What got you into MTBing???

Chaz.Harding

I saw this thread on the roadie side, and thought it would be a good question to ask here too!

For me - I've always ridden bikes, always some sort of MTB, from as far back as I can remember. I started getting more and more into it as a got fat as a kid (around 10-14). When I was 14 years old, I weighed over 15st... :oops:

Then I joined the Army a couple months after my 16th birthday. I started out hating the physical side of it, but slowly came around to love it, and lost alot of weight. And then seriously got into MTB's. I also bought my very first racer bike last year, in November, and quite like it for the pure phys.

Now, I love the gym, MTBing and roadbiking, and I couldn't imagine a life without my bikes!

Flenser

Got given my brother-in-law's old mountain bike about two months ago and I haven't looked back since.

Doing about sixty miles a week now including some downhill, a bit of single-track and some woodland... well, Grovely woods out Wilton way at least.

Where abouts in Salisbury are you? Found any good routes?

ChrisMidsUK

I'm allergic to traffic. :!:

lawman

my dad startedin the 80s and took me to races when i was a kid, then when i was 13 he bout me a claud butler cape wrath and although i found it tough at first, i soon loved it

five years on i now kicking the ass of everyone else in nuneaton :P

Chaz.Harding

Flenser - bugger, was gona ask you!

I'm in Tidworth (yup, I'm a squaddie). Not found anywhere amazing. I've get Salisbury Plain literally on my doorstep, though, I've not found anywhere thats great to be honest - it's either really deeply rutted tracks and the flat. Once you slip into them, it's almost impossible to ride out of them. Then when you do find a hill, it's so insanely steep (and deeply rutted, with water corrosion channels too) that it's a massive effort to ride up (I'm talking first gear stuff), then down the other side, which is equally steep, rutted and water corroded, to miles of flat and rutted...

Damn Army ripping up the land

So where about are you?

Chaz.Harding

Flenser, try Spam Mountain Biking. They're meant to be quite good, but I've not been on a ride with them. Dare say they'll know the trails pretty well!!!

supersonic

A local lad who went to my school - Peaty.

Chaz.Harding

supersonic - really? Was he ace then too?

supersonic

Didn't know him at school, he was in the last year when I entered the 1st. I think he had just started racing XC and did some DH on a rigid Kona!

Was actually my mate who first lent me an MTB, then learned all about peaty and got a zaskar as that is what he had lol. He lived just a few roads away.

GHill

Growing up in a rural area I've always been messing about on bikes in the woods. For me that's the essence of "mountain" biking (only been on two actual mountains with my bike).

mongoosed

I used to do road cycling all the time when one of my mates started MTBing he said road is boring(i had to agree)try this MTB i bought, it was a GT something,we went offroad and it was brill,still got a road bike but rarely use it.

Nick Dastardly

All the kids used to ride up in my local woods. I remember when I was about 10 spending pretty much the whole summer holidays getting up, having breakfast, spending all day there and only coming home for tea. Then I lost interest for about 10 years and got back into it a couple of years ago when I simultaneously got dumped by my long-term girlfriend and got a nice bonus from work.

phz

1980s - grew up messing around on bikes (used to do small dirt jumps on a road bike as it was all i had while my mates had grifters ! )

1992 - went down to cambridge to do my degree and built a 'scrapper' MTB to get to the studios on

1995 - moved up to yorkshire to do my teacher training and discovered hills and MTBing proper - built another 'scrapper' only slightly lighter and slightly tougher this time

1997 - got a job in coventry and bought my first decent MTB (good frame / cheap parts) - rode it off-road to and from work and whenever else i could

2000 - having moved back home for another job built up my trailstar - first 'big money' bike - rode off-road to and from work and hacked around a local circuit 2 or 3 times a week

2002 - moved in with my now wife and got lazy - bike spends most of its time in the garage gathering dust

2009 - wife gets on a health kick and buys a bike - i dust off the trailstar and rediscover the pure joy of blasting round dirt tracks on two wheels in the fresh air (which is REALLY what got me into MTBs in the first place) - i also rediscover the 'joy' of spending too much cash on stuff you dont REALLY need and end up with effectively a completely new bike in the process

slainte rob

soy_sauce

cycle to work scheme back in Sept last year, was recommended to get a MTB and since i have got a good MTB, i thought i will just give mountain biking a go. getting better slowly but surely tho. never own a bike before it and only do cycling a couple of time almost 9 years ago.
still trying learn how to pedal when standing up on the bike... :oops:

Surf-Matt

Learned to ride when I was 4.
Then onto BMXing.
Then mountain bikes started getting popular.
Almost lost interest for several years.
Then got a 97 (new then) Stumpy.
Regained interest.
Interest level remained level.
Got a 2007 Stumpy.
Interest level rose.

Now have four MTBs and am spending rather too much doing my favourite one up!

nonnac85

I heard about Chicksands from some friends. Went over there to have a look around (on my old Apollo!) and thought it looked pretty cool so I got a better bike and havent stopped since :-)

The Northern Monkey

My Parents!

All of my childhood holidays were mountain bike oriented

nicklouse

I put wide flatish bars on my road bike and CX tyres and got muddy. Some time later ATBs were available to buy.

Si78

Started riding when I was 4.

Got a BMX a few years later. Killed it

Got an Apollo 'MTB' when I was about 8. Weighed more than a thousand suns! Killed it

Got a Saracen Hardtrax(?) when I was about 13, rode it for years. To and from work, to girlfriends house etc.

Got a car.

Got lazy.

Decided I wanted to get fit, so got a bike on the Cycle2Work scheme.
Loving riding again, although Im not particularly quick or daring. Dont want to kill this bike!

Si

Biggus86

As with most people, learnt to ride when i was a wee nipper, then when i was 12/13 i was watching some DH on a sky channel, good ol' Rob Warner on his atx-1 haha, and I've been into it since, although the last few years I haven't really ridden, but I'm off into RAF soon, so I bought a bike to get me fit... and to chuck around on some trails/tracks

FSR Si

I was always into bikes as a nipper, Then in 1990 i was posted to Cyprus on detachment to the united nations forces where we had loads of free time from work due to the heat, One day down in Nicosia i spied a Kuwahara mtb in a shop window, I bought the thing and spent the next six months every afternoon riding, I brought it back to the UK when i was re posted and have never looked back. Had a few years off with no bikes but always seem to come back to them in the end.

jamesst

I remember vividly buying a brand new Raliegh Grifter in around 1976-7 I had been involved in a serious car crash 8 months earlier which meant I was in a wheelchair for 6 months, I got £200 in compensation and put £70.00 into the Grifter, the best feelin I've had at that age, I loved it and as the years grew the bikes got better, a few racers, then BMX! Raliegh Burner followed by a REDLINE-My total pride and joy.

Then drink and girls got in the way till my mid 20's when I decided its time to get fit again and got a Kona Cindercone which was at the time a revelation, no sus at all but steel framed and fab, I started upgrading it with all the colours under the sun then spent serious wonger on a pair of Rock Shox quadra 21's! I havnt looked back since!

Raymondavalon

As a kid I used to race high school motocros, once I finished school and went on to study I then raced enduro, so because of the motorised part of biking in my life, I missed the BMX pedigree that some MTB'ers have.
I always liked bikes and owned a roadie as a kid. When MTBs started becoming popular I decided this would be great. A girlfriend then bought me a[n] (awful) hardtail 18 speed rigid MTB and as crappy as it was, I rode it to death.
I guess the bug kicked in with that bike and when I returned to the UK for good I saw just how vibrant the MTB maket was in regards to choice of bikes and places to ride, I decided to take it a lot more seriously.
All in, about 10-11 years for me now and no regrets

blister pus

Cycling was the lesser of the exercise evils and what wiv living in the hills n'all....

Finbar Saunders

Cycle2work. I've always been a road bike rider and used to race. But with 4 bikes at home already there was little chance of me getting a MTB to give it a try. Then when C2W came along at work and I wanted to get a better bike for the ride to work I decided to get an MTB and give it a try. I did my first MTB race last week.

OldSkoolKona

Excellent stories.

I got into mtbing through a friend when I was a teenager, remember doing my first XC race (was only way to get do decent trails) on a Raleigh Alaska (weighed a ton! :shock: ) plastered in MBUK stickers. The bug had bitten, so then moved onto a Specialized Rockerhopper FS, out grew that after a couple of years and got a Kona Kilauea which still survives today, slicked up as my commuter 8)

Uni got in the way (still cycled but little off road) then through work I've been lucky to live in places with some excellent trails. I treated myself to a specced out Kona Explosif a few years ago which is a great ride (and more than enough for South of England trails at the speeds I do them ). Did have a weekend in Scotland last year on a full susser (amazing forestry trails up there) which did make me appreciate how much they've come on, but its hardtail for the moment.

afrothunder88

Always rode bikes from being a kid, when I was a about 16-17 got a cheap dirt jump bike for my birthday, became an avid dirt jumper until the end of my first year at uni when it finally was beyond repair.

Got myself a BMX for ragging around Leeds at uni which then got stolen. Took a few years off as I couldn't afford to get another one.

Then I started working after finally graduating and after spending a month stuffed onto the Metrolink into Manchester City Centre I was given an old cheap bike to commute on. Rediscovered the joys and 4 months later bought a new bike to commute on after lack of maintenance ruined the other.

Two Months after this bought a Carrera Banshee for £280 as a cheap bike to blast around the trails on and get back up to speed.

It's now two months later still and I'm already planning and saving for an expensive bike!

Thewaylander

at the age 13/14 i was fairly ill (big stomach problems for many years) so fater figure go me a bike... dawes Die Hard £250.. awsome little bike which i stomped off all over on with my cycling mate.

Year later i got a saracen powertrax £400 (was a piece of crap) to continue on..

Now 16 and a few months old i get my life assurance pay out.. i buy my £1000 cannondale f900(best hardtail ever-- not having the ability to drive and no car i moved into street and totally modded said bike (after trashing the DD60 forks 4-5 times in 4 months) on i went

Come 21 uni i get some money and rebuild said bike (creased the frame blunting to much) got a DDG shooter frame very stable on the back wheel lovely.. 2 weeks later it was pinched!

25, i buy an orange crush (gonna try hard core cross country since i had so long out from street) now i can afford its hate at first long term ride ( most unbalanced bike i ever rode)


Come 2 years ago 26, i get redundency bin the orange and got my 2007 Stumpy FSR and move onto trail riding till current day making me how old now eep!

SpinningJenny

I'm fresh meat to MTBing!

Got conned (or encouraged) to take part in the Capital to Coast 60 mile bike ride at the end of June and have spent a lot of time on my hybrid since then, training for that. Getting a bit fed up of dodging traffic and decided to head out to them thar hills. Realising my hybrid can't take it, i've just invested in a lovely hardtail (Sexy Sadie).

It's great fun.

bomberesque

Riding bikes is the only excercise I've ever done of my own volition really.

I used to ride to school on a 24" wheeled "racer" as we laughingly termed them. (back waaaaay before even teh muddy fox courier was about!) used to ride 20 miles to go fishing on weekends ... just used to get about on the bike really. Plus I liked the fettling side of it.

I remember borrowing my mate's raleigh bomber when I was about 13, jumping it over a ditch, landing short and pretzling the back wheel. "that's a bit sh1t" I thought

At university my commuter bike got nicked and so I needed a new one. Some friends were getting into mountainbiking so I bought one, a Townsend something or other. It was rubbish but we had a blast running away from teh parkies in the local woods (there was very little access back then (late 80s) and what there was round us was a bit sh1t)

When I got a job and some money I spent 500 quid on my first "real" mountainbike, a Nigel Dean Nevada. 531 magnum tubed fully rigid 30lbs+ of pure joy. A fantastic (if horribly lardy) frame and the bike that eally sold me on mountainbiking. There's nothing like riding a proper gometried bike with quality parts on for showing you what mountinbiking can be. I sold the townsend to a mate for 20 quid or something and he sprayed it pink and used it as a pub bike to pick up girls ("oh, look at 'im, he's all sensitive, he's got a pink bike. Go on shaz, shag 'im 'afore I does") etc etc

After graduation I Went to the US for a year in 91 and bought a cannondale M800 (that I still have) and took that to Colerado then to Moab in Utah. never looked back since then.

welshkev

i bought my first mountain bike when i was about 14 to ride back and forth to my mates house who lived about 5 miles away and it went from there.

i bought my first 'proper' bike when i was about 16, a GT outpost i think it was, fully ridgid and it cost me £280 i think!!

stopped riding between the ages of 22ish and now (31) started riding again properly about 8 months ago, bought a new bike in january (my felt) and get out at least 3 times a week and am loving it more than ever.