Mountain biking first came to Mt Van Hoevenberg (MVH) in Lake Placid in the early 1990s. It has come a long way since then, but this summer it is scheduled to make a giant leap forward.
With the WHOOP UCI (International Cycling Union) Mountain Bike World Series coming September 27-29, images of the world’s best mountain bikers racing at MVH will soon be beamed around the world, and that requires a whole new standard of trail design and development specific to the sport at this high level. Trails built on a full knowledge of the athletes and the sport itself.
Accomplishing this still involves a lot of tough, manual work, but those who do it best are creative sculptors and architects with a keen understanding of art, science, and sustainability. Course designers and developers need sensitivity to the bike handling skills needed to negotiate every obstacle. Their objective being to balance keeping riders safe while injecting fun and excitement into the course. They appreciate the flow and rhythm of the sport. They need to grasp the very real limits not only of the riders but also of the bikes themselves.
Going behind the scenes at MVH this summer, we can see all this knowledge put into action. Using only natural materials from the site itself, the course designers are creating a wonderland of burms and turns, jumps, drops, rock gardens, and rhythm sections, all deliberately designed and graded to ensure they’re erosion resistant.
Click here for the full article on the Mt Van Hoevenberg site.