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.
