Mountain Biking - Are your riding buddies possessive?

I've ridden with the same 2 guys consistently for about 10 years, at least once a week. Like clockwork, on Monday we start an e-mail to decide which day works best for us all to ride. We pick a day, and when that day comes we meet up on the trail. One of us is better on the climbs, one better on the downhill. One is always pretty much in the middle. After our ride we decide where we're going to go eat and have some beers. For all three of us it's the one day that our respective girlfriends or wives understand that we'll be out untill whenever we come home.

Now this is all good... I really dig the adrenaline/beer bond we have. But I'm starting to notice that when I go for a ride with someone else or bring another friend along for the weekly ride they don't seem too happy about it, like I'm messing up the zen balance or something. They also seem to have an issue with the fact that I've gotten into road riding a bit, and commute to work on a roadie. Now these guys are great friends and cool guys... I just think it's sort of funny, and wondering if this is common for people you ride with a lot?

That seems strange,kinda like desperate bike guys.

The older the friends, the weirder introducing new ones into the mix is going to be. I know we're supposed to be ultra-rational, mighty men, :) but that's just how it goes. For some of my really old friends, I don't even bring my newer friends and aquaintences around, cuz it just causes weirdness.

Never between road bikes and mountain bikes....


But i do have mates on either side of the fence between boarding and biking..

I have the slight problem that i can never be equal with my sports, ive always got a favourite, and usually im very passionate about my sports so it means i concentrate more on one than the other for a few months, then switch..

Of course, this will never do, because when im biking, my mountain boarding buddies dont like it, and when im boarding my biking mates dont..

I did have a slight issue that one of my mates was abit miffed because i decided i liked XCing as much as hucking off walls, jumps and anything else that i was crazy enough to do.. But i set him straight on that one..

If its bothering you that much, maybe you should consider telling these friends of yours?

I don't have too much of a problem with this. Me and my 2 major riding buddies usually ride together and with no one else. When we do invite someone else to go with us it is usually someone that we all know. Those are also usually pretty short tame rides (the other person is usually new) so we just try to make the best of it and have a good time when there's a new face in the group. My situation is a bit different than yours though, you only get out with these guys once a week so this time's probably a little more special to you than it is to me.

No problem with "buddy possesiveness" as I only ride with one of my friends or my uncle.

my mountain bike on the other hand has been getting a bit envious of my road bike, I better take it out for a spin tomorrow:)

The older the friends, the weirder introducing new ones into the mix is going to be. I know we're supposed to be ultra-rational, mighty men, :) but that's just how it goes. For some of my really old friends, I don't even bring my newer friends and aquaintences around, cuz it just causes weirdness.

I can see this. I imagine it would be like play football (or any team sport) with the exact same team for years and suddenly bringing in someone new. It would feel different. Can you talk the same around this guy? Is he like us or them? etc...

I don't have any consistent riding buddies so no one is possessive.

The guys I ride with are so weird on a regular day, introducing another weirdo just makes for fun riding...

Seriously, when I invite someone 'new' (which usually means inviting a night-riding friend along in the daytime), it always cool. The whole road/mtn thing doesn't work though. One friend rides both, one friend only mtn bikes, another just rides whatever whenever.

Honestly, if the 'stress' of new people or of new interest is too much, look at the friendship. Although good friendships are hard to build, if they don't grow, they aren't as much fun as they could be. Maybe it's time for a change...

Sometimes people don't like their routine broken... Why don't you just ask them...being direct is the best way to solve problems.

thats exactly what we do, except we do it DAILY no joke, my friends and I ride as long as the weather holds out and classes permiting

It's good hearing y'alls take on this. The situation isn't bad or too bothersome to me, I just sort of get a kick out of it. Both of them are engineers, and I really think it's just that they need routine and such. If I really do want to go ride with someone else or bring someone along with me I just do it... it's actually nice having good friends like that, who you don't have to worry about pissing off. :)

I liked Mtbiker66's comment, "That seems strange, kinda like desperate bike guys." I think that's a good comparison.

I definitly understand. I play sunday football every sunday for the past 4 yrs and its the same group of guys those same 4 yrs. When they bring someone new in everybody automatical doesn't like that person until he can prove himself. Maybe it's a trust kind of issue.

All the people I ride with are kinda tied together by one bike shop so It's just who ever we pick up. We do have one guy that likes to talk about what he can do, like "I could drop that if my shock was not messed up", that type thing. I think its funny becuse no one cares. Some of us do drops and some freeriding some race XC so were kind of this strange mix.