Olympics MTB Course Video

[theredchili]

I cant believe there are still people complaining about this course, or rather the location.

Ive ridden it again - my thoughts havent changed, I wouldnt want to have to race on it. Watch some of the videos from the weekend a lot of riders are taking the b-lines when it comes to some ofthe decents, why on earth do you think some of the best xc racers in the world are using the longer b-lines??

And if you saw either of the two broken bikes I saw saturday youll realise how hard this course is.

To-date Ive not heard one complaint from anyone thats ridden the course, from trail centre heroes to the worlds best xc racers. Many have turned up thinking its going to be a walk in the park, not one person whos finished riding it still has that opinion. Its a hard course- hard on the rider and hard on the bike.

At the end of the day its xc race course built to IOC and ICF standards and requirements. It is not a day out trail centre, I just hope there will be something left afterwards for everyone else to enjoy too, Ive been lucky enough now to ride it a couple of times....

Fair point, my comments were made without seeing or riding the course.Just what it looked like from the video,hope when the course is used in Anger it will look more impressive on the TV

 

[bigdawg]

theres quite a few videos flying aroud following the test event on Sunday...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic ... 553790.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-14363682

only bbc links but some great shots of the course.

The general consensus of the riders is that it is a lot better than bejing, a lot of them also said how much fun it was to ride, but at the same time hard - no let up anywhere.

All that aside Ive got to say the Mexicans althoguh not placing fantastically had a great time, and the girls were um particularly....charming... Shame they wont be back for next year...

 

[magicmistertea]

at last... big dawg... another person that is actually slightly positive about a massive mountain bike event coming to our country.. that makes 2 of us,

As a cycling forum i find the amount of negativity quite sad !!

I reakon most of the negative comments made on this thread are from people who are too old and past it to appreciate the way the sport going !!.... ( thats not a basis for an argument.. its a joke )

 

[bigdawg]

not jsut me, the racers loved it too...

http://www.singletrackworld.com/2011/08 ... cers-view/

 

[misteroo]

Where in Esix (lol) are you Bigdawg??

 

[bigdawg]

shoebury - you can normally find me over the downs on a sat morning with my littlun - although this weekend Im racing at braintree so no riding tomorrow...

 

[cagiva gezzer]

I was there for the test ride. Not overly experienced with XC venues (only been to Aston Hill) and it was ok. The GF liked it and you could easily wonder around the whole circuit.

It's a compromise between a decent circuit and good coverage for TV. I wouldn't choose to ride it for a jolly, as apart from the 6 sections shown it's completely featureless.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the female GB riders. I know they've gone from the top of their league to the bottom of the international one, but they were shocking. It pains me to say that, but having to walk the bike down the easy route isn't my idea of skilled.

I'm glad it won't be left there afterwards, but it annoys me that the money wasn't invested, rather than wasted, somewhere else in the Chilterns / Surrey.