DHI – Training today at Mona Yongpyong

DHI – Training today at Mona Yongpyong (Pyeongchang)

I was already on my way up on the chairlift to the top when my phone buzzed—I got a text saying training would start one hour later!

Good thing, I thought, there’s coffee at the top—so no worries! Well… still no worries, except there was no coffee. The store, everything else, even the viewing platform, was still closed.

There were already quite a lot of riders at the top, mostly juniors. Ed Masters had already been up there for an hour and was waiting. He is the sweeper (normally there should be four, but somehow he was the only one). So he has to “open” the track and will also “close” it again in the late afternoon. That means the marshals are ready, and at the end they know they can leave their posts and walk down the track.

Unfortunately, early in the morning, Louise Ferguson couldn’t clear the big jump at the top. We’re sending her healing vibes and hoping for the best. She had to be airlifted out of the venue to the hospital. We don’t have any updates about her injury yet, but again, we hope she’ll be back on the bike soon.

Because of this, they extended the training time for everyone—and you can be sure, they needed it. Probably every run down the trail felt different!

Some riders love it, some don’t—but for sure, as we said yesterday after the track walk, it’s different and not something you see every day. And we think that’s a good thing! Better than a bike park track that’s as slick as a highway.

Tomorrow is qualification. We’ll see who can handle this brand-new track the best—and how much the times will come down from today’s unofficial timed training, where Till Alran set a 2:57.425.

#mtbmagasia #uci #dhi #monayongpyong #southkorea