EWS Aspen

[toast2266]

It's kinda funny, because of all the ews courses this year, the French one looked to have the skinniest trails.

It obviously depends on the terrain and situation, but if a trail can be significantly straightened out just by people taking inside lines, then maybe the trail wasn't built that well in the first place.

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[Dee Hubbs]

What does it mean for a trail to get Frenched? Is it a tongue thing? Or are we just talking about its use by some of the worlds greatest MTB talents of all time; Vouilloz, Chausson, Barel, Bruni, Gracia, Ragot, Absalon, Clementz

I have heard of "braiding trails", and a French Braid is a big fucking wide multi braid.

Is that what "to get frenched" means?

[jm2e]

Is there a Greek version?

[Dee Hubbs]

The Whistler EWS course has been announced.

57kms (35 miles) and 4,218 meters (13,838 feet) of descending.

[Dee Hubbs]

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

[toast2266]

Aspen gets axed for 2018: http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/20...Locations,1085

[summit]

Aspen gets axed for 2018: http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/20...Locations,1085

USA is out!

[XXX-er]

So how crazy is it, are races more rowdy up here ?

I was texting someone about how he did at the enduro in Williams lake last june

buddy said he didnt do well cuz he fell off a lot ... wtf he is a good rider who never falls off his bike ?

[grinch]

I was surprised at the courses the enduro race had (fernie , invermere, golden, revelstoke race). Very steep trails in golden/Revy atleast. I'm sure the top racers were racing but I'd bet for the majority of the entrants it was a race to see who could survive the best. A number of them said they hadn't ridden anything that steep but felt the progression from town to town helped them progress their riding. A couple of the Revy trails are our steepest. On my trail/enduro bike I appreciate my bigger tires and 4 pot brakes and slack angles especially if I had to ride them blind. Good on them. Looks like courses have gotten steeper and more challenging like good dh courses. I think soon we'll see 180 enduro bikes more and more. The golden and Revy trails they used are sooo good. Would've been crazy if it rained. The theme is "somewhere waaay down in those trees is a turn I need to make so I should try and make a feeble attempt at controlling my speed in this loose blown own endless steep. Except the speed. Should be fine"

[robnow]

Interesting hearing the reports back after both TransBC and Singletrack6 this year. Seems like ST6 is what Enduro used to be (very difficult for a lot of the participants) and TransBC (even last years 2016 trails at race pace are difficult) is at a very high technical level of difficulty although seemingly almost now more about the experience and taking riders on the coolest trails in the area than the racing itself which would be cool (except for the increased traffic especially in a race scenario on low traffic trails). I think trails like LSD (LSD into Canyon probably being my favourite stage ever), Big Money (except for getting to it), Frisbee DH (Ultimate I guess they're calling it now?) are the perfect Enduro stages but some like Cedar House are over the top. Imagine racing down Cartier? I know maybe a couple would relish in it but fuck me I get such vertigo coming down that trail that I have to keep the speeds down.

I remember racing Crankzilla in 2014, riding something like Ride Don't Slide is a challenge on its own, but racing it was downright scary...couldn't even imagine if it had rained. Gargamel would be another example, fun to ride but scary to race, and I know the local Whistler Enduros go down it sometimes. Surprisingly the Top of the World stages into the bike park I find actually quite easy, as long as a good brake and shock setup minimizes hand fatigue, with good flow and lower consequence.

Graves complained about the level of difficulty of that 2014 Whistler EWS (and he won the race and overall that year) saying it had gone too far, but I would think now, especially guys like Melamed, Clementz, others relish in the technical difficulty level.

I know for me, while I love riding these types of trails for fun, in a race situation I can't help but be more nervous and put more pressure on myself to perform, and thus end up having many more mistakes.

PS: Why they're calling this years Crankzilla again I don't get as in 2014 there was over 8000' of climbing, this year its under 6000 I believe

[toast2266]

TransBC (even last years 2016 trails at race pace are difficult) is at a very high technical level of difficulty although seemingly almost now more about the experience and taking riders on the coolest trails in the area than the racing itself

Had a couple buddies who did TransBC this year and that was their take. They're good riders, and none of the trails were over their head, per se. But riding those trails at race pace after pedaling ~5k vert, day after day sounded like it was pretty taxing. So it turned into more of an "experience" kind of thing than an actual race.

[grskier]

Stage 1 from Whistler gives me arm pump just watching it.


Bummer that they aren't coming back, I know that the crews were stoked to have them here and put together the stages this year... There was a lot of pride.... Even if people hate on taped off wide race tracks.