A wild off-road bicycle race coming to Tulsa next weekend now has its course plan.
Tulsa Tough is behind the cyclocross event Cyntergy Hurtland. They let U.S. champ Jeremy Powers design the course after a walkthrough of Owen Park.
Powers drew a lot of inspiration from courses in Europe, which throw a lot of obstacles at riders.
"He wanted to design a course that would not only be physically challenging but would test the limits of the cyclists' skill sets," McCollam said.
Powers' course uses the park's rolling terrain, built-in stair sets and water features. He threw in eight creek crossings; crossings near a pond will have bridges because of dangerous concrete and rocks.
"But once we get a little bit further up the hill, that involves just the natural terrain of the creek, and whether there's water in it or not and the natural shelf and rocks, people are going to be on their own to figure out how they're going to get across," McCollam said.
The course is also condensed into a smaller area than most, which is good for spectators.
"People are going to be able to see all these shenanigans, and bicyclists jumping off their bikes and running through creeks and running over barricades and running up stairs from a pretty close vantage point," McCollam said.
The course will be built later next week for the Nov. 21 race. Riders will get a chance to check it out next Friday.
