2019 Gravity Season

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
I cant wait to talk about. Without spoilers I'll say USA finally gets on the podium, it went down to the last rider, and the world cup overall was decided by a couple tenths of a second. It was as good as sport gets. And maybe not the single great performance we tend to remember like gwin's chainless win at Leogang, sam hills 2nd in the mud, or harts muddy 12 second win. But as far as overall races go that was the best I've ever watched.
 

oobaa47

Well-Known Member
If someone has the replay link, can you please post it here. Every time I go searching for it, I run into the results, thank you!!
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Women replay

Men replay

Unfortunately, the Denim Destroyer took a hard fall during practice and didn't run. I saw him go down hard in the last rock garden, so that might have been it, although he did get up and kept riding after collecting himself and we saw him at one of the after parties last night.
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
So its Tuesday so spoiler time. If you haven't watched the race, stop reading now and open the red bull app.

The race had some of the best racing ever but it was the dynamic of the world cup overall that made it so special. If anything there was far too little focus on hart's win, which itself was remarkable given he wasn't ahead until the second to last section. But the change in the overall world cup literally three times during Danny's run was almost too much to handle. To recap:

- pierron must win to take the overall. He qualifies low (15th?) and destroys every one else before him by over 5 seconds.
- bruni is second to last down the mountain and we know he must finish top 3 to remain in the lead after pierrons win. He does exactly what he needs and finishes third. Insane. He and Pierron hug and talk at length and the emotion is palpable as Pierron is an intense competitor and achieved his insane goal of winning right when he needed to. But then we remember theres one more man down to come down the mountain....
- Danny is top qualifier and after the 2nd section is in 3rd place. Holy shit he just bumped Bruni to 4th and Pierron now wins the overall. 3rd section still 2nd or 3rd place. Insane. Camera shows Bruni and Pierron and they realized pierron will win the overall.
- 4th section danny goes into first. WHAT. He's riding super smooth and we're all so confused but he's killing it. He's up just 3 tenths but its first place.
- final section he's still in first. Camera flashes to Pierron and were realizing what's happening. It's a roller coaster of emotions. Hart holds on to win by one or two tenths. We never even see him on camera again for several minutes. Bruni had the overall, lost it, and regained it all during Danny's run. Insane!
 

oobaa47

Well-Known Member
Has anyone checked out redbull hardline? Finals just wrapped up this morning......these guys are absolutely mental....
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Yup. So insane. Few racers on course (only 14 or 20 entrants qualified), but the "loose" format allows showing pretty much the entire run top to bottom. Kaos is insane.
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
Hardline was fun. Some great runs and it's cool seeing the freeride guys mix it up with the DHers. Greeland looked like he could do that in his sleep.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Speaking a freeriders mixing it up with the racers, the field at the US Open had some interesting names finish higher than one might expect: Kyle Strait in 8th and Brett Rheeder in 14th.
 

gmb3

JORBA: Sourlands
JORBA.ORG
Weird that they'd have the USOpen the same weekend as Hardline since a lot of the World Cup guys would probably like to do both. I feel like since the USOpen left NJ, it hasn't gotten much publicity either. Maybe it just feels that way because of where we live, i dunno. I honestly had to Google where/when it took place just now.
 

mtbiker87

Well-Known Member
The promoters said we didnt have enough amenities up here in Vernon to support how big it was getting. Not sure I agree that was the....real...reason though.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Hardline is basically an invitation-only event with a limited number of entrants. Sort of like a racing version of Rampage. So I doubt there was much concern over riders having to choose between that and the US Open.
 

Zaskar

Well-Known Member
Looking at riding Creek this Sunday for son's b-day but I see there's an Endro and DH race.
Question - How much of the mountain is impacting and should I scrap these plans?
 

oobaa47

Well-Known Member
Looking at riding Creek this Sunday for son's b-day but I see there's an Endro and DH race.
Question - How much of the mountain is impacting and should I scrap these plans?

The enduro stages usually don't interfere with the existing trail network because the Enduro stages are usually around the periphery, but depending on what DH race course they use, there could be some trail closures. There will obviously be pretty long lines this weekend due to everyone trying to get their practice runs in....
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Yeah, the Enduro stages are mostly on the north side of the mountain, so once the initial group of riders heads up, it'll probably be normal. For the DH, it's hard to say. The results for the 2019 season don't seem to be posted on the ESC website, but they had 125 racers total for the Aug 2018 race. Not really that many when compared to what the mtn usually gets.
 

serviceguy

Well-Known Member
Hardline is basically an invitation-only event with a limited number of entrants. Sort of like a racing version of Rampage. So I doubt there was much concern over riders having to choose between that and the US Open.

I wonder what criteria is used to determine the invitations as a certain 3 times World Champ / World Cup Champ did not make the cut...or did he decline the invitation? Oddly enough also a Red Bull athlete.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Honestly, I have often wondered that. As far as I can tell, Gee is the only Red Bull athlete at the event. While Hardline is definitely a cool event, the lack of transparency over who is selected to race does detract from the event as a legitimate race rather than a show. Conversely, the US Open is... well... "open" which was always the point. Register and try to make the qualification cut - do so and you get to race for the $$$. This is compared to a World Cup event where you generally need a certain number of UCI points to even register.
 

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Looking at riding Creek this Sunday for son's b-day but I see there's an Endro and DH race.
Question - How much of the mountain is impacting and should I scrap these plans?
I was there yesterday with boy wonder, holy break bumps, tis the season though. Looking at a possible getaway either thunder or highland this weekend for him and i.
 
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