| Types of Mountain Biking | | | | over dangerous, steep terrain. A downhill bike is built |
| There are lots of different kinds of mountain biking. | | | | specifically for performance and speed. The best |
| When choosing a bike, always be mindful of the type | | | | downhillers maintain a balance between pure speed |
| of riding you intend to do. That said, let's examine | | | | and brute durability. They're meant to go down |
| some of the most popular types of mountain biking. | | | | rough, serious hills as fast as humanly possible. With |
| Cross-Country | | | | that in mind, a good downhill bike is built to take a |
| Cross-country (also called XC) mountain biking takes | | | | serious beating and move fast, but is generally poor |
| place on pretty easy terrain. Most frequently, XC | | | | at any uphill riding. |
| consists of trail riding or very light off-road. These | | | | In a downhill race, the fastest rider to the finish line |
| are fairly basic rides, and don't require any specialized | | | | wins. |
| equipment or training. For example, this might entail | | | | Dual Slalom |
| riding around the neighborhood or backyard. | | | | Dual Slalom is a specialized form of racing. In this |
| Freeride | | | | race, two riders go head-to-head in a man-made |
| Freeride (aka Big Hit) riding involves lots of drops, | | | | course with gated turns (think slalom skiing). Often |
| jumps, ramps, and other (often man-made) obstacles. | | | | additional obstacles are scattered throughout the |
| Bikes built for freeriding generally have a significant | | | | course, such as rocks, jumps, and bumps. |
| suspension travel (150-200mm) and are built strongly | | | | The fastest racer to the bottom wins, though racers |
| enough to handle serious collisions. In a freeride | | | | are penalized a small amount of time for hitting or |
| situation, riders get to the top of the mountain by | | | | missing any of the gates. Dual Slalom runs are usually |
| shuttle or ski lift, though sometimes they ride up to | | | | pretty short, about 30 seconds or so. In recent |
| the top, depending on the mountain conditions. | | | | years this type of race has become more and more |
| Downhill | | | | common in both local and international biking events. |
| Downhill riding (aka DH) consists of high-speed rides | | | | |