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Video: Preview the Rio 2016 Olympic mountain bike course

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South African course designer Nick Floros attached a helmet cam and ripped through the XC mountain bike course being built for the 2016 Rio Olympics. While there’s plenty of flat dirt, there’s also more then enough rock features, drops and techy bits to throw off the pace if a rider chooses (or is forced into) a less than ideal line.

There are more than five kilometers of rock, logs, jumps, berms, bridges and a tunnel laid out in what they say is a course that won’t favor any one type of rider.

In the PR by the organizing committee, Flores said: “The area chosen was very good to design for, as it has a natural variety of land types and many climbs and descents. The course is going be great. We’re going to have some different aspects, for example giant footprints around the course, and some parts based on the shapes we see around the city. I’m sure it’s going to be a fun course for everyone.”

They’ll get a chance to see how the riders like it on October 11th during the first test event, the Aquece Rio International Mountain Bike Challenge. The course is part of the X-Park, also home to the BMX course and canoe slalom circuit, which will become part of a public adventure park after the Games.

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Sean P
Sean P
8 years ago

Would have been nice to see the entire course. Unless that was the entire course….. and they will be doing laps in 1:06. Didn’t look all that difficult from what I could tell.

dolface
dolface
8 years ago

It looks like a golf course 🙁

Albert
8 years ago

Don’t like it. The same than in London! Where are those magnificent natural mountain bike challenge single trails circuits? this looks more than a Cyclocross circuit than a Mountain Bike challenge. Road cyclist would love that circuit… some parts looks almost like a freeway to me!! Don’t like it…

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
8 years ago

Yeah, I’d think they’d want to incorporate some climbing in there. I hope they do because it looks way too easy

margaret masten
margaret masten
7 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

looks great,just asked, if they were keepin the trail for the kids,,ans, yes, will be part of a park,,great,makes me want to take up mountain bikin , looks very exhaustin

Matt
Matt
8 years ago

he definitely pussed out on the last part. I would too. It looks really fun. I am sure part of why it looks easy is because it is set up for TV and spectator views. I am not sure it would be appropriate to have gnarly 6 foot drops and Moab type downhill in this event. It’s more the fitness side than the xgames focus.

Vincent
Vincent
8 years ago

(deleted)

Danimal
Danimal
8 years ago

“There are more than five kilometers of rock, logs, jumps, berms, bridges and a tunnel laid out in what they say is a course that won’t favor any one type of rider”
Makes perfect sense to me for a XC course. Looks fun and I would love to race it if I had a chance.

The Boss
The Boss
8 years ago

Coming from the Streets of Philadelphia, I had High Hopes for this course but this is far from from the Glory Days of mountain biking. The sport was Born in the USA on fire roads and natural single track. While I appreciate that Olympics are about TV and money, to me this would feel like riding around a kids playground.

JMUSuperman
JMUSuperman
8 years ago

World Cup Course > Olympic Course.

WG
WG
8 years ago

I know guys who’d easily ride it on a road bike 😉 Looks way to easy.

Sam
Sam
8 years ago

I’m sure there will be plenty of people saying this course looks too easy/could be ridden on a road bike/etc, and to be honest I said the same thing about the London Olympic course… until I rode it. I know many British Elites who would say that Hadleigh is one of the gnarliest courses on the UK calendar.
I’ll hold back from judging the Rio course unless I’ve ridden it myself.

Underling
Underling
8 years ago

The Boss = The Boss

redline
redline
8 years ago

Im sure he is a good designer and im sure he had plenty of restrictions, but this isnt XC. This is a 3′ wide paved flattened slalom course with a few features thrown in.

AdventuresAnonymous
AdventuresAnonymous
8 years ago

I miss mountain biking circa 1997. You know, when it was actually about riding the natural surfaces available, not creating courses wide enough for shoulder-to-shoulder sprinting or ruthlessly sanitizing local trails while astride one’s six-inch-travel “enduro” rig.

68413998
68413998
8 years ago

It looks “nice” (in the way a golf course looks clean and neat), but there needs to be at least some single track in a wooded area. It’s just way too clean and doesn’t look like a mountain bike course. It will certainly be difficult, that last log staircase will be hard.. After I started watching the video my heart did sink a bit.

kaliyuga
kaliyuga
8 years ago

Put in a windmill and it could be used for the olympic putt-putt venue

Adam
Adam
8 years ago

Looks much better than the London course.

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