Cross country

Cross country is the most popular form of mountain biking mainly because it is the easiest for a novice rider to participate in. After a rider becomes more competent at XC they might decide to try Downhill or Freeriding. XC is less featured on TV then downhill racing because it is allot more difficult to televise.

XC Racing

XC racing has more to do with a person physical fitness then there technical ability. Races can vary in length from 30mins to 24hours. XC race tracks are either a loop or a point to point. Loop tracks are becoming more popular because it is easier to spectate and televise.

Unlike downhill racing XC is generally a mass start event it is there for very important to get a good start as later on in the event it might be difficult to pass people.

The global governor of XC racing is Union Cycliste Internationale and the UK governor is British Cycling.

Bike components

Bike components

There are many different components that go on a MTB

Such as

• Forks
• Brakes
• Front and rear derailleurs
• Bottom brackets
• Cassettes, chains & chairings
• Crank sets
• Handlebars & grips
• Saddle
• Seat post
• Headsets
• Stems
• Shifters
• Wheel’s
• Tires & tubes

The two biggest manufactures of MTB components are SRAM and Shimano

Shimano

Shimano is a Japanese company, they make cycling components as well as fishing tackle. It is a public trading company and has just over 100 million shares.

Their headquarters is in Sakai which is in Japan. It has many manufacturing facilities that they produce their own goods in. Some of their factories are located in Kunshan, China Malaysia and Singapore. Most of their sales are from Europe about 4/10^ths, while only 2/10^ths of their sales come from north America.

SRAM

SRAM is an American company that is Shimano’s biggest competitors. They are a privately owned company.

SRAM first product was a Grip shifter which change the gears in a bike, they did this in  1988.

What I feel is most interesting about SRAM is that they have purchased a number of companies that where all ready established in the bike components industry.  Most of these were and still are very well know some of them are.

• Rockshox
• Truvativ
• Avid

This is a video that i think sums up the way that SRAM operates

DH Racing

DH racing is a time trial race system. The racer has to complete the courses as fast as possible. there is normally an indavule of 30 seconds between each racer. DH race bikes normally weigh between 14kg-19 kg. the tracks vary in length greatly some can be as sort as 1 minute and others can be 5 minuets long. the trackes are very steep and rocky and the bikes the racers use are very specialized. Downhill in Ireland has been increasing over the past 10 years. the National Points Series attract more then 250 riders from all over Ireland. Plans have been shown for the construction of a downhill track near Glenflesk in County Kerry. It will be the second highest downhill track in Europe.
There is a new and up coming type of down hill racing that is urban downhill.

mtb tracks

Mountain bike tracks have for a long time have been illegal. They used to be built mainly be an individual or a small group of people. They were illegal because they were located in private property. Many of the tracks were destroyed because of foresting and some fell into disrepair this made them dangerous, because all the tracks were Illegal Mountain biking became a kind of taboo and did not have a very good reputation.

Some of the tracks had devastating consequences on the land scape, despite what people think this was not from the bikes but from the rain as in the corners and in the hollow’s water collected and softened up the ground.  The tracks had no drainage so they turned into streams when it rained.  Some of the tracks became unrideable because of large gullies going down the middle of the track that had been eroded by running rain water.

Now a day there is a few Mountain bike tracks that are legal, there is one in three rocks that was the first ever legal mountain bike track in Dublin mt’s. This track took a lot of time and money to make and is one of the most popular tracks in the country.

View Larger Map

3rock track

MTB in general

There is many different types of Mountain bike some include: Down hill= DH

                                                                                         Cross country = XC

                                                                                         Free Ride

                                                                                         Dirt jumping=DJ

                                                                                         Four Cross=4X
                                                                                         Trials

The three main types i am going to talk about is DH, XC, trials and Free ride.

Definitions and Info
Down hill
In Down hill there is one objective to go as fast as you down a hill or a mountain. they have large study bikes with around 200mm or front and rear suspension. the bike are built for only going down will are very aggressive gears. some only have gear in the back and none in the front, because of this you cant really cycle up hill. To get to the top you have to either have to use a chair lifts or you a dirt bike to pull you up.

 

Free ride
Is very similar to down hill apart from you are generally not racing. The bikes are lighter have less travel/suspension.and it is more for enjoyment then winning or racing...

Trials

This is a kind of off branch of MTBing. it is mostly sett in an urban location.  you have a bike with a small frame similar to a BMX frame. you can have either a fully ridged bike or some Trials bike have front suspension.  this type of cycling came about from Mtbers trying to improve there bike control but has evolved to the stage where there is dedicated bikes and there is even Trials pros.

Funnily enough this is one of the videos that got me into Mtbing 

Cross country

This is kind off like the marathon of MTBing. XC bikes are as lite as possible and people spend thousands of Euro just to shave a few pounds of there bike. People ride XC to  race and just for fun. race tracks are generally a circuit and the racers have to do a number of laps as fast as they can. If the rider is riding for fun this can also be known as trail riding, these bikes are less weight conscious and more sturdy because every gram does not matter if you are not racing.



hello my name is david in the next few weeks i will be posting about the geog of mountain bikeing