Riders taking part in this year’s Peel Out Mountain Bike Festival may want to get a few extra runs in prior to race day.
Mark Savard, race course organizer for Peel Out, said this year’s Fox Mountain Downhill course — scheduled Saturday, May 18, as part of the weekend’s festivities — has been completely changed.
“We’ve been using the same course for the past three years and people are getting comfortable,” Savard said. “It’s time to progress … This is a fast course with a bunch of technical sections that will keep racers on their toes from top to bottom.”
The new course features a new start zone, big berms, gullies and technical hills.
“We’re really excited about the new start zone,” Savard said. “It’s a big eight-foot, roll-down ramp that launches into a series of big tabled jumps,” Savard said.
Younger riders will still have the option to start from the same place as last year.
The decision to change the course was made last week, and Savard and many trail builders were hard at work installing some completely new features.
“Through the new maintenance agreement with the province of B.C. and the Cariboo Mountain Bike Consortium we have some new resources at our fingertips,” he said. “We scheduled some new wood features into the Peel Out course in our plans and rather than add to the old line we thought it best to freshen things up and make Mitch’s Brew the true all-mountain epic it was meant to be.”
The new downhill course opened May 1 for practice runs. The course is signed with Peel Out Race logos to guide riders down the track.
Registration is still underway for the Peel Out Mountain Bike Festival May 18-20 at www.ridethecariboo.ca.