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 five distinct categories: cross country, trail riding, all mountain, downhill, and freeride.
Downhill mountain biking (DH) is a genre 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, 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.
Greg Minnaar is a South African World Champion mountain bike racer competing in downhill cycling. He currently competes in the Mountain Bike World Cup points series races, in the Elite Downhill event. Minnaar is currently the most prolific winner among male professional downhill mountain bike racers, with 23 world cup career victories. Sponsors: Santa Cruz, O’Neal, CLIF, and Shimano.
Rob Warner is a retired professional downhill mountain biker born in Reading, England.
Bryn Atkinson is an Australian professional mountain bike racing cyclist from Townsville, QLD. He started mountain biking in 1996 and became a professional in 2002. Bryn's first introduction to the sport was through his local mountain bike club in Townsville- The Townsville Rockwheelers. Competing in several cross country type events, Bryn evolved with the sport and later found downhill. As a teenager, he moved north to Cairns, a popular location for downhill mountain biking, and host of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in 1996. Glen Jacobs was the course builder for that event and several other events on the World Cup, and mentored Bryn and several other downhillers in the area.
Saracen Cycles, known simply as "Saracen" is a bicycle brand sold in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Originally based in Warwick, England, the company is best known for its range of mountain bikes.
George David Atherton, known as Gee Atherton is a professional racing cyclist specializing in downhill and four cross mountain bike racing, and is a multiple national champion, multiple World Cup winner, and 2008 & 2014 Downhill World Champion. He is also a rally driver and competed in his first International event in 2017 at Wales Rally GB.
Rachel Laura Atherton is a British professional downhill mountain bike racer, and is a multiple time UCI World Champion.
Aaron Holmes Gwin is an American professional downhill mountain biker from Morongo Valley, California. He is a five-time World Cup overall champion.
Danny Hart is a British downhill mountain biker who currently rides for Cube Factory Racing. He won the 2011 and 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
Yeti Cycles is an American bicycle manufacturer located in Golden, Colorado.
Madison Saracen is a British-based UCI trade team, specialising in downhill mountain biking.
Enduro in its most basic definition is a type of mountain bike racing where the downhills are timed, and the uphills are mandatory but not timed. Riders are timed in stages that are primarily downhill, with neutral "transfer" stages in between. The transfer stages usually must be completed within a time-limit, but are not part of the accumulated time.
Hugo Donais is a Canadian retired cyclist who specialized in downhill mountain biking, four-cross and BMX.
A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders "pumping"—generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling or pushing. It was originally designed for the mountain bike and BMX scene, and now, due to concrete constructions, is also used by skateboard, and accessible to wheelchairs. Pump tracks are relatively simple to use and cheap to construct, and cater to a wide variety of rider skill levels.
Lorenzo Suding is a professional mountain bike (MTB) downhill and enduro athlete and multiple champion of Italy, living in Valle d’Aosta.
Eastridge Mountain Bike Trail Centre is a free mountain biking venue in Shropshire, UK. The venue is developed and maintained by volunteers, and features a mixture of blue, red and black graded trails. There are also a number of steep, technical off-piste trails. Since 1991 Eastridge Woods have been used to host Downhill and XC mountain biking events since the 90's hosted the British National Mountain biking Championships in 1993,1994,1995,1996 and 1999.
Valentina "Vali" Höll is an Austrian cyclist who competes in downhill mountain biking.
Amaury Pierron is a French downhill mountain biker. In 2019, he finished third in the UCI Downhill World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada. He also won three rounds and the overall classification of the 2018 UCI Downhill World Cup. In the 2019 edition, he again won three rounds but finished second overall to Loïc Bruni. His older brother Baptiste and his little brother Antoine also compete in downhill racing
