I am watching the UCI woman’s xc at Fort William and am wondering how hard it is as they have 5 laps at 8km to do which is apparently 3km up and 5km down.
I am probably showing my lack of XC knowledge and am not criticizing it but how hard can it be on a bike that weighs very little over a distance that to me is not that great.

I am probably showing my lack of XC knowledge

Yes, you are.

Bike weight is largely irrelevant, they're riding everything absolutely flat out. XC racing is very hard indeed.

I am probably showing my lack of XC knowledge and am not criticizing it but how hard can it be on a bike that weighs very little over a distance that to me is not that great.

ok you go out and ride 40k at probably between 25/30 kph.

unless your winning nps in elite with ease you wouldnt even get a lookin at WC level – and thats just with the women 😉

8km to do which is apparently 3km up and 5km down.

Which means steeper climbs, and more pedally descents.

You could say the same about what Chris Hoy does. Very small distance. Inside, so its nice and warm, and no headwinds or anything to worry about. Nice, light, super stiff bike. How hard can it be?

this must be a troll

Proper XC requires the fitness of a road rider and the training that entails plus the bike handling skills to ride fast through the terrain.

I just poodle and eat sandwiches for both of those reasons.

phil

these are trolls

leggyblonde – i dont ride XC and was not aware of the time they finish the lap in so sorry for looking like a troll to you but i was just wondering.

Usain Bolt – lazy fella only runs 100m! I'd run further than that to catch a bus…

Doesn't mean what he does is easy!

Pretty good troll IMO

I recon it's easy too.

All you need is to be "good" to start with then "ride a bit". Easy.

Haha. Enter an NPS and see how well you do.

You are right. Riding 40km on a bike which weights very little, or indeed one that weights a lot is not that difficult. Even add in the tough terrain and the hills, it's not that tough. After all, you can get off and walk when the going gets too tough. I suppose you can stop half way round and have a rest if you get tired as there are plenty of hours daylight to complete 40km.

You may have failed to factor in the pace in your calculations.

rainbow striped trolls? must be easy if a plastic toy can win a world champs!

sorry if it's not a troll Warrenpfo, but it certainly wasn't a well thought out question.

You can find out for yourself….

Go to Dalby
park at Adderstone Field ( Dixons Hollow ) rather than the visitor center.

Ride the course from this years UCI XC held there as fast as you can and compare your time to the results page …

Best way to see how hard it is would probably be to plan out a similar length and terrain course for yourself, then time yourself doing the full race distance over it, compare that to the finishing times for UCI competitors and see where you would have approximately placed, if it's inside the top half, start training/racing ASAP…

Best way to see how hard it is would probably be to plan out a similar length and terrain course for yourself, then time yourself doing the full race distance over it, compare that to the finishing times for UCI competitors and see where you would have approximately placed, if it's inside the top half 99%, start training/racing ASAP

That's more like it, not coming last in a World Cup is a damn good effort!

At UCI Level even some Elite riders get lapped 4 or 5 times by the lead riders..

Do you mean UCI or World cup? NPS races are UCI this year (ie they give out UCI points).

No one gets lapped more than once in NPS races and I don't think people get lapped at all in World cups. The reason people finish at -1, -2, -3 laps etc is that they get pulled before the leaders catch them so that they don't get in the way. To be honest you have very little chance of finishing if you start 200th in a world cup. You'll probably be 1/4 to 1/2 a lap down straight away due to having to wait to get into singletrack sections and since everyone is really fit and riding very quick it is really hard to move up.