That'll sting for a bit…

…and just in case piccy no worky:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-world-cup-xco-dhi-1-2012/elite-women-cross-country/photos/212745

Atleast it is not only me that stuff like that happens to! Granted for the like of me it is not due to boulders half the size of the front wheel.

the bloke’s saying;

“And that, dear is why she should have taken the line away from the ‘Rocky Roads’ sign. Shall we go for a cup of tea?”

Oh, for heavens sake.

Dropper post?

Ouchy!

Not many soft landing spots there

Does make you appreciate how hard the XC tracks are, especially considering they’re riding short travel hardtails.

looks like a 29er, aren’t big wheels supposed to smooth out the trail?

Lovely moobs there.

The chap commentating with Warner on the race coverage said a few of the women suffered broken arms / collarbones during practice. I guess she is one of them?

love how the spectators are just watching, 0 concern.

Ouch!

I am guessing the only line through there is entering right near the barrier on the outside and then cutting down through where her left shoulder is?

while I can see a need to make courses hard that does look a bit aggressive.

that does look a bit aggressive.

I’d guess elite racers have the same option that us mere mortals have, accept the time penalty, get off walk and put up with the piss taking from your fellow riders 🙂

she got up and still finished in 8th position !

some drops on that course too- see pics theres some helmet cam vids around showing just how fast the elites go down that stuff, no armour or full facers neither!

Yep. I think theres a lot of riders out there who have no idea how hard some XC courses can be – esp on a skittish short-travel HT!

A really good first person view of the course. The stepped section at 2:45 ish 😮

Fair play – respect! You can see the highlights here http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Video/uci-mtb-cross-country-pietermaritzburg-2012-video-021243180076752 with footage of those rocks at 1.40 and 2.40.

that’s a noisy bike he’s got there!

apart from the climbs that looked easily as hard as the downhill course!! it’s mad to think they do it with so little protection!

the british lass with the puncture seemed to be walking a long way – do they not carry anything to fix breakdowns or was it more major than that ?

Like a lot of people, my image of XC races is getting whipped on the way up by a roadie taking a day off the road bike, only to get stuck behind them as they inch their way gingerly down a fairly straightforward downhill section. Which I think gives the wrong impression – most Elite level XC riders are damn quick going downhill, even with a short-travel hardtail and a seat rammed up their arse.

Why is it hard to believe? Before the marketing bods got involved, armour was something some dhers used…

do they not carry anything to fix breakdowns or was it more major than that ?

Generally have spare wheels in the pits, but you’re not allowed to turn around, so if you flat 10ft beyond the tech zone you’ll potentially have to run a lap (often only half) to get a new wheel.

Does look pretty mental it must be said!

apart from the climbs that looked easily as hard as the downhill course!!

There was an xc race last summer at Coombe Sydenham (zummerzet, classic dh race venue) which was the downhill race track (plus climb back up to the top, times four/five). There were a few ‘owies’ and ‘broken man’ faces on that one too.

The BUSA XC race in 2007 was the bottom of the DH track at Dunkeld followed by a gravelly climb back up. Was crap. Big climb/big descent/repeat does not a good course make!

She’d have been fine on a Ti hardtail

who said xc riders can’t do downhill?

That vid looks nothing more taxing than llandegla.

That video^^ has got a ‘reverse MBUK’ angle: the spectators in the video are supposed to be standing straight up not leant over, and it looks less steep than it is. I reccommend tilting your monitor 25 degrees anticlockwise to watch it properly. 😆

this one shows how steep it was better – the bikes roll on for ages if left unattended;

(the music’s better too)

this one always cheers me up happy music and slapstick comedy what’s not to like 🙂

lol njee you lie, BUCS at dunkeld was brilliant 🙂

Were you the guy trying to do it with road pedals who got pwned 😛

As someone who can actually ride, it was a brill course, far better fun than mayhem

I’m no descender, but why aren’t they getting back behind the saddle?

The course in the top pic looked brilliant… But **** riding it on a skinny racy hardtail with skinny racy tyres and a seatpost as high as the sky, at race pace too!

headcam looked like a very smooth, very dry version of wharncliffe.

y’all need to man up if you think that is super aggressive!

admittedly one or two eye opening sections, but fairly straight forward routes through each, and then back on the smooth.

On the grounds that everything looks easier on helmet cams, I’d say there are some difficult sections there. Obviously the bits that link the rock sections are pretty smooth (and I disapprove of man-made Technical Trail Features), but I wouldn’t say it looks any easier than a lot of Wharncliff.

lol njee you lie, BUCS at dunkeld was brilliant

Were you the guy trying to do it with road pedals who got pwned

As someone who can actually ride, it was a brill course, far better fun than mayhem

As someone who raced the DH aswell, so could ride the track fine, the XC track at dunked was not a good XC race track. And to be pedantic, it wasn’t exactly the bottom of the DH track, some of the lines were taped wider, it didn’t’ use some of the rougher sections. The very bottom 100m or so was the same tho.

It was fun enough to ride, but didn’t make for good racing. All the time was on the climb, and it was very hard to pass on the long traverse.

Never done mayhem, is that not basically round a grassy field somewhere? Anything likely better than that…

Back on topic, that XC course looks nuts. Anyone ridden the one at les gets when it was the world champs there? that was also pretty hardcore, bound to be some footage somewhere online…

surely it’d be a damn sight easier if the bloody spectators would get out of the f***ing way!

It was fun enough to ride, but didn’t make for good racing. All the time was on the climb, and it was very hard to pass on the long traverse.
Never done mayhem, is that not basically round a grassy field somewhere? Anything likely better than that…

This. Mayhem is a shit course too (in a different way), where did I make that comparison?! 🙄

A long climb and a long descent is just boring. Wasn’t on road pedals, the bottom bit was the most interesting. The whole of the traverse was really crap!