Kris Cheney-Seymour, event manager for the state’s Olympic Regional Development Authority, points to construction on the mountain bike course on Tuesday. (News photo – Parker O’Brien)
LAKE PLACID – As Kris Cheney-Seymour walked through the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Tuesday, Aug. 6, he pointed to dirt and some rocks on the ground.
While this may not seem like much to a passing traveler, to him it represents a huge step forward for mountain biking in this community as the state’s Olympic Regional Development Authority prepares mountain bike trails for the upcoming WHOOP Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike World Series.
The UCI Mountain Bike World Series, held here September 27-29, is the first of its kind in Lake Placid. The event features mountain bikers of various levels, including some Olympic athletes who just competed in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Cheney-Seymour, the recreational sports and event coordinator for the state Olympic Regional Development Authority’s Olympic Sports Complex and Olympic Jump Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg, says construction is about 60% complete.
The entire course will be completed at the end of the month after a final inspection by UCI inspectors. After this inspection, there are still three weeks until the actual event.
A section of the mountain bike trail is covered with a tarp in case of rain. (News photo – Parker O’Brien)
“If at the end of August things emerge that need to be adjusted or changed, then we have to do that,” Cheney-Seymour said.
Van Hoevenberg Mountain is one of 15 stops in the series, which spans 10 countries on three continents.
The Lake Placid event begins on Friday, September 27, with a cross-country short track World Cup for the men’s and women’s U23 division. On Saturday, September 28, the U23 division will compete in the UCI Cross-Country World Cup over the Olympic distance.
The event will conclude on Sunday, September 29, with a World Cup race over the marathon distance and a World Cup race over the Olympic distance between the men’s and women’s elite classes.
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The course
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The entire course will be four kilometers long, or about two and a half miles, and almost every section of the course will follow existing trails from the 1980 Winter Olympics or earlier, Cheney-Seymour said. The start and finish will be in the area of the biathlon stadium.
“As soon as you leave the stadium, the course is 100% on easement land,” he said. “The stadium is what it is. It is crossed by the nature reserve and that is common knowledge.”
Cheney-Seymour said one of the main goals in building the course was to not import non-native materials.
“So far, everything we have made and built has used materials that were locally and already available,” he said. “There was no mining effort or anything like that to achieve this. It was really like taking a boulder that was lying over there and bringing it here for this purpose.”
According to Cheney-Seymour, the soil used came from other projects nearby, allowing the construction team to create unique elements.
Parts of the course reflect the tradition of the Olympic figure skating rink, other parts of the course refer to the Lake Placid figure skating rink.
“The descent into the stadium should 100% simulate the experience of a slide,” Cheney-Seymour said. “I think it was fun to talk to Warner Bros. and the construction team about, ‘How can we bring something that is part of our heritage to this site and how can we translate it into a mountain bike World Cup course?'”
There is also something playful about the track. Right in the middle of the stadium there are two shelters that have a door cut into the back on race day so that the riders have to walk through them and jump out at the front.
“(We) concluded that this is an important structure type in the Adirondacks and part of the hiking environment,” Cheney-Seymour said. “We went through five or six ideas of what we could do with the attachments. You could drive them over the top and connect them together. Those were two attachments that (ORDA) already had, and now they’re two features.”
There is a group of stewards in front of the shelters who ensure the security of the area.
“The plan is that there will be a campfire here with Adirondack chairs around it, and the stewards will hang around, roast marshmallows and oversee the whole thing, and the crowd will look over,” Cheney-Seymour said.
The course has some difficult elements. Most sections of the course are split into multiple lines, essentially two different options for the riders, each with a risk and a reward. There are also two climbs for the riders to tackle, one steeper than the other.
“If you ride the (steep) one at speed and have a good transition, it’s a lot faster than (the other one), and if you don’t, it’s a lot slower.” Cheney-Seymour said.
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Fan experience
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According to Cheney-Seymour, about 1,000 to 1,500 people are expected to attend the race on Friday, 2,500 to 3,000 on Saturday and 5,000 on Sunday. One of the most important factors in determining the course was to ensure that spectators could fully experience every part of the race.
“If you look at the uphill section of the Tour de France, you can see that the fans are very close to the riders. And that is the goal, that (the fans) have access to the riders all the time,” Cheney-Seymour said.
Almost every part of the course will be visible to spectators. The hiking trails to Cascade and Porter mountains that start at the Mountain Pass Lodge will be used for spectators and the reservoir will be one of the best viewing points so spectators can see most of the course.
“Everything except the race track is more or less open to fans who want to watch, observe and participate in the action,” Cheney-Seymour said.
Even when the racers leave the podium, they have to go through a fan zone to get back to their team’s paddock or tent area.
“The fan experience at the Mountain Bike World Cup race at Mount Van Hoevenberg will be breathtaking for people,” said Cheney-Seymor.
There will be fan engagement zones and possibly even live music throughout the race weekend. Of course, there will also be roadside food vendors.
“Below, where the wax huts are in winter (Lot 1), will be the Expo site,” Cheney-Seymour said. “So local merchants, regional retailers and companies coming to share their stories, their products and their information.”
Ticket sales for the WHOOP Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike World Series began in March. Interested parties can purchase a ticket at https://tinyurl.com/49552vxv.
Because so many spectators are expected, there will be a shuttle service from the North Elba Show Grounds to Mount Van Hoevenberg on race day.
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Children’s ride
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When the athletes come to Lake Placid in September, Swedish athlete and Olympic gold and bronze medalist Jenny Rissveds, who won her bronze medal in the women’s cross-country mountain bike competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on July 28, hopes to make an impression on the community.
Rissveds plans to organize an outreach for children during race weekend in collaboration with ORDA. Although the project is still in its early stages, Cheney-Seymour said her goal is to find 30 elementary and middle school-aged children.
“And spend an hour with the team,” he said. “This includes being in the tent with the pros, talking to them about good decisions and then going on a bike ride.”
Cheney-Seymour said she likes to ask other professional riders for help.
“She usually manages to get on the podium with her,” he said.
