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Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada 6 – 7 August 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Round 6


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Posted

It is becoming boring watching RA beat the other women by 10secs or more, so yes, the others need to do something. They can all be as fit as she is if the want. They can't all ride with Dan and Gee, so they need to find other ways to improve their skills and confidence to get to that level too. I doubt Rachel's inherent talent is any better than Gee's and look where he is compared to his fellow male riders - up there but not winning. 

Posted

Let me guess, you're a fan of Outliers...

some of it, yes. I don't think the 10,000 hours "rule" is a particularly relevant tool, as innate talent comes into it as well. But if you're talented and need to step it up a level... you need to find something that will enable you to do that. Whether that "thing" is a switch in training, changing how you approach technical terrain training etc - in order to catch someone as talented as Rachel, you're going to have to do something you're not currently doing. Or at least do more of that thing that could take you there... 

 

And to say that any of the others hasn't put in 10,000 hours over their lives would be a bit silly... 

 

Rachel's hours may be higher quality, though. 

 

To put it better - I could put 10,000 hours into anything. But if those 10,000 hours aren't of a suitable quality and / or level, then I'll still not be as good as someone who had put just 1/4 of the time into the same thing but at a higher quality. 

Posted

It is becoming boring watching RA beat the other women by 10secs or more, so yes, the others need to do something. They can all be as fit as she is if the want. They can't all ride with Dan and Gee, so they need to find other ways to improve their skills and confidence to get to that level too. I doubt Rachel's inherent talent is any better than Gee's and look where he is compared to his fellow male riders - up there but not winning. 

 

look manon is not quite on song at the moment - I think that massive crash she had last year had a huge impact on her (or was it this year at bill?)

 

Myriam is there - she can easily beat here - but has had torrid injury woes

 

tracey is there but lso think that crash at cairns dented her confidence

 

Tahnee is there - you cannot take her time at MSA as a guide as she was badly battered during qualies

Posted

I reckon Rachel is a little bit better in the tech sections, grabs the brakes a little bit later, pedals a little bit harder, chooses a slightly better line, (you see where this is going) she just does it more consistently every weekend.

 

Can you imagine if the FIA were in charge? Pretty sure there would have been a whole host of rule changes by now to level the playing fields.....

 

Edit: It would be quite interesting to do a side by side analysis of her run vs Thanee's run and see exactly where she is making the time...

Posted

look manon is not quite on song at the moment - I think that massive crash she had last year had a huge impact on her (or was it this year at bill?)

 

Myriam is there - she can easily beat here - but has had torrid injury woes

 

tracey is there but lso think that crash at cairns dented her confidence

 

Tahnee is there - you cannot take her time at MSA as a guide as she was badly battered during qualies

Agreed with all here... Tracey is doing really well on coming back from her torrid injuries. 

Posted

I reckon Rachel is a little bit better in the tech sections, grabs the brakes a little bit later, pedals a little bit harder, chooses a slightly better line, (you see where this is going) she just does it more consistently every weekend.

 

Can you imagine if the FIA were in charge? Pretty sure there would have been a whole host of rule changes by now to level the playing fields.....

 

Edit: It would be quite interesting to do a side by side analysis of her run vs Thanee's run and see exactly where she is making the time...

Yep. Marginal gains. 

 

The extra speed on the open section though... Woah. 

Posted

Yep. Marginal gains. 

 

The extra speed on the open section though... Woah. 

 

That is purely because she has bigger balls than the other girls....  :ph34r:

Posted

look manon is not quite on song at the moment - I think that massive crash she had last year had a huge impact on her (or was it this year at bill?)

 

Myriam is there - she can easily beat here - but has had torrid injury woes

 

tracey is there but lso think that crash at cairns dented her confidence

 

Tahnee is there - you cannot take her time at MSA as a guide as she was badly battered during qualies

 

Realistically, Seagrave seems to be the only lady that has a chance of upsetting Atherton.

 

Damn shame about Nicole - I think she'd rather forget about this season.

Posted

Realistically, Seagrave seems to be the only lady that has a chance of upsetting Atherton.

 

Damn shame about Nicole - I think she'd rather forget about this season.

All above made good points. I listened to the Vital/Sven Martin interview with Rachel before qualies. He asked RA how long it took her before she started hitting all the jumps especially the finish jump. She said she always knew she would hit it on finals but by ignoring it initially she stayed safe and uninjured. It makes total sense to me. Get happy on the track, make sure your speed into the last jump is right and then sail over it. Pompon didnt do that and hit it on day one. That didn't work out so well.

 

So, its smart thinking as well as technique that gets RA where she is... 

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