well, i agree with most of what you guys are talking about - except for one thing: you seem to think that b/c XC is less dependent on the newest technology it's a bad thing...

i think of it the other way around... i thought about getting into Downhill a few years ago, but w/o the newest (=expensive) equipment you cannot compete (try entering a downhill competition on a hardtail or with only 80mm suspension which are my 2 mountain bikes). the beauty of XC is that you don't need the newest latest greastest bike to win - i.e. a good pro CAN easily win on a $2000 hardtail although if you have goods stuff why not use it? and it puts more of the emphasis on the rider than the equipment... yeah, equipment is always an aspect, but i prefer sports that are less equipment-sensitive (like XC MTB, or XC skiing) to equipment-intensive (say Formula 1 racing or Bobsledding)

i'm not up on the pro level XC stuff (i concentrate more on ameteur stuff and i've been in Europe the last 2 seasons), but it seems to me that most of the courses are relatively technical. i personally like technical courses b/c they are fun and i do better (the steeper uphill and the steeped downhill, the better i do compared to the field).

In Europe the XC scene is much smaller and what are called "Marathons" are more popular, especially for the ameteur scene. at first these were a big change for me. the courses are all different, but as a rule have TONS of vertical (1500-4000m vertical), lots of distance (50-120km) and only a little technical stuff. last year i got destroyed on the long climbs and then had no technical downhill sections to make it up. This year i am better trained for the climbs and i pick races with lots of technical sections...

i think XC racing has made MAJOR contributions to the development of mountain bikes and will continue to do so... why do we need or want XC courses that *require* the newest full-suspension or disc brakes or whatever (i ride v-brakes and just this spring finally switched to XC-style FS w/ 80mm). the switch to FS has pretty much already happened (also has to do with sponsorship $$), but i think it's cool that pros can still win XC races on hardtails with v-brakes and 80mm!