- Revisiting the idea of riding mountain bikes again
possibly after a long break, after many years even?
Perhaps you took a hit a few months back,
sustained an injury and now
your confidence is at an all time low.
That is a disaster.
You could be completely new to the sport,
hesitating to get involved,
all this daunting tech makes you feel
like you need a degree before you book a day at a bike park.
But you want to ride, you want to get out on that bike.
But you haven't been riding,
it can happen easily and for many reasons.
Well, today I want to help you muster the energy
and the excitement to swing your leg over that bike.
It's time to jump back on the horse
and get back in the saddle.
(bike noises)
Time to be serious.
It's happened to us all at some point,
you've made a mistake, got hurt,
and this can be really tough too get back from.
The injury itself will take time to heal
but possibly the biggest blow
to your progress back to riding,
will be the psychological damage
the crash itself has caused.
The shock of the mistake, the pain,
and the healing process, maybe you needed time off work,
it can be really, really hard to recover from all this.
You end up asking yourself,
"Is it worth it?"
Don't come back from an injury before your body is ready
but once it is, make it happen,
by thinking about what you've been missing out on.
The friends you ride with, the fun you have,
all that banter, it can be hard to replace,
it's a lot of fun.
Give your mates a call and don't be afraid
to start small with your riding,
with something gentle and confidence inspiring.
Maybe you ride for solitude,
so remember that landscape and nature,
it's part of riding bikes.
The time you have to think clearly, it's glorious.
Lastly, the skill and mastery
of riding bikes it hard to beat.
Think how much you've mastered
and how much you still have to learn,
this is a sport you can dive into,
it's deep with tech, history,
a wide selection of disciplines to broaden your horizons.
Don't let that one mistake deny you all this.
Learn from it for sure, but you mustn't let it stop.
Tech might have changed since you've been away
I'm not going to lie.
Wheel size, dropper posts, 3x, 2x, 1x.
SRAM Eagle or Di2? Boost or not?
The bike is still a bike but maybe
a look around your local store is freaking you out.
You discovering all these new industry standard and changes
it can be really daunting.
Take wheel size as an example,
it seems to have completely changed over the years.
Your 26 inch wheel bike, for instance, is dead.
Or is it?
27.5, 29 fat or plus, I promise you this,
nothing has really changed.
Because there is no right or wrong.
One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that.
Don't allow anyone to tell you your 26 is out of date.
For that matter, you haven't got too many chain rings
and your bars aren't too narrow, they're perfect.
Bikes do improve, year on year,
but thankfully not so much that dusting off
your 90s clunker and getting back out there
can't be amazing fun.
Ride what you have, be proud of it, own it.
Let the understanding of all that new tech
happen naturally and no time at all
you'll be deciding what's important to you
and what is just noise.
Lost touch with what it's all about?
Suddenly don't recognize a single haircut in the pits
and now the riders making podiums
are the children of the riders you followed
back in the day?
You might be thinking that this means you're a dinosaur,
a glitch from the past who's better off forgotten.
Leave well alone and face facts.
Mountain biking has left you behind.
No! You need to turn this on its head.
You're actually a connoisseur of mountian biking,
the expert who was there when it all started.
You're unique and stand out unlike those younger riders,
because you know why tech like their suspension
is so good and why it's so important.
Because you rode the early versions
and supported the cause when it needed you most.
Be proud of the part you've played in mountain biking
with new vigor and the confidence of Churchill returning
as first lord of the admiralty,
reinvent yourself as the rider of experience you really are.
Roll those hills assured of the superior knowledge
and importance in the cause.
You've been missed, welcome back.
The wilderness is there to be enjoyed
so riding alone can never be the excuse
to getting back out on a bike.
Take the right precautions and think about
what you could need to be safe and
the potential for adventure with your mountain bike
is second to none.
That sounded a little bit like sex education.
However if your resistance is because
you think you have no one to ride out, then think again.
This sport is famous is for its welcoming atmosphere
and friendly community.
Sure, we have all the normal stuff online
where opinions can be different and aired easily.
In the flesh though, we all see our similarities
as mountain bikers as the most important fact,
not arguments of which tire size we prefer.
If you happen upon another rider on the trail
take the leap and say, "Hi,"
they want to talk to you,
if they're riding a bike, they want to talk about it.
Take a step further
and visit the local trail center or bike park.
You will arrive alone, you will leave part of a community
that just had a great day out riding bikes.
Mountain biking is just that simple.
You may be revisiting the idea of mountain biking again
in its finest moment.
I've been buzzing around this sport for 30 years
and I've never found it more interesting than now.
The bike's are basically dream machines,
you can buy an Enduro bike now that can handle
everything you throw at it.
A downhill bike or an XE weapon
that will make you faster than you've ever been.
Go bike packing, carrying tents and all your luggage,
traverse the snow of the arctic circle.
And the racing, oh my goodness, the racing.
We're in a time full of legends
who are achieving things that we will be talking about
in another 30 years time.
When mountain biking started
it had founding fathers like Gary Fisher
then racing legends like Tomac,
then later Missy Giove, Anne-Caroline Chausson
and Nico Vouilloz.
Don't let the weight of those incredible names
let you miss the fact that now we ride
in an era of Rachel Atherton, Aaron Gwin
Cecile Ravanel, Sam Hill and Nino Schurter.
A time of true greats and unmissable action.
It is their time but your moment,
don't wait another second to dive back in
and join the hustle and bustle
around this incredible time in mountain biking.
You may be an experienced roadie
and you should be proud of that,
I love a bit of road myself.
However, if you've ridden one type of bike for a long time,
then it's not uncommon to identify with that discipline.
No problem with that either,
unless it stops you trying something else.
Once the identity of roadie or any other label
becomes the barrier to experiencing another type of riding,
then it isn't a good thing and you should drop it.
I'm using a roadie as an example here
because it's the obvious tricky transition.
You might be considering mountain biking
from the viewpoint of track, or a BMX,
or something else.
No matter what, I think the following rules apply.
Road riding skills and your bike confidence
will hold you in good stead out on the trail
so don't be misguided into thinking
you won't have the skills you need.
You just want to start on the right trails
and build from there, and you will be welcome.
Now, this is maybe the most misleading thought in cycling,
that roadies and mountain bikers don't mix.
They do, in fact so many crosstrain or just plain enjoy
the other side of the fence these days
that the lines are very blurred.
Sample of the dark side of riding,
you won't believe what you've been missing.
Man, I wish I could rediscover mountain biking
for the first time all over again.
I'm jealous of what you've got in front of you.
The myriad of formats in mountian biking is growing
and with that growth we see the sport become more attractive
to even more riders who realize their skills could transfer.
Also it presents mountain biking
to a far larger audience so it's great.
Back in the day, the sport was basically a choice of
XE or Downhill.
Now the list goes something like
XEO, Downhill, slope style, speed and style,
four cross, trials riding, XCC, whip off, pump track,
marathon, fat bike, E bike,
adventure racing and Enduro, just to name a few.
The choice is huge and that can't be a bad thing.
Something for everyone.
No, something for you.
In that list there are plenty of reasons
for you to swing a leg back over that mountain bike
or try it for the first time.
Every discipline or bike genre is ram packed
with action that will get you thinking about
what your mountain biking is going to look like.
The moment you start imagining yourself riding,
daydreaming about the bike that you've ordered,
planned where you're going to ride it,
once you've done that, there's no going back.
Let the tapestry of all these forms of bike riding
show you that this sport has something for you.
Once you realize again what you've been missing,
you'll find it very hard to believe you lived without it.
"No, mountain biking's for blokes, it always was."
Not so. Hey, this sport has always been inclusive
and the legend honors list
will show the names to prove that.
Riders like Anne-Caroline Chausson, Missy Giove,
Julie Furtado and Alison Sydor.
Amazing riders who inspire.
However, if you're a female rider
either considering mountain biking
or wondering if it has progressed since you were last here,
well you have struck gold.
Actual gold.
This is the golden age of mountain biking for women,
now I truly believe that.
Never has there been such a depth of skill
in each field of racing,
never so much style to inspire
a generation of female bike riders.
For example, Rachel Atherton
has won so much in such a way
that no guy would ever dismiss her from the greats
and in truth, would struggle to argue how anyone
would better in races won and titles collected.
Actually maybe only Anne-Caroline Chausson
could even come close.
She's done it in ways you can't believe.
A number of times that just can't be right
and with more riding style
than anyone should be allowed to have.
She is unreal.
Rachel is currently queen of a community of female riders,
a generation that is transforming the sport
to be even more progressive and Inclusive
than it already was.
There you go, if you've got any excuses
then I would be very surprised.
Please get back on that bike
and make sure you watch more from GMBN.
You can start right away by clicking just there
to see some epic MBT crashes.
Maybe avoid that one.
Or click the one up there to see
how to be stylish on a pump track.
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Thumbs, see you next time.