Since the days of Repack the sport exploded and splintered into various specialist sub genres, but for me this is what cycling has always been about, simple bikes out in the wild, taking on terrain that shouldn't be bike friendly.
Here's a nice film that covers the birth of the sport from the perspective of a photographer who was part of that American story, tons of cool images.
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsbJojnbdYY

Of course off road cycling has many points of origin, in the UK we have the 'rough Stuff fellowship', which claims to be the oldest off road cycling club in existence and predates the Repackers by several decades, here's a link to a thread that talks about that.
>https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/rewriting-mountain-bike-history.226245/

No doubt throughout the history of the bicycle right across the planet, small groups and individuals independently 'invented' mountain biking' by simply taking whatever bikes they had and riding them in the wild. It would be great to learn more about the history of mans off road cycling adventures and perhaps discover where this amazing sport really was birthed.

Share any images and stories here.