Yes. Did you guys all watch it yet? What you might not have gotten from the TV feed is just how much conditions changed throughout the race. There was about a 20 minute break in the action after Greg Williamson's run. It was raining lightly for the women's race, but the rocks in the woods could still be considered "dry". By the start of the men's race they were damp and the dirt outside the wood was in pretty nice shape. That said, the guys coming through had some pretty nasty looking goggles. By the time the live feed was on, the rocks had rivers running down them. What is amazing is that out of 80 men and 15 women we saw maybe two or three people crash. The top guys didn't look any slower than in practice. Some of them may have been taking "safer" lines, Gwin was the only one to take a higher line where we were watching. When the TV break came up, I looked at my start list and I figured there was pretty good odds that Mike Jones would have won the race. It just seemed that there was no way anyone could have a good run after the heavens opened the way they did. I had an umbrella and a rain coat and I was still soaked!
We were up at MSA from Wednesday until this morning. One observation is that it seemed like there were record numbers of flats this year. Just as an example, Marine Cabirou flatted in both practice runs and her finals run yesterday. She was running inserts of some kind, but it sure wasn't helping. It makes you wonder what the secret formula is. How much of it is the rim, the tire, insert, sealant, suspension tune, spoke tension, line choice, etc.? Some people were constantly getting hit. SC Syndicate made it through the whole weekend without a single flat and they weren't riding slow. I could not believe that Loris never got one. You'd wince from the sound every time he passed. Luca Shaw's mechanic showed me one cracked rims that they had replaced before qualifying, but he made it to the bottom and didn't lose air.
1st year senior Gaetan Vige just before qualifying
1st year junior Kade Edwards off the diving board in qualifying - this kid is nuts. He was at the waterfall with us on Thursday. What happens in Canada stays in Canada I guess.
Taegan Molloy riding the Stevie Smith drop. She has had a pretty rough season and was so happy to come through quails in tenth and back it up with the same in finals. Though there is a B-line for the Stevie Smith drop, it looks like you'd lose a good 20 seconds on it. Pretty much the only people that we saw take it were on flats or were so over their heads that they had gone to hospital or quit riding by Friday.
Greg Minnaar entering the 1st slab section (Les Dalles) in qualifying.