Olympic MTB Cross Country

Soldato
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as much as I like mountainbiking and sure its hard work

it seems a bit of a boring watch (on TV anyway) atm :( found the Diving more interesting and I have no interest in Diving at all
 
Soldato
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Yea there does seem to be an awful lot of free space dotted about... Was it a sell out event?

Yeah, only the odd ticket was popping up for resale in the past week.
Also the corporate tickets and ones that tend to end up with free seats in other events will only be for grandstand seating, so GA will be basically fully attended.

as much as I like mountainbiking and sure its hard work

it seems a bit of a boring watch (on TV anyway) atm :( found the Diving more interesting and I have no interest in Diving at all

I think its brilliant and very picturesque too. The fact that Hadleigh Farm and Annie Last are trending on Twitter suggest a lot of people are watching.
 
Soldato
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45 mins left ? I'm bored already - sorry

turning it off

It's hardly that different to many other Olympic disciplines. Did you turn all those off as well?

I don't think you appreciate the skill and endurance required to race in an event like this. Plus it only takes a fall or a bike mechanical issue to ruin a race.
 
Soldato
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Yeah, only the odd ticket was popping up for resale in the past week.
Also the corporate tickets and ones that tend to end up with free seats in other events will only be for grandstand seating, so GA will be basically fully attended.

That is a shame, looks as though they could have allowed for a lot more people there.

Although some sections do seem to be a lot more full than others.
 
Soldato
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very picturesque too

I'm sorry, regardless of the quality of the course, it is certainly not picturesque! Commentators have already said about the efforts it took to build this course, and it shows, it looks horribly fake. Especially the more technical sections.

For the most part it looks like they are riding up and down a grassy knoll/field, that's not picturesque compared to MTB courses elsewhere in England, Wales and Scotland.
 
Soldato
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I'm sorry, regardless of the quality of the course, it is certainly not picturesque! Commentators have already said about the efforts it took to build this course, and it shows, it looks horribly fake. Especially the more technical sections.

For the most part it looks like they are riding up and down a grassy knoll/field, that's not picturesque compared to MTB courses elsewhere in England, Wales and Scotland.

+1 thats perhaps partly why I'm not "getting it"

there seems no linking between the technical bits, I'm sure I've seen mountain biking before on the TV when flicking and looked more exciting than this
 
Caporegime
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Obviously more natural courses will have more flowing sections and a less fake feel, but how many of those would hold 20,000 people? It's all about creating an arena for the scale of the event, and it obviously required a purpose built track.

I thought it looked great.
 
Soldato
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I'm sorry, regardless of the quality of the course, it is certainly not picturesque! Commentators have already said about the efforts it took to build this course, and it shows, it looks horribly fake. Especially the more technical sections.

For the most part it looks like they are riding up and down a grassy knoll/field, that's not picturesque compared to MTB courses elsewhere in England, Wales and Scotland.

It might not be a real mountain, but it's still a nice setting. My comment on about how it looks picturesque was largely down to the fact that its brilliant weather, in a nice setting with many open sections for fans and tv cameras, Boardman even commented that its the best coverage he has ever seen for a mountain bike race. I wasn't at all referring to the fact it was held in Essex, rather than Wales, which many people wanted.
 
Soldato
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I think the course looked fantastic. I would prefer something groomed and artificial than something natural and a total mess; we dont have the Alps in the UK so natural is pretty difficult to achieve.

I thought those technical sections looks really challenging. Fine if I can drop my saddle and check my line before riding it, but with saddle high, semi slicks, gravel after the rocks and legs burning those sections looked brutal.
 
Caporegime
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I think I heard one of the commentators saying it would be open to the public after the olympics are over.

Yeah I think they are planning to amend it a bit and add some further trails and open it up to the public.

Is there a MTB thread or forum on here, I am looking to buy myself a bike and get back riding. Seems the Olympics have hit their goal, they have inspired me!
 
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