The World Cup Mountain Biking tour is making stops in 11 spectacular locations around the planet in 2001. Along the way there's plenty of big air, nasty terrain and lots of sick wipe-outs.
The Stops
Riders take on all kinds of slopes from the Alps of Switzerland and Austria to the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. There's no friendly pavement here. It's all rock, dirt, steep hills and cliff drops.
The Styles
The Toughness
Mountain bike riders are as tough as the rock faces they fly off of. They're nothing like these wussy, doped-up, "I'll cry if I scrape my leg," road racers you see at the Tour de France. These guys take big risks and punishment. At the Grouse Mountain race, Fabiel Barel of France needed 24 stiches to close a wound in his calf after being gouged by a course-marking pole during training. Two days later he took first in the finals. That same weekend, Roland Green, of Canada, busted a tire during the x-country finals. He managed to fix the flat with lighting quickness and still finish second. They don't get paid like the millionaires in basketball or football but they definitely deserve it.
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