What is Mountain Bike Cycling?
As its name suggests, mountain bike cycling involves cycling off-road on mountainous or very hilly terrain using a specialised bicycle.
By whom, where and when was Mountain Bike Cycling invented?
In the 1970s, mountain biking developed as a fringe sport in California. Taking a bike off-road was nothing new, but the development of a new bike that relished such terrain was; these bikes had fatter tyres, rapid-shift gears, drum brakes and ground-breaking suspension. These bikes gave thrill-seeking cyclists much more freedom, and the sport of mountain biking was born.
The members of the Velo Club Mount Tamalpais in California generally receive the credit for establishing mountain biking as a sport. They invented the Repack Downhill race, held regularly between 1976 and 1979 just across the famous Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. The races attracted riders from near and far, and the media soon started taking an interest.
What are the different types of Mountain Biking?
Mountain bike racing, also known as MTB, is a diverse sport with multiple different disciplines within it. The main ones are cross-country—sometimes called cross-country Olympic (XCO) as this is the main Olympic discipline of mountain biking, downhill, cross-country sub-disciplines including short track (XCC) and eliminator (XCE), and one of the newest disciplines in e-mountain biking which allows for electric power-assisted bikes.
What are the rules of Mountain Bike cycling?
Aside from rules governing electric bikes in e-mtb, competitive mountain biking is straightforward—the first across the finish line wins. Technical assistance provided to competitors may be allowed depending on the event. In some disciplines, being lapped or falling too far behind the leader eliminates a rider from a race.
Mountain bike cycling and the Olympics
The first national mountain bike championships were held in 1983 in the USA. But the sport quickly grew in popularity in Europe and Australia. The first mountain bike World Championships, recognised by the International Cycling Union (UCI), were organised in 1990. Olympic recognition followed, and mountain biking made its debut as an Olympic discipline at the Atlanta Games in 1996, with a cross-country event for men and women. The programme has remained unchanged ever since.
Best Mountain Bike Cycling riders to watch
Some of the best mountain bike riders happen to be multi-discipline specialists. They include Olympic champions Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and Jolanda Neff (Switzerland), as well as stars like Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and Pauline Ferrand Prévot (France).
Mountain Bike Cycling competition rules and event format at Paris 2024
The cross-country mountain bike events in Paris were mass-start races over a set number of laps, with the first across the finish line at the end of the stated number of laps winning each race.
