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Given Tom Pidcock is Britain’s first XC winner for quite a few years, and there was even a risk Team GB wouldn’t qualify for the olympics, what’s going wrong with the XC scene?
Team GB are pretty dominant in cycling in general, so why are we lacking strength in XC? Are there few grass roots events to raise interest at a young age (I personally never hear of any), or is it just XC isn’t as popular as road/track, and so gets less funding?
Discuss…
Money…
Interviews with Tom have highlighted that he has a passion for mtb, but his career to date has largely been to cultivate him into a great all-rounder with a leaning towards road and big money/kudos in the road scene. Arguably same for Mvdp.
The very best riders are not going to make a career from XC.
Are there few grass roots events to raise interest at a young age (I personally never hear of any)
There's definitely a fairly healthy XC race scene (2020 and lockdown asside). Plenty of local series arround the country, and the BC national series.
I think the difference between XC and enduro or DH racing is that XC has a much bigger overlap with CX, road and track racing. Most of the XC racers I know do it either for a block of the year or alongside other types of riding.
That and fitness is a probably a barrier to entry. You can treat a DH or enduro race as a day out with your mates. An XC race is more focussed. Same for kids, the ones that do well in XC are going to be the ones coming through organised clubs with structured training, a few skills coaching sessions, trips to Aston Hill or BPW that might give them the bugbfor enduro racing, isn't going to cut it for XC. The local junior club (predominantly track and CX) has a long waiting list so there's obviously a lot of riders.
From various friends/kids of friends who are quite good it seems that there is a race every other week if you are willing to travel across (our small by global standards) the country, for adults and older teenagers.
I'm not sure quite what level and age "grass roots at a young age" is.
One thing I have noticed, pretty much any teenager that I know racing XC has cycling parents and picked it up from them. People who picked up MTB from their friends are more likely to be into jumps in the woods, downhill etc.
(the 3rd category, including me, took it up as an adult and are adequate but mediocre at all disciplines)
What XC scene? If you don’t want to travel too far nothing, for large areas of the country. The odd race isn’t going to cut it. Then throw in course design, which, depending on level is either too hard and discouraging, or too easy and doesn’t prepare for next level. No money at top level, British cycling who are dominated by track and Olympic
What XC scene? If you don’t want to travel too far nothing, for large areas of the country. The odd race isn’t going to cut it.
Off the top of my head all are/have XC race series:
Thereford, Southern XC, Gorrick, Midlands, South West XC series, Hope? (Now rebranded as Midweek Madness?), Beastway (? still going?) Eastern XC series. And that's just the top of my head, I'm sure there's probably more.
There’s definitely a fairly healthy XC race scene (2020 and lockdown asside). Plenty of local series arround the country, and the BC national series.
Your specs are rose tinted
NW has the mid week madness but it's very tame and numbers aren't huge, Hope/Brownbacks hasn't run for nearly 10 years
Lots of issues running XC events, you need lots of volunteers who you can rely on, a venue that's suitable, and a core team prepared to put a lot of time in for no reward other than a warm fuzzy glow and a fair amount of kit (radios, tape, timing.....) I also think that there aren't that many core competitors that will prioritize over road,CX,enduro etc so you are going to see low pre entries and lots of curtain twitching on the day
True, but then if you've got the inclination to put the effort into getting fit enough for XC then you're well served by other disciplines to keep you busy all year round on the track/road/CX.
I suspect there's more organised XC races in a year than there are Enduro's?
Looking at roots and rain for 2019, seems there was multiple xc events most weekends from March to August.
Your specs are rose tinted
Dictated in part by local terrain and therefore riders?
TINAS and myself are surrounded by XC options here in the flat south... as I sit here envious of you in the northwest with numerous big hill enduros, downhill races, plus multiple van served recreational downhill as an easy day trip.
I suspect there’s more organised XC races in a year than there are Enduro’s?
I suspect more people ride enduro's than race XC
Midweek has gone pre-entry only this year. First two races have sold out all categories almost immediately, with a lot of regular faces missing out on entries. So there is more demand than places at the moment - it would appear Covid layoff has got people fit and eager to race / socialise. Presumably cross season is going to be bonkers if there is no virus resurgence.
According to British cycling there are 28 XC races in the next 12 months with 200km of where I live in Gloucestershire. Of these 3-4 are potentially doable, ie not a Wednesday evening. Now if you bring the distance down to someone just starting out looking for something local, 1. Compare to cross with races within 50miles every weekend during tge season and more in the summer.
According to British cycling there are 28 XC races in the next 12 months with 200km of where I live in Gloucestershire. Of these 3-4 are potentially doable, ie not a Wednesday evening. Now if you bring the distance down to someone just starting out looking for something local, 1. Compare to cross with races within 50miles every weekend during tge season and more in the summer.
Right now is probably not the fairest time to do that comparison!
CX races are way easier to organise and can take place in a far greater number of places.
Midweek has gone pre-entry only this year. First two races have sold out all categories almost immediately, with a lot of regular faces missing out on entries. So there is more demand than places at the moment – it would appear Covid layoff has got people fit and eager to race / socialise
Yup, never even got close to getting an entry, god knows how those that did got in so fast.
There's 2 Crank-its this year at the smash 'fest venue that is Lee Quarry and that sums up the entire Northern XC scene AFAIK, there's not even any Welsh events this year, so it's pretty grim up round here.
The forestry not allowing any event licences until at least September doesn't help as even the usual Run & Ride events in Cannock can't happen, no Marathon Series either which I suspect is down to land access issues, so other than darn sarf it's all a bit shit.
With regard to the OP, I'm not sure there's much wrong as such - the doorway to success in XC is really narrow. When you fund elite cycling on the basis of Olympic prospects, track will always take the biggest share and MTB (not just XC) lacks the team structure available on the road. Making the jump from national competition level to world in XC is very expensive if you have to fund it yourself.
It also takes a pretty exceptional athlete to make it near the front of a world cup XCO, and I mean exceptional in the real sense of the word, not just a synonym for "really really good". A bit like if you ran a road race where each trade team only gets to enter their GC contender, that's what you're looking at. There's no supporting cast of other riders in XC. Take Switzerland and France out of the picture and most countries only have one or two riders near the sharp end of the elite field, so expecting GB to dominate isn't realistic.
GB did also have Evie Richards 5th in Elite F, Harriet Harnden 5th in the U23 F and three riders finish in the top 15 in the U23 M at Nove Mesto, so not a bad showing!
Right now is probably not the fairest time to do that comparison!
maybe, but the number of XC events hasn’t been any better for at least a decade. Yes there are a few pockets where you get slightly better availability, they are the exception though.
Unfortunately organising xc races is a thankless task - hard to find venues, expensive, lots of liability and falls on a small number of individuals rather than being a divvied out between road clubs like cx.
There seem to be more XC races than DH or enduro events in the UK.
Of the MTB disciplines, GB riders are most competitive at DH, which gets the least funding from BC.
Perhaps our thriving gravity scene attracts kids who'd otherwise maybe do XC?
Or perhaps BC's focus on road & track steers strong youngsters into those?
I know a fair few riders who would race XC including myself.
There are virtually no races though, certainly not enough to commit a season to unless you are prepared to travel lots all over the country.
Compare to CX where pre covid in the NE you could probably do 20 local races in a season. TT you can race most weekends. Road, if you don't mind crits is also good enough.
It feels like it is making a comeback off the back of CX. Definitely seeing numbers pick when I look at what riding people are doing. Without serious investment from BC (Ha!) it isn't going to get very far though. Grass roots cycling is still firmly reliant on volunteers. Maybe off the back of some very good CX racers at the minute we might see that pushed.
There’s 2 Crank-its this year at the smash ‘fest venue that is Lee Quarry and
Lee Quarry is a good racing venue, if you know how to ride the trails and prep the bike it's not as bad as people think it is. It's logistics that are the killer there. The typical Brownbacks event had 30 people up the hill making it happen.
CX has grown massively in the last 10 years - league races are maxed out with 120 riders in each category. It's accessible to all - women's races, kids etc. Races are organised by clubs.
The problem for XC MTB was that 30 years ago they effectively told BC they didn't want anything to do with them, could do their own thing / didn't want interference so they've reaped what they've sown. Most events are organised by businesses / private individuals and are often critically dependent on sponsorship and large numbers of volunteers. They often resent having to pay affiliation fees for BC and commissaires.
The other problem is that XCO races can be pretty boring TV - not much happens, the result often decided on the first lap - a few guys ride off the front into the woods and it gets decided from there.
Mostly true.
I think it was more mtbers didn't want to be part of the old school "club" scene. But unfortunately it was the club scene that produced the pool of people to organise and spread the workload. BC only understood the club way of doing stuff, so mtbers never saw BC(F) offering anything for them.
I still don't want to be in a club. I just do private member and help with the donkey work when cx and mtb events are close to home. And yes lugging poles up down and around Lee Quarry is knackering. And either freezing, soaking, windy or baking hot - never just right 🙂
Got to say the Nutcracker course marking is the easiest - little pink flags dropped / collected from a trials bike and satchel. But that relies on competitors being decent and not cutting corners.
To answer the OP question of why UK isn't that good at xc, I think there's an element of looking back to why we dropped off the xc scene (I have posted this in another thread so sorry if you're reading this again). In the early 90's we had David Baker, Tim Gould, Garry Foord, Caroline Alexander all who won world cups then Tim Davies, Nick Craig, Deb Murrell, Chris Young, Barry Clarke who all had top 10's at world cup level. Then a host of talent that was coming up through the juniors like Andrew Wright, Sam Humphreys, Alan Gunner, Matt Guy, Tracy Brunger, Ian Cuthbetson etc. We had riders to cheer on and look up to.
But by the mid 90's the UK were no longer a force in xc, now we know because the likes of Miguel Martinez, Philip Merharger, Micheal Rasmussen and the "Canadian Mafia" Ryder Hesjedal, Roland Green, Shamus Magrath etc where "super charged".
Thus the interest, results and names dropped away. The money disappeared, DH became more popular and present form of MTB racing in the UK MTB media and a lot of the XC riders moved to the road, as city centre crit racing was on TV and they could make money from racing unlikely MTB.
The same thing happened in the USA they like the UK are only just seeing the return of xc stars.
Hopefully Tom Pidcock can help move xc MTB racing back in the public eye and at least back into the eyes of the UK MTB media and riders.
Interesting bunch of responses here, and apologies for the duplication from the other thread.
I think the regional thing is why I didn’t really think XC races existed, with events quietly being held in my area.
It turns out I have a regional XC organisation group, which hold a few events per year. Ive thrown them a Facebook like and will probably enter the fun category, just to try and get a bit more involved.
But yeah, I’ve helped organise motorsport events, I appreciate the work that goes in, and if few come to the party (which it appears in some cases), it must be disheartening. I can also see how CX can be much easier to set up and run than XC, especially if there’s a bunch of bored roadies with nothing to do in winter, and not as much land area, or features are required.
Fantastic…it’s a start
I’m glad someone from BC read my post and realised they’re missing a trick 😂
The only reason I end up racing xc is because the army (and, to be fair, when they can be bothered, the navy and raf) put on regular events. Mostly it will be pretty tame in difficulty and on military land, but it's a regular fixture throughout the summer and means you can race on/off every Wednesday through the summer - xc one week, crit the next.
From talking to the others that go - mostly the quality of events, regularity, distance, faff and there being so little sense of progress against the UK road scene put them off.