London 2012 Olympics
Comments
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deadkenny wrote:]Why not go to where the mountain biking facilities are best?
My point entirely. Surely people will be tuning in from around the world expecting to see some of the brilliant mountain biking on offer in the UK to find that as there are only hills around london its very much an XC event that shouldnt be stamped with the word 'mountain' at all. Sounds pedantic but lets face it I start saying to everyone im looking forward to the Olympic Soccer at 2012 i will be shot.0 -
It'll look vastly better on television than virtually any of the 'proper' MTB spots the UK has to offer. It also has more elevation than the course at Beijing, which looked good on TV and was regarded as a pretty good course.
There are fewer tickets for the MTBing than any other event, it's the absolute lowest priority, if they do it in Dalby then every other sport would be justified in wanting to be moved somewhere with better facilities. Then suddenly you have nothing left remotely in London! Also makes getting around a real bugger.0 -
njee20 wrote:Dalby isn't London. The IOC are really anal about the spread of venues. It is not, and never has been the England or UK Olympics. Yes the sailing is in Weymouth, there's no closer venue. I can't believe how often this comes up!
What about Hampden Park,City of Coventry stadium, Old Trafford,St James' park,Millenium Stadium-All venues for 2012 games events-sort of blows that theory out of the water as even the most geographically challenge knows that these are not in London
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deadkenny wrote:
The eternal problem with MTB trails.kona_matt wrote:can't see the land owners wanting to risk getting sued when someone hurts themselves :roll:
We so need a law that lets people ride on land with no risk to the the land owner, so long as you are aware of the risk and waive your rights.
+1
BTW I went to the Manchester Commonwealth games MTB XC event at Horwich near Bolton. A fantastic spectacle.No admission charges,you could stand wherever you wanted anywhere on the course as long as you were behind the tape. Well stewarded,well attended ,even had good weather.Great support for every single competitor and quite a few of them laughed and joked with the crowd as they toiled ,mainly the backmarkers 0 -
Welcome to rip off britain,has the farmer got the suggested parking avaliable all to watch this event,like any venues with the right planning you can make it work,ive worked in swinley forest on various film sets and they have no trouble filming,car parking could be sourced ,across the road there are 2 leisure centres or why not a park and ride service.
Again this all too easy to try and sort out, another millenium dome springs to mind with a serious lack of planning 500 million on a tent!!!,look at the govt other dead duck,regional fire control,70 million was the original price,400 million later it still dont work,if i quoted you for double glazing 3000 pounds then asked you for 10000 ,youd tell me to fuck right off!!!!!!.
Try signing up to be a volunteer,for the olympics,like an x factor contract you can actually owe them money!!!!!
These prices are again going to be unaffordable to your normal working class family with 2 kids.You could go to tenerife cheaper and pedal away in the proper mountains,lord coe I have to say hasnt got a fkin clue.Places in wales fair better it is the whole country holding the event!!!!!.
Lake district springs to mind also,the only winner here is the farmer and his lodge he belongs too!!!!!!,sceptical I am but lets be honest there couldnt of been alot of visits taken place before deciding!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway rant over now off out in the woods.
cheers murf.0 -
Exactly. The argument that Swinley is not suitable is rubbish. If anything they're the one place that is most used to the level of media that will be required, have the space and facilities, plus are used to races.murfeey wrote:Welcome to rip off britain,has the farmer got the suggested parking avaliable all to watch this event,like any venues with the right planning you can make it work,ive worked in swinley forest on various film sets and they have no trouble filming,car parking could be sourced ,across the road there are 2 leisure centres or why not a park and ride service.
The money involved would have ensured investment in facilities there instead of wasting it on a bit of dirt in a field that will probably be dug up when the farmer decides he wants his land back and can't afford the insurance (whereas Swinley has insurance).0 -
Exactly. The argument that Swinley is not suitable is rubbish. If anything they're the one place that is most used to the level of media that will be required, have the space and facilities, plus are used to races.
God there are some serious cynics around! The football stadia that aren't in London are being used for the early stages of the competition, there are issues with transport (all routes used by athletes and officials have to be Olympic Route Network designated which causes problems around venues) for the athletes, which I assume is why they're not using all central London stadia.
The courses around Swinley aren't appropriate for TV, they just wouldn't really work, so they'd be building a course from scratch, in which case Hadleigh makes more sense, they really can do what they want.0 -
murfeey wrote:only winner here is the farmer and his lodge he belongs too!!!!!!,sceptical I am but lets be honest there couldnt of been alot of visits taken place before deciding!!!!!!!!!!!
mate, not sure what profession you're in but it's the wrong one, you should write for the daily mail
seriously though, you obviously don't know the facts about the proposed site and i'd guess you haven't been there so perhaps you should before ranting?FCN 9 - 2008 Kona Cinder Cone
FCN 9 - Custom Build On-One 456
FCN 5 - 2010 Boardman Team Carbon0 -
njee20, I'm a bit puzzled as to why you are such an agressive defender of the events. Do you have a vested interest somehow?0
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Not per se, I was involved in the transport side of it (as a regional transport body, nothing specifically to do with the Games/ODA/LOCOG/IOC), so I know more about it than most, and just find the constant "Wales would be better" opinions a) odd, and b) wrong!
Also as an XC racer I can see what they're trying to achieve. Plenty of people have suggested places like Afan/Margam Park, but that'd be absolutely dreadful as a venue!0 -
Fair enough, I was just curious.
Your support FOR the games seems as strong as the opinion of those who hate the idea, I was just wandering if you were involved with them.0 -
Nah, I do think it's a lot of expense at the wrong time, but I'm all for it, sure it'll be great!0
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Myself being a true scotsman, I will not be wasting any of my 10,000 quid to travel to london, stay in london, eat in london, travel around london and watch any of the olypics in london. No I will be getting ripped off by Sky TV in the comfort of my own home and when its not on TV, I will be out biking! Life is so easy
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Though I may be fired up enough to follow an event if we're doing well, to be honest I couldn't really care about the Olympics. MTB or otherwise. Even though I live close to London.0
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http://www.bikemagic.com/event-features ... /9103.html
Looks like it's pretty do- able on a cyclo cross bike to me. 20 min laps, the riders are going to be dizzy.
Don't think, BE:0 -
It's not finished yet! 20 minute laps is par for the course with top level XC. Champery's World Cup XC course is only just over 4k and has 4 times as many riders as the Olympic race will.0
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What worried me most was Seb Coe's line about Mountain biking being an excellent gateway for road and track cycling (or something else equally patronising!)
Grrrrr!!!! not like GBR has four recent world champions in MTBing or anything. Peenarse!!
(yes I know they re DH not XC)We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
ddraver wrote:What worried me most was Seb Coe's line about Mountain biking being an excellent gateway for road and track cycling (or something else equally patronising!)
Grrrrr!!!! not like GBR has four recent world champions in MTBing or anything. Peenarse!!
(yes I know they re DH not XC)
Indeed,
I actually wish Moutain Biking wasn't an Olympic event, Along with shooting and all that Jaz. And definately wont be attending anything there, London I mean what a pit
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I have to agree with that. Every time I've stayed in London, it's been with work, and that usually means we stay in a relatively "nice" part of the city.Thewaylander wrote:London I mean what a pit
But it is still the filthiest, most rubbish-strewn dive of a place I've ever seen. Absolutely disgusting.0 -
I've always agreed with the point of view that if the Olympics isn't the pinnacle of achievement in a sport, then it probably doesn't belong there.... Running, jumping and throwing, fine. Football and Rugby? Nothing more than a sideshow.
For cycling it probably is the top of the track world, but certainly not on road... As for XC MTB - debatable I guess.
It looks like they've done the best they could with the location chosen and I'll certainly try and get over there. The real hope is that they do something positive with the site when the olympics is over and leave a decent legacy...
Personally I love living and working in London - one of the finest cities in the world...0 -
you obviously haven't been to many other cities then 0
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Obviously not. 0
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I'm not sure you're in much of a position to criticise London, you're in Wales...0
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yeehaamcgee wrote:
Erm, yeah. Clean air, clean water, very little rubbish, clean countryside for miles around.njee20 wrote:I'm not sure you're in much of a position to criticise London, you're in Wales...
Your point is...? :roll:
Yup i was failing to see Njee's point here too lol..0 -
Yeah, Port Talbot for example...yeehaamcgee wrote:
Erm, yeah. Clean air, clean water, very little rubbish, clean countryside for miles around.njee20 wrote:I'm not sure you're in much of a position to criticise London, you're in Wales...
Your point is...? :roll:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4303811.stm 0 -
Not really helping the argument when the majority of the top ten are in London!0
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Hehe
Ok we want to go into a polution argument the whole of Wales vs London.. You do know you are going to lose yeh?0 -
Port Talbot? Oh please. In retaliation, I present to you my Flickr page, particularly the landscapes. All taken less than an hour from home 0
