No, unfortunately this isn’t a joke. The first ever World Indoor MTB Championships were actually held over the weekend in the UK and featured top riders including Gee Atherton and Greg Minnaar, the eventual winner. If your head is filled with visions of guys screaming around an indoor course like the one found at Ray’s Indoor MTB Park, think again. While racers pedaled real bikes, the course was completely “virtual” in the sense that it was computer simulated and the bikes were stationary. And what the heck are these guys doing riding inside – it’s June for crap’s sake!
I suppose the Brits have a different idea of an exciting sporting event because the Indoor MTB Championship will be televised on Sky Sports next month. Right… I’m sure millions will tune in to see a race that happened a month ago where the athletes ride in place. I already get that show for free at the gym.
The only cool thing I can say about this idea is that it makes it possible to bring mountain bike competitions pretty much anywhere in a spectator friendly format (that is, if the spectators aren’t bored after just a few minutes). Then again I think I’d still rather drive to the mountains for a few seconds of watching riders blast past me.
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I assume there wasn’t a DH event or any trials. I’ve seen similar events for bike messengers, sprinting on stationary bikes (cyclops) over a specific virtual distance. Funny to watch…but they’re serious…plus plenty of beer…in between heats.
Thats NOT MTB’ing!!! I cannot even see that as a championship anything, maybe some kind of gaming championship instead. Oh well, laziness is taking over the world.
My sympathies to the participants! I’ve tried stationary cycling and it is even more boring to the one’s on the bike than the ones watching. At least the watchers get a show.
I won’t entirely trash stationary riding, though. If you want to develop endurance, this’ll do it for ya. Just plain boring grinding away. Kinda like some small furry critter on one of those wheels . . .
[…] won the women’s title. Gee Atherton, who along with Greg Minaar, recently competed in the World Indoor MTB Championship :), took fourth in the real-world downhill […]