Olympics...

Angus Young

Mountain biking in the Olympics. So, that's a good thing, right? But, for God's sake, why bloody cross country?! Now, nothing against cross country, do plenty of that myself. But why not something like Rampage or Hardline? If the general public saw either of those they wouldn't believe what they were seeing, they'd be telling their friends you've got to watch those nutters on the bikes. But I'd guess if they stumble upon cross country they probably watch it for about three minutes and then switch over concluding that mountain biking is really boring and it's just a bunch of guys riding really slowly round and round a dirt loop. I mean, I'm a dead keen mountain biker and that's what cross country looks like to me! I only managed ten minutes before I switched over.

The Rookie

Been covered loads of time before, the more technical disciplines are not allowed as the bike is seen as too big a factor in the result while for XC it is seen as being much more about the rider, so right or wrong it's the only MTB discipline they will allow in the olympics.

rockmonkeysc

To have downhill or big mountain freeride in Olympics would only be possible in countries with mountains.
There's also only a handful of countries with riders capable of competing in events like Rampage and Hardline.
British Cycling aren't interested in supporting mountain bikers so the uk wouldn't have a decent team. The British XC team didn't fill all its places and could have been stronger.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I reckon as much as downhill would make good viewing, picture the kids watching the pros, then later try and kill themselves attempting to emulate the pros on bikes not designed to take that sort of punishment.

Angus Young

The Rookie wrote:

Been covered loads of time before, the more technical disciplines are not allowed as the bike is seen as too big a factor in the result while for XC it is seen as being much more about the rider, so right or wrong it's the only MTB discipline they will allow in the olympics.

Surely it's the other way round?

RockmonkeySC wrote:

To have downhill or big mountain freeride in Olympics would only be possible in countries with mountains.
There's also only a handful of countries with riders capable of competing in events like Rampage and Hardline.
British Cycling aren't interested in supporting mountain bikers so the uk wouldn't have a decent team. The British XC team didn't fill all its places and could have been stronger.

I think most countries can muster a hill somewhere that would be big enough to make a decent course. Intense downhill runs are not usually that long. I get what you mean about not many people operating at Rampage levels but then again, how many people are operating on the level of Simone Biles? It's always just a handful of people at the top end. Though I guess mountain bike talent is not spread evenly across the world.

On a side note, as I know this interests you, it was announced at the start of these games that climbing is going to be in the next Olympics. I went to Birmingham a few times to watch rounds of the world championships and it's a great spectator event, so that should be good.

NitrousOxide wrote:

I reckon as much as downhill would make good viewing, picture the kids watching the pros, then later try and kill themselves attempting to emulate the pros on bikes not designed to take that sort of punishment.

I think most kids watching Rampage would think "Fück that for a game of soldiers!"

rockmonkeysc

Where would Holland run a downhill race?
There's about six countries with riders capable of a Rampage type comp although there's probably a few hundred riders with the ability.
Even UCI rules won't allow anything that severe although Brendon Fairclough and a few others are pushing for it to move towards Hardline style courses.

Angus Young

Not sure Holland are in danger of getting the Olympics any time soon.

rockmonkeysc

It's not the only flat country!
To build a decent downhill course, you need a decent size hill.
British Downhill Series can't find a suitable hill in England.

Pesmo

It was fascinating looking at the variety of bikes that were used for the Olympic MTB. Presumably the rules are quite flexible with a mixture of hard tail, full suspension and I think a saw a couple of Cannondale lefties. The male winner was on a full suspension Scott 29'er with a huge rear 50 tooth cassette and a single front. It didn't seem to have massive suspension travel either which did surprise me given the size of the rocks.

cooldad

100mm travel, which is pretty standard. Bike is designed for 120mm but he runs it with less.
Time is made up on the climbs etc, so massive travel for a few rocks would be slower.
These guys are pros and could ride huge rings around all of us. On any terrain.

fat daddy

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Where would Holland run a downhill race?
.

Gelderland or Limberg ?

http://peakery.com/region/netherlands-mountains/

YellaBelly

Pesmo wrote:

It was fascinating looking at the variety of bikes that were used for the Olympic MTB. Presumably the rules are quite flexible with a mixture of hard tail, full suspension and I think a saw a couple of Cannondale lefties. The male winner was on a full suspension Scott 29'er with a huge rear 50 tooth cassette and a single front. It didn't seem to have massive suspension travel either which did surprise me given the size of the rocks.

You could turn up on a full DH bike if you wished, but you'd get annihilated. The riders select the bike which is best for the course, alternating between hard tail and full suspension. It's very rare an XC racer will be running more than 100mm travel, and droppers are only just appearing with a handful of pro riders. The Rio course was widely regarded as a hardtail course.

cooldad wrote:

100mm travel, which is pretty standard. Bike is designed for 120mm but he runs it with less.
Time is made up on the climbs etc, so massive travel for a few rocks would be slower.
These guys are pros and could ride huge rings around all of us. On any terrain.

The new Scott Spark has two different versions, the RC and....another one! The RC (Race Concept) which Nino was riding is designed around 100mm travel. The 120mm version is geared up towards being a fast trail bike.

BloggingFit

Nino was using the 120mm with a 100mm fork for some of the World Cup races this season. Don't know about Rio.

cooldad

AFAIK that's what he used at Rio. Yellabelly disagrees.

YellaBelly

Ah well apologies as I may be mistaken then. The new Spark certainly has two versions, a 100mm race version and a 120mm trail version. I thought the 120mm version Nino had been using in earlier races was the old version of the 27.5 wheelsize, with the 100mm fork as cooldad says. But the new 29er version with the BB mounted shock has been designed for Nino directly with a low stack height so he can get his preferred position on the bike. The last couple of races he's been on that new 29er, and I'd just assumed he would be on the 100mm frame as he had massive input into Scotts design process.

larkim

I was most surprised with the low cadence / big gears they seemed to be content to be riding with on the uphill sections. Definitely not the roadie-style high cadence that I'd expected from them. I'm certain they know what they were doing, but it looked hard work to me!

The Rookie

YellaBelly wrote:

The new Scott Spark has two different versions, the RC and....another one! .

Not new for Scott, my Son has a 2006 RC(20 in his case) FS bike which came with 100mm travel both ends, at the same time they sold the visually almost identical MC range with 120mm both ends (130 front on some versions).

lostboysaint

Angus Young wrote:

it's just a bunch of guys riding really slowly round and round a dirt loop.

How long do you reckon you could last at their pace?

The Rookie

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It's not the only flat country!
To build a decent downhill course, you need a decent size hill.
British Downhill Series can't find a suitable hill in England.

Where could London or Paris hold a decent DH close enough to satisfy the requirements, or Tokyo, the irony is that Rio is probably one of the few that could, so totally agree.

figbat

The Rookie wrote:

Where could London or Paris hold a decent DH close enough to satisfy the requirements, or Tokyo, the irony is that Rio is probably one of the few that could, so totally agree.

How close does it need to be? In Beijing the equestrian events were held over 1,200 miles away. With that range all of the UK and much of Northern Europe is in scope.

Angus Young

figbat wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

Where could London or Paris hold a decent DH close enough to satisfy the requirements, or Tokyo, the irony is that Rio is probably one of the few that could, so totally agree.

How close does it need to be? In Beijing the equestrian events were held over 1,200 miles away. With that range all of the UK and much of Northern Europe is in scope.

I don't think location is an issue. As pointed out above, proximity is not an issue. I think the real problem would be the Olympic Committee's aversion to such high levels of risk. I'm not sure I can think of another Olympic even that carries the same risk of getting completely splattered, even given some of the spectacular wipeouts we saw on the roads this time.

rockmonkeysc

Serious injuries in DH racing aren't all that common. The odd broken bone, no worse than horse riding or gymnastics.
I don't think the Olympic committee are interested in anything seen as an extreme sport. There's no surfing, BMX freestyle, skydiving etc. I don't think they're seen as serious athletes (unlike shooting).
I don't think it would be good for the sport either. Britain would dominate in the women's sport and we'd certainly be up there in the men's. Then loads of people will want to give it a go and the one thing that destroys downhill trails is beginners dragging brakes. Black trails would get made easier to prevent all the inevitable serious injuries and trails would get overcrowded.
Plus, I can't quote any figures but downhil is declining in popularity with lots of riders moving to enduro.

Angus Young

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I don't think the Olympic committee are interested in anything seen as an extreme sport. There's no surfing, BMX freestyle, skydiving etc.

Surfing, climbing and skateboarding are in next time.

rockmonkeysc

Does anyone still do skateboarding?
I've still got my old Santa Cruz board. I'll get in training.

Angus Young

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Does anyone still do skateboarding?
I've still got my old Santa Cruz board. I'll get in training.

Still alive and kicking...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_3RnrJQwh8

Maro

At the time of London 2012 kitesurf course racing was to replace windsurfing in Rio.

I was excited there was gonna be a new sport and one that I'm interested in. However, the decision was reversed for reasons I can't remember, so don't get any hopes up about the surfing, skating and climbing

Angus Young

Maro wrote:

At the time of London 2012 kitesurf course racing was to replace windsurfing in Rio.

I was excited there was gonna be a new sport and one that I'm interested in. However, the decision was reversed for reasons I can't remember, so don't get any hopes up about the surfing, skating and climbing

Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. But a bit of this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotatio ... DbZ5odFIs4

... sure would beat synchronised swimming!

lostboysaint

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Does anyone still do skateboarding?
I've still got my old Santa Cruz board. I'll get in training.

Yes.

Which one you got? I've got an old Jeff Kendall Cobra deck which is now on my study wall.

rockmonkeysc

lostboysaint wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Does anyone still do skateboarding?
I've still got my old Santa Cruz board. I'll get in training.

Yes.

Which one you got? I've got an old Jeff Kendall Cobra deck which is now on my study wall.

I've got an 8.5" Taylor screaming hand team board.

rockmonkeysc

Sliced bread is more reliable and is an essential ingredient in a bacon sandwich.

cooldad

Just for the laugh, around 1976ish, my board in the middle, me on top. Pre skateparks etc, we used to get actual spectators in the local shopping centre carpark. Slalom was the big thing, using Coke cans.



Cool MK1 Escort, and they're not slippers, they were called Stokies, footwear of choice of surfer dudes.