The God of Mountain Biking has chosen Peter Kaiser to spread the word of the Mons Royale Speed & Style.
Tune in as each episode divulges the sacred Commandments of Speed and Style.
For the sake of this explanation, downhill racing (a discipline obsessed with speed and testosterone) will be the father. Whereas slopestyle, full of grace and elegance, will be the mother. The fruit of this wonderful mountain bike union is Speed and Style. And while there is no doubt in anyone's mind that it may not be the most high-profile event, it is undeniably one of the most entertaining on the Crankworx calendar.
The theory behind Speed and Style is wonderfully simple. Anyone who can go fast and make it look good will do well, but putting that into practice is when things get really interesting.
There are two identical courses side-by-side that racers descend at the same time. There are banked turns (otherwise known as berms), slalom sections, pump bumps (or whoops) and most importantly, two big jumps. The jumps offer the riders the opportunity to pull tricks. The better the trick, the more time will be deducted from their run. In effect, speeding up their run!
The competition takes place over three rounds. A timed round, a qualification round and the final. This is how they break down.
In the timed round, everyone races the course alone and goes as quickly as they can. The judging panel uses this to create a maximum race time. By taking the average race time of all competitors and adding 25%, they calculate the maximum time anyone can receive. If the average time is 30 seconds, 25% of that is 7.5 seconds. In that case, the maximum time anyone can get is 37.5 seconds.
They also take the fastest time, let's say that's 28 seconds. From that, they create the trick bonus deduction. This is 10%, so 2.8 seconds. That is then split over the two jumps, so the maximum amount of time that can be gained on each jump is 5% of the fastest racers time. So in this case 1.4 seconds.
Still with us?
Next up is qualifying. This is super simple in comparison to the timed run. Every racer takes two full runs alone, but includes tricks. So after deductions, their times are logged and the thirty-two fastest riders go through to the finals.
The finals are the money. A straight toe-to-toe knock-out with the riders seeded according to qualifying. That means first place qualifier against thirty-second, second place qualifier against thirty-first and so on. Then they race through the round of sixteen, the quarters, semis, small final and then big final.
Those are the rules, but how do they work in practice? Well you can cream the course at Mach 10 and not do any tricks. But on both the jumps, you would receive a time penalty of 50% of the individual time deduction added. In our above case, that would 50% of 1.4s. So 0.7s. Therefore, if a rider straight airs, scrubs (soaks up the jump) for speed or does something basic like a whip, no footer or a one hander they will get a 50% penalty.
So how much are tricks worth exactly? It's pretty simple; the harder the trick the better the time percentage deduction.
All of the above are subject to the judge's opinions on execution, amplitude, and style. Repeated tricks are a no-no. Slipped pedals or sketchy landings also carry penalties.
One of the most critical elements is the mental game. In DH, you're up against the clock. In slopestyle, you're competing against yourself, because it's you battling your tricks. In Speed and Style, you face both those opponents. Plus the added third dimension of going toe-to-toe with another rider. You've got to harness that street fighter mentality, envisioning your opponent having an eight-course tasting menu of your dust while you cross the finish line.
Having the skill to combine and master all of these elements in a single run is a rare talent. And when you look at some of the Speed and Style greats, it's no surprise to find some of biking's legends. Thomas Lemoine, Cam Zink, Martin Soederstrom and Jakub Vencl have all fought their way to the top of the champagne steps. This is because they're fast with a huge bag of incredible tricks and the skill (and balls) to pull them mid-race. Speed and Style is without doubt the best way to find the world's best all-rounder.
Alright, now you know your way around the Mons Royale Speed and Style. See you at Crankworx Rotorua.
Photos: Jay French
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