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[url= http://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/riding-the-olympic-course/ ]Having already ridden the course,[/url] and written about it for this very website, I'm a little shocked by the news on there to be honest! I'd have said 2 things it didn't need were widening, or more climbing!
Anyway, I'm not a pro-elite level roadie masquerading as an MTB racer... 😉
Tongue in cheek comments aside though, guess it serves to show just how big the gulf is between the "ordinary" trail riders of us on here, and the real top level pro's. They want more climbing, and more passing places, as that's what's important to them! Odd world innit...
Sorry if this has already been posted/linked to, I've only just spotted it.
forgive my ignorance, what's happening to the course after the 'lympics?
is it being left as a permanent track?
Far more technical, hard and intresting as Pietermaritzburg, NOT !
The circuit is a joke for a Olympic event.
You ridden it? Raced many Olympic XC events?
I have ridden no Olympic events,but it does not look in the same league as the majority of UCI courses. I just hope the camera angles dont do it justice, looks very tame indeed, horrible on the eye being all man made as well.
Atlanta 1996 was a poo course, Sydney 2000 looked tech as with a few power climbs in it Athens 2004 looked good, Bejing 2008 was a great course. I will still try and go and watch the race, anyway gotta go, going out training for the 2016 event. Ciao.
looks kinda flat
I think it looks allright, especially as its in essex which isn't noted for it's hills 
I hope it's a permanent track as i'm only across the other side of the Thames and we could do with a venue to replace Eastway which was flattened to make way for the Olympic stadium. Karma and all that 💡
But then i'm not a world class athlete and most of my rides involve a pub stop 😆
I think it is going to be great to watch.
Just because its flat does not mean that the riders wont be working at their max.
I think its going to be close, with a lot of overtaking, forcing riders to take the harder lines.
Can't wait to watch!
Initially I was very sceptical, but the aim is for a race and tbh one of the most 'intense' courses I've ridden was at the evening races near Amersham at Lotts Wood.
[IMG] 
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No where to rest, barely anywhere to even grab a drink and with only a (max) 50m elevation.
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It's got more elevation than Beijing.
It is nothing like other UCI courses, that's intentional. A world cup will have 180 or so riders, this has no more than 50. A world cup course is not designed to be televised. The primary focus of this was to have it televised.
All the riders I know who rode the test event said it was great, I reckon it'll be excellent.
I think it looks great
The most boring bike race I've ever watched (this includes road cycling) on tv was the commonwealth xc race in the peak district, so it's not about location
looks kinda flat
Jesus Christ!
DOES ANYBODY READ THE PRINT? Or do you only look at the pictures?
There's 180m of altitude gain, over about 5km, per lap! Like I said, flat it ain't... Which is why I'm surprised they're set to put even more climbing in!
Dear Mr mboy , please don't let yourself get ...
[img] 
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🙂
There will always be the armchair experts ,who just don't get it.
Be at peace with this 😉
I thought the commonwealth xc race was at rivington?
Might have been,still boring to watch though
mboy - Member
Jesus Christ!DOES ANYBODY READ THE PRINT? Or do you only look at the pictures?
There's 180m of altitude gain, over about 5km, per lap! Like I said, flat it ain't... Which is why I'm surprised they're set to put even more climbing in!
are you saying it looks hilly?
erny, it was (just been round it this morning as it's on my door step) but singletrack keyboard warriors don't care much about detail 😀
Anyway, putting all aside I would still like to go and watch the Olympic race in our country. Anyone know if you can just "hop over" the fence and go and watch as i did not get tickets ?
xc racing is pretty poor viewing most of the time.
ive ridden the lotts wood course (pic above) and also been along to watch the racing. its a fun little loop to ride, but boring to watch racing
its tight twisty with few passing places (from riding it) so the race gets quickly strung out, and the tree cover means that you really only watch the riders pass twice per lap from any given vantage point. It would be a nightmare to try to broadcast the race.
im sure the olympic xc riders know what'll work best for a race and its likely to be different to the kind of riding i like to do.
either way im not expecting 'edge of the seat' tv veiwing of the event.
Anyone know if you can just "hop over" the fence and go and watch as i did not get tickets ?
🙄
All though I feel that the course builders have done a great job of creating what they have created on the largest mole hill Essex has to offer. It still looks pants! This country has so much more to offer!
This country has so much more to offer!
Do we [i]really [/i]have to do this again!?
It's not the England/UK Olympics, like it or not. It is the London Olympics, of which MTBing is a tiny part. In fact there are fewer tickets for the MTBing than any other event.
It's a race course, it's not designed to be ridden like a trail centre, it's designed to look good on TV and give good racing. Where would offer a better race? Bear in mind it's got to be <3 miles, so a big hill is no use at all, a race that goes up a hill, then back down, is very boring.
London Olympics? Are all the sailing events going to be held on the Thames???
[i]It's a race course, it's not designed to be ridden like a trail centre, it's designed to look good on TV and give good racing.[/i]
This.
This times a lot.
It's not you and your chubby, baggy, over-Camelbaked mates driving out to the nearest mountain biking hotspot with your 5 inch travel bikes with super light rotors to save rotating weight 🙄 and then pushing up the first incline and 'sessioning' the 'gnarr' before retiring to the pub/cafe to eat and drink three times more calories than you've burned off while slagging off roadies for not giving you a kiss everytime time they pass you.
It's a race.
Do we really have to do this again
No ,but by posting that ,the usual suspects will be along shortly 😉
London Olympics? Are all the sailing events going to be held on the Thames???
That's an exception. It was deemed that there are no closer facilities that are appropriate. Ditto the kayaking at Broxbourne and the rowing at Eton Dorney. What would another part of the country be able to offer that Hadleigh Farm doesn't? Serious question.
They wanted to move the shooting to Bisley, but that was deemed too far away.
[i]It would be a nightmare to try to broadcast the race.[/i]
I wasn't think of Lotts Wood, more making the point that you don't need height for a good race - and having one that is good for spectators' should be secondary.
[ It was deemed that there are no closer facilities that are appropriate]
This I feel would have been the appropriate conclusion for essex regarding mtb!
are you saying it looks hilly?
Dunno whether to laugh or cry!
I'm not saying it looks hilly, I'm saying I've ridden it and there is a hell of a lot of ascent and descent per lap. It's not a trail centre, where you typically spend ages climbing a big hill, then 10 minutes descending it. It is constant up and down. 180m of climbing per 5km lap is ferociously steep. By contrast, I did a 35km ride over the Malverns yesterday with approximately 850m of climbing all in, and that was sharp. If it was the same rate as the Olympic course, it would have been more like 1250m of climbing I did yesterday instead...
Again, as already stated above, it is a race course, for elite level athletes, it's not supposed to be a nice friendly trail centre, it's supposed to provide exciting racing (which is quite different to exciting riding) and be good for TV coverage. The fact that most people won't ride it yet will still slate it is by the by... If the most popular trails were actually the best trails, Llandegla would win by a country mile, whereas the reality is aside from a couple of black bits that add a bit of interest, Llandegla is so boring and smooth you need a road bike to make most of it at all interesting!
[ It was deemed that there are no closer facilities that are appropriate]
This I feel would have been the appropriate conclusion for essex regarding mtb!
Maybe so... But it is where it is. No changing that.
The fact that Martyn Salt and his team have done a brilliant job of creating a testing XC race track with the modest facilities and terrain present, is highly commendable.
Are all the people on here that say that the course isn't up to scratch/in the wrong place the same dullards that post the exact same tosh on the Bike Radar threads etc?
Its Elite XC racing at the London Olympics, not fat pseudo middle class IT workers walking round anything uphill/technical at a trail centre.
I've just done a 25km ride out of cheltenham that I was fairly happy with and contained a good amount (in my eyes) of climbing - 840m worth. That works out at 160m per 5km. If this olympic loop is 180m/5km then i'm pretty impressed and I'll take back any thoughts about it being too flat.
I did say originally that I thought the course builders had done a good job of creating what they had, with what thay were given. I will even go on to say that I would quite happily go and have a go round it after the olympics has been and gone. thou i feel they are going to sanitize it far to much. The chicken runs are allready there, alot of us mtb'ers are capable of riding the same course as a pro xc rider, even if we do enjoy weekend blasts around trail centers!!!
This I feel would have been the appropriate conclusion for essex regarding mtb!
Rubbish. Comparing the 2 is ridiculous, you can do mountain biking just about anywhere, sailing requires very specific terrain. Again, where would you have the XC, and what would it offer that Hadleigh Farm doesn't?
The "chicken" runs are there indeed, but certainly on one or two sections, only the very best riders actually attempted some of the harder lines. In the test event, didn't Julien Absalon win being one of, of not the only rider to clear all the difficult lines.
I wouldn't worry about the sanitisation. Much of it does look open/wide/flat on camera cos there are sections that are, but you need to be technically very competent to be happy riding all of the more difficult lines. Not saying its beyond the reach of everyone, but it is beyond the capability of most. So to win the event, you will need to not only have the legs of the best TDF climbers, but also be very skilled and not afraid to take a risk. It will definitely make for good racing!
Wales, Wales, Wales, Wales. Yes you can cycle anywhere, but the m in mtb doesn't stand for mole hill. £800 000 would have given the allready thriving mtb scene a very usefull boost
Right, what would Wales offer instead? Bear in mind it can't be a course that disappears over a mountain and comes back 60 minutes later. You don't want one big climb, that's dull. It can't all be singletrack, there's no passing. It must look good on tv, so dense forests don't work. You have to be able to get the worlds media in there, so nothing on silly back roads.
So you'd have to design a new course right by the M4... Why go to Wales?
As has been said, there's more elevation here than plenty of other areas, including most Welsh trail centres...
When are Wales (Yes I know it's a country not a city) going to put a bid in to host the Olympics?
Scotland has way better riding than Wales, so if we're going to suggest inappropriate places with poor access, then we should at least start with the best 🙂
The Alps are better than both, as are many places in Canada, so why not go there?
When are Wales (Yes I know it's a country not a city) going to put a bid in to host the Olympics?
Wales isn't a country...
Edit: ... eligible to bid for the Olympics independently.
Yer right, it's the arse end of England #baddumtish
You know what i have to reply with now don't you!!!
North Downs, South Downs, Swinley. All have equal if not more elevation and have the advantage of creating more natural trail surfacing.
This is like saying, the roads round mid/north wales are far better for driving on than Silverston so why don't they hold a F1 race there!
It's a custom made televisual sporting arena, it's been designed with elite athletes in mind and they like it, they want it widened in places for more overtaking. Who is (pretty much) anyone on here to comment on how good a professional sports arena is?
Your'll be sad to know I've got to go now.
My final words, not that there worth much, Having the xc mtb in Essex is like having the clay pidgeon shooting down the local Quazar center!
Bye 😈
Did you go to The School of Cock with Frank Black?
it's designed to look good on TV .
Why?
mboy - Member
Dunno whether to laugh or cry!I'm not saying it looks hilly
so why the 'jesus christ' at my observation it looks flat?
Having been to the Olympic MTB venue and seen the test event there, I'd be willing to bet that very few people on here could get round one lap dab free. It is brutal. Very tough, very technical and with a lot of climbing. It's also a brilliant natural arena with most of the course visible from three vantage points. Therefore it's a big win for the Olympics. Close to London, good legacy potential, great for spectators and for TV.
Rossi46 wrote: we could do with a venue to replace Eastway which was flattened to make way for the Olympic stadium. Karma and all that
Errr...you do know Hog Hill bike centre has hosted Beastway/Eastway for a few years now! Anyway they're discussing returning to the Olympic site by 2013, once they can configure off-road tracks which won't come into conflict with pedestrians during race season.
I was at the launch event the other day, I wont comment on the technicality of the course as I didnt ride it ( I was shooting pictures) but the climbs looked pretty sharp, I was chatting to Grant Ferguson for a bit and he reckoned he would probably cover seven laps during the race, so that would be around 1250 metres of climbing in about an hour and a half ( if I remember correctly) which is plently IMO.
Because you didn't read anything, just looked at a couple of pics, then posted comments!
nick1962 - Member
it's designed to look good on TV .Why?
Sorry about the dirty cut and paste, but FYI
Olympic Games Broadcast Viewing Levels
Cumulative Audience *
1988 Seoul 10.4 billion
1992 Barcelona 16.6 billion
1996 Atlanta 19.6 billion
Total Viewer Hours **
2000 Sydney 36.1 billion
2004 Athens 34.4 billion
That's a lot of people. Hadleigh Downs has both a picturesque 12th century castle ruin and a decent view over the Thames estuary. Given that the Thames is an icon for London, I reckon the opportunity to show it as part of an event was a big selling point for the venue. Expect long sweeping views [s]omitting the crystal castles and Canvey Island[/s] and maybe discussions about the Kent marshland of Dickens etc.
Dunno what to think about this, they probably couldn't do whatever they wnated, but on hte other side, no-one is going to look at the MTB even during the olympics. To be fair the more I see/look at XC racing the more I think it's actually pants and should be held with road racing as bikes are very similar and nothing alike enduro/DH bikes. But hey I am sure njee will be here soon to tell me I am wrong and I know nowt.
Some of the footie is at Hampden Park in Glasgow.. That's pretty close to London,
London Road that is..
This is similar to all the threads you see about Mountain Mayhem along the lines of "it's not MTBing, it's just riding round a field, why don't they hold it at [insert random trail centre]"
This is not the MTBing that you do where you pitch up to a trail centre, push up the climbs, mince down some red, talk bollocks about how gnarr-core you all were, faff with suspension, then retire to the cafe to eat cake.
The venue has to accommodate 40,000 spectators plus the worlds media so it has to be near some good travel links. It has to look good on TV so great big long trail centre courses in forestry land are not an option. It has to comply with strict IOC and UCI guidelines with respect to course length, number and severity of technical sections, amount of climbing per lap, approx race distance in a set time, the requirement that it can't turn into a mud bath at the first hint of rain and the fact that the course also has to be "sterile" for a year before the Games so you can't go closing off an entire trail centre in Wales or Scotland or a section of the Surrey Hills. Can just imagine the complaints on here if that happened!
The ONLY option is to custom build it and the venue they've got is pretty much perfect. Close to London, good transport, nice natural arena, easy crowd control, good for TV, a fantastic course which is VERY testing and will produce a worthy winner and all completely controllable.
As an added bonus, there is a new legacy facility created for afterwards, a new venue that can be used for grass roots racing, maybe a skills centre, a youth cycling venue - it'll need some modification afterwards cos frankly it's too technical for most people (even the riding gods of the STW forum) but what's not to like?!
How many people slagging it off have actually been there, have seen the racing that it can give? I have been there and watched the racing and it was a fantastic day out. The main complaint about XC racing is that it looks dull on TV or even in person. This didn't. It was bloody great, action wherever you looked.
Hello again.
It's no more technical than Laggan, and will make xc mtb look about as spectacular as synchronised swimming! but hey ho the cameras will catch it all with back drops of a big river and a rather large oil refinery.
Oh yea is the M4 realy classed as a back road???
No, but my point is that if you're building a brand new course, why build it in Wales when Essex is just as suitable, and far closer.
Some of the footie is at Hampden Park in Glasgow.. That's pretty close to London,
Some of the qualifying matches yes, all the finals are in London. Not unreasonable to me.
. To be fair the more I see/look at XC racing the more I think it's actually pants and should be held with road racing as bikes are very similar and nothing alike enduro/DH bikes. But hey I am sure njee will be here soon to tell me I am wrong and I know nowt.
I'm not gonna get involved with a petty slagging match over disciplines because that's ridiculous, but I imagine XC is in the Olympics as its the only discipline you can plausibly 'build' a course for. You're spot on about no one watching it, can you really imagine Olympic Enduro, over several days?! I'd also say that it has the highest level of participation globally, certainly more than Enduro.
As for XC race bikes looking more like road bikes than Enduro bikes... 🙄
It will be interesting to see how good the media coverage will be compaired to other uci events.
More cameras for sure! The whole course should be covered theoretically. It'll still look dull I suspect, but it's an inherently uninteresting thing to watch generally!
It's a good job dh isn't an olympic sport. they'd have had to race down the inside of the post office tower!
over several days?
I have yet to enter a several day enduro race, all the one I have done are one day races.
I'd also say that it has the highest level of participation globally, certainly more than Enduro.
Once again sweeping generalisation. I guess it depends if you're in Essex or somewhere else.
This is not the MTBing that you do where you pitch up to a trail centre, push up the climbs, mince down some red, talk bollocks about how gnarr-core you all were, faff with suspension, then retire to the cafe to eat cake.
those are my favourite bits...
those are my favourite bits...
Just a hunch, but I'm guessing you're not an elite level XC racer? 😉