I love how quickly any great idea can spread throughout the world these days. By all accounts Mountain Biking was invented in Marin County, Northern California, in the mid-Seventies. However, barely thirty years later not even one American wins a medal in the male or female Olympic Mountain Biking competition in Athens. The idea has spread around the globe and international competition is now fierce.

I bet there were a few guys in California last week, popping beers while watching the mountain biking competition, and saying: “See that, son. I invented that sport!” What a great gift.