Help me understand barriers

[saunaking]

Why are they the same height for women and men? The race duration isn't the same...


How is it there are absolute top elite men like Van de Haar (sorry about spelling) that can't jump them and yet now we are seeing some of the young women jump them?
It blows my mind that there are top men that can't jump them even when conditions are good and they are not in a tricky place on course.

I can understand the diff between MVDP and Pidcock jumping them so much better than WVA for instance but how can guys not even try?
Surely they have been practicing all their life.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Why are they the same height for women and men? The race duration isn't the same...


How is it there are absolute top elite men like Van de Haar (sorry about spelling) that can't jump them and yet now we are seeing some of the young women jump them?
It blows my mind that there are top men that can't jump them even when conditions are good and they are not in a tricky place on course.

I can understand the diff between MVDP and Pidcock jumping them so much better than WVA for instance but how can guys not even try?
Surely they have been practicing all their life.

Poor example, Van Der Haar can hop them and does sometimes, but unless conditions are perfect he can run them nearly as fast with less risk.

 

[saunaking]

Poor example, Van Der Haar can hop them and does sometimes, but unless conditions are perfect he can run them nearly as fast with less risk.

I dunno, i've watched a lot of cx the past couple years and while it probably happened, i don't remember him ever jumping them and he shows up at pretty much all the races

 

[Hugh Januss]

I dunno, i've watched a lot of cx the past couple years and while it probably happened, i don't remember him ever jumping them and he shows up at pretty much all the races

Sometimes he does it better than other times,

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/942425509648044032

View: https://twitter.com/jonvick/status/942425509648044032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E942425509648044032%7Ctwgr%5E3124539ad532e0e59a6c790b8d5250b557149e7d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcyclingmagazine.ca%2Fsections%2Fnews%2Flars-van-der-haar-reacts-fast-mid-bunny-hop-clear-barriers%2F

 

[pmcg76]

I dunno, i've watched a lot of cx the past couple years and while it probably happened, i don't remember him ever jumping them and he shows up at pretty much all the races

Van der Haar can do the jumps, as rare as it happens. I have witnessed him do so, even this season. Don't ask me which race though. He just seems more comfortable getting off the bike rather than jumping the barriers.

 

[Barkintheeye]

To try to answer your questions. Firstly very few of the women jump the barriers and even fewer does it faster than running the barriers. Further some of the men also cannot jump the barriers as fast as they can run them, and given the much higher risk of jumping rather than running it makes sense. Clearly this is one of the harder technical aspects of CX and not easily accomplished. A good example is the difference between MVDP and WVA. Both of them have raced their whole lives basically and must have jumped barriers thousands of times. Yet, MVDP is significantly faster, more accurate and almost never misses while WVA is visibly less proficient.

Should men and women have different barrier heights? Guess it could be made case of it but since a few of the women actually can jump the barriers and a few of the men seemingly cannot then it seems like a good and easy comprise to stick with the current rules.

Finally it looks so easy when some world class riders jump the barriers. Try jumping one (1) UCI barrier yourself and you will find it's much harder than it looks. Then add another one with UCI prescribed distance in between, then add less than perfect terrain underneath, then add race speed and finally add that you are on your absolute limit. Some things are best left for the very best.

 

[davidsonduke]

The barriers looked much higher on Puck’s preview last week. Totally different perspective.