Mountain biking is a huge and varied sport it’s full of history and disciplines and characters and with that in mind, i’ve taken a deep dive in to find seven things you might not have known about mountain biking
1. Origin of mountain biking
Now officially mountain biking started in the 1970s in marin county california with the repack race pioneering riders like Gary Fisher, Tom Richie, Charlie Kelly they took beach cruises and adapted road bikes and took them off-road and on the 21st of october 1976 did the first repack race which i guess we would all recognize as the first downhill race in mountain biking
But did you know at the same time and even earlier in the 50s and 60s the rough stuff fellowship in the UK were already out exploring Scotland and Wales on off-road trails again on adapted road bikes and creating what we would probably now recognize as The First Cross-Country riding, so mountain biking has been around maybe a bit longer than we all thought.
2. Mountain Bike different types
Now you might be wondering about the disciplines of mountain biking, what is Downhill racing as opposed to Cross Country.
Downhil
Downhill is what we would probably recognize as the kind of the F1 of mountain biking it really is where all of the high-level prototyping and top-notch technology takes place to make these bikes go fast as they can down a specific track, basically fastest from the top to the bottom wins.
Cross country
Is totally different this is an event where it’s multi-lapse and basically everyone starts in a mass start at the start line and then basically gets strung out around the course as they do multiple laps and the person who gets across the line first after a set number of laps or a set amount of time is the winner.
Enduro
which i guess if downhill is Formula One enduro is probably a little bit akin to rally car where you’ve got riders going out and taking on stages basically multiple downhill races and then their allotted time for each race stage that they’ve done is grouped together and it’s an overall time and the fastest time is the winner.
Those are the kind of disciplines thatare all about racing but then of course there’s the more creative side of mountain biking the free ride side, where these events are much more about being judged so a rider will go down into a course and they’ll throw their tricks and their moves and they’ll be scored on things like technicality and the amplitude of their run in that particular ride.
And the judges decide who was the best at the end of the day often it’s very clear sometimes it’s a little bit tricky to decide who was the winner on the actual day, and it creates a bit of argument now and again but a very creative side to mountain bike in that is also a big part of the sport. But of course you don’t have to squeeze yourself into lycra and decide what discipline of mountain biking you’re gonna do, most riders out there basically just see themselves as trail riders and get out on the trails around them into the wilderness riding great tracks and that is basically what i would call real mountain biking.
3. Bikes need maintenance
You really need to maintain your mounting bike now one of the things that really wears out commonly is the chain and that really affects the drivetrain itself so the chain itself the cassette uh your chain rings the derailleur and the jockey wheels.
To avoid your chain wearing out get yourself a chain checker it’s a small tool that measures chain wear by slotting in between the links as the chain gets more worn the tool sits further into the chain if you replace the chain at 0.5% where then you can usually get two or three chains to a cassette before this will need replacing as well and you could think of it like this basically, you could probably get three chains worth of use out of your entire drive chain but there’s a lot of power going for all those cogs and wheels so they do wear down.
And you do need to look after them similarly you need to look after things like brakepads they’ll wear down, cables they’re going to get stretched and not be as accurate so most of these jobs can be performed by yourself if you’re confident of following instructions and with a little bit of help from the internet too. Others will need specific tools or skills so it’s best to book in your bike at the local bike shop.
4. Buying your first MTB Entry level
Okay here’s a strange one the cost of entry you can spend quite a small amount of money on a mountain bike 500 £/$/€ that kind of thing and you’ve got yourself a mountain bike, but bear in mind that these bikes have got lower quality parts in them and they will wear even quicker than more expensive products, so in the end a cheap bike is not necessarily the cheapest option because over time you’re going to be spending probably more money on it so that’s something we probably didn’t all know.
Sometimes it’s worth just spending that little bit more and getting a really complete and suitable product for the job of mountain biking you’re also going to need to spend money on things like helmets, pads, particular clothing for mountaig biking that’s designed especially for being out on the trail and in all sorts of weather so the cost of entry can quite high but if you spend the right money in the right place it can last quite a long time.
5. Trail Centers
Here’s something i love to think about trail centers now bear with me if you’ve ever been skiing and you’ve been to like a skiing resort, you’ll be really familiar with like graded runs so colors denoting what you should expect on the trail and the kind of ability you need to be able to handle that trail so a green being really easy and then a blue being a bit more difficult with slightly more technical parts on it uh through to a red and then to a black and even double blacks so you can go and ride with confidence and know that your ability is going to suit the trail you’re taking on.
So if you’re brand new to the sport you don’t want to go into a double black because that run isn’t going to last very long and probably have a very sharp ending at the hospital so don’t go doing that, go in at a level that suits your ability on a green have great fun, and then move through the different graded runs to have a fantastic experience of mountain biking at a trail center a place that has got it all and really encapsulates what mountain biking is all about having: A great time with lots of fun riders.
6. Hardtails for communting
Now you might have thought about this hard tail mounting bikes are great for commuting so if you’re someone who rides into work maybe a hardtail mountain bike could be perfect for you they’ve only got a bit of suspension up the front which means you get a really smooth ride,
but you’ve still got that direct power into the road at the rear end which means you can put in some really good riding times to work, and get there on time but also on the way home you can take a slight diversion and get a bit of off-road riding done as you make it home for tea getting ready for your fantastic off-road ride at the weekend.
7. Mountain Biking community
You probably didn’t expect mountain biking has got a fantastic community whether it be out of the trail centers or at the races or online everyone in mountain biking really loves the sport and like to be around others who are like-minded, so get involved in the sport get involved online you can go into the comments below any of our articles and you’ll see lots of people really really eager to talk about mountain biking it’s one of its biggest strengths a really really strong community they’re all lovely people. Aren’t you guys? See it’s great well there you have it seven things you might not have known about mountain biking.