Mountain bikers bump along hellish road
Deep in those famous Georgia woods is lurking either the future of the Olympic Games or the biggest error of judgment the Olympic movement has made in years.
For those who enjoy the outdoors and the sensation of sweaty lycra on the skin, the introduction of mountain biking to the Games is so exciting that 35,000 tickets were sold out within days. Those, on the other hand, who prefer their Olympic shorts baggy and still own bicycle clips should read no further.
Even beach volleyball, a medal event for the first time, is unlikely to create a greater stir than its co-debutant, judging by the 10-kilometer course which snakes between the trees on the fringes of the Georgia International Horse Park.
A newcomer expecting a gentle parkland ride over a couple of grassy knolls is forgetting the first part of the sport's name. Speaking from painful experience this week, they should simply hand out a medal to anyone who finishes.
"I reckon it's the toughest course there's ever been," said competition manager Brian Stickel proudly, offering an exclusive preview of a daunting lay-out which necessitates some 400 meters of climbing per lap.
Stickel, former managing director of the National Offroad Bicycle Association, knows what he is talking about, having helped design a course which squashes the notion that mountain bikers ill deserve to rub shoulders with traditional Olympians.
"They say it's not a good day if there isn't any blood or mud on your teeth at the end," laughed Stickel, waiting for this wobbly reporter to remount after a close encounter with the local shrubbery.
"Mountain bikers are a pretty tough crowd, but it tests every part of your body. I'd say you have to be as fit as most other sports, and then some."
Racing down the solid granite trails, boulder-strewn tracks, and narrow wooded paths of the Olympic course compares comfort-wise with skiing down a snow-free piste or spending a day bare-back camel riding in Algeria.
Broken arms and collar-bones are regarded as an occupational hazard at this level and even the official Olympics literature refers to one part of the course as "a steep technical drop that may cause some over-the-bar action."
Over the bar action generally takes a different form in most Olympic cities, but Stickel insists it is all part and parcel of a genuine sport which deserves a break.
"We heard there were a few people who were upset that we were admitted but our attitude is that we've paid our dues. Look at the number of people who've gone out and bought mountain bikes in the last 10 years. The IOC wants sports which appeal to a younger audience."
Stickel makes no secret of the fact the course for the men's and women's races on July 30 has been designed with television in mind, raising stil higher the profiles of riders already commanding six-figure salaries.
Accompanying whispers of performance-enhancing drugs merely confirm the sport, which only began in the mid-70s in northern California, has learned quickly.
"You need big lungs and big legs," agrees Stickel. "The guys will be really flying around here at speeds of up to 45 mph (72 kph). The problems only come if you start thinking too much about it."
Six laps of the circuit are expected to take the best riders just under three hours in the hottest part of the day, enough to make unfit novices slink away down the appropriately-named Purple Heart Highway which leads back to Atlanta.
The alternative option is in the heart of downtown where kids can ride a virtual-reality version of the Olympic course, minus the aching bones, sore legs and, crucially, any over the bar action.
The experience is disconcerting, like the advice on the wall. "For many riders, mountain biking has always been about pushing the limits of their equipment and their own fear."
The hall, nevertheless, has been packed all week and mountain biking is here to stay whatever the diehards think. Real or not, the future looks bright chrome.
This story written by Reuters correspondents
|
