Q 01/05

Downhill world champion Missy Giove raced with which dead pet, named Gonzo, hanging around her neck?

A) A tarantula

B) A piranha

C) A scorpion

D) A rattlesnake

Answer · why

B) A piranha

A piranha, dried out after it died, became her trademark and later the centre of a Cannondale marketing campaign.

Q 02/05

Which name did 1970s Marin County riders give a downhill race that left coaster-brake hubs needing fresh grease?

A) Repack

B) Burnout

C) Meltdown

D) Freewheel

Answer · why

A) Repack

Repack was named for the chore after each run: riders braked so hard down the fire road near Fairfax, California, that the grease in their hubs smoked...

Q 03/05

Which retail giant is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, a town now famous for mountain bike trails?

A) Walgreens

B) Home Depot

C) Target

D) Walmart

Answer · why

D) Walmart

Walmart's founding family bankrolled the boom: the Walton Family Foundation had given $85 million to trail development in Arkansas by 2019.

Q 04/05

Which California company launched the Stumpjumper in 1981, the first mass-production mountain bike?

A) Diamondback

B) Cannondale

C) Specialized

D) Mongoose

Answer · why

C) Specialized

Specialized had the bike built in Japan, basing it on a custom design sold by Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly; the model is still in produc...

Q 05/05

Mountain biking made its Olympic debut, with Paola Pezzo winning the first women's gold, at which city's Games?

A) Barcelona

B) Atlanta

C) Sydney

D) Athens

Answer · why

B) Atlanta

Atlanta staged the first Olympic mountain bike races in 1996, not on a mountain but at a horse park in Conyers, Georgia.