Evolution Of Mountain Biking
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Mountain Biking is a relatively very new sport. But in the small amount of time it has been around, it has progressed at an amazing speed. In the past 10 years mountain bikes have gone from 20 pound cross country bikes, to 9 inch front and back travel bikes that can with stand humongous drops and abuse. The level of riding has also progressed to higher levels then ever originally expected.
For many years bikes have been the epitome of good to many enviromentalists around the world. They have none of the negative affects on the environment that cars do. They also help promote an active and healthy lifestyle. It is only been in the last couple of years with the introduction of this new “hardcore” style of mountain biking, that activists around Canada and the world have begun to speak out. Well it is true that mountain biking erodes the earth and kills important organisms in the soil, it affects the forests no more then your average hiker. Many of the studies and tests done have been extremely one sided. With the people involved either working in the mountain bike community, or someone working against mountain bikers
The relatively new concept of lift accesed freeriding, is also helping expand the sport at high speeds. Now a rider can simply sit on a lift and in about 5 minutes gain more ground then they could in a hour on a mountain bike. This rapid speed at which riders are going up the mountain, mean it is possible to do multiple runs in one day. Because Mountain resorts are also large tourist attractions, many people who would not have access to the sport of mountain biking are exposed. Lift Accessed riding is one of, if not the key factor in the evolution of mountain biking.
Another aspect that is helping push the sport more into the mainstream is the many different mountain bike competitions around the world. Red Bull helped launch one of the most monumental and ground breaking freeride competitions