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North Shore: Riding on raised wooden boards

- Riding high in Scotland

If you've taken up mountain biking but don't know your XC from your bomb hole, don't panic - we've got you covered with this handy glossary to demystify the sport.

Once you've absorbed all this jargon you'll easily be able to hold your own in the post-ride chat.

MTB: Mountain bike.

ATB: All-terrain bike. Now largely superseded by MTB.

XC: Cross country. Usually used to describe the kind of terrain ridden, but can also be applied to categorise bikes. Most mountain bike rides are XC, in that they include a mixture of singletrack and wider access tracks - and are ridden up as well as down. The Olympic form of mountain biking is XC.

Singletrack: Many bikers' trail of choice

Downhill: Sometimes written "DH". Of course all bikers ride downhill, but some only ride downhill. A separate branch of the sport in which participants ride or race down steep, technical courses and over obstacles on heavy, long-travel suspension bikes. Extra-fat tyres, body armour and full-face motorbike-style helmets are part of the kit.

Singletrack: Narrow paths, typically around 50cm wide with room for just one rider at a time. Favoured by most mountain bikers for providing the most enjoyable riding.

Fire road: Term commonly used for gravel access roads, usually in forestry land. Because they provide firebreaks and access for vehicles.

Doubletrack: Two trails running parallel. Also known as Land Rover track.

Freeride: Style of mountain biking in which riders tackle jumps, berms, drop-offs and raised wooden features.

All-mountain: Marketing/industry-coined term for long-travel full-suspension bikes tilted towards freeriding.

Full-sus: Full suspension. Bikes with both front and rear suspension are now increasingly popular.

Hardtail: Bike with traditional diamond-shaped frame and suspension forks.

Fully-rigid: Bike with no suspension at all. Now increasingly rare in mountain biking.

Stack: Coming off your bike

Singlespeed: Bike with only one gear. Most common among enthusiasts and grassroots riders. Demands fitness and good bike skills to ride offroad.

Travel: As in long/short travel. Refers to distance that forks/shock absorbers move up and down.

Granny ring: Smallest chainring on front of bike. Usually comes into play on steep climbs - especially when rider is tired.

Berm: Steeply-banked corner (usually handmade) that can be ridden at speed. Adopted from BMXing.

Off-camber: Sort of the opposite to a berm. Where ground tilts down from corner, working against momentum.

Rock garden: A section of trail littered with rocks and stones.

Bomb hole: Also known as swallow holes. Large crater-style depressions.

North Shore: Raised timber trail sections, which originated on Vancouver's North Shore in Canada. Either used as a test of skills/nerve or to enable bikes to be ridden across boggy ground.

Technical: Applied to trails which demand good rider skills, often because they are rocky, rooty, steep off camber or a combination of the above.

Gnarly: Skateboard-y term, adapted to refer to technical sections of trail.

Wheelie: Lifting the front wheel while pedalling

Drop-off: Sudden, steep drop in trail. Often ridden slowly.

Step-down: Smaller version of drop-off, often ridden at higher speed.

Step-up: Obstacle on trail calling for rider to lift front wheel and then unweight rear wheel to ride over.

Doubles: Another one borrowed from BMX. A jump consisting of a take-off and a landing ramp, with a gap in the middle.

Hucking: Jumping the bike off large drops or high objects such as roofs, cliffs and ramps.

Stack: Crash.

Bail: Parting company with the bike while still in motion in order to avoid stacking.

LBS: Local bike shop.

Wheelie: Lifting the front wheel while pedalling.

Manual: Lifting the front wheel without pedalling.

Bunny-hop: Lifting both wheels together, usually to negotiate a trail obstacle.