Unimployed
Likes Bikes
well what do u guys think
where do you think our sport is going
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Techno Destructo
Riding In Peace
I think the facet of the sport that's going to get the most coverage in the future will be something of a cross between BMX freestyle and downhill racing (albeit... slower than full DH racing...).
I suppose kind of an all mountain freestyle thing... with North Shore style obstacles, huge air (whether that's drops or DJs), with tricks mixed in... done within a time limit?
Hey wait... it's been done already.... the latest Red Bull Rampage!
Now to get it on a major network... Sadly... if car racing, cricket, and footy games (yawn....) have dominated the sports coverage on normal (not cable) channels for so long... why would it change in the future?
I suppose kind of an all mountain freestyle thing... with North Shore style obstacles, huge air (whether that's drops or DJs), with tricks mixed in... done within a time limit?
Hey wait... it's been done already.... the latest Red Bull Rampage!
Now to get it on a major network... Sadly... if car racing, cricket, and footy games (yawn....) have dominated the sports coverage on normal (not cable) channels for so long... why would it change in the future?
Well it looks like the only tv coverage that MTB gets is what the TV stations call EXTREME like the stuff you see on Maxfactor or what ever it is, and what pisses me off the most is that when it does get coverage the commentators dont know what the F**K their talking about.
Every now and again though that gem of a station SBS has something on. That Cycling weekly show they had for half an hour each week on a Sunday was good. Covered a bit of everything. But not enough though.
Every now and again though that gem of a station SBS has something on. That Cycling weekly show they had for half an hour each week on a Sunday was good. Covered a bit of everything. But not enough though.
Techno Destructo
Riding In Peace
What I REEEEEALLY hate is when your typical sports show spends the entire half/full hour reviewing golf, cricket, motorsport (although motocross is decent to watch), footy, etc.... and then at the end, just before they roll the credits... they'll show like 15 seconds of footage of sports that I actually care about... like mountainbiking, snowboarding, skateboarding, etc... And usually it's only wipeouts, at that.
If I ran the country, :roll:, I'd ban these stations from tacking this stuff on the end unless they spend at least five minutes of coverage on it. Bastards.
If I ran the country, :roll:, I'd ban these stations from tacking this stuff on the end unless they spend at least five minutes of coverage on it. Bastards.
Unimployed
Likes Bikes
what do you think about gear ad equipment
Techno Destructo
Riding In Peace
Gear ad equipment? Wots that?
S.
ex offender
NORBA is all but dead, nobody wants to sponsor MTBing, etc etc... this is either the death of the sport (unlikely - really, what sports ever fade out completely?) or a recession like BMX freestyle had in the early to mid-nineties (anyone else read Mat Hoffman's autobiography? You'll know what I mean) which will send the sport back to its grassroots, and allow it to be rebuilt again without the gimmicks and BS.
I reckon that the sport is still in the recession after 2000, norba is dead or close to it, but with the 2nd year of coverage of redbull ride on tv, and the HUGE help of chilli factor showing segments of trials and DH, I reckon that DH will come back stronger than ever. Perhaps there will be a few changes, tracks need to be made more media friendly and here in australia, the two factions have joined together in one series which is of HUGE benifit to our sport. I can see tracks becoming more gnarlier, faster and more "extreme" to appeal to the tv audience. I also have a personal opinion that all the major bike companies should have a factory DH team! The industry needs to pull themselves together and grow! Oh, and bikes in Aust must be made cheaper... please...
S.
ex offender
Personally I think the best way to get people back into it isn't through factory teams (which cost tons and provide little - even companies like Specialized axed their DH teams long ago). I think grassroots teams are the way to go...Turley said:
eg: get 4 riders and a manager (who may be one of the riders), and try and get a deal with one of the Aussie distributors to get the team "sponsored" (via proxy, ie the distributor) by companies that that distributor brings in. However, the deal is that you buy stuff at or below wholesale (so that the distributor isn't having to financially cover you all the time - they won't like that one, but maybe they'd be willing to lower their profit margin for the sake of a team). If you could get all or most of your stuff at or below wholesale, wouldn't it make life easier? For example, say you went to Dirt Works and got a Fox, Dice, Hayes + Truvativ deal (so that you get all that stuff cheap), wouldn't it be much easier to finance than paying retail or close to? I don't imagine it would be impossible to get team deals from Shimano Australia either (but I could be completely wrong - I'm assuming everything here). If all the team riders were willing to do so, it's conceivable that you could get them all on the same frames too (Norco? Intense? Balfa? It'd be worth a try I reckon).
Anyway, that's just my idea. Prolly won't go anywhere.
stuff
the big companies have already got the name and don't need to spend money and the small companies don't have the money to spend.
and the sport of downhill could die in the next few years because of this freakin freeride stuff. how is a sport supposed to progress when everyone isn't driving towards the same thing. when every man and his dog thinks that hucking off something is cooler than being the fastest guy on the hill then thats just taking money away from the sport. fair enough if all these guys come and race as well (because all racers were freeriders befor there was a name for it.) but why would downill or cross country grow when its easier to walk around and call your self a free rider.
would soccer as a sport grow if people just went down the park after work and kicked the ball around but never actually played competitively?
the big companies have already got the name and don't need to spend money and the small companies don't have the money to spend.
and the sport of downhill could die in the next few years because of this freakin freeride stuff. how is a sport supposed to progress when everyone isn't driving towards the same thing. when every man and his dog thinks that hucking off something is cooler than being the fastest guy on the hill then thats just taking money away from the sport. fair enough if all these guys come and race as well (because all racers were freeriders befor there was a name for it.) but why would downill or cross country grow when its easier to walk around and call your self a free rider.
would soccer as a sport grow if people just went down the park after work and kicked the ball around but never actually played competitively?