Comments on the Cairns XC WC course and its high technical difficulty

[sebbyreddan]

This interview gives some insight into what World Trail wants from the Cairns course....

“There is a little common thread in there that some people are saying, ‘wouldn’t it be nice to see a dropper in a World Cup cross country race’ if you want to pull it into one little paragraph that’s what we’re after. We’d want to see a dropper post in a World Cup cross country race.”

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentra...rld-cup-courses-95-per-cent-ready-says-jacobs

I am picking Jared Graves for the win in the either the XCE and the XCO or both...and the Hannah's in the DHI.

 

[caad9]

I understand Graves is a freak and he's been doing superbly in Aus, but will he race the XCO?

This looks like a course for Nino, like all the others! He is that damn good


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[jp80]

Only read the quotes in the first post, but I reckon some of you are reading to much into it.

"Its heading towards four cross and DH style, and thats not what we do" (or something close to that)

I don't read this as Bec saying that the Cairns course is not what they do, but that four cross and DH is not what they do. She may be saying that its one step closer but has another 2 or 3 steps up her sleeve that she can still ride well on a hardtail. Who knows exactly what was meant, but it will be good watch in a couple of weeks.

XC is about compromise, and thats what is awesome about it. Its a courageous decision to say "I'll use the hardtail today, need it to stay close on the climb and will need it if it comes to a sprint, and.... i'll just get loose and push the bike beyond the limit of its intended use on the descents". Its probably hard to appreciate what that means as one sits and spins 24:36 on a 6" bike to the top of the climbs, has a snickers, drops the post and does some "real" riding with "decent bike handling skills" to the bottom.

 

[creaky]

I understand Graves is a freak and he's been doing superbly in Aus, but will he race the XCO?

This looks like a course for Nino, like all the others! He is that damn good


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Just to stoke the fire, I believe i read that Nino wont be racing cause he's doing a road tour ..... True or false ?

Does anyone appreciate the irony of this thread being a whinge about someone's perceived whinging ?

 

[floody]

I've watched some of the XC world cups in recent years, some of the courses are quite technical with drops, gaps, rocks, roots...and some of them are glorified gravel walking paths.

I don't think it will be a problem for the internationals.

 

[Quintin]

I remember the grizzling back in '96.

Look at the homiez bailing off at 4:20.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hh6qADaWfs

must be the massive control gained from the 350mm bars!

 

[pharmaboy]

Actually , just reading this thread again, I suspect that some downhillers here, might have an overinflated opinion on their ability on a bike. I have ridden with the odd pointy end xc rider as well as similarly ranked downhill riders and both have great skills that blow away the other 99% of riders I've ridden with.

That said I would like to see some duallies winning these events

 

[Dozer]

Actually , just reading this thread again, I suspect that some downhillers here, might have an overinflated opinion on their ability on a bike. I have ridden with the odd pointy end xc rider as well as similarly ranked downhill riders and both have great skills that blow away the other 99% of riders I've ridden with.

That said I would like to see some duallies winning these events

I totally agree with that. I have done some rides with an elite female who doesn't match the other girls in sprinting power but boy does she school the rest of the field when it gets technical. She takes her race hardtail 29er to jump parks, hits all the lines then pins most downhill trails in the ACT on the same bike, often sharing the course with downhill riders. It's a pisser to watch actually. Here's hoping she makes it into the top group soon enough and shows them how it's done. I've actually offered to fund a season for her to do the national downhill and respective state series just to prove that she is the goods and would win races. I have no doubt she could be Australia's next female champion.
On the flip side, I've seen a few competent downhill riders get on a trail bike and take out A grade in singlets and board shorts. Wow, doesn't that generate some severe cases of the snoots in those circles.

 

[swaz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMOVMuv3E44
from 4:10 to 4:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUxcOnVdRQ
1:45

I can't find the other one where it is the practice for the 2010 XC WC race and most of the guys and girls wouldn't go down that section. Some even ran it which is WAY more dangerous than riding it.

 

[richie_gt]

I think an MTB track should be technical - whatever the discipline!

Personally I'd rather ride a 1km section of technical terrain 10 times rather than 10km of fireroad!

 

[cramhobart]

The sooner we are all riding swept fireroads with massive berms on 36inch wheels the better I say!
I'm kind of over the trend to dumb down trails to cater for some peoples desire to ride a bike with a racier pedigree than the rider- take a knife to a gunfight, suffer the consequences.

 

[floody]

The only other perspective I have is that if super tech tracks are the exceptions rather than the rule, they do have the unfortunate side effect of making unprepared riders and mountain biking in general look pretty silly on the media coverage. A bunch of guys in neon skinsuits and racing clogs jogging down stuff does not make us look good, in fact it looks worse than a bunch of guys in neon skinsuits and racing clogs churning out laps in a municipal park.

 

[Sic]

I thought the original comments were a bit of a cop out to be honest. As others have said it cant just be about who can ride the fastest for the longest in a straight line otherwise its road racing without the team tactics.

The Sth African XC course was the best thing ive seen in a XC course for ages, it actually made me want to watch the race (and ride the track), Cairns is the same.

The article in AMB actually has a few photos of the riders interviewed on full suspension bikes, maybe they should just bring those bikes instead of the hardtails.

 

[Ride_Guy]

I'll be riding shuttles at kuranda on WC Sunday pretending I'm sik mik or Sam Hill, I don't pay money to watch men in lycra. Boo hoo if they go over the bars and skin their shaven legs cause that can't handle the course.. Actually that would be the only draw card for me to go on Sunday, watching "athletes" with seatposts fair up their arse eat shit cause they're used to riding fire trail and road bikes.. Ha ha brutal I'm sorry... But true..

Fuck amb, revo all the way..

Put any of the top 10 xc men on a bike the same as you side by side and I would bet $100 they would kick your ass.

 

[.dan.]

Put any of the top 10 xc men on a bike the same as you side by side and I would bet $100 they would kick your ass.

You are right, the top 10 are very well skilled. It's just that most of the XC riders outside the top 10 have the MTB skills of a road cyclist, even that's being generous.

 

[houli77]

Put any of the top 10 xc men on a bike the same as you side by side and I would bet $100 they would kick your ass.

No shit? Riding bikes isn't my job. I'd bet against me as well.

Watch any World Cup xc crash compilation though and you'd have to agree there's some gumby shit going down when the courses get technical. Extreme xc geo and seat posts fair up arse = exit front door..

http://youtu.be/leyUyn9wD0w

Who really wants to watch guys ride non technical trails? I don't, pretty sure I'm not alone there. Hope uci wakes up to it.

On a side note is graves racing xc in cairns? If it's rough and tech he'll shred that shit with style..

Hope this cyclone doesn't fuck shit up too bad either, stay safe fnq.

 

[caad9]

You are right, the top 10 are very well skilled. It's just that most of the XC riders outside the top 10 have the MTB skills of a road cyclist, even that's being generous.

Oh boy this makes me cringe. You couldn't be more wrong.


As for the running of bikes over/around obstacles, ever watched cyclocross racing?
Hundreds of thousands of people seem to enjoy that

 

[Ride_Guy]

That section they are going over the bars is pretty steep.. Plus it's wet, unfortunately unless your there i think the XC does look a bit dumbed down on the screen.

 

[Dozer]

Hope uci wakes up to it. .

Ha! I read that as "I hope the UCI stop fucking up top level mountain biking". They are a bunch of morons with little sense of direction. Need an example? Look at all the cool shit Red Bull does with their creative events. I long for the day that pro mountain bikers can race the scene and do awesome comps that reward them more than what they get now because hey, they are awesome!

 

[.dan.]

Oh boy this makes me cringe. You couldn't be more wrong.

I take it you're a butthurt XC rider? There's a difference between being able to negotiate a technical section and being able to negotiate the same section at speed. Most of them are incapable of negotiating the tech with speed. I don't care how high they run their seatposts, I've ridden lots of XC in my time, with a super high seatpost and it does not get in the way as much as they all say. Even doing 5m+ jumps on my XC bike, the high seat doesn't get in the way too much. You just need to learn how to deal with it.