Mountain Biking History
Not long after the first mountain bike races down the Repack Trail in Marin County, California, in the mid-1970s, other organized races and non-competitive events began to emerge the limits of those early enthusiasts. They included courses like the Road Apple Rally in New Mexico, USA, and the Pearl Pass Tour from Crested Butte to Aspen, Colorado, USA, and finally the first mountain bike world championship held in Durango, Colorado, in 1990. Now mountain bike races push the envelope with long- and short-course, cross-country events, blistering downhill and dual slalom courses, and twenty-four-hour team relay events such as the famous Twenty-Four- Hours of Moab.
Mountain Biking is...
You're chasing the tire in front of you, dirt kicking up into your face. Your legs feel like lead, yet you keep them spinning. You drop off a small ledge and shift gears to attack the hill. You're smiling because you love to race.
The Races
Planet X
In 1995, more than 350 of the world's most extreme athletes gathered in Rhode Island for the first ever Extreme Games, now known as the X Games. In these annual competitions, mountain bikers join the ranks of skiboarders, ice climbers, and snowboarders in a competition for the title of Most Extreme Athlete on the Planet. At the Winter X Games, the most extreme downhill event goes to the snow mountain bikers, geared up in aerodynamic body suits, who race down slalom courses at speeds up to 115km/h!
Crème de la Crème
The world's best mountain bikers know the events not to miss are the World Championships, the Olympics, and the World Cup. The one-day World Championship race pits riders from around the globe against each other in super intense downhill speedfests as well as through cross-country courses built by some of the world's most extreme mountain bikers. Mountain biking became an official Olympic sport in 1996, making it possible for the first time to go for the gold. Even more grueling than the Olympics is the World Cup, a series of eight races held in some of the most amazing mountain biking meccas around the world.
|
