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.
