Boardman has my respect for his road achievements but as a mountain bike commentator him and the other were pretty much pants.
The BBC should have got somebody who has raced xc to commentate. Nick craig , Tim Gould or David Baker come to mind, one of them must be presenter material.
Where do I complain?
if you didnt like watching the race you have buttons on your remote called ,mute and off, always the same these types of forums all experts, if you think you can do better, then we will all be
And if you don't like what's said in a forum don't log on 🙂
I like CB by the way but Helen bloody Skelton.... 😈
Wouldn't mind doing half-a-dozen laps of the course! Might take me 3 hours though 😉
Looks great as tailor-made track. Some of the lines looked solid trail centre black grade.
Nice to see great coverage on TV 🙂
Cheers
Paul
it,s not so much i dont like whats been said, its that these people actually believe themselves, i thought c boardman did an ok job,especially when you consider hes no mountain bike rider, but i would still rather listen to chris talk about mtbs than some of the so called stw elite, i dont see these people selling thousands of bikes each year, and also chris boardman is a hell of alot better at commentating than mark cavendish, at least you can understand chris.
Thought Boardman did an excellent job of being accessible for the non cycling viewers, yet at the same time factual enough to make it interesting for others. He clearly has respect for the mtbers, and his dry humour often makes me smirk.
Not sure what the complaints are all about, unless maybe the stw armchair experts are forgetting the target audience.
I enjoyed the race, the course looked great. It even looked like a had a samll gap jump. Not bad for an XC course.
Its a race course after all, it has to combine climbs, descents technical elements and overtaking areas in a short distance.
Missed the commentary as I was watching in abroad, and my Hungarian isn't good enough to know if the commentators grasped the myriad subleties of wheel sizes and chainring combinations.
Why are they making the course smoother after the event? Sure there's tons of lines just off route which could be chicken runs and leave the rocks? Are they leaving the course in place as is for a bit? Anybody know? I thought it looked a good, tough, xc course...
to answer the OP's headline question:
Because hes a phenomenally talented rider, who knows enough about bikes to be director of R+D for British Cycling for the last 9 years, part of a team that has delivered unprecedented success.
And as others have said if youd seen his TdeF contributions on ITV4 he has a bone dry sense of humour and isnt afraid to contradict a fellow commentator if he disagrees with him.
The only bit that annoyed me was them missing the seatpost break, but easier for me to see in the comfort of my sofa not trying to juggle 18 different tasks and watch multiple monitors etc.
As for the race, I thought the course was fantastic given its remit, to bring XC racing to spectators and a TV audience. A 30km loop with tree lined singletrack would have been a dead loss, the crowd and camera vantage points offered views of most of the action for minimal effort.
Hope Killeen makes a full recovery, sounded nasty.
Slightly OT but I thought the women's & men's times were remarkably close. Just 1 min 50 secs between them. Is that usual?
Didn't the men do 1 more lap?
Edit - men 34km / women 29km
I have read some of the guff being spouted on the race commentary thread and don't there are many who have the right to criticise Boardman. As said earlier he did a great job of commentating to the masses.
Men did 7 laps vs Women's 6.
Excuse my ignorance: why did the GB team only submit one entry each for the two MTB races?
Many other countries had multiple entries.
Excuse my ignorance: why did the GB team only submit one entry each for the two MTB races?
Because they're not high enough up in the UCI rankings to get multiple entries.
Only read first few posts before the enevitable(sp) bitching starting. Didnt Boardman win a load of records and medals? Also if we have to endure the two knobs form the x fighters then im off.
Ha Ha, that Boardman, what an idiot eh?? Imagine if he designed his own line of bikes and started advising British Cycling! Eh? Oh......
Why are they making the course smoother after the event? Sure there's tons of lines just off route which could be chicken runs and leave the rocks? Are they leaving the course in place as is for a bit? Anybody know? I thought it looked a good, tough, xc course...
Indeed.
Pragmatically though, if our country's best male xc rider can't get round without breaking bones I wouldn't want to be the person responsible for signing a risk assessment saying that the course was fine for joe public.
I quite like the idea mentioned by someone else that they retain the course, but added different loops that take in different parts of the course to suit different skills and fitness, so the people can ride the parts of the course best suited to their abilities.
I wouldn't want to be the person responsible for signing a risk assessment saying that the course was fine for joe public.
Full circle.
Get the guy who signed off the Fort William World Cup DH for public use to do it.
😀
😀 I'm just laughing at my double post now 😀
Standard pointless moaning thread. CB has done a lot for cycling in this country, average joe will know his name and I'd say his fairly well qualified to commentate on the XC events.
And what do you mean we? knarl-core-daaaarnhillers that frequent these boards?
I think commentating rather than being a pundit is special skill. I think Chris does no about MTB and did an OK job. Ed shows enthusiasm and helped out
I went yesterday and the course looked really tough in places. Way harder than anything I've ridden at Coed y Brenin. Perhaps more in line with Scottish trail centre black? On tv it all looks flat, when you are their it doesn't!
I think commentating rather than being a pundit is special skill. I think Chris does no about MTB and did an OK job. Ed shows enthusiasm and helped out
I went yesterday and the course looked really tough in places. Way harder than anything I've ridden at Coed y Brenin. Perhaps more in line with Scottish trail centre black? On tv it all looks flat, when you are their it doesn't!
Get the guy who signed off the Fort William World Cup DH for public use to do it.
Good point, you do need to sign a form before they will let you take a bike up on the gondola though
He's got to have been better than the Spanish muppet doing the commentary here: watching them ride over the rocks (hanging off the back of the bike) his comment "look how they've got their weight forward" was fairly indicative of his knowledge of the subject.
Still, Hermida's moustache more than made up for it.
Hermida's tache is awesome.
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Liam Killen crashed with a suspected broken ankleThats a real shame poor bloke
I thought it was a course your granny could ride according to this forum ?
I was 10 metres away. Wasn't a very spectacular wipeout. He seemed to clip the rocks at the end of the berm and then went down.
What really riled me was a French guy photographing his partner holding the French flag with Liam in the background, on the deck and in severe discomfort. Really sporting eh?? Typical!
And the course, lots of steep short climbs, pretty hairy rock sections. No easy run by any stretch! Of course, it must have looked quite tame on the telly.
There was a real sense of disappointments amongst the croud when our man was forced to drop out. I wish Liam a speedy recovery and good luck in Rio!!!
How can they dismantle the course claming that its too severe, when the general public have fort bill dh, Dalby, Dalbeattie, Laggan etc etc to ride. These are all sanctioned for use, all it takes is the standard trail
centre notice explaining that it's for experienced riders only, and follow the blue/green arrows dependant on experience, skill etc.
How can they dismantle the course claming that its too severe, when the general public have fort bill dh, Dalby, Dalbeattie, Laggan
because its in Essex, on the doorstep of huge population centres with quick access, and has just been seen by millions on TV where it has been made to look easy?
Some junior regional racing there on first weekend of October so chance to see some more racing. Wonder how many will go?
Some junior regional racing there on first weekend of October so chance to see some more racing. Wonder how many will go?
As usual no advertising at all - any idea of the dates Ill be there..!
Are you sure Hermida isn't a 70's porn star with a time machine
Was at the mens race on Sunday and wanted to share my thoughts.
The course can in no way be described as easy - those drops,jumps and rock gardens would challenge 95% of riders. I must admit when you see it on TV or in pictures it doesn't look too bad but in real life its a little different.
I am not saying you couldn't get down them with a bit of practice - I suspect i would have a go at all the sections but would need to get my head right before doing so.
Secondly these guys are superstars - the speed is incredible as is the relentless space.
I knew i would be amazed at just how good they are and i was.
DC
Some junior regional racing there on first weekend of October so chance to see some more racing. Wonder how many will go?
I will probably be racing in that (if the selection goes well for me) and not even us or anyone else I have asked knows definitely when it will be held. However, British cycling have announced it as on the 5th-7th October, but from the sounds of things this is still not a rock solid confirmed date.
With regards to people saying the course is easy, having seen it first hand (with the knowledge that I may well race on in) it can safely be said that they are talking bullsh*t!!
What darkcyan said +1