Fix stromlo 4x !!!

[barnesy]

I know i am going to get heaps of flack for this, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and i have kept my mouth shut up until now, choosing to be diplomatic and silent.

Anyone who knows me will know that geoff and i have built sopa 4x, ebenezer, kurrajong heights, green grocers and a heap of other jump parks and bmx stuff all over oz. We don't self promote much because we are not like that. We get bagged all the time, but if we see a problem, we take it on board and try and do something about it. Usually for free. Sopa is an intro to 4x track, it was always going to be, but it has passing left right and centre. So does goulburn, ebenezer and kurrajong (now.. But not originally). Illinbah is not ours but it is good !
If we are all honest...
Stromlo 4x is a race to the first corner followed by a follow the leader via every inside line. They found this out a the world cup and it has now repeated itself at our aussies. Stop sticking your head in the sand and fix it ! The outside lines are way too long and the track is still just a big bmx track (and this is coming from someone who designs bmx tracks...so i know)

i'm not pointing fingers, but we all know it needs fixing, so do it. 1-2 days tops to make it at least produce some passing.

I don't live on farkin because generally it just give me the shits, but maybe all you farkiners can actually get something positive done and get the 'powers to be' to move on this.

P.s. I don't hide behind some anonymous farkin id because i'm not very funny and i figure if you have something worthwhile saying you might as well stand behind it.

 

[M.artin]

Finally, someone has spoken about this...

I totaly agree Barnsey. . .

 

[GTkonaHORSE]

WHAT! Some one agrees with me!I knew the track was crap the second i seen it UCI rules say :-
A track must be built so as to ensure that four fundamental criteria are met; the course must be; Fast, Technical, Spectacular, Permanent.
The track must allow maximum speed to be attained over its entire length. Obstacles must not act as “brakes” but represent a challenge to different abilities through their technical nature. Obstacles must form the basis for spectacular effects, while highlighting the main abilities of riders (speed, velocity, flexibility, power, tactical intelligence).

This peace of crap has never worked since the day Jacobs pulled the design from the ark!EVERY damn track he builds is the same and the joke of it is people pay for this usless rubbish
Im starting a pole thats it.
Oh and congrats on the stuff you have been involved in Barnsy as with out champions like u we wouldnt even have a national series as Jacobs claims to fame never hang around long (black hill/armidale)

 

[silver rocket]

yeah the footage i saw from the world cup didnt impress any of my non-ridin mates who said "it looks like they are riding camels in the desert"

So yeah who won anyway

 

[Little T]

I've never been to Mt. Stromlo but I have watched some movies from the world cup and previous events which make it look like a race to get the hole shot. I have been to Illinbah but don't race 4X and I really liked the new obstacles that were put in for the #2 national round; the logs, drops, small rock gardens, etc made for a much more exciting and technical course.

The sport of 4X needs to be taken away from BMX and more incorporated with DH; to me all the different obstacles at Illinbah separates the field to find the best rider on the day and makes for a much more spectacular event. Also 4X should should be constructed into a mountain to have natural flow and obstacles that occur in DH. To me the massive pile of dirt at Mt. Stromlo has been a big waste and could have been more useful at the top of the mountain giving it more elevation. Would the track have worked better being constructed in the side of the hill?

 

[g-fish]

Would the track have worked better being constructed in the side of the hill?

Its not that its a really slow track (although it could be faster). Its just a one fast line track, with every other line being the losing line. Its wwwwwaaaaayyyyyy to open and doesnt provide entertainment with the riders not jumping anything... there are no crashes, and no over taking. It really should be fixed.

 

[peanut]

Well i actually agree.
The inside lines used to be a lot rougher and slower and actually generated more passing from the speed differential.
I recall heaps of close racing at the nationals in '07 through riders using both lines.

The new inside lines are too smooth and fast to bother using the outside lines as their is little differance in speed, and effectively turned the track into a follow the leader track,hence little passing occurs.
The simplest scenario is to roughen and slow up the inside lines again, to bring the outside lines faster exit speeds back into play. some natural obsticles i.e rocks, wouldn't go astray either.

I have a feeling(someone with more knowledge on the matter may chime in here) for the WC and worlds the UCI decides what type of track/features is raced,( or should i say the UCI 4x track builder) and changes are made under the UCI's direction, so hands may well be "tied" in this regard.

 

[phil p.]

The sport of 4X needs to be taken away from BMX and more incorporated with DH

Completely agree. The 4x discipline will struggle to grow if it does not have an idividual 'identity' or something that will make people want to watch MTB racing. More tracks like Vigo in 07 are what the sport needs.
The last few worlds 4x tracks have created pretty one dimentional racing and I things need to be worked on quickly before the worlds best 4x riders arrive at Stromlo. If change does happen, it will be difficult to make Stromlo 4x into a 'gnarly' track as there is no natural features. Although with a good design with more input from riders, heavy equipment and enough money I think something that can benefit 4x racing could be made.

 

[mty10@]

Kurrajong is the funnest track EVAH!
is it open to ride yet?? I was at a ride day and they said it was going to be open by the Holidays??

 

[stevenw]

Yep I agree with you Barnsey... I sat there yestersay and watched all the racing. My son wasn't lucky enough to get a good gate and missed out on all the inside lines.... He had to do it the hard way and wasn't lucky enough to get an inside line in the finals... The track just doesn't work if your not lucky enough to have a good gate position.

On another subject... This is the first time in 3 years my son has been racing at National and Aust Champs, that no prize money was given to the under 19's. Shame on you Canberra! If Illinbah can afford to eat into their profits and give Under 19's $400 for the win, then you guys should do the same. My 2 cents.

 

[Stack Shack]

I went and saw the nats their last night, not many people and a big dissapointment to last year. My dad came along and said that the person who took the first inside line always won. Their needs to be a bigger reward for outside lines and their needs to be more "mountain bike" obstactles. To me, four cross should be raced by people on short travel duallys with rocks, drops off camber turns and brake bumps.

 

[mty10@]

this is what 4X should be like...
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=3sl2yL-cowQ

 

[Hamo]

I totally agree with the previous poster!
That's what 4X should be. We're riding mountain bikes, so why race them on a bmx track?

 

[TS153]

I totally agree aswell.
So much so I didnt even bother going this year to defend my 3rd from last year.

It worked the first year the nats were there because it was new maybe only slightly the second year but it was boring.
This is the only track I know of that never changes. Even other tracks change from use or the weather. with riders opting for ride different line from the last time they were there.
I know it did change for the worldcup but they were really just cosmetic( for the spectators) and did nothing for the racing.

NOT Stromlo though, I would now categorise it under the topic as a No practice needed track. As when you get there you already know which lines you are going to take, so interestingly nothing happens during racing no one will bust out a new line to take a win

 

[floody]

Rocks, drops and off camber obstacles... What and end up with shitful racing like Vigo? No thanks. Despite looking mountain bikey, that was just crap. Unless you want to get people out to watch the carnage, and make everyone racing look like clowns. Its BMX with 26" wheels, thats about the only way it can be.

Follow the leader... It could be a nationals thing. I've seen similar with our track here in Hobart.
Frankly the speeds may be a little lower but we have much tighter racing and more creative line usage at our club meets on the Tolosa 4X track. I think when you race on it 8x+ a year you pick and choose more and theres less follow the leader. We get people diving in 3 deep for lines at times (and not just the inside ones either), much less of the single file stuff we've had at our nats rounds.

I dunno, maybe theres a way around it, maybe not.

 

[downhiller_1]

just like everything the MTB community is promised it gets done then left to weather with no maintainence... this shits me too... about time someone has broken the silence... i would think people would defend this make me look like an arse...

4x should be
4 MTB's
a downhill race to the bottum
have a comibation of fast and slow flowing sections
be made with good dirt
and be maintained

we need more tracks like rotarua

 

[drewivison]

i am in no way a 4x rider but i agree with the opinion on the stromlo 4x course. My opinion with any bike disipline is this:
-any bike should be allowed to race, as such if a bmx bike is faster on a 4x course then bmx's should be able to be used. This sounds ridiculous I know, i remember that a few years ago people put up a big stink because bmx's were used at homebush 4x to win a nationals.
-but think of this logically, racing should allow the people involved to ride at the fastest pace possible on the most PRACTABLE bike for the course.

-i am not saying that bmx's should take over 4x races. What i am saying is make courses for mountain bikes. As such rock gardens, steeper gradients, very large jumps, off camber sections ect. should be incorporated to make the track more of a mountain bike area.

i know that this will cause a debate but its just my opinion, it seems ridiculous that 4x is just a bmx course on bigger bikes. To make a sport recognisable it needs to be different. From watching DVD's from 2008 the world cup courses seem to be getting the idea (except stromlo)

 

[barnesy]

and then....

Nice to see I am not alone on this subject.

Just for the record Ebenezer (built from scratch in 3 x days) has rocks, drops, logs and a flat turn (after the big double) and still a bunch of BMX type jumps, Kurrajong has rocks, drops , logs and flat turns and a heap of jumps. That one took 5 x days because of rain and our machine broke down. I know our tracks aren't perfect but every track has been built in less than a week. And we have barely been paid a dime for any of them.. most we lose money on simply because we love the sport...

I don't want Australia to be remembered for a lame 4X track at the World Champs and I am sure the organisers don't either. Geoff 'The Balkan' and I have discussed this and we would work on it for NOTHING, if someone gets us a machine there. Two days max and we would be adding all the things that this forum seems to have already identified:

-Take away some of the multiple lines (there are too many)
-At least one off camber flat turn, mid track to bring the pack back together
-a scattered multiple drops section
-a rock garden. You should not be able to race 4X with your forks locked out.
-and at least one decent jump. I'm 40 and I can jump everything on that track. I shouldn't be able to!

I don't care who does it, but I am sure that we and a whole lot of other riders would help for FREE. Now is not the time to be worried about peoples feelings and upsetting various fraternities. Lets just fix it.

Food for thought. It's cooled down and I am going for a ride now.

 

[donk4]

good on you steve the amount of money that we invest into the sport and they can not come up with any prize money for national champs is crap as the track they had race on.

 

[drewivison]

-Take away some of the multiple lines (there are too many)
-At least one off camber flat turn, mid track to bring the pack back together
-a scattered multiple drops section
-a rock garden. You should not be able to race 4X with your forks locked out.
-and at least one decent jump. I'm 40 and I can jump everything on that track. I shouldn't be able to!



you have got my vote