More importantly, why are they going to “tone down” the XC course after the olympics? It’s not as if it is soooo hard core that only olympic level riders will be able to manage it is it really ??

(besides, they are going to be doing it as fast as possible on racy bikes, so i’m pretty sure the average 150mm FS AM bike isn’t going to struggle too much?)

After all, you can fall off your bike and hurt yourself anywhere, toning down the course smacks of H&S b*ll*cks to me !

Trust me, 90% of “normal riders” wouldn’t get round the Olympic XC course unscathed, 150mm AM bike or not, it’s too full on.
Being there watching the racing was ace (I was at the test event), good atmosphere, the place is a natural amphitheatre so you can see loads of action at various parts of the course from one vantage point but would it look good on TV? Not sure. The course is brilliant though and really tough.

That video of the 4X World Champs is unwatchable due to Rob Warner “commentating” (I use that word in the loosest possible sense) and in the same way the Tour Series (city centre criterium racing) on ITV4 is very good but occasionally has some truly horrendous commentary gaffes.

You need the combination of good footage and good commentary and it can work, regardless of the course. Track cycling works in spite of the fact that the “course” is very much secondary to the action happening on it but it’s also dead easy to film because it’s such a controlled environment.

Spot on ^

Ok, so why not just build in some “chicken” lines around the tough stuff, that way each rider can decide what they want to do, rather than just sanitise the whole thing??

Ok, so why not just build in some “chicken” lines around the tough stuff, that way each rider can decide what they want to do, rather than just sanitise the whole thing??

i guess, because people are stupid, and bravado will mean riders land up in hospital, The choice is sanitise or scrap.

That skiercross (4x on skis) in the last Olympics was the best sport I’ve ever seen on TV, the format, the crashes and didn’t last too long.

Dirt have a slightly different view of the track…

Dirt speaks the truth.

and what did dirt, a DH biased mag, have to say about an XC race course, and out of curiosity given there target readership why should we care what their opinion is?

Pretty stupid to compare cycling to the country’s most popular sport.

Who mentioned fishing?

I don’t understand those who say “I don’t watch my favorite sports I ‘do’ them”.

Surely if you’re passionate about something and you’re not the best in the world (as I’m presuming there are no world champions posting on here) then you want to see how the best in the world get on?

To me, cycling isn’t a sport, it’s a pastime. What folk doing it as a sport do holds little or no interest for me.

I should start an argument here this being STW but fair enough each to their own. World would be boring if we were all the same and all that.

No argument. If you do DH riding and want to improve at it enough to compete, then maybe you can pick up some tips from watching it. For me, it’s no more relevant than watching football or swimming.

I don’t want to compete but I watch DH because I think I understand what it takes to ride at Greg Minaars level and I’m impressed by it so when a guy comes down and beats that by 8 seconds over 3 minutes I’m very impressed.

I’ll probably not be applying much of what I saw to my riding.

why should we care what their opinion is?

There must be something in their opinion – it was the organisers that invited them to ride it!

Is that my troll-dar I hear beeping? Fairhurst, who iirc was saying the steel city dh wasnt ‘dh’ enough, now he is saying the Olympic xc trail is good enough for dh and he was inspired by steel city?

Might be wrong but I call shenanigans….

Trust me, 90% of “normal riders” wouldn’t get round the Olympic XC course unscathed, 150mm AM bike or not, it’s too full on.

Full on I hear you say
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4ObfSazDE[/video]

Its an effing joke!

Strangely that video misses the most technical bits. Lets Ignore that though, its much easier to criticise without having the full picture! Again though Greeble, you need to remember its only designed for professional athletes, not the Gods of STW.

The olympic xc course is utter shite. All the awesome biking terrain the uk has, and they go and custom build something in a field.
At least at the commwealth games they used some stuff around rivington I seem to remember.
As for all the comments about dh racing being dull and unwatchable videos because of the warner, you lot really are taking getting old hard aren’t you?

Not sure what level the folks in that test event to be are (i am sure they are really fit) but they don’t seem to be able to corner where there are roots or ride downhill switchbacks either. Sure puts Danny Harts Champery run in the shade though…..

For those that like to do, I find I have a few hours spare in a day to Watch the worlds best.

Guessing you lot are just out 24/7

The olympic xc course is utter shite. All the awesome biking terrain the uk has, and they go and custom build something in a field.

FFS, do we really have to keep doing this?! There is nothing existing that would have worked, there is a very unique set of criteria that requires a custom built course. It’s not DH, it’s not a trail centre, it will give good racing, there’s plenty of climbing, room for overtaking, and some good downhill features with up to 3 different lines.

FFS, do we really have to keep doing this?

Are you new here?

there is a very unique set of criteria that requires a custom built course

This is where the problem is people don’t understand the specs for an XC course

As for using after would be good to leave as is and sign it well. If not the it will just get overgrown and unused.

Trouble is that even as is it’s very short, there’ll be a raft of ‘wtf I travelled to ride the Olympic course on my 6″ skills compensator and it took 20 minutes’ posts!

6″ skills compensator

Speak for yourself

There will though, naive to think otherwise, it’s the ‘default’ bike these days, not a bad thing in the least, but it’s not what the course has been designed for.

dasnut, if you want to watch dh videos feel free, for me they are boring, yes there is skill but there is no sense of competition, watching a clock ticking doesn’t do anything for me. Did you watch the BMX worlds? skill, crashes and fairly obvious who is winning, much more interesting.

as it seems we are going to have to do this again, the Olympics are the london olympics, the course is in the UK and has to be usable in all weathers, spectators, trucks, etc all have to be able to get to the venue and not get bogged down to their axles. It is a race so overtaking might be helpful, if it was single track for the whole course it would be crap for spectators.

The olympic xc course is utter shite. All the awesome biking terrain the uk has, and they go and custom build something in a field.

That’s funny cos all the riders I’ve heard talk about it and seen interviewed really like it.
So I conclude that either you’ve raced/ridden on the course but no-one has interviewed you yet or you haven’t got the faintest clue what you’re on about and are talking shite…

Oh and what njee20 said +1

As for all the comments about dh racing being dull and unwatchable videos because of the warner, you lot really are taking getting old hard aren’t you?

I watched the DH world cup yesterday. It was good up until about the fourth rider, then I just found it repetetive and fairly boring.

It doesnt really work on TV since its not a race, its a Time Trial. If you want excitement then you need head to head racing hence why 4x or xc or road cycling is more watchable.

Although the commentators for these events wont get the middle aged men frothing at the mouth “OMG, did you just hear Warners comment about Danny Harts balls?!?! Funniest thing Ive ever heard, what a legend!!!”

I think what we have here is a split between the “cyclists” and the “folk what ride bikes”. The former seem to define themselves by everything to do with their hobby. They know all the characters, can quote bike geometries and tyre compounds, have various bike-part based tattoos and think that a cartoon about a sheep is the high water mark of 20th century culture. Watching cycling in their non-riding time would be the logical thing for them to do.

I just happen to ride bike sometimes – probably further than 90% of “cyclists” though.

Put your willy away Druid…

I am not sure I have anything else to add other than yesterday’s Val di Sole viewing was ace. Watching a rider you want to do well is very exciting, Sam Hill, Gee, Rachel and Danny Hart yesterday for example. And then to see them blown out the water by the final rider. Really enjoyed it.

I can get sucked in to darts or curling though

I think what we have here is a split between the “cyclists” and the “folk what ride bikes”.

True, and nothing wrong with either in my book, it’s the same with many past times, although would have to say their is a fair amount of irony that you are posting this on a bike forum, a place that you seem to hang out in a fair amount for someone that just rides a bike! 😉

I like watching cycling on TV no matter what type it is, sometimes it’s good to watch sometimes not, but what I don’t get is why people feel the need to tell others it’s boring? I find football immensely boring and frustrating to watch and can’t understand why anyone would want to watch it but wouldn’t go on a football forum and post how dull it is, as it’s just my feelings.

As for the Olympic course, a rather done to death topic, I do side a bit with those who feel that it was a waste to build a new track, but then they built a new shooting range for the olympics, because the world class venue (not sure the name, sorry) was just a tiny, tiny bit far out and they wanted it to be as close to london as possible to promote the sport…Shooting not something that needs to be encouraged in london, maybe!?! 😉

But as for it’s technical content, I think as an XCO track it looks good, a bit man made but then a lot of terrain “we” ride these days is and don’t have a massive problem with that. And in response to the it looks easy comments, 1, riding technical terrain after sprinting up the hill at full gas is very different to riding up the hill at a reasonable pace, stopping at the top to fiddle with saddle height and gloves e.c.t and then setting off. 2, xc race courses are not always the most fun to ride but conversely the best courses to ride don’t always make great race courses. I remember years ago doing a race that was 90% single track and had some great technical elements, it was fun on the practice lap, in the race it was RUBBISH. You were constantly held up and then could never get enough speed to ride the technical sections and then when it started to rain it just got worse.

And in terms of comparing it to the commonwealth xc track xco have moved on a lot since then in terms of course design. Yes it’s maybe not the most interesting thing to ride on a 140mm free ride bike but then I hardly think Glentress really warrants a bike like that for most of the time and no one seems to have an issue there. Plus if you live around the olympic xc course area, by the looks of it what are you doing with a bike like that! 🙂

In short it’s a specific track built for a specific purpose, maybe not the best use of public money but then neither is the stupid opening ceremony, at least there will be something left after the olympic mtb race more than ticker tape and left over fireworks.

as it’s just my feelings

You’re being far too reasonable there cows.

**** it, it’s not worth saying.

Live and let live.

Ski Sunday has been a massive part of the BBC schedule for about 30years. It’s not a race but a time trial but the BBC must get a lot of viewers otherwise why bother. So apart from the camera numbers issue how different is it from DH?

Any sport can be popular and have a following if it’s in the media and promoted.

I think mrmo just likes to argue, bless him.

Oh and its not slow with the right course. You didn’t watch round 1 did you. Courses in the 90’s were fast uand looked great on eurosport.

Ski Sunday has been a massive part of the BBC schedule for about 30years. It’s not a race but a time trial but the BBC must get a lot of viewers otherwise why bother. So apart from the camera numbers issue how different is it from DH?

DH Skiing is *way* faster than DH Mtbing and much more fun to watch on television.

Remember kiddies, if it’s any sort of “time trial” it’s not a real race.

druidh – Member
Remember kiddies, if it’s any sort of “time trial” it’s not a real race.

What?!!?! 😕
Like the race of truth?

Why more fun? Please explain….

Depends what your looking for I guess. To me DH skiing gets pretty boring after a couple of runs. To my untrained eye the lines that they take are all pretty much the same and the differences in times are pretty small.

With DH biking you can instantly see the differences in lines and riding styles which is what I really enjoy about it.

I think the main thing is, if you don’t like watching cycling on TV, be that xc, road, track, DH, 4X, XCE or all of the aforementioned don’t watch it! It’s really quite simple! Then there’s no need to moan?!? I do the same with football, I don’t watch it so it doesn’t effect me…although cycling is easier to escape than football.