Glen Helen is a BMF

Big time! Watching it in person and then on TV was like watching 2 completely different events. The filming of the outdoors does nothing to help grow viewership from non participants. Hills are tiny, no ruts, chug holes, speed.....nothing. All filmed from thousands of feet away from an elevated vantage point with a zoom lense. Someone needs to film a event from ground level/track side. That is what made the Great Outdoors series so spectacular to watch.
Those bad asses where hitting shit 4th/5th gear pinned going over 70mph on a bombed out track lap after lap. So glad I am not in my 20's after witnessing that. I would quit the sport and turn in my man card.

Agreed at ground level you actually understand how gnarly that track can get. To see these guys rip around is incredible. It doesn't take many laps for arm pump to kick in at Glen Helen.

+100 the angles and shots are too far away. no sense of speed. mix them up and crank up some sound. one coming at you then staying with them as they go away. when you watch great outdoors or web videos like the "raw" ones its amazing the difference. dc dont you know some people

Certainly was brutal. But I think there's a limit somewhere between making the riders uncomfortable with riding something different, (which I'm all for, makes better racing imo) and something as dangerous as that monster uphill jump. .

What I don't get is that alot of these guys make rediculously fuckin huge video game like booters on their practice tracks that they hit day in and day out, yet generally feared for their lives every lap coming up to that big triple. This makes me think that it wasn't the size of the jump, but the head shake inducing run up and such short landing left very little room for error.

I think there's two different ways of making a rider uncomfortable. one is making obstacles hard to get right, this separates te good riders from the great riders. That supercross like section kind of had the right idea, but wasn't done quite right fie it to hold up safely for an entire moto. The other way makes the rider generally think there's a high chance they'll be getting carted off in an ambulance, which I don't think comes from the SIZE of the jump or obstacle, but in the way in which it is built
I'm all for the former. I think sometimes these kids are used to their perfectly groomed tracks, and are compelled to complain when it gets dusty and rough. Which is understandable, I don't like riding on rough shitty tracks either!

Glen Helen is bad ass. I was so glad when it resumed its rightful place on the schedule in '14. I get what the riders are saying about the danger aspect and I do think that uphill jump was a bit much, but otherwise it looked awesome. Definitely planning a trip out there to watch the national in person next year or the year after.

yeah the farside uphill 120' double with 3.2 second air time, beats the skyshot at 'dilla

being there definitely makes you appreciate the the risk, nothing like outdoors

It looked bad ass on tv. Go pro might have made it better but a lot of guys looked on the ragged edge all the time and you could tell they were going fast, I definitely got a sense of the speed they were going.

I got scared watching the huge triple on TV, hearing the bikes pinned, hard to imagine how it was in person.... Like fuck man...that's only one part of the track.... Can't even imagine doing that...

I can't wait to get to ride on that track at A Day in the Dirt.

Not taking away from the uphill triple or even the down hill double, right after it, but....

The SX section that they threw in the middle of the track was way more gnarly, IMO. It was bad enough when it didn't have ruts in the faces and holes in the landings, by the end of practice it was pretty tore up. Then they put in 2 hours of racing, between the 4 motos. Great for spectating, but most of (if not all of) the riders expressed their dislike for the section. They have the Monster Cup race for obstacles that gnarly. The TV coverage doesn't do the track justice.

The uphill triple was an easy jump for all of them and great for spectators. Although, at that speed, a crash could really get ugly quick. There was times when 3-4 guys were in the air at the same time. Again... The TV coverage doesn't do the track justice.

Lol
You're not going to ride on "that" track, EVER. A Day in the Dirt will be a great event, if you've never done it, but the track will be pretty smooth for Glen Helen standards. You'd be way better off going out on a Thursday afternoon, if you want to try and test your skills. I'll be @ ADITD and will enjoy the track, but it's the vibe and all my friends that make that weekend what it is. Camping there for 3 days and racing a few classes is what I dig most. Glen Helen will be in its mildest form, which is still a fun race, they have kids racing as well as vintage racing that they have to cater too as well.

here's a video I took from the ground level of the very gnarly and technical section that claimed Peick and many others...

https://youtu.be/p_kpsnFqhzI

This one is a nice one of ground level

Cool video Derps, thanks for sharing that.

I love Glen Helen, proper motocross track and so iconic.

Darn. I just won't tell anyone that it is a shortened version of the track! I've been wanting to go to the event for years and might get the chance this year.

Track sucked

Glen Helen looks much cooler in a video like this too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TsE8tt1rRg