{"id":178576,"date":"2025-09-29T21:25:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T21:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/178576\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T21:25:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T21:25:07","slug":"first-look-at-lake-placids-new-dh-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/178576\/","title":{"rendered":"First look at Lake Placid\u2019s new DH track"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe moment we\u2019ve all been waiting for,\u201d Aaron Gwin says as he rolls into a brand new World Cup course at <a href=\"https:\/\/whiteface.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Whiteface Mountain<\/a>. \u201cThis will be the first ever top to bottom run on this track if all goes successful.\u201d It does. What follows is four minutes of fresh dirt, loam and choices. So many choices. \u201cThere is a lot of options here on this track, which is super cool. Kind of everything we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gwin and Tristan Lemire swap lines as the course crew waters sections in real time. \u201cThe course crew is actually on track right now watering the trail, which is pretty sick,\u201d Gwin says, tip-toeing through soft dirt and new lips. He calls out what racers will feel next week: off-camber, jump lines and a shark-fin.<\/p>\n<p>The course, which was designed by Aaron Gwin is fresh for this year. After hosting the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/mtb\/lake-placid-uci-world-cup-highlights-and-recap\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">XC World Cup<\/a> last fall, Lake Placid will host both XC and DH riders this year. And in 2026 it will be the final stop of the tour.<\/p>\n<p>Line choice is back<\/p>\n<p>Gwin\u2019s running commentary reads like a builder\u2019s checklist. \u201cI\u2019m just going to try to do everything the opposite of what he does and test the options.\u201d There are many. \u201cCouple options on the entrance here\u2026 try to mix up the lines.\u201d The track slows where it needs to, then opens the throttle. \u201cThis section\u2019s going to be super fast\u2026 definitely fastest part of the track.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Viewers noticed. \u201cSo good to see so many line choices!!!\u201d \u201cNice to see a fresh loamy track with tons of options,\u201d added another comment.\u00a0\u201cYou could run a 4X race down parts of that. Line choice galore!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Loam up top, speed down low<\/p>\n<p>The opening woods look exactly like riders wanted them to. Fresh. Soft. \u201cIt\u2019s actually real soft here,\u201d Gwin says. \u201cSuper off camber.\u201d The mid-mountain forces decisions, then the track breaks onto the piste. \u201cThis section\u2019s really fun\u2026 couple big jumps\u2026 shark fin.\u201d One commenter saw Mont-Sainte-Anne DNA in the finish, \u201ca MtSteAnne styled rip down the piste for max speed trap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone was sold. \u201cOver half the track is just bombing the ski slopes.\u201d \u201cA super boring slope style course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What racers will face this weekend<\/p>\n<p>Expect choices from the first turn.\u00a0 Look for braking bumps to rearrange those choices by finals. Expect nerves. \u201cI need to triple this, but I\u2019m being scared,\u201d Gwin says mid-run, opting for a safer on-off. \u201cThat\u2019s\u2026 first ever top to bottom lap on the World Cup track,\u201d Gwin says. \u201cSuper fun. Can\u2019t wait for the race next week. Come check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the practice feed looks anything like this preview, Lake Placid just gave downhill racing what it\u2019s been asking for: real decisions, real dirt, and a reason to tune in live.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe moment we\u2019ve all been waiting for,\u201d Aaron Gwin says as he rolls into a brand new World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,1700,82],"class_list":["post-178576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-mtb-features","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}