08 Aug 2010

I gotta say that upfront I don’t know much about what constitutes an ‘All-Mountain’ race. For me, an ‘All-Mountain’ bike is one you put up with it’s lack of climbing prowess for the extra grin factor on the way down. I can’t really see how you can feasibly have an ‘All Mountain’ race, because as any road racer will tell you, you can’t make up the time you lost on the climb on the downhill. I can see the attraction though - as DH and XC have become more polarising and more specialist, that leaves a whole bunch of people that aren’t really either, looking for somewhere to shove their competitiveness.

One such guy is obviously Mark Weir.  He seems like a pretty classy rider in that SoCal bogan kinda way, but as a guy who’s mantra (on of them anyway) is ‘you have to earn the downhill by riding up’, I can’t abide any sooky-la-la-ing from a rider of his Stateside calibre :

Weir would like it if Downieville was slightly more skewed toward the downhill portion of the race. As it stands, the overall all-mountain winner is decided by overall time, and even with the downhill win, Weir found himself close to eight-and-a-half minutes away from Giant Factory Team’s Carl Decker, who raced a 29in-wheeled Giant Anthem X cross-country bike.

“The cross-country was a blowout by super horsepower,” he said “It should probably be based on a point schedule. He [Decker] won the all-mountain on the climb. It was a great ride and he’s a great rider, but the margin was huge. You shouldn’t just have to ride the downhill; it takes the race out of the race.”

And so to does losing the hillclimb portion by - wait for it - eight and a half minutes.  But that’s the perspective of the typical American rider in their own sandpit.  They’re kings of it until someone knocks them off, and then they either cry it was unfair, or have a little cry into their beers.  It was the same when Craig Gordon went over to the US enduro scene where Team Trek had dominated for years, and then he handed them their arse. (and put himself in hospital, but that’s beside the point!).  It was the same when the World Cup circuit was created and dominated by Europeans in vast amounts in all disciplines, leaving the Seppos (and us for that matter) crying in a puddle. (Yes I know Decker is North American, but he’s also not a guy trying to climb on a 6″ travel bike)

It’s a matter of perspective whether or not in a race where the net elevation gain/loss is zero, whether or not the downhill section was simply ‘ridden’, or whether or not the loser couldn’t climb for shit.  How can you reconcile what is more valuable?  How on earth could a ‘points system’ make anything more equitable?

Honestly, I can’t see how an ‘All-Mountain’ race could possibly work. Mostly because the entire concept of ‘all mountain’ is a non competitive act, but also because it’s built around guys who can’t climb to save their lives but whom relish the downhill. Isn’t that just a downhill race with an annoying bit tacked on?  What about have it all downhill, but only mildly downhill, with a few short climb pitches you can probably power over anyway?  I was yawning just typing that.

So, I decry the sandpit sandbaggers and their stupid ‘new class’ of racing - but wait - I have an alternative!

The Mountain Bike Septathlon™ or MTB-Sep for short.

What it is, is riders race every off-road discipline know to man - XC, DH, Trials, BMX, 4-Cross, Singlespeed, Cyclocross, and the winner truly takes the crown of ‘All Mountain’ Champion.

Coz lets face it, who wants to the the local champion of “Mild Downhill bit where the uphill part doesn’t count because Weir had a sook about losing that bit by 8 minutes”?

I’m definitely on a winner.

Posted by warwick @ 8:46 am

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