Daspydyr 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3yMq7AYP3U

What do you think? It looks tame to me for a world class test. But it probably more like an everyday day ride. Should be fast.

Is the track set up for Absalom on his 26" tires? Would some beefier rock garden level the field?

Cyclist01012

That in my opinion is not even single track, that course is double track and fire roads. Its a course designed for 29 er hardtails with 100mm forks. it does on the other hand look very very fast.

ed 

It was pretty tame last games too. They are trying to keep the injury rate down and passing readily possible. IMO

pablosnazzy

that doesn't seem like "mountain biking" to me. you could do that on a cross bike. you could do that on a comfort bike.

blilrat

You wouldn't even need suspension for that track - they took the mountain out of mountain biking. But I'll bet it's extremely fast. Here's a different view where you can see the riders on the coarse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4Ob...eature=related

ncw

This video is a bit more recent (according to upload date) and not sped up: https://youtu.be/9hFqldLCfXU
I think it looks kind of fun, though not very difficult (even for a noob like me). It's a bit too "man-made" and not as technical as I like, but should make for some good racing.

JShultz89

Looks pretty easy but still going to be exciting to watch. The athletes will be very fast!

C Law

The rock features look cool, until closer inspection reveals a smooth path right down the middle of them.

They can't all be like racing at michaux.

JonathanGennick 

Kinda pathetic, isn't it? And sad to think that many people's concept of mountain-biking will be influenced by that course.

lubes17319

Of course, a big bouncy bike would dumb down this course.
However, racing that course WFO for 90min on a weight-weenie HT w/the seat raised ain't gonna be a piece of cake.

Most unsettling is that they won't allow beer at the event. WTF!?!

JonathanGennick 

@lubes, thanks. Those photos give a different perspective than the earlier video.

JonathanGennick 

Thinking some more here: Britain surely has challenging, real singletrack, right? I'd be more interested in watching the race on something real that gave a flavor of what the host country has on offer.

lubes17319

^ Surely there are lots more interesting tracks up north, but for the Olympics they needed an location near London that could accommodate thousands of people, as well as TV crews & good viewing areas.

ed 

Come on, lubes. Racing 90min on the road against Olympians would be difficult, but that track won't add a challenge to the race. More or less, just a few places to neck down traffic and kill passing opportunities. Those rocky sections have such smooth channels cut through them that they'd be a snore on my rigid 26.

This has been my beef with mountain bike racing for a long time. The more expert riders should be riding on a more technically challenging trail, not just more aerobically challenging.

When I was asked to help map out a route for our state games, I had a beginner course and an expert course. The people in charge just decided to use the beginner course and add laps for the advanced riders.

Cross country mountain bike racing is a joke.

Olympians are supposed to be the best of the best. A couple of the guys that stuffed the trail down my throat one day would just huck that last picture on their S-Works carbon Stumpy's.

ed 

What they should have done was change direction and made them climb up those features. If you come into that little rock drop really hot, you could hit it as a step-up.

Daspydyr 

Ed, that change of direction would be genius. 2 laps one way and then 2 laps the other direction. Something that would really be interesting is to make the track a figure 8 loop and allow collisions.

ed 

3speed

Wow. You've got to be kidding me. Now I'm glad I'm not watching this stuff... As a total freakin' newbie, even I ride stuff more difficult than that. You non-newbies must seriously just be laughing at it or shaking your head in disbelief.

Now the figure 8 idea - That Could add some real challenge and entertainment.

JonathanGennick 

As usual, Ed has nailed the issue with succinctness. Technical challenges are an equalizer. Without them, it is all about aerobics and one might as well race on pavement.

theextremist04

Based on watching the race, it was harder than the pre-race stuff made it out to be- certainly not just a golf course.

pablosnazzy

still not actually as technically challenging as actually mountain biking. two sort of rocky "downhill" sections don't really make it challenging. it's about aerobic fitness, not mountain bike handling skills. might as well just do a cyclocross race.

theextremist04

How do you define actual mountain biking? Sure, it's not downhill, but it wasn't exactly tame. They built it to be ultra-sustainable, so that every rock would be in the same place when they finished building it and for the race itself. There were several technical downhill sections, at least one place where their wheels left the ground, a technical uphill that had many a rider walking it, the trail was super loose when you got off of the main line to pass...oh, and they're doing it on sub-20lb. bikes. Did you notice the winner was on a FS rig? Kinda says something.

pablosnazzy

it CANNOT be actual mountain biking, because it's a manmade well groomed course. the "technical" sections really truly aren't that technical. sorry, they just aren't. the "rock sections," while looking gnarly on the outside, are actually rather smooth where the course is. nature isn't so clean cut and smooth. the reason people were walking is because someone didn't make a section, had to unclip, and blocked everyone else behind them, so they had to unclip and walk. happens all the time in group rides.

i'm not saying the course has to be some huge technical monster with drops and crap. that's not the point.

i frankly couldn't care less about the olympic course, i just hate to think that people think that is a fair representation of actual mountain biking. it's not.

the leadville 100 just finished. i don't consider that a mountain bike race, and i don't consider that mountain biking. people do it on mountain bikes, but it's not mountain biking.

theextremist04

If it's a race and the best choice of bike is a mountain bike, is it not a mountain bike race?

EDIT: and I would guess that almost every single trail you ride on is man-made.

pablosnazzy

if you are talking leadville, it's a gravel road to a dirt road. also, it's been done on a cyclocross bike. you could ride the olympic track on a cyclocross bike. if i can ride it on a cross bike, it's not mountain biking.

going back to my original statement, the course isn't really that difficult or challenging, skills wise. perhaps, you coming from kansas, it is more technical than what you usually ride. compared to the trails we have, the olympic course isn't technically challenging, and so it isn't a test or competition of mountain bike skills, just fitness. in which case, why not just road race?