The British Skibike Racing Team have been gearing up for the 2006 Skibiking World Championships in Graechen, Switzerland. At the champs nine team members will race 20kg custom-made ?Skibikes? against the top racers from fourteen alpine nations.
The racers, who all take time off work to travel to the competition, will compete in a Downhill race, Super G, Slalom and Giant Slalom against some of the fastest and most experienced racers in the world.
On the skibike, which is essentially the frame of a bicycle with skis, the team will race at speeds of up to 80km/h over courses ranging in length from 500 metres in the slalom to over 1500 metres in the Downhill race.
Largest ever British team
Team captain Colonel Richard Platt is positive about this year ahead: ?This year we?ll travel with the largest British team seen at a World Championship. Despite being an amateur team racing against professionals, we have seen continued improvement.?
Skibikes were first invented in 1892 by an American, JC Stevens, who replaced the front wheel of a bicycle with a ski to produce the 'Ice Velocopide'. It was not until 1949 that an Austrian engineer went a step further, inventing the ?Sit Ski? where skis replaced both wheels, and users wore small foot skis to help balance.
Skibobs were originally designed as a means of transport in the snowy Alps, and it wasn't until 1954 that the first international race meeting was held. Seven years later saw the formation of the International Skibiking Federation as the international governing body for the sport.
First World Champs in 1967
The FISB organized the first World Championships in 1967 and have continued to do so every year since. Now there is also a World Cup circuit similar to that in skiing, and the 2004 World Championships in Gosau, Switzerland saw 14 different nations compete.
This year?s competition takes place in Graechen, Switzerland, on 19 Jan 2006.