In World Cup racing there is zero margin for error. Both athletically or mechanically. Racers are seen training, taking steps day to day to be physically fit and ready for racing. What fans don’t see as much, is the lengths top race mechanics go to control the race weekend as much as humanly possible.
Words // Aaron Pelttari
Most top level race mechanics live in their pit space at World Cups, it might sound like a glamourous lifestyle travelling the world, getting to go to all these awesome bike parks, but in reality, you are expected to make sure whatever scenario rolls around throughout the race week that you are prepared and ready for anything.
Race bikes undergo a wide variety of servicing throughout a race week, starting out with a full strip down and rebuild. Every race mechanic worth their salt understands the importance of this, it entails pulling the bike down to be able to inspect every single bolt on the bike, replace any parts that look even the slightest bit suspicious, and meticulously look over the frame and other components for any form of damage. This is where the end consumer benefits from the race aspect of developing bikes, and where teams need to be particular in who they hire for this role.
On day one at a World Cup, before any practice has begun the pits are a hive of energy.
The team trucks are assembled and the finishing touches are coming together, mechanics are deep in tearing down bikes and are seen dropping suspension off at their sponsors trucks to have overhauled ready for the week. While the lucky few roll right into those shiny trucks, you will often see a line up out the front, riders and privateer mechanics eagerly waiting to get their ticket to more grip.
Once the suspension aspect of the bike has been dropped its time to crack on with the other magic, finishing up the tear down, replacing every bearing on the frame and replacing any bolt or part that looks suspicious.
Then the wheel work begins, this is a side of racing I believe fans don’t see, sort of a trade secret and really only designated for the lucky few top riders. These athletes have several wheelsets, often laced with different spoke counts and different spoke thicknesses based on weather and track conditions (think thick and more spokes for fast, thin and less for grip) allowing mechanics to dial in ride feel and grip without touching suspension clickers.
Once the wheels are all sorted and ready to go it’s time for tyres, this is a whole other can of worms, different mechanics will use different tapes, some will use inserts, while others will use an elastic membrane to keep the tyre from leaving the rim at all (these you physically cannot remove a tyre, you have to replace the rim) You have to use the exact same amount of sealant every time otherwise it throws off the wheel balance and you have to have tyres for all weather conditions mounted and ready to go, dries, inters, muds and the other random set of tyres they mentioned they might want if it hits 23 degrees with 50% humidity and it rained precisely 3.4 hours ago that they will likely use for 1 run.
Once you have all your wheels, tyres, frame and suspension back from the shiny truck, it’s time to finalise the build, fresh brake pads and rotors, with a bleed front and rear. New gear cables, hanger, chain and chainring all tuned up and ready to go. Then it’s time to put the race plate on, go shoot some photos with your team photographer for the fans to look at for 3 seconds, double tap a like and scroll on, then have a meeting with your rider, lines guy and manager about setup, thoughts on how the track will deteriorate and what we can do to maximise speed when this happens.
Once this whirlwind of a day is over the weekend generally chills out for mechanics, you can’t work on a bike when the rider is on it, that’s always nice!
The first offical day of practice day generally rolls around in a hurry, the morning is always pretty chill, just tidying up bits you may not have been able to finish the day before, sorting your toolbox and making sure all your spares are ready to go. Before practice starts you need to do all your checks, this involves a general bolt check to make sure everything is secure, then a wheel check to make sure all your spokes are bang on tension, finally an air pressure check for tyres and suspension to make sure your ride feel is on point.
I’d say that the best part about World Cup DH is the riders come straight back to the pits after each lap, this means you can put the bike in the stand, assess any issues or concerns and move onto the next lap, once the rider is comfortable on track you start changing settings and setup if need to be to get the extra few 10ths of a second you are always chasing. Once practice concludes for the day its onto prep work for qualifying day. Depending on weather and what track you are at this can range from a quick clean, brake bleed and making sure all your wheels are on lock to a full tear down and rebuild from the ground up again.
Day two in recent years is the busiest and potentially catastrophic for a race mechanic, this is the day you need to be on lock more than ever due to the turnaround time from practice into qualifying, then qualifying into semi-finals.
Again, ‘proper preparation prevents poor performance’, so being dialled the night before is super important. This means you can chill in the morning, have a couple coffees and have good vibes only when the rest of the team rolls into the pits.
Generally, your setup is already locked in by this time, but variants in weather or managers that want to throw their 2c into the pot sometimes unravels this. Qualifying in some certain circumstances is a really good opportunity to run a data analytic kit on the bike to see what it’s doing at race speed and to be able to report back to the engineers after the run.
Once practice is underway, as a mechanic you are making sure your qualifying wheelset is ready to go ( Best case scenario every timed run will have a brand new set of wheels, fresh rebuilt hubs, used spokes so they are pre stretched, fresh rim and fresh glued set of tyres) Wheels take a lot of energy on impact, so its best to keep these as fresh as possible on timed runs. Then, when practice is done you will have about an hour to fully prep the bike, this might sound like a bit of time, but a lot of World Cup venues won’t allow teams to have bike wash area setup in the pits for environmental reasons so you have to line up at a communal wash, this can take a long time, sometimes you have to get ruthless and just wipe the mud off with a rag (sorry paint) You also have your backpack setup with a turbo trainer, a spare wheelset with different tyres for weather changes, riders gear like goggles gloves etc and a bunch of spare parts and tools. Once this is all dialled in you head out of the pits for the first time in a couple of days to go to the top of the mountain with your rider for warm up.
The idea is to be at the top of the hill 60 minutes before drop time. Once you are at the top you setup a trainer bike on the turbo trainer so your athlete can warm up, head to the start hut to collect a timing chip for your bike and make sure there is no delays to communicate with your rider and let them crack on with their warmup. Personally, my rule of thumb is to do a tyre pressure check exactly 20 minutes before drop time, and not to touch the bike any more than that. You can do 1000 bolt checks, but the one you don’t need to do will be the one you sheer a head off an alloy bolt right before a timed run. As soon as your rider drops for qualifying you race down the lift to the bottom of the hill to get back to the pits to prep it all again to head up for semi-finals.
Depending on how your rider does in qualifying depends if you get 10 mins to prep and head up again or just over an hour, this will also depend if you change wheels and go through the pre run motions again or just pray you have done a good enough job previously for the bike to last another run.
Semi-final is the same as qualifying up the top, you go through the same motions and watch your rider drop, this time you can take 10 minutes to breathe, generally you’re in a pretty unreal part of the world so take in the scenery for a bit and head back down to the pits in your own time. After semi-final the process starts again, strip, rebuild, bleed and check. Prep for race day is way easier, the riders usually only get 2 practice runs in the morning and you have a lot of time between practice and race, so nothing is rushed, and you can do a meticulous job which is always nice!
Race day is always a buzz of excitement and nervous energy! The day starts off slowly, practice isn’t till mid-morning, so you have time to relax and build into the day.
Race day is always a buzz of excitement and nervous energy! The day starts off slowly, practice isn’t till mid-morning, so you have time to relax and build into the day.Slowly do all your checks to make sure you didn’t miss anything the night before and then get into practice. This is a nervous time, the riders are hauling on track and mistakes can happen, this is when having an athlete with experience is amazing, they know how to keep a cool head and not cook the chook too early. Once practice is done there’s usually 4-5 hours until heading up for race run. Once the bike is clean, fresh wheels and checked over you slowly start the routine of packing the inside of the truck up, packing away excess wheels and parts you have laying around so that teardown of the pits is as streamlined process as possible. Maybe play some Xbox, Call of duty or mx vs atv always goes well to keep the nerves down and to stop you doing the 15th bolt check in 2 hours…!
After your wait is over it’s time to head up the top again with your athlete, bike and backpack it’s a good feeling, everything is done and you can do nothing else, just hope the weather stays stable for everyone and it’s a fair race. You go through the same motions up the top, make sure you have your timing chip and GPS tracker locked in, pressure check 20 mins before and the same handshake/words of encouragement to lock your rider in to focus. Watching your athlete drop is a mixed bag of relief, excitement and nervousness. You have done everything you can and just have to have faith that both yourself and athlete have given everything 100% and that’s all you can ask for, if you have done this everything generally works out alright.
After the fun of the race is over, everyone is celebrating because you just won (yeeww) it’s still work time for a mechanic, wash the bike and strip the race truck is the go now. Pulling the race truck down is always chaotic, everyone is tired and it’s a big job to pack everything away clean and in order, but once it’s all done it’s an unreal feeling, you have a quiet couple of beers with the team then head to bed ready to head to the next stop the day after! [R]
