Pronutro

So is XC = hard tail, or is Trail = hard tail, or am I misunderstanding? What is the difference between XC and Trail? Now I am confused again. I thought XC was Trail.

Me also not competitive no. Well, I suppose competitive is relative, but you know what I mean. I am not going to make the top10 kinda thing. Think I will prefer longer (slightly less technical, although not void of technicality) events (80km+) so I'll look at the marathon section then

The reason I asked is cause I want to perhaps get another, better bike - and the majority of bicycle manufacturers websites have their bikes categorised by XC/Marathon/All Mountain/Downhill/Freeride. I know I don't fall into the All Mountain/Downhill/Freeride categories, so am just trying to establish whether I am more XC or more Marathon, so I can look at the right sections when viewing the bikes.

I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_bike_racing

Thanks for the info. That helps a bit.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the difference between a cross country event and a marathon event?