Cutting Corners

I started trying to write this post a couple of times but never quite got it right, however with a couple of recent events I’ve once again been inspired to write about cutting corners and intentionally going off the track.

Rachel Atherton took the win at Windham but on her way down she lost control and went through the tape then rejoined further down. A lot of people thought she should have been disqualified for it and enough people have been in the past like Steve Peat at La Bresse last year. As a marshal at Fort William I’ve heard the call over the radio enough times to know the question always asked is ‘did they gain any time by doing it?’ That’s what it comes down to in the end was it a course cut to gain time or was it an out of control slide through the tape that lost them time rather than gained it. In many cases it’s the marshal at that spots call although with the coverage Red Bull is giving this year you can watch replays of it. With this question in mind neither Rachel nor Peaty should have been disqualified. Unless you argue that by going in and out of the tape they stayed on their bike when otherwise they would have crashed and lost more time, however this seems a little harsh on the riders if you’re insisting they crash rather than cut the tape.

On the other end of the argument I have got increasingly annoyed by people cutting corners up at Ashton Court.  Why ride a trail if you’re not going to stick to it, yes there are a few corners up there where it’s easy to get a bit wild on the exit and end up off the trail but just cutting corners for the hell of it seems daft. Surely most people are going up there to ride for the fun of it so why do they need to save time by cutting a corner.

 The other thing I’ve seen up there is people cutting drop offs on the red run, if they can’t hit the drop offs then they shouldn’t be riding the harder sections. However what has put me off entering a race up there in October is going up there after the summer race to find that people have deliberately cut massive corners to save time. Now that’s cheating and worthy of being disqualified, I know they don’t use course tape but surely there should be a certain sense of honour amongst the riders in not cutting a corner to save a couple of seconds in a local endurance event. To me it seems a bit pathetic.

In response to people cutting corners a few well placed rocks and branches were added to the inside entrance to corners, however as corner cutting continued the people doing this have gone a bit nuts completely lining the inside and outside of turns with rocks, making a really tight line with hard consequences if you do accidently stray off line. In some places they’ve even lined the straights with rocks which are apparently rather pointy. I was looking down at my gears strayed a bit to the right and ended up with this, I was going uphill and not very fast so they must be pretty sharp rocks.

If you stray out accidently and it’s that or crash fair enough but if you deliberately cut a corner to save time, in a race you’re cheating even if the course isn’t marked well, if you’re not racing it’s pointless and if done consistently damages the sides of the trails and the ground they’re on, as the Ashton Court trails were built up partly to help protect the land this a particularly ignorant thing to be doing. Mountain Biking allows us to see the countryside and appreciate it, so why destroy it for other people to save a couple of seconds that mean nothing to anyone.

Mont Sainte Anne and Windham World Cup rounds

Last weekend saw the 4th and 5^th rounds of the Downhill World Cup in Mont Sainte Anne (MSA) and Windham, both providing great racing and some big crashes but with Windham being particularly dramatic.

Mont Sainte Anne in Quebec is the oldest race on the circuit and a favourite among the riders. It’s a long track often compared with Fort William as it’s a long and mixed track, although it does seem to have more open flat out fast sections. One of these sections was to provide problems in training for Gee Atherton, with a very fast jump throwing him out the front door, with a speed trap just below where he crashed showing him pass through at over 50 kph on his head this shows just how bad a crash it was.
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Gee-Athertons-Horrible-Crash-at-Mont-Sainte-Anne-2012,14025/sspomer,2

Rachel Atherton and Gwin posted the fastest qualifying times, leaving Atherton to avoid the disappointment of Fort William where she posted a blistering qualifying then didn’t manage to repeat it in the wet on race day. Only a few weeks after breaking her collar bone Manon Carpenter was back in action qualifying in 17^th and Jess Stone managed to qualify in 14^th. Gwin again was looking unstoppable, Gee managed to qualify in 6^th despite the horrific crash in practice and Danny Hart made sure there was a Brit in the top 5.

On race day Manon came down early and came in 14^th which would be disappointing for her but for the fact it was 3 weeks since she broke her collar bone and I can’t imagine that wasn’t still hurting. The World Cup leader and World Champion Emmeline Ragot put together a great run but was one of many to suffer from a broken chain yet still managed to bring it home in 3^rd Myriam Nicole got back on track with a solid 2^nd place and Rachel managed to hang on for the win putting her only 40 points behind Ragot in the overall.

In the mens race Matti Lehikoinen crashed near the bottom breaking his collar bone, Neko Mulally went flying off one of the jumps leaving his bike behind and bouncing down the hill like a rag doll. He was ok.

Mick Hannah put a storming run down the top section but snapped his chain bringing it home in 15^th ahead of Brendan Fairclough who also snapped his chain on his run. Sam Hill continued his return to form with a solid 5^th place and Gee came back from his big crash to stick it in 4^th just behind Danny Hart, having watched Danny’s run and where he lost time it was obvious only a crash could stop Gwin from taking it. Greg Minaar came down in an all too familiar 2^nd spot behind the unstoppable Aaron Gwin.

The World Cup circus then travelled across the border to Windham in New York State, a much shorter race than the last two leaving little room for mistakes and with one the hardest aspects of the racing being switching from the bright sunlight to the dappled shadows of the wooded sections. Not to mention the evil looking rock garden and the massive jumps which seem to be becoming part of every track.

Qualifying took a familiar turn with Rachel qualifying as the fastest girl ahead of Ragot but with Tracey Hannah showing her form from the first round and coming down in 3^rd and American Jill Kintner coming 4^th on home soil, Manon Carpenter regained the top 10 managing 9th. The men’s saw Gwinny take his top spot again ahead of a slightly different top 5, Stevie Smith came down 2^nd ahead of Damien Spagnolo  3^rd, Andrew Neethling 4^th and Sam Hill in 5^th. Marc Beaumont and Gee Atherton came in 8^th and 9^th, with Danny Hart crashing and needing stitches Josh Bryceland also crashing and coming in way down with his team mates Steve Peat and Greg Minaar qualifying low down, it was definitely not a weekend for the Santa Cruz Syndicate.

Neither was it a weekend for the Scott 11 team with Brendan Fairclough crashing and breaking his thumb in qualifying and Floriane Pugin out from an injury picked up at MSA, leaving just Emilie Seigenthaler to race.

Come race day the track was dusty and blown out, any prayers for rain hadn’t been answered and like at Fort William people were out watering the track to try and hold it together.  This created some incredible racing first up were the women with Ragot trying to hold her overall lead from Atherton and Gwin looking to make it 4/5 this year.

Manon Carpenter again pushed herself back up the results table coming down to sit in the 2^nd place on the hot seat eventually being pushed down to 7^th as the other girls descended. Myriam Nicole sat on the top step for quite a while sporting a nasty little graze on her chin from earlier in the week, fitting into 5^th spot by the end, Emilie Seigenthaler put in a good run for 4^th. Jill Kintner came down fast but had a massive crash breaking her arm and dislocating her wrist. Tracey Hannah put in a storming run but smashing her saddle off in landing the final massive jump but that wasn’t to be it’s last victim, looking likely to smash Hannah’s time Ragot came down going big off the last jump only to be hit by the wind in the air and have a big crash on landing, jumping up again to push her bike over the line 0.045 behind Hannah. This left the door wide open for Rachel, who broke the first split nearly 5 seconds up only to come off a jump badly and struggle to hang on sending her bike through the tape and losing all her time. However she managed to hang on to her advantage and came down in first place, but had an agonising wait for the Commissaires to decide whether she should be DQ’d for going through the tape. Eventually and cotrversially the win was awarded 0.262 up on Hannah giving Rachel the overall lead. My next post will be more on going through the tape.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Emmeline-Ragots-Finish-Line-Crash-at-Windham-World-Cup,14188/sspomer,2

Could the guys live up to that excitement, simple answer, yes! For the last 20 +  riders the hot seats for the top 3 seemed ever changing. Josh Bryceland (13^th) putting himself up there as did Mick Hannah (8^th) and Danny Hart (4^th) spent time on the top step, Steve Peat had a massive puncture but as ever despite injury and mechanical forced his way to the bottom, Greg Minaar just couldn’t put the run together coming way down (for him) in 9^th on the exact same time as his fellow South African Andrew Neethling. Sam Hill only managed 7^th behind Nick Beer in his best World Cup result and the junior Loic Bruni forcing his way to his first elite podium in 5^th. Gee Atherton came down to take the hot seat from Hart fingers crossed for a Brit 1-2 but it was not to be, Stevie Smith pulled out a great run on Canada day and looked like he could take his first win but there was still Gwin to go, 1 second down at split one hopes rose for Smith but he clawed back that second then gained nearly another to take the win by 0.958. With 5 seconds between him and 16^th place it was a very close race and people who could have put the cat among the pigeons were unlucky for mechanicals and crashes. Marc Beaumont had a big crash in the rock garden and looked gutted as he came over the line as did Brook Macdonald crashing in the same place and Damien Spagnolo could have taken the win on an absolute flyer but punctured on a jump.

If you watch the replay look for the SPS crew reaction to Marc and Brook crossing the line, immediately going to see if they are ok, great to see the camaraderie in the sport.