Originally Posted by
JeffOYB
To me the hopping is just too devastating when it goes wrong. When someone attempts a tricky stairclimb or otherwise steep climb they're not going to break bones when it goes wrong. Even steep crazy descents when they go wrong don't cause so much reliably regular wreckage.
BS. I shattered my collarbone on a steep ride-down. Many of the worst injuries I've heard of in local cross races have happened on similar terrain. For all the times I've seen people wreck trying to hop a barrier (and I've seen it a few times), serious injury is a lot more rare than a big descent. This "safety" argument doesn't hold water. If you can't hop the barriers, don't hop them. Even when people do, and wreck, it's usually not serious. Ride-downs are WAY more dangerous.
As for whether hopping constitutes "crossing," your opinion on that means nothing, since you know jack squat about the sport. I mean, you think bunny hopping is a "dangerous stunt," even though serious injuries on 'cross courses are much more common on steep descents, where practically everyone attempts to ride down them and the speed and kinetic energy is a lot higher.
Anyway, there's no sense in continuing to argue on this. Happily, there's no movement afoot to ban hopping, since such a rule would be both pointless and unenforceable. If you want to keep shopping this nonsense around, be my guest, but don't be surprised if you have few takers.