Photos: 'Everything is rideable' when the X Games take Minneapolis

Construction continues before the X Games.
Inside the stadium, it's still a construction zone Monday as workers haul dirt for a Moto X course.
Evan Frost | MPR News

Extreme sports take over venues in Minneapolis later this week during the city's first time hosting the Summer X Games.

Austin, Texas, hosted the X Games for the past three years, and Minneapolis hosts the next two.

The games, put on by ESPN, include skateboarding, BMX riding and motorcycle racing. Most competitions will be downtown at U.S. Bank Stadium, although flat track motorcycle racing takes place Thursday outside the Mall of America.

Athletes range in age from 12-year-old kids to middle-age adult, said sports and competition director Rich Bigge.

A course for skateboarding and BMX features a Viking ship, in tribute to the stadium's home team.

"In this course here there's probably about 70 yards of concrete. Everything is rideable," Bigge said.

The complete schedule is here.

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