Mountain Biking - Commonwealth Games anyone?

Hi guys,

I'm off to the Games on Monday 29th July, to watch the Women's and Men's MTB race at Rivington just north of Manchester.

It should be a great day of racing, and the prospect of a Canadian victory is high with Roland Green and Alyson Sydor flying the flag.

Can Carloline Alexander/Barrie Clarke/Nick Craig/Oli Beckinsale overdo the Canadian steam train, or will we have to settle for second fiddle...

We'll just have to wait and see...photo's to come!

Cheers...........................Rich ;)

Rich, you lucky so and so. Its a great area for mountainbiking, but if Manchester has anything to do with the weather, then I guess it could get muddy!

Hailing originally from that neck of the woods, I'm proud that Manchester has been recognized once and for all. It stood no chance against Sydney for the Olmypics unfortunately, but it's got what it's deserved now.

I hope they show it on Eurosport. Have a great time. :)

p.s. My football team (Man City) move into the new City of Manchester Stadium after the Games have finished. :beer:

Hi Mate :D

Well the weather in the UK, is pretty nice and will be in the run up to the games...never been to Mancester, but looking forward to seeing what it has to offer. Iwas going to take my Kona along, but there's far too many changes to make on the train, it would be a nightmare.

Yeah, it's good to see recognition for Manchester..and should be good too to see Man City in the Premireship this coming season...come on you reds!!!

Cheers

Rich

From memory, I think the Scots have a good chance in the time trial and is Millar not riding the road race.

Come on the Jocks!!

Hi Chewa,

It looks like you have Caroline Alexander in the Road/MTB race...good chance of a medal for Scotland!

Cheers

Rich

Originally posted by Rich
Hi Chewa,

It looks like you have Caroline Alexander in the Road/MTB race...good chance of a medal for Scotland!

Cheers

Rich

Rich, you've got it wrong - if she wins she gets a medal for Britain, whilst if she loses she's a Scottish racer. A bit like David Millar is a British rider when he wins a stage, but a Scot if he falls off his bike ;)

Damn!

Im full of national pride!!

Makes you feel good to know that somone recognises our two cycling hero's

Thanks!:beer:

Originally posted by Richard D


Rich, you've got it wrong - if she wins she gets a medal for Britain, whilst if she loses she's a Scottish racer. A bit like David Millar is a British rider when he wins a stage, but a Scot if he falls off his bike ;)

i suspect you are a fellow Scot in disguise.

they can take our land but they can never take our freedom etc!

Where's me woad, I'm going to get painted up.

Originally posted by Richard D


Rich, you've got it wrong - if she wins she gets a medal for Britain, whilst if she loses she's a Scottish racer. A bit like David Millar is a British rider when he wins a stage, but a Scot if he falls off his bike ;)

Hehe, mental note!!!

Actually I told a porky pie, Alyson isn't riding in favour of pouring her efforts into the World Championships, which is a shame as I'd have loved to see her race...oh well :(

Rich

David Millar's pulled out of the road racing...

Why's that Richard?

He's probably too knackered from the TdF. :( After 3 weeks or so of sitting in a saddle, the last thing I would want to do is get back on another. :D

Saying that though Weasel,

Shawn O'Grady is still riding for Austrailia...still, I guess it means there's an opening for some other talented rider...urm...Richard D, what you up to this weekend?? :D

Rich

Originally posted by Rich
Saying that though Weasel,

Shawn O'Grady is still riding for Austrailia...still, I guess it means there's an opening for some other talented rider...urm...Richard D, what you up to this weekend?? :D

Rich

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Too bad about Alyson but a GOLD for Clara Hughes in the time trial.

Go Canada!!!:D

Way to go, Roland Green and Chrissy Redden, winning gold in the XC race! And Seamus McGrath winning silver! Go canada!

I thought it was funny that they did a profile of Roland, talking about how, in spite of all his accomplishments, he's The Unknown cyclist because most canadians don't even know who he is. Duh..... maybe if the CBC or canadian tv networks would actually SHOW SOME OF HIS RACES he wouldn't be unknown, you dumbkopfs!

Well, what a treat!

unsurprisingly, the British Rail system ment I missed the womens XC, but I got there in time for the Mens XC. At the start of the race, Roland was down in tenth spot, with England's Liam Killeen leading the charge!

After about the 2nd or 3rd lap, Roland and Seamus began working together and opened a two minute gap on Liam, and New Zealand rider Kashi Leuchs, and kept it till the end of the race, with everyone finishing in that order.

Being at the Commonwealth Games, and soaking up the atmosphere was amasing! :D Roland Green was very impressive on the climbs, and made it look like he was on a Sunday ride...

Also though, as with all the whole Games this year, countries like Namibia, and Antiga had riders going around, and the crowds cheered for them as much as for their own riders...respect!

I took quite a few photo's of the event which I'll try and post a little later today...all in all, a great day out!

Rich
http://richmatthews.homestead.com/files/43_Liam_final_lap.jpg

Go, Canada! :D I wish I could have been at the race, but I just got the five minute summary on crappy CBC. Couldn't agree more with wabbit (see post above)- maybe if they did show some races we'd know who he is! I'm on "peasant vision" with no extra sports channels, so this is the first time I've ever seen a mountain bike race (or even a road race) on TV!

Well, that's my complaint for the day. Or maybe there's another one- what's with the riders who fall way behind in the first 10 seconds of the race? I noticed it especially in the women's race, this one woman fell behind immediately and didn't even appear to be trying to catch up- she just looked around and smiled. Where do they find these people? ;)