With tight turns, downhill slopes and jumps to land, a manmade hill in southwest Winnipeg has become the city's new mountain bike hub.
The Bison Butte Mountain Bike Course was built specifically for the Canada Summer Games.
Games officials said it's the first venue to meet national standards in central Canada.
"I think it's pretty awesome,” said team Manitoba cyclist Becca Man. “We don't have anything like this in Manitoba so it's really great just to have something with a lot more technical features on it."
"It's pretty difficult. There's a lot of things on it that I still can't ride...but there's ways to opt out of it so there's ‘A’ lines, ‘B’ lines and ‘C‘ lines so you can go around all the hard parts."
Man’s teammate Chloe Penner said the course offers challenging terrain she hadn’t experienced until the course opened.
"There are jumps in it and before this year we haven't done anything like it," said Penner.
Course designer Alex Man, whose daughter Becca is racing for team Manitoba, started on the project five years ago.
"We have different difficulties,” said Alex. “So the ‘A’ line is kind of the most difficult but it's also the fastest and you're also looking at some mandatory air time.”
The hope for the new six-kilometre course is that it will grow the sport of mountain biking in Manitoba and help current riders improve their skills.
"Their development's going to be huge four, five years down the road when the next games happens,” said Team Manitoba cycling coach Jayson Gillespie. “That's going to be a great development opportunity for us."
People can watch the competitions during the games but members of the public haven’t been able to ride on the course even though it opened last year.
That will change once the games end.
It will open to the public and riders will be able to access the site free of charge.
It's one of several Canada Summer Games legacy projects.
"I think for the amount they put into this, they're going to get a big bang for their buck in terms of a long-term legacy," said Alex.
FortWhyte Alive will manage the course following the conclusion of the games.
A trail rating system and signage similar to a ski hill is in the works to let riders know which routes are safe for their skill level.
“We certainly encourage people to use it,” said FortWhyte Alive Operations Manager Ian Barnett. “We hope the community will take some responsibility for policing themselves out there.”
“We want it to be an open and welcoming facility.”
An exact date for the opening of the track to the public has not been set, but FortWhyte said it should open shortly after the games end.
Since it's free to access the site, there will be no waivers to sign. Barnett said people will be responsible for their own safety under the Occupiers' Liability Act.
