Mountain Biking - How did you get into mountain biking?

Just wondering how all of you got into the sport.

I remember riding my deparment store bmx when i was 8. I would hit the local trails with it and ride like the wind until that bike broke down.Didn't ride for a few years but finally when I was 13, a friend of mine let me ride his haro extreme and I was hooked. Went out and got my own shiny mountain bike and Ive been having fun since. ;)

My older brother started riding MTB's early in high school and i thought it was cool so my dad went out and bought me a $200 giant. That must've been when i was 12(18 now). It was rough early on but i've been doing it ever since

Just wondering how all of you got into the sport.


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I started well over 30 years ago. As kids we built trails all over the woods around my house and we modified our stingray bikes to better do offroad stuff. Of course, Gary Fisher took the credit and fame (and fortune) a few years after that when he "invented" mountain biking.

When I seriously got into mtn biking was after I had a double fusion back surgery. For a couple months after the surgey about all I could do was get out of bed and walk an hour a day if I was lucky. I finally drug my old walmart mtn bike out of the garage one day and managed to ride a couple miles on it. The next day I felt better. After a few days of this I felt better still. All this led eventually to a more serious bike, and even to road biking. To this day if I go more than a few weeks without riding my back stiffens up and gets sore, and it's been 18 years since the surgery. Pretty cool that something so fun is good for you at the same time...

2 years ago I boguht a bike to ride on the trails. I became addicted...

Dragged into it by a friend, because I wasn't fit and he was. 14 years later have not regretted it, and still riding. The fitness stake was proved when I had a heart problem, and the Surgeon asked me what sport I did? Riding a bike or Swimming. My fitness kept me alive through the problems,and 5 years later still riding.
Problem is, how do you stop trying to beat the youngsters at their own game?

when i was young i rode my tricycle all the time even in the snow until it rusted into nothing. I then got my first 2wheeler at the age of 4 (with training wheels). 3 hours later that same day the wheels were off and i was riding a 2 wheeler on grass (that was the cool thing to ride on) and pavment. I then got a 10 speed huffy which later on got stolen but I got a nice 18 speed out of the deal because the theif decided to leave that and take mine. I sold it that May. I then got this 15 speeder from Toys R Us i think it eventually got to small. I then got my Railgh Ambush and in grade 6 i rode my first race with it, The Off-Road Squeezer. I rode it for 5 years later until 2002 in August i got my 2002 Trek 4900 and rode it in that years squeezer for the first time and it was great! I still have my Trek and I've done various upgrades and have riden all over. All in all it was that very first squeezer with the Ambush that got me riding on trails.

We looked at them originally and scoffed. But once we decided the trails we were riding our BMX rigs on were to taxing we decided to go with bikes that had gears.
From there we decided the speed and ease of climbing hills was well worth it. Had to be around 89 or 90.

Just rode Huffy's and such around the neighborhood until I was 11 or 12. Then we moved and a neighbor raced BMX. We became good friends and my parents bought me a BMX bike to race with. I raced until I started driving and then girls and friends took priority. I however never stopped riding, just stopped racing. I began working at a bike shop at 15 and have off and on ever since. When working at the shop, mountain biking was still a new sport and living in Florida, I didn't know where to ride nor could I see the point of a "mountain" bike.

I did buy a mountain bike, but it was low-end and more of a commuter. It was a Univega Rover Ten. (10 spd. with 1.95 tires)

I got into road biking instead. Rode my road bike through college and a classmate was also a roadie. We became friends and then roomates. He also had a mountain bike which I rode and LOVED! That summer I bought a GT Karakoram. That was in '91 or '92.

I rode with him till I graduated and then moved back home. My bike sat for about 2 years, due to work, remodeling my house and getting married. My bro-in-law bought a Cannondale M500 and I said, "Great!, now you and I can go riding!". My (new) wife said, "Where's MY bike?". I replied, "You don't have one." She responded, "I will!, you're not leaving me at home."

That was in '96, and we've been addicted ever since!

L8R

when i was a kid the fastest way to get from point A to point B was bikes.we would ride basically straight to our destination whether road woods or yards.there was a patch of woods between my house and the only mall in town.had to go over RR tracks to get to them too then up a big hill then near the mall down a bigger hill.i had an orange scwinn road bike (the super heavy one they called sunset red)that bike finally melted when our garage caught on fire and burned to the ground thatwas the only way it could be killed.got a POS to replace it that lasted only couple of months and just borrowed for a while cuz i had discovered girls.got a pacific bike in 93 that weighed almost as much as the truck i hauled it in but i was hooked again on that offroad thing.in 96 i got an aluminum RALIEGH from Target and within a year the only original was the frame.i had discovered that i like working on them too.got a Vlink in 97 broke the frame in late00.they replaced it with an XTS3 and i broke it in 03 replaced it with an XR8500 and am building it piece by peice during the year.i love riding in any weather any terrain and that started as a kid.same as the rebuilding part.i do hate changing flats though,they seem like such a waste of time and they usually dont have COOL storys like components breaking do(dude you shoulda seen that BRIAR i ran over.it must a been 1/2" long!!) at least other parts of the country have cactus and BIG nasty briars.we have stealth ones.F/ing terrorist ones, little punks that hide then kill a poor unsuspecting tire for no reason( sorry got carried away) anyway offroad biking under any name is my favorite past time and kinda always has been

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Feel my wrath.

Feel my wrath.

jeeze klein you just won't give up. That thread is more of a general cycling question. What I was asking was how you got into mountain biking. Whether you were a roadie that converted or what not. Why don't you give it a rest :D ?

I've always liked to ride my bike, but I didn't get very serious about it until a couple of years ago when my dads car got totalled and my family was in a bad financial situation (Right after 9/11) and couldn't afford a new car. He decided to go and buy a bike to commute on. He shopped around, and I tagged along with him, and immediately began falling in love with bikes, even though the bike I had was some sporting goods store hunk of garbage. We were at the local bike shop, which wasn't that great (In fact, now out of business) and he test rode a Trek 4500. After he was done he had me go try it out. As luck would have it, I tried to jump up on a curb in front of the shop (bad move), wrecked, and scuffed the saddle. My dad didn't really mind since he was probably gonna buy the bike anyways, but it sorta sealed the deal. Anyways, the bike became his commuter and when he wasn't commuting on it I was riding it on the local trails by my house. I began to want a decent bike of my own more and more...I saved my money (I was 14-15 at the time) by doing yardwork for neighbors until I had about 400 bucks. I bought a KHS Alite 1000 with XT online for 400 bucks. It was a pretty good deal, and though the frame was too big for me and it was breaking every other ride, I didn't mind it, I had something to ride. I raced it 3 times last year, and out of those 3 I recorded 2 DNF's due to mechanical trouble and a broken hand, and on my third I came in last because of 2 flat tires. I've slowly upgraded it piece by piece, and now the only original parts left are the fork and cranks. This ends my long and laborious story about my journey in the world of MTB...

PS, I just picked up a roadie. *Kisses the pavement*

I have been riding bikes ever since i had a big wheel. Big wheel to training wheels which only lasted a couple of days. I haven't gone 1 year without a bike. Man that is a long time. I'm 27 now.

I've ridden bicycles all my life in some form or other. As a kid we had tracks and berms and jumps all over the woods. As I got older I got "ten speeds" and rode them all over (especialy the beach!). I currently have a Wal-mart mountain bike that I've done alot of riding on, but not serious trail riding. Recently a motorcycle injury forced my retirement from dirtbiking. I can't seem to get the trails and woods out of my system though. So, I'm now looking at getting my first "real" mountain bike. I can't wait!!

Of course I always had a bike growing up and rode a lot of woods and stuff. Well my dad is a cop and he started the bike patrol and started training harder. He eventually got a sponsor ship deal from Performance. From there we started going every where and I really got into it at about the age 16. That eventually led into Road Racing sportbikes with CCS. Well I crashed in April REAL REAL hard was in the hospital for a month. Well I'm out now of course and I wanted to get back in on something so I followed back into MB riding.

im only thirteen but have been around bikes for about five years because my dad loves them. I only started mountain gbiking about 2 years ago, but now im hooked completely!

Well mine biek adventures started with big wheels. Me and my little brothers were always the speed addicted little kids and around age 5 we got matching big wheels. Back then we had this trail about 0.2miles long that was just one big downhill, and we would push each other down it and then see who could skid further at the bottom. THen we started with bmx bikes trying to jump and then mountain bikes. Now Ive got all my firneds hooked and most of my family.

I've been riding bikes since I was 3-4ish... however...

I get into "serious" mountain biking back when I was in 6th grade... right before 7th grade.

My good friend got me started on it, and Ive been hooked ever since. The toys just get more expensive, and the hucks just keep getting bigger.

-Matt

I've been reading all the the stories people have been sending , so I decided to right down my own story which is still in the making. I've always had a bike since I have been little riding only a couple times a year. Nothing special just Toysrus bikes. My neighbors who I have alwayes looked up to have always been in MTB. They moved next door when the went into 8th grade I was in 5th I think at the time.

They would build these amazing ramps and just go off of them in the middle of the streets. It was pretty cool. Then I bought my own bike from toysrus in 6th grade that was one of those magna equators. Heavy as hell but I took my around.I still didn't ride that much. Now near the end of my 9th grade carear I decided to get new breaks on it and wheels. And it just clicked with me. I was having the best time of my life riding ( in my opionin technical trails). All at the same time I was saving up by mowing lawns and babysitting. Finally at the middle of this summer I got the Specialized Hardrock Sport 04'
I was working at a boyscout camp so I wasn;'t able to ride barely at all. But now for the last month of August I have been working really hard a getting better. Doing trails and all that good stuff. I can do a descent bunny hop and an okay wheelie. Today I actually built the saddest ramp you have ever seen but I bet I get a good 3/4 foot drop on it. Its pretty fun. I want to get a good at the J hop down and get really into urban and freeriding.I would really like to race also. I now ride my bike back and forth to school everyday( about 3 miles but the biggest hills u have ever seen.)Well this is my story not that interesting but thx for readin.

Later


By Another MTBiker

I always like to see a young guy working and saving their hard earned dough to buy a decent ride. Shows a lot of enthusiasm and reflects on your character. Keep it up paintballdude, you sound like you have a goal and are working towards it. This "old guy" loves the trails too.

couple years ago when i was in like 5th grd, my pops got me a mongoose (don't remembr the model) for me to haul up the trails, which was fairly hard, as some of you have said, cuz they are "heavy as hell". After my dad got him self a decent diamond back, he became addicted. That is what got me really started. Then, a couple of years later, i got a new bike (Giant vt2) and he got a new Heckler, and we have been hitting the trails ever since.
As of the last summer we just had, i earned about $300 "scraping out" his drywall sites, and then sweeping the floors ect. to put towards my new Kona stuff, cuz my vt2 wasn't made for djing or urban riiding, which is my new fav thing to do. so, i am not quite close to the stuff, but just a few months of work, and i will be ready to hit the campus.

I, like many have always had a bike but never really used it until I got into mountain biking. here's my story :D
About a two years ago during the summer my friend got a new Trek Fuel 90and we were bored so I just asked if he wanted to try to go mountain biking for something different (he was still new to the sport as well but had been riding for a little while, makes you wonder how he already had a Fuel 90!). I used my dad's bike that had rock shox quadras on it and toe clips, but even so I had a blast. About a month of riding later I decided that I should get my own bike and haven't really looked back since. I now ride at least 3, usually 4 times a week and race cross country and just got my first sponsor (had to brag, sorry).

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

so, do sponsors pay you or somting? do they give you free swag too?
thx

No paying, just free swag and discounts.

Growing up I rode all manner of mini-bikes and motorcycles - just trail and motocross bikes, riding on the street never appealed to me - from the Honda Trail 50 (remember that one?!) to the final Yamaha yz250.
When I hit my 40s I began to realize that I was not immortal and one day that year's broken bone list might include "neck". :\

So I was standing at a race one weekend, just watching this time having sold the rig, and I see a group of guys having a blast on bicycles over on the other side of the pits. As I'm watching these guys I see that bikes have progressed a bit from my last stingray - they had the suspension and gears, etc.... So I thought... "Okay, that looks cool and must be a bit safer."

I went to the local LBS and got a Trek with front suspension. Took it out and had a blast! Lbs guy was a bit amused when I asked where the kick starter was ... he said "well there are 2 of them and you have to continually kick them to get it to run" - Ha!

Anyway - I'm a relative newbie to the sport of mountain biking but have enjoyed it so far.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

Daf

Hey Daf- I had a Honda 50. Loved to crank up the "R's" and then dump it in first gear! That was the only way to get a decent wheelie. Got a Suzuki 250 in high school and wrecked that on a jump. That was it for 2 wheels for a long time until I got fat and decided to do something about it. Bought a nice Trek MTB and now I am not fat anymore! 50 now and this is the fittest I have ever been. Proud of that too.

No paying, just free swag and discounts.
That still rocks !

Just wondering how all of you got into the sport.

I grew up racing and trail riding motorcycles until about age 20. Then after a long stint of not owning or riding a motorcycle I decided I needed something to get the adrenaline going. Hence, my first mountainbike in '93. That bike was promptly stolen the following year. I upgraded to a full suspension bike (Trek 9100) in '94 and have been riding that bike (with upgraded components) ever since. I'm about due for a new bike.

I'll have your old bike.

Rode a Gitane ten-speed everyday until I was old enough to drive. Then I rode old bikes to work when my car was'nt working/wrecked/totaled. A friend let me ride a mountain bike on a camping trip and I was hooked. So I saved up and bought the best mountain bike I could afford. That was 14 years ago. I still have that bike and have built and sold several others since. It's a Fuji Professional with Suntour and Ritchey parts, the last year they put Microdrive out.

I started bombing around my neighborhood at about 5 years old. I learned the basics on a kids BMXer complete with coaster brakes. We had woods behind my house, pretty small, only about 2 acres worth, and when I was a little older, we built small dirt jumps back there for our minibike. Once the broke, I took my new Schwinn Frontier GS back there and had at it. Once that bike broke down, I found a BMXer in the garbage on my street, so I fixed it up and did some jumping on that, nothing big, just some small gaps and ledges. Then, I got the car. That ended riding for about four years. In that four years, I became lazy, fat, WAY out of shape. On a whim, I bought a Trek 820 to do some more serious riding. Once I shed some pounds, I took it to the dirt and fell absolutely in love with riding. Been at it ever since. Mountain biking is my favorite, but I do enjoy road riding and commuting to classes on a fixed gear.

I used to ride all over town as a kid. After a moved to a new place (and away from my best friend) I did the 6 mile round trip to his house every day during the summer. Then my dad got me a mountain bike for my birthday/christmas (they were 2 weeks apart). Was (and still is, still works fine!) a mongoose. Its pretty decent bike, no suspension back then, mid range shimano stuff, pretty light for a low end steel bike too. I rode that for a while,a nd my dad and my best friend eventualy got bikes too. We would go riding quite a bit, no real mountain biking stuff though.

Then near the end of one summer a few years later, '98 I think, I was down at my dads for the summer in houston. He got me a job with the construction company he worked for, and I had a few grand saved up by then, not knowing what to spend it on :p We were at the mall and went in to this bike shop, to check out the new biking stuff and reminisce about how we used to go biking. I saw this beautiful black and white cannondale super v. It was on sale. I had more than enough cash to buy it. So I did.

Unfortunatly when I got back home all my bastard friends got cars and got lazy. So I never really got to ride it much. Eventualy it went into the closet for a few years. Every so often I would prod my friends about riding together to no avail. Then a month ago one of my friends wanted to get into shape, so he went out and bought a mountain bike! Woohoo! Him, one of his friends, and I started biking on a mellow trail practicaly in our backyards a few days during the week when the sun was still up pretty late, and every weekend. After a month of that we were pretty confident, so we went to a REAL mountain biking trail. And it kicked our asses. We had a ton of fun though. And thats when I first got into real mountain biking :p

Here is my rather long story:

I have been riding motorcycles since I was four; however, when I moved out of the sticks, and into a more populated rural area, there were land use issues. Motorcycles are also quite expensive, and I am a student with a wife and two kids, so I have other priorities.

Three years ago I was in my late 20s. I did not like the shape I was in, so I got a road bike and really got into cycling. Last year I was invited to sweep the Vermont 50 with one of my wife's colleagues, the problem was I did not have a mountain bike. I found an abandoned frame and rebuilt it with a suspension fork and new front brake to see if I liked off road riding. It turns out I did. It reminded me of enduro motorcycling; however, it was much more physical, which I enjoyed. Since that ride, I have upgraded to a 27 speed drivetrain, and now I am comtemplating a frame upgrade.

It is nice to read everyone's stories.

My first MTB was actually kind of a shock. We had a fire in the house around '90 (makes me 10 at the time), and with the insurance money my parents went and bought Giants for everyone. I had been more into BMX, so it was sort of a let-down and exciting at the same time. I got more into it when I started reading some magazines. I don't remember her name, but my new idol wore a dried pirahna as a necklace. That's when I thought this could be good. So that was on and off for a few years. Fast forward to college, and I bought new GT. I tooled around for about two years, but got bored without anyone else to ride with. Then I found out a new friend of mine was into BMX, so I ditched the mountain and got on a kid bike again. Two years later, he really wants a mountain bike. So once again I have someone to ride with, and I picked up a new Giant. So, to make a long story short, I have been flip-flopping between BMX and MTB for most of my life.

Dried Piranha, that would be Missy Giove!

L8R

When I was younger, I would date boys as long as they would lone me their mongoose or diamond back. I would tell them that I would be their girlfriend if I could borrow their bike for a week. We rode our own "half pipes" made out of dried up canals, made ramps out of anything we could find, rock piles, mailboxes, and surfboards. Then I grew up, dated guys for other reasons and got away from my wreckless riding.

Then my fiance and I bought dirtbikes and started riding motorcross. We had a blast but needed money to pay off bills before we got married. Much to our demise, we sold the bikes.

Then I stumbled across a friend who swore I would love mountain biking. She kept trying to get me to ride but I never had a bike. She finally let me borrow hers and now you know the rest of the story!! I'm hooked. I used to ride on the road and now you couldn't pay me to get out there! "Once you go FAT you never go back!" :rolleyes:

One of my riding buddy's brother has been riding for a while. It got my buddy into it which got me and many other people in my group of friends including Hopper into it. It was basically a chain reaction and i have got more people into it since too.

When I was younger, I would date boys as long as they would lone me their mongoose or diamond back. I would tell them that I would be their girlfriend if I could borrow their bike for a week. We rode our own "half pipes" made out of dried up canals, made ramps out of anything we could find, rock piles, mailboxes, and surfboards. Then I grew up, dated guys for other reasons and got away from my wreckless riding.

Then my fiance and I bought dirtbikes and started riding motorcross. We had a blast but needed money to pay off bills before we got married. Much to our demise, we sold the bikes.

Then I stumbled across a friend who swore I would love mountain biking. She kept trying to get me to ride but I never had a bike. She finally let me borrow hers and now you know the rest of the story!! I'm hooked. I used to ride on the road and now you couldn't pay me to get out there! "Once you go FAT you never go back!" :rolleyes:

Ummm nice to meet you..hahah...welcome to the forums and the fat side of biking...hmmm

Less than a year ago. I need to raise funds for a church and social centre development. One of the crazy ideas I had was ride 150km for the purpose. It took me 6hrs though it was a road ride.

"Once you go FAT you never go back!" :rolleyes:

As a Clydesdale rider, this information is nice to know!

L8R

My older brother taught me to bike when I was 3 and a half, on a beat up bike that didn't coast anymore (a fixie!) and had no training wheels. I hit the same tree all day until I got it. When I was four I got my first real good offroad accident. Didn't know you're supposed to pull up when you jump and knocked out my two front teeth. Eventually got a bmx with a coaster brake and road suburb construction sites. New sewerline half pipers, massive (massive!) piles of dirt, and whatever trails we could find. Jumped off stuff. Got good and hurt. Sticks stuck in legs :) Later built a local dirt track with some friends, went on excursions to the woods. Eventually got a cruddy mtb with caliper brakes, 12 speed. Destroyed it. Saved up for a raleigh big horn. Love it much. Saved up again and got a 97 thin blue line (handbuilt steel). Fell in love with mtb even more (a trailworthy bike!). Went rigid again. Lovely! In 1999 started riding road as well, fell in love with that too. Two worlds are better than one!

started learning wheelies and stuff...then i did some jumps and i was sooo happy...so i decided to do mountain biking...short story eh? but thats how it went...nw im learning fast