As a newbie to the Fort Bill World Cup I will say that I loved it. You really cannot get the same impression of the speed and ability of these riders until you see them in the flesh.
BUT…
I was expecting the crowd to be a bit more raucous. I whistled/cheered every rider down (except when I was scoffing Haribo) but I seemed to be in the minority.

Are you American!?
😉

😆
No. English as fish and chips.
Seriously though, I had heard/read many times that the atmosphere at FW was better than any other race. Maybe I expected a little too much

Think it’s known as “Marketing BS”!!

🙄 and I’m just too naive and trusting

Anyone been a few times? Was it a bit “quieter” this year or was it just me expecting too much?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Mountain bikers are a funny lot that think they are social but aren’t really. “Chilling” and posing is their thing. It is what it is. I’m fairly new to mountain biking after a lifetime of football and mostly rugby and it was my first world cup event too. I loved it for what it was. It’s not any worse than any other kind of event, it’s just different in a chilled and posy kind of way.

I was last up at the Worlds in 2007 and it was lively in the arena and mental when Ruraidh Cunningham won the Juniors. The crowd can be selective in its enthusiasm of course. If Peaty, Tracy Moseley or any of the Athertons are down at the second last split then it does tend to be a bit All Gone Quiet Over There! 🙂

i was the same, any rider who came down me and my mates were making loads of noise.
great weekend, will definately be going again

Did you see the 4 year old on the 4X track? Got bigger cheers than some of the pros!

I have to admit I too was disappointed at the crowds participation although the gay ass MBUK people trying to hype the crowd up with “who wants free stuff” kind of did the opposite for me.

Me and my bro seemed to be the only people on track when it came to the top 10 people coming down, dunno where everyone was going! Did enjoy it though and loved making my squeaky dog toys squeak at every rider and annoying every dog! mehehehe!

ha ha

I think – like us – people were getting to the bottom so they could see the top riders cross the line

Last bus back to the Fort looks a little rowdy ! – WARNING i’ve only seen the pictures so can not be held responsible for the vocal content of this clip !

should go stand with the aussies, they’re usually up by the Nissan arch
couldn’t make that much noise at the DH myself after losing voice at the 4X

I was up at the arch for a bit. The bigger the tailwhip the bigger the noise 😀

There were quite a lot of people making a racket up the hill when I was up there, impressed by the guy who brought a cymbal up with him.

As other people have said the atmosphere in the arena is best if there’s a British rider really pushing for the win.