Pitch Perfect 2
The 66th ATBA-UK Newsletter
Round 1 Results
What a great start to the 2015 UK Series! We saw the regular faces, some new faces and even some of the old faces. There was lots of close races, skilled downhill runs and spectacular stunts in the freestyle.Check out the results from Round 1 of the UK Series ’15 on the ATBA-UK website.
Round 1 Results
Round 2 in Perth
For Round 2 we return to Perth in Scotland but this time you not only get to ride the fun Downhill course but also the countries only public BoarderX track. Two disciplines, twice the fun!
Dates: 13th & 14th June
Disciplines: BoarderX and Downhill
Location: Perth, Perth & Kinross, Scotland. Nearest Post Code: PH2 0NE.
What you need to know
Practice
The BoarderX Track will be open for practice on Friday. The Downhill Track will be available with care as other people may be using it.
Registration
Registration is open from 9 to 10 am. Entry Fees are £10 for members and £20 for non members per competition, so if you’re a member entering BoarderX and Downhill will cost you £20.
Boarder X
BoarderX racing will start at 11 am on Saturday. Qualification will be run using ability-level groups with a maximum of three riders in each race.
Downhill
Downhill will start at 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Prize Giving
Prize-giving will be at 6 pm
Camping
Camping is available on the grass near the track. Vans are welcome in the car park near the track. Camping is £5 per person per night.
Entertainment
Entertainment will be provided by whoever can sing the loudest.
Catering
Bring your own food and drink. And if you’re going to bring sweets, bring enough to share
What should you bring?
Bring your board, and helmet and pads (you won’t be able to compete unless you have a helmet, elbow and knee pads and wrist guards).
Bring a tent, sleeping bag, etc. and clothes to keep yourself warm and dry whatever the weather.
Bring plenty of food and drink, especially water if the weather is hot. And bring sun cream and insect repellent.
Bring money, so you can pay for your entry fees (£10 per comp, £20 if you do both disciplines), and camping (£5 per person per night).
Last Year’s comp at Perth
If you want to see more videos from last year, check out the UK Series 2014 playlist on Youtube.
UK Series ’14 Videos
UK Series ’14 Videos
International Mountainboard Film Festival
The season is in full swing and it’s the perfect time to be out filming for your entry for the 2015 International Mountainboard Film Festival.
Get planning, get filming, get over to Facebook to find out more.
UK Series 15 – When and where
R1 – 16th & 17th May – BX, DH, FS at Hereford Board and Bike Park – DONE
R2 – 13th & 14th Jun – DH, BX at Perth – NEXT
R3 – 4th Jul – DH at Fruit Farm
R4 – 18th Jul – FS at Knockhill
R5 – 1st & 2nd Aug- BX, FS at Another World
R6 – 15th & 16th Aug – BX, DH, FS at Hales Board & Bike Park
Industry
It’s like working in the least competitive industry in the world. There are no competitors. No challengers. No one wants to be doing what we’re doing. If we didn’t do it, no one would. Shouldn’t that tell us something?
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Connor is a good mountainboarder, no doubt about it. But is he good enough to win the Pro category Downhill competition after only competing for a couple of seasons and not practicing much? Well, today the answer is yes, and that leads me to ponder this anomaly for reasons why.
Connor is definitely a good rider. He rode well in last year’s World BoarderX Championship and he definitely stepped up by joining the Pro’s. A good level of riding is a prerequisite for winning. Without the skills he wouldn’t have stood a chance.
His way of riding fitted the track. It’s a pretty steep track, a bit slidy and with a few tricky corners. Most of the other riders were going into the corners as fast as they could and then scrubbing and sliding their way round. Connor never slid, he never scrubbed, he never took his wheels off the ground. He rode smooth winding lines that meant he went into the corners with the right speed and came out in control and lined up for the next. This approach would have given him a lower top speed but a higher average speed.
He had lots of runs. Nine in fact, compared to most riders having four to six. These extra runs gave him more opportunity to learn the track and he made use of those opportunities to figure out his lines and improve his time.
There weren’t many other Pro’s. There were only two or three other riders of a similar ability. Having less competition in itself doesn’t help a rider win as it doesn’t matter if you are beaten by one rider or ten, you are still beaten, but in Connor’s case the lack of competition was so low that psychologically he knew he only had two other riders to beat. One of those only had two runs so didn’t get the same opportunity to learn the track.
So, the four elements of Connor’s success are skill, adaption (fitting riding style to the track) , quantity (more runs gives more opportunity to learn the track), and lack of competition (not many other riders).
Hicks Law
Hicks Law: The more things to choose from the longer it takes to choose