klumpy – Member
Wondering what the Edinburgh defence was, I looked on wikipedia. Suprised to see STW and TJ mentioned!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Defense

Anyone can put pretty much anything on Wikipedia. You could name something a klumpy and put an entry up

TINAS – the olympic track was supercross style your local national/regional track is as you put it “normal”

i just caught they plan to scale back some of the bigger jumps and keep it open for public access.

well the lympic track looks way bigger than my local one at hayes and im knackered by the 2nd turn on that!

As above – it needs a sailing style competition system with say 10 races to the final over a whole day. You could weight 1st higher still by having it worth half a point (or even zero or a minus score) with 2 for second, 3 for third etc to make it worth going for and have some discard rounds to get rid of your unlucky crashes and a final medal race with double points.

But then you’d get Ben Ainsley (OK he plays within the rules, but the effect is the same) and Michel Schumacer style take outs if 2 people get a lead on the rest.

Good stuff!

just a pity it’s in London

I suspect in Shanaze’ case nerves overcame her – she was visibly quivering ontge start line.

Both Shanaze and Liam were prospects having gone well through qualifying and semi’s. BMX is a bit of a lottery though. I believe Shanaze has more Rainbow jerseys than anyone on here so give her a break!

All worry exciting to watch. Just a shame we didn’t experience glory on this occasion.

TINAS – the olympic track was supercross style your local national/regional track is as you put it “normal”

Gotcha, so supercross is just the name for the pro BMX series, there’s not seperate BMX and Supercross series.

Did you honestly believe Liam had a chance at gold?

UCI supercross series is a worldwide series, like the UCI MTB series.
There are plenty other race series around from regional to National level.

The UK had fallen fairly far behind in terms of track design until very recently.

I didn’t think Liam did but I thought Shanaze was looking like a silver or bronze based on the semis. Seems to me that the pressure got to the favourites, especially the Brit who’d been a nearly four years ago and the Aussie whose country aren’t having the greatest haul of golds…

Did you honestly believe Liam had a chance at gold?

Given we’ve established the result is a lottery, I don’t see why not. Honestly I thought he was in with a shout at a medal, and I think the way the final was going up until he unclipped tends to confirm that.

GW – Member

Did you honestly believe Liam had a chance at gold?

Depends how many folks fell over really

“we’ve established” 😆

a lot can happen during a final but I wouldn’t call it a lottery.

wouldn’t ever have Phillips down as holeshot material in the final or able to make a pass for first. Has he ever won a UCI final?

He did brilliantly tho and it’s a pity he went down coming in 8th in the end.

Well Jamie Staff said it, it must be true 😉

Jamie Staff’s commentary was a great!

I posted a link to the full Quarterfinals action yesterday and between motos almost every question in this thread (except or Sailing queries 🙄 )was answered in detail that anyone could understand by Jamie. A lot could have been learned by the users of this forum.

no wonder most middle aged mtbers on here can’t ride a bike for shit.

no wonder most middle aged mtbers on here can’t ride a bike for shit.

The mods have a lot to answer for (speaking as a middle aged mtber who can’t ride a bike for shit).

When Shanaze is both jesus risen from the grave and the devil incarnate at the same time (just like Lance), then you can have another bmx thread, but not before then.

shortcut – Member
I suspect in Shanaze’ case nerves overcame her – she was visibly quivering ontge start line.

This^.

She was shaking uncontrollably, I felt sorry for her. I can’t begin to imagine the pressure she must have been feeling at the start gate.

Brilliant event and worthy winners. Disappointing that Team GB’s luck didn’t quite hold out until the end as they both deserved a medal, but Mariana Pajon (just 20 years old but has been a world champion 14 times) and Maris Strombergs (the only man on the planet to win BMX gold at the Olympics) are worthy champions.

Maris Strombergs

i bet they make good chippers!

no wonder most middle aged mtbers on here can’t ride a bike for shit

do you include yourself in that description?

Unfortunatley for shanaze it seems as soon as a camera is on her she falls off/ chokes. Can say i blame her it must be massive pressure to perform. Dont by the excuse for moto times though as commentator said shes missed races to concentrate on fitness. She didnt pedal at the bottom of the start ramp and it was over. Wish the bbc showed the dirt jumping between heats you heard it saw the croud go oooow.. So whats the difference between a gymnast vaulting and a bmx dirt jump? Snowboard half pipe in in the winter olyimpics

Really enjoyed the BMX this year. Liam P’s riding was solid. Great start in the main. Considering he was bust up after the Worlds he’s done really well.

Shanaze rode with a lot of heart (as always).

Another great leap forward for BMX racing in the UK.

If they weren’t riding a BMX in the 80’s what were these skill less middle aged mtbers doing with their childhood? Riding Raleigh bombers?

it was really good to watch. Far more televisual than, say, syncro swimming. I thought the commentatwers were really good too. Bmx will hoprfully do well off the back of this@

Double post

All I know is that child exploitation works! We watched the hockey in the morning then my son and I loitered outside the track for 15 mins with a “looking for tickets” sign when a very nice New Zealand guy offered us 2 tickets. 😀

It made our day (well my year really) . A brilliant atmosphere in the arena and some good motos. It’s such a shame that both finals were disappointing for Reade & Phillips but they both got huge support. Top that off with a wander around the velodrome and that we were on the TV loads. Just a fantastic day out 😀

All knackered after a 4 am start and we won’t be home till midnight.

If they weren’t riding a BMX in the 80’s what were these skill less middle aged mtbers doing with their childhood?

Riding a bike on the road to go places. Then going places fast on a racer, followed by triathlon and road racing. Only discovered MTBs in my mid 20s. Have never owned a BMX. Am better at jumping on a unicycle after a year of riding that than I am on a bike. Can’t be that unusual a progression (well apart from the unicycle bit).

Oh and of course I was also competing in canoeing at a pretty high level back then.

Am I the only one that was shouting “come on pedal girl!” down the first straight? Guess that’s what concentrating on training rather than racing will do for you. Must have been huge pressure mind but it’s not like she hasn’t already won gold.. Think BC’s talent team policy has a lot to answer for – treating BMX as a as a way of grooming sprinters for the track. Excuses at the end were poor, as my dad used to tell me “it’s the same for everyone”. Still well done for making the final, it’s more than I could ever have done.

Liam was unlucky, did well in the heats and had a chance of a medal – shame.

Was pretty impressed with the spectacle and I’m proud to have once been a BMX racer though I am a little disappointed by the Tarmac berms and clips even if the speed is impressive.

Loved the nike USA/brazil kit but thought the gb kit looked lame.

Starting a campaign for a new Kellogg’s series here. ;o)

Being a childhood BMX’er (and skill-less middle aged MTB’er), it was great to see bikes by Haro and Redline.Both names I lusted over as a kid, still doing the business after all this time.

Just seen Reade is considering returning to track. Good idea I’d say – much less random than BMX.

unless she can do an flying 200 or be faster than woman 1 in the team sprint than those currently on the podium program then that’s a non starter, she will have to lose some weight too.

Shame 🙁

If they weren’t riding a BMX in the 80’s what were these skill less middle aged mtbers doing with their childhood? Riding Raleigh bombers?

i had a bmx in the 80’s but living in the middle of nowhere meant i din’t really have anywhere to use it as god intended.

so i took it offroad…

Without doubt, Shanaze Reade raised the bar in women’s BMX by several notches. In 2008 gold should have been hers, but for whatever reasons, it wasn’t to be.

She showed women the level they needed to be at if they wanted to compete with her, and unfortunately for Shanaze, over the last 4 years a handful have not only risen to that challenge, they’ve surpassed expectation, and now beat Shanaze more times than she beats them.

Maybe as Shanaze gets older, wiser and more mature, the pressure and expectation will become less of a burden for her and she’ll win an Olympic BMX title or at least a medal. Unfortunately, I don’t think she’ll ever get a better opportunity than the one she had in China.

If she stays with BMX she needs to improve her riding skills, not her strength or fitness.

In 2008 gold should have been hers, but for whatever reasons, it wasn’t to be.

Interesting thoughts Mike – do you think that her accident with AC in 2008 was an ‘accident’? I have always wondered if she didn’t bin it on purpose, i.e. that she was rattled by AC having an advantage and rather than have to cope with losing to a better rider, she binned it.

It is just a theory; would be interested in your opinion.

If she stays with BMX she needs to improve her riding skills, not her strength or fitness.

I think you are right there Mike. Seems like she raced so little in the build up to the games that the others all had an advantage over her there.
I wonder if British Cycling or whoever looks after Team GB cyclists took a conscious decision to try to avoid injury in the run-up to the olympics and focus her training in the gym instead. If so then big mistake.

No, I don’t think she binned it on purpose, gee tee. I think she’d have been over the moon with a silver medal at her first ever Olympics at the age of 19. I just put that move/crash in 2008 down to naivety, inexperience and not being as good as ACC at turning a berm (not just that last berm, but the first two as well).

It bugs me when the media wheel out their “do or die” and “gold or bust” stories to try and justify that crash.

Anyway, whatever she does next, track or BMX, I hope she gets a chance to redeem the disappointments of Beijing and London.

I had no idea that bmx was this crazy! It’s totally changed my view on the sport and riders – respect.

Only super cross (Elite level) BMX is that big/extreme, Love Tubs. At national level, kids as young as 5 race the same tracks as the 45+ class.