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I've been snowboarding in hadleigh park before !

Stunt cyclist Joe Maher cut from London 2012 opening ceremony

A STUNT biker was left devastated after being dropped from the Olympic opening ceremony just 12 days before his long-awaited performance.

Joe Maher, 25, from Westcliff , was told on Sunday his four-minute appearance in the Isles of Wonder spectacular had been cut due to security and time concerns.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/9830075.Stunt_cyclist_Joe_Maher_cut_from_London_2012_opening_ceremony/?ref=mmsp

Security hahahahahahahaha now their having a laugh.. To use that word in the same sentence as the Olympics... Coincidently I was working at a clients site on Thursday last week and a guy their was doing the opening ceremony thing...

Loved this guy's closing comment..

"So mountain bikers play nicely, dog walkers pick up your dogs droppings, picnicers don't leave rubbish laying around and bird watchers stop looking into my windows"

hello mates from the Sunshine state Southend on sea.
7 Days to go,than i will set foot on the ground of ENGLAND.
So,what can i expect in Southend???Where is best cute Bike Pub to get a pint???

What happens on Hadleigh farm in the moment.
Are the Germans, British,Netherland .........participants already prepared to start at Hadleigh???
Are they living next to Hadleigh or staying in the Olympic village??
,

Expect some boy racers in lowered cars and neon lights. Seagulls, amusements, hot donuts and cockles. Check out the pubs in Old Leigh for a pint http://www.oldleigh.com/ Not really any 'bike' pubs I know about.

Yep..was gonna say Old Leight myself, nice on a (rare) sunny day and nearish Leigh Station and the XC course.

Only bike pub I know is Look Mum No Hands near my work here in Old Street, London and where I believe they are filming the ITV Cycle series (which had a feature on Megavalanche - anyone see that ?).

No idea about training/practise, dont know much about XC but in DH they have qualifying/practise the days before, dont know whether XC'ers need to get to know the route, though I suspect would be nice to practise on some of the trickier bits like the Leap of faith and the rock garden.

Andy

10 green bottles bar in Leighon sea is very bike friendly and if you take your bike you can join in the rides that start and finish there at around 6:45 on a Monday:grin:

Hadleigh Park to get visitor centre and cycle track

HERE is the first look at a new visitor centre which will be created in Hadleigh Castle Country Park at part of Olympic legacy plans.

A public cycling track, bike hire shop, cafe, larger pay and display car park and new walking and cycling routes will also now be built after Castle Point councillors gave their approval.

It is hoped the investment, made possible by the Olympic mountain biking event, will create jobs and attract visitors.
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/9853370.Hadleigh_Park_to_get_visitor_centre_and_cycle_track/

4 times to sleep ,I get ready to go to Essex

Pics from Hadleigh MTB Club Facebook page, its Hadleigh Junior School, I can recall skating there on those benches

Hi guys, sorry if this has been answered before but where are the best view points inside the venue? Looking to make the most of the experience at Hadleigh.

Cheers guys
Paul

Down at hadleigh today for first day of practice. Absalon looking really quick good outside bet would be on south Africa looking really quick too gb team riding boardmans surprisingly the Halfords mechanic has been given an extra 15 minutes of training for the event

Hi Paul.

How are things ?. From what I remember the track inside the ground really is all over the place and its difficult to pinpoint a single spot to see all the track (in fact I dont think its possible to see all the track from any one point as its so up and down).

Where you have seats (the stands) will have a good view of start/finish but that all a bit flat and boring.

It is no surprise that most of the crowds gather where the interesting/tricky drops are (but they were busy and hard to view at the test event so even more so at the actual event)...which are:-

Just a few 100 yards right (towards London) is the first rock drop, this has 3 levels, hard, medium, and easy..of course the hard one is thge quickest.

Not too far from here is the long rock garden bit with the walled rock./berm at the bottom, as this is quite long..the is a lot of room for crowds and I found this quite a good spot at the test event....and you can see which riders take this route or opt for the longer chicken run.

Not far from the rock garden wall/berm is the two short northshore bits which lead to the exisiting bit of path, nothing that insteresting here.

The 'Leap of Faith' is a step rooty/rocky drop (right on the edge of the track, far left, nearest the Thames) but space here is limited but its a good view.

There is also the tunnel/slight jump over the tunnel..this is a good view, its pretty much in the middle of the htarck and a bit hidden and hard to find so might be good if others dont find it.

So I think I'd recommend standing/sitting near the rock garden & rock wall ride/berm bit but I expect it will be crowded everywhere.

And heres the tunnel plus leap of faith and northshore bit, pix \I took while having a sneaky go last year.

All the times i've been there i've never been on the leap of faith, probably rode right past it LOL