XC gone mad?

What’s this all about? Wouldn’t fancy riding that on an XC bike with the saddle jammed up my rear!

Yes, because all XC riders are incapable of riding technical trails or jumps.

Tis true, bel thingly says so.

Yawn..

The landing can’t be fun in that position anyway.

Yawn..

Bored of your own thread?

As if the decent looks bad enough, check out the steps on the climb on the right (the log at the top is pretty much the apex).

No just bored of the sarcastic remarks!

I was simply amazed out the skills these riders have doing all the techy bits these courses have and the features on XC race rigs, all whilst going flat out uphill as well!

Would be interested to see one of these guys doing a run of a WC DH track on a big rig

How very dare he!

The guy in the first pic looks tiny. Or are those 36 inch wheels?

Rorschach – Member
Tis true, bel thingly says so.

bel thingy would ride it on his road bike or BMX then tell anyone that took the piss a little that they had a chip on their shoulder.

The trails in the second pic look awesome fun. No way could I ride them as part of any race, but would be fun to play on

Knowing a few xc racers who are stupidly fast on xc stuff, but then seeing they’re also stupidly fast on all the gnarly technical stuff, way faster than I could ever be, I just know it’s all about ability, fitness and confidence and I have a lot of respect now.

We sponsor a couple of elite XC racers.
One of which, Dexter Hurlock, I ride with pretty frequently.

We’ll hit the local ‘DH’ type of trails together and whilst I’m on my 140mm travel All Mountain bike he’s on his carbon XC hard tail and I’m damned if I can keep up with him.
He’ll even take his XC bike to the DH trails when all his mates are doing up lifts!

Last year, at the end of the race season, just for a laugh we entered him into an enduro and on the day of the event we lent him a 120mm travel bike. He’d never even sat on it before.
He won it by miles.

So yeah, whack some more of this stuff in XC races please 😉

MTBBabyBel – Member

Pfft. I’ve ridden more than that on my low pro TT bike. On 18mm tubs. And I’ve done so as long as I’ve been alive. So ner.

😉

The tops guys are not only immmensly fit and quick but can handle a bike as well so its good to see the courses going this way. I’d love to see optional hard lines in races I do.
I heard that they include a fair amount of BMX in trainingbto keep skills sharp

Bit of a man crush there Stu? Would you like his number?

I think many folks on here already have his number…

Some certainly seem a bit obsessed.

Two posts taking the p a little.
That’s not really obsessed is it.
Sorry if you think i’m trying to muscle in on your man. 😉

you can ride pretty much anything (bar massive rock gardens) on an XC bike if you’re good enough. 140mm travel enduwhoa bikes are skill compensators for mortals.

As above really , look at some of the fast guys on Cx bikes they are also pretty handy on Xc , Enduro and even Downhill. Even top level roadies like Sagan and Stybar are multi skilled on all bike types.

Pah – they have suspension and everything!

you can ride pretty much anything…

Agree with that, it’s the people that say they enjoy doing it that I don’t believe.

Bouncing down steep techy descents with your hands a foot below your arse. Not my idea of fun.

Nino Schurter would whip it up over that drop 😀

Bouncing down steep techy descents

they ain’t bouncing though. they’re under control. that’s the difference

One of which, Dexter Hurlock, I ride with pretty frequently.

Dexter Hurlock? Never heard of him 😉
To be honest I think we are spoilt down here in the SW with places like Gawton and Poldice to help hone those skills. There are a fair few riders (I wont mention names as their heads are big enough as it is) who smash those places to pieces and still race XC. To be fair, you cant tell what they prefer, XC or DH.
Its funny watching some of the top riders doing the Nationals XC’s at Poldice or Newnham and some of the expressions/comments we get regarding the fact that it should be an XC race…
I’ve watched top riders walking/running down lines that some of us do regularily on Hardtails. (I’ve now got a full suss, but only cos I’m getting older.. I’m still slow)

Where’s that place ‘spoon?

Looking back at Scotroutes vid makes XC look fairly shite compared to the fitness and how technical some of todays XC courses are . That said look at old BMX videos of Andy Ruffel and compare them to Harry Main and co these days . I suppose It’s just progress really .

Andy Ruffell

Harry Main

Bouncing down steep techy descents with your hands a foot below your arse.

bigrich – Member

Bouncing down steep techy descents

they ain’t bouncing though. they’re under control. that’s the difference[/quote]

It looks in control, I’d live to see the video though.

bigrich – Member
you can ride pretty much anything (bar massive rock gardens) on an XC bike if you’re good enough. 140mm travel enduwhoa bikes are skill compensators for mortals.

My 160/140 bike may be a skill compensator but it’s way more fun to ride in a lot of situation, this weekend would not be one of them as I was doing an XC/24hr with some mates. The XC bike was great, efficient, just enough control, just enough grip – most of the time, just enough clearance on the steep stuff.

Next weekend I’ll head off and ride some swoopy jumpy, rocky trials which although being perched up and on the short travel bike I can ride I enjoy is more on the longer/slacker bike.

Anyway, put more of that stuff in XC, 3-5s advantage for taking it allow people to get going more.

[Quote]granny_ring – Member

Where’s that place ‘spoon?[/quote]

Piemeritszberg (or however its spelt) South africa world cup round.

The ‘cross boys are at it too.

Stybar in a hurry.

Ha, I was gonna look for a photo of Stybar, good effort!

Ahh those gentile days of riding XC in the FoD hacking down decents with yer arse off the back and the seat slammed under your rib cage..

Happy memories, very happy memories indeed.

Still do it now on thee CX’er..

There used to be a humpback bridge at the bottom of a hill on my commute, in my head I looked like that on my road bike.

Somehow despite that level of abuse, I still commuted on the same frame this morning, 10 years after I bought it, so much for aluminium’s reputation for falling appart!

I think this gives a good perspective:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Marco-Fontana-Interview-2013.html

Is that a triple jump on the right? All this BMX training the xc boys do should come in handy hitting that.

Is that a triple jump on the right? All this BMX training the xc boys do should come in handy hitting that

I wrongly thought it was the climb up, but this is the view from the other side, it’s the chicken run.

you can ride pretty much anything (bar massive rock gardens) on an XC bike if you’re good enough.

Agreed, don’t think “skills compensator” is an accurate term, suspension and slack angles just give you more margin for error. On your slack FS if you hit the wrong line or miss time something you may still pull through, same thing on an XC bike and you’ll probably hit the dirt. More margin for error also means more speed – and fun!

Wouldn’t mind giving that course a go, I can manage less suspension and steeper angles but I really struggle with a high saddle, dropper post for me please 🙂