Xc series

nqtfarmer

Do ye think their will be an nps league this year?

nak

nqtfarmer wrote: »

Do ye think their will be an nps league this year?

It is not looking likely. Club leagues are kicking off again.

nqtfarmer

Any reason the xc series is so poor in Ireland? Surely a lot more interesting from a spectator viewpoint than road

easygoing39

nqtfarmer wrote: »

Any reason the xc series is so poor in Ireland? Surely a lot more interesting from a spectator viewpoint than road

Because it's easier to be a fat lad and do enduro or downhill.To race xc you need to be fit,not many riders are prepared to put in the hard training for xc.

Wanderer78

easygoing39 wrote:

Because it's easier to be a fat lad and do enduro or downhill.To race xc you need to be fit,not many riders are prepared to put in the hard training for xc.

..... Or maybe the interest just isn't there......

nak

easygoing39 wrote: »

Because it's easier to be a fat lad and do enduro or downhill.To race xc you need to be fit,not many riders are prepared to put in the hard training for xc.

Harsh. People find the enduro race format more enjoyable. XC is mostly suffering whereas enduro allows you to have a chat with your mates as you ride along.

nqtfarmer

nak wrote: »

Harsh. People find the enduro race format more enjoyable. XC is mostly suffering whereas enduro allows you to have a chat with your mates as you ride along.

Surely as an Olympic event there should be greater emphasis on xc. Having a chat is great and all but competition grows sport. I’ve been heavily involved in rowing for over a decade - we always had good rowers but few results. Now they have a small team of medal potential athletes across boat classes. Success, visibility and media grow the sport and allow the next generation to set goals. Having a chat walking up a steep hill on a €2000 bike won’t

nak

nqtfarmer wrote: »

Success, visibility and media grow the sport and allow the next generation to set goals. Having a chat walking up a steep hill on a €2000 bike won’t

There's rarely any walking and more like €4-6k bikes at enduro races these days. Enduro is inspiring a new generation, GAP is packed with kids every weekend. Irish riders have had great success riding the EWS circuit and now there's even an Irish downhill world champion (amazing given there isn't a huge downhill scene here). The younger riders have impressive skills and the conditions here push them to develop even further.

WC XC is such a high level you need to be racing at World Tour level on the road to break in these days 😉

Wanderer78

nqtfarmer wrote:

Surely as an Olympic event there should be greater emphasis on xc. Having a chat is great and all but competition grows sport. I’ve been heavily involved in rowing for over a decade - we always had good rowers but few results. Now they have a small team of medal potential athletes across boat classes. Success, visibility and media grow the sport and allow the next generation to set goals. Having a chat walking up a steep hill on a €2000 bike won’t

You don't necessarily need competition for a sport to grow, mountain biking has been growing organically for years, forests are becoming busy places now, which is great to see. its just great to see people getting out and about now, particularly after the year, so what if people are spending a couple of grand, and are going for chats, it's better than many other forms of socialising

maddness

Go back about ten years and XC was huge in Ireland, it was the only show in town.
XC racing is savage hard at all levels though and certainly not for everyone. When I raced I did a couple of road races and though it was far easier tbh.
When Enduro came along mountain biking exploded in Ireland. It’s still not easy by any means but suits a lot more people.
Then the GAP opened and mountain biking has gone mainstream. It’s not just 30 something plus men anymore as most clubs were now either. The amount of kids on bikes with incredible skills is brilliant to see.

Wanderer78

maddness wrote: »

Go back about ten years and XC was huge in Ireland, it was the only show in town.
XC racing is savage hard at all levels though and certainly not for everyone. When I raced I did a couple of road races and though it was far easier tbh.
When Enduro came along mountain biking exploded in Ireland. It’s still not easy by any means but suits a lot more people.
Then the GAP opened and mountain biking has gone mainstream. It’s not just 30 something plus men anymore as most clubs were now either. The amount of kids on bikes with incredible skills is brilliant to see.

...kids are always just showing me up, stupid adulthood!

Enduro

nak wrote: »

Enduro is inspiring a new generation

:D

nqtfarmer

Great to see more people on their bikes. But as xc is the only Olympic discipline of mountain biking, I’m surprised it isn’t the top of the priority list for mtb. Popularity wins out I guess. Have been watching the Scott/sram team videos on YouTube and am amazed at their commitment and attitude

Eamonnator

easygoing39 wrote: »

Because it's easier to be a fat lad and do enduro or downhill.To race xc you need to be fit,not many riders are prepared to put in the hard training for xc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1nOYfXVuNw&t=9s
Not much fat on that lad.

Wanderer78

Eamonnator wrote:

Not much fat on that lad.

Ould 'ocean', Jesus he's something else, even his mates are exceptional

Wailin

easygoing39 wrote: »

Because it's easier to be a fat lad and do enduro or downhill.To race xc you need to be fit,not many riders are prepared to put in the hard training for xc.

Never read so much **** to be honest. To do enduro or DH you need to be fit too.

easygoing39

Wailin wrote: »

Never read so much **** to be honest. To do enduro or DH you need to be fit too.

But not as fit as you need to be to race XC.I have many friend's and clubmate's who used to race XC.But due to family/work or getting older did'nt have the time/motavation to train correctly for XC.Alot are doing enduro now,and they all are heavier and less fit than their XC days.


There are exceptions,Greg Callaghan was always super fit.

nqtfarmer

Listening to Lars Foster on a red bull documentary, xc is 90% rider, 10% bike. A nice balance for a sport. Hopefully the scene will kick off again soon, the olympics might do a bit for the promotion of the sport

Wanderer78

nqtfarmer wrote:

Listening to Lars Foster on a red bull documentary, xc is 90% rider, 10% bike. A nice balance for a sport. Hopefully the scene will kick off again soon, the olympics might do a bit for the promotion of the sport

What's the craic with the obsession of the Olympics, there's plenty of good sports outside of the Olympics, in fact I think many are now far exceeding such sports? the Olympics board don't seem to be keeping up with the development of sports at all, remaining stuck with traditional ones.

nqtfarmer

Wanderer78 wrote: »

What's the craic with the obsession of the Olympics, there's plenty of good sports outside of the Olympics, in fact I think many are now far exceeding such sports? the Olympics board don't seem to be keeping up with the development of sports at all, remaining stuck with traditional ones.

No obsession, just aware that it’s the pinnacle of sports and allows for coverage. Ask any young person who Oisin o Callaghan is and ask them who the o Donovan brothers are and you’ll see coverage and media attention are drawn to Olympic disciplines.

Wanderer78

nqtfarmer wrote:

No obsession, just aware that it’s the pinnacle of sports and allows for coverage. Ask any young person who Oisin o Callaghan is and ask them who the o Donovan brothers are and you’ll see coverage and media attention are drawn to Olympic disciplines.

What's a pinnacle? This is highly subjective, there's enormous amounts of sports out there that require the same or even higher levels of fitness and ability than Olympic sports, but simply don't get the same level of media coverage, Olympic coverage is immense, of course only those connected to mountain biking would know that answer. Media coverage is traditionally huge for Olympic sports, but that doesn't mean those sports are any more special than non Olympic sports, there's sports people all over the planet doing extraordinary things in both categories

Lemming

nqtfarmer wrote: »

No obsession, just aware that it’s the pinnacle of sports and allows for coverage. Ask any young person who Oisin o Callaghan is and ask them who the o Donovan brothers are and you’ll see coverage and media attention are drawn to Olympic disciplines.

Not being facetious, but who are the O'Donovan brothers and what is the comparison with Oisin O'Callaghan? Are they 15 year old twin DH racers that have had a break out 1st year racing at elite level, winning world championships to boot?

Ireland will not throw resources at XC unless the national team thinks it has a an outside chance at medals; hence the focus on sports where Ireland has traditionally fared well, such as boxing & show/horse-jumping, and swimming (at para-Olympic level). Looking at how British cycling behaves towards mountain biking in general - be careful what you wish for - because it's the same tune over there, despite having some half-way decent XC candidates; most of the budget gets blown on the velodrome boys & girls, with XC historically told to beg for scraps, and DH/Enduro told to F.O.A.D. with the exception of world champs where they get offered the price of a bottle of water and a packet of crisps as a subsidy.

nak

Lemming wrote: »

Looking at how British cycling behaves towards mountain biking in general - be careful what you wish for - because it's the same tune over there, despite having some half-way decent XC candidates; most of the budget gets blown on the velodrome boys & girls, with XC historically told to beg for scraps

Crazy that British cycling may not have a spot for the men's XCO race with a WC winner in their ranks.

Eamonnator

nak wrote: »

Crazy that British cycling may not have a spot for the men's XCO race with a WC winner in their ranks.

I'm pretty sure Pidcock has qualified for Olympics, but only because a rider from some European country( I can't remember which) failed to finish in top 20 in the last World Cup race. If that rider had finished in top 20, Pidcock, despite a win and 5th place in 2 W.C.s would not have qualified.

nak

Eamonnator wrote: »

I'm pretty sure Pidcock has qualified for Olympics, but only because a rider from some European country( I can't remember which) failed to finish in top 20 in the last World Cup race. If that rider had finished in top 20, Pidcock, despite a win and 5th place in 2 W.C.s would not have qualified.

Broken collarbone was great timing.

Eamonnator

Lemming wrote: »

Not being facetious, but who are the O'Donovan brothers and what is the comparison with Oisin O'Callaghan? Are they 15 year old twin DH racers that have had a break out 1st year racing at elite level, winning world championships to boot?

Ireland will not throw resources at XC unless the national team thinks it has a an outside chance at medals; hence the focus on sports where Ireland has traditionally fared well, such as boxing & show/horse-jumping, and swimming (at para-Olympic level). Looking at how British cycling behaves towards mountain biking in general - be careful what you wish for - because it's the same tune over there, despite having some half-way decent XC candidates; most of the budget gets blown on the velodrome boys & girls, with XC historically told to beg for scraps, and DH/Enduro told to F.O.A.D. with the exception of world champs where they get offered the price of a bottle of water and a packet of crisps as a subsidy.

As far as I'm aware, since about 2005, no Irish D.H.er has received any financial support from either Cycling Ireland or Sports Ireland, because D.H. is not an Olympic sport. Between 1998 and 2005 a few Irish DHers received Sports Ireland grants. I think one year, 4 of them got 12,500 euro each.
I also remember one year a DHer got an Irish Sports Council(Sports Ireland) grant, a grant from his University, a Belfast city Council grant, and a Northern Ireland Sports council grant. Those days are long past.

Peterx

MTB XC racing is a hard sell nowadays. Fado fado (12 years ago) everyone had XC hardtails on 26" wheels and all the courses were built to suit and if you wanted to race, you raced XC. You probably didn't even call it XC, you just called it mountain bike racing

Now everyone* has Enduro or Trail bikes with loads of suspension and 29" wheels and the kids have loads of skillz, and so the trails are harder and everyone is riding and racing Enduro, or even not racing at all and just having fun. Those trails being harder can sometimes translate to the XC course/lap being even more "boring" than before as now you can't even use the usual trails as they are a bit too hard.

Another thing going against XC racing is that it's a really boring event to watch, very like a road race in that regard.
CX racing is equally hard to to race but crucially it can be brilliant to watch with short tight twisty laps and multiple viewing points.

I like/liked XC racing but in the past few years do other stuff in the summer and get my bike racing fun from CX. I am sure other folk could substitute the word Enduro for CX in that last sentence.

*broad brush strokes!

nqtfarmer

Peterx wrote: »

MTB XC racing is a hard sell nowadays. Fado fado (12 years ago) everyone had XC hardtails on 26" wheels and all the courses were built to suit and if you wanted to race, you raced XC. You probably didn't even call it XC, you just called it mountain bike racing

Now everyone* has Enduro or Trail bikes with loads of suspension and 29" wheels and the kids have loads of skillz, and so the trails are harder and everyone is riding and racing Enduro, or even not racing at all and just having fun. Those trails being harder can sometimes translate to the XC course/lap being even more "boring" than before as now you can't even use the usual trails as they are a bit too hard.

Another thing going against XC racing is that it's a really boring event to watch, very like a road race in that regard.
CX racing is equally hard to to race but crucially it can be brilliant to watch with short tight twisty laps and multiple viewing points.

I like/liked XC racing but in the past few years do other stuff in the summer and get my bike racing fun from CX. I am sure other folk could substitute the word Enduro for CX in that last sentence.

*broad brush strokes!

Well explained and informative, thanks

maddness

Peterx wrote: »

MTB XC racing is a hard sell nowadays. Fado fado (12 years ago) everyone had XC hardtails on 26" wheels and all the courses were built to suit and if you wanted to race, you raced XC. You probably didn't even call it XC, you just called it mountain bike racing

Now everyone* has Enduro or Trail bikes with loads of suspension and 29" wheels and the kids have loads of skillz, and so the trails are harder and everyone is riding and racing Enduro, or even not racing at all and just having fun. Those trails being harder can sometimes translate to the XC course/lap being even more "boring" than before as now you can't even use the usual trails as they are a bit too hard.

Another thing going against XC racing is that it's a really boring event to watch, very like a road race in that regard.
CX racing is equally hard to to race but crucially it can be brilliant to watch with short tight twisty laps and multiple viewing points.

I like/liked XC racing but in the past few years do other stuff in the summer and get my bike racing fun from CX. I am sure other folk could substitute the word Enduro for CX in that last sentence.

*broad brush strokes!

Hard to beat carbon hardtail for fast racing, I miss XC.

xxyyzz

Peterx wrote: »

MTB XC racing is a hard sell nowadays. Fado fado (12 years ago) everyone had XC hardtails on 26" wheels and all the courses were built to suit and if you wanted to race, you raced XC. You probably didn't even call it XC, you just called it mountain bike racing

Now everyone* has Enduro or Trail bikes with loads of suspension and 29" wheels and the kids have loads of skillz, and so the trails are harder and everyone is riding and racing Enduro, or even not racing at all and just having fun. Those trails being harder can sometimes translate to the XC course/lap being even more "boring" than before as now you can't even use the usual trails as they are a bit too hard.

Another thing going against XC racing is that it's a really boring event to watch, very like a road race in that regard.
CX racing is equally hard to to race but crucially it can be brilliant to watch with short tight twisty laps and multiple viewing points.

I like/liked XC racing but in the past few years do other stuff in the summer and get my bike racing fun from CX. I am sure other folk could substitute the word Enduro for CX in that last sentence.

*broad brush strokes!

It's type 1 fun vs type 2 fun really.

XC is pain, max heartrate and lycra.
Enduro is good craic.

Enduro

xxyyzz wrote: »

It's type 1 fun vs type 2 fun really.

XC is pain, max heartrate and lycra.
Enduro is good craic.

Thanks!