CHARLES MURRAY: We're here in Maribor for the downhill World
Cup, which is pretty much the premiere of downhill mountain
bike racing.
And I've come here with the idea to race,
kind of a bit of experience and yet for fun as well.
World Cup downhill racing is really the pinnacle
from my point of view.
It's so gnarly.
It's 100% commitment.
CREW: Just a different line choice here.
CHARLES MURRAY: I think, in the start gate,
I'll be feeling pretty nervous.
Definitely, yeah, there's a little bit of pressure
and probably a few more people watching me
than I had watching me last year.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
But the track in Maribor, it's definitely intimidating.
There's not much dirt left.
It's a lot of roots, a lot of rocks and pretty scary.
There's a big rock garden kind of halfway down
that I found pretty tough.
And then my favorite part was the bottom.
They've made a new track.
So they've changed the line, put it through the woods
and into fresh dirt.
And that was awesome.
So hopefully, this year we have some more
of those kind of new sections to ride.
It's pretty exciting, turning up here.
It's like a circus or a festival, massive set ups
and big trucks, all the teams.
And we're with the Specialized Gravity team, which is so cool.
The three riders on the Specialized Gravity team,
Chris, Finn, and Loic, are some of the best
riders in the world.
The track walk is interesting.
It's something that we don't really do in Enduro.
CREW: What?
There is a lane there.
Like just here and then double into that big hole.
CHARLES MURRAY: I mean, it took us maybe 2 and 1/2 hours
today to walk in 3 minute track.
So if you imagine an Enduro, if we're racing 20 or 30 minutes,
you know, that could be 20 hours of walking.
If you're walking at the speed we were today.
So it's not possible.
But it's really cool to see how these guys approach it.
CREW: Yeah, maybe you can--
CREW: On site?
CREW: Yeah.
CHARLES MURRAY: They really look at everything
like, there's a difference in five centimeters,
from having your wheel here or having your wheel here, which
isn't really something I've come across before.
Usually we just ride what we see in front of us.
They're so precise about their lines, which
is really cool to learn that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I think my freeride skiing, the competitions that I've
done in the past, actually helped me surprisingly
with the downhill World Cup.
Makes it seem more manageable.
Just think on-- what's the job at hand.
How are we going to attack it.
And try not to freak out.
There's also the chance of getting selected for the New
Zealand team for world champs.
There's probably a pool of like eight Kiwi
riders for the reserves.
Hopefully, with a good result in Maribor,
I'll prove to the guys in New Zealand
that I'm worthwhile with a spot.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I feel a little bit weird.
Unfortunately, I had a big crash riding here in Maribor
about two days ago.
Went over the handlebars in a really high speed section
following Brook Macdonald.
BROOK MACDONALD: Yeah, we were just
doing a bit of a Mirabor shakedown.
I was actually in front, so I didn't see it.
But I just heard all the scraping along the ground.
And I rolled down, and I just hear him,
and he's like [GROANING].
And I was like, [BLEEP] this is not good.
CHARLES MURRAY: Injured my shoulder quite badly.
Been taking a few days off the bike
and working a lot with the physio,
trying to rest up and work on the joint and free it up.
But it's still pretty painful.
So it's looking like I might not be able to race on the weekend,
unfortunately.
I'm pretty focused on the rest of the season,
so I don't want to compromise the rest of the season
by trying to come back too soon from this injury.
CREW: The four time world champion, Loic Bruni,
then on track Specialized Gravity rider.
Pulls in tight there.
Stays high on that big camber.
[CHEERING]
AUDIENCE: Come on, Bruni.
Come on, Bruni.
CREW: Gets those big legs to work, gets some power in.
So close this time.
Surely it's going to go.
Here comes Loic Bruni.
Goes faster!
.37 into the lead
CHARLES MURRAY: I think he might have done it.
I think you might have done it.
Really enjoying the days here in Mirabor.
It's been pretty cool spending time with the team,
learning from the riders and the mechanics, what these guys are
putting into their racing to get split second advantage.
And I think that's something, hopefully, I
can take across to Enduro and kind of figure
out what I can do to get those little advantages on the Enduro
races.
After here, we've go to world championships in two weeks.
So we'll see how we feel.
I'm not giving up on downhill yet.
This crash it's just a little hiccup,
but I'm still keen to keep going with the downhill
and keep coming back as much as I can.
CREW: In first place from France for Specialized Gravity,
it's Loic Bruni.
AUDIENCE: [CHEERING]