No matter who you’re talking to it’s always fun to have a few facts up your sleeve. And when the subject is a rapidly growing sport like mountain biking is in the Adirondacks, being able to cite some of these little known facts will help make you the expert in any conversation.
In advance of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series coming up October 3 – 5, we assembled some of the most interesting morsels to make sure you’re the most knowledgeable in the room or on the trail.
- Mountain biking began in California in the 1970s. That’s a widely accepted fact. What many don’t know is riders in the United Kingdom as far back as the 1950s – an era considered the golden age of cycling in Britain – were already adapting bikes for off-road use and riding them cross country.
- In UCI World Series Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) and Short Track (XCC) races, athletes who are 80% slower than the leader’s lap time are pulled from the race to help maintain the pace and flow of the competition.