The Herald-Sun
Aug 24, 2004 : 9:25 am ET
The 2004 summer Olympics in Athens have already seen some exciting race results in cycling.
After leaving the Tour de France because of a back injury, Tyler Hamilton won the United States its first-ever gold medal in men’s road time trial.
Axel Merckx, son of the legendary five-time Tour winner Eddie Merckx, earned a bronze medal in the men’s road race.
Anna Meares and the Australian pursuit team have each broken world records in the velodrome and they aren’t even finished racing yet. And all this has happened on skinny tires … the fat tires begin racing tomorrow!
This is only the third Olympics for mountain biking, which debuted in Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic Games. Since then, the world of professional mountain biking has reached its halcyon days. The competition will be fierce Friday and Saturday as riders hurl themselves and their bikes down rocky slopes, clearing boulders and dirt jumps alike, approaching 65 mph. Don’t miss it!
Pisgah National Forest and the Tsali trail network in the western end of our state draw mountain bikers from all over the country, but you don’t need to drive out to there to get in some time off-road. Mountain biking is well-established in the Triangle.
Lake Crabtree County Park has a great network of trails for beginners. Call the park office at 460-3390 to make sure the trails are open when you plan to ride.
New Light is a collection of trails on Wildlife Resources land near Falls Lake. Route 66, one of the trails at New Light, is a favorite, showing off some of the best of what mountain biking is all about.
You can find descriptions of trails and directions to these and many others in the Triangle area at www.trianglemtb.com. The Durham Orange Mountain Bike Organization (DOMBO, www.dombo-nc.org) is working tirelessly to finish Durham’s first mountain biking course. When completed, it will be at the Little River Park off Guess Road in northern Durham County.
To ride the kind of course like in the Olympics, dedicated XC race courses, you can head to the mountains. Ski slopes often open their chairlifts to downhill and cross-country bikers in the summertime. Call the Sugar Mountain resort (800) 784-2768 to see when the next weekend of operation is.