Towed in with Ed Masters – What we really thought of the first World Cup



Myself and the Towball are back for another episode of Towed In with Ed Masters, Ft. Cameron Cole.
We took a minute to discuss all things good, bad and ugly about the first round of the 2023 Downhill World Cup.

Let us know what you thought about the first round in the comments below, are we on point? Or are we over the hill and way off track?

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37 thoughts on “Towed in with Ed Masters – What we really thought of the first World Cup”

  1. We get more racing to watch which is excellent but yeah the cutaways to team managers and that other random dude hanging out at the top is to much , we want to see racing

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  2. That was fantastic!
    Interesting that there are still some grey areas. One rider last week (sorry can't remember who) was convinced that the whole of the pad was 'in' and the tape marked the track bounds. He even said he'd got clarification!

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  3. Some thoughts on the new format as a viewer.
    Live commentary wasn't terrible and to be honest, the racers make the race exciting and they did spot some things I would have missed (as well as missing a few things I spotted like line choice, etc).
    A few 'must-have' things that were missed though like keeping us up to date on the bubble during the semis. A weird choice to show two post-race streams one with podiums and one with discussion – I get there are time constraints for the Eurosport Schedules, but surely streamers don't have to suffer. I only learned that there were two afterwards. A couple of timing/sound glitches and as Dean said – cutting away to the managers during a run – trying to make it look all 'pro' is one thing, but missing action is very different. They also missed that Amaury wasn't racing which was pretty unforgivable.
    There was talk beforehand about the whole course being covered with cameras so we would never miss a decisive moment. Well I still haven't seen footage of Kolb's finals crash.
    Overall I was moderately impressed after coming in with lowish expectations. With some improvement through the season it could be great!

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  4. What thoughts do you Dean and Eddie have on the new tape? In the various footage it looks easier to see, however the tape doesn't seem like it is easy to break.

    For the "tackle bags" if you can't touch them, put them outside the tape otherwise they are fair game to contact. From what I saw half were in like useful spots others were just completely unnecessary. Insights?

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  5. I know unions get a bad name in a lot of industries, and it’s probably easier said than done but you guys really need a riders union in my opinion. Rules and regs need to be in black and white with correct wording, that doesn’t allow for varied interpretations. In my field of work if we didn’t have a workers union that band together and negotiate terms with the company, the company would just make things up as they see fit, write it in a rule book and slap it on our desk, which is what UCI seem to be doing. It can also help iron out these issues with filming quali/race runs for personal channels as well as make sure you riders are fairly compensated, after all you guys are the entertainment.

    OR… rally everyone in the scene and start your own race series, I’d pay to see that shit!

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  6. Danny Hart and Angel Suarez- interesting speculation. That said, last week, the discovery announcer Rik kept saying ‘Suarez Angel’ instead of ‘Angel Suarez’…..wonder if he’ll get it right (and hopefully come up with some different quips instead of saying all the time how nice Charlie Hatton is all the time

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  7. Having not seen any of the telecast, this video was amazing. I mean i do mis RW. But Donny and Ed absolutely killed it, cant wait to see the next instalment

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  8. The GCN stream is so trash, my stream automatically goes to like 480p but there's no option to bump it up to 1080p like on any other video streaming service. The commentators are brutal, especially that boring ass enduro guy. Idk what the point of the semi finals is, but the only chance I'll ever watch it is if its the day before.

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