| People use bicycles for many different reasons. They | | | | come into existence, it has become easier to build a |
| are a great means of transport for getting to and | | | | bike that is capable of withstanding everything a |
| from work, you can fit your shopping into the | | | | rough off road terrain has to throw at it. Stronger |
| baskets available to attach to the front, and they | | | | lighter frames and better gears have made mountain |
| provide a wonderful way to travel when on holiday | | | | biking easier for more people to attempt. The history |
| and exploring different areas. People have always | | | | of mountain biking shows that the earliest riders |
| ridden off road as well as on it, but the history of | | | | began to adapt their bikes to get the best from |
| mountain biking really begins more than thirty years | | | | those downhill runs and routes, and so the mountain |
| ago, in the 1970's. Modern bike designs have made | | | | bikes that we know today began to evolve. |
| the sport more accessible to more people, and the | | | | At the time, the only type of bicycle you could buy |
| history of mountain biking certainly shows it is now | | | | was intended to be ridden on the road. Although |
| even more popular than ever. | | | | people did ride off road it wasn't popular enough to |
| But although mountain biking is now enjoyed all over | | | | warrant a bike designed specifically for that use. But |
| the world, it began life in California, America. A group | | | | the bikers in California changed all that. The history of |
| of cycle enthusiasts decided to try out some downhill | | | | mountain biking began with them, and they began to |
| runs on bikes that would now seem antiquated to | | | | rethink the way that bicycles were made in order to |
| many of us. The dirt tracks were much the same as | | | | create a design that could handle all the obstacles and |
| many mountain bike race courses today, but the | | | | conditions the off road trails could throw at it. So the |
| bikes have changed considerably over the intervening | | | | next time you grab hold of your own mountain bike |
| years. Those races became famous, and before long | | | | and go for a ride - perhaps across a muddy field, or |
| similar races were taking place along tracks at | | | | down a steep slippery slope on those knobbly tires - |
| locations in many different countries. | | | | you should think of the pioneers of the 1970's. |
| As new materials and ways of building bikes have | | | | |