At today's Chatel Mountain Style qualifying it seems that fast flowy runs with whips were the order of the day, as riders chose to hold back on most of the tricks and just ride to qualify. If the good weather holds tomorrow's finals should be a great show, with some great riders in the top 10 that will be all be going for the win and not holding back. Sorge may have injured himself, word is he has some sort of leg injury and may or may not ride tomorrow.
Good thing it's only qualifying and did you honestly want to see people throw down on such a gnarly course risking injury before the finals? I honestly could care less about qualifying and only took it as an ill preview of what the course is. The judges probably scored based on whoever was riding the course the most fluid and what lines they were taking. Finals will go down and no one ever remembers qualifications.
i think they judge by speed and style......#1 most important being speed...but also who can go down the fastest with the most style...so like having smooth scrubs, whips, transition over certain things etc...
because a group of people think the "original" freeride is dieing, does that make watching or just riding your kind of freeride worse for you? it was well written but just let it go
So what you are saying Ian is that these riders are completely chained and brainwashed by comps? Im sure they do this stuff because it gives them FREEdom of expression uniquely shaped by two wheels.
^ Why are you trying to turn his comment into something that it's not? I believe this comp. isn't freeride because there are designated trails in an organized setting. Freeride means you're freely riding off any set trails which is what it originally started as. His views and yours may be different from mine but it's not a big deal.
If you read Mitchell's article it was primarily about how the original meaning of freeriding is now gone, and the term has really come to mean something entirely different. Freeriding as we knew it 10 or 12 years ago really doesn't exist anymore. But no matter how you look at it, competition is outside the definition of freeriding. "Freeride Competition" is an oxymoron. I have no idea how you came to the conclusion that I said riders are completely "chained and brainwashed" but you're free to think what you want.
The big reason no tricks were thrown down is there was no need. All in finals, so why would riders risk getting injured? You will certainly see more tricks go down today in the finals.
Here in Serbia we have no bike parks or such places to ride, so we go too the woods to find places where we can make trails ourselves or just search for natural drops, gaps or such, and we don't have any comps, not even DH (which is really sad). So here, freeriding has only taken it's first steps.
Ian, I totally disagree... Extreme sports competitions are different from other competitions, the riders share the same freeride spirit, there are friends before competitors, especially in that kind of events.... Those guys build their lines together and ride together, it's more about havin' fun even if some guys are ready to do anything to win, but it's a small minority of riders
hopefully claw can get the win here. this is his kind of course and it would be great for him to finally win after all these years, not to mention coming off of a broken back...
@SpartanSoulja Well Im friends with an andrew taylor. Its not a the pro, but his name is andrew taylor he also bikes and has the 2011 marin alcatraz. They met at jumpship. It was hillarious
Its quals, it's not about let's throw the biggest banger you got. Even in the high prestige of world cup, a lot of the top 10 guys don't push the hardest. It helps in the strategy of keeping everyone in the dark of your full potential on the course, but in this case tricks. Plus a lot of those hits are pretty dang big, why risk it in quals.
Not taking anything away from the skill level of riders there. But what are they getting judged on? I know it's "big Mountain' style contest. I feel they need to be doing more then straight airs off drops & step downs. Again not to take away from the riders, they are all a billion times better then I would ever be. Step it up boys!
As you will notice in the title and in the comments above this was qualifying for a big mountain event, there weren't a lot of tricks being thrown today, and as I mentioned in the post up near the top we'll probably see a lot more going on tomorrow in the finals...
Simply riding down this course is extremely difficult. It is to bad that the viewers can not understand why riders rode conservatively. There is a time and place to do tricks, and seating day was simply not it. Straight airs or not, it was an awesome show of riding skills. To ride down this course, smooth and clean requires skills that 90% of us do not have. Be sure to check bad later today for the finals coverage and you will be happy to see more tricks.
I would be interested to see a World Cup DH racer there... the freeriders have great tricks, but look slow on a track that is essentially a DH trail. Strange freeride course?
They look but they are not, i can tell you : Lacondeguy and Buehler were really fast, and the mid part is just very very steep ! Fabien Pedemanaud (a WC racer) done 3rd at this event in 2009 (Sorge 1st, the Claw 2nd, Barrett 4th and Romo 5th) with the fastest run ever seen on the face, but with no tricks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ewqiJrFwSw For those asking for tricks you can see in there McGarry flipping one of the big jumps. At the end Ben Walker says he's been talking to the riders and some have plans for some big tricks. This is really big moutain so no guys like Greg Watts, Yannick Granieri, Pilgrim
Wow only one other person noticed that sam pilgrim didnt make it to the finals. Did he get hurt or is he just not as good as the other riders at this style of event?
thank you for listing the judges. if this could become a standard for all fmb event write-ups on PB, and if i didn't have to search the comments section to find the names, that would be awsome! thanks.
Riders are being judged on their speed, style and control. Not every comp is to be judged upon flip whips and back flips. I wish we could show the viewers better how incredibly steep this course really is. Just to ride down it is a feat.
Pilgrim smashed out a huge run last year at the same contest, on a 100mm travel cove hooker, including the drop at the start. He can ride the big stuff.
For all of you worried about Sam Pilgrim (Official Sam Pilgrim Page) not listed in the qualifying results at FMB World Tour Chatel Mountain Style, our rider decided to skip it and go straight into the finals - at the moment Sam is 4th! Good luck mate!
Riders were judged on their speed and cleanliness of their run. A simple brake check before a steep section is judged down when another riders charges forward. Today's comp will certain bring out more tricks and an even more difficult job for the judges.
The landing of that drop is pretty steep, I think a lot of riders are going to skip it in the finals. It's pretty high risk to bust a 3 or tailwhip off it. You will most likely see bar spins and no handers, if not just straight tweaked airs.
he also bikes and has the 2011 marin alcatraz. They met at jumpship. It was hillarious 
