this will be (like most crap i spew) disjointed and random, and has nothing to do with anything. for what it's worth, i was neither drunk nor high when i wrote it....

so i was thinking....

yeah yeah yeah, cycling is good for you, you get exercise, all that...but i think it's good for you on a philosophical level as well...

mountain biking leads to a pretty existentially lived life. it helps give life meaning (to some) and it helps you live passionately and sincerely. when you are mountain biking, you are living an authentic life (unless you are one of those poseurs who sits around all day with the cleanest bike in the world drinking lattes, but that is another post). you are out, in nature, experiencing it first hand. you can talk about the smell of pine, the texture of rocks, the different soils that make up the land. in one ride you learn more about the world we live in, about actual real life, than someone who has only read 100 books and magazines about it or watched 100 hours of mountain bike videos.

to be existential/zen about it, mountain biking keeps you in the moment, there is no daydreaming, no mind wandering, and if there is, you are brought back to the moment quite painfully. when you are biking, you are aware of yourself, your breathing, your body, the world around you, the wind, the heat or cold.

you learn about yourself, you question what it truly means to suffer, you question what it means to be happy, what it means to truly live, to take chances, you find your own values of success and failure.


there is pain and suffering, there is struggle, but you learn to overcome obstacles (literal, like rocks and roots, and figurative, broken chains, flats, bonking, weather) and you realize that the rewards and beauty you get are directly proportional to the pain and the suffering you put into it. ever notice all the super sweet trails, the best trails, some of the greatest riding, are always somewhere you have to work super hard to get to? you don't get the good stuff for free, you have to earn it.

and of course, when riding with others, the questions of "truth" and "reality" loom greatly all around us. what might be an easy line for one person is a difficult techy line for another (this too is another post).

there is more, but i think i will leave it at that for now....

For me, riding a bike (any bike) is a time machine.

I am a kid again.

4 wheels will move your body about anywhere it needs to go, but 2 wheels move the soul.

Mountain biking is traversing across land on a 2-wheeled machine.

Pointless for the most part. A distraction from what's really important...possibly a tool to aid you in what's really important.


Yet I'm thankful.

Mountain biking (& outdoor activities in general) is my only means of escaping the numbness that makes up day-to-day life. I live a comfortable & happy life, but comfort gets boring. When you're out in the wilderness, even just for a few hours a week, it's you vs mother nature. You have to rely on every single one of your senses to push yourself to the limits, while keeping in mind that if you push yourself too hard, it might be a very long & painful walk back to the trail head. When I'm in nature is the only time I feel truly awake...like the rest of my life is just an excuse for living to keep life easy & simple, but not truly fulfilling. It gives me balance...which is probably a big part of why I've been so cranky lately...2 weeks since I've seen the trail head


EDIT: ^Funny, Ed & I seem to have opposite views of the true importance of mountain biking in life. I guess that's the difference between a college-aged bachelor & a grown family man

it's a hobby. i love to tinker, so i got a bicycle. then another. then another. repeat until you have 9 bicycles and work at 2 bike shops. woo.

The way I ride mountain, I don't think about anything but the process. I concentrate on the line possibilities, technique and terrain. It's a lot like how I was when I rode bmx or skateboarded as a kid. I would just ride around and find different ways to jump off stuff.

I have been riding Mountain Bike for @20 years now-off and on. It is an extension of me and what I think is valuable. I have a reverence for the Creation, Life, outdoors. From the Cosmos, I love the stars and I have always enjoyed playing with a microscope. Mountain biking connects me to the here and now, to my environment and to people enjoying the same "confines, wherever they might be.

Mountain biking is different than just bike riding. Commuting and running errands is saving a buck on gas and thinking that my carbon footprint just got a hair smaller. Road riding is half lived in few of what is behind me. Mountain Biking is opening up to what is out there and what can I do to be part of it. I grab for life and adventure.

Mountain biking is where I extend who I am and my love for this world. This is a great place in spite of sharp rocks!

Pretty sure that's not it. There's a reason there's so much discontent and depression in our society. In large social studies that measure Huge samples of people, the US ranks, by far, the lowest in terms of happiness and the highest in depression when compared to other 1st world countries and even many 3rd world countries. Interestingly, the people that seem happiest are those Not in the riches countries and that aren't in the lower class. They live comfortable lives with food and shelter and actually have a life to live and much more culture in their countries than we have in the US and other 1st world, money based societies. We're all bored and discontent because we don't have anything to really do. Our jobs, where we used to do some real "living" like hunting or gathering wood, etc, are monotonous and generally meaningless. MTBing at least gives you a taste of reality and nature and gets your blood flowing once in a while when you're bombing down some hill, trying to rip around turns at speed or hitting jumps.

totally...look around at all the people searching for something to fill the emptiness in their lives...they fill it with the "empty calories" of consumerism (oooh, i need a roomba!), and distraction (oooh, celebrity drama fight is on!). as you said, we evolved having to hunt, having to survive, and now, since the first few rungs of maslow's hierarchy of needs has been met, since we don't have to worry about getting eaten by animals or starving, we need something to keep us going. the human body seems to be one of the few, if not the only, machine that gets better and stronger and lasts longer the harder it is worked and used.

mountain biking helps give us what we need.

oh, and to ramble on some more...

the focus and concentration, the singleminded-ness you get, not riding a bike but you and the bike as one entity riding the earth, when you are flowing like water down the trail, effortlessly, feeling the ground below you, feeling the rise and dips of the earth, railing a berm, when you are "in the zone," i believe, is the equivalent of "enlightenment." or at least a poor mans version of enlightenment....

My God rides a mountain bike.

Lol, Ken.

I try to fill the hole with a good spiritual life, kids, family, church. I really should be better at giving my time to others, though I'd do it at the drop of a hat if I observed a need...I should be taking it a step further and giving my time on a reg basis like some of my peers.

I'm often addicted to MTB'ing. To the bikes. To the trail. To the thought of trying to go bigger. To simplifying my ride. To taking advantage of new precision complexities. Often from one end of the spectrum to the other in a major way...as long as the pocketbook allows. I think about it all the time. It's not healthy.

I'm so concerned with saving a full pound of rotating weight by spending $70 on the Parker replacing the wire bead Nev'ies.

I should be spending that $70 on something that's valid. Something non-consumable. Something that will last beyond my generation. A kind gesture to a person that doesn't make that much money in a month...could translate to a story told to 3rd-world grandkids generations down the road. "I remember that time when that crazy churchy american fella came over here and just gave me a whole month's worth of 'shack-payment' and rice."

Mountain biking is addictive, fun, can become the purpose of ones life...it can cloud your financial judgement. It's a mystical power that is evil, pure, painful, and ultimately rewarding all at once.

I love it and resent it at the same time

Really well said! Sums up my feelings about it as well. A good MTB ride (well, even a bad one) gives me the sense of experiencing a landscape in space, motion, and emotion like nothing else.

The world would be a better place if more people even thought about what you're saying, let alone acting on it. But life is about balance - you take care of your family and loved ones, and try to fight the good fight when and where you can - so it's not only ok, but crucial that you feed your passion. It's what gives you the strength and sanity to face all the other stuff.



......^This.

Precisely.

Two wheels, whether they were powered by an engine or powered by my 'engine,' were my escape. They transformed me from socially-awkward dork to someone with a modicum of skillz - - if only for a few hours. I'm still a dork but I'm a dork who loves to ride.

I suspect the dork part is long gone, but the humility clearly remains. Bravo.

^This

I've often thought that the main problem with Americans is BOREDOM! (nod to 3speed) We need to discover real value and meaning for our lives. (nod to ed)

I am so worried about the commercials promising people, do what you love and you will never work a day in your life! What if the only jobs you can get are in a factory line, a C-Store, paving streets. I've shingled a pile of houses and hung way too much sheet rock in my younger day. After the first 6 months the adventure dies and work is simply a tool for buying the level of life you want.

Biking is entertainment, exhilaration, adventure, exercise and a true connection with the world. Its why guys will spend a weekend and $500. to get firewood for the winter so they can save $600 in heating expenses. Its part of the adventure of life and beats the boredom of confinement. Its why we like posting pictures and videos of our rides. Its our way of saying, I am alive!

Oh, weird coincedence, 1 year ago today I almost died on a ride. What a way to go, but sure glad I'm here rambling!

Can I get a shirt with this^^?

I love this thread, I can relate to a lot of the posts, the OP especially. In fact i think that I'm going to write a poem concerning this, I think that it's a good topic to write about.

Biking is my escape as well. I wish there was a really good trail near me, but there isn't. But I make do with cycling in the near by country side, and I'm building a small trail in some woods by myself at the moment. I need to look at how legal that is before I continue though. Just going out, whatever the weather, what ever the time of day, clears my head, and I enjoy it. Even if I come back injured (like last night), I feel that it's worth it.

Also, that's an interesting post about the countries with most money are the least happy. It's just modern society, and yes some of the tech is good, but I think it would be better if we stepped back a bit, and the world could 'rewind' and reflect on the past as well. There are too many ignorant people nowadays anyway.

Well, it's not quite that much of a blanket statement. Perhaps I should explain more. Some happy countries like Norway(one of the happiest) are 1st world countries with enough money. Those countries do tend to have a lot more culture than us, though. Money and "culture" seem to both play a pretty significant role, with access to affordable health care also being important. The US in particular, and a number of others like the US, do rank behind many countries with FAR less money. Even many 3rd world countries rank higher than the US and other similar countries. The happiest in general seem to be the people in the middle. They have enough to keep themselves fed and sheltered, but not so much that they're sitting around with nothing to do but wish they had more stuff and money to entertain themselves. They also tend to be countries with a lot more "culture" than the US. From what I've read they tend to be people who go to their jobs that actually help their local community(fishing, farming, making goods by hand, whatever), stop by the market or something on the way home to get dinner(small local market with people selling things, not a supermarket like a Sentry Foods or something) and then go home at night and spend time with their family to eat, and then go out into the town to socialize and have fun with local friends.

"Rapid motion through space elates one." -James Joyce

I don't think I put nearly that much thought into it. I just...go out and enjoy it. That's about it. I have running to take all seriously and be all serious about, so I just treat mountain biking as a fun escape from all the stressors of the rest of my life. I don't race my bike, so there's less pressure for me. There are some days when I'll be out with friends and we're all pushing each other, some days I'm by myself and I'm pushing myself, some days I'm by myself and just effing around and enjoying the scenery, and even days when I take my little cousin on a ride around the block and take advantage of whatever kind of ledges and stairs I can find. I don't think I'm that existential about it...I think I'm just a big kid who gets to forget she's supposed to be a responsible adult whenever she gets on her bike.

3speed, I didn't summarise it very well in my post, but yes I understand what you're saying. Thank you for elaborating.

I just like red ano!

You can do both. Give them a bicycle.

Here is my own humble contribution to the genre. An oldie but a goodie.