Seven months is a long time to wait for anything, sure you may have to wait nine months for your first–born but if you are a World Cup race fan seven months is an eternity…
From Dirt Issue 112 – June 2011
Words by Sven Martin, Photos by Various
I’m sure the riders welcome the break, at first that is. A month or three of routineless fun, waking up in your own bed, eating and drinking what you want, taking a holiday without excess luggage; all the things normal people take for granted. Soon enough though it’s back in the gym and pounding out lonely miles and lung busting intervals. Cross training in the snow and cold for some, warm southern–hemi locals for others. Most are testing minor tweaks and a few new parts and suspension while others have fresh beginnings on new bikes with new teammates to come to terms with.
Seven months for World Cup punters on the internet on the other hand is like a long drawn out feeding frenzy. Riders movements, Tweets and Facebook profiles are stalked, every action serves to fuel rampant e–speculation. Expectations, conclusions and predictions are made on the various forums and Dirt Fantasy League teams are picked. Some random facts gleaned from the information superhighway over the off–season can paint a distorted and cluttered picture that only Jackson Pollock would be proud of. Bryceland clipped in, Gwin on a new diet trained by Tomac, Minnaar injury free off–season, Barel fit and winning Enduros, Gee jet–setting concussions, Hannah healed, Riffle left Cali for snowy roots, Peat strong as steel and wont back down, Sam Hill tanned and tattooed, Beaumont riding road bikes and winning downhills, Moseley on Epic rides and Fairclough shocker…in the gym and smashing out miles. Yes lots of random facts, but if you can read between the lines there are a few useful morsels out there.>>
