Extreme Mountain Biking: The Types and All You Need To Know
Extreme mountain biking is gaining popularity recently, although similar to mountain biking since it is using, of course, a mountain bike it is a completely new adventure sport. The Right attitude towards this sport and a fit body can help you master this sport with ease.
So only those people who are both physically and mentally fit are qualified for Extreme Mountain biking. Sad to say that if you have chronic illnesses like bronchial asthma, high blood pressure, as well as other kinds of health problems, should restrain their extreme mountain biking desire and begin to forget about this.
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Otherwise, if you are very eager to try this extreme sport go see your doctor and see what he can do. But chances of getting approval from him is very low. The intense nature of the activity causes it to be essential for the bikers to be in excellent physical condition.
Though the person who has no medical condition must go through extensive training as well as undertake appropriate exercise along with right diet to help him build up the required strength and stamina before they could join this extreme sport.
The reason behind all these requirements is that in mountain biking alone you need to be physically fit to enjoy it, what more is the extreme version of it. Basically, Extreme mountain biking is mountain biking put into another level.
In this mountain biking version the riders are put through much more difficult terrains: Steeper slopes, more rocky gardens, stream crossing, muddy trails, technical tracks, high drops, sharper curves, or longer rides; and of course you have to conquer them all with speed since this is a race.
With all those obstacles in the race track the risk of hurting yourself in mountain biking is more than doubled, so another requirement is the protective gear. The same equipment to wear is required however a few additions are made, due to the danger involved.
It needs bikers to wear certain essential gears and the most important one is the helmet, it is a must for the rider to wear a strong helmet since it is the only protection for the head in case of a crash even the very experienced extreme mountain bikers never ride without wearing it. It is also recommended to use full-faced helmets instead of wearing your ordinary Cross-country mountain biking helmet this will protect not only your skull but also your face, your jaw and your neck from breaking.
The clothes used are specially made to give additional comfort and ease to the participant and on top of that, they use protective gears like shoulder guard, knee guard, shin pads, leg guard, elbow pads or even chest protector to minimize the injury in case of a fall.
Another important gear is the MTB gloves; this will give you better grip and enhance your mountain bike maneuvering skills and of course this will protect your skin when you crash or fall.
You can’t just wear your running shoes here; you must wear a mountain biking shoes to improve power and decrease the chance of your foot sliding off the pedal.
About the mountain bike you need here, it should not be the typical XC (cross-country) mountain bike. You must use a bike especially for this type of mountain biking, and these mountain bikes are surely pricey which means you need to be prepared to invest an extra amount, unless of course if you don’t mind riding a second-hand bike, but I would not suggest that.
Most of the experienced players of this sport buy their mountain bikes by parts and assemble them themselves; they based the MTB components from the terrain and the kind of extreme mountain biking they are in.
Bikes for this types of mountain biking are tough and typically has dual suspensions (with front and rear suspensions – opposite of hardtail).
Types of Extreme Mountain Biking
Downhill Mountain Biking
The most popular among all Extreme Mountain Biking, from the word itself – this only requires racers to go down the hill as fast as they can. This kind of mountain biking is very extreme, giving riders the opportunity for maximum excitement and pleasure.
Freeride Mountain Biking
This revolves around getting the best line down the hill making use of all the land surfaces to express your self. This race is also popular, as this is a great way to show off your extreme mountain biking skills through the routes you take all the way to the bottom of the mountain.
Street & Urban Biking
A race mostly time trial held in the streets, riders should ride through ledges, or any other kinds of man-made obstacles. These obstacles will force the riders to do tricks, like grinds, drop, leap and stalls.
Dirt Jumping
Probably the most extreme of all, this requires riders to jump the bike above huge human-made dirt jumps, while on the air they have to do tricks. Normally the jumps are near each other for participants to go over 5 or even more leaps in a single run. Some space to get a momentum, to make them faster for higher jumps.
Trials
Trial riders will ride and hop their mountain bikes through man-made obstacles that involve a serious level of balancing and focus.
Despite the fact that, extreme mountain biking is a really intense and risky sport, this could be remarkably entertaining, not to mention a great sort of workout for the entire body.
