Crash-Montana: Practice gets a little crazy at new World Cup course
Finding the limits of cross country racing in Switzerland
Photo by:
UCI Mountain Bike World Series / YouTube
Well, practice has started at the new Crans-Montana cross country World Cup and the UCI/WBD already have the crash reel it seems like they were looking for.
There are some changes from track walk yesterday, including filling in a gaping hole in the rock berm and padding the shark tooth-like rocks separating an A and B line after a drop. Which is good, as the pads are getting used.
Asked to describe the course in a word, U.S. phenom Bjorn Riley came up with a diplomatic “Interesting. We haven’t had a course like this.” Pushed further, and asked if it suidted his style, the notoriously technically talented Riley responeded “Uh…no?” (As reference, here’s Riley sending it to the moon, and the podium last weekend in Val di Sole).
It is too hard? Jury’s still out on that. But it’s starting to rain in Crans-Montana. And, as more mud gets dragged onto fresh wood, these features are only going to get harder.
