1 Aaron Gwin 3:10.577
2 Greg Minnaar 3:18.427
3 Gee Atherton 3:18.970
4 Marc Beaumont 3:19.514
5 Cameron Cole 3:20.320

In the women’s race Rachel Atherton, Myriam Nicole and Emmeline Ragot looked to be in a different league to all the other riders, and their times proved it. Tracey Hannah admitted that the course didn’t suit her riding style, and Manon Carpenter had to sit this race out with a shoulder injury. Rachel came back to World Cup racing with a bang, taking the win with a comfortable four and a half second lead over Myriam Nicole.

Elite Women’s Top Five

1 Rachel Atherton 3:49.438
2 Myriam Nicole 3:53.921
3 Emmeline Ragot 3:57.519
4 Florian Pugin 4:04.822
5 Morgane Charre 4:09.737

Nino Schurter Wins In Nove Mesto

Scott Swisspower’s Nino Schurter has reclaimed his series lead having won the third round of the XCO World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic! Schurter, who also celebrated his 26th birthday on the race day has now won two out of the three races this year.

 
Specialized rider and local hero Jaroslav Kulhavy gave it his all and was leading for most of the race, keeping the large crowds happy, but was beaten to the finish line in the final stage of the race and finished just six seconds behind Schurter.

Ralph Näf had a fantastic race, starting on the fourth line, within minutes he had sprinted up to fifth place, where the Multivan Merida rider managed to stay, earning his first podium finish in two years! Reflecting on the race Näf said: “Although I had planned to do differently, I lacked a bit of self-confidence to take the lead in technical sections. Due to the accordion effect I lost some terrain and had to give chase repeatedly, which cost me some power.

“The fact that I still scored a top5 finish and thus step on the podium gives me an enormous mental boost. Ths success comes at the right time, right in the middle of the Olympic selection. With his fifth-place finish, Näf indeed has scored a substantial point in his favour. Teammate José Hermida had a less successful race, starting on the front row but falling back into 18th place just minutes later.  Hermida worked hard throughout the race and clawed his way up to a tenth place finish.

Double Olympic champion Julien Absalon had an off day. “I got sick on Wednesday and I didn’t have the power in my legs to continue,” he said after giving up the race. He crashed in the first lap and had to run in pain, so retired after the fourth lap. “I was really tired. Now I just want to save my energy and recover properly before the next World Cup round in La Bresse.”Despite not finishing the race, Absalon still remains in fifth place in the overall standings.

Elite Men Top FIve

1 Nino Schurter 1:26.46
2 Jaroslav Kulhavy + 0.06
3 Burry Stander + 0.17
4 Marco Aurekio Fontana + 0.46
5 Ralp Näf + 0.47

Full results can be found here.

IMB Issue 17 Goes Live

 The latest issue of IMB has just gone live and features an interview with one of my all time riding heroes Fabien Barel. Getting photos for this feature was a bit of a nightmare, but Irmo Keizer steped forwards and saved the day. I love the opening DPS our designer created for this. It was great to find out about what Barel's been up to since 'retiring', no doubt it's going to be a very different World Cup series without him.

Also in this issue with Morewood's Lloyd Ramsay. I'd spoken to Lloyd a couple of times over twitter about working on an article together so it was great to make it happen. Oh, and the Trail Guide and 'glamping' in Dartmoor. The less said about that the better really...

Fabien Barel

 Morewood Bikes - 10 Years Strong

 Trail Guide

Marc Beaumont Wins Halo BDS Round One

Marc Beaumont has won the opening round of the 2012 BDS in Combe Sydenham with nearly a three second lead over Josh Bryceland! Crowd favourite Brendan Fairclough crossed the line in third on board his new Scott downhill bike with Matt Simmonds in fourth and Rich Thomas rounding up the podium in fifth spot.

Combe Sydenham was last used as a venue by the NPS (National Point Series) back in 2004. The new track was purpose built by local riders on private land kindly lent to the BDS for the race, proved a huge hit with both racers and spectators. Granted it looks a bit dead in the picture below, but Bryceland was the penultimate man down, and everyone had moved down to the finish area…

 Matti Lehikoinen added a touch of international flavour to the day finishing 19th in his first race back since his injury at the end of the season last year. In fact all the CRC/Nukeproof boys had top 20 finishes, including team manager Nigel Page who won the veterans category, ahead of Jason Carpenter.

Elite Men Top Five

1 Marc Beaumont 2:25.976
2 Josh Bryceland 2:28.902
3 Brendan Fairclough 2:30.035
4 Matt Simmonds 2:30.426
5 Rich Thomas 2:30.458

In the women’s race all eyes were firmly on Rachel Atherton and Manon Carpenter. With Rachel having missed out on the opening round of the World Cup in Pietermaritzburg this was their first race together in 2012. Rachel’s brother Gee may have missed out on racing due to his broken tibia, but he was on his crutches by the side of the track to give Rachel his support. But it was Manon Carpenter who took her first BDS victory, beating Rachel by just over half a second.

 
Elite Women Top Five

1 Manon Carpenter 2:51.960
2 Rachel Atherton 2:52.594
3 Jess Stone 3:03.585
4 Angela Coates 3:17.421
5 Emma Wareham 3:17.759

Full results can be found on here on roots and rain.

Greg Minnaar Wins Pietermaritzburg World Cup!

Greg Minnaar has stormed to victory taking first place in the opening round of the World Cup on home soil in Pietermaritzburg!

Last year’s World Cup winner Aaron Gwin was just over half a second behind Minnaar’s time, and Mick Hannah who finished in third was only a second back, with Gee Atherton and Steve Smith rounding up the podium.

As the top 30 gathered at the top of the hill, Brendan Fairclough was sweating it out on the hot seat. Fairclough will be the first to admit that this isn’t a track that suits him, and it was a crash on this track last year that plagued his season, but with a new knee and a new bike, the Scott Gambler, he was able to come away finishing twentieth.

It was Gwin’s team mate Neko Mullaly who knocked Fairclough off the hot seat, only to have to make way for next rider down Julien Camellini. Camellini qualified third here last year but disaster struck in his race run when his gear cable snapped and he was forced to ride single speed, destroying his chances and leaving him absolutely devastated.

With this being the first race of the season we were going to see many riders on new teams or with new bikes, and Camellini is one such rider, going it alone this year on his own race program. Lots of big names set out, but it wasn’t until South African rider Andrew Neethling crossed the line that Camellini’s time was bettered, although he had done enough for a top ten finish.

Needles looked to be tucking between the jumps for speed and to conserve energy, and it paid of, with the home crowd going wild. Needles’ time at the top was short lived with Yeti/Fox rider Jared Graves just edging him off the hot seat. This year Graves is focussing purely on racing downhill, completely changing his training regime and it paid off, with Graves finishing in sixth place, just half a second off a spot on the podium.

Sick Mick famously qualified fastest here last year, only to crash out so hard he snapped his stem bolts in his race run. There would be no repeat of that today, and no doubt spurred on by his sister’s earlier victory Mick set off. Mick is an incredibly powerful rider and was nearly four seconds up at the second split after the gruelling pedalling section of the track, and was the first rider of the day to beat the qualifying times, with a 3:58.97 run.

Gee Atherton had a disappointing top section, but was able to make up time mid-track to finish in fourth. Steve Smith is another dangerously strong rider and was down at the second split, but was able to buck the trend of losing time on the bottom section and managed to sprint into fifth place.
Pietermaritzburg was the venue for Gwin’s first victory last year, and the start of his campaign for domination. Qualifying was so close between Gwin and Minnaar, with just eight hundredths of a second separating them.

Today saw more of the same, and Minnaar shot into the lead beating Gwin by just over half a second. Greg’s home crowd went wild as he sprinted past the line, taking his sixteenth World Cup victory greeted by team mate Steve Peat, then swamped by his One Life crew!

Men's Top Five

1 Greg Minnaar 3:57.98
2 Aaron Gwin 3:58.61
3 Mick Hannah 3:58.97
4 Gee Atherton 3:59.28
5 Steve Smith 4:02.36

Full results can be found here.

2011 World Cup Re-Cap Part Three

Never before in the history of downhill racing have the words “worst kept secret” been used so frequently in the off-season. In fact in many cases when the press releases were finally sent out their contents were no longer news at all. Still, rumours and gossip aside we were all sat at our screens waiting for those official statements to come out!

Comic by @teamrumours

The award for the biggest shake up as to go to the Athertons, who after five years of running Commencal bikes, said their goodbyes and joined the GT Factory Racing Team, alongside Marc Beaumont. As well as parting ways with Commencal, it was also announced the Athertons had parted ways with Animal after 10 years of support, and would now be riding for One Industries.

Not to be outdone, Brendan Fairclough had everyone gussing who his new team would be, before it was finally announced in December last year that he would be part of the Scott 11 Racing team. Fairclough carried over some of his major sponsors from previous years, including Troy Lee Designs and Monster Energy. Fairclough had a busy off season undergoing reconstructive surgery on his knee before hading out to California to get in some training in the sun. While we might know what team he’s on, it’s still not entirely clear what bike he’ll be running…

Ms Evil Racing paired with Mondraker Factory racing to become Ms Mondraker Team combining members of both former teams, along with the addition of Emmeline Ragot. This could well prove to be the team to beat with Emmeline riding alongside Brook MacDonald, Damien Spagnolo and Markus Pekoll.

With the Athertons now riding for GT, many people were left wondring what would happen to former GT rider Mick Hannah. Well, along with his sister, Hannah, Sick Mick will be a part of the Hutchinson United Ride team. Also new to the team is Guillaume Cauvin, who finished 3^rd at the last Junior World Championship in Champéry.

Whilst no-one joined or left the Santa Cruz Syndicate, there were a few changes within the team. After an eight year long partnership it was announced that they would no longer be running SRAM/RockShox components, and were making the switch to a Shimano and Fox setup. This marked the end of a 16 year relationship between Steve Peat and Rock Shox. After what’s got to be a similar length of time Greg Minnaar parted ways with Alpine Star, and will now be riding for O’Neal.

Giant Factory Off Road said goodbye to Duncan Riffle, who found a new ride with the Dirt Norco team, meaning it will be just Danny Hart and Andrew Neethling taking care of the downhill duties for Giant, but I’m sure they’ll be more than capable. Just like his teammate, Neethling is now a part of the SRAM BlackBox program.

After winning the BDS Alex Bond was picked up by Chain Reaction Cycles/Nukeproof then flew out to California for some pre-season training with the Athertons, only to break his collarbone. But having packed his hand luggage full of paracetemol Al will be racing in Pietermaritzburg this weekend.

Tracy Moseley announced at the end of 2011 that she would not be a member of the Trek World Racing team for 2012, and would instead be doing her own thing as part of T-Mo Racing focussing on competing in select events, still with support from Trek. Whilst TWR haven’t got any new riders, they have enlisted former World Champion Myles Rockwell to act as a rider liaison to help the team with their training and race strategy’s. Aaron Gwin’s hard work last year paid of with the overall World Cup title as well as being picked up by Red Bull.

Not wanting to be left out of all the Chinese whispers, Red Bull decided they wanted to join in the fun and games and hinted that they would be broadcasting the World Cup series, and then waited until last week, when we could take no more suspense before announcing that they would indeed be brining us every single race, along with commentary from Rob Warner.

So be sure to be logged on to www.redbull.com/bike at 2pm local time South Africa, when the World’s best will come together to kick start the greatest race series. Are you excited yet, because you sure as hell should be!