Give me 5 reasons to stay in mountain biking

Raymondavalon

whyamihere wrote:

Raymondavalon wrote:

whyamihere

Chicks prefer mountain bikers, much more rugged than those closet gays we call roadies... :twisted:

Number of girls I've pulled due to mountain biking - 0
Number of girls I've pulled due to shaven legs - Many

*note to self* Shave legs...

paul.skibum

What women fancy a guy because he shaves his legs?! How do you work that into a conversation?

"Hi, My names Confused-about-why-mountain-bikes-rock, Can I get you a drink? Oh by the way check out my smooth child like lower limbs, does that do it for you?"

Anonymous

I'm sure the lycra has something to do with it. Thought you may pull blokes too with that.

stubs

whyamihere wrote:

Why would I want to turn the Scandal into a crap hybrid? I have a road bike...

Was trying to give you a reason not to sell your mountain bike.

Really if your asking then your looking for an internal excuse to justify it to yourself. If thats the case sell it your not going to be riding it.

It doesnt matter all cycling is cycling and its all good

Just while your busy shaving your legs, breathing road traffic fumes, worrying which of the 1001 unwritten rules of road cycling your breaking and wondering when that car is going to turn left/right and smear you all over the road. we will be whooping down a rocky gully, splashing through puddles like a kid or admiring the view from the top of a hill then going to the pub and sinking a pint.

njee20

Shaved legs is a great conversation starter! Far better than anything about being a 'mountain biker'.

So sorry OP... where in the country are you? I'm slightly confuddled, by the talk of Burncross, which I think was a OT conversation!

whyamihere

I'm in Birmingham. I have Cannock Chase an hour away, the Malverns an hour away, the Eastern edge of Wales about an hour away... Everything's an hour away. The only stuff closer is Sutton Park (boring) or the Lickey Hills (also boring, and more fun on a road bike).

Anonymous

BREAKING NEWS:
People not living near mountains finding it hard to participate in mountain sports SHOCKER!

miss notax

paul.skibum wrote:

What women fancy a guy because he shaves his legs?! How do you work that into a conversation?

"Hi, My names Confused-about-why-mountain-bikes-rock, Can I get you a drink? Oh by the way check out my smooth child like lower limbs, does that do it for you?"

Wouldn't work with me i'm afraid

However a 'check out my hairy manly legs with a few scars from exciting mountain biking adventures' works wonders 8)

And to the OP, keep the mountain bike. Ok it may take a while to get there, but nothing really beats getting muddy on a MTB does it?

cuthbertsavage

Sounds to me like you are just trying to justify selling the MTB. If you don't want it anymore then sell it. Meanwhile we will to continue to use this to extol the virtues of mountain biking whilst mocking road biking (I enjoy both for the record, but MTBing more.)

Another reason mountain biking is better: falling off (usually) hurts less.

Torres

If you've still got the Fury then you'll be able to go off road shold the mood take you, however if your roadie's going to get more use then you'll be better off getting some new bits for it.

If you need someone to convince you to keep the on-one then you've already made your mind up that you want rid; so sell it on and buy something shiney, like Stubs says:

stubs wrote:

It doesnt matter all cycling is cycling and its all good

The Spiderman

I had similar thoughts once I started riding the road bike more and more.
But just recently made the effort to go out locally and explore a few more off road routes local to me and found there is more out there than I thought.Love my road bike but still haven`t found a way to recreate the buzz from riding decent twisty singletrack on the mtb.

Get a map out and see whats on your doorstep.

bails87

I'm not a million miles from WAIH, if anything where I live is about a hundred times better for riding than where he is and, honestly, there's naff all! Footpaths that are interrupted with stiles every few hundred yards, that are straight, smooth and flat. No corners, no jumps/bumps/drops, no climbing or descending. Just basically towpath riding. Which is essentially the same as road riding (just turn the pedals) but without the speed.

I just ride my road bike (commuting) during the week, occasionaly go and practice some MTB 'skillzzz' on the school playing field (with steps and stuff for dropping off), and I save the real MTBing for when I can travel.

whyamihere

bails87 wrote:

I'm not a million miles from WAIH, if anything where I live is about a hundred times better for riding than where he is and, honestly, there's naff all! Footpaths that are interrupted with stiles every few hundred yards, that are straight, smooth and flat. No corners, no jumps/bumps/drops, no climbing or descending. Just basically towpath riding. Which is essentially the same as road riding (just turn the pedals) but without the speed.

I just ride my road bike (commuting) during the week, occasionaly go and practice some MTB 'skillzzz' on the school playing field (with steps and stuff for dropping off), and I save the real MTBing for when I can travel.

This, basically. When I lived with my parents, I was a 10 mile road ride from Cannock Chase, and could pester my parents for a lift if I couldn't be bothered with the road part. I was on the Chase every weekend. Now, it would be a 25 mile ride over there, ride, 25 mile ride back. Doable (and fun) on my road bike, torture on my mountain bike unless I'm on semi-slicks, which then makes riding the trails less fun. The most fun bit of riding within a few km of my house on a mountain bike is a 10m rooty section by the hospital, and a little tiny bit where, if you take an on-road corner fast enough, you can launch off a kerb and get maybe 15cm of air. That's it, and I wish I was exaggerating.

The only issue is, I actually really like my Scandal. The few times I've ridden it, it's been great fun. I keep giving thought to the idea of getting rid of the Carrera instead, keeping the Scandal, but I don't really want to be leaving it outside the shops or uni all year round. I got most of the Carrera very cheap or free, so I'm somewhat less bothered, I'd hate leaving the Scandal outside in the rain. Same goes for my road bike but more so, so I'd either have to leave the bike at home when it's raining or put up with them being left out in the pouring rain.

bails87

whyamihere
I'll happily give you a lift if I'm driving somewhere anyway. It means getting the train over to me, but I live a 5 minute ride from the train station, which is a 10-15 minute train journey from B'ham.

For people struggling to picture the riding here, imagine a regular, flat football pitch, now imagine spending an hour riding around that football pitch. How exciting

Markmjh

i got rid of my mountain bike about 2 years ago for a road bike and loved it!
BUT.......... had to get another mountain bike recently as i just reall really missed throwing a bike about! So am now back on fat tyres where i belong

Anonymous

whyamihere wrote:

25 mile ride over there, ride, 25 mile ride back... torture on my mountain bike unless I'm on semi-slicks,

May I brutally suggest you effing grow a pair?

whyamihere

50 road miles on knobblies in order to ride 30 miles off road? Explain how that's worth it?

Anonymous

It's all riding.

whyamihere

Yes... But considering that I have a really quite nice road bike, why the feck would I want to subject myself to riding 50 miles on a bike which really isn't at all suited to it?

Anonymous

Because when you get there, you cannot get your road bike round the trails, but you can actually ride the mountain bike there and back?
Seriously, grow up, most people live more than 25 miles away from decent trails.

whyamihere

No, but I can ride my road bike around the twisty, fast, fun, traffic-free roads that run through the Chase. And yes, most people do live more than 25 miles from trails. Most people also have cars.

Anonymous

I'm amazed by the amount of people looking for rides around London / SE that don't have cars!

Still, they manage to get out of the flat city to the hills where there's excellent riding to be had, even if it's mucking about for an hour each way on the train.

Have to admit I'm in a nice position though. Trails everywhere around me, some close enough to ride direct to, and tonnes of stuff drivable in 10 to 30 minutes that's some of the best stuff down south. 2 to 3 hours down the M4 and gateway to Wales. Not much longer to North Wales. And then very close to Heathrow and Gatwick, few hours and in the Alps! (or hit the tunnel and a crazy long drive).

Admitted the car makes it easy to get to all these places.

Anonymous

whyamihere wrote:

No, but I can ride my road bike around the twisty, fast, fun, traffic-free roads that run through the Chase. And yes, most people do live more than 25 miles from trails. Most people also have cars.

Sounds like you're adamant that you're going to sell your mountain bike, so just do it, and G the F out.

bails87

whyamihere
I'm fortunate enough to have a road bike that's 'good enough' (all stock stuff, but it works, I don't race or do massive distances) and a MTB and a car to get the MTB around in.

If I was in your position I'd want to keep the MTB because I enjoy it more than the road riding....but the arce-aching dullness of riding 50 miles on road, on a MTB would outweigh the fun of riding at Cannock Chase, or almost any trail centre, so I'd stick to the road bike most of the time and use the MTB when I could get transport. If I needed something for one bike, and had no other source of money then it would make sense to sell some/all of the bike that isn't being used as much.

At the end of the day, if you've got money tied up in something that's not being used then what's the point in keeping it?

As I said above, next time I'm going to the Chase, or the Wyre Forest, I'll let you know and if you're free you can have a lift with me.

whyamihere

Cheers Mark, I may take you up on that.

junglist_matty

Stop moaning, sell your MTB and get on yer road bike....

I don't know what you're complaining about; I live in Cambridge, the flattest place in the UK!!!! I would never consider selling the MTB.
Consider; the best riding near me is Thetford which is a good 40miles (each way) and still no hills.... For times when I can't get to Thetford, the best "mountain bike" loop consists of 25miles on road, 10miles on tow paths and less than 1 mile of "singletrack".... The "singletrack" is literally riding down a narrow footpath winding its way through some thicket between two fields.
Count yourself lucky that you live somewhere near to a place half decent to ride... Cambridge and east anglia is about the worst place to be in the UK; shame I have a good job here or I'd be back to Bristol in a shot!

Anonymous

Isn't Chicksands nearer to Cambridge, Woburn even? It's not much further to Aston for some excellent DH.

junglist_matty

deadkenny wrote:

Isn't Chicksands nearer to Cambridge, Woburn even? It's not much further to Aston for some excellent DH.

Chicksands is good if your a DH'er or just want to play on some jumps / drops... Not really that great for singletrack riding which is what I look for... Gone are the days when I spent weekends playing around on the same jumps, I prefer a longer ride with flowing trails and the odd jump here and there.

Not been to Woburn, but its a good hour from Cambridge and it doesn't look too much different to Chicksands from what I've seen photos and videos of....

Thetford's good if you go on the other side of the road (brandon country park side) there's some really good singletrack in there... Plus its where most of the other guys I ride with prefer to go so we end up going there about once a week; quite good fun to do a couple of laps of the Red and Black runs at night, makes it a bit more interesting I guess!

Stevo_666

Not sure I even knew what exercise was when I was a student beyong lifting a pint glass and the occasional bit of bedroom gymnastics.

I don't know how long you're going to be studying but it sounds like as soon as you're out in the 'real' world earning, you either move and/or get a car then you can carry on doing what you like doing. After all, if you weren't agonising about flogging the MTB you wouldn't have started this thread.

Thewaylander

My turn to answer this...

If your asking the question your obviously not into enough to really make the effort to travel or care so i would say just give up.

I mean my own veiw point is i love Mtbing and wouldn't give it up for the world and would travel where i needed to ride, i even let it influence where i take a job If you ahven't got the right attitude towards, you wont progress technically and you wont ever hugely enjoy it.