After warming up with a weeklong training camp in France, the American triumvirate of Todd Wells, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Mary McConneloug arrived in Athens on Monday and got their first look at the Mont Parnitha mountain bike venue on Tuesday.

With only one sustained descent, and two sharp climbs, Wells said there wouldn’t be much time to rest.

“You’re going to be pedaling most of the time,” said the GT-Hyundai rider, who qualified for the Olympic team behind a 10th place finish at the Calgary World Cup. “It’s really dry, kind of loose and pebbly. There’s two climbs and a couple of technical drop-ins, one rock drop and a rutted steep section.”

Wells said he crashed once during the team’s afternoon training session, and has an “egg” on his shin.

Horgan-Kobelski did one fast lap of the course, which had to be shortened after a fire tore through part of the track earlier in the week, making the trip right on 20 minutes.

Wells said he’ll definitely ride his hardtail, and thought a wider tire, probably a 2.1, would work best on the loose terrain.

Horgan-Kobelski and Wells spent the rest of their afternoon at the Olympic velodrome, watching the semifinals of the men’s and women’s sprints, and the men’s points race.

“The whole experience is pretty overwhelming,” Wells said. “We saw [Chinese basketball star] Yao Ming. Everybody was going up to him to take pictures because he’s so tall.”

Prior to coming to Athens, the three U.S. riders were in France near Alpe d’Huez, and spent most of the week training on the road.

“We all climbed Alpe d’Huez once,” Wells said. “And we did a big 5-hour ride over a bunch of the big famous climbs.”

Training on the course continues through Thursday. The women’s cross-country is scheduled for 11 a.m. local time Friday, with the men following at the same time a day later.