Once again the Summer Olympics are here and we all look forward to some great feats and wish our Canadian Olympic team, glory, medals and good fun. I have collected times and links for those who want to watch and know more about our racers.

We have four excellent mountain bike riders and a BMX rider who qualified this time, with pretty good prospects to rank or even win it all!

Familiar MTB racing names Emily Batty, Catharine Pendrel, Raphael Gagne, and Leandre Bouchard will be trying their best against the world’s top mountain bike riders. They all consistently have been coming in the top 10 or winning races at the Pan Am Games, Canadian Nationals, World Championships…

We also have favourite, Tory Nyhaug competing in BMX cycling who did win gold at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am games.

The 2016 Summer Olympics are actually in Rio’s winter season being in South America . It will still be Hot enough! Here are a few short videos to introduce you to the course and tricky terrain the riders will face.

Go Canada Go!

Tune in to Watch the Races:

Women’s Cross – country MTB – Saturday August 20th 11:30 – finals

Men’s Cross – country MTB – Sunday August 21st 11:30 – finals

BMX races – August 17 -19th

Watch highlights – CBC Sports

Here a few MTB, BMX links to the Games:

Rio 2016 Olympics – MTB, BMX

Olympic Organization mountain biking

Canadian Olympic site, how the sport works, history – MTB BMX

+ BMX video of Tory testing the Olympic track on Facebook

Yesterday our Canadian men and women mountain bike racers did us proud by winning in our own backyard at the Pan Am Games.

The women’s MTB race had Emily Batty of Brooklin, Ontario win gold and her friend and rival Catharine Pendrel this time came second for a silver medal, both dominating the race. They were very strong and lead the race ahead of American rider Erin Huck who was more than five minutes back!

Later that day the men’s MTB race saw Canadian Raphael Gagne win us a gold medal in an exciting tight race with Argentinian racer Catriel Soto. We also had Canadian veteran rider, Derek Zandstra take fourth behind American Stephen Ettinger.

The races were held at Hardwood MTB Park, just north of Barrie, Ontario on the weekend. The weather was hot and humid but not too stifling. A large crowd came to cheer our riders and a few of you were there.

This race and the wins mean a big boost for the mountain bike riding community here in Ontario. Not only can we produce top riders we also will benefit from a world-class MTB track that was built at Hardwood for the Pan Am Games.

I am looking to try it this summer, umm somewhat slower. lol…but if you can ride it six times in an hour and half …call team Canada immediately.

Here are some great photos courtesy of friends Ian Yorston and Oli Moorman