The Domestique

Fair, foul, or just part of the race? Some of the guys seemed to think it was the re-mounting riders fault for being a little sloppy, other think the bunnyhopper's job to avoid him. I think it's cross and you're gonna rub, bump, and go down. What do you think?


I put it at the front of this video so those who don't like long-form narrative videos don't have to stick around. But, if you like that stuff,...enjoy!

Comment here or in the video comments.

Black wallnut 

Thanks for the video. Although I agree that crashes happen sometimes in CX, I think it should be incumbent on the passing rider to do so cleanly and safely. The bunnyhooper was already out of the groove and had lots of room between the fallen rider and the tape.

The Domestique

Videos are fun. I wish more people captured with interesting video.

Does Ellensburg have a CX scene?

Black wallnut 

Ellensburg does not have much of a CX scene. We have about 8-10 riders who race that I know of but all the races are at minimum 100 miles away. This fall Vicious Promotions, a regional mtn bike race promoter put on a practice race at a local park which was well attended but it was just a 30-45 minute open event, every one at once. He runs a fall early season practice series in the Columbia Basin/ Central Washington area.

Andy_K 

That looks like a fun race. We almost never get snow around here. There was the December race in Bend last year, but it was so cold that day that I don't remotely regret missing it.

As for the "takedown" bumps like that happen all the time. I'd guess 9 times out of 10 the other rider wouldn't fall in that case. It doesn't look like the bunny hop had much to do with it. I don't know what his momentum was like and how slick the ground was there, but it does look like he should have been able to leave more space for the pass. It looks like he was trying to stay on the worn line and out of the grass, which isn't particularly cool, but overall I think the rubbing is racing rule applies here.

kimpw

Have you ever checked out CXhairs.com? They do videos of pro cx races. They do a good job with their videos analyzing different techniques and strategies.

dizzy101

It was pretty clearly unintentional.

That said, the dude who makes those videos does an awesome job. How does he capture that aerial footage? Does he have a drone or something? Amazing.

JeffOYB

Fun video! I loved the race drama at the back of the pack. Back'n'forth between the dudes! That Fritz was evil!

grolby

Clearly the fault of the bunnyhopper, though being able to stay upright when you get a nudge is kind of an essential skill. Mistakes happen. I don't think the bunnyhopper deserves any kind of sanction, but he really should have given a slightly wider berth.

Uh. You mean the SVENNESS videos? That's the professional video broadcast by the sports channels in Belgium (for Superprestige and Bpost Bank Trofee races) or by the UCI (for World Cup races). The cxhairs guy isn't capturing it.

JeffOYB

Nope. He refers to the video linked. It's the Chris CX 1.x series of vids. I'm really impressed! The pro-elite race stock vids really don't have the fun drama that's shown in this 1.8 vid where our hero and the evil, mysterious Fritz duel back'n'forth, only to be skewered by a blazing Unknown Woman suffering from a mechanical yet pressing onward, only to be vanquished.

Sure, the pro's are awesome and they get involved in spectatular mayhem but it all usually happens much more to script. This was a cliffhanger with surprise elements!

About the ramming -- I'd think that someone ramming from behind is more often the victim of such folly. (They can be shut down, hooked, etc.) But in this surprise situation plus the slipperiness our hapless ram-ee went down. Oh well! The guy who squeezed past without the blessing of sweet justice might find a wee bit of karma catching up to him...

LGHT

Looks like a fun time and race, but clearly the "hopper" didn't make a clean pass. Man it looked cold!!

stayfed

Unintentional. Thats racing.

The Domestique

You don't know the half of it! Thanks for the kind words, Jeff.

1speedlos

Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but I feel the need to "defend" the bunnyhopper. Let me be clear- he's a good friend and teammate of mine, and I've ridden with him a lot. He's a risk-taker, but (obviously) highly skilled.
If you watch carefully, you can see that the remounting rider is really unsteady and veers to his left, into "Bunny's" path. "Bunny" is holding a clean line. Had he been more stable,I don't think he'd have gone down.

Los