A Downhill World Cup in Poland?! Vital Downhill Fantasy Pre-Race Show

Welcome to another pre-World Cup discussion as part of Vital MTB Downhill Fantasy! The first race of the season in Fort William, Scotland, kicked things off with a bang! Now, just two weeks later, the excitement continues as we head to a completely new venue for the second round of the UCI World Cup downhill series from Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

Join Vital’s own Jason Schroeder, ex-World Cup mechanic John Hall, and podcast co-host and contributing editor Tanner Stephens as they discuss who’s looking fast after Fort William, what to expect from the new track, and who to keep on your radar this weekend.

0:00 – Intro & How to Play Fantasy
2:00 – John gives insight into how to approach a new track
5:49 – New track details and discussion
11:00 – Will electronic suspension systems be a thing again this weekend?
14:54 – Loic Bruni’s setup speculation
22:32 – Will experience be an advantage at a new venue?
24:42 – How teams find the best lines during practice
30:28 – Injury updates
34:50 – Fantasy notes and insights from round #1
44:33 – Junior Women predictions
46:48 – Junior Men predictions
52:02 – Elite Women predictions
57:03 – Elite Men predictions

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what’s going on mountain bikers and racing fans this is Jason schroer we are back for round two of the 2024 UCI World Cup Downhill season with the pre-race discussion as part of our Vital MTB downhill fantasy each round we’re going to break down which Racers you should keep an eye on going into the weekend who’s fast and years’s past try to give some insight to help make the best fantasy picks because of the second time we’ve done this we only ran fantasy for first round of this year I’m going to run through the rules once again for anybody who didn’t play in Fort William uh basically each TR to get a million dollar budget to build a race team Rider values change from race to race based on past results from both previous seasons and races there’s no limit on team size but you must include at least one Rider from all four categories it’s elite men and women Junior men and women fantasy closes for team building after qualifying and semi-finals points are only awarded for Riders who finish in finals points are paid the same as UCI points and finals so 250 for elite categories 600 for juniors for first place play all you got to do is make a vital account each round the top five players win prizes from Shram Rock shocks FSA Maxis and trolley designs and there’s also a top five overall prize at the end of the season for players uh for the race this weekend in Bill scoala Poland first place is going to win a rock shocks Pike ultimate Fork second place gets a tro design stage helmet third place wins some FSA gravity bar and stem fourth place gets a set of Max’s Tires and again fifth place get a vital t-shirt which is still Priceless because we don’t sell them again for this talk I’m joined by John Hall from intent Cycles who’s well known as Aaron Gwynn’s mechanic over the past decade and vital contributing editor and co-host of RP practice podcast Tanner Stevens thanks dudes for joining me again let’s chat about some down Horas thanks for having me dude yeah for sure um well Fort William went off with a bang I would say it was uh one of the more exceptional and awesome kickoffs to a season we’ve had in a few years make sure to listen to our B practice podcast where we talked about all the Post Fort William gossip who did what um also chat about Dakota and his weekend why his bars are so damn High uh but just two weeks later we’re going back into the second round at a brand new venue which offers a clean slate for racing and there isn’t any past history to kind of base off of who might do what before we kind of get into talking about things John from you going to a bunch of races over the years and going to new venues probably a handful of times how do you go about setting up a bike on a whole new track where do you decide to start uh what do you think it’s like the hardest part just for Racers showing up this week um I’m a big fan of consistency um and consist consistency builds confidence confidence equals speed so in terms of setup like I I never encouraged doing anything crazy um literally the the biggest thing so showing up to new venue is the most important part for me was walking the track um over the years I I wouldn’t always do track walk at familiar venues so Fort William U Leo gang valou like the ones you’ve walked a hundred times it’s like I kind of know those ones but every time at a new venue I always made sure to walk it and it was I’m not spotting lines I’m not doing anything like that for mechanic it was just my reference points um so I knew what Aaron was talking about when he came down about a certain section or how the bike was feeling in terms of setup after track walk it was just determining what tires we wanted to start on based off of current conditions and potential weather changes so we would be watching weather um what weather was going to be doing on the first day of practice um and so it was like well okay if it’s if it’s dry we’re GNA start on these if but rain in the forecast have a set of mud tires setup you know that kind of thing or maybe a combination of the two and so that was really all we would do for setup um I I think it’s a big misconception that every track requires a wildly different setup um and some obviously there’s the the writers that like to tweak setup a lot but I think to build off that consistency and to build that confidence we would always just start with previous settings you know we did our homework in the off season showed up to the first round and typically we weren’t that far off and if we were we had to get it figured out really quickly at the first round so then you go into your next round you kind of know like all right like I’m pretty well set up so aside from maybe a click or two maybe a small pressure change or rate change in the for or shock like no crazy setup changes just walk the track figure out what kind of tires you want you’re going to start on and probably start on the exact same settings as you did the week prior or sometimes if you got away from those your base setting quite a bit in your previous round sometimes Riders will just go back to that base setting and start there again and so the the key takeaway is familiarity so whatever you’re most familiar with so usually that’s the setting you came off the last track with is what you’re going to be most familiar with so you’re just going to start there and tweak or if you got like I said if you got got away from your base setting quite a bit from the previous round then you’re just probably gonna go back and start at your base setting again um so yeah but this track looks interesting for sure um from what we see obviously the the internet thinks they know best um without they do know best yeah right um it looks at first glance it looks very smooth groomed and lots of jumps and features um all of that looks to be true but to be fair that it’s a brand new track like I would expect it to be perfectly groomed and prepped and if their if it was their perogative to have a lot of jumps and features then sweet it doesn’t bother me any might maybe that’ll be exciting to watch depending on where the camera angles are and all that kind of stuff it could add for some cool stuff some scrubs and some different little Sidelines and and things like that of coming off the side of the lip or inside outsides and setups and stuff like that so it could change some stuff um I know right now it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of roots or rocks but again it’s a fresh track I wouldn’t expect there to be anything there yet so um I personally really like that it’s going to be really cool because now you have a brand new track that’s that’s never been ridden that professional writers get to burn the lines into so now you get to see it’s like giving a a a professional artist a blank canvas and it’s like they get to they get to cut the lines in and we’re g to get to watch where those develop and how they develop and those guys are going to get to develop them themselves rather than coming into like a preset track that you’ve ridden 100 times and you know that you got to get set up outside to cut this inside and there’s holes in this section but oh they filled it in from last year but whatever it’s gonna get blown out anyways and that kind of stuff like this nobody knows what’s gonna happen here how it could develop if there’s Roots under there if there’s Rocks Under there we can’t tell when we’re walking a track that we’re checking like you step on it and if it’s real soft you kind of like kick it up a little bit you’re like okay like there’s some spider web Roots under here all of this is GNA get blown away and bomb hold out like be ready for that so I think it’s bitching um of course like I said of course it’s smooth and prepped and and everything’s perfect right now because it’s brandom track and nobody’s ridden it but let’s see let’s see uh Chris Kil Murray’s before and after photos the the first shots from track walk and then he’ll go walk the track after the race and let’s let’s see what those holes look like and some of those sections look like after 250 roers go over it for a week yeah it’ll be uh I was just looking up the weather right now because I had it and it looks like there’s a fairly good chance we’ll get at least some moisture falling throughout the week which only adds to all of that yeah right it was crazy to be or for it seemed like most of Fort William this year was dry as could be like the driest Fort William ever and your point about walking the track and it looks all smooth right now Fort William looked pretty smooth on track walk Day this year and by the time they raced it it was disgusting yep so yeah they do that at Fort William in ble Soul a lot last year at B Soul they trucked in dude I swear a thousand yards of dirt like and just filled holes there was there were stumps that were like three feet tall that were like six inches tall in some spots dude like they filled it in and by the end of the weekend it was just an absolute just heinous dude disgusting holes everywhere and so and they do the same thing in Fort William it starts nice but it gets it gets beat up yeah yeah the dirt looks pretty uh pretty dark as well so yeah I think dude it it looks like I mean it’s Poland right it’s eastern Europe is and so it gets real get got that real black brown dark dirt y that rock soil yeah old soil that rock underneath of it um I think there’s going to be from the looks of it a lot of roots but again not there so it’s really tough to tell without walking it and seeing it personally tough to make that judgment from where we’re at um I think it’ll get it’ll get Rudy in the lower bits like pretty quickly as well yeah yeah I think it’ll be cool it’ll be like I said it’ll be smooth and it’s gon to change very quickly so I think that’s going to be the one of the keys as these writers progress through practice and qualifying is is that tracks not going to be the same as it was their previous run whether it’s practice or they’re going to get their practice in the morning before qualifying and that qualifying run Something’s Gonna Be drastically different it’s that fresh of a track and and things are going to change very quickly so that’s going to be the challenge is is adapting quickly I think so that’d be my guess yeah I think the contrast between the smooth jumps more so and then those freshwood sections is going to be kind of hard to manage on the set up side of things do we think with how much electronic suspension stuff we saw at Fort Bill even though we’ve only looked at like some videos of the track and mostly photos thus far it kind of seems like we’ll see people running flight attendant the olens lockouts the same thing again to your point Tanner like it’ll be jump heavy Burmy bike Parky in sections and then it looks like when it does get more lomy raw it also gets maybe a a little bit steeper than the rest of the track it’ll be I don’t know I’m curious what your take is on that too John like electronics and everything is making its way into suspension these days I love it D I’m a tech guy um it’s Aaron and I were fighting for lockouts and pedal platforms dude for every single year we were asking for it trying to get it get something made we were pushing for it we knew we needed it um so I love that it’s finally coming out now I’m a little bum that that I didn’t get to play with it as much as everybody is right now but um happy to have been part of pushing those boundaries um I think it’s great it’s it’s something that is 100% in advantage and if you can use it correctly um whether it’s automated or it looks like some of the flight attendant stuff has the buttons on the left where they can turn it on and off um or maybe have a couple different modes there um I think that’s what loic’s been using for a while now is essentially just switching some modes could still be wrong never know it’s loic um but there’s 100% time to be made on those smoother flowing sections and the motorway at Fort William was in my opinion it’s always been a key section but that the the suspension lockouts or the platforms never a lock out doesn’t completely lock it but the platforms and the and the modes were 100% beneficial and if you didn’t have something there you were you’re off so look at the podium and how many people had something on their bike um I think it was three four out of the five everybody but Dak everybody but Dak so he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore what’s that he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore so sour subject with old with old Dakota I’m sure it is again I didn’t listen to the b b practice podcast before this but um I’ve I spent a couple years on a team with Dakota so I know that I know what that conversation was and how it went and I know what he wants um and I know what we’ve been asking for for a long time so I hope he gets it soon I hope there’s something that he can get to um help him out in that department soon I think he’s proved it yeah um and yeah it was I I was even speaking with Joe Breeden so he has mechanical one on his shock and he was like dude it was a massive advantage on that Motorway and he goes specifically there it it was 100% faster than than no setup so I think we’re gonna see more and more of it um and to the point where it’ll just be normal yeah yeah it’s cool definitely uh that next level of bike setup and honing a setup in for the track on a given weekend and it seems like I kind of like that the track this weekend will have it looks like it has kind of black and white sections very different sections like the top bit being that one style and then having sections that break it up um makes it where you need to be thinking bigger picture about your setup and the the riders that have the ability to have two setups at the flick of a switch or a button pretty sick definitely an advantage I’ve heard Dak was saying Lo has buttons on both sides of his bars and I went back and watched his run and you can see that he has buttons on both sides and I’m just like so curious what he has going on like I think it seems like like I can’t I haven’t looked closely at photos but I would imagine something’s happening to his Fork as well like I don’t know if it’s just his shock like in we have like our slow-mo video on YouTube and there’s a few clips of different Riders hitting the jumps on the motorway it’s insane how stiff his suspension is when he lands compared to some of the other Riders like even some of riders with electronics on their bike it’s pretty impressive if I were to take a shot in the dark and I’m only guessing but he has if he has two setups more than likely previously it was probably a one button or one pod setup that did his fork and his shock I don’t think it may have initially just started with the shock only um but I’ve seen some stuff on his for that’s had some blinking lights and on top of the damper um previously so I think then it switch to probably one pod that maybe simultaneously put the fork in the shock in like the same whatever position um maybe now that’s separate I don’t know why you would though I I don’t know if that would be an advantage that’s a lot to think about too I think a lot of people forget about or it’s easy to look over there’s so much going on in your race run and so it’s another Testament to how good loic is with that stuff you have to be so switched on and aware of when you’re going to be pushing a button what button to push that’s why they’re so big and different colors and in a specific pattern and and why he always runs it when he’s testing is so he’s constantly used to it he’s not just putting it on for for a race and having to learn it that’s the biggest thing when when Aaron and I tested it it was um he he would put it on and then forget to shut it off and like have it shock be active again and then I remember specifically I think it was Australia one year and we had it um a lock out on there or pedal platform and he clicked it on for the section that he wanted it for and then there was like a rock section afterwards and he went blasting through there and he was just like he’s like dude I went for a freaking ride and I I spaced and forgot that I shut my shock off and I turn it back on and so I don’t know maybe again going back to Lo setup if he has two one could be connected to data one could be doing the suspension stuff um to turns data on and off or or maybe he’s just separated the the characteristics between one one for his fork and one for his shock but again I I hesitate saying that because that’s that’s a lot to coordinate in your mind mind when you’re when you’re doing what he does on a bike I wonder if one’s just an off like he just it’s all modes on one and then one just opens or whatever so then like if you’re don’t know where you’re at in the modes or something happened you can just hit like you always know it’s one side like a kill switch maybe I I haven’t seen the switch either so I don’t know what it looks like yeah I want to I want to bug uh Jack to go take photos next or like this week and get photos of like his fork and bars as much as you can because I think everybody is now tuned into it and I didn’t look for a long time but it was tough to find photos of it even just from like this weekend it’s tough to get them I was I was at the bottom in the Finish Line caral at Leo gang last year and the moment Lo comes across that line that bike goes behind the um his team manager or or a staff member grabs it immediately and a jacket is draped over the bars and and the front end so wow it’s tough to even catch a glimpse of it and that’s when we were all trying to figure out what he had going on with the bike and and there’s quite a few people behind the scenes that knew early on what was happening there and knew kind of how that linkage worked and it was interesting um how that works and I think it would work really good if you could figure out figure it out um obviously it worked well for him but yeah uh yeah give give Jack that challenge and wish him luck because he’s gonna have to get a long lens and and hang out and watch that pit for a long time to see to see it uncovered well it’s funny because I’m looking back right now at our we have photos of winning bikes like Winter’s bikes from Fort William but there’s such a sideshot that you can’t really see his handlebars and then like the screen grab from practice where he had all the fairings and stuff on his bike you also can’t see his bars but if Jack was just like in the Finish Coral during practice you’d be aate or in the start gate yeah there’s there’s times when he can’t you can’t hide L yeah and then that way everybody online can figure it out for us yeah I know Lo’s game too and he’s he’s really good at it because gwenny was good at it for a long time there was a lot of stuff and a lot of information that he just withholds or doesn’t allude to and he does that on purpose and it’s not a mind game but it’s just a a a withholding of information that then makes everybody question everything and it sometimes it sends people into a tail spin and if it and if you’re one of those people he freaking got you like you know I mean like I don’t care if he actually has something that’s an advantage or if it’s just something that appears to give him an advantage he’s living rentree in in so many people’s heads yeah because of what he’s working on I mean look we’re talking talking about it right now so and and if you’re racing against him my advice is to stop worrying about what Lock’s doing and worry about yourself and what what you need to do to beat him because you don’t have what he has and you’re not going to get it unless you’re him so don’t worry about it even Finn doesn’t have what he has yeah acknowledge it like and and see like okay he has something that does or doesn’t give him an advantage can I can I get something that gives me an like cool like don’t completely ignore him I understand that but he’s living rentree in a lot of people’s head right now because of what he’s doing and totally he’s just grinning from ear to ear with it I mean your point about him always riding with it so that it’s just a familiar part of his bike that doesn’t mean he’s he’s taking advantage of whatever it does to a suspension every race weekend it’s just on there you know like they’re not pull off so who knows I mean I obviously he did use it last weekend but who’s to say he uses it this weekend or where he does you know I mean maybe we’re thinking about it all wrong maybe the settings he has optimize the bike for the rougher sections and you know maybe it’s less about firming up and more about like whatever opening up who knows um or temperature or something like you never know yep all right it’s a lot to talk about Lo he’s getting a lot of coverage with his crazy ol stuff maybe one day we’ll know what in the box yeah maybe um cool I think that pretty well covers the track by the time people are listening to this there likely will be early GoPros coming out and uh it will be really fun to watch it develop throughout the weekend and I think it’ll play into Riders favors that are more experienced with just the whole race weekend and the limited time and taking advantage of those six to eight runs you might get where probably will be tough for some of the newer Junior uh even just first year Elites that are trying to get up to speed and learn a track I was thinking about that point almost exactly the other day about when I was thinking about things I could talk about and and that was yeah you pretty much nailed it that’s that is going to be a factor more than say like Fort Williams Factor was that it’s so long so physical so tough right but there are I you heard ASA he said he sat there on the couch for two weeks and studied gopr bro there’s that much footage of that track where he knew before he showed up every single Rock every single line and everywhere he needed to go to be fast from every winning run more than likely so with this new track in Poland nobody has that it’s a blank slate it’s fresh as can be and like to your point experience will show from those guys that can get up to speed they can put all that behind them they don’t care that it’s a new track and they’re gonna find the fastest line so quickly and then just start going and those Juniors those first year Elites they’re gonna sit there and go fre I don’t know where I’m going they’re just they’re just trying to learn the track whereas like these these experienc and these top guys will have learned the track in two three runs watch their GoPros in while they’re taking a break you know they’re getting their bike worked on and they’re going to watch the run again and then they’re going to go up they’re going to do another run they’re going to GoPro it and then they’re going to get a change done and they’re going to watch their GoPro again and so they’re getting they’re they’re watching and doing it every run yeah learning it it’s gonna be a challenge yep a lot of data on or data acquisition things on bikes this weekend and I imagine a lot of Team managers in the woods with stopwatches or the is it it is specialized that has their little Timing Systems little set up like on sections themselves which is like amazing to me I love that freelap out yeah freelap out they kind of have their own and it’s funny because that one uh beeps as it comes by or as you go by it’ll make a little beeping sound and um funny little off story here Aaron I don’t remember what track it was would have been two years ago I think and he was up on track and he he saw their little sensor sitting there and he was like stopped looking at a section and he just like walked up to it and just started like waving his foot by it so like beep beep beep beep beep and Lo’s dude was like down the track and he’s like looking at his thing he’s like what the heck dude and he looks up and then Aaron’s down there and Aaron just waves at him and he’s like oh it’s there’s some fun banter with it too like guys they mess with each other but it’s for sure an advantage they’re timing their own sections they know where they’re fast but some of these data acquisition systems have their own timing system on them too and you can set your own splits in it and so once you’ve done a complete run you can download it and figure out where you’re faster or slower and set your own splits with your software so Lo and them are just doing it up on the track instead so crazy not it’s not new or common but um he’s certainly the most prevalent one he’s got the biggest team up there probably has at least two I think three guys on track now at different locations relaying information both with radio timing dang man just think about how fast you and I would have been Tanner if we had that that’s all we were missing this whole time it’s if someone would have set up my suspension making sure my tires were pumped up the right PSI it’s such an advantage even when when Aaron got hurt but I still went to all the World Cups last year that I was that guy and so we just had a a WhatsApp group chat and I would video our guys and I would time other riters just with stopwatch and to having the advantage of somebody sitting there watching for you because if if you think about it just pick out one section of any track and you’re on a line and you think you’re good and you know that there’s another line but you’re like Noe like I’m comfortable and I’m good and fastor here and if you have somebody that that can sit there and honestly tell you and say hey dude get on the other line like and there’s then the question is like sometimes there is a where it’s like it’s questionable which one’s faster and you want your Rider just to take the one that they’re most comfortable on but then there’s times where it’s like hey man this line over here is a second faster every single time and so I would rather you risk it a little bit to be on that line and get that second then and start practicing it then completely miss out on it and so it’s a huge Advantage just sending videos and they get down to the bottom and they can relay back up can you stand in this section What’s Happening Here it just speeds the whole process up of learning the track and almost building that confidence in them that they are on the right line yeah that that’s half the battle too not even that it’s just you know when you’re doing a line you’re not sure if it’s faster or not you have somebody that says hey dude I’ve stood here for 30 minutes you’re on the fastest line just and it’s like sweet don’t have to worry about that one anymore onto the next it just removes any doubt so yeah it’s such so important now and for a while it was only top teams that did that and then now it’s every single team has at least one person up there I mean I just think about the amount of times I’ve spent 10 to 15 minutes standing on the side of the track in practice while riding trying to figure out which line was faster and how they’re wearing like how they’re getting broken in or whatever and then getting down to the bottom and then having to go up again but losing that 10 to 15 minutes of practice or what could been GoPro review or changing something on the bike yeah yeah how do I look in that section like and having somebody there that you trust and will be honest with you without just hurting your feelings and it’s like and you that’s the other thing it has to be the right person too it can’t just be some random person up there that you don’t know or trust like I I could confidently stand there and say Joe you’re you’re slow right here like you’re on the right line but you need to go faster and Joe goes thank you I wasn’t sure if I was going fast enough there or not or where I could push knowing that I need to push there answers that question and he can go sometimes you don’t even know that you can go faster through a line you think you’re going as fast you can yep yeah and then you show them a video and you go look here’s Lori Greenland watch this and you go oh I didn’t know I could go that fast okay like that’s no problem I just wasn’t going fast there so it it helps with all that kind of stuff too it’s it’s in my opinion it should be a paid position on every single top team yeah no kidding yeah well there GNA be a lot of those people floating around this weekend yes yeah well moving along moving along uh few injuries to add to the list unfortunately that won’t be lining up this weekend after Fort William uh Lucas Cruz unfortunately broke his femur at Fort Bill and he’s already had surgery sounds like he’s at least on the road to recovery it sounds a little rough at the moment but um hope all that goes well see him back in time when when he’s ready um Chris Hower had like a gnarly tree Slam in practice that was dude dude violent very violent I’m glad somehow he only dislocated his finger but he ended up say only because that’s a tough one to hold on to bars with but he didn’t race in Fort William and not sure if he’ll be back for Poland uh seems like there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be lining up this weekend so and the other big one on Instagram yeah yeah I would yeah I was gonna say that tree that Chris hit like doesn’t need to be there that that thing has been a a menace for a few years in that section every time We’ve ran that section like we walk the track and we come around we’re like dude can we please move the tree it does like like it is a definitive choice to go left or right of it and if you’re hesitated at all that’s what happens yeah or if you get offline like a tiny little bit like it’s just there to hug you and it’s not H not pretty yeah yeah that’s a weird one I can’t think of like too many other tracks that you split trees at too many moments so there’s a few there but it’s like it’s just it’s it’s no problem because you’re coming down a straight you see it you know it’s there and and you’re committed like that like you’re it’s kind of just like you come out and it’s like there and it’s like you got to be set up and and ready for it so at least there’s a pad on it true very true us be no pad yeah yeah exactly uh fortunately there was no pads for Greg Manar when he jump from the top ropes twice and dude I know like I said in B practice podcast like easily the biggest bummer from the weekend with so much hyp behind his team change and the new Norco bike and just all everything surrounding it and uh the latest update as we’re recording this is he’s a gray three shoulder separation with bone shards in his AC joint which to me sounds like your season’s over for a bit but apparently he’s going to try to come race and Poland going to see how it feels leading up to it uh and I guess on one hand I understand that like he’s got a lot behind him there’s a lot of momentum that he’s built with everything he did in the off season so it’s got to be so hard to come out I mean obviously with Lucas getting hurt as well like tough hits for for that team yeah I mean he’s he’s gonna give a a red hot crack no matter what it’s it’s potentially his last season and so he’s not going to go out on the first round like that if he can muscle through it or get through the pain they’re going to have to tape the ever living crap out of it um and to hold it in um knowing that injury but as he said in his PO he’s had that injury before he’s it’s nothing he hasn’t dealt with he’s he knows the recovery process he can deal with it so as long as he can ride um it’s difficult to ride at your potential with that injury but this will be I mean of all tracks if it’s as smooth as it looks depending again how it develops like it could be the best track for him to ride and then go into what is it another couple weeks and if he can just use that time to recover or he sits this round out and determines he can’t ride and then he’s got a good solid four weeks yeah like good four weeks of of recovery so we’ll see um it’s not the last we’ll see of him this season though yeah yeah for to uh put that Lucha lib mask back on and come out from the top ropes safely next time slams there too and it’s like in the two sections that you just don’t slam like at all yeah yeah that’s sweet well pulling for you old Greg want to see you out there uh I had a few notes Here with just fantasy things after the first round because there’s people chatting on in our forums about it a little bit uh I want to clarify again you can add as many riders to your team as you want you just have to have a rider from each category so there’s strategy involved there there’s strengthen numbers there’s trying to pick some uh some winners and maybe back fill it with some other people that might have Stand Out weekends but uh use the all of your million-dollar budget you have you can build as many people as you want uh spower did tell me that he is going to adjust pricing for this second round to make it more appealing to actually pick people that are going to win the race because for the first round there was a lot of strategy you have like 70 Riders to pick from for finals roughly 75 something like that um and I think like all the people that had the best or the most points after the first round I don’t think anybody had winners from the elite classes on their team so trying to balance that out to make it more lucrative to actually add someone like a valley hall or a l bruny to your team as well as be able to pick people that are going to be like 30th to 20th or top 10 in the women’s field whatever that might be um so we’re we’re open to suggestions and changes we have reasoning behind most the things we’re doing same as kind of our whole pre-chat about the UCI and holding events and all that like a lot of people are bringing up that it changes the game play Closing it after qualifying in semi-finals like there’s no reason to pick wild cards on your team because you can wait and see everybody’s doing the to that is that if we close after qualifying with qualies and semis on the same day now that time is changing in the world at each round depending on where it is if you’re in North America that means that you’d have to get your picks in by like three or four in the morning day of qualies and semis and then with weather it’s just unpredictable knowing if there will be a schedule change it’s a lot easier for us just to be 12:00 or whatever it is at night before finals day that’s when you got to get your pick and personally I think that gives you the opportunity to like see how people are trending throughout the week and for whims a good example there weren’t obvious picks there was hopefuls but not the same person won qualifying semis finals time training it’s different people people get scattered and there’s still a lot of names to pick from I I taner you had a good point of it’s fun to have more horses in the race and it’s good to know that the horses you pick are actually in the race so uh yeah get creative with it there’s you could try to do I’m going to pick all the Juniors because they’re a little bit cheaper but they don’t pay as many points you could try to pick all the women because your guaranteed top 10 is going to pay points but there hasn’t been a proven Theory to this I thought for sure I would I had the best strategy and I’m like 200th place so somebody out there thinks they haven’t fig sper just he’s like top 30 or something right now what’s really funny is what’s that Global top 30 yeah yeah he’s like 35th after the first round I just looked I’m like 1, 145th Place Global and like better than mid pack I I feel like I had a solid de right that’s how I felt too and I’m 1,00 something as well like I might even be 2000 no I’m 2,481 I was like my team was sick yeah right we have to make our own League of just the three of us and see who’s doing what um I’m diving in next weekend like well so Saturday I like Moneyball approach I’m a Moneyball type guy so I for for each person in my category I go for like so yeah to pick your one person in each category that’s my like that’s my horse that I think can win and then after that it’s a Moneyball approach I’m going into stats knowledge of their of their life previous results relationships relationships averages where they’re training how they’ve been doing National Series standings like let me see where you’re at up against the rest of everybody and then make like educated decisions it obviously didn’t work but you’re you’re over there with spreadsheets you’re connecting dots on where things are going and I don’t want to turn my camera right now because the whole other side of my room is just a crime scene yeah for sure I mean it um I was texting with sper on Saturday after qualifying in semi-finals because I was probably the 15th time I adjusted my team and I texted him I was like I hope I do bad so that the next round I don’t have to spend so much time on this because I’m like so invested thinking that this is going to be the best team possible and he was like you can’t win like none of us can win because people think the game’s rigged and then he got 30 something I’m like very careful man people think it’s rig all of a sudden I think you should shut it off after time training like give everybody little bit of glimpse of speed and where they’re at but it still requires you to know a little bit more about all the Riders because there’s some people that take time training very seriously and there’s some people who really only care about a split somewhere where they want want to see how fast they are and they can judge where they’re going to be based off that and so they may look like they’re in 30th in time training but they didn’t put a full run together or you need to go and look at the time sheet and be like what splits were they fast in or were they fast and you see like 13th and then all of a sudden like second and then like 40 second 40 second and you’re like ah I see in there like you’re fast but only you’re testing a section like all right yeah I do like after semis though because then you can actually pick people that are in the race yeah that’s true there are frozen cons to both I I like the idea of cutting it before qualities and semi-finals the downside is exactly what you’re saying Tanner is does it do people lose interest because half your team ends up not making it to finals for whatever reason uh versus I think that I was way more invested throughout the weekend because I saw uh time training made some picks adjusted where I already had picked then qualifying happens I’m like H all right yeah yeah no they they they’re worth my team I’m gonna go and add them and then semi-finals happen and now you’re like well shoot like I had Lori Greenland or I had ocean o calan like they’re not even in the race anymore had both yeah like now it’s now it’s time to move some names around and uh I don’t know I think I think for people who are into it and if you’re already tuning into who’s going how fast and qualifying who’s going how fast and semi-finals you’re probably already on the site it’s quick enough to click in and make what you think are the educated guesses on who’s going to go fast I mean this past weekend with uh uh duly flatting AR rean Len flatting and then Remy Myers Smith right was that the correct or is it no Luke Myers Smith Luke Myers Smith DF DS going out of the course after he crashed those three Riders right there killed my team and I think a lot of other people’s and that’s like the fun of it I think you know like they’re all people that should have been up there and you can’t really predict that so dly thinks like I do dude he got down to a spot pulled his phone out was like where’s my where’s my split times yeah Pace there yeah it’s so easy dude you’d be like ah super bummed at crash but if you look back and look at your splits and be like all right I’m top five in the splits like speed’s there it’s fine mechanical happened onto the next like don’t let it shake him yep for sure yeah we uh we’ll get let’s get into some talking I got to give a shout out to uh a AEK one of the users on site because he was the fat or he’s leading our B practice league right now and I said I would give a shout out to whoever is currently leading it everybody in our B practice league is really good like I’m still 25th like most the people in B practice are uh really really good at picking people how do I get into this league if you go to v.com I’m in it I don’t think I’m go to Fantasy at the top there is leagues I’m in 84 there it is and uh you can join I’m aren’t private such as the B practice League orate ones with your friends um what’ you say sper is in fourth man he’s he’s a freaking sleeper man I’m telling you got some inside knowledge yeah trading you know he’s the one who picks the value of riders so maybe there’s something to it we got some yeah some hitters in this league um all right cool L up there too is he yeah Luca comedian 21st man see I’m getting way too competitive about bench racing I love it but it’s also frustrating especially when we when I’m like I should know who’s the fastest I should know all the people yeah um all right let’s talk about some Juniors uh junior women we’ll start there and I’m gonna kind of talk about this from a fantasy standpoint so Junior Riders aren’t going to get above $60,000 that’s where they will cap out at so strategy however you want to do it I think that picking your winner for both both categories is a great move because odds there’s there’s some key players in both classes right now and then after that a lot of juniors are pretty well priced so doing your homework around Juniors of who’s fast on the weekend um who was fast at Fort William kind of looking at those names I think there’s a lot of potential to get some points there with Junior women I still think AR man Len is the one to win even though she she’s fastest at every split by like she’s up probably two seconds before she Flatt it at Fort William so I still think she’s the one to put your money on uh same with s Ernest and Ellie hbos they’re second and third on the weekend at Fort William both looking really fast this year um they’re going to be worth quite a bit as well so have to look at your budget and see what makes the most sense said this in B practice podcast but Heather Heather Wilson who won for juniors at Fort William uh we didn’t talk about it last week because she wasn’t on my radar a lot of new names especially in the junior Fields first race first place for her big shout out sure value will go up from last week into this weekend so I still think she’ll be somebody who’s up there um other than that big shout out to uh Tilly Melton Us Rider for transition fourth at her first World Cup as well and another person that kind of slipped my radar when I was picking a team at least uh her again will also go up but I think she’s a solid pick for this round everything’s so new for some of the junior riders that you know a lot of them is their first before Williams the first time at this track sort of same same you know there’s not uh balancing the unfamiliarity it’s all unfamiliar yep um keep cruising through for junior men’s sort of same thing as a re I think ASA is going to be hard to bet against at most of the World Cups this year I mean he came out in abolutely dominated more so than I think any of us would have thought at Fort William it was insane dude so I mean that’s that’s what I would have expected out of a healthy ASA to know that he was quite literally on the couch two weeks ago just watching GoPro runs freaking came out and beat Everybody by six seconds like okay yeah all right all right that and so the the cool part is and I talking to some people at work about this is I I love I love that he won but I love how how he won because there were so the kids you have to remember he’s 16 like racing age 17 like there was all this pressure all this hype he you know he hears it all these expectations all that kind of went away which is maybe a blessing knowing that he’s coming in injured and was just like results don’t matter and it kind of like wiped a lot of that away but I love watching people take all of that on and then prove it right like he went out there and said the hype is real and I’m the one to beat like it was all question up until this point it was all yep he’s smoking everybody in the US yes his times are faster than the pro guys yep he laid the wood to a few top dudes who’ have had great World Cup results but it’s not Europe he hasn’t been to a World Cup yet he doesn’t know the pressure he doesn’t know the vibe and he said yeah I do and and and with authority too and just like all of that I was like hell yes dude that’s you basically just said I’m real like I’m the real deal like it was a question before and now it’s not so I love that like and I I think that was it’s been said before already but I think that was the start of something really special yep I would agree it’ll be cool to see him racing again so soon second round maybe different pressures than coming into his first race ever now he has risen to the occasion Pro that the hype is real different pressure still pressure on him but I I feel like I’ve been thinking this and saying this all along is that his his Race Craft seems so evolved for how young he is that I don’t think he hears the noise or really cares about it I mean Dakota was mentioning when we podcasted for B practice that he just genuinely loves to ride like he wants to do laps yeah like he and even like his interview he like genuinely said I wasn’t even that tired at the bottom of my run not to like put it in people’s face by any means he was just like yeah like I hit all my lines it was so sick I got to the bottom wasn’t like that tired I’m like this kid is crazy if you would have leted him that kid would have went up and done party laps down that racetrack after the race gu JS I guar no way dude he would have done full laps top to bottom like another six just for fun because he loves to ride his bike that much and Nico said that when he first put him on his bike at the US Open a few years ago and he said you want to stay after and ride my bike he said sure and it was like first lap Nico’s like all right just take it easy we’re g to cruise down we’ll stop at a couple sections like it’s a new bike like get used to it and he’s like okay and then just went like race Pace full lap no stop and Nico’s like who is this kid like and he’s like I couldn’t stop him from riding like he just had to just lap and lap and lap and I’m like dude let him go let him yeah yeah it’s gonna be sick to watch again this weekend um I have no reason to think he can’t do it all over again yeah I agree uh I think the only unknown is Tyler we the Kiwi uh you know kind of almost like an ASA from the southern hemisphere from the way people been talking about him and and the way he’s had fastest time of the day at some Nationals and races with big Elite Fields uh he was third at the first split and qualifying then he flatted so we never didn’t really get to see his cards so he’ll be at Poland this this weekend um and I’m excited to see how he goes I think he’ll definitely be on my team because I expect him to be up there um other than that really like there’s a lot of names in the junior men’s class right now that are all really fast and it’s awesome just to see how tight that competition’s gotten one person that stood out to me to think about for this weekend is uh milin fette he had two pods end of last year qualified Ninth at Fort Bill and then flatted in finals so his value or his costs for this weekend will likely go down a little bit but I would expect him to be back up in like that top five range yeah sweet yeah keep moving on where we at here alrighty Elite women um kind of turn it into the valley nenina battle a bit like Fort William was a dicing up of splits between the two of them and it’s I’m split in my mind on who I think could win this weekend I think Valley has a lot of confidence and she’s kind of being quiet with that confidence on the new team the new bike like didn’t wasn’t really too stressed over Fort bill came out and won and and kind of proved that she’s still the fastest Elite women or woman right now um but Nina tnie like I think tnie will be somebody again that’s up there it’s R to see her fully back in form after the few years she had off so yeah interesting I think Elite women’s feels a bit more kind of like the junior class where there’s some standout names and then I think there’s a big group of of women that are battling for the rest of that top 10 uh but it’ll be interesting to try to decide you know like if it’s Cammy if it’s Gloria garcy um some of those yep Marin cabaro like I think it’s hard for me to like guess how they’ll do this weekend but I would think that the podium from Fort bill will include Val and Nina if nothing happens probably tnie Plus some other names mixing it in yeah if you look at T splits she was she was first at split one and then just pretty much maintained third the rest of the way through and was second at the speed trap so she’s got speed there and if it’s it’s I don’t know man it’s completely different track it’s not GNA be as rough nor as long as Fort Williams so we may see some other players shake up some of the stuff some of those leader boards yeah kind of looking at who’s more of like a skilled jumper like has that BMX style I guess coming into this weekend yep for sure I I get real curious about um Millie John set because she was having a pretty decent weekend before she crashed so I think she’ll be hungry going to the second round uh Valentina Rose Sanchez she looked so fast in all the practice uh Clips I saw and then she didn’t qualif I wonder if that was just like everything surrounding your first Elite race but she went and did that you know like got the first one under your belt maybe it didn’t go how you wanted but she looks really fast and I think she’ll be on the cheaper side for Fantasy stuff as well so uh assuming she gets through qualifying in semi-finals I think she’ll be mixing it up like but you’re right though picking somebody with with the BMX jumping skills I will say compared to a couple years ago like watching the motorway Fort bill insane how fast all the women are going and they’re not like they’re not just like making the jumps like maybe it once was they’re pushing through they’re like there’s some like slow shots of all yeah like looking so sick over the jumps so yeah and one interesting um stat that Chris kilmurray had and posted I forget exactly what it was but I think what was it the top three women were yeah 1.8 seconds off of each other and so historically the gaps between positions in the women’s class has been three to five seconds and then after the podium in the top five it drops off like can be in upwards of 30 seconds and we’re starting to see all those times get closer and closer and Tighter and Tighter and so that’s when you start getting these really cool stories and fun racing when when they’re not just smoking each other by five seconds like they’ve all stepped it up they’re racing like it’s no longer who can jump and who can’t because they all can they can all hit the stuff they can all do the gnarly things um and they’re all like super supportive of of each other it’s not surprising but um refreshing to see like they’re out there they’re very encouraging and they’re they’re taking that Rising tide floats all boats approach to it and you’re watching it now so now there’s just like this bigger chunk of super competitive women and it’s been really fun to watch that yep 100% totally one last name I’ll throw into the mix was Michaela Pon she was six Fifth and Ninth and kind of the same as Anna newerk with like a third in qualifying and then semis and finals maybe fading just a little bit uh honing in having to put in three race runs is tough and but I those those times are still times they still mean something so uh yeah Michaela and Anna I think will be continuing to build into this round yep finish this off yeah all right Elite men there are so many names to bring up and talk about I guess if we’ll start with a who probably will be up there for winning the race think it’s G be pretty hard to bet against Lo this whole season for him to come out and win the first round and at a track that he historically was not very good at Fort bill homie’s on form and not really looking to slow that down um Troy was a little surprising to me but only because I forget about him for some reason like I guess it was surprising to me that I didn’t think about him because when I look at him at Fort Williams especially great track record he’s like got to be one of the most consistent Racers of all time so to see him come out on a new bike be in second be stoked on it like really hyped to watch him as well um but dude really other than that you get on the whole top 30 um there’s probably 15 to 18 riders that could definitely win so that’s part of the fun in picking your team as we go through qualifying in semi-finals and just who is vibing that weekend with the track and everything else going on um I will say there will always be some outliers but that top five from Fort William are like I feel like one of those five are gonna win Poland I like that there’s always there’s gonna be somebody who comes out of left field now that I’ve said that but that’s well who’s who’s who’s the most likely out of left field people do you think um Andy coold is one um Loris yep Loris um Greg’s hurt Ben W yeah out of out of those I would say yeah Beno can always win but I don’t I don’t think there um yeah I think Andy or or Loris are are gonna be real close there Ronan Dunn maybe but um he’s still looking for that real like breakout so he’s on that cusp but I really think it’s going to be somebody from that top five but because of how Wild Fort William was we’re not even looking at Charlie Hatton Lori Greenland like those make finals soard yep so Angel OE Davis dude it’s mind concerningly long list concerningly long list yeah um yeah I would agree with with all of those names for sure um I think benois might be up there a bit more just with him being sixth at Fort Bill he had he’s he’s always a sleeper like he’s so fast and he is more consistent than I think I even realized that it’ll be interesting how long this track is because we haven’t seen a GoPro yet that’s the one thing I’ve been kind of thinking about like Dakota is really good on these short east coast of the US style tracks and if it’s in that two and a half minute range I think he could be really quick I think Bernard is fast on stuff like that as well he is so efficient and good at jumps and all of that um reys could also be somebody Rees Wilson that he’s exceptional on terrain like that and just having a fresh track where creativity might pay off yep yeah can you add a wild card to the fantasy league ah maybe in in what type of way like they’re weighed more heavily or something yeah so you just get you just pick one wild card right and if it’s almost like a jackpot if you nail what’s a win 600 points 250 250 or just finals just finals yeah for finals so throw a wild card in there and if they win it’s 500 yeah okay I like that or you would do or you could do it where the wild card is position based yeah I was or something yeah yeah like it just changes every round we have an fantasy league for Supercross at intense and that’s what it is so we have a wild card rider that’s chosen so say it’ll be I don’t know maath and you have to choose what place you think maath will get so you’d be like 12th and if you nail it it’s we do Olympic scoring so it’s minus five points H and actually a really fun idea so we could pick it kind of encourages these conversations so whoever we think our wild card is for this week based off results last week we could say Greg Williamson or Matt Walker who you know they’re they’re great Riders and top 10 capable but historically haven’t been but Greg’s kind of been on the up and up or you know you got a first year Elite guy or new teams like all the shakeups and be like all right we could just I don’t know yeah Andy Cole was our wild card and be like I think Andy’s gonna get sixth that’s what I was thinking in my head Place yeah then then it avoids then it avoids um you know picking your loic for the wild card and like nailing an extra however many points kind of like redundant that would be a fun idea I’m gonna gonna pitch thater yeah you want do you want us to name it something like the the hall pick John Hall’s wild card I think that’s a good idea there’s a lot of I mean even even without there being a wild card that even now that’s sort of the tough part is like I think about Loris like Loris last weekend to me would have been a Podium pick like I’m picking him as as my dude that I’m going to put a lot of money into there’s a good chance he can win this thing and he gets eighth and I’m like dang that’s freaking tough now into this into this weekend I still think he’s going to be on the podium again like especially looking at this track and it reminds me so much of marbor where he’s always done well it’s like one there two or three times uh he is good on jumps it’s like such a light little Nimble dude um I think he could be up there like him and Troy are some of my picks for sure the code I’ll be really curious about just with he’s incred at jumping and being efficient and smooth and all of that but also like I know his bar setup is catering to exactly what he wants at the moment I’m just curious with like the flatter pedal keeping your bike load to the ground he’ll figure it out I’m just curious how that all works Dakota is one of those guys that isn’t afraid to make adjustments yeah so okay and I mean extreme adjustments like that dude will if he if the track requires a lower bar setup he’ll put a lower bar setup he’ll flip those things around yeah he’ll go drop bar if he has to um or like a a a spacer option or something like that so I’m not too worried about Dakota adapting is setup to ATT track he’s never been one that’s been shy about changing stuff some people like to just get comfortable and leave it and deal with it at each track um Dakota will not do that he will optimize all way up until he’ll run something on race run that he hasn’t ran all week and just go for he was talking about a line that he hit last week in race run that he hadn’t hit all week and he knew he had to change it after semis or after practice I think the one line he was saying that after practice on finals day he ebikediscount you know he’s he’s used to doing that there’s some guys that if you told him like you have to change your your mind right after their final practice run they’d be like no see the thing about Dakota is that he’s made a lifestyle out of this last minute thing true this is this is not just a racing thing this is a lifestyle choices that he’s made’s he’s working on it it’s more of a branding thing you know he’s gota be on brand very on brand yeah um I think um Luca Shaw is like who I’m thinking is gonna take it hasn’t won a race but he he looks comfortable on that bike and he’s so talk about like efficiency him and Troy those two are they a lot of times don’t look like they’re trying but they’re going real fast mean child for tucking always has dude he yeah I remember the first World Cup I went to in 2013 watching him combine his race run and watching the way he was pumping things that I was just like standing up rolling over I was like oh my gosh there’s so much more speed in this Trail or track that that I did not realize he’s insane with that 100% he can get so low on a bike and tight like it’s but it’s always been a strength of his like and and he knows it and so if it’s a fast track and he can build and find that speed then yeah for sure yeah but look like you said or uh Luka yeah yeah I’d like your very first comment about the podium that we had from Fort William expect to see those names up there because the more I think about them I mean Finn we didn’t really mention much in this conversation but kind of goes without saying I mean Finn’s he grew up in a Whistler like he can squash a jump and carry speed better than anyone practically um he’ll be fighting right there with all M and he’s hungry like yeah he’s a Powerhouse nowadays as well yeah he looks like he got like like good yeah looked like he like put some good stockiness on it was a it was a heavy off season big weights I love it looks strong uhuh I love the contrast between his bike in front end height versus Dakotas it’s one of my favorite things watching their runs side by side and just two ways to an end sort of mentality you know like I think he like 10 mil rise bars yeah yeah yeah that it is crazy um well I think that gives people plenty of things to think about um there’s a lot of names in there I think we’ll see a lot of the same names in the mix I’m hopeful that some of the riders that didn’t make it into finals we get to see last week we get to see this weekend uh pulling for our boy inkerton want to see him in finals as well or at least through to semis and stuff um so yeah should be a good race I think everything we’ve talked about between your kind of main title contenders in each class mix in with a bunch of names plus a new venue G it be cool to see how people dissect it and how it evolves and uh yeah man I’m stoked we get another race right away can’t complain about it nope I’m pump here rolling we are we’re rolling stra TR we rolling until July and then it hits pause for a bit yeah then we we had a weird two month pause but then we’re right back into it all right cool guys well uh thanks for joining again having this conversation thank you everybody for listening supporting independent mountain bike media make sure to play Fantasy create a league with your friends have fun being competitive from behind your computer screen and we will see everybody after the race for B practice podcast cheers