[Closed] Why are GB so good at DH and so bad at XC on the world mtb stage?

I suppose some of the talent is lost to the road, but not all of surely?

Give it a couple of years - Isla Short will be old enough to compete in the big World Cups !

XC is a huge sport in most European nations with a lot more funding and a team structure, so you would expect them to dominate.

I think because it rains a lot, and we have such a range of different riding conditions. Lots of "downhillers" from other countries seem to be fine in the dry, but struggle in the wet. In the UK, if you can't ride in the wet, er, you don't ride!

Our weather, however works against us for XC, where fitness and training are totally key, and that means riding as long and as much as possible. Rain, cold, and dark evenings make training a lot harder compared to someone who lives in a better climate.

Most UK dh courses are short so people build them as gnarly as possible. Plus it's wet most of the time.

Also it's easier to learn speed than gnarly.

That's what I recon

National DH races are the most cutting edge in the world you get the worlds best racers coming to them, look at the fort William BDS.

National XC races the least cutting edge in the world, Sherwood Pines had to have a wooden plank added to it to make it remotely technical.

British cycling puts all its money into drop handlebars, which attracts kids, DH is just really cool so attracts kids leaving XC to have all the rejects.

I think because it rains a lot, and we have such a range of different riding conditions. Lots of "downhillers" from other countries seem to be fine in the dry, but struggle in the wet. In the UK, if you can't ride in the wet, er, you don't ride!

Our weather, however works against us for XC, where fitness and training are totally key, and that means riding as long and as much as possible. Rain, cold, and dark evenings make training a lot harder compared to someone who lives in a better climate.

That's true for roadies as well though, and we've got a few of those doing OK...

Do BC not tend to shepherd any XC talent towards road and/or track? They're increasingly keen on CX now too, no doubt another tidy route to persuading MTBers into wider forms of drop bared racing...

Whereas they're a bit les involved in DH, and DH has sort of grown it's own commercial/competitive structure with minimal input from the old duffer squad...

Plus XC lost some of its appeal in the late 90s when it all got a bit bouncy bikes and riser bars...

Hmm the bit about courses is an interesting one....I raced a round of the Nationals at Sherwood once-never again! It was little more than a crit! Still, the Elite race was won by Emil Lindgren-a pretty big name in xc racing. I believe that at that time, Dalby was hosting a round of the worlds as well as the nationals, so we at least did have a decent standard course. Does racing still happen there?

In the UK we ride uphill to ride downhill. In Europe they ride uphill but prefer to roll back down the road than take the singletrack route back down. Weirdos

I heard this in Andorra last year.

You also have to look at the guys with the skills to make it into the top at downhill, are more likely to feed into motocross and skiing/snowboarding in north america and the alpine nations.

DH is fun and cool. The uk mtb media has always supported it and from around the mid nighties kinda dropped xc abit. Media attention helped lots of riders profiles and built us a number of good uk riders. New, young riders look upto these guys in the media and want to be them. And so on and on generation after generation.

Tracks are built, young riders learn on them, then make them tougher. The next kids learn on these and make them tougher. Generation after generation get better.

DH had coverage, coverage brought sponsorship, sponsorship brought high profile uk riders. Youngsters wanted to be them, tracks got better, excellent national series got tougher and some of them uk riders gave back to the sport.

Steve Peat - Marc Beaumont, Brenbon fairclough, josh b

Will Longden-Manons team manager

Chain reactions team manager-nigel page.

Etc etc

Both the atherton bros have said in interviews when they were growing up wanting to beat our top riders etc.

Its just left us with a legacy that I hope continues.

Where ad in xc it just didnt happen after our heyday years of early nighties when we were world beaters.

Hmm the bit about courses is an interesting one....I raced a round of the Nationals at Sherwood once-never again! It was little more than a crit! Still, the Elite race was won by Emil Lindgren-a pretty big name in xc racing. I believe that at that time, Dalby was hosting a round of the worlds as well as the nationals, so we at least did have a decent standard course. Does racing still happen there?

Yup you can still ride most of it, although the course is essentialy made up of the optional black bits on the normal trail, and some even steeper/rougher bits, and some bits you can't ride as they cross the main trail.

I think part of the problem is that XC is percieved as uncool in this country. People would rather be overbiked with a trail/enduro bike for an XC ride, than risk being identified as an XC rider.

If the national XC series was more like the BDS with near world standard courses then I reckon people would be more inclined to give it a go, the typical world cup XC course looks more technical than a lot of the Enduro tracks!

Though experiment... what would the result be, if Team Sky decided to run a World Cup XC team?

Is it a money thing? To be fit enough to ride at the top of XC, you'd be fit enough to ride pro road which pays much more.

My friend who used to ride for NZ both DH and XC was asking the Athertons recently why we are so good. Their take on it was that typically UK riders ride short(2 mins max) technical tracks very fast. We are good at speed (isn't Peaty still often fastest through the traps?). Euro/N American riders have longer runs and often have great stamina. Find some UK nutters with a bit of juice in the legs and presto.
Could be cobblers...

Cos you can drink in DH and xc not so much. Who wants to give up drink...

I do think, xc racing in the UK, has a bit of an image problem.
It doesn't get much exposure, and this means kids are less likely to get into it/stick with it.

I think it's because XC is teh gay lol.

Are xc courses in the UK up to the technical standards of mainland Europe? I was marshaling a summer xc race and was surprised at the lack of tech abilityof the majority of non elite level riders. Roughly a Red grade tail gave a large number of riders problems, even after 3 laps.

You also have to look at the guys with the skills to make it into the top at downhill, are more likely to feed into motocross...

Edit... Hang in, might of misinterpreted that. Yeah, lots of kids ride motorbikes rather than bicycles but that's as true in the UK as anywhere else.

XC was cool once, I am thinking the Malvern Classic early days era. Saying that it was one bike for everything pretty much! Euros love road and cross, so I reckon culturally from an early age it's acceptable to break out the Lycra. Here kids want to hang about the woods or ramps at the rec, smoke weed and do jumps. Either that or become footballers.

UK courses are very varied.

Some could be technical but seem to miss out the best bits for some reason (Margam) others have one or two techy bits but nothing scary (Redruth) and others are a bit mental when ridden properly fast (Hadleigh).

My fave was always Dalby but that's gone now, I think as it was so expensive to run a race there.

Some though, like Sherwood this year, are just crap.

GB

Lycra

We are going to do a tech fest xc race this year, details shortly! Got to get the Feb cx race done first, details very soon!

Fundamentally, learning skill maybe perceived as less of a barrier to gain entry into the sport than gaining fitness.

Now I'm not saying the DH pros aren't fit, they most definitely are but DH is skill first fitness later. XC is the opposite. I think that makes DH seems more accessible for those to try the sport than XC riders.

DH is fast, cool and looks a lot more chilled out than the marathon of xc and so I wonder if that has lead to the imbalance when attracting the next champ.

We are going to do a tech fest xc race this year, details shortly! Got to get the Feb cx race done first, details very soon!

What does this mean? An XC race with hard stuff in it?

what would the result be, if Team Sky decided to run a World Cup XC team?

I doubt they woudl though. There's no TV coverage because XC racing, much as I like doing it, is a fundamentally terrible spectator sport!

I think as a nation we have more nutters that are good at going downhill fast than calculated über fitness freaks. I like the DH nutters, but it's a shame XC is so shunned by the youth. It's all about the uplift these days!

I think that there should be camera riders, which can capture footage like the motorbikes do for road races!

Yes mol, An xc race with tough stuff in. Dalby certainly an inspiration and Malvern for the older guys!

I'm in. Where is it? And will I be better off on my XC racer or my 5? 🙂

Perhaps a part of it, a small theory based on very little evidence other than I have lived 'in Europe' for a few years now, is that for example here in Sweden, people are outdoors more often, and for longer than the UK. A great deal of people run, ski, cross country ski , hike, do orienteering and spend time in the forest in general. People here are fitter, from a young age. Endurance sports are more common.

Downhill, when you start is a kid, is not really endurance, it's kind if the next step from bezzing round on your Bmx, local woods etc before heading home for tea and Neighbours.

I don't think that is really the case in the UK. That's probably total rubbish but hey ho

I'm not saying it't the answer, but....

... You don't need as much space for a DH track as you do for an xc course, so they are more likely to get built. The xc riding that there is is either miles away or full of walkers because everyone has to share a relatively small network of trails. Plus, the access laws in England are crap, although that doesn't explain the lack of Scots.

Cotswolds, new unridden location. Nothing that can't be ridden by a half handy rider on a HT who doesn't mind a bit of climbing and getting their bum on the rear tyre from time to time!

DH is fun and cool

I hate to break this to you, but MTBing in any form is currently not cool (which should be patently obvious from the fact that that this forum is largely populated by middle-aged chubby blokes, myself included). Road cycling, OTOH...

Any xc rider who shows promise seems to go over to road racing and i guess thats because you can make good money there...

Just seen that I stopped the first paragraph of my OP mid sentence 😳

I was going to make the point that in terms of participation, there are huge numbers of entries in xc races so getting people involved isn't the problem.

I remember back in the early 90's when the UK was a force in XC - David Baker, Barrie Clarke, Caroline Alexander, etc - and everybody was moaning about the lack of credible DH riders. At this time this was put down to our lack of mountains!

Jason McRoy proved that it could be done by a kid from Sunderland and his success directly led to our current DH dynasty.

I think the problem with XC is money, or lack of potential reward. Any teenager showing XC potential can't help but see what they could earn on the track or the road. British Cycling is complicit with this as funding is biased towards those disciplines where there is a decent Olympic medal prospect. Sadly for XC, success breeds success and right now there is none. DH is not really on British Cycling's radar and is more healthy for it.

Got to be money.

No one watches XC so no one sponsors therefore you cant make a career of it.

Plus an XC pro will ride as many road miles as a roadie so why bother getting muddy? When you can do road and get paid more money.

Any pics of Caroline Alexander ? she was lovely and fast and i think raced Klein's

My old mental image might be a bit rose tinted 🙂

We still have some decent names on the xc scene. As said, Isla short just finished 7th ( after a bad crash when she was 30 secs of the lead) should be big ( no pun intended) very shortly. Grant ferguson, kenta gallacher will do well altho kenta maybe go to the enduro scene. Along with other names like Lee Craigie, Annie Last, think we will have some success soon, and majority of it Scottish. The bad thing about xc is the scene ( especially here in Scotland which is ironic since most of the talent coming through is Scottish) is its pretty small. Alot of organising and cash for a short race. The road scene is getting bigger though

Steve Peat

Pretty cool Image

Uplifts - to get on them you mostly have to race

Competition breeds competition - we have one of the best race series in the World

we're a small country with a great scene. Compared to say USA or France it's really cheap to do the National series as there's little travelling involved.

We ride all year because it doesn't snow much leading to good mud skills and and advantage over the countries who go skiing all winter. Can also start the season with more real riding done over winter.

XC has an image problem in comparison

I don't think the money thing is it as there are only a handful of riders that get to do it for a living even in DH. Though it may just be a perception thing.

Did I mention Peaty?

DH isn't an Olympic sport, so it doesn't really matter 😉

Countries like France have a huge club XC racing scene that the UK doesn't - British MTB riders seem to prefer riding alone or with a few mates rather than join clubs.

French riders go out in big packs at the weekend on designated routes and they're competitive because of it. The clubs are all affiliated to a huge national organisation (the FFC) and there are frequent races with decent prizes.

It's funny that people mention Peaty and only seem to associate him with DH, of course Peaty started off racing XC, then XC and DH, and then finally when DH was a viable stand alone profession he made that switch.

Of course the only real answer to XC's waining popularity has to be Gravity Enduro IMO, depending on your point of view it's either a sexier version of XC, or DH that requires a bit more stamina and forward planning...

XCE just isn't going to capture people's attention and #Enduro is a better reflection of the kind of day to day riding many of us want to do here in the UK, just like Peatie's career has followed a few riding trends I think the next couple of generations of MTBers will probably have different interests and aspirations to those that they follow.

That's not a bad thing, it's just progression...

The club system tells a lot, living here in Oz MTB clubs are the only way to go. Think about what was available to you over the summer.
We have 5 1hr Wednesday night races over summ
3 2hr races
a 4 hr
a 6 hr
a 80km Marathon
a 2 day XC race

LAUNCESTONMOUNTAINBIKECLUB.COM "http://www.launcestonmountainbikeclub.com/uploads/3/0/7/2/30724073/calendar2014_15_version5.pdf"

Most of that is ridable from town all is within 2hrs.
On top of that we have 2x 4 day stage races, one every 2 years the other is one of the riches races in Oz with $16,000 of prizes http://www.hellfirecup.com/prizes/ in it's first year it attracted a host of world and national XC racers and XCE world champion Paul Van de Plough.
There is a mirrored programme going on down the road in Hobart for the local stuff. The same all over Australia. Participation is not just easy it's kind of expected.

But we struggle to get a DH series running, getting enough people to race, organise and help is tough.

As a late comer to competitive riding, I must say xc is (perceived to be by me at least) far more accessible than the road racing scene.
As regards to the image thing, xc appeals to the roadie in me without having to ride an ugly drop-barred slither of a bike 😀

Without trying to sound like an old fart - BITD there were a few regional series, SAMS,NEMBA, Midlands, Welsh and you could race virtually every weekend of the summer months. Then organiser's overheads started creeping up,this was passed on to the competitors and field sizes started dwindling - plus the longer races became more popular. XC has made a bit of a comeback, but not like that seen previously.

Thems were da days

[img] [/img]

We still have some decent names on the xc scene. As said, Isla short just finished 7th ( after a bad crash when she was 30 secs of the lead) should be big ( no pun intended) very shortly. Grant ferguson, kenta gallacher will do well altho kenta maybe go to the enduro scene. Along with other names like Lee Craigie, Annie Last, think we will have some success soon, and majority of it Scottish

Isla Short maybe, Kenta's jacked in XC racing - as you say, perhaps going to Enduro. Grant Ferguson and Annie Last are good, but not quite there, much like Liam Killeen. Lee Craigie's among the older riders in the field.

They're all good, but (Isla perhaps aside) they're not setting the world stage on fire.

Isla Short maybe, Kenta's jacked in XC racing - as you say, perhaps going to Enduro. Grant Ferguson and Annie Last are good, but not quite there, much like Liam Killeen. Lee Craigie's among the older riders in the field.

They're all good, but (Isla perhaps aside) they're not setting the world stage on fire.

Lee Cragie has retired I believe. Out on a high after the Commonwealth games.
Grant is most definitely [i]there[/i]. Several podiums at World Cups in U23. This weekend is a very bike weekend for him. I know for a fact that he is being coerced to ride on the road.

The top brits (Kenda, Grant & Annie) all went to race for a Dutch team as there wasn't a team with a big enough budget to support professional riders.

The sport in the UK has no money because there is no TV coverage.
Other countries it is very different.

When I was racing back in the 90’s the fields at XC races were massive, you could easily get 300+ people on the start line of a NEMBA sports race and quite a few of those had ridden the downhill and sometimes the hill-climb the previous day on their rigid bike with 1.5” spesh hardpacks. At that time that [i]was[/i] mountain biking.

Foot and mouth had a massive impact, XC racing was put on hold and most people turned to road racing and realized that it was better regulated, better organized and cheaper so when XC came back it was more difficult to attract competitors back.

Speeder - Member
Steve Peat
Pretty cool Image
Uplifts - to get on them you mostly have to race

Huh??? Have to race to get on uplift???

Thinking on this further (I used to be involved in organising XC racing now run Enduros) I think that the type of racing that happens in Europe has evolved up here in Scotland, good technical courses, a club structure like Europe developing in the Tweed Valley.

However environmental factors if you like, are making it difficult. The SXC is dying (sorry but it has to be said) due to increased costs, the FCS putting their hands out more aggressively each year, the councils getting knickers in a knot about safety after some recent unfortunate and sad events. Scotland is big and doesn't have a lot of roads, so the costs to do a whole race series in Scotland are getting higher, and the SXC gets less viable each year. Of course, they could do the whole series in the central belt/borders, but nobody listened to me years ago when I said that on the committee so I doubt anybody will now, and anyway, I am the enemy for running succesful and super awesome Enduro events.

It worked for a while in England with the model of "Make it easy, pack em in" flat grassy field XC racing, but Enduro is just making that even more super-lame than it is. So you have a weird situation where top European riders are lured to race pants courses by a C1 prize fund in the south of England as it is easier to get to and BC put up the cash.

And I don't think the answer is as simple as "DH is much cooler, bro" if ony it was that simple. And it isn't cooler. It is however more of a spectator sport, something UCI are trying to address but has sadly gone very wrong with the XC Eliminator events.

XC should be stronger, it has so much more going for it, especially for young kids, it is a much safer environment for them than the road or track. Just needs more support.

I think it's probably due to the drugs we take in the UK.

mtbmatt - Member

The sport in the UK has no money because there is no TV coverage.

Really? There's next to no (real) TV coverage for downhill and absolutely none for enduro but those sports overcome that.

The normal explanation is that XC is expensive to televise and boring to watch but I'm not convinced there's really such a link between television and participation personally.

I've never raced in Scotland so can't comment, ditto Wales although I know that they had loads of problems keeping the Welsh xc series running. My local series seems to keep going from strength to strength though.....7 rounds to the Midlands xc this year, there were 4 back in 2011 when I last raced.

XC should be stronger, it has so much more going for it, especially for young kids, it is a much safer environment for them than the road or track. Just needs more support.

This.
I think its really accessible for young kids right now. Most xc or longer races typically have kids races as well for most ages. We've got a new kids skills and racing club just starting locally. (Thanks Hannah at Pedal 2 Pedal), so hopefully we'll have a decent group of kids wanting to race. My son is really keen and I can't think of a better and more fun way into the sport than racing xc.

I hope this kids level grass-roots approach is backed up later as the kids get older, but certainly, get them interested young and it can only help.

I have to agree with hels and NW...

TV coverage is pretty irrelevant, road cycling is getting some telly time now, mostly because of recent success and the rise of the MAMIL, but I can't see it going beyond a certain level. MTBing's popularity used to be driven by magazines, that's given way to the internet for the most part, but its still the same issue, DH/FR/GE/etc all look sexier in photos and videos than XC...

Maybe having all of the kids races impacts on the quality of xc races? What categories are usually raced at a downhill races?

I think there are lots of reasons, but the main one is that XC racing is hard work and there seems to be a slacker-attitude in this country where riding up hill is concerned, then there's all the XC / 29ers / hardtails are gay nonsense.
It saddens me as I love watching the XC world cups etc and we don't have anyone able to compete at that level now, nevermind challenge for a place!
Maybe there's more to British Cycling steering promising youngsters towards the road than I thought, as there's a healthy bunch of up and coming roadies - but then, road racing is enjoying huge popularity now.

There are some decent young riders coming through though - like Alex Welburn, who's just taken the Midlands XC series. He's fast as yer like and has the handling skills to back it up. 🙂
Lets have some more please!

There were 50+ children from 2 to 16 racing round a daft grass circuit in Scarborough on Saturday and loving it so it is done. (it's meant to be a gateway to harder racing hence easy courses). Series of 6 to finish with a bit of Singletrack in Dalby at the end of the month.

All the other Go Ride stuff in the North East tends to start from about 6/7 years of age and be a bigger course (ie the next level). Not knocking it mind but the model Richardsons have done is excellent fun.
We also have road racing at the local circuit from age of 3/4 although not managed to get along to that yet.

Scarborough Go Ride

So you have a weird situation where top European riders are lured to race pants courses by a C1 prize fund in the south of England as it is easier to get to and BC put up the cash.

Scottish chip on your shoulder aside, where does that happen? The first NPS is usually somewhere in the middle of the country because it gets the highest entry numbers. They are a commercial enterprise at the end of day, and whilst the Scots whine and moan year on year, whenever they host a round the entry numbers are down. Sherwood may be shit from a technical perspective, but a) it's not in the south and b) a lot of people turn up to race it.

A number of race organisers have also commented that actually whilst a minority of vocal riders will ask for more technical courses, again it actually puts off more riders than it encourages - entry numbers suffer if you make it really tough.

Chicken and egg situation that one, and I don't think [i]anyone [/i]actually wants to race around a field, luckily I've only done that once - in Wales - it was atrocious! But I think we're getting into a relatively sensible grading system - local races have nothing technical, and encourage a high number of fun/open riders, regional stuff has a few technical features and a shift to more quick riders, national races (certain courses aside) are more technical again and encourage an increasing number of European riders.

I think BC shepherding anyone quick onto the road is the biggest single reason we don't have a load of world champions.

Scottish DH isn't actually in a great place right now, there was a time when you'd have to enter within 30 seconds of the entries going live to get a place but now they're barely half filling races. As mentioned above, at one point there wasn't a great deal of uplifts happening so racing was a way to get a weekends uplift, not the case now and with the rise of ENDURO less people are racing DH in Scotland. This is bound to have an affect on the national series in the long run. It's difficult to say why we're better on the world stage though, probably just sheer blind luck more than anything.

It'd be a mistake to underestimate just how strong the boys are that are competitively racing DH.

A few places are making an effort to boost the difficulty of the courses - more in line with what you might find on the international circuit:

We'll see Isla Short on a world podium soon

My friend who used to ride for NZ both DH and XC was asking the Athertons recently why we are so good. Their take on it was that typically UK riders ride short(2 mins max) technical tracks very fast. We are good at speed (isn't Peaty still often fastest through the traps?). Euro/N American riders have longer runs and often have great stamina. Find some UK nutters with a bit of juice in the legs and presto.
Could be cobblers...

I have to agree that you're onto something there, the best UK DHer's do seem to arise whenever a team manages to somehow combine 'evidently tapped in the head' with 'can be cajoled, poked or bullied into spending several hours a day in the gym'.

See Josh Bryceland for details.

Mind you, 10 years ago we were all saying something pretty similar about the flat pedal Aussies (Hill, Rennie, Kovarik etc) they rocked up, and for a while they simply had bigger bollocks than anyone else.

Doesn't the image of XC have a massive affect too?

Most MTB riders seem to associate themselves with DH/Enduro/Freeride style culture and clothing. Yet XC appears (as an outsider) to be a load of Lycra-wearing roadies on hardtails. It just doesn't look cool...

Respect and Kudos to the guys/gals doing XC as the skills and fitness involved are massive, but why is XC so 'different' to mainstream MTBing? Wouldn't XC attract more attention, support and interest from the mainstream, if it adopted a page out of the book of some of the gravity disciplines in terms of style and culture?

What's weird is that for many MTBers, XC is possibly the most closely aligned to the actual riding they typically do on a weekend (far more than say DH)...yet it just seems that XC is a different culture and not something the average joe wants to emulate. I don't see people rushing to watch that latest cool XC video and I don't think it's just because of the actual riding...

Respect and Kudos to the guys/gals doing XC as the skills and fitness involved are massive, but why is XC so 'different' to mainstream MTBing?

That's the odd thing - because to me, that is mainstream MTBing (although I don't race anymore.) That's how it was when I started and it's still what I'm into now.
I just don't get the whole DH / Freeride / Enduro thing - it's as far away from what I like about cycling as BMX and motocross. Just alien to me.

XC has remained popular pretty much ever where else, so it must be something about the UK mtb culture. Personally I think the likes of the mags (MBUK in particular) moving away from XC and then slagging it had a major effect on the youngsters. And the old timers were looking for something less time consuming and moved onto 24 hour events, which had a spectacular rise in popularity from the late 90s to mid 00's.

SXC gets less viable each year. Of course, they could do the whole series in the central belt/borders,

These type of comments are unhelpful since it is supposed to be National Series, and people do live north or Perth. However, there is something in making sure races are close to centers of population. The National cyclocross race outside Aberdeen was well attended last year, and I expect it to be again this year.

XC has remained popular pretty much ever where else, so it must be something about the UK mtb culture. Personally I think the likes of the mags (MBUK in particular) moving away from XC and then slagging it had a major effect on the youngsters

Yup.

What's weird is that for many MTBers, XC is possibly the most closely aligned to the actual riding they typically do on a weekend (far more than say DH)...yet it just seems that XC is a different culture and not something the average joe wants to emulate. I don't see people rushing to watch that latest cool XC video and I don't think it's just because of the actual riding...

Agreed - but people seem to differentiate between 'XC' and 'trail' riding, where XC is about riding through fields and what not, which is weird. I remember Dirt (IIRC) writing an article about riding in the Surrey Hills and calling it "Aggressive trail" or something like that - riding up the hills, and then "attacking the descents" or some such bollocks. Basically what XC riding is, in an area full of hundreds of people riding XC, but deluding themselves with a different marketing term for it.

In Europe the archetypal XC is more common - rim braked bikes with 120mm stems aren't unheard of, lycra is ubiquitous etc. In Germany they're restricted to riding largely on fireroads in a lot of places, so perhaps it's unsurprising that riding to flatter that sort of terrain has prospered.

passtherizla - Member
Huh??? Have to race to get on uplift???

not so much any more with FlUp and Pearce and Gawton but there was a time that it was pretty much just Pearce and a few Dragon practice days which were fullo of racers and it kind of rubbed off. . . .

Agreed - but people seem to differentiate between 'XC' and 'trail' riding

I find that odd too. XC means cross-country after all... 😆
Perhaps most people see XC as just meaning XC Racing - whereas others - like myself, see it as trail riding, where you don't get off and push up hills or sit around at the top before heading down, or session jumps - as well as just the racing part.

So what are 'we' going to do about it?
Is there more scope for using alternative lines during races so you either take the death-defying short route and save time or do an extra hundred yard grassy slalom down an easy bit??

Can some of the 'new money' cyclists be swayed away from their uncomfortable road bikes and on to some of the most versatile bikes in exsistance- a 29" h/t?? 🙂

Is there more scope for using alternative lines during races so you either take the death-defying short route and save time or do an extra hundred yard grassy slalom down an easy bit??

That's happening more and more. Literally at Hadleigh - the rock garden B-line was a grassy slalom.

Most Southern XC races have had features with slower b-lines, clearly rewarding the braver/better riders.

It's an evolving sport and activity.

I don't get lots of things about xc racing; the ego, the travelling, the courses that basically traipse around in circles, the relative shortness of events etc.

So does that sort of attitude limit the amount of people in the first place?

Perhaps it's an elitist attitude from the past that has caused the unpopularity. Certainly you ask most riders and they wouldn't dream of racing XC, a lot do have a go at DH though.

Go to an XC race and you'll see full on XC hardtails mainly with the odd full suss thrown in but look at what most people ride out in the hills/trail centres, they're completely different bikes/riders which gives you an idea why ENDURO has grown but doesn't explain why XC lost so much popularity.

Accessibility for me.

I helped build a DH track this summer. I would never build an XC course.

People like the excitement of DH so why would they do XC? If you wanted a slog fest on a bike theyd ride road.

I think you have to adopt a B line type course if you want a wider field. Here for instance we've been looking at designing courses that can be open to all, even fitting two courses in. We have the space and time but not manpower/kit to spend x amount of days putting it together. It's something for the future though as the estate I'm working with are willing to invest for use as a venue for xc/cx if the first couple of years go ok.