Why oh why do we do it? discuss.

trailblazer83
trailblazer83 Posts: 87
edited August 2008 in MTB general
I am a beginner and have only had a few real days on my bike but have noticed you have to work very hard for the pleasures.

The reason I do it is I know that at some point a bit of trail, DH or singletrack is going to be perfect for my ability and all the work is worth it when you have 100% confidence in your bike and pulling of some killer lines that leave me stoked!!

Why do you do it?

Comments

  • For the freedom, the fun and the fitness.

    theres nothing like leaving the built up areas, heading into the countryside and generally dicking around :lol:
  • beski
    beski Posts: 542
    When you've pushed yourself to the top of that hill & you're having a drink/getting your breath back. You take a look at the breath taking view of the valley below, and look down on a pair of Kestrels hanging face into the wind, motionless apart from tails adjusting to keep position while they hunt - priceless.

    Or right in the middle of the marshes, no one else in sight, following a bridlle path alongside a river in the heat of a sunny afternoon, and you see the flourescent flash of a Kingfisher along the river bank.

    The exhileration of following a smooth downhill piece of single track, adjusting your position & line, and dipping and flowing with the undulations, feeling at one with the bike

    What more could you want ?
    Giant Defy 4 2014
    GT Avalanche Expert 2006
    Specialized Hardrock 1989
  • Ciaran500
    Ciaran500 Posts: 348
    I think the reason I keep doing it is that the miserable part is at the start and all the fun is towards the ends. Always happy by the time I get home that way :D
  • Rich Hcp
    Rich Hcp Posts: 1,355
    I do to make myself feel better

    Clear my head etc

    And it makes me fitter
    Richard

    Giving it Large
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    It's who I am.

    I rode mountain bikes for most of my childhood and teens, but then stopped riding, and started smoking, drinking heavily, and other stuff.
    I never really felt happy in those years off the bike,

    Two years ago, I was determined to stop smoking, and get back on my bike. Ever since getting back into the the saddle, I've felt alive, as if I've found my purpose again.
    It's hard to put into words, in a zen kind of way, but nothing really beats either getting to the top of a mountain under your own power, and being able to see the ground you've covered, or alternatively, railing a gnarly trail flat out, and knowing that there was absolutely no way you could have ridden it any faster.
  • clarkson
    clarkson Posts: 1,641
    mostly because its so much fun!!

    but also to get away from stuff, clear my head, bit of freedom, even just to relax. Just recently everythings been going a bit wrong, so ive gone out every night, hit sme jumps, and forgotten about everything and had a bloody amazing time!

    but yes, amaxing views and scenery are a very big bonus!
    I said hit the brakes not the tree!!

    2006 Specialized Enduro Expert
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    2008 Custom Merlin Malt 4
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  • Papa Smurf
    Papa Smurf Posts: 776
    Personally, because it makes me happy, keeps me fit, clears my head and I absolutely love it.
    Got a few guys I ride with who very local, they're all that age in life where they've realised it's time to stop smoking, cut down on the drink and do something that's worthwhile... 6 months on they're absolutely loving it, and my god has their health improved..
  • stumpyjon
    stumpyjon Posts: 4,069
    Most of the above, scenary, wildlife, fitness, head clearing etc. but also because it makes me feel a bit special. Most people I know think I'm some kind of cycling athelete because I do something they wouldn't dream of doing (or feel capable of doing).

    Just to be clear I am most definitely not a cycling God, many of the guys I ride with are fitter and technically much better than me, just compared to the general population I'm thinner, fitter and possibly happier due to the riding. 8)
    It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

    I've bought a new bike....ouch - result
    Can I buy a new bike?...No - no result
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    One of my riding buddies reckons that one source of enjoyment comes from having to concentrate wholly on his riding, "zoning out" if you will, meaning that the everyday trials and tribulations are blocked out for the few precious hours he spends on the trail.
  • dirtbiker100
    dirtbiker100 Posts: 1,997
    Riding a technical trail. fast flowy downhill singletrack. big berms. jumps. rock gardens. drops. the scenery.
    and the fitness of getting up there to ride them on the way down.
    I just love it.
    adrenaline but i'm more than happy for the fitness too.
  • lost-time
    lost-time Posts: 549
    beski wrote:
    When you've pushed yourself to the top of that hill & you're having a drink/getting your breath back. You take a look at the breath taking view of the valley below, and look down on a pair of Kestrels hanging face into the wind, motionless apart from tails adjusting to keep position while they hunt - priceless.

    Or right in the middle of the marshes, no one else in sight, following a bridlle path alongside a river in the heat of a sunny afternoon, and you see the flourescent flash of a Kingfisher along the river bank.

    The exhileration of following a smooth downhill piece of single track, adjusting your position & line, and dipping and flowing with the undulations, feeling at one with the bike

    What more could you want ?

    That just about sums it it perfectly.

    Also the feeling of knowing that non-biking friends and work colleagues may still be in bed or hungover whilst you're out getting fit and seeing all the beauty be it pissing it down or hot and sunny...Makes you feel ALIVE.
  • Bikerbaboon
    Bikerbaboon Posts: 1,017
    I do it for the lycra........... :shock:

    ill get my coat.
    Nothing in life can not be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas
    456
  • lexiekay
    lexiekay Posts: 379
    There’s so many reasons!

    The feeling you get when you make it to the top of a hill you never made it up before, turn around and see how far you’ve come, and the amazing views you get.
    Those moments when you’re riding along in the sunshine, when there’s nobody else in sight and you feel like you own the countryside around you.
    When you know where every track and path in your local area goes and where all the best bits of trail can be found. There’s a route I do quite often where I see the same buzzard in the same tree every time, and the same hare in the same field….
    Going out in the pouring rain in the winter and coming back covered in mud.
    Getting out after work for a ride and clearing your head entirely of all the work-related mess….
    Flying down hills as fast as you can
    Going out with a map and exploring new places, spending a whole day on an epic ride and coming home totally exhausted.
    Knowing that I’m getting fitter and faster (however slowly!)
    Being able to do things that I never thought I could.
    Those adrenaline moments when you know you’ve managed to do a difficult bit of trail faster than you have before.
  • BigJimmyB
    BigJimmyB Posts: 1,302
    bigbenj_08 wrote:
    For the freedom, the fun and the fitness.

    theres nothing like leaving the built up areas, heading into the countryside and generally dicking around :lol:

    Couldn't agree more!
  • zero303
    zero303 Posts: 1,162
    Most of the positive aspects of biking are all a bonus to me, the fitness, the being outdoors, the riding with mates and without those it wouldn't be the great sport it is.

    However, the single and somewhat selfish, but overwhelming reason is actually that feeling when you're hitting a perfect bit of flowing singletrack and you're hooking everything up - as mentioned, you've almost zoned out - you might as well be steve-fucking-peat at that moment because you can do no wrong, you're on the ragged edge, another slight twitch and you could be off in a big way, but you feel oddly calm, almost zen like, you can feel every individual rock and stone under the tyre, you might as well be scanning the trail surface with your bare hands as you're that in tune with it - you stay on the bike in a way as if it was destiny that on this run you were given free reign to ride like a king! And a like a king you feel!

    That once in a while moment of mountain biking perfection is what I live for!
  • Bikerbaboon
    Bikerbaboon Posts: 1,017
    i always love that feeling that you silanced the doubts in hte back of your mind and hammers a section be it a drop or a rock garden. or even that hart skipping a beat you get when the front squerms for grip and you hit a flat turn.
    Nothing in life can not be improved with either monkeys, pirates or ninjas
    456
  • papasmurf.
    papasmurf. Posts: 2,382
    It keeps me from killing hookers and burying them under the patio.
  • dirtbiker100
    dirtbiker100 Posts: 1,997
    papasmurf. wrote:
    It keeps me from killing hookers and burying them under the patio.
    papasmurf wins a cookie ha ha.
  • KonaMike
    KonaMike Posts: 805
    It keeps me from going crazy in my boring 6 day a week job :(
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    You can ride in any weather at any time. And go almost anwhere.

    Unlike my other sport of surfing where there are SO many conditions (swell, wind, tide, state of the sandbanks, etc) that need to be right for it to happen properly.

    A really really good waves still wins for "stoke" but the buzz from a great ride isn't far behind...
  • zero303
    zero303 Posts: 1,162
    Surf-Matt wrote:
    A really really good waves still wins for "stoke" but the buzz from a great ride isn't far behind...

    I used to windsurf and much the same, biking doesn't quite deliver the same buzz as being on the plane screaming across the bay flat-out but frankly, I'd only ever get the right conditions a few times a year and then I'd usually have cocked my sail trim up anyway...
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    :D:D:D Dad used to be very into windsurfing and got pretty good (we moved to Daymer Bay mostly for the windsurfing) - but the wind always liked to drop as he rigged up. His last windsurf was the final nail in the coffin - wind dropped, the slung his gear off a small cliff and left it - told people in the car park that they were welcome to it!

    I only got up to waterstarting and fairly lame gybing but it was still fun - just too much kit.

    Were you around when Tushingham went into MTB manufacturing and then became Orange?
  • robmanic1
    robmanic1 Posts: 2,150
    Because........


    It's nice when it stops. :wink:
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  • zero303
    zero303 Posts: 1,162
    Surf-Matt wrote:
    Were you around when Tushingham went into MTB manufacturing and then became Orange?

    na, Orange had already been going a fair few years by then...
  • colint
    colint Posts: 1,707
    One of my riding buddies reckons that one source of enjoyment comes from having to concentrate wholly on his riding, "zoning out" if you will, meaning that the everyday trials and tribulations are blocked out for the few precious hours he spends on the trail.

    Thats a good point, I've just switched from road biking where I could ride for a couple of hours wthout really having to think about what I was doing.
    Planet X N2A
    Trek Cobia 29er
  • indysmith
    indysmith Posts: 276
    I do it as a way to spend my afternoon, get me out, keep me fit...
    Also it's nice to set goals and complete them. Shaving minutes off your time, taking that line you'd been too scared to before, nailing that corner... It's like a project; you can keep improving at it.
    The fact that you can do it in any weather almost anywhere, as somebody's already said, is also a bit contributing factor. I used to rollerblade a lot to a high standard, and then started skateboarding to a less high standard, but the point is that they're sports that can only really be done where there's a very smooth, hard surface, which limits you to towns and skateparks pretty much - you can ride a mountain bike anywhere, over anything, at any speed you're capable of.
  • amt27
    amt27 Posts: 320
    edited August 2008
    because its fun
  • tombate911
    tombate911 Posts: 1,590
    beski wrote:
    When you've pushed yourself to the top of that hill & you're having a drink/getting your breath back. You take a look at the breath taking view of the valley below, and look down on a pair of Kestrels hanging face into the wind, motionless apart from tails adjusting to keep position while they hunt - priceless.

    Or right in the middle of the marshes, no one else in sight, following a bridlle path alongside a river in the heat of a sunny afternoon, and you see the flourescent flash of a Kingfisher along the river bank.

    The exhileration of following a smooth downhill piece of single track, adjusting your position & line, and dipping and flowing with the undulations, feeling at one with the bike

    What more could you want ?

    dam, i havnt posted on here for a while but them words have really got me in the mood ride riding, :D i think its all being said but i do it for the fact of the feeling it gives me when riding. :D