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er... it goes round in a loop, it looks alright - probably more technical than some courses. Fit for purpose, I reckon.
I think people who havn't ridden it will pan it becuase it a) looks a bit like a motorway before its bedded in, and b) there is no wikkid sick 1000ft drop to the death included.
mtb races on tv always looks lame - even the tougher DH courses.
A slight slope described as a 'daunting obstacle' ?? WTF??
certainly looks tame to me
I would have voted for HTN 2 hour course as a less expensive and more betterized alternative
I'm sure Terrahawk would have given his approval for half the budget that this course cost.
Thast said I'm not sure why XC is an olympic sport anyway. It seems a mile away from the pass time I enjoy
If you can hang while you hurtle down this drop, you deserve to be an olympic contender!
Well hell, where do I get my team kit?
Thast said I'm not sure why XC is an olympic sport anyway. It seems a mile away from the pass time I enjoy
That's because you don't race XC - you ride your bike.
It's a bit like someone who commutes on their road bike saying that the road race is nothing like what they do on a bike.
I could be a contender!
Given the flatness of the region I reckon they've done a good job, and its a new venue that will continue afterwards as a legacy. One of the big issues was the ability to televise the event, and this is extremely good on that basis due to the lack of trees.
It is just me or have they just shoved a load of hard core down on a field and got a big roller out to make it bowling green smooth?
Why couldnt they use natural terrain etc, or is it because there is a lack of it in the area?
Some lucky person got the opportunity to ride round it yesterday didnt they for STW... or was it today?
Still at least in the future it will make a nice track to push my granny round in her wheel chair.
Has the track been armoured or is that the natural sub soil ?
Looks promising.
Some pics [url= http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/london-2012-olympic-mountain-bike-course-first-impressions-29660 ]here[/url], let's wait and see what mboy thinks.
I would have voted for HTN 2 hour course as a less expensive and more betterized alternative
Except it's nowhere near London 🙄
Comments from people who've actually ridden it seem fairly positive...
Until the singletrack report is up there are a load of photos here;
Looks great to me but i'm not a Mail reading, everything-is-shit, why-am-I-paying-for-this miserable sod and I can grasp why the London olympics can't be held in Wales.
EDIT; OK, link posted by two other people while I wrote that!
Ill speaks to kenta and see how he thinks it rode but it looks pretty good,and techy in places.
Anyone can ride the sections once slowly when your not out of breath...but try it on the 6th lap after 1hr45 at 90percent of max heart rate on a 100mm hardtail with 2.1 tyres.
thats the difference between you and absalon
Bruce
Torminalis - Member
If you can hang while you hurtle down this drop, you deserve to be an olympic contender!
Well hell, where do I get my team kit?
I'll need a small size please,
do I have to provide my own bike, or do I get a team issue bike??
Nah, the STW-heroes could easily beat him down all the technical stuff, even on a rigid hardtail with road tyres.
Nah, the STW-heroes could easily beat him down all the technical stuff, even on a [s]rigid hardtail[/s]29er with road tyres
fixed that for ya clubber 😉
+1 for clubber. it surprises me that the olympic committee didn't consult with the stw massive prior to building this. obviously the folk on here would pee all over dobbers like absalon wiht the power of opinion alone
Living in the north I want to hate it because there's so much natural stuff up here that would be better... but Manchester didn't get the Olympics that London did, so looking at that report it doesn't look too bad at all.
Yeah we could all ride it piss easy, but on a race day i'm sure that the terrain isn't going to matter as much as the pace.
Real question is... why aren't DH and 4X Olympic events yet?
MMMMMM , not sure 😕 The pics make it look like a huge bmx track with a couple of rock gardens in although the wide openess of it will make it very tv/spectator friendly I suppose.
Hi-5 fellow Olympian contenders! FFS! *why why why why why* (yeah, London, I know...)
ohh to the power of words,niche and baggies ...ha
Except it's nowhere near London
is this course near london? I don't think I'd like to walk it.
Many of the sports featured in the olympics are nowhere near the host city
🙄
Name them then...
I'll give the two I know of:
Rowing (Eton/Windsor rowing lake, about 1hr drive from the main Olympic area)
Sailing (Weymouth and Portland, er not actually sure how long it takes)
EDIT: football events are dotted round the country too.
http://www.london2012.com/map.php
3 sports = many? Not in my book.
It's a field with a track in it. The whole Olympic thing bugs me anyway developing a small part of a country, which will in five years after the event need a further injection of cash to maintain the stadiums and wider facilities. It is unlikely to get any cash from central government and certainly not the local government and local community therefore they will be left to fall into disrepair and the cycle will continue, not very sustainable is it. Sure have the big main stadiums close together but why all of them in a village situation?. Yes it benefits the media and teams but to be honest i'm sure each element of a team will have their own individual managers and physios etc so shouldn't really matter. To me the olympics should be about show casing a country to the world not just a small run down bit of it. Why make a new course when Dalby is better, and already exists? or others like it. Have the shooting in some part of rural Cornwall, boost the tourism in that area. The kayak could be on a real river which could be adopted for the event. We have a fantastic and diverse country and it seems such a shame that the world are only able to see a small less impressive part of it. The money won't be spread evenly around the country regardless of teams staying in different locations, the hotel owners may benefit but i doubt that will pass on to the local communities.
Just my 2pence worth. (and no am not spending a small fortune to get to the olympics, Trains, hotels, hyped up food prices, silly priced entry into the events) count me out unless I get a freebie lol
With all the talk about Legacy for the venues after the games are over it doesn't look like something I'd drive miles to ride. Perhaps the images are deceptive and it's more interesting than it looks. However judging by what i've seen and read here and on other pages it'll a make for fast times if uninteresting telly, and b; it'll be easy to remove with a grader a week after the games close. Shame really.
Dalby was far better but too far from 'Laundin' for the sponsors to be interested in.
A bit of a missed opportunity.
previous cities 🙂
There appear to be more citys in the world that have hosted the olympic thasn that there famous london
Living in the north I want to hate it because there's so much natural stuff up here that would be better... but Manchester didn't get the Olympics that London did, so looking at that report it doesn't look too bad at all.
obviously the farce around the bridleways at Rivington passed you by in the build up to the Commonwealth Games
ever wondered why the course didn't go up to the top of the hill? ask the horseriders..
Shh... don't tell anyone 😉
I didn't think that was the case though - off to do a TJ wiki check...
Nah, the STW-heroes could easily beat him down all the technical stuff, even on a rigid hardtail29er with road tyresfixed that for ya clubber
ermm a 29er would make it easier, surely the STW massive want to show how gnarr they are in which case something like an azonic with 10" of travel and a fat boy with full body armor would be more appropriate for beating these wussy xc jeycore types 😀
Is the lord being serious when he looks at that view and says that he can't think of a better backdrop for the event...?
A decent XC course should have some wide bits in a few places around to allow overtaking - a 100% singletrack one can be a procession. Technical bits look pretty good from the bikeradar photos too.
would have voted for HTN 2 hour course
I know we lament the Essex course, but wasn't HTN intended to be ridden on CX bikes? Can't have been that technical?
but wasn't HTN intended to be ridden on CX bikes?
Anyone ridden any XC race courses in the UK that would prove tricky on a CX bike?
looks "OK"
However ( 😉 )
seems ludicrous to me that the olympics should have to centre on a specific city in the 1st place. If IOC was remotely interested in legacy/(re)generation etc they'd insist that sports were distributed far more widely and facilities built somewhere meaningful and guaranteed to be permanent after the event
Are the olympics anything to do with sport anymore or just a way to generate money
Looks great to me. A XC course that has to deliver on a set day - whatever the weather is like on the day itself or has been over the preceding weeks. Also has to be able to cope with a large field. I'm looking forward to it!
Its not set in stone that it will remain after the games, should look a whole lot better once all the other infastructure is in place around it.
Some people seem to be confusing being able to ride the course with being able to race it quickly, on an xc bike with a heart rate above 90% of max.
Not having huge extended hills will make it better to watch. If the course is too selective it will just be a procession after a couple of laps.
This is a one-off chance to have a world level race venue built in the south east, an area of the country lacking in top quality natural riding. It might not be worth diving hours to ride it, but its only an hour away from central london so it could provide a great local venue for a huge number of people.
Looks great to me. A XC course that has to deliver on a set day - whatever the weather is like on the day itself or has been over the preceding weeks
Agree with above. Looks miles better than some recent World Cup courses, e.g. Champery. They could keep it for racing after the Olympics if it's required. Dalby would have been good I guess but maybe it is too far away from the main event.
It'll serve the purpose it was built for I reckon.
I'm surprised more people on here don't like it, seems to be what many drive out at the weekends after posting on here to see what the conditions are, what tyres they'll need and if body armour is needed.
Yeah we could all ride it piss easy, but on a race day i'm sure that the terrain isn't going to matter as much as the pace.
Errr, no you couldn't. There's a couple of the sections involve significant drops if you take the hardest (and fastest) line. Not beyond many, but certainly well above average skill level required to ride the entire course. And then there's the rock garden climb, which you have zero momentum going into. It's an arse I can tell you!
It'll serve the purpose it was built for I reckon.
Precisely my thoughts having ridden it. It's pretty far from my favourite trail ever ridden, but then it's not designed to be nice in any way. It's designed for a purpose, to be a bit of a bugger when the riders are tired. You CAN NOT relax on this course, trust me, and I was going about 1/2 the pace (if I'm lucky) that the Olympic riders will ride it. Relax on it, and it'll have you off. The motorway wide sections in parts are mainly to make sure there's ample overtaking room, but they're not long and they go by quickly.