alpin
Free Member
Another one here who’s not bothering to watch our follow the DH due to crap coverage.
I know I’m not the only one taking this approach
I'm not watching it because watching people ride mtbs is a bit dull.
It’s pretty good now
I had no commentary, checked the captions box in the bottom right of the screen and it was set to ambient sound for some reason changed to English and all good.
Goldstone
Doh!
Watching from Germany... It doesn't look very busy / well attended....
Watching from Germany… It doesn’t look very busy / well attended….
I thought so to. Was this just the new taping keeping crowds away or was it a bit quiet this year?
I'm not watching it because watching people ride mtbs is a bit dull.
And yet here you are, on page 3 of a thread about watching people ride bikes. What a legend.
That said, I’ve never understood when they don’t leave longer starting intervals on the top three or so riders, so you see more of their runs. It wouldn’t exactly add much to the overall race schedule.
The top 10 in the finals have much larger gaps of 3 minutes so you do see much more of the runs.
I just watched the whole thing on a website I've never heard of thanks to a link in the Pinkbike comment section.
So if you are in fort William today only 30 in the mens race come down the hill? It used to be about 60 and a proper day out but it’s now half the action?
Maybe folk who were there wil lbe along to give their impression but the finish area and crowd looked a long way from the podium.
Les Gets for us this year. Just re-watched Benoit Coulange finish and the vibe looked incredible. Packed with folk.
I’m just back from the event - waiting for my fish n chips in Fort Bill.
Definitely quieter than World champs last year, and I think quieter than 2022 too. Hard to judge against previous years. Tend to spend most time on the hillside rather than the bottom area, but seemed busy - and far too loud/stupid combo of loud music and annoying commentary from some Canadian dude, which didn’t add anything to the event.
Taping of track for spectators was VERY wide. Hard to understand why.
Why fix something that wasn’t broken to begin with???
Watched it on a eurosport stream and there was no commentary although that might have been us? we both said the place looked empty and was the big TV over beside the pits? that to me is a silly move as you'll now have your back to the finish line, for the last few riders I used to make my way down to the bottom and could watch the TV then see them come through the Scotland arch.
was the big TV over beside the pits? that to me is a silly move as you’ll now have your back to the finish line
Yeah it was next to the pits and anyone watching that one would have had their back to the finish
It used to be about 60 and a proper day out but it’s now half the action
And for those that have paid for a TV subscription to watch it. At least last year the Semis were televised. Fans are now having to pay for less than they got for free with Redbull
And yet here you are, on page 3 of a thread about watching people ride bikes. What a legend.
I was waiting for a gig to start 🙂
The top 10 in the finals have much larger gaps of 3 minutes so you do see much more of the runs.
I just watched the whole thing on a website I’ve never heard of thanks to a link in the Pinkbike comment section.
Sorry, I wasn't clear, I meant even longer: whatever the time for the full track is plus a bit so you they could find time with for the whole run plus a couple of replays of anything interesting or for side by side comparisons of whoever in the hot seat during the run.
I just think it would make the thing a bit more watchable for people who are on the edge of wanting to watch it but find the coverage a bit vanilla or bitty...
Just back from the race too and agree with a11y’s comments.
Definitely quieter than previous years, the finish area is now a real mess with a vip area, additional grandstand (where you can’t see anything other than the finish area). That means the actual finish area is a stupidly small spectator zone with an Oakley DJ lorry taking over where the podium and presentations used to be.
Music was so loud and the commentary you could hear was terrible.
Buses back to town seemed slicker than previous years though.
Saturday was dead, semi finals suck and a lot of the pits that didn’t qualify were packing or packed up today.
So although yesterday was a mess with lack of information I actually enjoyed watching today (Discovery+). I think Myriam, Aaron and Tahnee made the commentary so much more interesting. Someone on PB said that there wouldn't be semis at future rounds...is that right?
I just watched the whole thing on a website I’ve never heard of thanks to a link in the Pinkbike comment section.
Care to share?
Cheers.... Although it's a bit late now. Will check the site out next race.
Someone on PB said that there wouldn’t be semis at future rounds…is that right?
You can always rely on PB for bad information. Somebody misinterpreted a pre race conversation during the broadcast about finals being the only run on Sunday.
Watched it on a eurosport stream and there was no commentary although that might have been us?
If it's the same as last year, you have to select commentary. It defaulted to "ambient" and you have to choose the language you want.
Thanks, It's my mates account so I'll let him know that you can indeed have commentary.
I believe the 'ambient' noise was not the actual ambient noise of the event but instead recorded ambient noise. Or maybe everything was just a bit out of sync.
I found putting an NWD Soundtrack playlist on Spotify and then playing that in the background was the best way to watch.
Downtime podcast were bigging up the crowd atmosphere which is in direct contrast to what has been said here.
Do they have mics on the bikes? The cameras are miles away from the bikes and you can hear the tyres and the drivetrain flapping around and stuff.
Or is that the "fake noises" everyone on PB is complaining about?
It'll be fake noise. The bikes are silent in person. We were marvelling at how quiet they were during friday practice. I'd love to know how their SRAM mechs are rock solid yet mine are like flaccid noodles
I mean the most obvious noises were the tyres pitter pattering over the rocks and gravel not so much shonky derailleurs. It didn't sound fake but there's no way it was recorded from where the cameras were mounted.
Putting a microphone on a bike wouldn't be totally novel. It's quite common now when filming with drones so you can mute the whining of the motors and rotors and sub in the natural stuff from the bike.
We go for the weekend every year but I’m not sure I’ll go back. It’s a fun weekend with mates still but it isn’t what it was (even fairly recently).
i thought it was quite a bit quieter than the last two years, feel like they’ve shrunk the main arena to compensate for that. The gaps between the big hitters are too big - it might work for tv but sucks the life out of the climax for fans there in person. Bruni’s run was amazing (and maybe the fact that was so obviously going to win contributed) but the noise that greeted it was nowhere near it was for Pierron a couple of years ago.
The format is pish IMO - zero chance of a surprise random privateer impressing the Sunday crowd with the run of their life, tiny female elite field, just way too much dead time.
Unless they’re injured I’m not sure it’s ever a good look to not have the current Elite world champ in the final (Hatton may have been injured but I had the impression it was mechanical on the Saturday?)
Start and finish changes - not using the hut so effectively closing the balcony at the cafe to the public, moving the finish line up the hill so riders were done by the time they entered the arena, new grandstand and screen position obscuring the view for those standing - didn’t help either. Course taping was overly cautious, keeping fans well back in lots of places (although I suspect plenty of riders don’t mind that), constant sponsor namechecking by the (quite poor) arena commentators, none of it added up to a feeling of improving the experience for punters who are now paying quite a lot more for what feels like less.
i know it’s hard times in the industry (absence of freebies for kids at stalls, pits etc tells that story) but it feels like it’s moving in the wrong direction and people have started to vote with their feet.
Didn’t rain though!
Give these folk the budget and tv rights to the downhill season and it’ll guarantee greater viewing numbers
Well, I opened the app, cast it to the telly and watched Elite men's and women's live and watched the Juniors on catch-up afterwards (well, with a bit of judicious fast forwarding) The racing was good, the commentary was good, I didn't feel like I didn't see any less racing than when it was with Red Bull. Didn't get told who'd won, didn't get any broadcast lag. Racing's tight and its great to see the juniors racing so hard, loads of talent there. I get another weekend in a fortnight's time, I'd like to get it for free, but still pretty good VFM.
Late to this, but I thought the commentary was excellent but the camera work / actual footage was pretty poor. Didn’t seem to have enough shots of the more interesting parts of the track but a lot of the slower / exposed early sections where not much happened. A lot of shots of passing cable cars 😂
Agree complete with @2tyred.
Had more time to reflect on our weekend since my previous post. Context: I've been most years since the beginnings, mostly as a spectator but also a 3-year stint working on the event as a firstaider, missed a few years until the mini-a11ys were older, then attended as a family the past 3 years. My kids think it's bloody awesome and thoroughly enjoyed it apart from a brief time at the finish arena for mens semis when the music/commentary loudness was too much for them (and me TBH). But my kids don't have the previous years to compare it to: not rose-tinted specs but the changes to format, finish arena, taping and general event management are not improvements. Felt very much adapted to suit TV audience more than fans onsite.
The taping really pissed me off especially as I prefer to be up on the hillside watching the actual riding up close, rather than in the finish arena. I can understand increased run-off at the outside of corners etc but failed to see any logic to a lot of the taping. Also one thing not mentioned was marshals getting arsy when trying to cross the track outside of the official/marked crossing points. Got a bollocking from one for crossing the track during a break in proceedings!
Will I be back? Probably due to the kids, but it's just not the same.
Taping in 2024:
Taping in 2011:
Did anyone else notice that the Discovery+ app on Sky tells you who won before bloody watching if you know the running order?
Like Redbull you can skip to the rider you want to watch but if that rider came 1st, 2nd or 3rd it tells you!
Red Bull used to have a video titled "Watch the winning Men's Women's Run" hours after the end of the event as well.
But that didn't tell you who won normally, I always got the video without knowing. On the Discovery+ app, you start the full replay and the scroll bar pops up instantly with the dots for each rider, filled with 1, 2 or 3 if they came in that position. Proper annoying!
Yes, noticed that, and crashes with rider names🙄
There's no spoiler free option like there is on the Eurosport app?
The taping did look a bit severe up high, how was it in the woods where it sounded like most people were spectating ?
But that didn’t tell you who won normally
Sure, but it did have a thumb nail of the winning rider, so it wasn't exactly difficult to work it out either.
On the Discovery+ app,...
Didn't get that when I watched the juniors after the elites?
The taping really pissed me off especially as I prefer to be up on the hillside watching the actual riding up close, rather than in the finish arena
That's a pity. This was 2014 - removing stones from shoes and trying not to miss the action!
Frightening to think the lad is racing the course in a couple of weeks!
so was there a free way to watch this?
I've got eurosport through sky but the tv channels haven't shown any of the fort bill stuff, just the giro all weekend.
I don't think my tv subs let me use the eurosport app either.
I get Discovery+ as part of my Sky subscription, so not free per se.
ah didn't know that was a thing but think i might be able to get that too! Thanks
Wow, that taping.
Sounds to me like whoever took over looked at how Rare did it, multiple fan awards and such and just decided to go all corporate. Top of the course was never that great for atmosphere but they've taken away the only thing it had going for it.
