Retro Grouch 

I took my mountain bike out today for the first time in two years. I took it to a trail that's all single track but relatively mild. I obviously didn't try hard enough because I'm not bleeding but I rode some sections that I felt were "iffy" and walked some sections that I probably should have ridden. Somewhere along the way I jammed up my front shifter and couldn't shift out of the big ring. The big ring is pretty much useless to me on singletrack so I walked back to my truck.

Here's my question: What percentage of time do you actually have to be riding the bike to still call it mountain biking rather than something else?

maddmaxx 

In my opinion, if your out there and trying at all then its mountain biking. (you had a bike with you etc.) Getting off and walking sometimes just demonstrates a healthy survival factor............

Beverly

My vote is 50%. Anything less than that is just a walk in the woods

stapfam

Mountain bike on an unpaved track and it doesn't matter how far you walked the bike. Only thing is that it is more fun to be riding the thing for the whole ride. Its mountain biking but if the da*n thing is stuck in big ring- I would not be calling it a mountain bike. %£"**&^% comes to mind.

(I don't walk uphill on the MTB because I have a Bianchi)

The Weak Link

+1. It's 100% MTBing even if you push your bike 90% of the way.

cranky old dude

Look at it this way.......If one is at work and their spouse is at home, they are still married......
Then I figure, if you and the Mtn. Bike went out on the trails together, stayed together and came
back together....you most definately were Mtn. Biking. (even if you walked the bike the entire time)

BluesDawg

You rode hard enough to break something. If that's not mountain biking, I don't know what is.

JanMM

Sounds like you ended up hiking with a bicycle companion.

Pamestique 

1000+

Mountain biking means you are riding on dirt and doing trail. Walking is all part and parcel of the sport otherwise they wouldn't make nice comfortable shoes you can walk in.

I got my old hardtail out last night and did a ride I normally do on my full suspension bike. Now I remember why I got a full suspension bike. After the ride I felt like I was in a prize fight - all beaten up! Anyway to me MTB riding means being out and enjoying the wilds and getting some exercise (either riding or walking) to boot!

big john

Sometimes you have to hike-a-bike. I've been in situations where I knew I could have gone a lot faster if I didn't have a stupid bike with me.
BTW, if the front der. is stuck in the big ring, it's probably the shifter or cable binding. Just whip out an allen wrench and loosen the cable clamp bolt and it should drop into the small ring.

BlazingPedals

Even if you're not ON the bike, you're lugging it along with you, right?

Retro Grouch 

Well duh! Why didn't I think of that?

I futzed with the shifter and front derailleur a little but it didn't help. Maybe the sun was bakeing my brain a little too much for me to think straight. I can tell you that wne I got back to my truck I was thankful for the air conditioning.

Billy Bones

Hey Retro'. Love ya' buddy, but I gotta' get all Philosophic on You. It's an irrelevant question except to folks most of us wouldn't want to spend time with. You were under Big Sky with God's Own Nature around you. I'll bet you had some thoughts worthy of the best of a Human Being. Doesn't matter what you call it.

patentcad

If your knobby tire kisses the dirt for two seconds, it's mountain biking. If your face kisses the dirt next, it's really mountain biking.

Next question.

Pamestique 

then I am truly a mountain biker! Good to know!

I just face planted yesterday. still picking the scabs to prove it!

robtown

If you carried the bike it'd be cyclocross.

BCRider

YEAH BABY! ! ! ! RIGHT ON! ! ! !

Bleeding is optional but it does indicate you had more fun than otherwise....

When I trail ride I want the terrain to test me. Not my lungs and heart... although they do their bit as well. If I ride a trail that doesn't force me to walk at least a few sections then I picked too easy a trail.

Also there's nothing wrong with walking sections you think you could ride. Go back in a week or two and knowing the trail you'll be riding those "maybe" sections just fine.

big john

Pam! Don't face plant!

Retro Grouch 

"Knowing the trail" That might be a problem.

I traveled parts of that trail more than once trying to find my way back to the parking lot and I even had a map. "Lost" means can't find your way back. I'm typing this from home so I obviously didn't get lost but I was a mite bewildered for a time.

Suzie Green

I'd count it. It's like going downhill skiing, you don't worry about the time you spend riding the chairlift.

Rowan

Pebble lodged in the derailleur between the pivots?

And it's MTBing. Even better, a lot was single-track which really gets the MTB crowd interested.

Al.canoe

If you've got the bike with you, you're mountain biking. I started doing singletrack in the mountains in my early 60's. I walked a lot of climbs. Now I climb and decend about everything and I spend a lot of time in my big ring without getting into high wear angles. A 42 tooth ring makes it more usefull.

Al

Retro Grouch 

I have a riser bar and the shifter was clamped on the bend. I think the bend put the mechanism in a bind. At any rate I moved the shifter and it's working fine now. We'll see.

stapfam

Quite agree- Don't want to finish up with 2 heads.


(Horticultural joke)

patentcad

I'm still trying to figure out how to ride my MTB and not do face plants, but after 20 years I still don't get it. I don't do them too often. But if you're going into the woods, you're going DOWN baby.