Mountain bicycling
Mountain biker riding in the Arizona desert
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| Highest governing body | International Mountain Bicycling Association |
|---|---|
| First played | Open to debate. Modern era began in the late 1970s |
| Characteristics | |
| Mixed gender | Separate men's & women's championship although no restrictions on women competing against men. |
| Presence | |
| Olympic | Since 1996 |
Mountain biking is the sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain. Mountain biking can generally be broken down into multiple categories: cross country, trail riding, all mountain (also referred to as "Enduro"), downhill, freeride and dirt jumping. However, the majority of mountain biking falls into the categories of Trail and Cross Country riding styles.
The sport requires endurance, core strength and balance, bike handling skills, and self-reliance. Advanced riders pursue both steep technical descents and high incline climbs. In the case of freeriding, downhilling, and dirt jumping, aerial manoeuvres are performed off both natural features and specially constructed jumps and ramps.
Mountain bikers ride on off-road trails such as singletrack, back-country roads, and fire roads. Because riders are often far from civilization, there is a strong ethic of self-reliance in the sport. Riders learn to repair broken bikes and flat tires to avoid being stranded. Many riders carry a backpack, including water, food, tools for trailside repairs, and a first aid kit in case of injury. Group rides are common, especially on longer treks. Mountain bike orienteering adds the skill of map navigation to mountain biking.
One of the first examples of bicycles modified specifically for off-road use is the expedition of Buffalo Soldiers from Missoula, Montana to Yellowstone in August 1896. The Swiss military had its first bike regiment in 1891.
Bicycles were ridden off-road by road racing cyclists who used cyclo-cross as a means of keeping fit during the winter. Cyclo-cross eventually became a sport in its own right in the 1940s, with the first world championship taking place in 1950. Between 1951 and 1956, the French Velo Cross Club Parisien (VCCP), comprising about twenty-one young cyclists from the outskirts of Paris where they were born, developed a sport that was remarkably akin to present-day mountain biking.
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