here and there

Started this January when I finally fixed up my x-mart mountain bike leftover from my teenage years. I only rode on bike paths because I didn't trust the brakes on the darned thing. A couple months later I bought a Rockhopper. During the semester I was busy with school and working part-time...not enough time to hit the trails so I rode alot on the streets. Once I did have a chance to hit the trails I was instantely hooked. I love the outdoors and I never had the opportunity as a kid to visit the mountains (except on a rare time when it would snow) and the county parks we have here. Mountain biking lets me get out there and visit those places while providing something more interesting than hiking/walking. I get great exercise, a good adrenaline rush, and I get to see/experience new things. Gotta love it.

slickhare

today, when i rode my Marin Bolinas Ridge for the first time

junkyard

Hmm. As a kid my bike was always my means of transportation. Not many trails in the area, nor was the bike suited for them. The whole mountain biking thing didn't come along until I was 26. About a year ago a couple buddies convinced me to come out riding with them. It'd been quite some time since I was on a bike, so we borrowed a bike that was too small for me and hit some trails. It wasn't an instant love affair for me, but I did enjoy myself. We went out a second time on another borrowed bike that fit me. I started to see the light. After that, I bought a bike and started getting out as much as I could. It quickly became a passion of mine.

jamisgirl

I had a boyfriend that got me into it. Well, I still have my bike, the boyfriend on the other hand...

harov3

The first day I loved it? I rode my wally world dually up Greenmount on the highway then cut into John Forrest national park to go back down. The bike should have exploded underneath me going up let alone coming down, but the ride and the trail were a revelation, commuting was never the same. As the bikes got better the experience only got better with them. Love it still.

junkyard

funny. when i bought my bike, it generated a fight between me and my then girlfriend which eventually led to the end.

errolprowse

actually, for me, i saw my friends kona stinky, and never had seen anything like it, three weeks later, i had a hard rock comp with disc brakes, and i spent all that money, even though i never went mountain biking, but i forced myself to like it, and so far it has worked out great

dminor 

For me it was when I discovered downhill mountain bikes. I got to pedal a bike shop employee's Trek Pro-Issue DH bike (98-99 vintage?) around the store parking lot. It had a Monster T on it, was heavy as all get-out and pedalled like a slug. But it was the closest a bicycle had ever come to resembling anything like my trusty IT175 Yamaha (same color even ). Up to that point, I thought mountain bikes were a joke: little or no rear suspension, wimpy 3" 'toy' front forks.

I remember thinking "Now this kind of mountain biking I could get excited about."

gcc0

The reason why I ever got into mountain biking was due to the first-ever Olympics MTB race in 1996. I had the bike bug because of a Trek (MTB), that my dad had purchased for me, but I hadn't really gotten into it. I remember watching Bart Brentjens just smoothly glide through the race to win the gold. For some reason, the action of the MTBers in the race REALLY appealed to me, and then I got hooked. In fact, I still have that old VHS tape, I recorded the race on.

ed 

It started at an early age for myself. I still remember every bike I have ever owned. My first one was a blue X-Mart 16" that didn't have training wheels. I was about 6 y.o. and on top of the world. I moved to a farm a couple months later and began riding gravel roads. I soon grew out of that bike and my parents bought me my first "real bike". It was a 20" GT BMX bike. It even had a single hand brake for the rear wheel with a gold chrome lever and bar pads. I was jumping the terraces and skidding around in the gravel until dark.

I was soon introduced to Freestyle. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen!!! I was watching movies like Rad and getting all sorts of magazines. My parents couldn't afford to get me a new freestyle bike, so my Grandma's boyfriend (yeehaw G'ma) bought me a K-Mart bike that had a rotor with front and rear brakes and a set of pegs. OH BOY WAS I STOKED. Soon after, my cousin got one and I moved back to the city. We went everywhere jumping off little 2 footers and steps, cruising the urban landscape. It was not long until I got a 1988'ish GT Vertigo Street. I was in pure H-E-A-V-E-N!!!! I didn't really know how to freestyle, but I could turn my wheels in a 360 and ride around jumping off of stuff...that was enough for me. I finally learned to bunnyhop and so began my journey toward bigger things.

I was a skater for a span in between, but hopped on my friend's Hardrock that was completely rigid, steel, and full of wheelie riding power! I had to get a MTB. It was all I could think about! I bought a used Diamondback Hybrid b/c at that point I thought they were the same as a MTB. I was in Hog Heaven, man. My second ride out, I went off a 3 foot wall and bent the goofie riser bars down. I went to the shop to get a replacement. (this is where my lust for aftermarket parts began) A couple months later, I bought a used Trek 820 that was blue and was seriously in need of some aftermarket "blue anodized lovin"...you remember the time. I bought a blue flat bar with blue bar ends and a blue cable hanger. I ended up giving the Diamondback and Trek to my sister @ some point.

I was still hanging out with skaters and skating now and then and I had this revelation: I will ask for donations for a Brand Spanking New bike...no more used stuff. I told everyone who donated, that I would put their names on the frame with little stickers. It worked out. I saved up $700 for a Rockhopper A-1 FS Comp with a Rockshox Indy fork. Holy crap!!! I may as well have just bought a new Monster Truck. I hit the trails for the first time on this bike and was in awe of what it could do. A new BB, 20t granny (yup they mad 'em), XT rear der., and riserbars later, I traded it for a GT LTS-3. My first endeavor into Full Squish. I was invinceable. I didn't do any trails with climbing b/c even though I rode all the time, it was either urban jump stuff, or flat twisty trails. I wasn't really in "Bike Shape". The GT was traded for a Cannondale Super V 900 Comp that soon earned a Scott Vertigo riser bar, XT rear derailleur, XT/x517 wheels, Avid SD brakes with brake stiffener, and a set of Yeti Logo grips. I went a little nutz for a while, I also bought a Mongoose rigid, and schwinn 24" cruiser (because I thought I could do BMX). I ended up selling all but the C-dale. I put sooooo many miles on that one. Took it to lots of trails, but mostly still urban/jumping stuff.

The time came for me to go back to school and grow up so I could support my wife and hopefully a kid in the future. I sold the Super-V for tuition and book $$$ and quit riding for a couple years. I finished school.

The guy that I work with now said one day "we should get bikes and get some exercise". I was like HOLY CRAP, I forgot about my passion!!!

March of '05, I bought a Gary Fisher Wahoo that I was not happy with, so I traded it for my HKEK which I love. I started riding trails with actual hills and rarely ride urban anymore. I love the trails so much more now than I ever have. Since then, I have built a Trek 4500 ground up for a snow bike and a Jamis Dakar XLT ground up. I sold the Trek not long ago, but still have the HKEK and Jamis. I have come to the realization that I will never be happy with what I have. ( I think there's a Bible verse about it ) I am always upgrading and building...that's part of the passion for me. As soon as I get everything done that I wanted to do...I have the perfect bike for me...now I want to change it. There in lies the thousands of $$$ of components.

I find myself having those "if I were a millionaire" dreams and fantasizing about a full S-Works line-up going from state to state riding all the trials.

Sorry this is so long.

boonukem

I discovered that I like mountain biking on vacation in Sunriver, Oregon last summer. The only biking I had done before was on pavement. Using an old comfort bike (no suspension, no gears, and to brake you have to pedal backwards), I went to see a nearby waterfall. At the edge of the resort the asphal pavement ended, and I was faced with a rather dramatic choice between a dirt road wide enough for cars on the right and a very narrow path through the woods on the left. I chose left.

At the beginning of the trail I could see that sections of fallen trees had been cut out, leaving just enough room to pass a bike through. I was surprised that the entire tree, which didn't look that heavy, hadn't been removed, or atleast had wider peice cut out. As I rode on I realized that the trail had been designed to be difficult, and I began to enjoy the focus and concentration that was required and the adrenaline rush that came with the danger of crashing.

Defiance

Thanks for the stories guys, they're all great reads and I'm glad to see that this thread keeps growing.

Because of where I live and my mom considering it a "short drive" I might be heading up to Whistler Blackcomb in the next couple weeks. Up until now, I've only had experience on moderate XC trails and small dirt jumps, but now I might be able to go on to the real fun stuff.

Again, thanks.

Maelstrom 

Wear armour and a full face. Regardless of how you feel.

Defiance

I've PMd you on the subject