Mountain Biking - Cross Country Biking

Cross Country biking is the most common format of mountain biking and it is the only form of mountain biking listed in the Olympics and being practiced since 1996. Cross country bikes are lightest mountain bikes weighing anywhere between 7 and 16 Kg (15 and 35 lbs).

Tracks can be point-to-point or lap based, though it is not as popular as downhill cycling, it garners highest number of participants. Globally cross country biking is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

Cross country terrains are mostly rough forest tracks as well as single tracks and smooth fire roads. In case of cross country riding, the technical complexity of the trails used has to be either easy or moderate. The bikes used in XC biking are the lightest bikes typically weighted between 7 to 16 kg and they feature either front or rear suspension.

We have the following three types of Cross Country biking −

• Cross-country Eliminator − In this race, the last one person or two persons to go through the finish line are out of the race.

• Cross-country Olympic − It is a cross country biking technique followed in Olympics which consists of number of lap racings in a short circuit.

• Cross-country Marathon − Here the route is 65 to 100 kms and it is open for everyone.

In case of cross country biking, endurance is given more priority than technical abilities and races may vary from 30 minutes to 4 hours. In case of cross country races, group of people are released for race and the forming of groups is based on their age group or abilities.