I figure that if every-one on Singletrackworld lobbies Essex County Council – it might put enough pressure on them to realise that dis-mantling the technical sections of the Hadleigh Farm trail would be a short-sighted mistake.

Read ‘Don’t Mess up Hadleigh’s Olympic Bike Track’ online. It’s in the local newspaper ‘Echo’ and you can add your comments or cut and paste mine:

The Hadleigh Farm course is the only place in south-east England where bikers can experience a taste of riding over rocky terrain.

There are numerous purpose-built, public mountain bike trails in northern and western Britain with technical sections that are considerably longer and more intimidating than anything on the Olympic circuit and they are massively popular. It’s important to realise that the current course is not suitable just for an ‘elite few’ but for a huge number of mountain bikers with a bit of experience and riding it will hone the skills of many more.

Please ECC, don’t dis-mantle any of the hallowed trail – simply add easier alternatives where people can learn to ride in safety. In time many of them will want to tackle the famous Olympic course.

Please also email Essex County Council with your thoughts or copy and paste mine. contact@essex.gov.uk

Do this now – together we can make this happen!

Read ‘Don’t Mess up Hadleigh’s Olympic Bike Track’ online. It’s in the local newspaper ‘Echo’ and you can add your comments or cut and paste mine:

Would a link have been so hard?

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/9872180.Don___t_mess_up_Hadleigh___s_Olympic_bike_track/

Are people really that interested in going to ride a 4.5km course?

They’ve not even confirmed what they’re going to do, why get so up in arms about it. More/easier ‘b’ lines seems fine to me.

I suppose if you live local it’s a useful addition to a loop.

Are people really that interested in going to ride a 4.5km course?

If you want to race then yes

It would be great to actually ride the real Olympic course, not a sanitised version of it.

Great idea.

i love the comments in the local rag

John T Pharro says…
4:22pm Thu 16 Aug 12
Are these mountain cyclist seriously suggesting they are good enough to,tackle this course. The British male cyclist broke his ankle in the race.

this is the best one though…

The King of Southend says…
2:58pm Wed 15 Aug 12
I think the course should be made more difficult by adding water jumps filled with sharks and crocodiles.

😆 see, that’s why he became the king – splendid

I’ve written to Simon Mayo and asked if he could use his powers to get a ladder drop, a road gap and a double see-saw incorporated.

I think the course should be made more difficult by adding water jumps filled with sharks and crocodiles.

Now there’s an idea 🙂

The only thing I would want is soft stuff at the sides so you can bail out if your going to crash!

Trimix – Member

It would be great to actually ride the real Olympic course, not a sanitised version of it.

Great idea.

+1. Sure, add chicken runs, info signs, disclaimers, etc, but keep the original course as the main attraction.

Supporting comment posted on Echo article!

Paul

Not too hopeful given ECCs attitude to mountain bikers in the past (who else remembers treasure island? 🙁 ), however I’ve posted a supportive comment on there anyhow.

I wrote “More challenging trails and features are what we need to raise the standard of UK XC riding. We want UK riders to win medals in this event in a future Olympics. Don’t sanitise our trails!”

please dont give the echo any encouragement its the worst of t he worst local rags and this is a classic example – local mtb’er hears through the grapevine all the hard stuff on the course is gonig to be dismantled and goes running to the echo complaining about it – echo print article without speaking to anyone at all!

The only way the course will be kept at all is if it get s a lot of use by a lot of people, ultimately it has tobecome self funding. At no time has anoyone said the hard stuff is going to be dismantled the only thing that has been said is that the course has to be made so that it can be ridden by riders of all abilities, which if it doesnt means it wont last long, but as its main purpose is as a XC race course it still has to meet that criteria, or no one will want to race there…

The most probable outcome will be that the there are suitable chicken runs for the those that dont fancy the main routes, and they themselves will be able to be fenced off as and when necessary.

There is a youth event there early october this will prob show what the course will be like in the future.

And tbh even though Im supposed to be racing there next year after standing over the drop in to this:

Ill be taking the chicken route thank you…

^
that’s like dropping off a curb if on a 29er . . . 😀

see that’s ^^^ how bad UK XC is. Fontana was doing a back flip off that with no seatpost.

youll be surprised how many people seem to think its an easy drop in and roll down, until they stand at the top of it, esp when they hold their bike over the main rock and their chainring gets caught on it!

I’m quite impressed these feather light carbon XC machines can take that kind of drop….

youll be surprised how many people seem to think its an easy drop in and roll down, until they stand at the top of it, esp when they hold their bike over the main rock and their chainring gets caught on it!

If you’re riding slow and uncommitted enough on any drop to catch your chainring, crashing is indeed inevitable.

Personally, having not stood at the top of that, I can safely say I’d 360 degree-forward-flip-tailwhip it.
🙂

so put a chicken run in. Don’t remove the challenge

Ill be taking the chicken route thank you…

Grow a pair, lower your post and lift off the lip

Oh yes I didn’t realise you could stop in the middle of a race and faff with your bike.

GB

Can’t say I agree with the general sentiment here.

Olympic venues are about legacy, the most important aspect of that is to get new people into the sport. Keeping highly technical sections makes it more challenging to newcomers and, in many cases, will scare people off. Chicken runs are fine but they still leave the door open to people getting it seriously wrong if over confident. Woudl the Council and Salvation Army still be interested in maintaining the venue if the increased risk of injury remained?

Oh yes I didn’t realise you could stop in the middle of a race and faff with your bike.

may i suggest . . . you need one of those new fangled upsydownsy droppy thingies 😀

chicken run for me please – thankyou!

🙂

franksinatra – Member

Can’t say I agree with the general sentiment here.

Olympic venues are about legacy, the most important aspect of that is to get new people into the sport. Keeping highly technical sections makes it more challenging to newcomers and, in many cases, will scare people off. Chicken runs are fine but they still leave the door open to people getting it seriously wrong if over confident. Woudl the Council and Salvation Army still be interested in maintaining the venue if the increased risk of injury remained?

I see what you’re saying but you can ride around miles and miles of non-technical trails, and some mild hills even in Essex. What we are lacking are steep courses with rocky technical features.
There is simply nowhere offering that in the local vicinity. How can anybody go from beginner to intermediate/advanced level with no facilities nearby?

With the addition of chicken runs, this site could offer something from everyone from complete beginners right up to elite level riders.

I see what you’re saying but you can ride around miles and miles of non-technical trails, and some mild hills even in Essex. What we are lacking are steep courses with rocky technical features.
There is simply nowhere offering that in the local vicinity. How can anybody go from beginner to intermediate/advanced level with no facilities nearby?

Good point but you’ve got to look at HOW the venue is going to be used. Is it going to be something like Glentress where anyone can turn up at any time or is all the technical stuff going to be available for coached sessions and races only? If the former, there WILL be serious injuries. That drop in the photo above HAS to be fully committed to and you need to at least pop the front wheel. Obviously all the STW riding gods could manage it no-handed I’m sure but the bottom line is it’s advanced riding skills that not everyone will possess. On the other hand, if it’s a structured coaching session or racing then yes, it’d be great to have that line available.

My personal thought on it is that the best option is to build in some less technical options suitable for the vast majority and put some barriers up around the major technical sections which can be removed for racing.

Haha yes ok – maybe dropper posts for elite xc in a few years… Not now though.

Good point but you’ve got to look at HOW the venue is going to be used. Is it going to be something like Glentress where anyone can turn up at any time or is all the technical stuff going to be available for coached sessions and races only? If the former, there WILL be serious injuries.

Are there loads of serious injuries at Glentress? I don’t understand why techy riding is OK for Scotland and Wales, but not for Essex.

I presume you’d also like crash mats on all the rocks just to make sure people don’t injure themselves?

no im not an olympic xc rider.

however i own an offroad bike and i would relish the opportunity to ride it round a lap or three of the olympic course.

i dont give two hoots if ‘that’ drop is bigger than it looks on the telly, i dont know if i will ride it or if i will take one look and ride round it. But if its not there, how will i ever get to know?

When is it open to the public, ive got a group ride in mid september and a couple of the guys already said, “why cant we do the olympic course”

I’m quite impressed these feather light carbon XC machines can take that kind of drop….

That says it all about people’s perception of carbon bikes – the carbon race bikes will generally take higher loading from normal riding than hardcore bikes from a few years ago. It’s just rock impact if you bin it they might have a problem with.

Are there loads of serious injuries at Glentress? I don’t understand why techy riding is OK for Scotland and Wales, but not for Essex.

The ambulance is up at GT all the time, they get multiple call-outs there on summer weekends. In fact the local hospital has complained about it a few times I believe. Ambulance crews have maps of GT to allow them to quickly find the sections.

And, much as this comment is going to cause a few laughs or expressions of disbelief, Hadleigh is more technical than GT and it’s also a different set-up. It’s designed to be a racecourse, something that has to be attacked at max speed. GT and other trail centres are designed for all.

I hope the “major stuff” stays, I really do – I just think people need a realistic expectation.

Sorry I’m a bit late to the party, but…

Has anyone actually spoken to anyone from Essex CC about this? I have. I spoke to the woman who will be in charge of the legacy for the event about what will happen to the course – and to the technical lines there.

First off, Essex has just gained planning permission to continue on with the venue and to expand the existing country park. This was no small feat due to the natural, archaeological, historical and environment aspects, so well done them!.

There are plans for a trail centre and also for other non-mountain biking aspects for the country park. For the mountain bike route, they are keen to keep as much of the original Olympic course intact and rideable by riding gods everywhere… However, they appreciate that not everyone can do the ‘committing launch – to drop – to wheels on the ground’ without adding the double front flip/hospital aspect…

They are proposing to add ‘C’ and even ‘D’ lines to the course, so that the original lines remain, but the C line will have, say a rocky step and D will just be a smooth gravel route around all the obstacles. I also heard talk (not from Essex CC I’d like to point out) that they might think to fill in some of the gaps between the rocks so that the rockiness would still be there, but the penalty for going off line, or falling into the holes between obstacles, would be less severe. These could then easily be hollowed out again when there’s a major event (a World Cup bid is likely I’d have thought…) and the course would be back, teeth and all.

They have contracted Phil Saxena to do the course building. He built UCI 4X courses for a living, so he knows about what real riders can do.

There are no firm timelines yet, but now that the Games are over, they can work out how this new course will work as a venue, and then they’ll have to grade it all, sign it, map it and so on – which is the bit that will probably take the time. Don’t expect a fully working trail centre to be there until 2014 I reckon. However, they’re keen to use the existing course to keep it ridden-in and fresh. This is likely going to take the form of smaller events, coaching and training.

As bigdawg alludes, anyone who has stood next to any of the A lines will now have a much greater respect for the skills of these XC riders. I’m not a terrible rider, but I wouldn’t do half of the sections without a lot of hesitation and would be taking the chicken line on the triple drop…

I hope that helps with some of the facts of the situation.

I have photos of Liam Killeen’s ankle breaking available for anyone who reckons it’s all already a bit too easy… 🙂

I have photos of Liam Killeen’s ankle breaking available

please

good to hear chipps, people can find stuff to break themselves on without help, I’m sure if there’s warning sign posts up at the start and some hazard symbols before the tech section as are on pretty much all trail centres already the land owners should be able to avoid thousands of legal claims due to rider inability/stupidity.

Filling in gaps doesn’t sound too bad, losing the technicality would be a backward step IMO. If I had an olympic course near me I’d definitely ride it occasionally

Don’t expect a fully working trail centre to be there until 2014 I reckon.

why does this kind of stuff take for ever?
2 years??? People will have forgotten all about it by then, the desire is now.
Why not get Charlie Dimmock in? Groundforce could do it in an afternoon.

Sounds good Chipps, ta for the post.