In his Editorial, Chipps says you don’t ‘do mountain biking’, you just ‘are a mountain biker’. I wonder though, how many of you thought you were becoming mountain bikers on those first rides. Was there a definite line crossed where ‘riding a bike’ became ‘mountain biking’?
For me, it started with a race. A friend entered me into an urban cyclocross race that sat somewhere between ‘novelty fun’ and ‘deadly serious’, depending on your attitude. I did not have a cyclocross bike, or a mountain bike, so I put some second-hand, vaguely knobbly tyres on my hybrid and put in the laps. Sweat was emitted, fun was had, and I now had a bike that I realised I could take on my local bridleways.
This became an experiment in ‘where next?’, and having ticked off all the obvious local doubletrack, the next logical step seemed to be a bridleway that I knew from walking and running: the Blue Pig. It was somewhere down its steep, steppy, cobbly lines that I thought maybe I ought to buy myself an actual mountain bike. Was I a mountain biker from the moment I thought riding down the Blue Pig was a good idea, or from the point where I wanted a mountain bike? It took a few more months of trying to figure out what I needed – thanks are due to some very kind and trusting souls who let me borrow their bikes for a go since actual demo events eluded me. I even asked the Singletrack Forum what I should get (sound advice was given). Another cold winter road ride was the final straw, and a mountain bike was purchased: a Whyte 901. Maybe that’s the point I became a mountain biker?
But it’s possible to buy a bike and then not ride it. Is someone with a mountain bike in their shed a mountain biker? Should we judge on thoughts, deeds or equipment?
I’m going to say it’s all in the mind (man). If you look at the hillsides and think ‘I could take a bike there’, you’re almost all the way to being a mountain biker. But I think there’s a final slice of pie that’s needed – and no, it’s not a love of pie. I think to ‘be a mountain biker’ you should want everyone else to ‘get it’ too. You should look at the hills and think ‘We could take bikes there’. You should look at other people looking at the hills and say ‘You could take bikes there’. If you’re a mountain biker, it doesn’t matter if you live in a city, or don’t actually own a mountain bike right now, or haven’t ridden for a while. You just need to know the joy that it brings and want everyone else to experience it too.
So, when you’re done reading this, pass the mag along to a friend and make a date to head for the hills and show them what it’s all about. There are 149 back issues to catch up on, and a whole load more to come in the future. There’s always room for another to join the ride.
