mtb tracks

Mountain bike tracks have for a long time have been illegal. They used to be built mainly be an individual or a small group of people. They were illegal because they were located in private property. Many of the tracks were destroyed because of foresting and some fell into disrepair this made them dangerous, because all the tracks were Illegal Mountain biking became a kind of taboo and did not have a very good reputation.

Some of the tracks had devastating consequences on the land scape, despite what people think this was not from the bikes but from the rain as in the corners and in the hollow’s water collected and softened up the ground.  The tracks had no drainage so they turned into streams when it rained.  Some of the tracks became unrideable because of large gullies going down the middle of the track that had been eroded by running rain water.

Now a day there is a few Mountain bike tracks that are legal, there is one in three rocks that was the first ever legal mountain bike track in Dublin mt’s. This track took a lot of time and money to make and is one of the most popular tracks in the country.

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3rock track

MTB in general

There is many different types of Mountain bike some include: Down hill= DH

                                                                                         Cross country = XC

                                                                                         Free Ride

                                                                                         Dirt jumping=DJ

                                                                                         Four Cross=4X
                                                                                         Trials

The three main types i am going to talk about is DH, XC, trials and Free ride.

Definitions and Info
Down hill
In Down hill there is one objective to go as fast as you down a hill or a mountain. they have large study bikes with around 200mm or front and rear suspension. the bike are built for only going down will are very aggressive gears. some only have gear in the back and none in the front, because of this you cant really cycle up hill. To get to the top you have to either have to use a chair lifts or you a dirt bike to pull you up.

 

Free ride
Is very similar to down hill apart from you are generally not racing. The bikes are lighter have less travel/suspension.and it is more for enjoyment then winning or racing...

Trials

This is a kind of off branch of MTBing. it is mostly sett in an urban location.  you have a bike with a small frame similar to a BMX frame. you can have either a fully ridged bike or some Trials bike have front suspension.  this type of cycling came about from Mtbers trying to improve there bike control but has evolved to the stage where there is dedicated bikes and there is even Trials pros.

Funnily enough this is one of the videos that got me into Mtbing 

Cross country

This is kind off like the marathon of MTBing. XC bikes are as lite as possible and people spend thousands of Euro just to shave a few pounds of there bike. People ride XC to  race and just for fun. race tracks are generally a circuit and the racers have to do a number of laps as fast as they can. If the rider is riding for fun this can also be known as trail riding, these bikes are less weight conscious and more sturdy because every gram does not matter if you are not racing.