Rio BMX and MTB **spoilers**
Comments
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ddraver wrote:...and on Grant Ferguson - http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/
Shame really as mountain biking is considerably more accessible than track cycling.0 -
Just read that - good lad.
Surely the chaps over in the MTB forum can have a whip round for him - according to the news the Olympics cost everyone in Britain £1.09 per year, I'd happily put a fiver towards Grant.0 -
Well, no - I choose not to spend any of my money in that direction. It's not compulsory.bobmcstuff wrote:according to the news the Olympics cost everyone in Britain £1.09 per year0 -
bompington wrote:
Well, no - I choose not to spend any of my money in that direction. It's not compulsory.bobmcstuff wrote:according to the news the Olympics cost everyone in Britain £1.09 per year
OK it's the equivalent of £1.09 per Briton per year, whatever. Pretty sure not all of it is lottery is it? A price I'm happy to pay anyway (although I don't buy lottery tickets either)0 -
70% Lottery, 30% Government.bobmcstuff wrote:bompington wrote:
Well, no - I choose not to spend any of my money in that direction. It's not compulsory.bobmcstuff wrote:according to the news the Olympics cost everyone in Britain £1.09 per year
OK it's the equivalent of £1.09 per Briton per year, whatever. Pretty sure not all of it is lottery is it? A price I'm happy to pay anyway (although I don't buy lottery tickets either)Twitter: @RichN950 -
I'm not sure that MTB is that accessible. In the UK velodromes are everywhere and there are so many coaching sessions it's hard to avoid them and easy to get on them. MTB is accessible in the sense that you can ride your bike out the door and across some fields, but not in the sense of setting out on a path to Olympic glory. Within the 'go ride' coaching set up, there is tonnes of interest in the track and in the road. For MTB, less so. There are very few 'club' coaching sessions for MTB (but there are quite a few trail centre based coaches though). The reality is that, as we've seen, MTB is blooming hard - not only do you have to be incredibly fit, you have to be able to ride treacherous terrain and be efficient. In my experience many kids are put off by the fact that on top of training to be fast, you have to build a skillset that prepares you for world cup courses.
Also for Grant Ferguson, being a part of the Brentjens team must be the best place, much better than being in a closed BC environment.0 -
I meant accessible in the sense that the average punter can have a go, not that they are more likely to win an Olympic medal. I think sports governing bodies should have a greater interest in increasing participation than in winning things. The latter no doubt helps the former though.
By way of example, I used to ride an old rigid Muddy Fox on trails near where I grew up. Pretty cheap and good fun with a bunch of friends. I have no idea how I would have got to ride on a track. Maybe things have changed and it is easier, but I would have thought it still involves a reasonable journey to the nearest velodrome and a reasonably inflexible participation structure. Still, I plan to ride at the one in London, one day.0 -
PuttyKnees wrote:I'm not sure that MTB is that accessible. In the UK velodromes are everywhere and there are so many coaching sessions it's hard to avoid them and easy to get on them. MTB is accessible in the sense that you can ride your bike out the door and across some fields, but not in the sense of setting out on a path to Olympic glory. Within the 'go ride' coaching set up, there is tonnes of interest in the track and in the road. For MTB, less so. There are very few 'club' coaching sessions for MTB (but there are quite a few trail centre based coaches though). The reality is that, as we've seen, MTB is blooming hard - not only do you have to be incredibly fit, you have to be able to ride treacherous terrain and be efficient. In my experience many kids are put off by the fact that on top of training to be fast, you have to build a skillset that prepares you for world cup courses.
Also for Grant Ferguson, being a part of the Brentjens team must be the best place, much better than being in a closed BC environment.
Most of the coaches at my club have specialised in MTB and / or Cross (a couple have also done road or track). We've got a few mountain leaders too. The weekly kids coaching sessions are held on off road areas, they're very tame compared to trail centres and MTB courses but use much of the more technical areas we put in the course we use for National Trophy / National Champs cross races and the kids get going on them from 5 years old. It's reflected in results where we have kids doing well in all age groups including Welsh champs at MTB and cross. Ffion and Meg James also came through those sessions on their way to becoming national champions. Despite being a 'road club' we are under represented at youth level in road racing (and track).0 -
I dig your vibe PK but all that holds true for DH too and we have a constant stream of them coming through. Most podiums this year have had Rach Atherton on the top and then Manon Carpenter or Tahnee Seagrave in 2nd or 3rd ( or if not they re 4th).
Less so in the mens but still, Danny Hart is wrestling the top British spot off Gee who wrestled it off Steve Peat etc.
I strongly suspect most of that is because there is some inspiration for younglings that want to do it. There is very little of that in GB XC. You could look to BC but, as discussed, they re likely to tell you do go to a velodrome....We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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Pross wrote:
Most of the coaches at my club have specialised in MTB and / or Cross (a couple have also done road or track). We've got a few mountain leaders too. The weekly kids coaching sessions are held on off road areas, they're very tame compared to trail centres and MTB courses but use much of the more technical areas we put in the course we use for National Trophy / National Champs cross races and the kids get going on them from 5 years old. It's reflected in results where we have kids doing well in all age groups including Welsh champs at MTB and cross. Ffion and Meg James also came through those sessions on their way to becoming national champions. Despite being a 'road club' we are under represented at youth level in road racing (and track).
Wales and Scotland have somewhat separate experiences to the rest of the UK - when riding out your door on technical terrain is 'normal', then it becomes commonplace. It's no coincidence that apart from one year, those two regions (sorry) have won the youth mtb inter regionals every time. We also promote off road in our club, but most kids show less interest in MTB than road or cx. You're blessed in having so many off road coaches - I tried to build a network of MTB coaches in our region and despite initial success in getting going the lack of coaches interested in MTB made things hard work. I've struggled getting promising young riders to commit to spending time building off road skills, partly I think because parents are riding road and not interested in getting on the trail. I've been in admiration of your club for some time, as I see a lot of the riders at the NPS and trophies and I know a few of the riders/parents, but I don't think it's possible to replicate that kind of experience in all regions.0 -
ddraver wrote:I dig your vibe PK but all that holds true for DH too and we have a constant stream of them coming through. Most podiums this year have had Rach Atherton on the top and then Manon Carpenter or Tahnee Seagrave in 2nd or 3rd ( or if not they re 4th).
Less so in the mens but still, Danny Hart is wrestling the top British spot off Gee who wrestled it off Steve Peat etc.
I strongly suspect most of that is because there is some inspiration for younglings that want to do it. There is very little of that in GB XC. You could look to BC but, as discussed, they re likely to tell you do go to a velodrome....
I agree about DH. Rachel Atherton is the most inspiring rider, full stop. Manon is brilliant and I know supports a few up and coming riders (including the recent junior champ from Pross's club). Tracey Moseley is helping some young riders. I don't know enough about DH to form a strong view, but I think there are pockets around inspiring, charismatic riders - Grenoside in Sheffield for example, and in Wales, and this is leading to an amazing growth and enthusiasm. And blimey, it looks fun! Like you say, there's nothing like that in XC. The closest I can say is Annie Last, who was an inspiration to my daughter and I really hope that she is able to compete at the top again soon and act as a beacon to MTB in our region.0 -
PuttyKnees wrote:You're blessed in having so many off road coaches - I tried to build a network of MTB coaches in our region and despite initial success in getting going the lack of coaches interested in MTB made things hard work. I've struggled getting promising young riders to commit to spending time building off road skills, partly I think because parents are riding road and not interested in getting on the trail.
We seem to suffer from the opposite problem now. A few of the kids will ride very local crits but in general they aren't interested in the road. I think there's a perception (which I can understand) that road riding is dangerous. When I started out as a junior our club runs would probably be close to 50/50 adults to under 18s with riders as young as 12 riding out. Now, as an adult, I'd be very nervous taking so many young riders out on the road. We did do youth club runs for a while but I never felt comfortable with it. We are definitely lucky with having so much access to good off-road and on-road riding though.0 -
Pross - do the kids have both types of bikes? Sometimes having two is a bit of a luxury, so therefore it is natural to specialise.0
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I think the mindset of the two "genres" (MTB or road/track) is very different. Within the road/track world things are very much result orientated, being at the top of the game means wins in the various disciplines such as track, road racing, crits or TTs and it seems to be consistent across all these with coaching pushing in that direction.
Whereas with MTB a win isn't the only goal of all the disciplines. In disciplines such as dirt jumping, freeriding and trials there is much more emphasis these days on getting that video edit right, getting that shot, nailing that trick or just impressing your group. Don't get me wrong, some people see these as winning or results and there are competitions in each of these disciplines up to world level but MTB is still more wrapped up in the alternative sport blanket. Does this mean other disciplines of MTB other than XC will ever fit as Olympic sports?
As other comments above, my opinion is that MTB XC is fairly niche in the MTB world and will continue to be so with the growth cyclocross is seeing. Certainly the clubs I interact with push cyclocross as an activity while MTB is something a few dedicated individuals do as a group. For example my club hosts cyclocross events and encourages participation in the local series but we have only entered one MTB specific event in the last few years.“Jij bent niet van suiker gemaakt”0 -
I guess some of it comes down to someone actually putting the effort in and pushing for an event (MTB XC). I imagine it is not easy to organise in terms of getting permission (presumably land owners would to need to consent), but I would definitely have entered if someone created one in my old area, as would most of my friends. This is the sort of thing I wish BC would try to encourage. Furthermore, it doesn't even inconvenience motorists!0
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TheBigBean wrote:Pross - do the kids have both types of bikes? Sometimes having two is a bit of a luxury, so therefore it is natural to specialise.
Most will have some form of cross bike as that is the most popular discipline and then they just put slicks on for the summer to do road. A lot will have at least an MTB and cross bike and plenty have road bikes too. It's quite an affluent area, some of the kit that the kids who have been riding a while have is bordering on obscene, certainly much more value than mine. That said we also have quite a few bikes that people can hire at a low cost to make sure their kids enjoy it before splashing out and there's always second hand bikes available as kids move to something bigger.0 -
Thanks. Interesting that cross is so popular.0
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I think it's just so accessible and relatively cheap. Biggest issue locally is that the series doesn't have many races compared to most regions.0
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When you say cheap do you mean in comparison to mountain biking? And they choose this even when there are hills around?0
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Yeah, youth races are only a few quid. They tend to race cross in winter and MTB in Sumer though so it's not a choice of one over the other.0
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“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
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That didn't look so smooth.
Still, I'm not sure I'm in a position to comment as I think I have managed to get a puncture riding on my rollers.0 -
That looked pretty poor really.0
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Ouch that was pretty lame riding, quick dab on the front brake would have lifted the rear up and over that rock0
