Why UK not top of World Cup XC riders?

We have some of the best downhillers, best on road and best on track. Why do we suffer on XC in comparison? Surely a lot of our riding is more suited to XC racing than downhill? Is it purely a Steve Peat effect inspiring a generation?

Well, we don’t all that have many top road guys at the moment, compared to some countries anyway, Cav, wiggins, Geraint and a couple of others. I suspect a lot of the guys who could be fast at xc go into road racing instead.

If the xc programme had the level of funding the track and road programmes get it might be different, also I suspect you can make a better living road racing if you are good enough to ride for a decent pro team than you can riding the pro xc circuit, but don’t know that for certain.

Think the Belgians ask a similar question about cyclo cross, there’s more money in road if you can make the grade AFAIK

i think the simple reason is that we’re lazy. Not enough people do sport, full stop, the pool from which XC riders can come is small, the money is crap so if your good you go to the road.

Arent most of the XC racers failed roadies? and there’s a big pool of them on the continent.

Arent most of the XC racers failed roadies?

Or wanna be roadies, think Cadel Evans for one.

We don’t have a very big XC culture here. So many countries (spain, NZ, germany, holland, italy, Austria, South Africa) I have ridden off road in the default kit to ride in seems to be lycra and the default bike is xc. Here the default is baggies and a long travel hardtail or trail bike. Mountain bike riders here also seem a bit older – sort of the equivalent of the born again runner who takes on the London marathon to keep the love handles at bay rather than the young whippet who has grown up running 5k/5mile/10k – the only thing most of us will mature into is a pipe and slippers.

mrmo – Member
…. the money is crap so if your good you go to the road.

and ..

Mackem – Member
Arent most of the XC racers failed roadies?

Thats kinda what I was thinking.

And then if your not making the grade as an xc racer … you do the whole 12/24hr races .. there the field is even smaller.

the money is crap so if your good you go to the road.

I think this is partly the reason, a lot of the top UK MTBer switched a while back to the road, the likes of Ian Wilkinson and Simon Richardson.

Arent most of the XC racers failed roadies? and there’s a big pool of them on the continent.

But I am not sure I agree with this at all and a bit harsh. If were talking xc racers internationally, the likes of some of the swiss xc mountain bikers are considering switching to the road because the competition for Olympic (and world championship spots) is so strong. And Jean-Christophe Peraud has switched back to MTB after a 7th at the tour de france in a hope to get a spot on the Olympic squad. He’s doing an amazing job at fighting his way up the ranks from lowly start positions but is not exactly running away with things.
I think generally it is the lack of depth at UK level xc opposed to uk DH where the is such depth that it pushes riders further, the amount of top UK downhiller’s is amazing and to do well at UK level means that you should be able to do pretty well on a world level. Just like it is with the swiss xc races and how it used to be in the UK in the days of David Baker, Tim Gould, Nick craig et al.

It’s a shame that we aren’t doing that well these days, Oli beckingsale and Liam Killen don’t seem to have the ability to compete right at the top these days but still walk away with UK wins. Hopefully the likes of Grant Ferguson, Kenta Gallagher and David Fletcher will come through the system to come good but will take a while.

We still have Annie Last, who is beginning to make her mark at world level.

Find some video footage of the last couple world cup rounds, these guys and gals have some proper skills!

It is strange if you think our terrain perhaps better suits XC than DH. I think convert has it though – XC biking is more leisure than sport here.

I’m impressed with Annie Last though.

buzz-lightyear – Member
It is strange if you think our terrain perhaps better suits XC than DH. I think convert has it though – XC biking is more leisure than sport here.

I’m impressed with Annie Last though.

Not sure if this is directed at my post or not, if so I am not saying uk terrain is suited more to DH than xc; my point is that we have a lot of top class Downhillers, so to get a top 10 you have to be pretty good to the point when the step to world level is not so great. But in xc, although I am not dissing a top ten at uk level (it’s amazing achievement, one I would love to do but never will! And have a huge amount of respect for those that do.), the depth of talent is not so great thus a bit easier (in comparison to DH) to achieve. But a top ten rider at uk level will get pulled by the 80% rule fairly quick at world level.

A depth of talent nationally will always drive the top riders harder. It’s also as mentioned before lack of money in xc racing, there is very little coverage of xc racing in the UK so no one will invest in sponsorship in a big way; where as UK road does have some coverage both in the printed press and TV. Used to be the other way round in the early 90’s, when we were one of the top nations.

Now, we are quite close to not having any men’s spots at the Olympics. Don’t think that will happen as the countries below us in the rankings are fairly far behind but it’s not a sure thing like at previous olympics.

Edit: oops sorry I totally miss read your post! Sorry! Can’t work out edit this so I don’t look an idiot! Or just leave a blank post!

The uk now has a a pool of young riders showing real promise. With grant,kenta,dave and tom evens,lan paton,and alex welburn at under 18 level,,things look better for xc racing. To call these guys failed roadies is a joke and an insult to them,l would like to see some of the heros above race them. Kenta is just as good at downhill .For all you roadies tom evens did the bealach ( apple cross road ride) in.2 hrs 21mins at the tender age of 16 and was his first ever road race.Lets get behind riders like this instead of bringing them down all the time

Andyruss, the point is that those juniors when they turn senior, and to be blunt most will fail to make the leap, will they stay on MTBs or make the jump to the road scene where the pay is better and their are more opportunities.

This is not saying there aren’t good riders, but we need far more than we have, and there has to be a reason to stay on MTBs.

There seems to be a lack of support, in the US they have the high school and collegiate MTB champs all over the place.

Mrmo it is clear your glass is half empty were mine is half full.If only two make it to the top level BC ‘s youth programme will be a success. The older of those riders already run with the best in the uk elite field but you have written them of already.Give them a chance and your support, they might suprise us all

perhaps our lack of chairlifts means that Dh’ers are forced to practise short sections over and over again. this is a good way to improve.

or not, just thinking out loud…

and… you can be a bloody good Dh’er and have a full time job.

to be a good xc’er/roadie, you’ve got to do a lot of training, making holding down a full time job a bit harder / making it harder to get good.

Downhill is fun.

I reckon its a lot to do with the UK weather.

Imagine if you lived in Southern Spain, how much more riding would you do, how many more people would ride at a younger age for recreation and then realise they love it and then found out they had a heart and lungs like Absalon ?

anduruss, not half-empty, realistic, get ten good juniors and one or two will make the cut. If you start with a few then it may happen but law of averages says it is less likely, but the real issue is the competition to drive them to the next level won’t be as strong.

Vote for weather here too.

What bigad40 said. It just is. Also we are a nation of maniacs and thrill seekers. Going fast in the daftest and least safe way possible is something we are very good at. And long may it continue.

Do not know the level of competition south of the border mrmo,but in scotland there is a strengh in depth in all youth fields driving it forward. This can be seen in the number of scottish youth riders in BCs development programme. Yes at best only one or two will make the top level,same in all sports.That is the price.l think we will agree to differ mrmo and leave it at that

I blame Ginsters pasties.

We don’t have good terrain for downhilling? What a load of horseshit.

We have some of the techiest downhill courses in the world. Scotland and South Wales are littered with them, there are a few in North Wales and a few decent ones in England. Then we have dozens and dozens of trail centres littering the country that introduce youngsters to the sport…. a prime example is Aston Hill (which is mostly a short, steep downhill track) that has/used to have a training program for kids.

Our bad but warmish winter weather is great for training downhillers as they learn to ride technical trails in the mud and rain all year round as opposed to open, fast dry trails out in the Alps/South America/States etc

* Alpine riders are stuck to riding during the summer once the snow has melted.

* South African riders spend most of their time training in dry weather.

* Americans/Canucks prefer to launch themselves off large wooden planks, 30 foot up in the air than race.

We also have a large motorcross community, a lot of the top downhillers either come from MX or do a bit of it on the side.

Mrmo it is clear your glass is half empty were mine is half full.If only two make it to the top level BC ‘s youth programme will be a success. The older of those riders already run with the best in the uk elite field but you have written them of already.Give them a chance and your support, they might suprise us all

The other trouble is that as good as Kenta, Grant and Dave are they’re not taking the UK senior cat by storm either… Don’t get me wrong, they’re phenomenal riders, but considering our ageing elite riders you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d all be fighting for the top step on the podium. Be interesting to see today I guess how Grant goes, Sherwood was perhaps not a fair indication of form, and was no doubt a very steep learning curve.

..also, I think most mountain bikers in the UK treat it as a bit of fun with exercise thrown in,whereas, at least in Spain, there’s an obsession with big climbs and big distance. On STW when people talk about their weekend rides they post a pic of snaky singletrack, in Spain it’s a graph showing 2000m of climbing and 75km distance. Basically, roadies on mountain bikes. This is a generalisation of course.

OK bwaarp I take your point. I was thinking that because we don’t have many uplift services, and in general our tracks are short, you get less actual riding time. And pushing a big bike uphill might be a significant turn-off for newbies (it is for me).

I blame Ginsters pasties.

Thank God for the newly increased tax rate then. Maybe it’s all a ploy by Osborne et al to improve the UK XC scene? 😀

For the effort required by parents to support youngsters, and the effort required by youngsters to become competitive at world level I reckon pushy patents gravitate to football, hoping their kid will be the next Wayne Rooney, making them rich.