Mountain Biking World Championships: Terrain, Elevation, Surface… What Does a Mountain Bike Track Look Like?
Ironically, the realm of off-road cycling is increasingly turning towards artificial arenas. Surprisingly, the mountain bike track for the Glasgow World Championships was not set up in the beautiful parks of the Victorian city center, but rather a hundred kilometers to the east, in the hills south of Edinburgh. Specifically, it found its home in Glentress Forest, nestled in the heart of a natural woodland park, serving as the stage for the 2023 Mountain Bike Cross-country World Championships. However, despite the picturesque location, the track designed for these Championships hardly retains a natural essence.
“Television’s influence has led the sport in this direction, aiming to make it more spectacular and camera-friendly,” notes Julien Absalon, the two-time Olympic champion in the discipline. “It’s a trade-off, but with these entirely artificial tracks, we’re moving away from the original spirit of mountain biking and what the average rider can do on a Sunday near their home.” Although a few natural tracks still exist within the World Cup circuit, the prevailing trend is towards standardizing the mountain bike venues.
Pit Stops and Formula 1 This evolution, partly driven by the standards set by the International Olympic Committee, steers athletes away from the sinuous trails of the 1990s – paths that once welcomed rocks and roots – to tracks meticulously crafted to perfection. Yvan Clolus, the manager of the French team, succinctly puts it: “This allows for faster riding, regardless of weather conditions, and eliminates the sight of racers trudging through mud.”
“The idea is to ride swiftly between technical spots incorporated into the track, such as jumps, steps, or rock gardens,” explains Yvan Clolus, the French team manager at franceinfo: sport. Interspersed between these spots, straight sections enable athletes to overtake one another, injecting an air of unpredictability into the races. Thanks to these innovations, the average race speed has soared from 18 km/h to 24 km/h. “In essence, we’ve moved from rally to Formula 1. Everything now hinges on millimeters, whereas previously, one could still win a race after a fall,” contextualizes Yvan Clolus, who concedes that while the discipline’s charm may have suffered, the margin for error no longer exists. To rekindle the spirit of mountain biking from earlier times, marathon and enduro events remain.
At Glentress Forest, these unpredictable elements indeed persist: rock gardens, jumps, and technical segments unfold along a track that meanders through trees, at times confounding even the seasoned rider. Nevertheless, here, the delicate balance between tradition and modernity has been upheld. Natural wooded sections coexist with more engineered stretches, at times on paths blending asphalt and gravel. The 3.5-kilometer loop presents an assorted array of obstacles, complete with steep ascents that one would not wish to climb on foot – an integral part of Cross-country mountain biking – and the echo of pit stops.
Ski Trails for Bicycles In the realm of downhill, an even more spectacular discipline, standards are more flexible, primarily because it remains non-Olympic. Emmanuel Huber, the French team’s coach for the past 30 years, has played a role in shaping these rules. He explains: “Descent routes need to be feasible everywhere, so we haven’t imposed overly strict criteria. There’s no one-size-fits-all track.” The fundamental rule, of course, is a descending profile. “Beyond that, it’s diverse: there could be dirt, gravel, roots, grass,” enumerates Emmanuel Huber, “It can be shaped with banked turns, bumps – all designed to provide speed variation and technical passages.”
The result is a spectacular downhill run, averaging 3 to 4 minutes at around 40 km/h, with bursts reaching 80 km/h for men, all beneath the forest canopy or across fields. The objective? “We aim for minimal pedaling – there have been cases where someone wins despite breaking their chain.” Essentially, it’s a ski trail adapted for bicycles.
