The World's Best Mountain Bikers Are Coming to Lake Placid This Fall. It's Also the Last Time.

The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series returns to Lake Placid and Wilmington on October 2-4 — the third and final year of the event in the Adirondacks.

ORDA board chair Joe Martens says the authority is feeling contemplative as they plan to end the event after this fall. The three-year contract between UCI and ORDA runs out after 2026, and officials say they're not renewing it — at least not yet. 'It's not out of the question that it could happen again in the future, but we just want to evaluate where we are with these large-scale events,' Martens said.

The public explanation is measured. The actual history is messier.

After the 2025 races at Whiteface Mountain, the DEC issued ORDA a formal Notice of Violation. DEC investigators found that ORDA work crews improperly toppled at least 32 trees, violated stormwater discharge permits, and built wider pathways than proposed in a draft work plan that was still under DEC review when the work was being done. ORDA CEO Ashley Walden and board chair Martens both acknowledged the work occurred without a DEC permit and promised to restore the land after the races.

The core legal question isn't just about permits. Protect the Adirondacks argued that a unit management plan amendment was needed for the downhill race course, and that the constitution's forever wild provision bars this kind of construction on forest preserve land regardless of what ORDA's existing management plans say.

For 2026, ORDA says the downhill course will follow only established ski glades, ski trails, and designated mountain bike trails — and that it will complete restoration work on portions of the Stag Brook Falls hiking trail that were modified for the 2025 course.

The event is real, the athletes are world-class, and the economic impact is measurable. ROOST estimates that UCI-driven spending in Essex County rose by $647,000 year-over-year in October. Lake Placid and Wilmington is also the final stop on the entire 14-event international series this year, after UCI dropped the long-running Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec venue from its 2026 calendar.

So this October, the world's best downhill and cross-country riders will finish their season here. Whether they ever come back is a different question — and ORDA isn't answering it yet.

The races run October 2-4 at Mount Van Hoevenberg and Whiteface Mountain. Tickets and information at lakeplacid.com.