[Closed] am i still a mountainbiker?

I think you'll find you are a cyclist, best of all genres

Almost all my MTBing this year was in a 2 week period in the summer

I'm fine with that and would still say my first allegiance is to MTB but in terms of time or miles, I'm a road-bwoy

Ran more than I biked this year, I'd rather be MTBing than running, but losing 2.5 stone softens the blow. 😏

I bought a new MTB last November, it’s still in the box 🙁

+1 Cyclist first, then specialize after: commuter, MTB, tourer etc. S'all cycling 😁

I did a loop of Swinley red yesterday, that keeps me a mountainbiker for the next year!!

Ton you're a cyclist who sometimes 'mountain bikes'
Not been on my mountain bike since June 2017,I don't like driving on my days off from work & it's got so bad that I've not took the MTB out for 18 months.I ride the road bike or gravel bike from the door instead.Ironically I should be on said MTB this Saturday as I'm calling in at Merlin for some roadie stuff so I'll nip up to Rivi & check out some of the trails I used to ride around there.
I don't feel ashamed that the MTB's become a dust collector & neither should you,it's all about enjoying yourself out on the bike!

Mountain biking is a state of mind, not a question of miles... Discuss.

Cycling is whatever you want it to be. If you see it as a state of mind, then you can still be a mountain bike without doing it.

I'm a mountain biker that bikes on hills.

Said hills are generally rode to via the roads. On off road tyres though.

Offroad four times? I think you'll find that's more than a lot of STW-ers!

I bought a new MTB last November, it’s still in the box 🙁

How..............can anyone do that 😮😮😮😮😮 You injured yourself badly between ordering the bike and it arriving. Even then what the....

I bought a new MTB last November, it’s still in the box

What is is?

I don't have a mountain bike but do ride my bike where I used to ride my mountain bike so not sure. I would agree than I am a cyclist and just cycle everywhere where I live (road, gravel, single track)

Zero rides last year and very few the year before due to medical reasons. Hopefully that's going to change later this year but I still call myself a mountain biker.

How…………..can anyone do that 😮😮😮😮😮 You injured yourself badly between ordering the bike and it arriving. Even then what the….

Nope, I bought it at a good price after my old one got damaged but work went mental, house to finish building and hatred of driving to ride these days means it’s still where it was when it was delivered.

I’ve been riding a lot of road these days as the off-road is crap round here and it’s a better use of limited time. I’ll ride it this year, or sell it I guess.

I went through a similar period when I just wasn’t riding a bike at all (let alone off-road).

These thing come in, ahem, cycles. I did a fair bit last year and getting off to a decent start this year (first bivvy planned for tonight).

Last year I was out with an old climber mate bemoaning my lack of climbing. He said I would always be a climber deep down as once you have experienced the draw of it you can’t unknow that. It’s the the same with mountain biking, if you understand what drew you to it in the first place then it will always be there.

Whether you act on it, that’s a different matter. It’s just latency.

If you want to identify as a mountain biker then you are.

I do far more road and CX these days but still think of myself as a mountain biker as it where I first found my love of riding and I've never lost it.

I'm a mountainbiker who (mostly) rides a 'gravel' bike on road, off road, and sometimes down some 'mountainbike' trails.

I lost the best bit of last year with a bad back. No riding at all. I road a mountain bike 4 times I think. All the other rides were on a gravel bike, mostly on road

But in my head in planning mountain bike rides and looking at new bikes. So maybe I'm a mountain bikes

I have ride planned for tomorrow....

I only own mountain bikes, though I rarely ride more than once or twice a week. I only ride on the road if it’s from my door to get to my local trails. I’d consider myself a mountain biker not a cyclist! As somebody said it’s a state of mind 😉

I feel a load better now, realising I am not alone...... ;o)

made myself a promise to get up a big hill/mountain this year.

I’d consider myself a mountain biker not a cyclist

I'm neither. Riding a bicycle is just one of the ways I experience the outdoors. I've never really identified with either word/group though it's evident that many do, for example, those that decide to have tattoos that are bicycle related or inspired.

^^^ 🙂

Mountain biking is a state of mind, not a question of miles… Discuss.

I'd say so. You can ride a road bike and not be a roadie.

Thinking about it, I don't know how I'd describe my riding now. I wear the same kit whichever of my bikes I ride and I don't do much that is typical MTB or road riding in terms of the mainstream/media portrayal of them. I don't think that's being niche or unique either as a lot of us do that - just ride bikes for enjoyment and escapism. I grew up with late 80s ATB stuff as my intro and that was very much do-it-all cycling, maybe we've just ended up back there.

Sometimes it can be about opportunity as well. At the moment I only seem to get out for a ride about once a month, mainly due to commitments with wife's ponies and foster kids. Also, although I live in rural area there are actually not many off-road tracks close to the house so I have to ride roads to get to them, which I dislike.

OP. Are you a mountainbiker? No. But it sounds like you went mountainbiking 4 times last year.
Neither am I. I rode mountainbikes off road at least 200 times last year, roadbikes maybe 10 times (a couple of those were indoors). DH bikes maybe 15 times. BMX about the same. Didn't go "cycling" once.
Can't stand the thought of anyone referring to me as a "cyclist" unless by a stranger and I happened to be on a bike when being referred to
Cyclists and all their rituals and cliquiness makes me cringe. I just like riding bikes Preferably not with cyclists.

Cyclists and all their rituals and cliquiness makes me cringe.

That's just stereotypes though isn't it? Or, roadies : )

I reckon I'm a "Bicycle Enthusiast" in so much as I like Bicycles but I'm in no position to be a "serious cyclist" all competitive and tallented at riding them or to make my living from them so I'm just someone with a lifelong appreciation of bicycles and cycling.

A decade or so ago I would still have considered myself a "Mountainbiker" as that was all I owned and all I had ridden for the best part of twenty years, I'd become a bit mono-cultural about it all and lived in a bit of a bubble slightly sneering at road bikes etc... But I very nearly became a roadie at the age of 10 I was all set to ask for a road bike for my birthday to replace my Burner, I'd spent summers watching TDF on telly, Lemond somehow stuck in my head, and the ability to cover vast distances and see the world on a bike appealed, but peer pressure prevailed and I fell in step with all the other kids and requested an MTB which I got and then rode to the park and local shops mostly, then I rode a bit further and dragged my Dad to the local woods, and He ended up getting an MTB, all my matesgradually gave up using their MTBs for anything but basic transport I ended up riding all over the place on mine and Draggin my Dad into a new hobby as he was pretty much done with Rugby.

Twenty years on and commuting practicality plus a C2W voucher saw me finally get the Road bike I would have asked for at age 10, fast forward another ten years again and today I now have 3 curly barred bikes, only one MTB (and not a fancy one either) and a far more diverse interest in bikes/cycling...

I like and appreciate Road bikes, touring bikes, Gravel bikes, CX bikes, Mountain bikes, Cargo bikes, Town bikes, BMXes, recumbents, Old bikes, new bikes, pretty much any human powered wheeled vehicle (can't abide unicycles though). As much as I love MTBs/MTBing and have gotten a lot from MTBs over the years, I can't help but feel that by being too focussed on one little niche within the wider world of cycling for too long I perhaps missed out on a few other things I would have enjoyed too.

So these days I'm a "Bicycle Enthusiast" and quite happy with that.

Sometimes it can be about opportunity as well. At the moment I only seem to get out for a ride about once a month, mainly due to commitments with wife’s ponies and foster kids. Also, although I live in rural area there are actually not many off-road tracks close to the house so I have to ride roads to get to them, which I dislike.

Get a "Gravel" bike, or whatever you want to call it.
They're ideal for a stolen spare hour or two on/off-road from your doorstep rather than getting drawn into the ritual of loading an MTB into a car to drive to some woods, to ride for a couple of hours, to then drive it home again. When you have other commitments investing 5-6 hours for a couple of hours actual riding becomes impractical and exhausting for many people...

“Bicycle Enthusiast”

Bike forums are full of these. Many pretty much never even ride bikes of any sort.

Many moons ago a friend in Spain enquired if I still rode my "countryside bicycle"
I think countryside bicyclist sums me up nicely.

Mungos HiFi top tune. Heard last night for first time, first skank round the kitchen for the year.

Bike forums are full of these. Many pretty much never even ride bikes of any sort.

Maybe, but my definition of "Enthusiast" does include using the things rather than just collecting and polishing them... Honest.

"Cyclist" has different connotations IMO, the wider (mostly car driving) public seem to see a "cyclist" as an angry MAMIL-commuter, bawling at passing cars cyclegaz style, confident of their rights in traffic but apparently not really enjoying the whole stressful experience, while to many people who actually ride bikes a "Cyclist" is a more competitive type with a fancy bike, determined to stomp past and prove their cycling prowess(both stereotypes with some basis in reality).

To me an "Enthusiast" is just someone who appreciates things more for what they are, a bit more balanced in their outlook with less of the aspirational or competitive connotations.

Yes, you're a mountain biker if you want to be.

Same here, I haven't been to the woods more than twice in the last year - but I yearn for it and count myself in.

a "cycle entusiast" is just someone who is enthusiastic about bicycles/ing.
It's basic English "cycle" being either a verb or a noun and "enthusiast" being the noun describing their interest in cycles/cycling.
No need to overthink it.
Pretty sure some folk on here rarely even touch a bicycle nevemind polish their own.

Would have thought Moses would be a fatbiker with all that lovely dull sand between the parted seas to ride.

Im quite taken aback by how many people inhabit the STW forum who don't really ride mountain bikes.

Why are you here?? What do you enjoy?? is it the constant bickering and oneupmanship??

If that surprises you I guess you don't really understand this forum.

I wouldn't worry about it, so long as you enjoy MTBing when you do it.

In 2018 I used my road bike, gravel bike(more fun on local trails), and past couple of months a fixed gear.

I used my MTB twice in 2018, 10mile local shakedown loop. Then the week after we rode all the trails at Coed-y-Brenin in a day, 70miles and I didn't die. I think the Gravel bike with not so nobbly tyres on local trails kept my handling skills in check.

\/ Agreed \/

mikejd
Mountain biking is a state of mind, not a question of miles… Discuss.

P20
Subscriber
Cycling is whatever you want it to be. If you see it as a state of mind, then you can still be a mountain bike without doing it.

cool.

I'm finally an astroanaut. A real astronaut!

or maybe I'm the space ship :/

Or another way to look at it, you can ride other bikes like a mountain biker.
And TBH it depends on what you class as Mountain Biking anyway. For extreme Gnarists anything less than Redbull Rampage isn't Mountain Biking, whereas others class Bridleway bashing as Mountain Biking.

Whatever floats your boat, doesn't matter whatever everyone else thinks\does so long as you're having fun.