slowing up???
 

forum seems to be a little less active now. i guess it is because some people are not biking as much.

so i decided to post something that might spark a little conversation.

i dont know if anyone else has noticed but mountain biking has been getting a nice amount of publicity. there was a whole, um, how-to on turning and stuff on the discover channel. they are in alot of commercials i see now. what do you guys think of this? i like to see the sport growing, but do you think it will get to that point. were everyone knows about it and there are just tons of people riding. i dont know about you guys but i like the feeling of being in something that not a whole lot of people do.

ANY comments are welcome.

I saw a show on INHD (a high-def only channel) recently about mountain biking but it was mostly urban/jumps, trials. While I enjoyed that stuff as a BMX'er I'm now more into trail riding.

I think the popularity of the sport is a very tricky thing. If more people bike on the trails then there will be:
Cons:
1) more jockeys/hikers complaining about them
2) more new riders unaware of the rules of the trail giving all mtbers a bad rep
3) more trail degredation
Pros:
a) more people to help do trail maintenance
b) more advocates of the sport
c) increased awareness that we should have our space to do our sport
d) lower prices due to increased competition

Personally I like seeing a few people on the trails, makes me feel like there are others who enjoy what I enjoy. But I only like seeing a few. I would not like to be stuck in a bike traffic jam behind 5 people coming up on a 2ft drop because some newb is looking for his waterbottle that flew off his frame when he endo'd.

I go mountain biking to avoid people. More people=less peace. I don't really care if our sport is popular, because I know I love it, I don't need to be spoon fed highlights about mountain biking on Sportscenter everyday to have fun or feel important. The ONLY benefit to more popularity is increased trail access. THATS IT.

In Australia w eare happy if w get a 30second spot on the nightly sports show once a month. Everynow and then the government ran channel will show a bit of MTB and every year they show the national champs. However just last week they televised one of the national 4X races. It was good to see. We also got a 30second spot on Nathan Rennie trying to break th longjump record.

Snow is here now
I went out today thru a field with about 12 inches of snow. Felt good to dig down and plow thru. Then over a couple small snowbanks from the snowplow.
I still dont notice a lot of bikes. I think if there are more of them then they are in the city and not in the deep rough trails that I ride.
I personaly like when I see others on the trails. I might get to know some and we could ride together. A lot of people dont like biking or fishing with me. I like to go where I think I cant make it.
I still dont see as many bikes out there as I would like to see.
I love the sport so I promote it.
I get some people to go out and then they disapper after a months riding.
Oh well.
Not for every one.
I see a lot on city streets
But to me that does not class as true mountain bikeing.
Im still glad to see them out.

from what Ive seen on TV it is not the type of riding I do. its either racing or extreme. I ride to relax and mentally rehab. I can go over a log pile or around it. either one is fine with me. I can go 12mph or 40 either way is fine. roots or smooth.good weather or bad. I see a lot of the extremeism of the sport and that is bad for us IMO because the antibikers see that and go "aha I told you they just tear up stuff" when the guy loses control and his bike goes off a cliff barely missing the SUV below on the SUV commercial

yea i like that commercial.

right now i just ride becasue it is fun and it is so tranquil and quite in the woods, i love it. but next year i plan on starting to train a little.

when I start taking it seriously I need to quit cuz( short for because) it aint fun anymore. I tried it and did not like serious at all. it added to my stress instead of taking it away

my boss keeps telling me that mountain bike sales as a whole are dropping, so I don't know what's up with that. It seems to me that it's gotten more popular as well. Though that could be because it's gotten more popular with me.

those that are on the trails will notice new people on the trails more than those who are not on the trails, but are bean counters only. I see a rise and fall depending on the weather more than anything. we had a short spike in sales around here when a large county school system decided to teach( MORE did the teaching) the P.E. teachers biking basics and they in turn taught their students but that just means more bikes collecting dust now or being sold on Ebay now as this was in the spring and now its not great weather anymore.

I ride for multiple reasons. Thrill, love, progression and passion. I love the racing side, hucking side, trail riding and just plain playfullness of it. There are certain times I like the peace of it being my trail but other times I like the comraderie of it. I also don't mind hitting the mountain for a day of dh when there are lots of people.

As for this site. Its always changing. Sometimes busy sometimes not. Sometimes lots of newbie questions and sometimes good discussions. I know I can't ride much anymore so I am not as interested in talking shop. I don't buy parts until spring and have to focus on off season training. haha

Agree. If the sport grows it won’t really affect me when I ride urban. But when I go out to the country or the trails there is something cool about not seeing a single person for hours and hours and that it's just you and your bike. More publicity would make it increasingly difficult for that to happen. I've only been biking for 2 years but I like where the publicity level is. Enough publicity for different mtbing innovations and a fair number of shops that have dealt with mtb's, but little enough that we're still a small minority even among bikers. It's definitely a good thing to be doing something that not everybody else is, sets you apart and makes you cool independent.