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i am 17 and have been riding cross country mountain bike since the age of 15 and have got the bug very badly. i know own 6 bikes after years of working at the lbs and ride at least 2 or 3 times a week ontop of that i (train) running, gym and so on about 3 times a week. cycling and keeping a high level of fitness has become a way of life and results in me not drinking and going on very little "nights out". most of my friends are considerably older as they are the people i ride with. i have just recently split up with my girlfriend after a year long relationship due to her having enought and not being able to understand what i do and why. Its made me think is it all to much for my age??
Girlfriend? It was too much, bikes will never be.
Take up dirt jumping and DH. There will, on average be more people around your age partaking in it so you can mix with people your own age, you'll become a better rider for it....drinking and partying hard will become an integral part of your riding culture, maybe even whilst riding which is always fun, you can wear whatever clothes 17 year olds think are cool and sexy without being ridiculed by old farts who actually still believe that "young people" still wear baggy jeans.
Ultimately, because of your newly acquired manliness, I'm sure you'll attract an altogther sexier class of woman, settle down and live happily ever after (though not before you've rode rings 'round you for a few years).
i do also ride bmx on those cheeky few days, i did use to go out partying and all that but the group i used to socialise with have now turned to heavier drinking and harder substences which just dosent appeal to me, so im left with the dilemma of weather to become the loner with my bike or just get back out there :S
ps: i live in northampton hence the drink and drug culture
No way is that too much for your age. At 17-18ish I was running xc for the county at Scottish level races, banging out big miles on the road bike with the local roadie club - Dundee Wheelers - hard nuts that bunch, racing road during the season and there always used to be a weds' night TT. However, I still used to go out on Fri' night, Sunday too and from my rose tinted memory REALLY enjoyed female company! Oh and to fund it all I was a labourer at a joinery firm, so that took care of the strength training! Jeezo man, live life like there's no tomorrow, cos before you know it you're married, two bairns, working hard and no spare time to play with all your bikes.
What do yo uget more satisfaction from ? Sounds like riding your bike and pushing yourself in that area. Don't bother falling prey the the idea that booze/drugs etc are "how it should be" all they are is temporary supports for young people who have little confidence and few ideas on what they 'enjoy'. Sounds to me you are the sorted one. I wouldn't stress too much about it, you can go out and not drink you know - i stopped drinking for over a year and my social life wasn;t dented that much.
yer i suppose its posable to go out and not drink but in northampton i think i would be seen as a bit of a freak if i did that haha. i do get my thrills from riding and pushing my body to new levels of fitness, but do quite often wounder if im missing out on my youth. often wounder aswell if theres ever any good looking girls out there that you could go camping with and that would understand my pashion??
Whatever dude if you love it RIDE dont worry! You are young enough to become shit hot with out fitting in!
Just Ride
I am 34 and have smoked and drank my way through the last 20 yrs!
about 5 yrs ago I realised my child hood love of riding was still with me I Commute on a single speed 25 mile round trip each day and ride my cheep asd but cool hard tail like a bastard all the time I can!
Cycling can and will be all youn want it to be! If you love it , it will work for you!
Ride = Fun = Happy= fit fit and Happy = all te girlfriends you want!
You are onto a good thing, milk it!
Yes
so i guess i just screw the sterotypical view of the "youth of today" and just ride and do my own thing and your saying the rest will just come? lets hope so because i cant see my self leaving cycling, especially after my new xtc c3 😀
If you're wondering if you're missing out it can't do you any harm to socialise a bit more and not drink or do drugs?
If you could develop a thick enough skin maybe you could let some people think you were a freak and not worry about it? Not a criticism.
Anybody who matters won't really be bothered if you don't drink or do drugs. It's probably fairly impartant to do some socialising as well as training to stay balanced and pretty happy as a person imo.
Cheers
Tim
who loves a stereo type huh!
Unless you're happy focussing on traiing for the time being,in which case you'll know when you're fed up with just doing that i guess.
It's definately good to socialise sometimes.
Tim
Plumz you are certainly NOT missing out on your youth. Do you enjoy doing it? Do you do it for yourself (Rather than parental pressure)? then if the answer is "yes" to both carry on.
I got into MTBing at the age of 13 all of my mates were (still are as they are still my mates) 5-10 years older than me (and to be fair were men .. how was my Father so understanding!?). I did exactly that, rode every minute of the day and pushed my body to new extreme levels of fitness. Enjoy the opportunity as you get older you will find passions and may temporarily go off and do other things (when I went to uni in Essex I didn't do so much as it's flat!). You will always come back to riding if you enjoy.
As for girls, we are out there, but obviously we are fewer and further apart in this sport (rather than netball or beach volleyball as a hobby ;-). I couldn't imagine not going out with someone that wasn't into MTBing, motor biking, climbing, and all that outdoorsy type stuff. If you meet a girl that isn't into all that stuff then yes you may have to compromise a bit if you really like her .. but I saw introduce her to riding.
In short if you enjoy yourself and are doing it for yourself then no you're not missing out on your youth. While you have no commitments (family, FT job, ties etc) enjoy living. I would give anything to go back to my years from 13-20 ... best of my life, care free wonder years of getting dirty, riding bikes and having a ball!
yer i just think its diffucuilt for friends and the ex to understand why im not into the same things as they are and they struggle to understand the reasons why it dosent appeal to me. be young and into bikes in a big town isnt the easyiest thing.
ow yer i do it for for my own good, i spend every penny i own on bike parts, ride every time i have a spare couple of hours and get huge kicks out of painfull gym seshions and pushing my body on long distance runs and huge rides. i know that because of cycling i am becoming a better person and have much more oppertunities ahead of me, but i still always wonder if im missing out on the "nights out".
as for girls, thats something that does make me wonder. after the last relationship ended it really made me think weather it was worth trying to hold down a relationship with a girl i couldnt particapate in outdoor adventure with, and as of yet i have never heard of a nice girl that loves the same things that i do.
you say "friends" but aren't you forging new friendships with the guys that you ride with?
When I started at MTBing at 13 it was 1993, I had NO friends at school as I hated shopping, nail varnish, had no interest in boys in "that" kind of way. I had a tough time of it at school as I was a social outcast as I lived for the weekends of days out with the boys playing on the bikes up the Castle and down the BMX track. It's tough when you're young but you soon realise what YOU want to do and just go with the flow. I found a new group of friends through MTBing and we set up our own club which is now Cardiff JIF with loads of members and I had nothing further to do with those that didn't really understand.
As for the girl I guess that's slightly more difficult (since there's still a severe lack of girls) maybe that is somewhere where you may have to compromise but only when you want to and you realise she's a girl worth doing it for! If they don't understand then often they aren't worth it.
what's the MTBing like in Northampton? Aren't there some clubs you can get into social sides with as well? When I hit 16 Dad would allow me out, the lads used to have house parties as they were uni students at the time. Dad knocked on the door at this house party once to pick me up, first attempt he had the door slammed in his face and was told to "f*** off" as they thought he wa the neighbour complaining. Second attempt someone opened the door and threw up on his shoes .... he still let me out with them again!
There are lots of girls that are out there that LOVE the same kind of stuff as you it's just finding them and it takes time. They may be into the climbing, snowboarding more mainstream stuff and you still have to find them through another sport, pull them over and get them into MTBing. You will find one though we are out there!
If you feel like maybe you are missing out, go out on a night out with your friends, you'll soon realise at 10pm whether you are having fun and want to stay out or if it's pap and you want to go home .. and no shame in that! There is nothing wrong and going out drinking (to a point!) but only if YOU want to do it likewise nothing wrong with NOT wanting to drink btu to just ride.
yer mountain biking is okay in northampton i am in a resonably big cycling club (numplumz.com) and also have a few good riding pals from my sponsor (pitsford cycles), the youngest person i ride with is 24 and yer i do have a resonably large group of mates who i ride with ranging from 24 to 50 but i still find that its hard to talk about certain things to them as the age gap is quite big.
i think the time is going to have to come when i start going out a bit more but just dont want this to effect my fitness level or my riding time.
As for the girls im planning on moving to the countryside (lakes, peaks, wales) at the end of this year to work in a outdoor adventure centre so maybe there will be more chances of finding the right type of girl there.
You can go out and have fun in the nights you will just have to be more disiplined than most about what you do! remember you only have youth once!
I'm sure if you started talking to some of the older lads they will remember they were 17 and give you help/advice.
Job in adventure centre in Peaks sounds ace! I live in Bicester and the MTB is shi** whereas I was brought up in Cardiff, desperate to move back riding there ace, oh well one day!
good luck it will all work out but all I say is do what you want to do but make sure you have fun at the same time as you are only young and carefree once!!!