You just layed out why im a not fan.....Your abilty to do a rock roller or drops shouldn't be what wins or loses you an XC race....its just not the point of XC racing....its supposed to be mostly about your fitness. I understand that without people paying to watch your sport, you have no way to pay the participants any real money.....but im just not going to say that I like it because they have added more crashing. And its certainly not unique to XC racing...They have figured out that in Nascar, most of the crashes happen when they start and stop the races....so they got rid of the long formats and made all of these short races within races....more crashes, more people watching. The jumps at redbull rampage arent getting smaller.... I get that nobody wants to watch XC racers race lewis morris.....So to me, yes, its a good thing for the people on TV....but the racers don't....They are the ones who now not only have to do all of the XC training, but now also need to practice jumping....But whatever, TV audience has to be entertained.Interesting take…. But I totally disagree.
I love the courses being more technical. Sure, fitness is still king, but having a super strong technical skill set is now a huge advantage.
Isn’t that a good thing? It makes the races way more fun to watch. And more fun for the racers to race.
Best of all, it makes the bikes much more capable. 10 years ago they were all on hardtails with 100mm forks. Now, we get 120 f/r. With slack HAs, droppers which weigh a little more than straight posts.
I don’t see a single downside to the changes XC has gone through.
5 Key Stats from World Cup XC Racers in the Pinkbike State of the Sport Survey - Pinkbike
With all of its history and prestige, cross-country is perceived as the most professional and formalized discipline, but this doesn't mean it isn't without its issues.
www.pinkbike.com
And the bikes are more capable downhill, not uphill. The bikes are longer, slacker and heavier....this does not make for improved uphill performance.
Ok, im not beating this dead horse anymore