The Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About Mountain Biking
Disclaimer: this is an amusing and lightly informational look at mountain biking. I am certainly not poking fun at those who are not knowledgeable about the sport. I also do not claim to know everything about mountain biking. I still have some things to learn.
1. Yes, you can ride over THAT.
Often, people who don't mountain bike think that mountain biking just means riding a mountain bike where you would ride a road bike, or perhaps on a smooth, wide trail such as a rail trail. Sure, some people do this. But when someone says they mountain bike the usually mean that they ride on single track or double track mountain bike trails, sometimes ATV trails or snowmobile trails here in the north. To try to explain where I ride I ask people if they ever go hiking. Assuming they do, I explain that mountain bike trails are very similar to hiking trails. Narrow and unimproved. I then get a look that says "no you don't, you idiot." I explain that yes, you can ride a bike over those rocks, roots, fallen tree branches, rotting logs, mud holes and pretty much anything else if you have a bike that's made for it and a lot of practice. Yeah, it would be easier to walk on the trail, but some of us prefer to do it the hard way and maybe have a hidden desire fly over the handle bars of our bikes, land on a rock, and then watch as our bikes roll towards us and land on top of us.
2. Speaking of falling, you're SUPPOSED to fall.
I'm always asked about my bruises, cuts and scrapes. The answer is often that I fell off my bike. A common response is "you fell off your bike?! Oh my God!" Well, yeah, nearly every time I ride. Falling is part of the process of learning how to develop technical skills, meaning riding easily over or jumping over all those obstacles on the ground, make hairpin turns, and riding straight over a narrow log bridge. No one does it right the first time. Or the second or third time. But eventually you get it, and you fall in the process. But 9 times out of 10 falling doesn't even really hurt. It can actually be pretty comical.
3. You're going to be gross.
If you exercise regularly, you're used to being covered in sweat. Coat that sweat with a layer of mud if you live in a damp climate. Coat that with some dirt that you fall in. Random leaves and tree needles might get stuck to you. Then bring on the swarms of black flies, mosquitos and deer flies who are attracted to your pleasant odor. Sometimes you don't even now how that stick got lodged in your shorts or that there appears to be a plant growing out of your helmet. I've never felt as disgusting as I do after a long ride.
4. You're going to see some amazing things.
You never know what you will see as you quietly pedal along. I've come around a corner to see a moose in front of me. I've had run ins (not literally) with turtles, turkeys, deer, and so on. The sight of the sun coming through the wet pine branches after the rain or watching fish jump in an isolated pond is an amazing reward for your hard work.
5. Yes, you can ride in the winter.
Even here in Maine many mountain bikers ride in the winter. There are even mountain bike races in the winter snow.
Winter riding is the best way for those of us who race to stay in mountain bike shape.
Riding a bike trainer is a good substitute on brutally cold days, but riding on trails is always best. Snowmobile trails work well for mountain bikes, especially fat tire bikes. Unfortunately for me, outdoor riding in the winter is usually not an option. I have Raynaud's disease, so I simply can't keep my hands and feet warm enough in the Winter months. I envy my fellow hard core riders who are out on the sunny winter days.
6. There are many types of mountain bike races
I've been racing for a few years now. My choice of race types is what I call ultra distance, although that's not really an accurate term. It's often call "marathon," but with my strong history of running I picture something called marathon to take less than 4 hours. Anyway, these are the ones that I do. Races can come in categories of hours (6, 12 and 24 hour races) or in miles/KMs, such as 100 kilometers or 100 miles. There are lots of shorter distance races, such as 20 milers. SOme, called "short track" can be as short as 800 meters. There are downhill races and cyclocross races. Cyclocross is usually done on a lighter weight bike that a mountain bike, and riders are required to dismount to go over large obstacles. Enduro races are long distance races with a focus on long, often very technical, downhill portions. There are even mountain bike orienteering races, where riders have a map and compass and choose their routes.
I should not leave out that mountain biking is an olympic sport. It was added in 1996. Athletes race on a loop course. They must complete a certain number of laps within 2 hours. The winner is the athlete who finishes the set number of laps first.
7. Racing is even more complicated than that!
To show you just how much there is to mountain biking, let me explain the categories. I found this confusing when I first started racing. As a runner, race categories were only divided by age and gender. When I entered my first real mountain bike race I had to decide if I was a novice, sport, expert, or elite rider (I went with novice that time. I now race as an expert). Many races also have a category for single speed bikes. Some races have categories for heavier rides, called the clydesdale division. Within these categories there are age brackets, but they have names, not simple numbers, such as 30-39. Age categories can be called veteran, senior, master, and so on.
There are other categories as well, and of course, gender divisions.
8. Many more men mountain bike than women
Let's face it: mountain biking is just not a pretty sport. You're going to get dirty. You have to navigate the woods. There are bogs and critters. You have to transport your bike, since most of us don't have trails right out our front door. It's just not for every woman. Us hard core women mountain bikers just have a different definition of fun than most women.
I have no idea what the percentages of female/male mountain bikers is. I have looked at the gender divisions after some races that I've done and the split has been around 75% male, 25% female. I'm sure this can vary a great deal.
9. Riders do clip in to their pedals, just like on road bikes
"Clipping in" is when the bottoms of bike shoes lock in to the bike's pedals. I had a hard time with this at first. I didn't want to ride clipped in, because I wanted to be able to quickly put my foot on the ground to catch myself from falling. However, clipping in really does give you more power, and in some instances, it makes you more stable. Coming down steep, rough hills, before I started clipping in, my feet would sometimes come off of the pedals when I would go over a rock or other object on the trail, causing me to fall. When riding clipped in, my feet stay put and I feel much more stable, allowing me to go faster and not feel like I need to hit the brakes.
People can be surprised that mountain bikers clip in. Yes, it can be a pain at times, especially if you are in a very technical section and need to dismount and get back on a few times. I choose to keep my clips fairly loose, so I don't struggle to unclip quickly.
10. Mountain bikers are very pro helmet, and with good reason!
You will virtually never see someone on mountain bike trails riding without a helmet. Mountain biking is a high injury sport. Some falls WILL land you on your head. Most injuries will heal, but a brain injury can have serious long term consequences.
I once fell going down hill over some rocks and landed on my helmet. Not only did my helmet crack, but there were rocks imbedded in it. Had I not been wearing a helmet I would have probably had a serious head injury.
Group rides and races do not allow riders to go without helmets. Riders will preach safety to those who dare to ride without helmets. If you chose to ride, please wear a helmet and make sure it is fitted properly.
Disclaimer: this is an amusing and lightly informational look at mountain biking. I am certainly not poking fun at those who are not knowledgeable about the sport. I also do not claim to know everything about mountain biking. I still have some things to learn.
1. Yes, you can ride over THAT.
Often, people who don't mountain bike think that mountain biking just means riding a mountain bike where you would ride a road bike, or perhaps on a smooth, wide trail such as a rail trail. Sure, some people do this. But when someone says they mountain bike the usually mean that they ride on single track or double track mountain bike trails, sometimes ATV trails or snowmobile trails here in the north. To try to explain where I ride I ask people if they ever go hiking. Assuming they do, I explain that mountain bike trails are very similar to hiking trails. Narrow and unimproved. I then get a look that says "no you don't, you idiot." I explain that yes, you can ride a bike over those rocks, roots, fallen tree branches, rotting logs, mud holes and pretty much anything else if you have a bike that's made for it and a lot of practice. Yeah, it would be easier to walk on the trail, but some of us prefer to do it the hard way and maybe have a hidden desire fly over the handle bars of our bikes, land on a rock, and then watch as our bikes roll towards us and land on top of us.
2. Speaking of falling, you're SUPPOSED to fall.
I'm always asked about my bruises, cuts and scrapes. The answer is often that I fell off my bike. A common response is "you fell off your bike?! Oh my God!" Well, yeah, nearly every time I ride. Falling is part of the process of learning how to develop technical skills, meaning riding easily over or jumping over all those obstacles on the ground, make hairpin turns, and riding straight over a narrow log bridge. No one does it right the first time. Or the second or third time. But eventually you get it, and you fall in the process. But 9 times out of 10 falling doesn't even really hurt. It can actually be pretty comical.
3. You're going to be gross.
If you exercise regularly, you're used to being covered in sweat. Coat that sweat with a layer of mud if you live in a damp climate. Coat that with some dirt that you fall in. Random leaves and tree needles might get stuck to you. Then bring on the swarms of black flies, mosquitos and deer flies who are attracted to your pleasant odor. Sometimes you don't even now how that stick got lodged in your shorts or that there appears to be a plant growing out of your helmet. I've never felt as disgusting as I do after a long ride.
4. You're going to see some amazing things.
You never know what you will see as you quietly pedal along. I've come around a corner to see a moose in front of me. I've had run ins (not literally) with turtles, turkeys, deer, and so on. The sight of the sun coming through the wet pine branches after the rain or watching fish jump in an isolated pond is an amazing reward for your hard work.
5. Yes, you can ride in the winter.
Even here in Maine many mountain bikers ride in the winter. There are even mountain bike races in the winter snow.
Winter riding is the best way for those of us who race to stay in mountain bike shape.
Riding a bike trainer is a good substitute on brutally cold days, but riding on trails is always best. Snowmobile trails work well for mountain bikes, especially fat tire bikes. Unfortunately for me, outdoor riding in the winter is usually not an option. I have Raynaud's disease, so I simply can't keep my hands and feet warm enough in the Winter months. I envy my fellow hard core riders who are out on the sunny winter days.
6. There are many types of mountain bike races
I've been racing for a few years now. My choice of race types is what I call ultra distance, although that's not really an accurate term. It's often call "marathon," but with my strong history of running I picture something called marathon to take less than 4 hours. Anyway, these are the ones that I do. Races can come in categories of hours (6, 12 and 24 hour races) or in miles/KMs, such as 100 kilometers or 100 miles. There are lots of shorter distance races, such as 20 milers. SOme, called "short track" can be as short as 800 meters. There are downhill races and cyclocross races. Cyclocross is usually done on a lighter weight bike that a mountain bike, and riders are required to dismount to go over large obstacles. Enduro races are long distance races with a focus on long, often very technical, downhill portions. There are even mountain bike orienteering races, where riders have a map and compass and choose their routes.
I should not leave out that mountain biking is an olympic sport. It was added in 1996. Athletes race on a loop course. They must complete a certain number of laps within 2 hours. The winner is the athlete who finishes the set number of laps first.
7. Racing is even more complicated than that!
To show you just how much there is to mountain biking, let me explain the categories. I found this confusing when I first started racing. As a runner, race categories were only divided by age and gender. When I entered my first real mountain bike race I had to decide if I was a novice, sport, expert, or elite rider (I went with novice that time. I now race as an expert). Many races also have a category for single speed bikes. Some races have categories for heavier rides, called the clydesdale division. Within these categories there are age brackets, but they have names, not simple numbers, such as 30-39. Age categories can be called veteran, senior, master, and so on.
There are other categories as well, and of course, gender divisions.
8. Many more men mountain bike than women
Let's face it: mountain biking is just not a pretty sport. You're going to get dirty. You have to navigate the woods. There are bogs and critters. You have to transport your bike, since most of us don't have trails right out our front door. It's just not for every woman. Us hard core women mountain bikers just have a different definition of fun than most women.
I have no idea what the percentages of female/male mountain bikers is. I have looked at the gender divisions after some races that I've done and the split has been around 75% male, 25% female. I'm sure this can vary a great deal.
9. Riders do clip in to their pedals, just like on road bikes
"Clipping in" is when the bottoms of bike shoes lock in to the bike's pedals. I had a hard time with this at first. I didn't want to ride clipped in, because I wanted to be able to quickly put my foot on the ground to catch myself from falling. However, clipping in really does give you more power, and in some instances, it makes you more stable. Coming down steep, rough hills, before I started clipping in, my feet would sometimes come off of the pedals when I would go over a rock or other object on the trail, causing me to fall. When riding clipped in, my feet stay put and I feel much more stable, allowing me to go faster and not feel like I need to hit the brakes.
People can be surprised that mountain bikers clip in. Yes, it can be a pain at times, especially if you are in a very technical section and need to dismount and get back on a few times. I choose to keep my clips fairly loose, so I don't struggle to unclip quickly.
10. Mountain bikers are very pro helmet, and with good reason!
You will virtually never see someone on mountain bike trails riding without a helmet. Mountain biking is a high injury sport. Some falls WILL land you on your head. Most injuries will heal, but a brain injury can have serious long term consequences.
I once fell going down hill over some rocks and landed on my helmet. Not only did my helmet crack, but there were rocks imbedded in it. Had I not been wearing a helmet I would have probably had a serious head injury.
Group rides and races do not allow riders to go without helmets. Riders will preach safety to those who dare to ride without helmets. If you chose to ride, please wear a helmet and make sure it is fitted properly.