Mountains Aren't Just For Hiking

As man evolves, so do his toys. Used to be a person wouldn’t even dream of trying to take a bicycle up a mountain trail. Bikes now have shocks and all kinds of fancy gadgets that could make them fairly float down a cliff side. I imagine there were a few boys back in the day that attempted to take their old, rickety, banana-seated hunk of metal with two wheels up a mountain, but after losing the fenders and the chain, they stuck to shooting varmints out in the fields.

When I was a lad, shocks were the big technology when it came to mountain biking, but I couldn’t afford them, so I stuck to shaking myself near to death every time I came down a mountain trail on my bike. The shocks and absorbers that are available nowadays make my mouth water when I realize that almost every bump and jarring motion would disappear with their use. I have upgraded to a shock on my front fork, but it doesn’t feel like it’s doing much after 15 minutes of riding. Someday I’ll stop being so cheap and upgrade all the way so I’m comfortable.

Besides shocks, there are also advances in the brake area. I had a bike once that only had front brakes (the back brakes had simply broken and I hadn’t fixed them). As I was coming up to a traffic light, the light turned red and I clamped down on my brakes, but the front brakes snapped with rust and wear. Luckily, there was only one car waiting to go through the light and I wasn’t killed in the cross traffic, but I had to find a way to slow myself as I careened down the hill I was on. Eventually I had to employ my shoes to act as stopping agents.

But shoes are not the advance I am talking about in the brake area. Disc brakes are. The first time I experienced disc brakes, I wound up on my face and elbows with my legs somehow tangled in the bike frame. Disc brakes stop a bike much faster than regular rim brakes, and that takes some getting used to. All it takes is a little, tiny, teensy-weensy, baby squeeze and disc brakes begin some serious slowing. Between shocks and brakes, life on a bike has become a little more efficient.

Unfortunately, disc brakes are not the only thing that will send you face first into the dirt. Large rocks will, for example, or ditches, or even badgers. Try to remember that mountain biking is not as easy to escape without injury as regular road biking. Take a simple first aid kit with you to bandage up the small lacerations caused by whipping branches. And also remember that your face and elbows may not be the only victims of mountain biking’s savagery: your wheels may suffer punctures. All experienced cyclists, whether on a paved road or mountain trail, take along a flat repair kit, unless their wheel-technology has advanced past the need to worry about flats, which is very possible.

I love feeling the cool mountain air rush past me on my way down a mountain on my bike. It’s fun to maneuver corners and jumps and experience the adrenaline rush of narrowly avoiding colliding with a tree. My absolute favorite part of mountain biking, though, is blasting through puddles after a rainstorm. Some people like to get their vehicles dirty; I like to get mud on my face. Makes me feel like a human, like I’m alive. So get out there and get some dirt on your face, or some cuts and bruises on your legs. It might even be fun to use your feet as brakes. Happy biking!