2024 Olympic XC course - not technical?

Hi All,

In 2003 I bought my first real non-xc bike, a hardtail Balfa Minuteman. In Victoria I had fun learning to ride drops and jumps and go down steep rock sections on Mount Doug.

In 2004 I moved to Whistler and rode the Park for a few seasons. Eventually I rode a Norco Shore. I worked hard to clean Clown Shoes back then, but was not fast on the pure DH courses available then. I could clean In Deep on my hardtail, but couldn't consistently flow through Freight Train, to give you an idea of my skill level. I never had a Leatt neck brace or pajama looking TLD riding gear.

I haven't ridden much since 2008 or 2009. I haven't really followed the sport since then either.

I watched the Olympic XC race today, and they had drops and jumps and rock sections I would have found challenging on my Balfa 20 years ago.

Is this xc now? Looks awesome! The announcers were even saying it wasn't a technical course. Are all xc riders riding this type of course these days? Things have changed! If you can't hit a five-foot drop with a RS Sid in the middle of an XC course, do you just pick up road riding?

Yeah man, xc world cup tracks have gotten wild. Up to 120mm bikes and relatively slack head angles. Super technical bits are common, up and down. It's awesome to watch.

Criticism was the Olympic track seemed mostly gravel road, with a few dangerous features. Probably would have been the mildest track this season.

https://youtu.be/VdAoGtwHDWI?si=SvPzztHpzlspNng-

Anyone ridden a world cup xc track? I'd be curious how technical they feel in person. Tried last summer in the Alps, but unlike the DH tracks they seemed to be special race day only routes.

World Cup courses are for Elite riders only. Olympic courses are a bit easier to allow non-World Cup level riders from selected representative nations a chance to ride one lap. Canadian XC courses that are to be raced by all categories, if they might have some World Cup level difficulty features, would likely close/tape them off for non-Elite categories.

But anyways, the World Cup features that are selective (that allow more skilled riders to gap less skilled riders) are still the more natural sections. The video friendly drops can typically be ridden at only one speed (if you go too fast you will land beyond the engineered landing zone), so after a few hours of sessioning every rider that does the drop in the race will be going at the same speed, so rarely would any positions be gained or lost.

Local BC XC or Marathon races have used black diamond downhills that are typically ridden with trail and enduro bikes (and even used in some enduro and DH races), but they would be trails with natural difficult features (rocks, rock rolls,, roots and steep chutes), and not so much engineered Rampage-like stunts (the human made features, would be skinnies).

Current Elite XC racers can have no weaknesses. They have to be fast uphill, downhill, on the flat, all weather, and for both new school Flow and old school Gnar tracks, on bikes that are a compromise between a Tour de France TT bike and a Red Bull Hardline DH bike.

I feel like for viewers, WC  xc is starting to scratch the itch that EWS used to scratch - where it's a "pro version" of what Joe weekend warrior would ride, and that makes it interesting. And I am all about it.

Posted by: Hepcat

Me too. WC XC has had an incredible transformation from years past.

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Hmm...

Is there room for another event that is *exactly* like what we ride? 

Say ~30min ratchet up a technical climb, then a ~15min technical descent that would require a beefy bike to make a good time? 

Maybe timed separately to allow recovery before the descent?Identical bike without modifications, but with clothing/safety gear changes.

Something like Downieville (or Super D) I suppose, except Downieville is almost entirely non-technical and it's forever long... 

In terms of time it could land half way between XCO and short track.

Nino vs Rude in one race? Do multi-discipline testing and course adjustments to balance the course before hand.

That’s a bold move, quoting yourself.

Alpha move. 

Phone in pocket must have quoted and replied 😅

Posted by: taprider

Current Elite XC racers can have no weaknesses. They have to be fast uphill, downhill, on the flat, all weather, and for both new school Flow and old school Gnar tracks, on bikes that are a compromise between a Tour de France TT bike and a Red Bull Hardline DH bike.

I think the avg rider doesn’t understand just how true this is.

Posted by: Kenny

I feel like for viewers, WC  xc is starting to scratch the itch that EWS used to scratch - where it's a "pro version" of what Joe weekend warrior would ride, and that makes it interesting. And I am all about it.

Yeah, there’s potential there for great viewing. What’s killed it for me, at least at the Olympics, is that the tracks have way too much of a manufactured look.