Mountain Bike Racing

Welcome to Mountain Bike Racing. 

We hope that as a fellow Mountain Bike Racing enthusiast you will find this site helpful and interesting. If you are just getting into Mountain bike racing or for that matter enjoy Mountain Biking as a leisure activity, we trust that you will find this website a great source of information, links, advice, equipment and even training tips.

There Are Many Different Categories of Mountain Bike Racing

Mountain Bike Racing has been an officially recognized sport by the UCI since 1990,  when the first world championships were established. In 1991 the first world cup series of mountain bike racing took place. This initial world cup series consisted of 9 races in Europe and North America. The following year the world cup series became a 10 race circuit also held on both content.

In 1991 and 1992 Mountain bike racing consisted of only cross country racing. Downhill mountain bike racing was added in 1993 with a downhill world cup which was a six race event. Cross country mountain bike racing  became an Olympic sport in 1996.

 

Mountain bike racing takes many forms now and there something for just about everyone either as a competitor or spectator.

 

  • One of the most familiar of mountain bike racing events is Cross Country or XC. Cross country races always feature mass or group starts. There are varying rules depending on whether a race is a UCI or Norba sanctioned race. Cross country mountain bike races range from short, 6 kilometre races to ones which can be more than 50km long.

 

  • The exception in terms of length are the XCC or Short Track Cross Country mountain bike races. These are usually less than 1km in length, but are very fast and exciting for participants and spectators.

 

  • Downhill Mountain Bike Races are based on a time trial format. The racers start at time intervals which can vary depending on the competition. Similar to time trial road racing, the competitor with the lowest or quickest time down the hill wins. Downhill mountain bike racing involves steep, rough and often dangerous terrain which makes for difficult and exciting races.

 

  • A combination of Downhill and Cross Country Mountain Bike Racing is known as the Super D or SD. These races also include short uphill sections. The race usually starts with a mass start such as the seeded mass start of the Megavalanche.

 

  • The most challenging mountain bike racing events are the Marathon or XCM races. These races usually cover mountainous terrain and can be more than 100km in length. The Marathon World Cup is one of the highlights of the mountain bike racing calendar.

 

  • Enduro or ND races are mountain bike races which usually take place over one or two days. There are also longer Enduros  which  last several days.  In a one day enduro race there are timed stages or special stages which occur on demanding and technically challenging terrain. These timed stages are usually held on downhill sections.  There are also ascending stages in the enduro which are known as liaison stages and the two stages linked. The liaison stage often has a restriction on the time at which a competitor can reach a summit to start a special or timed stage. These races are usually held on single track courses or trails.

 

  • Stage Races are usually multi day mountain bike races which consist of a new stage race for each day of the race. Multi day mountain bike stage races are similar to races like the Tour de France or Giro d'Italia except of course that the terrain is completely different.

 

One of the toughest and most thrilling Stage races is the Crocodile Trophy which is held annually in Northern Queensland.  A stage race may also have elements of other races in it, such as a time trial, as well as individual stage race winners. The overall winner of the race or GC ( general Classification ) winner is the competitor with the lowest overall time for all stages.

 

 

  • Other mountain bike racing events also include Freeride competitions where the riders are scored on their bike handling techniques, tricks, choice of routes ( more points are awarded the more difficult the chosen route ) and sometimes time. Check out this video!

 

  • Similar to free ride is Dirt Jumping or GJ. Competitors are awarded points on the tricks they perform as they jump off large mounds of dirt.

 

  • Mountain cross or bike cross, also know as Four Cross, is a mountain bike racing event that combines Dual slalom with BMX racing. It is called four cross because four riders compete on the same course at the same time, with one winner per event. In 4X the riders are timed on a downhill race. The top 50% then get to compete in the elimination rounds.

 

In Mountain Cross, each racer competes in three heats against three other riders. Points are awarded depending upon the position of each rider in each heat. The top 50% of the riders then get to compete in the elimination rounds. 

 

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