Aaron Gwin has already clinched the overall from Greg Minnaar, but Greg isn’t safe with all to play for, with Gee Atherton a measly 19 points behind in 3^rd place.

As for the women, the overall is still undecided, with Rachel Atherton and Emmeline Ragot in hot contention for the title. It could go home with either of them.

The track looks like a combination of some pretty gnarly jumps at the top of the course into some super steep and rooty wooded sections with a couple of long, high speed grassy sections thrown in for good measure.

Will Longden’s been twittering…

With that, the riders seem to be loving the track on the tweetbox…

Looking at the track, there are plenty of riders in with a chance here – the loose rocky, rooty gnar will no doubt give the young guns some ammo to lock and load. We’ve got a feeling it might not be the Aaron Gwin domination that people have come to expect. Riders like Josh Bryceland will be hungry to translate some strong results from the rest of the season into a win, and the ultra consistent, now World Champion, Greg Minnaar can’t be ruled out either.

We can’t help thinking that this track will suit the ragged style of Emmeline Ragot, provided she can stay on her bike and get down in one piece. Rachel Atherton will be pushing the limits though, she’ll be strong on the pedally sections and hungry for that overall win.

Check it out here:

The 2011 World Champ, Danny Hart, has confirmed that he’ll be taking part in a pro-am DH and 4X event in order to raise money for the charity, Help For Heroes.

The mini-festival is set to be held at Hamsterley Forest, Danny’s training ground, on 29 to 30 September, and is being organised by Jack Bennett of 1st Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment and the British Army Downhill Team.

Jack and the team are hoping to attract more than 250 amateurs and professionals of all ages and abilities to compete in practice on the Saturday and the races themselves on Sunday.

One of the big draws is the under-12 class Mini-DH, which will give the young rippers a chance to take part in the same event as, among others, a World Champion.

The organisers are hoping to raise a minimum of £5,000, which will go directly to the Catterick Personnel Recovery Centre.

Danny has long been an advocate for Help for Heroes and has supported them through T-shirt sales at Fort William alongside running a limited edition, specially chromed Giant Glory featuring 400 names of service personnel the charity currently helps. The bike is currently on a publicity tour before it’ll take pride of place on the Giant stand at the years big trade shows.

More info and details of how to enter can be found here!

The Downhill World Champs are taking place in Leogang at the end of this month, and the latest This Is Peaty shows Peaty following Greg Minnaar down the course for the 2012 event.

It doesn’t really need much more introduction than that, so without further ado, check out the video below…

It’s going to be one heck of a show!

Steve Peat flying the flag- would it look this good at the Olympics?

Our heart rates are already up just thinking about the Brits representing at the Velodrome, and how likely they are to take away a lot of medals. And the same too for the Cross Country MTB crew doing us proud at Hadley Farm.

But really what we- and most people we know- are calling for is the biggest, baddest and most exciting form of mountain biking to make it to the games. But does it belong there or should it be at the X-games instead?

The whole idea of the Olympic Games is that the sports are down to sportsmanship and fair game- not the tools used. Cross Country mountain biking sees most riders on very similar bikes- they may as well all be the same given the advantages between them all.

It’s the riders that really make the magic happen.

Track racing is done on bikes virtually identical to each other and Skiing is done on skis virtually the same as the next set.

Downhill mountain bikes vary immensely. Weight, suspension travel, geometry, efficiency, design– and the list goes on. Plus, the terrain they ride them on deteriorates as the race goes on. Meaning a lot of factors affect what the riders can do- despite current top times being so close. Apart from that American chap though,  who’s riding on his own at the moment.

Imagine if downhill mountain biking could be classed- like sailing…

Bikes could be built by different manufacturers but all have to adhere to a design, weight, length etc- removing the bike factor from the equation.

It’s certainly a talking piece right now here at MBUK towers- what’s your take on downhill mountain biking at the Olympics?

“You don’t have to brake here, you don’t have to brake here, you… MUPPET!” Yet another corner fluffed, yet more time wasted and yet more head-scratching required.

I’ll hold my hands up here and say that I haven’t ridden my Morewood Izimu DH bike for a while and amidst the humid woods outside Stroud, I’m finding it difficult to re-adjust. Since the arrival of my Specialized Stumpy Evo, I’ve been spoilt. With every ride I become more and more impressed with the silver bullets abilities. The current crop of 150mm enduro/trail bikes are in fact so good that it can be all too easy to neglect the DH bike for yet another Saturday and pedal off into the woods aboard something altogether trailer.

If I’m honest, it’s that ‘pedal’ bit that is probably at the crux of this particular problem. Compared to remove from shed/disassemble/put in car/drive to woods/push up/ride/push up again/disassemble/put back in car/ drive home/reassemble/put in shed, remove from shed/ride can (rightly) seem pretty appealing.

Painful as it is to admit, I’d lost the ‘feel’ of a big bike – I was awash in a sea of grip. In corners I was massively underestimating it and when it came to sections where hard-stamping pedal charges were required I was left pumping and flicking and ultimately going slower again.

What’s the answer then? After a healthy dose of soul-searching, tea-leaf reading and crystal consulting I’ve come to a difficult conclusion… Ride more DH!

There are definitely worse problems to have!

Trek World Racing’s resident mechanic Monkey talks through Aaron Gwin’s race bike, the Trek Session 9.9.

This video was recorded at Fort William last weekend before the American notched up another victory, with Monkey guiding us through the subtle changes to the bike’s set-up.

Mixed fortunes for the Santa Cruz Syndicate at the second round of the MTB DH World Cup ahead of Fort William this weekend. Greg Minnaar snared second place – nice work!

Here are some helpful links to allow you, the viewer, to check out our pick of last month’s interweb viewing.

Nico’s X-Factor
The man who ruled downhill for a decade, Nicolas Vouilloz, goes for a quick spin on his new Lapierre X-Flow and tyre-taps a tree.

Crawfy big love
Crawford Carrick-Anderson is a legend – a former Giant World Cup racer, he’s pretty much the man behind Fort Bill. Here, he shreds the Tweed Valley to The Clash.

Spring with Jaws
You know if somebody’s called ‘Jaws’ they’re going to be a pretty serious customer. We like this dark, grimy edit featuring a great soundtrack from Justice.

This Is Peaty: Episode One
This is Peaty’s premier episode and it sets the foundations for what we reckon will be a brilliant series. All the action, including a fight with Sheffield’s biggest man.

Sprung 2
Now this is an absolute treat – Alex Rankin has uploaded the full 52-minute Sprung 2 movie he released back in November 1998 onto YouTube. Get your retro fix pronto!

MBUK 278 is on sale now!

Sam headed to Fort William for his first go at downhill racing at round two of the Halo BDS.

Things didn’t go as well as he might have hoped…

First up, the current World Champion bares his Hart & Soul (part one)…

Specialized riders Sam Hill and Troy Brosnan’s pre-season training in Perth…

And ealier this week, GT Factory Racing unveiled their new look. It’s certainly a lot stealthier than the Athertons’ previous blue-and-white look with Commencal…

This year’s UCI World Cup series kicks off in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa this weekend. Red Bull will be streaming all rounds live.