The Olympic course was not as diffficult as most of what I ride, at least in terms of vertical gain and technical difficulty. Most of our trails have root and/or rock steps on all climbs and descents, loose rock on most and scree on quite a few. There are also mud bogs, cows and the occasional bear.
A good example of the riding we have locally is the UCI World Cup Course in Canmore, Alberta. I recall being at the top of the first pitch of the main climb, and watching pros pushing their bikes up the hill on the 3rd or 4th lap. The last [?] year they ran the race, it snowed for the women's final and a bunch of people got hypothermia. Normal daytime high at that tiime of year was about 22C, but it only got as warm as 6C that day.
