The weather is warming up and the trails are drying out here in the southeast which can only mean one thing: mountain bike season is on the way! Here are a few mountain bike news items we’re digging this week.

2012 London Olympics MTB Course

photo courtesy news.bbc.co.uk.

We’ve written about the 2012 Olympic mountain bike course a couple times already but this week BBC News posted more details about the new trail. The overall loop is just 5K (about 3 miles) – much shorter than we imagined – which means the men will ride about 8 laps or so. That also means the race will be super spectator-friendly for up to 20,000 fans and tickets will cost between 20 and 45 pounds ($32 to $72).

The course itself appears to be mostly done and workers have covered the rocky course with a layer of sand to protect it from erosion before the games. Since there weren’t enough rocks on site, 1.1 billion pounds of rock (that’s right – with a B) was brought in to armor the trail and provide a more technical challenge. There’s about 230 vertical feet between the high and low points on the course, though there’s no word on the actual ascent per lap. Check out more pics here.

DH Race at Cape Verde Benefits Children

On February 14 the Urge Cabo Verde DH event wrapped up at Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa. Here’s how one press release describes the race:

The concept for the event is simple: take a handful of the world’s best mountain bike riders and drop them into an under-privileged part of the world for an event that is more about helping the local children than a finishline at the bottom of a mountain (or volcano in this case).

On the womens’ side, Tracey Moseley took top honors while Rocky Mountain sponsored rider Sabrina Jonnier of France took second. From what we’ve seen the trails and conditions were epic but don’t get your hopes up about racing next year: the race is invitation only. Find out more about the event and the charities it supports.

Honey Stinger/Trek Mountain Bike Team

The Honey Stinger/Trek mountain bike team announced its 2011 roster yesterday and offers an impressive list of who’s who in mountain biking. With 37 amateur and pro riders, including Jen Gersbach and 24 Hour national champs Max Taam, Sari Anderson, and Len Zanni, we’re bound to see the honey-combed jersey on the podium this season. The team will compete in several high profile Colorado mountain bike races including the Firecracker 50, Leadville 100, and the Breck Epic Stage Race.

With Lance Armstrong’s (second) retirement announcement yesterday, perhaps this means he’ll find some time to coach the Honey Stinger off-road team. After all, Armstrong is a part owner in Honey Stinger and is (was?) sponsored by Trek so he’s (David Puddy voice) gotta support the team!

Pro Photographer Hosts MTB Photography Course

Nationally acclaimed outdoor photographer Scott Markewitz is hosting a mountain bike photography course in Moab this spring and you’re invited! Western Spirit will take care of the logistics so all you need is your DSLR camera and a mountain bike! Oh, and the registration fee – $1,995 which includes four nights lodging and all meals and instruction. Contact Western Spirit at 800-845-2453 or biking@westernspirit.com to reserve your space and check out Scott’s MTB photo gallery here.

On Friday afternoon I drove to Conyers, GA and the Georgia International Horse Park, home of the 1996 Olympic mountain bike course. It’s the only Olympic course on US soil which is pretty exciting, but for those of us who live in the area we sometimes take it for granted. There used to be an annual 24 hour race on the course (24 Hours of Conyers) and for those who watched the documentary 24 Solo, it’s the course where Chris Eatough races for his 7th World Championship.

Shortly after the Olympics the course fell into disrepair and mudhunny tells me she couldn’t even follow the trail just a year later. Fortunately the local SORBA club picked up the ball and continues to maintain the trails today. Of course there have been a few changes since the 1996 games but you can still see the wooden TV camera platforms placed at strategic turns and the yellow course boundaries painted onto the granite. The photo below shows where the original course vanishes underneath the golf course sand trap and and green.

On Friday I decided to start on the “Steeplechase Loop” which begins in the field beside the main parking lot. I’ve ridden here dozens of times but for some reason I started going the wrong direction on the trail, ignoring the “Wrong Way” signs along the way. Oh well, I only ran into one other mountain biker and a trail runner and neither of them seemed to mind. This section of the course is wooded and generally pretty rolling with only the occasional root garden to make things challenging.

Riding back across the field and past the parking area, I crossed the divided parkway to access the “Granite Loop.” The street crossing is easily the most dangerous part of the ride – for some reason the sharp, steep curbs were never cut for a bike crossing (4 of them total) PLUS someone decided to plant bulging evergreen trees in the median that make it impossible to see oncoming traffic. Peeking around a tree I waited for the speeding cars to pass before sprinting for the other side of the road.

The second half of the course is completely different from the first and features long stretches of exposed, decomposing granite tread and quick lung-busting climbs (the photos never do it justice). I always forget how much of a beating my hardtail takes on the granite – it’s not like the slickrock at Moab at all. After ascending, then descending, and ascending and descending the granite again, the trail dips into the woods where I discovered some fresh trail re-routes full of tight twists and turns. The trail is really quite scenic here, though I doubt that thought went through the minds of the Olympians competing in 1996.

The final climb back up to the granite has always been a challenge for me – in fact I guess you could say it’s my arch nemesis (to borrow dgaddis’s term). The climb itself isn’t that remarkable – average length, moderately steep, and mostly smooth – but for some reason I’ve never been able to ride all the way to the top. I’m either too spent from the earlier climbs or I spin out on the roots at the top – and Friday wasn’t any exception. At the top of the hill my GPS said I had climbed more than 1,000 feet in just under 7 miles which puts the course difficulty into perspective (nearly 150 ft/mile). Not bad for a bike trail on the east side of Atlanta!

16 trails down; 13 more to go.

photo courtesy NPR’s State of the Re: Union.

A couple mountain bike news items to share today:

2012 Olympic Mountain Bike Course Takes Shape

Over on Echo News, reader Andrew Batty shares pics of the Olympic mountain bike course being constructed near Hadleigh Castle. From the pics it looks like there’s a high hill that will provide much of the elevation for the course, though no word on actual climbing numbers yet. The area looks to offer a good mix of open areas and forest groves which should make it ideal for spectators.

Oakridge, OR: Mountain Bike Capital of the Northwest

National Public Radio has a new series called Re:Union and a recent article (episode?) featured the Oakridge, OR mountain bike scene. The story looks at how Oakridge, a rural town suffering from a collapse in the lumber market, is reinventing itself as a mountain bike destination. We’ve heard great things about the riding around Oakridge and the annual Mountain Bike Oregon weekend seems to get bigger and bigger each year.

The whole idea of embracing mountain biking (and other outdoor activities) to help boost isolated economies seems like a win-win. In fact there’s plenty of opportunity for small towns around the country to do the same (Appalachian communities here on the east coast seems like prime targets). Even if you don’t live near Oregon, start thinking about mountain bike trips you can take to expand your riding horizons AND to help local economies.

photo courtesy hadleighcountrypark.co.uk

Back in September UK officials finally settled on a location for the Olympic mountain bike competition after the UCI determined that the Weald Country Park course wasn’t challenging enough. The Hadleigh Castle site sits on about 550 acres and includes open, grassy areas along with forested stretches that should make for an interesting course. The best part? The site will now remain open to mountain bikers after the Olympics!

I know the summer Olympics are still more than 2 years away but I’m already excited about the MTB race. The Hadleigh Castle ruins are more than 700 years old and will provide a pretty amazing backdrop to all the action. I looked at some pics this weekend and the castle ruins sorta remind me of Mount Falcon just outside Denver (though about 600 years older). Too bad I can’t set my TiVo now – I don’t want to miss a thing.

A few mountain bike news bites to start the week.

Backyard bikepark. Over at ihatebikes.net the author is busy working on a backyard bike park and apparently things are getting pretty serious. Phase II involved using a backhoe / excavator to sculpt a sweet pump track in the woods and we’re anxiously awaiting pics of the next phase. If you’re looking for a somewhat more manageable project for a smaller backyard space, check out this article we posted a couple years ago about building a portable teeter totter or this forum thread about building a backyard skinny. DIY!

Rio Olympics: Mountain biking? So apparently Rio doesn’t have an established mountain bike trail to use for the 2016 Olympics at the moment so they’ll be building a “temporary” trail. Having been to Rio I can tell you there is super gnarly terrain all around the city so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to create a world class route. Downhill as an Olympic sport in 2016? This would be the place to debut it!

In other Olympic news, remember how we told you last week that Trek was really anxious to get the Chicago Olympics and how they helped scout some of the cycling venues (including MTB)? Well, it turns out that may have been a small part of the city’s losing bid:

The IOC praised Chicago’s compact venue plans along the downtown waterfront, and minimum travel time for athletes, but noted that the equestrian, shooting, road cycling and mountain biking venues were relatively far away.

New full HD camera from VHoldR announced. If you read the blog you already know the VHoldR is an amazing helmet camera and now the guys are one-upping themselves with a new full HD (1080p) wearable camera. The new Contour HD 1080 helmet camera has 5 video modes from full 1080p HD to high speed SD and is aimed at the “pro” market – you know, badass mountain bikers and video producers. Don’t worry though, pro doesn’t mean it’s that much more expensive: the “regular” Contour HD price will drop to $279 and the new “pro” Contour will be just $329. Look for the camera in time for the holiday shopping season.

As we head into the weekend there are a few cool things happening:

Chicago is gunning to host the Olympic Games in 2016 but one problem: Chicagoland is flat as a pancake. Case in point: The original road cycling course was rejected because it was just too easy. Instead, word is the mountain biking event would be held in Blue Mounds, WI near Madison. The Trek company has to be salivating over the prospects…

Downhillers, looking for a free ride to the top? Check out Brundage Mountain Resort in Idaho where they’re offering free lift rides all day on July 2 as part of the summer season opening. The mountain boasts a 4-person high speed lift to the top of the 7,640 foot-summit which I’m sure beats pedaling all the way up Free is a heck of a value too considering that a regular daily pass is $25 (though that’s still a heck of a bargain).

Did you know the National MTB Championships are being held in Colorado for the first time EVER? It’s hard to believe but it’s true. You can catch the action July 16-19 at SolVista Basin Resort which is not too far from Winter Park. While SolVista is one of Colorado’s lesser known resorts, the Granby Mountain Bike Park located on site boasts 10 trails and a pump track. Get more info on the official site.