Hi folks, been road riding for years now. Built a road bike (touring, really) a few years back on an MTB hardtail frame that would carry everything for a few days of self supported camping. This Spring I soured on the road and stripped some of the junk off that hardtail, put the original tires back on, and went for a ride in the woods. There's no blasting down trails at high speed, no catching six feet of air over jumps, no other feats of daring...just picking my way at low speed over hiking trails with lots of tree roots, twists, turns and low logs and branches. Oh, I should mention I'm well over retirement age...not much bravado left, folks. Drove to a real live MTB course recently and I'm not too proud to admit I walked a few obstacles. A 12 foot long bridge, 9 inches wide over a 10 foot drop....nah, I'll walk this! I'm all alone out here and what if??


The reason I ask is that I have little to no contact with other riders. I've seen a few riders in passing. Usually they're much younger, much faster and daring. That's what I saw, anyway. I'd like to stay out of the way, for the most part. So, is it MTBing, or in your world is it trail riding or some other designation (PITA rider?). Gotta say, it's still plenty fun, seems to be more cardio/air sucking involved and (wow) my upper body never got this sore on the road!

The term Mountain Biking to me can be interpreted a "million" ways. What you rode to me , IS mountain biking. But so is blasting downhill and jumping.
So IMO, yes you did mountain bike. Glad you enjoyed it and yes it can get tough sometimes but it's a good challenge. If some of the trails you ride on get too crowded or is mostly the younger crowd, I'd suggest look for someplace quieter maybe? All in all the mtb community is a pretty friendly bunch.

Yes, you went mountain biking which I'd define as biking in the mountains. Don't feel shame for walking obstacles, you didn't get hurt and can return another day.

I go around a lot of stuff or walk the steep bits sometimes, we oldies don't bounce like the youngies do....

For me I'm focusing on technical hill climbing next thing I know I'm gasping for air but refusing to quite before the top.Zipping though the trees is a lot of fun but always have to be careful not to hit anything.If I wind up over a foot off the ground somewhere it means I made a mistake. Learning my version of mountain biking at 56 I really like it but I couldn't tell you why.

Everyone whom I know would term that as "mountain biking". There are no mountains where I live, so I'll sometimes be snarky and tell my friends we are just "dirt-pathing" .

If there were roots, rocks, dirt, had features that required walking, and you were having fun, then it was definitely mtb.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and clarification, people!

How cool is that! I can ride an MTB, and say so! Just didn't know if there were further subdivisions (not knowing the lingo).

There are loads of subdivisions, ranging from cross country to downhill, enduro, all-mountain, etc. I'm no expert, but from what I can tell, the distinctions are somewhat arbitrary but often come down to the amount of suspension travel and weight of the bike. XC tends to be lightest and with the least suspension.

My 15 year old snottily proclaims that anything that I can do does not qualify as real mountain biking, ipso facto.

Hardtail, rigid fork, light to moderate singletrack….sounds like I'm an XC guy. Mind if I disregard the input from the youngster? It felt so much better the way you put it!

No problem. I do.

I'm 55, for what it's worth.

Yup sounds like you were riding single track on your xc mtb

Fun story, my buddies and I were biking in the Rockies, all with hardtail mtbs. We came up on a couple, she had an older beatup hardtail, he had a fancy full suspension. Turns out he was into the easier stuff, and she was an expert at the double black diamond stuff

I was told by a coworker that life was all ​downhill after 50. I'm still waiting for this magical moment...

That full suspension bike can mask a lot of dumb mistakes...That's why I ride one

My first MTB was in 1988. We were just glad to have a dirt bike with gears, as previously we had stripped down the old JCHiggins or Sears bikes and road them in the dirt.
Now, I am happy to have a XC bike.... and ride it on fireroads or trails, so it's the same for me....Don't really like single tracks... to many ticks. Let the young ones do this downhill stuff..... get a few broken bones and they will learn from doing. I consider anything off road as mountain biking... even riding gravel roads.... just use the MTB. Get out and see some good country!

The history of it all is interesting. The people who kicked off the whole industry were all about crazy fast speeds down fall line fire trails. By the time I personally encountered the sport, the trend at least locally where I live was just to go for a mellow ride in the woods on doubletrack and some singletrack. More recently, so-called flow trails have become increasingly popular, sort of in my mind harkening back to the original idea of blasting downhill and hoping to survive till the end. Flow trail systems are what I see as bringing in the younger crowd, at least locally to where I live.

I live in Florida and am embarrassed to call it mountain biking. But, it is indeed off-road riding and that's what we can do here.

We do have some crazy fun trails that rip and rollercoaster in and around ancient mining sites. Still not a mountain in sight.

This is all very encouraging to me. I just got into mtb, and was a little hesitant to call it such. My bike is a hardtail and I do ride in the mountains, but starting at 51 with three fused vertebrae in my neck and a trick left knee, I move along pretty careful. Right now, I'm more about surviving while getting fit and enjoying myself than I am adrenaline rushes. And make no mistake, I am enjoying myself!