Again, but with enthusiasm.
December 21, 2011 9:28 AM   Subscribe

"Oh God, Danny, stay on your bike!" This is a video of the winning downhill run in the 2011 mountain bike world championships. It's pretty cool, but it's the insane commentating that really makes this special. Gets really good starting around 20 seconds in. (via)
posted by chinston (71 comments total) 31 users marked this as a favorite
 
International Business Times, September 13, 2011: UN: Cocaine Usage On the Rise Globally, Stemming From Australia
posted by koeselitz at 9:33 AM on December 21, 2011 [10 favorites]


Yikes. Gus Johnson is like "whoa, calm down man."
posted by cashman at 9:34 AM on December 21, 2011


Fun video, but I found 2009's WC winning ride by Gee Atherton to have some more incomprehensibly incredible falling-riding.
posted by entropone at 9:34 AM on December 21, 2011


I'm sorry for this but as a Southern Californian I'm not sure if it's cute or an obscene case of cultural appropriation when English people use the word "DUDE!" to note their excitement about something.
posted by LionIndex at 9:41 AM on December 21, 2011


Seems like dry vs. wet would make it a completely different sport.
posted by smackfu at 9:41 AM on December 21, 2011


hamburger
posted by LionIndex at 9:42 AM on December 21, 2011


What, no "dancing on the pedals?" Where's Phil Liggett when you need him?

There were definitely several suitcases full of courage being flung all over that mountain.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:47 AM on December 21, 2011


Wow: "How does Danny sit down with balls that big"

Never heard that before in all the years of watching cycling. Awesome recap video.
posted by mathowie at 9:49 AM on December 21, 2011 [8 favorites]


"EESGUNNABEAVINANARTATTACK!!11!!"
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:59 AM on December 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


I'd love to hire those guys to come to my job and announce shit that I do.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE HES SENDING THAT EMAIL WITH A BLOODY FLOURISH
--**OOOOOMMYYYY GOOOAAAAD LOUK AT THAT, EE'S TYPING ANOTHER ONE COR BLIMELY HE IS THE COMPLETE MASTER OF ALL
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:59 AM on December 21, 2011 [44 favorites]


Haha I just watched that entire video with only my left earbud in. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS MISSINGGGG!!!!!!!!
posted by orme at 10:01 AM on December 21, 2011 [5 favorites]


That was so enjoyable!
posted by Corduroy at 10:04 AM on December 21, 2011


Haha I just watched that entire video with only my left earbud in. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS MISSINGGGG!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm not the only one who did that...
posted by WinnipegDragon at 10:10 AM on December 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


I laughed my ass off at the recap, "WHHHAAAATTTTT THE HEELLLLLLLLL". I also want these guys to commentate on my job too!
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 10:10 AM on December 21, 2011


OOOOOMMYYYY GOOOAAAAD LOUK AT THAT, EE'S TYPING ANOTHER ONE COR BLIMELY HE IS THE COMPLETE MASTER OF ALL

Narrowly avoided a coffee spit take there... :-)
posted by smidgen at 10:13 AM on December 21, 2011


I would like to have these announcers cover me putting the kids to sleep.

OH MY GOD EE'S READING ANUVVER BOOK! IT'S A CHAPTER BOOK!!! WHAT THE HELL!
posted by Mister_A at 10:13 AM on December 21, 2011 [4 favorites]


Now I really don't want to be at work. That was a great ride, slippery as hell too, I'd like somewhere halfway between that and the dust bowl I always seem to ride in.
posted by Stagger Lee at 10:17 AM on December 21, 2011


Seems like dry vs. wet would make it a completely different sport.

The case for many cycling disciplines.
posted by entropone at 10:18 AM on December 21, 2011




Seems like dry vs. wet would make it a completely different sport.


Do you want to skid in water or dust? :)
When I'm rich and have my own personal down hill track it's going to be climate controlled.
posted by Stagger Lee at 10:22 AM on December 21, 2011


And also for wrestling. *wink*
posted by TheRedArmy at 10:24 AM on December 21, 2011


So am I the only one wondering what the French competitor's (11 seconds longer) run looked like? I've never seen competitive mountain biking before, so is it that Danny-boy is SOOOOOO AWWWWRRRSOME, or did everybody else suck?
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:27 AM on December 21, 2011


Seems like dry vs. wet would make it a completely different sport.

The case for many cycling disciplines.

And also for wrestling. *wink*

And also for dating.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:29 AM on December 21, 2011


No, Danny is awesome. These are world-class riders on a course that most people couldn't walk down safely.
posted by Mister_A at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2011




So am I the only one wondering what the French competitor's (11 seconds longer) run looked like? I've never seen competitive mountain biking before, so is it that Danny-boy is SOOOOOO AWWWWRRRSOME, or did everybody else suck?


I'm not sure I understand the question. Is this a glass half full thing?
posted by Stagger Lee at 10:31 AM on December 21, 2011


The commentary was cute, but I have to say I paid it less and less attention as the AMAZING AWESOMENESS OF DANNY rather took hold of my senses as well.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:35 AM on December 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


Pure joy. Love it.
posted by mochapickle at 10:36 AM on December 21, 2011


Skiing and parkour are so yesteryear... next bond movie to feature insane, muddy mountainbiking w/ guns chase scenes
posted by MangyCarface at 10:38 AM on December 21, 2011


That commentary passed the point of self-parody and entered Python territory....
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:39 AM on December 21, 2011


Haha I just watched that entire video with only my left earbud in. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS MISSINGGGG!!!!!!!!

Okay, so I'm not the only one who did that...


Nthing this. It was quiet and surreal, crowd noises.

Maybe we need a new abbreviation: TC; LB

Too Crazy; Left Bud
posted by chavenet at 10:42 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Enjoyed the commentary almost as much as the technical skill Danny displayed.

For those using just the left bud, try it with just the right bud without watching the video. Oh my.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:44 AM on December 21, 2011


WHAT THE HELL!

(sorry. I just like that part.) Winning a top tier competition by 11 seconds is just incredible. I also find it amazing how he has completely and utterly destroyed his sense of self preservation.
posted by eriko at 10:45 AM on December 21, 2011



Skiing and parkour are so yesteryear... next bond movie to feature insane, muddy mountainbiking w/ guns chase scenes


Snark aside, it's been growing as a sport for the last twenty years or so, and in the last ten has been hitting some kind of "mainstream" recognition. It could, in theory, catch up to skiing some day, although the equipment is fantastically more expensive.
posted by Stagger Lee at 10:46 AM on December 21, 2011


Obligatory Ray Hudson mention.
posted by stargell at 10:49 AM on December 21, 2011


"commentating" has an ignorant sound to it. how is it different than commenting?
posted by kitchenrat at 10:49 AM on December 21, 2011


It includes taters.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:50 AM on December 21, 2011 [7 favorites]


I know very little about mountain biking, but I was laughing with delight watching him. This was indeed AWWWWWWESOOOOME!!!
posted by chatongriffes at 10:52 AM on December 21, 2011


I loved this.
posted by OmieWise at 10:54 AM on December 21, 2011


Wow: "How does Danny sit down with balls that big"
Never heard that before in all the years of watching cycling. Awesome recap video.


...and now it's found its way into two cycling posts in two days!
posted by SharkParty at 11:00 AM on December 21, 2011


This was great, thanks.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2011


God that was so awesome.
posted by Blake at 11:10 AM on December 21, 2011


So am I the only one wondering what the French competitor's (11 seconds longer) run looked like?

Here you go. The announcers are also mental on this vid.

I've never seen competitive mountain biking before, so is it that Danny-boy is SOOOOOO AWWWWRRRSOME, or did everybody else suck?

It seems like the pre-race favorites crashed.
posted by smackfu at 11:17 AM on December 21, 2011


I have zero experience with competitive mountain biking: do you get more than one ride out of these bikes? Or are they basically disposable? Seems like that would be MURDER on your wheels, brakes, cables and every damn other thing that makes up a bike.
posted by WidgetAlley at 11:18 AM on December 21, 2011


Not to mention the hospital fees.
posted by Elmore at 11:24 AM on December 21, 2011




I have zero experience with competitive mountain biking: do you get more than one ride out of these bikes? Or are they basically disposable? Seems like that would be MURDER on your wheels, brakes, cables and every damn other thing that makes up a bike.


They're usually sponsorship bikes and they're astoundingly expensive.
Downhill bikes certainly take a beating, but in the hands of a professional rider they don't get as beaten up as you might expect. The bike in that video shouldn't have suffered much at all from that particular ride.
posted by Stagger Lee at 11:24 AM on December 21, 2011


I've been contemplating, for other reasons, this Nietzsche quote: A man’s maturity: that is to have rediscovered the seriousness he possessed as a child at play.

Dear Bike Announcing Guys: You Are There
posted by angrycat at 11:38 AM on December 21, 2011 [6 favorites]


Seems like dry vs. wet would make it a completely different sport.

Crashes in the mud hurt a LOT less. Out here in Arizona, crashing means you have your choice of landing on rocks, cacti, or thorn bushes. You WILL bleed. The one time I biked in Oregon, I had the greatest crash of my life. Flipped over my handlebars, landed gently on my back in the 6" of mud, and had a very serene moment taking in the silence of the forest and watching the fall leaves drift down from above.

Trying to climb through all that muck and unexpectedly sliding on turns is no fun at all though, I'll stick with the desert, thank you very much.
posted by TungstenChef at 11:38 AM on December 21, 2011 [2 favorites]


As someone who likes to be excited, that video was relevant to my interests.
posted by midmarch snowman at 11:51 AM on December 21, 2011 [10 favorites]


Downhill bikes are crazy heavy and tough. It's almost like riding a motorbike without an engine. It's amazing what they can survive though. A decent downhill trail ridden at speed would probably destroy a regular mountain bike in a couple of runs.
posted by unSane at 11:51 AM on December 21, 2011




Downhill bikes are crazy heavy and tough. It's almost like riding a motorbike without an engine. It's amazing what they can survive though. A decent downhill trail ridden at speed would probably destroy a regular mountain bike in a couple of runs.


My poor, poor hardtail xc can vouch for that.
posted by Stagger Lee at 11:55 AM on December 21, 2011


Wow, don't know anything about this sport, but I now want these announcers on every sports clip I watch from now on. They were wonderful! Or, more properly, awwwwrrsome! How does Danny sit down, indeed.
posted by dejah420 at 12:00 PM on December 21, 2011


Danny is in the zone. He's got like some kind of third sense beyond the senses of hungry and horny that the rest of us have.
posted by Elmore at 12:15 PM on December 21, 2011


Downhill bikes are crazy heavy and tough. It's almost like riding a motorbike without an engine.

Man, tell me about it! The time I had a bad crash, a boulder to the head stopped my forward momentum but my bike kept going. Adding insult to injury, it rolled right over me, leaving even more bruises than I had already sustained.
posted by TungstenChef at 12:26 PM on December 21, 2011


Those guys:mountain bikes::Murray Walker:F1
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:27 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


That was hysterical. I have no knowledge of downhill biking, and Danny's utter composure made it look so easy that it is entirely possible that I might not have known I was watching something INSANE!!!1!1!! if I hadn't had my right earbud in.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:45 PM on December 21, 2011


That was a ridiculously fast downhill run. He's basically floating down that mountain. There's whole sections where he's barely making enough ground contact to change directions and stay on the course.

And then he goes and throws some tabletops and tailwhips in the jump section. Unreal.

If you're unfamiliar with pro downhill mountainbiking, that's a really steep course. Sections of it are near vertical with huge rocks or log drops. As mentioned up-thread you'd have a really hard time walking up or down it even when it was dry.

For the record - this is not something I would personally ride. Even with one of those bikes. I might be able to slowly, slowly pick my way down. I know I'd have to use my feet a lot, and I'd still probably fall a bunch of times. And it'd probably take me 10-20 minutes. Danny's time was 3:41.
posted by loquacious at 1:07 PM on December 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I wouldn't ride that either. No freakin' way. I hate downhilling in the wet.

When you crash a downhill bike, it's not one of those things that happens in slow motion. It's more like you're riding along and then someone hits you with all their strength with a baseball bat. Then you like there for a few minutes wondering if you're dead or not. The nastiest part is if you hit a tree. That's a world of pain right there.

There were a lot of trees on that course.
posted by unSane at 1:39 PM on December 21, 2011


At least he was well chuffed. That's key.
posted by sonascope at 1:40 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


I once rode the course of the Psychosis downhill on Mount 7 out in BC, from the top. (I skipped the most ridiculous bits, like the very top, which I absolutely couldn't even walk). It took me about 45 minutes, maybe a bit longer. The racer guys do it in 12 minutes.
posted by unSane at 1:42 PM on December 21, 2011


I have zero experience with competitive mountain biking: do you get more than one ride out of these bikes?

I've serviced some professional mountain bikes after a weekend of pro riding (and crashing) and the repairs are usually pretty minimal. The wheels are usually fine and you just check them for true and spoke tension so they'll survive the next race, too. Sometimes the handlebars and forks will get knocked out of whack, but with the double crown motorcycle style headsets that almost never happens these days, and if it does it usually means replacing the forks or frame because something large and expensive got bent.

What seems to mainly happen after a heavy crash is things like shredded brake or derailleur cables, torn up hand grips or saddle covers. Chain rings get chewed up by rocks, even with the bash guards they put on them. Derailleurs (especially the rear ones) get busted or bent. If they're bent you just try to unbend them and get them lined up again. If they're busted you just replace them.

But, yeah, they last more than one ride. A lower level pro rider usually has only one bike because they're incredibly expensive - $5-10k USD before you start customizing or replacing parts with beefier parts - but that bike has to last multiple heats or races over an event with minimal servicing between runs.

Danny Hart rides for Giant. This is probably similar to the bike he's riding in the video.

Here's a video of similar mountain bikes being designed, built and tested to failure.

Notice how these bikes are quite different than even a regular "cross country" or "XC" mountain bike that most people would buy and ride around town or on some local trails. They no longer use simple tube frames. These frames are welded together out of box beams and hydroformed curvy sections to make a frame that's nearly indestructible under nearly any riding conditions, including hucking it off of cliffs.

And they don't really care about light weight. These bikes weigh 50-60 pounds. They are really more like a motorcycle frame without the engine at this point, but even stronger and lighter.
posted by loquacious at 1:44 PM on December 21, 2011 [4 favorites]


At least he was well chuffed. That's key.

And hard to maintain when you're right knackered, innit.
posted by gompa at 2:39 PM on December 21, 2011


This video got posted around all my riding mates when it happened. It's an incredible display of riding. To add some context, here is ex-World Cup rider Rob Warner riding the same course with a helmet cam a day or two before the Worlds (and before it started raining). Contains quite a bit of language, mostly him saying "Fuck this is steep".

The World's run was an incredible ride by Danny. As for the margin, I heard it said that the bigger guys had a lot more trouble with the track once it started raining. It was so steep and wet that they just couldn't slow down. It's notable that the second quickest time was from the Juniors.

As for the bikes these guys ride, I wouldn't say it is 100% accurate to say that weight doesn't matter. At the top level every advantage counts. Here and here is some info on Danny's bike. It's closer to stock than most, but has a full Ti bolt kit, that looks like a Ti coil on the shock, carbon cranks, carbon mud guard, that's on top of all the factory-only bits on it that I'm sure are as light as they can be.

Sam Hill's Iron Horse back in 2009ish was down to 37lbs, I'm sure they've gone lower since then.
posted by markr at 3:23 PM on December 21, 2011 [3 favorites]


Here's some helmetcam I took of me going about as fast as I could down a really easy trail. I am going about a third of the speed of Danny and trail is about a tenth as steep. I rode this trail with some friend on XC bikes and I was about twice as fast as them just because the bike makes it easy.

My bike cost about $2000 - it was a 2007 model I bought in 2009. It weighs about 45 pounds, which was considered 'light' at the time.

There's a trend towards lighter DH bikes at the moment. They're certainly more fun to ride and you can bounce around a bit more over rocks and roots, but they're also more fragile. It's not a problem for the sponsored guys but for recreational riders you need something that's going to last.
posted by unSane at 3:28 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Here's another one, a bit faster and steeper. You can never tell how steep something is on helmetcam because you're always looking down the hill, but bear in mind I'm probably hanging on the brakes about 75% of the time through this, and I mean *hanging* on them.
posted by unSane at 4:15 PM on December 21, 2011


To add some context, here is ex-World Cup rider Rob Warner riding the same course with a helmet cam a day or two before the Worlds (and before it started raining). Contains quite a bit of language, mostly him saying "Fuck this is steep".

Holy crap. And it takes him almost ten minutes to get down the track. I'm going to revise my estimate from 10-20 minutes to 30 minutes - or possibly never.

Riding stuff that steep is a workout, especially at lower speeds. It's not just the agility and balance, it's the fact that you're basically doing a handstand on the handlebars while you brake and lean way back to try to keep your back tire from sliding and breaking loose and to keep from pitching ass over teakettle over the handlebars.

I wouldn't say it is 100% accurate to say that weight doesn't matter.

Yeah, sorry, weight does matter. It's not like you want to be riding a solid billet of steel weighing 300 pounds down a hill.

I was more meaning to say that weight isn't measured in decimal points of a gram like it is on road and track racing bikes

Here and here is some info on Danny's bike.

Hey, I wasn't too far off on the model at all. It was really hard to see a clean shot of it in the video. Nice looking bike.

Sam Hill's Iron Horse back in 2009ish was down to 37lbs, I'm sure they've gone lower since then.

The unofficial specs I found for the stock Giant Ghost O at around 45 pounds, so maybe Danny's pro model is in that range. The few 2011 and 2010 DH bikes I've seen in my local bike co-op are all 45+ pounds, if not pushing 55+.

I've tended to prefer heavier bikes for downhill and heavy cross country. They seem to ride smoother and soak up more of the high frequency vibration that chatters your teeth and makes it hard to see and steer while riding.

But I'm not racing, and I'm a fatass so I don't have any problems throwing 50 pounds of bike around corners, but, yeah, I bet it makes a huge difference when you're racing tight/steep technical sections and you need to change directions a lot, and you need to do it quickly.
posted by loquacious at 4:22 PM on December 21, 2011


Yep sorry, definitely referring to factory bikes when talking about weight. Us punters can't afford the light ones, and if we can we can't afford to replace them every season (or more).
posted by markr at 4:36 PM on December 21, 2011


Here's another one, a bit faster and steeper.

Very nice. It still blows me away how long the suspension travels are these days, and how much smoother it makes it.

A long time ago I was riding trails like that on my old no-suspension steel Specialized Stumpjumper. I used to work not far from a place called El Moro Canyon in Laguna Beach, CA that was/is a well known Southern California mountain biking spot. Has been for years and years.

I worked in Irvine so sometimes I'd climb over the shorter side of mountain from the back side and ride the really long way home by taking a few trips down the trails in the canyon. Often in work clothes. Shirt and tie, sometimes with a laptop backpack.

Full suspension bikes had been around for a while, and that's what most MTB riders were riding at the time. I've never heard so much creative swearing as I have when chasing down a DH rider on a full suspension bike while I'm on my hardtail and fork MTB and yelling at them to go faster.

In retrospect that probably was pretty weird to be chased down by some sweaty, red-faced nerd in a shirt and tie and slacks dropping 2-3 foot log break drops or twisty rocky sections on a hardtail and then regularly passing you or leaving you in the dust, but I knew that canyon's trails really well.

Another time (not an after-work ride) I was bombing down one of the trails called "Mach 2" - which, yeah, it's a really fast trail - and I almost had a Wide World of Sports "agony of defeat moment" when I nearly wiped out. It's basically a ram-rod straight section of fire road that angles down the wall of the canyon. It's sandy and prone to washboarding, but rock free and not very technical. Just very steep and fast.

On this ride my speedo said 57 mph before I hit a section of washboard and was being vibrated so badly I couldn't even see anything anymore, and it's probably the fastest I've ever gone on a bike, off road or off. And then my hands vibrated right off the ends of my handlebars. I simply couldn't hang on, it was like a jackhammer gone haywire in my hands. Next my feet came off the pedals and I landed on the top bar on my junk, and somehow my feet landed flat on the ground and I was now dirt-skiing at around 45-50 mph with a bike painfully wedged in my crotch.

But the handlebars stayed straight and didn't cross up and pitch me right on my face. Somehow I managed to get my hands back on the brakes and just locked up the back wheel and get some friction on the front wheel. And it still took a few hundred feet to stop at that speed, I was just sliding on sand on a locked tire and both feet on the ground until I finally stopped, at which point I shambled to the edge of the trail and curled up in a fetal position on the ground since I felt like I just got kicked in the balls by a horse about a dozen times, which I really only felt after the adrenalin started wearing off.
posted by loquacious at 4:50 PM on December 21, 2011 [9 favorites]


Fast loose road descents scare me shitless, Loquacious. Much more than steep gnarly stuff. Years ago two friends and I were descending the Quiraing in Scotland (you can see the road here) on touring bikes.

The road was a lot shittier then. I and the second guy were going what we thought was balls out (about 40-50 mph I guess) when the third guy just SHOT past us. We were in awe of his cojones, but then we realized he had no brakes. He managed to hold on for a good while but eventually he hit a patch of gravel and started a speedwobble. The bike went out from under him and he flew a good twenty feet before landing on his head.

Of course, this was long before anyone wore helmets.

He was out cold when we got to him. We flagged down a passing VW bus and got him to the nearest hospital. He had a nasty concussion, so we rested for a day, and then we continued our tour.

He didn't have any memory of the crash but when we looked at his bike it was obvious what had happened. The brake blocks had MELTED at the top of the descent.
posted by unSane at 7:39 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


(Also, this summer they found a roadie dead halfway down one of the local big descents. She was way off the road and had been riding alone. Her family reported her missing but it took a long while to find her. It seems like she just lost it and flew off the road).
posted by unSane at 7:42 PM on December 21, 2011


Sorry, screwed up the link for the pic of the Quiraing.
posted by unSane at 7:44 PM on December 21, 2011


I thought International Caps Lock Day was months ago!
posted by not_on_display at 10:37 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


Finally had time to watch this. WOW.

"OHHH MY GOOOOAAD, LOOK AT THAT WHIP!!! WHAT THE HELL??!!!"

(That is a lot of mud.)
posted by fraula at 9:30 AM on December 22, 2011


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