How Tough Are XC World Cup Courses? | What The Pro’s Think!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2024
- How hard is XC racing? Cross Country racing used to be viewed as the roadie's version of mountain biking, but in 2024 the WOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series course design has been gnarly! Rich Payne takes a look at the Val di Sole track in Italy and asks the pros what they think.
⏱ Timestamps ⏱
00:00 - Riders Opinion
02:13 - Rich Rides The Track
05:21 - Oli Beckingsale (Commentator and former Olympian/ XC Pro)
07:39 - Watching the racers
09:19 - Where was the race won and lost?
11:28 - XC courses now have 4X tracks on them?
Useful Links:
🛍 GMBN Merch Store 👉 gmbn.eu/gmbnshop
Submit your Photo and Video to us 👉 upload.gmbn.com/
Sign-up to our newsletter 👉 gmbn.eu/newsletter
Is Val di Sole the gnarliest XC track on the World Cup circuit? What other XC content would you like to see?
Watch more on GMBN...
📹 Pros and Cons Of Being Pro? 👉 • The Best And Worst Thi...
📹 Watch our Editor’s Choice Playlist 👉 gmbn.eu/EditorsChoice
📹 Watch our weekly show, The Dirt Shed Show 👉 gmbn.eu/dirtshedplaylist
🎵 Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵
IGGY - Heyson
Damn (Instrumental Version) - Louna
Lights On (Instrumental Version) - Nbhd Nick
Skeng - Azucares
#GMBN #GlobalMountainBikeNetwork #MTB #MountainBiking
The Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN) is the world’s largest and fastest-growing online mountain bike channel and community - and your destination for the best mountain bike content in the world.
GMBN is dedicated to inspiring and unlocking your riding potential. Our videos cater to fans of every mountain bike discipline: from mile-munching cross-country (XC) riders, through adrenaline-fuelled dirt jumpers, gravity-hungry downhillers or aspiring enduro racers, and beyond.
Our ex-pro presenting team are on hand to entertain and inspire you while also providing a uniquely qualified insight into the world of mountain biking. Every week we deliver original daily videos that include:
Adventurous and entertaining features
Mountain bike skills coaching
Technical advice and guidance
Mechanical know-how to keep you rolling
A place for the riding community with our weekly Dirt Shed Show
Thanks to our sponsors:
Canyon Bikes: gmbn.eu/Canyon
Propain Bikes: gmbn.eu/Propain
Orbea Bikes: gmbn.eu/Orbea
Park Tool: gmbn.eu/ParkTool
Smith Helmets & Eyewear: gmbn.eu/Smith
Crankbrothers Pedals: gmbn.eu/crankbros
Shimano Footwear: gmbn.eu/ShimanoShoes
Ergon: gmbn.eu/ergon
Vittoria Tires: gmbn.eu/Vittoria
Reynolds wheels: gmbn.eu/Reynolds
FSA: gmbn.eu/fsa
Topeak: gmbn.eu/topeak
Garmin: gmbn.eu/Garmin
Peaty's Products: gmbn.eu/Peatys
Worx Power Tools: gmbn.eu/Worx
CamelBak: gmbn.eu/CamelBak
Watch our sister channels:
GMBN Tech - / gmbntech
Electric Mountain Bike Network - / embn
GMBN Racing - gmbn.eu/GMBNracing
Global Cycling Network - / gcn
GCN Tech - / gcntech
GCN Racing - / gcnracing
Global Triathlon Network - / gtn
GCN Italia - / gcnitalia
GCN en Espanol - / gcnenespanol
GCN auf Deutsch - / gcnaufdeutsch
GCN en Francais - / gcnenfrancais
GCN Training - / gcntraining - กีฬา
I used to race in the Scottish XC series, which had some knarley descents for the days of 26” wheels, longs stems, short hardtail frames, high bottom brackets and fixed seat posts. The challenge with descending wash’t really the tech, it was competitively pacing and recovering from the climbs enough to be able to mentally focus on the features in the decents. Acute oxygen debt affecting brain function was the biggest hurdle to overcome. As much as the descents could be super steep, rutted, rooty and rocky they never really had drop-offs or jumps. I understand the shorter tracks a crammed with big technical features we have nowadays are an attempt to make XC a spectator sport, which it wasn’t in my day. More spectators = more sponsors = more money…
I don't think its just about spectators - its actually rewarding riders with technical skills and also reflects the moderns bikes which are so much more capable. These are not outrageous features - technical sure, but we aren't talking double gap jumps here or 20 foot drops. Like you I remember doing XC series in the north of England in the 90s - back then I would ride my hard tail in both XC and downhill - before downhills got too epic. Bit different now for sure, but so much better too in many ways. What I would love to see is a 3 race event where you have to do it all on one bike, same tyres - XC, downhill, and short gravel (50kms) event - that would be an interesting test to see what configuration would be best!
@@peterswanson2090 Yes, bikes are more capable than they've ever been and the tracks look incredible and enjoyable to ride. But, we can't escape the fact the sport is a business first and foremost..Without spectators, sponsors and bike sales it wouldn't exist. Someone has to pay for it all...
I’m getting more and more into xc as I get older, I absolutely love it too. I get out and ride xc trails as often as I can and it really shows in my fitness levels. Let’s see more xc.
Its mini enduro these days. The XC loops i used to do as a kid are now best ridden on gravel bikes
as the bikes get more suspension travel, the tracks also have to adapt.
Crans-Montana also was something special, really gnarly
Man XC is a different event from 20 years ago ..Obviously as mountain bike tech and design evolves so does the intensity and difficulty of the courses in all event styles . I cant wait to see how insane the sport will be in the next 20 years
This is what XC racing should be like. It's mountain biking! I used to call XC racing "Road Racing on Dirt" because that's basically what it was. This is a lot more like it! Skills required as well as endurance. A road racer can't simply get into a mountain bike race and easily win it now without developing some off-roading skills. It's super cool to see this. And if some racers don't like it they can do road or gravel racing...😉
Exactly. There's nothing stopping a rider from dismounting for features they're uncomfortable with, you know just like any mountain biker would while progressively improving confidence and skill.
pidcock is still superior 😅 but xco is cool ✌️
I raced XC in Alaska during the early 90s and it was anything but “road racing on dirt”. We did have some races on gravel roads, but even those were brutal because of the washboard. But most of our races had plenty of technical singletrack.
MORE FREAKING XC ON THIS CHANNEL!
Really nice video would love to see more of this for the xc race course breakdowns.
More of this please!
Amazing content! Several details explained! Keep going, please!
Is Val di Sole the gnarliest XC track on the World Cup circuit? What other XC content would you like to see?
This year Crans Montana in Swiss looks more challenging IMO 😬
How the pro's choose eyeware. Tinted, clear, no glasses etc.
Like others have said, the Swiss stop seemed more extreme. In fact, too much IMO. This one is good amount for me :)
Awesome course review! I would love to see a lot more XC content like this 👏🏻
Thanks for the XC content. ❤
Season ending or even career ending is how tough they are now!!! At least in DH you can wear full face, neck brace, body and knee armour!
Exciting times, I might start watching XC races from now on :D
I like that it's getting a bit more technical but I'd rather have them not have to walk their bike. For me they could dial it back just a bit with the tech, but it's good to have some of it so the rider with good technical ability stand out instead of just being a pure endurance event.
Great insight and one of the best videos I've seen on GMBN.
6:11 Now someone teach Oli and Rich the difference between less and fewer!
Pro level pedantry there, chapeau!
Awesome video.
Crans Montana was epic. The drops without the wood.
Great video
Rich, I wanted to see you hit that wooden drop on your XC bike man. Funny that next came Crans Montana with "oh you think that was hard, watch this". I hope you guys do these for the other events but make the videos longer. Better yet, do it for Enduro events. They need some exposure.
"Pro's"? Surely someone at GMBN should have spotted (and fixed) that one.
You need edit this video after Crans Montana 😂
Crans-Montana!
awesome vid, i always thought xc was easy lol guess not
This style of XC makes me wonder what the difference between XC and Enduro is anymore. I couldn’t imagine hitting any of that on an XC bike, let alone in a race setting.
clearly you've never been on any enduro trail
...and then there was Crans Montana.
Should I ride smooth in the downhill section? 😂
How many laps did they do?
7
@@JeffMTBinVA Thanks!
I'll let the pros ride it 😂
It's blurring the lines between Enduro and XC which I think is a mistake. Call me a purist but XC racing was, and I think should still be, more about your fitness and strength an athlete competing all out as fast as possible. i still race XC and have been for a long time, so not happy to see it going this way. And yes, it still required mtb skills and I can take on the most technical drops, rock gardens, jumps, etc. however to me that not XC! Now I'd rather watch an enduro race over XC.
Yeah it's cool but it makes XCO a race-only sport and XC bikes a race-only machine. If pros have to push up a hill or barely make it down, what to do for casuals? It's not building passion anymore because riding as a casual on your local xc course does not feel like what you see in pro sport.
It would make sense if people didn't recreationally ride enduro and other stuff. And XC race bikes are taking geometry cues from downhill oriented ones as well, just made much lighter.
Tough enough people whine that they're too tough, apparently.
There are enduro stages less technical than this