Recently I was discussing the Les Gets Worlds track (2004) – how the natural layout of it, wide fast corners, steep sections and the fact it was built for the Worlds and not open to the public made it fresh and a great venue, especially as Les Gets is one of the original Bike Park venues with a plethora of other tracks in the valley. And almost to validate our conversation I watched with excitement over the Crankworx Les Gets weekend as rider after rider endorsed their time in what was otherwise a bog of a place where rain tried its best to ruin the event. You’d never expect such a positive response to the track or the race. Perhaps riding moto style in deep ruts, natural rough terrain across pistes and in to treacherous woods is what has been missing for a while?

At a World Cup now, there may be one section where riders gather and head scratch, and watch attempt after attempt to suss out the best line. It is rarely because it is unrideably difficult, but because it is a choice where time can be made on an otherwise straightforward run down the mountain – as man made jumps and berms wont split these top guys in terms of a challenge.

Downhill bikes have come on a long way in 15 years, but some of the venues are ostensibly the same. Seeing in person what a top end downhill bike, piloted by a world class racer can do is an honour and I think tracks should reflect this.

As a couple of stark examples: We (Trek Factory DH team) were in Portugal this winter testing with Fox and I was riding the test track on my trail bike – first run down and checking it all out. I came to a very steep, off–camber, rooty section and got off to look for lines. I was standing on a steep chute that dropped down 6-8 feet, across a net of thick, slipper roots, flattened out then rolled away again in to a rut. As I head scratched this, realising it would be a commitment to ride it and needed serious skill, Greg Minnaar came in to view. I stood back to watch and he glided up to it… and proceeded to jump the entire section, landing into the rut and disappearing from view and a blur of control and fluidity. I just laughed, as having stood there for a few minutes I hadn’t even considered it would be a viable option on a trail bike with normal human skills.

On the flip side to this, a number of years ago I was at the Pietermaritzburg World Cup as coach to Danny (Hart) and was at the top of the hill for race run warm ups. The lift down had not turned up and along with a number of other coaches and mechanics we decided to ride down the track, turbo trainers strapped to the warm up bikes, trainers on clip pedals and backpacks on. We rolled down 95% of the racetrack with no difficulty or challenge and I found that a shame.

Downhill mountain bikers are adventurous, creative people who don’t want the rhythm and security of similarity. I understand the infrastructure and logistics to host a World Cup, but to turn up to a venue where tapes mark out a fresh track on a mountain side with a restraint of man made intervention would be something new and challenging. We’d see more risk and I think ultimately more reward. And it is therefore with some excitement that we can look forward to the World Championships in Val di Sole in September. A raw, rough track that has hosted some incredible racing, it will be one not to be missed, and hopefully bring a resurgence in this style of track.