I'll try! The key to understanding the cross country mtb race is in the name - it's a race! Therefore there has to be some scope in the course for tactics which include overtaking, pacing, recovery, attacks, route choice, etc. For years, lots of mtb racing has been a sprint for the first stretch of single track and then a processional time trial to the end with not much change of place.
Road racing evolved over the decades to be what we have today. It's nuances were allowed to develop and those who understand it, find it fascinating because of the complexity it has developed. There are only two mountain bike disciplines that really make 'natural' sense, one is downhill and the other marathon or enduro cross (real) country. But the politics of the olympics meant mtb was shoe horned in using a format that was 'invented' because it was thought it might work. However it doesn't really, but as it remains the only 'show' in the olympic 'town' for this type of riding, it's only the courses themselves that can be tweaked to make mtb xc into not only a sport worth watching, but one where people actually want to take part.
Lack of rider appeal is a massive problem and because of this, Britain hasn't had a women's elite team for ten years or so. There's no decent girl rider's even interested in taking part. It's not much better in the men's sport with pitiful numbers riding in short course mtb races compared to the numbers of riders that would class themselves as mtb riders in this country.
This course is the latest attempt to make an event that is both interesting to watch (live and on TV) and interesting to be in as a RACE.
