Crashes all part of mtb at the highest level? All part of it at the lowest level as well.

Some of those crashes were brutal..

Lots of damage to rims and bikes on a ‘ blue course’

Lovely shot of him ‘suggesting’ to Marmotte that he take a turn on the front. No subtle flick of the elbow there 🙂

The Commonwealth games course in Glasgow (2014) in Cathkin Braes is a legacy course now, which seems to attract a number of people. I feel like there’s quite a bit of potential in it. Though I am not sure if someone maintains it.

Been there today for the first time, seen quite few cyclists.

Yes. Then they set fire to it for added realism.

Chapeau to the GB rider for making it to the games but congrats for 17th ?

..and you were opining earlier about the best way to encourage the development of XC racing in the UK.

Chimp.

He’s 17th in the world today.

I dunno, I won’t take away from the athleticism and skill, or the level of competition but as a televised event that was properly shit. I enjoyed the handball more and I had no idea at all what was happening in that. Not helped by the commentary and editing to be fair.

Do want a go on the track though. Not on their bikes though, that’d not end well.

UCI should add it to the world cup calender. The current spread of races is pretty poor for a world series, even the new boys EWS get around more.

I guess it’s a matter of your personal perspective but i thought Grant rode amazingly well to come in less than 6 minutes behind Nino, 17th place out of such a field is bloody good going

He also said nino did a tail whip…

The commentary that bugged me was their inability to say Kul-har-ver correctly but the rest was par for the course

I thought it was televised pretty well and the course was very TV friendly but it was just very boring to watch. I guess the big gap in abilities made it quite predictable and there weren’t really any twists, turns or surprises compared to say the RR (which I thought was awesome)

Completely agree. Can’t fault the effort of a young guy getting a last minute entry and very little support. Came ahead of the likes of Gaze, Fontana and that dude who rides a bit of road. Similar kind of mark to Hermida and McConnell is no bad show.

@chap yes that’s my point entirely

BOC are pretty brutal about qualification so to make the event Chapeau as I said. If his entry is a building block to 2020 then thats good too especially as he’s young @footflaps points out.

Women’s race was good but mens got stretched early so there weren’t many left in it. Racers make the race.

I thought the Course was great, started to cut up today after the rain. The televising of it was great, the kit they put in to cover that course with drones, fixed points and moving cameras on tracks was a credit to the sport. Commentators were crap but that was bbc’s fault the pictures we got were pretty good. But I think this thread sums up why we don’t do xc. All that and a mountain bike forum goes ‘meh’.

Check out 1.43 on this youtube clip:

I enjoyed it. Despite a previous remark, they can bloody ride can’t they!?!

The average dude or dudette on here is pretty far removed from elite level XC, or DH or whatever. I’m ****ed if I’d want a 10kg race bike, or a pervert costume. Normal looking shorts, shoes and t-shirt are about perfect for the average rider. Unless you are a high end XCer and bloody fast, you look like a bell end in full on lycra. None of us are as good on a bike as these full time pro’s so it stands to reason that some will want a bit more travel as found in more versatile bikes.

True, but look even worse pretending I am a 14 year old skateboarder in baggies

Thought the commentary was pretty poor. Expected them to dumb down the commentary a bit given the broader audience, but they seemed to dumb down the commentators instead.

Pretty good race. Though Coloma’s finish line celebration was the highlight for me 🙂