The pandemic is once again affecting the downhill season, albeit not as seriously as last year. Nevertheless, everyone had to wait for the start of the race season and so half the world's elite seized the opportunity of the NotARace - iXS Cup Test Session in Schladming.
Last year was more of a year to forget for the iXS Downhill Cup, however one of the more notable highlights worth remembering was the NotARace in Schladming. So far, 2021 is certainly proving to be a lot better since a few races can be expected, including a sufficient number of runs for the iXS DH Cup series. Nevertheless, the season has started late, further encouraging a second edition of the “NotARace - iXS Cup Test Session” in Schladming.
Making the most out of a late start to the World Cup season, the crew involved with last year's organization of “NotARace" was contacted to start planning in collaboration with Racement. Schladming is the perfect place to host such an event, especially with help from local Markus Pekoll, an enthusiast who really "pulls out all the stops" for the sport. Wyn Masters, another strong supporter of this "non-event", naturally agreed to join again and contact the riders, all of whom immediately wanted to join.
This year, the place and date of “NotARace" coincided perfectly with the start of the World Cup, scheduled to kick-off the following week in nearby Leogang. Because of this, optimism was high that half the world's elite would likely accept the given invitation. And as suspected, that was exactly what happened and thus resulted in an absolutely top-class list of participants. The whole thing was rounded off by the fact that SRAM / RockShox and FOX grabbed the test session by name and used it to improve the suspension setup of their riders under optimal conditions with a race time measurement. The field of participants roughly doubled this year compared to 2020, reaching the absolute limit of what is feasible regarding current Corona regulations.
As with the first edition, there was great interest from the relevant MTB media and strong desire from well-known reporters to send their representatives. In the end, with the productions and reports from Red Bull Media House, Pinkbike, VitalMTB and a few more, as well as the social media products of the actual participants, a considerable amount of content was created, feeding the ever hungry MTB community around the globe.
In contrast to the previous year, this year the lower part of the World Cup track of Bikepark Schladming was used and, in addition to last year, there was an intermediate time and speed measurement in order to increase the informative value for the comparability of the test-runs. Furthermore, the entire technical setup of the iXS Downhill Cup was available, which turned out to be quite useful for a test session due to the live timing option.
It all started on Thursday with the team manager meeting at the Pekoll bike school to explain the most important things to everyone. Then it was time to have a closer look on the track before the test runs started after noon. The key data of the route were 1.500 meters in length and 345 meters in height difference. The weather was good and so was the mood. Somehow everyone seemed to really enjoy it, a familiar environment and probably one of the most popular tracks, to get in tune with the material for the coming season.
But others had completely different obstacles to overcome, for example Loic Bruni (FRA - Specialized Gravity), who injured his heel a week ago. The four-time world champion used Schladming to test whether his short stay at the Red Bull APC had the desired effect. Despite his sustained injury, you couldn't that something was wrong with him during the test session.
Many of those present completed three to five timed-runs, but Luca Shaw (USA - Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Wyn Masters (NZL - GT Factory Racing) were keen to take advantage of the track and completed a total of six runs. The fastest participant of Day 1 was Bernard Kerr (GBR - Pivot Factory Racing), who ripped an impressive time of 2.22.151 minutes. And even if the results were not in foreground, the times were pretty tight in the end, with Joe Breeden (GBR - NS Bikes UR), Danny Hart (GBR - Cube Factory Racing) Greg Minnaar (RSA - Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Loris Vergier (FRA - Trek Factory Racing) all placing within the same second. The fastest woman was Nina Hoffmann (GER - Nina Hoffmann Racing), who seems to be quite hungry for another World Cup victory this season.
Friday started again with optimal conditions, and nothing stood in the way of a relaxed end to the test session. In the morning the riders had another hour of free practice before the time measurement was switched on again for three hours. Most of them used the time span and did three to four more runs. This time around, the fastest rider was Joe Breeden (GBR - NS Bikes UR), followed by Danny Hart and Loris Vergier. In the women’s category, Valentina Höll(AUT - RockShox Trek Race Team) was able to pull out a lead with almost four seconds, which should give her a lot of confidence for the next week. Vali clocked only 02:37.532 minutes on her third run.
In the early afternoon, the second edition of NotARace - iXS Cup Test Session wrapped up smoothly and proved to be a concept that was well-received and arguably historical given the current impacts of the pandemic on travel and events. Everyone involved seemed to have had a lot of fun and it almost seems like one could become accustomed to such a season opener.