MTB XCO World Championship Course Preview And How To Watch

The mountain bike action continues this week with the Cross Country element of the World Championships. Here’s your quick guide to following the actio …

By stwhannah

Get the full story here:

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/mtb-xco-world-championship-course-preview-and-how-to-watch/

Thanks for the information Hannah.

Even watching that video lap above, where they were not really blowing or trying too hard is immense.

Such speed and control.

After watching the men’s road race on Sunday, I hope MVP can recover well and take to Pidcock and Nino etc.

The climbing seems crazy. Some kind of Mobius loop where it’s forever uphill?

I think it’s on GCN+ too. Not a huge fan of GCN but if the DH coverage was anything to go by the commentary will be far better than the beeb’s effort. Either way, can’t wait to see the race as the course looks superb.

Meh. Looks too tame. I’m sure I saw @Brucewee go round there faster on his gravel bike 😉

But, my opinion is that this track looks pretty interesting.  Some sections could be particularly interesting if it rains.  It looks less like it’s designed to to stick together in the wet than some other WC tracks and some sections could change lap by lap.

The course in it’s finished state looks quite a bit different to that video.
If you think any old Roady could turn up and ride it you’re mistaken.

A mate of mine was doing a course preview for one of the mags and knocked herself out on one of the jumps. She’s a pretty handy rider too.
Some of the features look pretty intimidating when not viewed from a screen…

Bloody hell, that course looks hellish. When I see XC racers out of the saddle and grunting up climbs like that is when I realise (like watching DHers) they’re doing a different thing to me bimbling around the countryside.

Back on topic I’m not really a fan of the XC but having seen the course up close have a new found respect for everyone racing .
It looks absolutely brilliant.

<p>I’m hoping that they leave it all open to the public after the event and don’t shut many of the features on the grounds of health and safety.</p>

I’m hoping that they leave it all open to the public after the event and don’t shut many of the features on the grounds of health and safety

I’m sure I read that once the race is done, they will be shutting it down and removing a lot of the features as they aren’t suitable…I now can’t find where I read that so I may have dreamt it.

There’s some photos of on Instagram of the XCO riders doing a gap jump in practice. I bet most punters wouldn’t do in on there 160+ travel enduro rig and full facer let alone on an XC bike in lycra! I remember that when enduro arrived the big thing was more relatable to average riders. I’d say XCO is actually now closer in technicality.

is the qualifying on live anywhere at the moment???

 

I remember that when enduro arrived the big thing was more relatable to average riders. I’d say XCO is actually now closer in technicality.

Indeed. XC of old (like 90’s old) often was more akin to what you’d think of as gravel terrain now – and I guess as the bikes were not a million miles off a gravel bike that kind of makes sense. Still brutally lung busting but not an inspiring watch.

This is a whole different level though. My only hope is that the it makes good multi rider action too. For me I struggle to get too excited about the time trial nature of DH. I used to really like the 4x concept and road racing only really comes alive when it’s multi player action. XC sometimes feels a bit too much of a precession with an ever expanding elastic band of increasing gaps to get that aspect properly exciting.

I remember that when enduro arrived the big thing was more relatable to average riders. I’d say XCO is actually now closer in technicality.

aboslutely.

ignore the speed, steepness and absolute difficulty – that’s relative to the rider so of course world level pros will be a different level.

but the basic idea of riding up and down and across on technical features and trails both man-made and “natural” is pretty much standard MTBing to me . Not that I’d turn down an uplift day or a play about sessioning a feature, but they are optional extras.

Disappointing that there is no legacy for this track in the current layout. Have the organisers accepted that we’re not able to ever host a UK XC World Cup?

 

The course in it’s finished state looks quite a bit different to that video.

Is there a video of the finished course anywhere?

Disappointing that there is no legacy for this track in the current layout. Have the organisers accepted that we’re not able to ever host a UK XC World Cup?

In the past I’ve said ‘unlikely’ due to Fort William being a mainstay of the DH circuit and the unlikelyhood of them having a geographically separate XC round in the UK either on the same weekend or a different one.

However now Ft Bill is apparently getting the heave-ho; it could open the door for a tweed valley area XC (or elsewhere). Especially with the UK able to offer early or late season viability which the Euro mountain resorts cannot.

The Worlds start line area is on the site of the replacement skills area, so wouldn’t be available for any future events either.

After reading about the “no legacy” then watching the videos, while this exact configuration will be hard to ride, most of the trails will surely still exist in some form, minus a small handful of “features”. So creating this course again may not be so impossible. Though depending on what rumours you believe, ESO wanted the XC in Innerleithen originally so perhaps we might see them make that happen for a WC in future?

ignore the speed, steepness and absolute difficulty – that’s relative to the rider so of course world level pros will be a different level.

But according to Brucewee any old road pro could rock up and be competitive in XC. 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, I know I couldn’t ride some of those features so kudos to anyone who can on those bikes while racing other riders at the same time.

I know I couldn’t ride some of those features

Couldn’t or wouldn’t?

Personally, I wouldn’t do many of them if I was on my own but if it was in a race weekend situation or it was a busy day with plenty people around then I have definitely done these size features before and would again.

Also, would it make a difference if the gaps weren’t there?

It’ll be interesting to see if they put ramps in the gaps for the practice but take them away for the race this time.

Couldn’t or wouldn’t?

A fair comment. I probably could ride those with a bit of practice and a dose of MTFU but it would be marginal, and I’d almost certainly need a bigger bike. Although the bigger features will be designed to be ridden at pro racing speeds so that’s where I or any other punter would struggle.

The first long climb is absolutely brutally steep. If there’s the slightest bit of moisture, it’ll be near impossible to get up cleanly

live coverage here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001plz7/cycling-world-championships-2023-day-7-crosscountry-mountain-bike

Coverage seems pretty good so far!

Good to see it on the tv – coverage does look very good with loads of camera; course looks good; but…it isn’t looking too exciting yet (sorry, aware this sounds like me being negative). All great seeing individual riders but it would be great if the last lap had them all together and they were fighting for places.
Still early yet but hopefully it’ll get more exciting soon enough, just now it is good it is on, but there isn’t enough to really get you glued to the screen.

Coverage seems pretty good so far!

Hmmm. Seems like there’s a lot of camera angles obscured by trees and those aerial shots from the drone are pointless as you can’t even see who the riders are. Hopefully it’ll be better come Saturday.

Nino getting fired up and happy. Bodes well for him!

Tracy Moseley up this afternoon in the E-MTB – be great to see her get a result, she never stops grafting.

Who went last for GB? My boss phoned and I missed the last of the relay legs!?

Reminds me of watching xc skiing – if you’re into the sport then you get it but otherwise might be a touch hard to enjoy..

Anyway Nino looking STRONG..

this afternoon in the E-MTB

This is the first time I appreciated this is a thing…….what!!! How the…..can’t work this out….splutters, So many questions!

Assuming they all have motors with the same specifications (torque, modes, battery capacity) should the result be different to the vanilla XC? Do they have speed limits on the motor assistance like legit consumer E-bikes?

Assuming they all have motors with the same specifications

They don’t.

I’ve written about this on other threads and I really don’t want to start going through it all again but basically, top speed is limited, and that’s it*.  Apart from that they are free to throw whatever peak power/torque through the motor they want.

It shouldn’t be a thing until they put limits on the battery output.  Then it will be an actual sport.

*Please don’t make me spend three pages showing how Maximum Continuous Power is not a limit to output.

Who went last for GB?

Cam Orr

They don’t.

Ta….no desire to explore further here as clearly it’s been done to death elsewhere (I’d search for the thread, but you know…..pointless trying) but personally I find finding out it’s a thing a bit depressing – caving to bike manufacturers looking for product legitimacy at its finest.

Tried watching the emtb race but it’s like watching paint dry