Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, such as air or coil-sprung shocks used as suspension, larger and wider wheels and tires, stronger frame materials, and mechanically or hydraulically actuated disc brakes. Mountain biking can generally be broken down into distinct categories: cross country, trail, all mountain, enduro, downhill and freeride.
Kona Bikes is a bicycle company based in the Pacific Northwest. The company was founded in 1988 by Dan Gerhard, Jacob Heilbron and Jimbo Holmstrom in Vancouver, BC. Their world headquarters are in Ferndale, Washington, with Canadian distribution offices in Vancouver, and European distribution offices in Monaco.
Downhill mountain biking (DH) is a style of mountain biking practiced on steep, rough terrain that often features jumps, drops, rock gardens and other obstacles. Jumps can be up to and including 12 meters, and drops can be greater than 3 meters.
Freeride is a discipline of mountain biking closely related to downhill biking, dirt jumping, freestyle motocross, and freestyle BMX. When riding a freerider one focuses on tricks, style, and technical trail features. Freeride is now recognized as one of the most popular disciplines within mountain biking.
Mountain bike racing is the competitive cycle sport discipline of mountain biking held on off-road terrain. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) recognised the discipline relatively late in 1990, when it sanctioned the world championships in Durango, Colorado. The first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup series took place in 1988. Its nine-race circuit covered two continents—Europe and North America—and was sponsored by Grundig. Cross-country racing was the only World Cup sport at this time. In 1993, a six-event downhill World Cup was introduced. In 1996, cross-country mountain biking events were added to the Olympic Games. In 2006, cross-country mountain biking events became part of the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time in San Francisco, USA.
Crankworx is a global tour of mountain bike festivals that take place in Australia, New Zealand, Austria, and Canada. The final stop of the Crankworx World Tour is a 10-day festival in Whistler, British Columbia celebrating several gravity-fed disciplines within mountain biking. Each summer the Canadian stop otherwise known as Crankworx Whistler is hosted by Whistler-Blackcomb in Whistler, British Columbia at Whistler Mountain Bike Park.
Leigh Donovan is an American former professional downhill mountain bike and BMX racer and current cycling ambassador and mountain bike skills instructor and based out of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Tracy Marie Moseley is a British professional racing cyclist who was born in Worcester, specialising in downhill mountain bike racing. Moseley's brother, Ed, was also a mountain biker, it was after he began riding cross country mountain bike races that a race was held on their farm in 1992; this was Tracy's first competition. Her first foray into downhilling came in 1994. Moseley's first international race was the World Championships in 1995 where she finished 8th. The following year she was funded by the Jason McRoy fund, to ride a French National event at Les Menuires. Moseley continued to race with increasing success, and despite sitting her exams late due to her racing schedule, graduated with a 2:1 degree in Biological Sciences in 2000.
Tara Janelle Llanes is a Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer and a wheelchair basketball player whose prime competitive years were from 1990 to 1993. She became a champion Mountain Bike (MTB) racer. She later played wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball for Canada. Her surname is pronounced "Yaw-ness" but for obvious reasons it is often mispronounced "lanes" as in the type of division of a pathway.
Atherton Racing, competing officially as Trek Factory Racing, formerly as GT Factory Racing, is a professional mountain bike racing team competing in the World Cup and World Champs, as well as national level events, in the downhill category. The team began as Animal Commençal.
Claire Buchar, also known as Claire Kovarik, is a professional racing cyclist specialising in downhill mountain biking. Buchar races on the UCI World Cup circuit and is a multiple Canadian national champion in her profession and is a multiple World Cup medalist.
Andreu Lacondeguy is a Freeride Mountain biker and Freestyle motocross athlete from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, born 12 January 1989. He is a 2013 Munich X-Games bronze medalist in the Mountain Bike Slopestyle event and a Red Bull Rampage Winner in 2014.
Nicholi Rogatkin is an American professional bike rider from Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. Currently ranked #2 in the World. 2016 World Champion and 2018 Triple Crown Winner. The winningest FMB World Tour athlete with over 25 wins.
Brandon Semenuk is a Canadian freeride mountain biker and rally racer from Whistler, British Columbia. Semenuk is a three-time Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour Gold Medalist. He is a five-time Red Bull Joyride winner, X-Games Real MTB Gold Medalist (2021), and X-Games Silver medalist (2013) in the Mountain Bike Slopestyle event. He won the Red Bull Rampage in 2008, 2016, 2019 and 2021 – the first person to win Rampage four times. He is known to be "always emulated, never imitated" and is known as one of the best slopestyle/freeride mountain bikers in history. Semenuk won the 2022 and 2023 American Rally Association National championship.
Brett Rheeder is a professional freeride mountain bike rider from Mount Albert, Ontario. Rheeder is an X-Games athlete and gold medalist winner of the 2013 Munich Slopestyle Mountain Bike event. He is often regarded as the greatest slopestyle rider in mountain biking. Rheeder is a 4x FMB World Tour Champion, the most in event history. He's also a x7 Crankworx event champion, which includes his 2016 Red Bull Joyride win.
Darren Berrecloth, nicknamed "The Claw", is a Canadian professional freeride mountain bike rider. Born in Parksville, British Columbia, Berrecloth is famous not only for his success in competitions, but also as one of the pioneers to the sport of freeride. He appeared in the freeride scene with a third-place finish at the 2002 Red Bull Rampage, and is one of the most prominent exponents of the discipline.
Cameron "Cam" Zink is an American professional freeride mountain bike rider and X Games athlete.
Sam Pilgrim is a professional freeride mountain biker. Known for his missing tooth and his unique style of tricks, he has gained international fame with his YouTube channel exposure under his name Sam Pilgrim in which he makes videos documenting his extreme stunts on various courses around the world. He was an FMB World Tour overall winner in 2013, becoming the first European athlete to win the competition since its establishment in 2010.
Jenna Hastings is a New Zealand mountain biker competing in downhill and enduro. She is the current junior women's downhill world champion.
Kyle Strait is an American freeride slopestyle mountain biker from Alpine, California. He began racing in 2000 on the Monterey peninsula at the age of 12. He participated in the first edition of Rampage in 2001 at the age of 14, won the contest in 2004 and again in 2013. As of 2023 Strait is the only rider to have participated in every edition of Red Bull Rampage. In 2022, he was unable to complete a run after breaking 3 vertebra in a practice session. Less than a year later, Strait was able to compete in Red Bull Hardline, and competed in Rampage again in 2023.
