I think Bernard Kerr mumbled something about not goproing his qualifying run, because the organizers would own the footage. I quite like to see some footage of the 2nd tier riders, so that was a shame.

He used to get revenue from GoPro .. the UCI did a blanket deal so now he’s (and anyone else had one) are expected to do it for free.

One thing that was absent for me (thankfully) was stupid loud chainsaws

Have they banned them?

we can only hope. would hate to find a nice spot on the hill to watch and then have to listen to, smell and breathe someone revving a crappy 2 stroke for 3 hours

I only watched the highlights / pre-recorded things a day late.

Few things that stood out for me (limiting it to a few things, lots of other areas that need improving).

I paid for GCN+, and watched both Finals later on in the evening on Saturday.

The Womens Finals, at the start of the broadcast, before racing was underway, they kept cutting to the crouds stood waiting for the action, all looking a bit bored as nothing was going on on-track. All a bit odd, but then they suddenly cut to showing the runs from the Semi-Finals, nothing to say that was what you were watching, not graphics or commentating for a while, until Rik caught up and mentioned thats what we were watching.

Cedric seemed to be late to the commentating booth for both Finals, not sure why, but Rik had to announce that Cedric had arrived each time.

Why is the 3 leaders seating up on a platform behind the screen, why not on ground level. Always loved the show of emotion when they ran forward to congratulate a ride for a good run (or to chat to them if it was a bad run), it now seems a bit of a faff for them to get down. No running out to celebrate if they won, Rach just had to sit up there rather than the usual celebrations from previous years.

One other point, don’t know if this was me just missing it, but I don’t think it showed their current position time wise as they went through the splits. Also missed the virtual straight.

Chainsaws – that was specific for Lenzerheide – it was something to do with using petrol – its in a protected area and no petrol was allowed in – apparently even farmers etc have to take their machinery out of the area to fill up.

Found it: https://www.ride.ch/de/news/kein-scherz-weltcup-lenzerheide-verbannt-kettensaegen-vom-streckenrand

Translated below (not by me)

What sounds like a belated April Fool’s joke is actually meant seriously: The chainsaws, which are extremely popular fan utensils in downhill, remain silent at the World Cup in Lenzerheide. The reason is that the race tracks are located in a spring protection zone. After eight years of the World Cup, this decision by the municipality and the canton comes a little late.

The organisers in Lenzerheide announce with regret that no chainsaws are allowed on the entire World Cup site this year. And this despite the fact that such a ban has never been an issue since the first event in 2015. But now there is a new water protection map, according to which parts of the bike park and thus also parts of the race tracks are located in a spring protection zone. Therefore, it is no longer allowed to bring petrol-powered machines onto the site. Trail builders must even refuel construction machines outside the zone. The directive comes from the municipality of Vaz/Obervaz via the canton.

Now the organisers are calling on the fans to get creative in order to cheer on the athletes technically. For example, play the chainsaw sound on a boom box via mobile phone? In any case, taking chainsaws with you is not a good idea, as they will be confiscated at the entrance. At least you get them back when you return.

Enjoyed the GCN Racing summary video on YT – particular the winner’s interview (after about 10mins) – lad blubbing his eyes out. Awww!

Surprisingly a lot of content on YouTube, watched on my smart TV, I searched lenzerheide and literally hours of content appeared, I fast forwarded the semis a little and landed on louise Ferguson’s run, the name on the screen was Sian Ahern and the footage seemed to make her look slow so my initial thought was oh no they’ve ballsed this up, overall though its pretty good, some of the footage doesn’t do it justice and CG is no commentator, I love Cedric so hope he improves, it would be better with Warner though, Ric is a bit dull and lacks charisma. Hopefully they don’t clamp down on the YouTube content.

No harm to Ric.. im sure he’s a good guy but i don’t want to listen to him at all, or Cedric for that matter. Its a backward step for the DH which was going from strength to strength with Warner and Redbull.

Not opposed to change but this is a definite backward step.

Like many folks, I grew up with Rob and his madcap Freecaster moments, and really miss the excitement and level of irreverence he brought. Even my kids (who don’t care that much about bikes – i know, i have failed!) loved watching DH because of his commentary.  Was genuinely gutted when I heard he wasn’t going to be commentating on DH anymore. Quite enjoyed Claudio too.

Tried watching coverage of EWS, but just didn’t enjoy listening to the commentator. Found Cedric funny, almost as nuts as RW, but a bit harder to understand :D. The few sections with Reece Wilson commenting on items was class, very eloquent, he just always seems to come out with the right comment.

I begrudgingly paid the discount deal for GCN+ as wasn’t sure how else to view. My reasoning was that naively I felt that some of the funding might find its way into the sport. Wouldn’t say the coverage was any better than redbull, if anything it was worse; still massive gaps in the course coverage, but now with comedy “toys r us garden playset” course markers. Also, the lack of some riders gopro race coverage due to whatever legal nonsense is a shame. The redbull time comparison graphic used to be good, gave a useful comparison between riders and sections; maybe something similar will come in.

Nice to see some junior race action. Not sure how the new racing format will fare for riders, perhaps reduces the emphasis on outright wins with good points available from the semis?

It is what it is I guess, but it’s lost a lot of the magic of watching DH for me. There’s always Crankworx and not that long til hardline either I suppose.

It’s just telly at the end of the day though, I should be doing something more productive (riding).

Howie

You can get GCN+ through an app on the telly, or on any mobile devices, £40 a year for loads of stuff bikes, it really is worth taking a look.

I’ve got the GCN+ app and likes the coverage but the app is a pile of poo.

Slow and hard to navigate, full of obscure road races that I can’t seem to filter out and the playback is glitchy and jumpy. I’ve sort of got used to it but no other streaming service through my fire stick is like that so I don’t think it’s my wifi.

Does anyone know why they have added in the big arrow boards along the track?

Saw a video (might have been WynTV or Dialed) when someone said they could just ride over them as they weren’t out of bounds like going past the tape (well, mesh stuff now).

the big arrow boards along the track

I think they marked the split timing sections

and while I’m here, I really don’t understand why there are so many “Whoop” banners. Whats that all about? Are they just showing potential advertisers where their ad could be placed and how it could be seen?

Whoop is a HRM/Sleep/smart watch thingy.

Whoop is a Fitbit-style fitness tracker that you pay a hefty subscription for.

Their marketing team probably need to take a less minimalist approach to the advertising, based on the comments here.

whoop is a make of activity tracker.

edit, this is what happens when I take too much time reading posts before responding

For a first effort I thought it was a decent attempt from Discovery/GCN+.  They will get better.  RedBull.tv had years to fine tune their coverage.  Yes, Rob Warner was a miss but the commentary wasn’t too bad and the racing was excellent.  I liked the new format as there was simply more riding on TV.

I’ve been a GCN+ subscriber for a while but I’m also into watching the road racing so it makes sense for me.

They did show some riders heartrates during the Final whilst they were racing (Powered by Whoop!!!!!)

the big arrow boards along the track

I think they marked the split timing sections

They had taller boards showing where the split timings were, I am on about the smaller ones that just seemed to be littered along the track.

They did show some riders heartrates during the Final whilst they were racing (Powered by Whoop!!!!!)

I don’t know if it was correct, but Bruni was showing 144 for most of his Semi-run and only 156 for his Finals… That seems remarkably composed !!!

Yeah they do it for the XC as well, one of the elite men was showing 153 as he rode up that ridiculous hill at Nove Mesto at some mad pace.

They are built differently.

Back to DH, listening to a podcast this morning they were saying the average speed for the winning run was 33kph. Madness

There’s a really good trackwalk video (subs in English) from fullattack where they had a look at where they placed those pads on the course: 15 minutes in with Vali Höll.