Mountain Biking - Your style of riding:

I have been reading alot lately about types of bikes and what works best for your style of riding. With all of the new styles of riding and specific designs of bikes, it would be nice to know if 90% of mountain bikers should truly be riding "trail bikes" like some magazines have been saying.

The poll: Which best describes your "MAIN" style of riding. Please explain what your main bike for this style is.

Do you ride:

1.XC - Racing or recreational- Bunny hopping trail obstacles, minimal jumping to smooth transitions and moderate technical terrain.

2.Agressive / All Mountain- "An aggressive riding style, including jumps with soft transitions and drops (3 feet or less) associated with technical cross-country riding."

3.Freeride-"Pushing the envelope...Pedaling over very technical terrain, big drops, big gaps, ski area's."

4.Downhill-Gravity runs where getting down the mountain is the main focus.

6.Urban/Dirt Jump/Skate, Bike Parks- Stairs, ramps, BMX..."anything that the rider's body can withstand without damage."

7.Mountain Cross / 4-Cross - 2-up/4-up head to head racing on a downhill "BMX style" course.

***edit-Okay, I tried to make this into a poll and delete this thread. I guess I don't have the ability to do that so let's just leave it as a thread, I guess.***

I'm primarily xc with some agressive / all mountain thrown in from time to time.

2 and 3

#1 with a bullet

mainly #1 but this season working on doing more of the Agressive/ all mountain

I'm mainly a #2 with a Fisher hardtail and 4" fork.

Primarily XC, but smooth has never been used to describe my riding style. I am a very aggressive XC rider who tends to carry way to much speed in turns and other obstacles, so smooth I am not.

xc

XC, only as agressive as needed to get over obstacles!

#1 and 2. I'm running a full rigid On-One Inbred.

xc, but if there is a jump or drop (not huge) in the trail, I will take it.

Cool, a poll without a poll. Seriously none of those really describes my riding. I mainly ride, dirt and gravel roads.

3,4,6.

But I guess you can count 6 in with 4, as it is still freeride.

is there really a formal definition for "technical terrain"

Theres a poll there...just no option for gravel roads as he might not be interested in knowing that. I can add it if the op wants me to.

Actually, I posted as a poll and as I was entering in the poll information I hit the "back" button to copy and paste. When I tried to go back to the 'poll' it wouldn't let me do it anymore. I figure I'll let it go a few days and then post a tally.

As for gravel roads, ya I guess I forgot that people ride MTB's on more than trails and wild terrain. There are a ton of MTB'ers that ride paved trails in my town as well as singletrack.

Theres a poll there...j

Sure there is, but it isn't a poll-poll. You know the kind, where you submit a poll? ;)

haha there is now a poll :D...

I guess XC describes my riding best. I like most any trail. However, I leave the extreme stuff to others. I'll do a few small jumps or drops, but that's about it. At 45 with a broken vertebrae, my extreme days are behind me!

I edited the poll to relflect the answers in this thread

XC, 51 years old, I go as hard as I can and keep my limitations always in the forefront. Relatively new, I am a quick learner, but wise enough to leave the risk taking stuff to the more experienced and usually, younger riders. I still take plenty of falls, but so far at low speeds trying to do more technical rocky trail/bunny hop type riding.

I voted....

Oh I didn't explain the bikes. I do 3 types of riding.

Downhill - exclusively my transition dirtbag/bighit
FR - depends, sometimes my roast, trailorpark or bighit/transition.
Trail riding - just like fr. Little of each depending on which side of the coin I feel like excelling at.

Mael, you needed one more box on the poll: "All of the above." I'd check that (well, maybe not mountaincross, tho' I'd liike to give that a try too).

Most of my focus is toward 2, 3 & 4; but I do a lot of more XC-oriented trail riding: like or shop's weekly group rides; and XC racing at a much more casual/recreational level than my DH racing. I even enjoy getting out on the tame bike paths for rides with my wife (though I think I finally have her talked into letting me get her a mountain bike :D) As long as it's making the pedals go 'round and 'round and doesn't send me headlong into serious bodily harm, I'm down with it.

Mostly XC. I used to go really hard then stop for a breather, then hard again. I love logjams, creek crossings, hills, and jumps and drops (but nothing really above 2-3 ft. at most). I'm working on a riding style that's is more smooth and consistant.

I ride XC, partly because that's all the trails near me have to offer. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I like riding XC because I love the aerobic part of the ride and the minimalist nature of it all.

I do about 99% XC... some gravel (Airline trail in Colchester), but that leads to XC and singletracks.

That and I enjoy going up to Boston to bike the city.... guess it's the inner masochist.

I'm 2 and I'll slip into 3 every now and then.

Hmm, I do XC which I like very much but I'm leaning towards the DJ/FR/Trials side of the sport personally as I practice them oh so much more.

i voted free ride because that is what i would most like to do. currently, i barely even consider myself a mountain biker. i just like to hang out here. hope you guys don't mind.

I like the fast single track through the woods.

i wish i could freeride... but southern california isnt exactly the best spot to do so
and i cant drive(legally) by myself yet...
so sucks to me

Trialsall the way.. (not XC or trail riding)
Toss in a lil Urban Assult
A dab of big hit north shore
You have a mix of the best rider aspects around.

Trialsall the way.. (not XC or trail riding)
Toss in a lil Urban Assult
A dab of big hit north shore
You have a mix of the best rider aspects around.

You sound like an old school north shore rider...before the shore became flowy, you had to be part trials and part dhiller and part trail rider.

LOL thanks Whistler.
Got to have the rolling balance to get up and in those trees on narrow lines just a inch wider than your tire.
I gotta get back up to Whistler, the Mecca of Freeride.

haha did you just call me whistler? :D

Well, your in Whistler eh?
Lets go play some hockey eh!

Whistler is such a bad ass place. So much fun up there..
I'm thinking about making a run for it, if Mexicans can live in the US, do you think an American can live illegally in Canada?

Construction ;)...under the table meng

you just call me a hooser eh?

...have you been to canada?

Haven't we all?

Mainly DH rider, love to hit the gaps up and the drops though so also put in freeride. Mix Bighit gaps into a race and I am in heaven. Ah Ballarat DH course, how sweet you are.

Also love 4x racing :p

urban, dj skate/bike parks. Stp zero. I love four cross as well.

Mostly XC for me, but will be getting into aggressive / all mountain riding or possible freeriding in a couple of years time.

# 2 and I ride an all mountain bike. if Im rehabing an injury Ill do #1 on an all mountain bike.
I started XC on the bike because I kept breaking frames and stuff on XC bikes so I got an all mountain Devinci Guzzler to hold up to my big weight, lack of grace and balance. I have found the bike will handle bigger stuff than small log piles and little jumps but climbs like a mt.goat so I can truly ride up the mountain then back down regardless of the terrain

Primarily XC, but smooth has never been used to describe my riding style. I am a very aggressive XC rider who tends to carry way to much speed in turns and other obstacles, so smooth I am not.

+1

I love ripping down the mountian, big jumps, bike parks, dirt jumps. If some of you guys remebered a while bike when I first posted my doing some bigger jumps for the first time, I showed you guys what jump I wanted to hit. I took one good test run, then "was" going in for another test run, and then just said screw it, hit the 17 Ft road gap. Here is a pic of the jump (http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/830948/). (Not Me) I do have a video of it, but the kid who took it has to send it to me.

I'm old enough to have lost my illusions of immortality, so, yeah, #1.

I'm old enough to have lost my illusions of immortality, so, yeah, #1.

There is a guy that we always see riding up here that looks to be around 50. He doesn't hit the big jumps that we hit, but he hits the little 10 footers.

#1 and #2 (working on getting back to #2 anyway)