Olympic MTB track now open to public

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-32509850

During the past two-and-a-half years it has been adapted for use by the general public and has graded routes and a visitor centre.

Anyone know what they’ve actually done? Can you still ride the olympic course as it was?

Looked great when the olympics were on …..wonder how much it is ?

I rode it a year or two back as part of a coaching day. It’s as technical as anything I’ve ridden, scared me shitless in places (a lot of the features are both technically challenging but also mind messers – big rock gardens where you can’t see the line because they’re over a blind crest, for example)

My understanding then was that trails would be broadly kept, but additional lines added to some of the harder features (in addition to the A, B, C that are already there in some cases) and appropriate qualifiers put in place for the harder lines. And then the other stuff to make it a true 2012 legacy; visitor centre, pump tracks, family friendly green route, etc.

& the cost to ride it?

Don’t know. Cost me about £30 I think but that was as part of a coaching day.

[edit] quick google

http://www.ibikeride.com/england/1592-hadleigh-farm-mountain-bike-trail-centre

£2.30 for the car park, the way the article reads the trails are ‘free’ (I guess that’s what a legacy is…….)

Rode there last weekend as part of a (really good) coaching day with atb coaching that helped me get the most out of the visit.

Contrary to my expectations, most of the Big Features are either un-changed or have been modified in a sympathtic nature with easier B lines or pointless, off-line, dangerous rocks removed but the A lines with a few exceptions are the same technically challenging obstacles from the races.

It is a great day out to push technical limits but I wouldn’t necessarily ride there for Fun (although some of the additions to the course are actually very good such as the alternative line to the Rock Garden and the Dual course) as the nature of the track is brutal, as an Olympic track should be.

The new Cafe was still finding its feet but the staff couldn’t be faulted for friendliness and service.

Sounds grand, I was really skeptical!

Looking forward to riding it again (did one of the guided/coaching days after the Olympics).

If the A lines are pretty much intact then the local ambulance service is going to be pretty busy, based on how many call outs they had on those guided days!

Whats it like for the family? I’m thining of a recce on Monday (I have a race there on the 10th) and taking the kids – is there enough for them to do for a couple of hours?

Keep the family to the blue route and it’ll be fine. There is a playground and pumptrack too.

The red is pretty tricky (for red) in places and the black downright scary at times. You can’t see the trail/whats coming up at times too but it really is a good idea to check what your about to go down. Annoying as it really interrupts the flow of the ride.

The linking trail is wiiide and hardpack with loose tones on, like an NCN trail, so fast but then slow right down for the techy parts and then back off racing along the cycle path again which is all a bit odd.

Nice location, facilities will be great and good for a training type of ride. Not somewhere I’d keep going for a fun days riding though.

Pay for parking and ride for free.

There are some great sections on there. Its well worth a visit. Good for sessioning bits as theres not a great deal of climbing. But, as mentioned some of the black features are actual black and worth checking out before riding. im still struggling with my shoulder after hitting the deck on the bottom of triple trouble A line. If in doubt speak to one of the locals/club riders. They will gladly show people around or give adice on lines to take, as often the eaiest looking lines arent. Also the hardpack is still bedding in so is very loose atm.
Its about a 4km loop but you have the choice of minimum 2 lines.

Thanks chaps. sound like Kryton junior can ride the Blue with me and I’ll have a bash at the rest whilst they go for a walk with Mrs Kryton.

Should be more details here[/url] when the website’s finished.

Interesting youtube video here. Bit old so not sure what of the amendments in here have actually happened, but gives an idea.

I also read elsewhere that in some places the trails are left as they are, but some of the big, pointy feature rocks that make it look scary but aren’t actually on the trail have been removed to give you a better chance of a soft landing if/when it all goes bad.

Lots of pics here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.793241690752324.1073741852.109472799129220&type=1

I live nearby and have ridden it a few times. Last time I was kicked out by the ranger (bit bizarre given my mate and I had parked in front of his hut with bikes on roof and I had asked him for change for parking meter with all my cycling garb on) It was meant to open in Mid-April but that was only the cafe. The course itself is a bizarre – no flow, lots of loose surface, some nasty black features (mate of mine knocked himself unconscious last week over there) interspersed with nothingness. I’ve waiting 3 years for this. Really. Disappointed. Better to ride in Danbury woods.

I raced the 5th round of the British xc nationals 2 years ago and it was tough! It was exactly the same as the Olympics then so can’t comment on the changes but the Olympic course over 3 laps saw me do 16 miles and over 3,500ft of climbing.. So it’s not flat and even the climbs had rock gardens in!

Great, looks like car park closes at 8 but does anyone know if the trails will still be accessible after that? Will be trying an evening visit out of London…

Decent video that
Looks weird without millions of people there!

Captain you can ride there anytime

It was free tonight about four other riders ,done most of it except leap of faith,you can ride round things that are steep ,the rocky sections to state the obvious if you get it wrong , no mercy

I rode it as part of those “coached” sessions. Did all the A lines but still came away feeling dissatisfied. There’s no flow. Dull fast track – feature – dull fast track etc etc. Box ticked but that was all.

I’m certainly not in any hurry to go back.

We (me and the two mates I went down with) were stunned at how poor the coaching was from the massively risk averse John from atb coaching.

The course itself is a bizarre – no flow, lots of loose surface, some nasty black features (mate of mine knocked himself unconscious last week over there) interspersed with nothingness. I’ve waiting 3 years for this. Really. Disappointed. Better to ride in Danbury woods.

It’s a race course. One might have expected they’d make it a bit more trail centre like, but that’s how race courses are.

done most of it except leap of faith

I thought that was one of the easiest a-lines! Along with oak tree drop and monument!

Onzadog – Member

We (me and the two mates I went down with) were stunned at how poor the coaching was from the massively risk averse John from atb coaching.

I went on a few ‘Guided Rides’ around Hadleigh and with the help of John I went from riding none of the A-lines to riding all of them,

I was stunned by the amount of Bell-Ends that over estimated their ability and ended up hurting themselves. That would perhaps explain his risk aversion.

I can just see the leader in the Olympic men’s race stopping after a lap and going off complaining about the ‘lack of flow’.

Looks like a CX track 😆

Looks like a CX track

Are we doing this again?! How quick was your lap on your cross bike?

Eh ?

We (me and the two mates I went down with) were stunned at how poor the coaching was from the massively risk averse John from atb coaching.

Lulz, I don’t know the guy at all but to me this says more about the riders he was coaching than him. You’re probably not quite as rad as you think you are.

It’s a race course. One might have expected they’d make it a bit more trail centre like, but that’s how race courses are.

^This^ It’s designed for a purpose, that purpose wasn’t to create moar grinz™.

So what are the technical features like in comparison to another technical XC course. Say compared to this years Newnham Park course?

Monkeyfudger, nice shot in the dark there and you only missed by a few hundred miles. Just so happens that we all come from a coaching background (one guy has a degree in sports psychology). We didn’t go for the coaching per se. We just wanted to see the course for ourselves. So, my level of rad, as you so kindly put it, was just fine for riding all of that as it stands. I’m not saying I don’t need coaching, everyone can learn something. In fact, we did learn an awful lot that day by standing back and watching what was happening.

Telling people how many they think will crash, break bikes and go to hospital before anyone has turned a crank says nothing at all about the riders. Set people up like that and you create a self fulfilling prophecy. He also failed to mitigate the risks he’d highlighted.

But, the op was asking about riding, not the coaching. I still think, as it was designed as a race course, it didn’t ride well as a trail. However, I don’t know what changes they’ve made since.

There is a round next Sunday think msg could be interesting.

gazhurst – Member
So what are the technical features like in comparison to another technical XC course. Say compared to this years Newnham Park course?

I’d say that it’s easier to ride than Newnham (now anyway, the full Olympic course was probably trickier), but more dangerous and lots of potential for injury.

The Mud Sweat and Gears round should be good, but they won’t use the full course (with good reason, the sketchiness of some people plus macho attitudes would make for carnage if the full course was used, as was found out at the National round in 2013).
From the sounds of it they’ll be using everything except the rock garden (they said there’ll be an easier variation of it – probably just a little section of it), and the last climb and chute into the arena.

Padkinson was about right. But Hadleigh at race pace – ouch! The course build was cunning in that a 15-18 minute lap only contained about 2 mins of downhill, it really was a climbers course today. Survival rather than bravado or blowing up early was the way to go for me, but its a really tough place to ride at race pace even without the big technical stuff.

With the sun beating down and the “bowl” shape of the natural park stopping the wind there were several stomach turning moments of effort I must say!

Lulz, I don’t know the guy at all but to me this says more about the riders he was coaching than him. You’re probably not quite as rad as you think you are.

Er…

Well I thought the course was fantastic. Yes there was a lot of climbing but I don’t think any of it was mega steep (maybe the grassy bit that went back to the feedzone).

The technical sections were arranged perfectly for the wide range of abilities I thought. Taking the first bit out of Deanes Drop worked brilliantly, as did bypassing Triple Trouble and the Gap Jump on the first lap.

For me, the hardest part of the whole course was the off camber section at the exit of the B line at Triple Trouble. It was really hard to stop the bike from sliding down into the nettles. I feel for the guy in the first race of the day that ended up laying in the nettles for a good couple of minutes 🙂

All-On-Black – Member
I raced the 5th round of the British xc nationals 2 years ago and it was tough! It was exactly the same as the Olympics then so can’t comment on the changes but the Olympic course over 3 laps saw me do 16 miles and over 3,500ft of climbing.. So it’s not flat and even the climbs had rock gardens in!

Did you get lost? The lap course is only 4.5km long and ~120m of climbing.

looks pretty worse than the commonwealth course at cathkin. The man made technical stuff looks not bad but riding on cycle paths up hill isn’t that much fun.

It was exactly the same as the Olympics then so can’t comment on the changes but the Olympic course over 3 laps saw me do 16 miles and over 3,500ft of climbing.. So it’s not flat and even the climbs had rock gardens in!

Top work by the trailbuilders that they’ve built the equivalent of Innerleithen Red within the flattest county in the country.

FWIW Inners Red is just under 12 miles and about 1900 ft 🙂

b r – Member
Top work by the trailbuilders that they’ve built the equivalent of Innerleithen Red within the flattest county in the country.

FWIW Inners Red is just under 12 miles and about 1900 ft

Actually that’s not far off. 4 laps of the track = 12 miles & 1600 ft.