Mountain Biking Before Mountain Bikes
by Steve Griffith: Chairman of the Rough Stuff Fellowship
"Off road cycling... you mean mountain biking... everyone knows about that invented by the Americans in California in the 70's. Riders in bright coloured lycra speeding along tracks on bikes most VCC members wouldn't be seen dead on!!!"
The above is of course an extreme stereotype, nevertheless there is a widespread perception that off road cycling is a comparatively recent pastime and can only be done on a specialist i.e. mountain bike. This article attempts to outline the history of off road cycling and will demonstrate it has been an intrinsic part of cycling ever since the invention of the bicycle. A crucial point is that it can and has been done on almost any bike.
Defining terms: Until the 1980's off road riding was know as rough stuff or pass storming. The origin of the former is in opposition to smooth stuff (ie tarmac). Over the years there has been much debate amongst adherents of this type of cycling as to a definition. To my mind the simplest is perhaps the best:
"Rough stuff begins where the tarmac ends"
Or perhaps as put by Tim Hughes editor of the CTC magazine Cycletouring writing in the 1980's:
"To the dedicated rough stuffer there is no such thing as a dead end"
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