Mountain Biking
Mountain biking is the sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.
Mountain biking can generally be broken down into multiple categories: Cross Country (XC), trail riding, all mountain,downhill, freeride, slopestyle, dirt jumping and trials. The vast majority of mountain biking falls into the recreational XC, and Trail Riding categories.
This individual sport requires endurance, core strength and balance, bike handling skills, and self-reliance. Advanced riders pursue steep technical descents and, in the case of freeriding, downhilling, and dirt jumping, aerial maneuvres off both natural features and specially constructed jumps and ramps.
Mountain biking in Wales is extremely popular both with locals and visitors not only from England but also further afield. This is due to the success of the man-made trails that the Forestry Commission have established and the huge number of tracks and trails that cross the remote hills and mountains of Wales. One such set of remote mountains can be found on the doorstep of Abergavenny: the Black Mountains.